Forget the Whistle Stop Cafe...

drop in at the kitchen of BBBH.

She said, "Would you like some fried green tomatoes?"

Hard to believe she had to ask.  Oh, I know.  Get the taste buds excited!

 Labor intensive, but oh, my!

 This is the saucepan that featured prominently in last Saturday's blog post.

This is the best I could do.  I was just ready to give it a toss when I heard the words,

"I used that pan for thirty-five years."

What could I do? 

Six things in our pantry

that you probably don't have in yours.

You may be aware that I was batching it here on the home front for two weeks while BBBH basked in the Florida sunshine.  This gave me an opportunity to discover things I had never before had reason to think about; 

What, for instance, lurks in the pantry?  Beautiful not only does the cooking, she does the shopping as well.  Her notion of shopping entails certain protocols, algorithms if you will, within certain parameters, none of which I understand even though she has explained it to me in these terms:  "Of course it takes time to scan all the shelves to see what's there.  How would one know what she wants if she doesn't know what is there?  It's called shopping."

And thus I suppose it is that the pantry contains numerous items that would surprise most people.  Surprised me.  The snapshot above portrays a select sample of the surprising items our pantry harbors.

Turnip greens?  Yes, I like turnip greens on occasion.  Actually, I am quite fond of greens of many varieties.  Kale, though, not so much as the others.  I suppose her thought process went like this: "David likes greens, and these are cheap!  All-around win." 

Water chestnuts?  I do indeed like the "crunch" associated with the consumption of water chestnuts so a few of them in the chop mien or chow suey or whatever it is on the Chinese noodles is a good thing.  But a fifteen-ounce can of them? 

Bean sprouts?  Wha?  Oh, the chop chow.

Spam?  Sure, why not?  I grew up during the war years, WWII that is, to the younger set. (All years seem to be war years, don't they?)  I like a bit of spam now and then.  Fried, preferably.

Shep?  We do have a dog.  He's a picky eater, though, and one never knows if he will eat Shep until it has been offered to him.  We'll see.

She's the cook and I am not complaining.  The dog?  *shrug*

2√2b² 

Junk Drawer

Today's post is a rehash originally posted four and one-half years ago under the title "Catch-all Drawers."  This is the result of a meme in which I went to the fifteenth page in the blog archive, counted down fifteen posts and . . .
Every kitchen, I have been told, has a "catch-all drawer." Though I doubt that everyone is as disorganized as all that, it certainly would have been true for our kitchen, except for the fact that we now have TWO catch-all drawers in our kitchen, given that the first one was full to overflowing long ago. The second one nears that point, and thus it will soon require that someone do something about that. The logical thing would be to dump the drawers, transfer most of the contents to the waste bin, and start over.



The main trouble with that is that every time we throw something out, two days later we want that very item. And this is true even if that item has not been used or even seen in several years. Why do we do this? There are three hardware stores within a mile of our house, and there are probably no items in the drawers that would cost more than seven dollars to replace, and most of them a buck or so.* Ooh, empty drawers! What a concept.



Yet the idea of empty drawers brings to mind this as well. BBBH frequently refers to the kitchen as a one-butt kitchen, which I have come to realize is her way of telling me to get out of it. She bemoans the fact that there is not enough storage space, there is not enough counter space, and so on. My suggestion that storage space could be better utilized if some of the items were, well, disposed of, is not well received. See previous paragraph in re what happens when something is discarded. Also, remind me to keep my mouth shut about the kitchen.

*Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.
Word of the day: disorganized

Of Its Abundance

Of its abundance the crab apple tree yielded  its sweet flavor 

So that on our toast and waffles this ambrosia we might savor

Thank you, Lord, for this provision.

As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. --Song of Solomon 2:3

Everything's Plastic

 BBBH said, "I need to sort this stuff and get rid of some things."

 

 We have no shortage of plastic storage dishes for the wonderful L.Os.

 

The problem is not finding a container of the right size; the problem is finding a lid to fit the container!

 

We have so much fun around here!