Pantry Pride

I spent the better part of today cleaning out the pantry, something that seems to happen only when there is an infestation or I get sufficiently shamed into doing something about the chaos that lies behind that closed door. It had gotten to the point where you could barely walk in and getting something our might send something else crashing to the floor. In this cleaning spree, I learned several things about myself.

I learned how much I forget once something goes on the shelf. I found a total of 4 unopened bottles of apple cider vinegar, obviously the result of running out in my kitchen cabinet and just buying a new one without checking the pantry. Ditto on baking soda, baking powder, BBQ sauce, and a number of other things that were languishing on the shelves.

I was reminded just how much stuff to do with cooking and eating I possess. I have the dishes, “hardware”, and snail shells to serve a lot of escargot. I have artichoke plates. I have not one but two pressure cookers. (When was the last time I used either?) I have an old-fashioned meat grinder my uncle found at the junk yard for me when I was first learning to make gefillte fish. I have an apple machine that peels, cores, and slices them.





I remembered how hard (but necessary) it is to part with enough things to return the pantry to some semblance of order and cleanliness. Today my ancient 5-cup yogurt maker, the Salton sandwich maker, an iced tea maker (bought on a whim at Costco), a Tupperware microwave rice maker, and several other gems moved out, hopefully to find new homes. They are all the kind of thing that brings about $3 at a yard sale.



I realized how much my husband (the pack rat) really appreciates my occasional efforts to clean out and restore order to our house. He grimaced when I suggested that otherwise our entire house would reflect his penchant for making piles and keeping things just in case.

As a reward for all this decision-making and hard labor, I treated myself to a massage by my new therapist whose hands so skillfully work out all the kinks. It was an hour+ of pure nirvana.

It felt good to know I actually accomplished something today besides exercising, practicing the piano, and reading my current book.

Tomorrow I’m moving on to CD’s. This will be the perfect job for me since I do like to categorize and organize. I would like to eventually come up with some sort of data base that reflects the various pieces on all those CD’s and transfer all our old vinyl to CD and... Well, that’s getting a little too ambitious.

These are baby steps in cleaning up a lifetime of things. I cringe at the task that may ultimately be necessary if we ever move into a smaller space. But for now, at least the pantry is clean once again.