A journalism student at Columbia College Chicago, I specialize in environmental and science writing and concentrate my studies in magazine editing and publishing. A bio is available at brandonsmith.com/about.
The paper bag in the center is the contents of my fridge, minus a few things i have to my sister, like a dozen eggs, the leftover root vegetable gratin, and a bottle of wine. I tossed cream cheese, some veggies, and, yes, the lemons. Thus ends the lemon saga.
So i moved. This was the saddest part of it all. I'll soon take a pic of where my cold food is being stored now, in the cooler at my job. I don't have a home per se; hope to soon, though.
A dinner last night filled my fridge! I have several authentic, traditional Mexican dishes: cauliflower cheviche, chicken mole, tomatillo salsa, causa. Also the goose island craft soda...
Mothership Wit (my favorite beer), blueberries, yogurt; spinach, mushrooms and onion for a quiche, cream, celeriac and carrots for a gratin. Also blue potatoes for that. In the door i have two-year white cheddar for the gratin, and emmenthal and jarlesberg for the quiche. It's been so long for an update because i forgot. Why? Because nothing was in my fridge. For the longest time i subsisted on cereal, burritos, and pizza. Don't ask me why.
An open bottle of wine and new mushrooms and an onion grace the shelves. I usually make quiche with onion, cheese and spinach, but today spinach was expensive. So mushrooms it is.
New additions: two dozen eggs and a gallon of non-homogenized jersey milk from green city market. All local. And you can't tell it but i cleaned surfaces for their arrival. Like cleaning your room to accomodate christmas presents.
Got rid of the "muscle milk" (!!) Also i needed to use the vegetable stock tonight so i concocted a meal of boiled grains. Low on food, eh?
Added later: I threw this, tonight's menu, to Facebook as I was cooking it:
"Dinner tonight is weird, not the least of which is the fact it's being started at 11:15 p.m.: Amaranth flavored with curry, Hebrew Date/raisin paste, natural peanut butter. Quinoa with spicy Mexican flavors, Mexican cheeses and sour cream."
Apologies for not posting in so long--i didn't live at home for the longest time. I actually kept passover kosher with my gf for a few days. But now i'm back in the grind. Those are dates, kosher cream cheese and kosher turkey breast on the right.
Added later: What happens? No food disappears in almost two weeks. I gave the girlfriend some money for the groceries I was consuming over there. Luckily I knew I was going there, and trying to keep kosher, so I threw a bunch of perishable and leavened stuff in the freezer: danishes, fresh pizza, cookie dough.
And what was with my camera this time around? I think I stood a little further back when I shot it. I think I was inebriated at the time... guess that's what happens when you try to fit a blog into your normal life.
Last but not least, the lemons are still there. Today was the first time I thought seriously about removing them, because visually (finally!) they're not usable. But I left them for nostalgia's sake. They're part of the story now, and as such, part of my life. I wonder if this the first step toward being a "hoarder." (Did you see the Esquire article on that?) Did you ever leave something in your fridge for this reason?
Although not exactly similar, this reminds me of a funny story. My ex used to have feelings for inanimate objects and I thought it silly; illogical, even. For example, she kept a stuffed animal on the dresser not because of something it meant to her, but rather the feelings IT would have if she put it in the closet. Obviously she wasn't insane—just a sensitive, imaginative person. Eventually I decided to not let it bother me.
One day I bought a new toilet and installed it, leaving the old one on the curb for the garbage service to remove. I could tell it was an original from the early-1970s prairie style house. Getting ready for class the next morning, I caught a glimpse of the garbage men out our front window. Curious about how they would deal with the heavy porcelain, I kept watching. One man hoisted. Another man hit a button. Easy enough. Then the machinery hit the pot's breaking point—CRACK.
The breaking of my heart echoed the breaking of the toilet. All I could think of was, that thing had honorably disposed of 30 years'-worth of human waste, and I forced it to meet its end. I didn't allow myself to rationalize my disposal of the toilet (for example, "where would I have put the damn thing?)... I wanted to feel bad for it. Because I wanted to understand the woman who was my wife. I've never forgotten that.
Went to Trader Joe's, the first time in a long time. Bought a bunch of stuff i normally don't buy: hard cider, kiefer, and kumquats (not pictured) among them. I'm at 3 bottles of wine, and holding 2 for my sister. Need to get to drinking!
Added later: I bought kiefer for the first time after having a sample of the frozen version—think frozen yogurt, but more tart—at a Wicker Park shop. And I've found that you don't want to mix hot salsa with hard cider. The combination creates chemical burns on your tongue. I wish I were kidding!
Milk's gone. Added some english muffins. Been living at the girlfriend's a lot recently so some tomatoes and spinach rots on the bottom shelf.
Added later: Why haven't I thrown out that nasty salad? Just after I snapped this photo I took a lot of the veggies to the girlfriend's house and made a tomato cream sauce. And my professor noticed the lemons, asking "right now I'm curious to see how long those lemons hold out."
I don't know... But I know how we can find out! :D
