Confessions of a Condiment Queen

....or "What I Learned By Cleaning Out the Fridge." I cooked and had leftovers that needed refrigeration. Current state of refrigerator was a no-go on one more damn thing fitting in there, so I was forced to take drastic action and actually--gasp!--CLEAN THE REFRIGERATOR OUT. I learned that I am, clearly and undeniably, my father's daughter. Apparently, the love of mustard, of all flavors, textures and colors, is an inherited trait. AFTER the winnowing of my condiment collection, which still contains Thai red curry paste, fish sauce, and two kinds of steak sauce, I still have NINE jars of mustard which I deemed essential to my happiness. That is nine jars with NO duplicates, mind you. This is after I pitched jars of maple mustard, key lime mustard with ginger and some sweet-hot mustard that were all at least 4 years old and on the dried out side. I got French's yellow mustard, Dijon mustard, horseradish mustard, dill mustard, honey Dijon mustard, Creole mustard, spicy brown mustard, Bertmann's ball park mustard (no Indians' fan's home is complete without it, IMHO, whether or not you actually put it on your hot dog with finely chopped onions just like at Jacobs Field), and whole grain country mustard. Also on the discard list were several bottles of salad dressing, several jars of various peppers, olives and pickles that were surely past their expiration dates by months, if not years. I pitched cocktail sauce and horseradish sauce and regular Jiffy peanut butter (I've gone to natural peanut butter) of unknown origins. That 1/4 inch of lite maple syrup? GONE! Now I just have to tote the bags (dead condiments are surprisingly HEAVY, so more than one bag is necessary) out to the trash. I feel much better now. That is one lurking housecleaning project done. Whew. And now I have room for my bean soup, which wound up being more of a minestrone since I tossed tomatoes and spinach in there along with a Parmesan rind and some ham, and my Chinese leftovers. I made ma po tofu, Szechuan green beans and some braised napa cabbage with mushrooms. With rice on the side, I will have enough for two lunches, which takes care of what I take to work this week.

I'm going to let my lunch digest and then I am hitting the weights this afternoon and doing a yoga tape. Tomorrow I plan on doing laundry and finishing sorting out the filing in the spare room, which will certainly free up my guest bed.

This is the year for changes. My friend Debbie has up and moved to NH this weekend and my friend Patty is in the process of moving from Washington, DC to Tampa for the Postal Service! So many other friends also seem to be in transitions. Like we've all been stuck in a rut and have finally got the wheels under us again. It's good to see!

My friend Meg came to visit last night for a girls night in. We ate tortilla chips and dip and drank coffee while watching "48 Hours". She brought over a book that she's written with her son about bipolar disorder. It's a children's type book, and it turned out wonderfully. She printed it up herself. I was terribly impressed with how it turned out. I think it's very educational, even for grown people!

Okay. Going to go back to work. Or maybe I will just go watch Bobby Flay's "Boy Meets Grill". I live in a two-bedroom apartment with no balcony where the closest grill for me is out by the complex lake after a trek through goose shit. I think I will just refuse to grill until I can have a whole damn rooftop and the mother of all Weber grills at my disposal!