Maybe it’s getting me back for doing little to improve it for 45 years. When we found ourselves holding cabinet doors closed with Scotch tape, we thought it was time for some remodeling. We emptied everything into boxes, which we shoved aside for the three weeks it took to install new cabinets. Now I’m going through those boxes, trying to figure out where to put stuff in this new configuration.
The Kitchen Goblins had to have been at work, hiding things, drying up bottles of liquid, and caking layers of dust over everything. As I wash off items, I’m discovering three bottles of soy sauce, dried-up bottles of food coloring, pieces from two different fondue gizmos, containers with lost lids and lids with lost containers, and three dog toys that have been missing for more than a year.
The spices have been the most challenging. Now that I have a spice cabinet, I want to organize it. But what do I do with the several duplications of spices (how much oregano can I really use in a year?) and ones I don’t remember ever buying or having a use for (what the heck do I use dill weed for, anyway?)? I even discovered a battered 8-ounce can of Hershey’s Cocoa–the price tag of 79 cents gives you an idea of how long I’ve had that. Because my “green” heart won’t allow me simply to toss out all these items, there’s more work to find a spot for the extras…and hope that I remember that they’re there.
Yes, my kitchen, which should be grateful for the make-over, is attacking me–not outright, you understand, but in subtle ways. I’m winning the battle, though. Soon I’ll be busily enjoying my new kitchen…. Now, where did I put…?
Sometimes though, you will need to either recycle, or throw away, especially the spices – they lose their potency or flavoring over time! I got rid of so many when I moved out the house! How about a compost pile, or a hazardous waste drop-off?
I know, I know…. I wonder what flavor some veggies would be if I grew them in soil made in such a compost pile…cinnamon potatoes, chili carrots, mustard peas…. As for hazardous waste, you must have caught a glimpse of the condition of my kitchen when I had everything strewn about…as though a bomb had dropped.