My Kitchen: Introduction

Last night, I tossed and turned in a sea of tissues. No amount of cough syrup, Vicks or chamomile tea helped, I was just plain sick. I tried several times "Ok, one more cup of tea, shot of the syrup, slather of Vicks and this time, I'll fall asleep!" In between tries, I pulled my laptop out in exasperation and perused a trillion different food blogs. I found some great sites, met some new characters and although I was awfully sleepy and quite a bit groggy, I felt inspired. One site featured different people, what their refrigerator staples were, favorite utensils etc. I thought about featuring my own kitchen and eating habits in a similar fashion and before you know it, I was leaping out of the bed at 4am to photograph the interior of my freezer.

So, here it is, my kitchen. Red walls and a black-and-white checkered floor, which happens to be the bane of my existence. Oh, it's cute and all but whoever created textured linoleum was a masochist and I gave up trying to keep that floor clean three years ago. In fact, I despise cleaning this particular floor so much that I complete the task over the course of days, doing the bit by the refrigerator on Sunday and the bit by the counter on Monday and so on, thereby ensuring that it is never, EVER completely clean.



Freezer: It's not too bad, well, it's a mess but it's not overly packed. Now, that is. For months, I have been trying to whittle down its contents in anticipation of my departure for Chile. Usually, I keep the freezer stocked as if I am expecting some dystopic future in which I have to fight rabid dogs and fierce gangs of raggedy-clothed urchins for an apple core or potato peel. Often I will have 5 pounds of chicken breast, a roasting chicken, pork ribs, 4-5 pounds of ground turkey, 4-5 pounds of ground chicken, 2 pounds of shrimp and a few pieces of assorted fish. There is no need for a single person to stockpile over 20 pounds of meat, along with a tray of stuffed shells, a couple pounds of meatballs, a vat or two of red sauce, half a quiche and several containers of soup. Right now, I have a steak, a couple chicken breasts and some shrimp. That's impressive. I also save leftover egg yolks and egg whites that I have NEVER used yet gamely continue to freeze and discard in a timely fashion. If I'm feeling particularly ambitious, I'll whiz up a base of peppers, onions, garlic and aromatics, split that into individual portions and freeze so it's ready to roll for me when I'm making a host of stews and soups. Kinda like that Martha Stewart tip to freeze leftover wine in ice cube trays for later use. Except, weirdly, I never seem to have any leftover wine.



Refrigerator: Yeah, that's a cheesecake you see in there. Chambord cheesecake with a walnut crust for the holiday party that I HOPE I can go to tonight, what with this winter storm and all. Anyway, I don't usually have cheesecake in there but I wanted to document it while I did. What I always have in there; soy milk, yogurt, Brita, romano cheese, butter, eggs, ginger, different color onions in various stages of use and a lemon or two. I, of course, have a rotating list of fruits and vegetables which change with the season, some tofu or other protein as well as numerous condiments (fish sauce, creole mustard, dijon mustard, wasabi, crawfish boil, Frank's Red Hot, Tabasco, sesame seeds, apricot preserves), but I consider the above list my absolute must-haves. Other must-haves that I do not keep in the refrigerator are olive oil, coffee beans, oatmeal, cold cereal, granola and garlic. Invariably when I start a meal, I reach for onions without having a clear idea what I'm going to ultimately end up with. I am a huge garlic fan as well but the onion-green, red, mayan, sweet, vidalia, carmelized, shallot, leek-is my true love. I also always have some rice or quinoa, pasta or other starch but I could go days without giving them any thought and then eat them nonstop for an entire week.

I'm realizing I could go on like this for hours so I'll stop now and promise titillating future installments with grabbing titles such as My Kitchen: The Spice Cabinet or My Kitchen: How Many Types of Cheese Does One Need?

Disclaimer: Cut me some slack, ok? I realize my freezer and refrigerator are in disarray but I took the pictures in the wee hours this morning and, let's be frank here, I'm not planning on sprucing it up in the next few days soooo......