Clean the fridge, clean the slate

Weekend Foodie Project

When Reg lost his job when we lived in a burb on a mountain in BC, one of the things I did to feel like I was in control was clean. Lately, I have been feeling out of control. Spinning around in circles, not knowing what is going to happen in our lives. I have kept myself so busy that I no longer felt grounded.

It was almost a treat to have a quiet Sunday to ourselves and take on the project of cleaning the fridge. We used to have to so much time on our own back then that cleaning was almost a hobby. I decided to take the opportunity to really delve into the ritual once again and really clean my damn fridge.

The hard part for me is the mess. I really do not like mess. Plus, I was in the process of making Reg’s lunch for work the next day and prepping dinner at the same time. OK, I bit off more than I can chew, it’s true. Oh there is a sneak peek at my new blender! I can’t wait to write about it!

Oh geeze… See what I mean? Stay focused Suzie… Stay focused…

Back to cleaning

I decided to not just clean my fridge but go through every flippin’ jar of whatever I had and check expiry dates. Trust me, there is nothing worse than getting sick from a funky salad dressing. I speak from experience.

I was shocked at some of the rejected items! First, there were some that I just did not like and decided to toss. It made me so sad to see so many Asian sauces had gone past their expiry date. Very revealing! I have not been doing enough Asian-inspired cooking. I realized that has got to change!

Also, the tiny jar of tahini I got had turned hard as a rock. I thought I could get through one jar before it went bad but I didn’t. I am going to buy store-bought hummus from now on. I just do not make it often enough from scratch and store-bought hummus these days is quite awesome.

Oh I was already feeling so much better!

It took me an hour to really give everything a good scrub, go through the food and put everything back in. Yes, I still have more sauces than I have produce but produce is heavy! It is hard to get home but I am going to try and stock up on real food soon.

Realizations

I wanted to clear the foodie plate and start fresh. See life with new eyes. This has helped me come to some realizations. I am discovering that I want to include food in my life in ways I never dreamed possible.

First, isn’t this cupcake hat adorable?! My friend Janet made this cupcake hat just for me! We traded for it. You can read about it here. I love the idea of wearing food-inspired clothing. Wearing a cupcake hat makes me very happy.

I am falling in love with making foodie pendants like this blue glazed donut with icing draped all over it.

I edged even closer to making “real food” foodie pendants with this butterfly candy pendant.

In this video I talk about and show how I am working on a “Spicy Foodie” pendant. I would love to hear your ideas on foodie pendants too. The more the merrier.

In my weekend foodie vlog I share that I am going to be delving into the cookbook I bought just for me The Spice Bible: Essential Information and More Than 250 Recipes Using Spices, Spice Mixes, and Spice Pastes and you know what? I think I am going to make those Shanghai Noodles this week!

Conclusion

Yes, a clean fridge is a clean slate. Clearing out the mess in my brain, getting more focused, figuring out what I want to do to bring food more into my life… Sometimes it is good to hit a wall. It helps you realize that you are not going in quite the right direction. It just takes a while to brush the dust off the map, get your bearings and take off again.

This foodie is back on track.