What's in your kitchen? Fresh, frozen or processed, April 21

 Refrigerator

• Yellow pepper
• Red pepper
• Red leaf lettuce
• Baby spinach
• Green beans
• Carrots
• Cauliflower
• Peas, frozen
• Olives
• Broccoli
• Cantaloupe
• Pineapple
• Blue berries
• Strawberries
• Red grapes
• Grape Tomatoes
• Oranges
• Cheese, cheddar, American, Parmesan, Cream
• Whole Milk
• Half and Half creamer
• Eggs, fresh and hard cooked
• Butter
• Orange juice
• Apple cider
• Pork loin
• Ham
• Hamburger
• Bacon
• Sausage
• Salmon
• Condiments
• Frozen tater tots
• Ice cream cups, vanilla
• Frozen biscuits
• Homemade sandwiches, meat and cheese on buns
• Chocolate cookies, bakery

Cupboards

• Bananas
• Sweet Potatoes
• Russet Potatoes
• Pretzels
• Soda crackers
• Walnuts
• Rice brown, pasta
• Canned soups, various
• Canned beans, corn, peas
• Canned fruit pieces, various
• Fruit juices, single serving
• Cake mixes, various
• Cheerios
• Oatmeal
• Oat Bran
• Raisins
• Tea bags
• Tea, herbal
• Coffee, decaf
• baking supplies, spices, condiments
• Olive oil
• Coconut oil
• Vinegar
• Cocoa, dark 100% Cacao
• Honey, local

Turmeric

What do you do with turmeric? "Turmeric has a peppery, warm and bitter flavor and a mild fragrance slightly reminiscent of orange and ginger, and while it is best known as one of the ingredients used to make curry, it also gives ballpark mustard its bright yellow color."
WHFoods: Turmeric

While I was cooking lunch today (onions, green beans and corn), I looked through my spice shelf. Hmmm. Things were looking a bit long in the tooth. It's the ones without dates that I'm worried about--you know, the ones that cost less than a dollar, and are stamped with a purple stamp. How many years has that been? Some with dates were 2005. All in all, I removed 10 cans/bottles. What was I thinking? I'm a salt, pepper, cinnamon, allspice type of cook. My former daughter-in-law was a fabulous cook and used interesting spices. Maybe she inspired me to try something different. Some may be from that era--others may have been from our first apartment in 1960 when I was really adventurous.

Incidentally, I really like The World's Healthiest Foods website. Whenever I want to know something about food or nutrition I turn there. Love the bibliographies. It's a librarian thing.

I left blogger dot com and Facebook for six days, and both changed their templates and/or security/announcement system while I was gone!

How do you clean sticky Tupperware?

In my pretend move, I'm reaching to the back of the tall kitchen cupboards, standing on a chair. And what do I find? A large Tupperware canister, suitable for a one lb sack of potato chips or a few dozen cookies. It is so sticky, it almost wouldn't leave my hand once I took hold. The usual things I try don't work. Is it decomposing? Is it absorbing chemicals from the cupboard finish? Is this left over potato chip grease from the 1960s? So I go to the internet and google "how to clean sticky Tupperware" and someone suggests Bon Ami, which is the only ceramic cleaner I use. I dampen my piece of Bounty and go to work. Wow. This really works. And while I was at it, I buffed up a handmade ceramic bowl I found in there too that had some marks on it probably from metal. From the color scheme--gray, gold, taupe and cream, I'm guessing early to mid-1980s, and probably purchased at an artsy-fartsy shop here in Columbus, or at an art show. The name on the bottom is huge both upper and lower case, Wilks. So I google that and find a Kelly Wilks from Arkansas who works in clay, and I e-mail the supply house with which she is associated and teaches. Waiting to see if I've found the artist.