The Mystery Kitchen

I have a habit of re-using things, especially in my kitchen. I hate to only use a jar or container one time and then throw it away. I keep the plastic jars A.'s instant coffee comes in, the empty containers of cottage cheese and sour cream, any glass jars, ziploc bags if I can easily wash them (so not if they've had anything really greasy or raw meat in them), and of course, canning jars and lids get used over and over again. 

Most of these things end up in my freezer at some point, and I always label things I put in my freezer, on the lid with a permanent marker. Most of my food containers have been labeled more than once. Sometimes so many times I run out of space on the lids or on the bags.

It's kind of funny to track what's been in the containers with that particular lid.

One lid is new and still has the original label. The other one? First it had chicken stock, then ham stock, then pinto beans, and now the jambalaya base I froze last month.

This lid first had pressure-canned pinto beans in 2023, then rooster stock in 2023, then sauerruben in 2024.

What this means is that you can never trust the lid that's on a container to actually tell you what's in that container. That canning jar lid, for instance, is currently on a jar containing pickled radishes and onions. It's not sauerruben.

Likewise, sour cream or cottage cheese containers are just as likely to have leftover baked beans or tomato sauce in them as the dairy products suggested by their labels.

This is why when my sister visits, she always holds up whatever she's taken out of the refrigerator and asks what's really in it. Because it really could be anything, and only I can tell for sure.

So tell me: Do you do this? Or do all your containers tell the truth about their contents?

Snapshots: Roadtrip

I had to go get milk yesterday, which meant a 120-mile drive, roundtrip. 

At least it's 120 miles of no traffic, though.

Poppy asked to come with me and had a great time. She chattered and sang with the music and read her book.

Benji, in case you were curious.

I let her pick out a snack to eat on the way home, so she munched her Pringles and juice (and read the ingredients on them) and finished Benji.

She's a good travel buddy.

At home, the daffodils continue to bloom.

The white ones are starting to open now.

So of course, I have some on my table.

Also, the little peach tree in the garden has flowers on it.

Possible future peach, Lord willin' and the grasshoppers don't eat it.

The row of tulips on the other side of the garden wall are better protected now that I've surrounded them with rocks to keep the dogs off of that spot.

One of the tulip crushers, looking very innocent now that he can't lie down on the flowers anymore.

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.