SusieJ's Advent Calendar December 18, 2009

Confession: Hoarding

There are no mazes of newspapers (or cookbooks), but the cabinets do tend to attack. I buy too many things without a definite plan (or without the time to execute the plan) and then they sit there.

The cooking spice cabinet holds juniper berries for any game that might pass through the kitchen, annatto for beans and rice, sumac for a recipe from Jorj's aunt Anne, two kinds of garam masala, "Japanese seasoning," and srirachi. The baking spice cabinet has nuts from last year (the poor hazelnuts), vanilla wafers for rum balls and a bag of instant masa. There are pudding mixes, instant gravies (better than one might think), and jars from Asian groceries with labels that are mostly incomprehensible.

If a recipe calls for only half a thing, the rest is saved. We are forever throwing out rock-hard oranges that have have been completely zested. Egg whites freeze well, as does lemon juice, but both fall to the bottom of the freezer drawer, only to be re-discovered when one is desperately looking for any chicken nuggets whatsoever.

"Free" things are devilishly hard to throw away. The plasticware from takeout is arranged very precisely so as not to topple onto anyone but, apparently, my husband. On the other hand, they are much easier to throw away after holding a half-serving of leftovers for four weeks. There's also a tower of glass honey jars that need to return to Germany for Uncle Albert's beekeeping.

[Christmas trees for sale in Manhattan.]