Pre-Travel Preparation

If I didn’t travel, I would never clean out my refrigerator. There is a secret pleasure to a comfortingly full fridge that sometimes spills over into collector’s mania. My fridge contained the usual condiments like pickles, olives, sauerkraut, maple syrup, streusel, chocolate sauce with and without alcohol (I see you, M), dairy and nondairy:  milks, spreads and toppings, and the unusual: four kinds of cultures to make cheese, rennet, coconut, almond, spelt, whole wheat pastry and whole wheat flours, three kinds of butter. There is family lore about JG’s fridge, when I first dated him. My first time over at his place I peered into the vast deserted wasteland of a fridge containing only beer and a jar of capers. Thanks to the 44 years of our association, he now adds taco sauce and Italian dressing to his fridge must-haves. Where did all the contents go? Some of you who received goody bags of sesame oil, jam, mayonnaise, Meyer lemons, and goat cheese know. I gave it away to those who would be untroubled ingesting food close to or past its Best By date. Thank you for not wasting!