I took a good look at my pantry yesterday and wrote down a list of all the non-standard items (stuff besides flour, sugar and the like) in it for future reference. I have all kinds of kewl stuff in there that I always forget about when I'm planning menus so I figured that if I had it on a list that I can pull up on my computer when I'm planning my meals for the week, I might be inspired by one of those ingredients to get creative. Here is a partial list of what I have in my pantry and freezer: curry sauces, cous cous, dried figs, apricots and prunes, tiny rice, coconut milk, cream of coconut, canned salmon, grits, artichoke hearts, red beans and rice mix, South Carolina low-country red rice mix, Thai rice sticks (for making phad thai noodles), bean threads, thin soba noodles, muffaletta olive salad, green peppercorns in brine, capers, caper berries, miso, polenta (just for when Mary comes to visit), gyoza skins, Kalamata olives, mango chutney, ground veal, Italian sausages, pork roast.... There are some mundane things like Kraft dinner, Hamburger Helper (Ed requested it, I promise!!!), and Rice-a-Roni.

The reason I ended up with such an eclectic pantry is that I like to trawl in gourmet grocery stores and in stores like Trader Joe's for interesting things, but then I end up forgetting that I have it so then I buy more stuff and put it in the pantry. This stuff tends to get tucked into corners and top shelves and behind things like canned soup and tomato sauce. So, I'm determined to use all this great stuff I have. I'll return and report as I use the goodies.

Joey lost her TV privileges today when she turned to me and said, in a voice dripping with sarcasm, "What now, Genius?" I know that she got that from something she saw on TV. We don't talk like that here and I've never heard anything like that from her school friends. She doesn't watch much TV as it is (30 minutes per day, maximum, except on weekends when we let her watch maybe 90 minutes in the morning when we're trying to catch a few extra ZZzzzz) but I think we're going to have to monitor what she watches more closely.

She likes to watch Rugrats and I can just imagine that little rat Angelica saying something like that. Or maybe it was one of those pesky Powerpuff Girls (though I love that show). Might they have said such a thing on Scooby Doo? Or perhaps Digimon or Pokemon? Those are the shows she chooses to watch when she gets her 30 minutes and so far (except for Rugrats), I haven't seen anything worth objecting to on them. Maybe I'll have to pay closer attention to them and see what she's hearing. You know, now that I think of it, they rascally little Brady kids said things like that all the time, along with calling each other Stupid, Dum-Dum, and Dummy a lot (never understood why that was allowed--it sure wasn't at our house!). Maybe I'll have to ban the Brady Bunch. ::wry g::

I cooked a mighty fine corned beef with cabbage tonight. It was really good! I made it a few times last winter and when I saw it in the grocery store last week I had to get some. Mmmm.

It was a quiet, grey, rainy day. I loved it. This time of year, I welcome the rain and the coming of winter. Of course, by January, I'm hating it but right now I love it.

--L