Spooky Stuff

To get myself in the mood for Hallowe'en, I decided to clean out my refrigerator. There's more scary stuff in there than in all of Transylvania.

I discovered the molasses, for example, that I was searching for back in September when I made the pear cake - I knew it was in the house somewhere but I never thought to check the fridge.

I rather expected to find the ancient tub of crême fraiche would be growing greenish-gray spots (and it was) and I wasn't surprised to find a different sort of fungus growing on the little bit of homemade peach jam I had left too long, but who knew that straight lemon juice would grow the most dramatic mold of all, proving beyond a doubt that life can exist in every milieu, no matter how harsh? I expect they will find mold growing on Mars once we get there.

The worst of the scary finds was surely the six big shrimp that I tucked away in the fridge back when I was making the shrimp soup - not so very long ago, really - figuring I'd save them from overcooking by adding new ones when I reheated the soup - only, they got pushed back behind something else and forgotten. Luckily, they were well wrapped or I'd have gagged getting them out to the garbage can.

Do you recall the episode of the TV show "Dinosaurs" called "When Good Food Goes Bad?" The contents of their fridge come alive and kidnap the baby dinosaur while the teenage dinos are babysitting. It comes vividly to mind whenever I clean out my fridge.

Happy Hallowe'en!