Pat Coakley of Singleforareason fame, has issued a couple of interesting blog challenges recently. There was the ‘What’s on your refrigerator?’ challenge, and now there’s the revealing ‘What’s in your refrigerator?’
Here’s why I didn’t participate in the first fridge challenge:
See? There’s nothing ON my fridge. Usually I love weird and whacky magnets, but we currently have wood covering our refrigerator, so nothing sticks to it apart from post-it notes and I’m working hard to stem my addiction to those. What’s NEXT to the fridge is a calendar of beautiful French scenery, including lots of inspiration in the form of market stall pictures. Less interesting is that vertical group of white pipes to the right. It’s some sort of ancient radiator which we leave turned off because, when it’s on, it has a habit of making sounds like a UFO landing on the roof, which can be somewhat disconcerting when it happens at 3 in the morning.
Here’s the fun part. What’s IN our fridge:
On the top shelf we have orange juice, San Pellegrino (our favourite water), a couple of Coronas for post-work feet-up time and wine. This is NOT a tee-total flat, as is immediately obvious.
On the next shelf down is some Bonne Maman jam for tartines at the weekend, butter, garlic pulp for moments when the fresh bulbs are too dry to use, rouille for soupe de poissons and that nasty lemon juice that comes in a plastic lemon bottle. I prefer the real deal, but somehow this plasticky thing found its way here so there it stays until it expires.
Third shelf down is parmesan cheese which we use on everything from Caesar salads to pasta sauces, more milk (semi-skimmed), croutons for salads, coffee for Monsieur’s utter madam of a coffee machine (highly temperamental and sees me coming every time), feta cheese for Greek salads, salad onions, free-range eggs and a wicked raclette platter of charcuterie and cheese.
At the bottom we have Dijon mustard, more butter (has to be Président, a mild French brand, for Monsieur), half a cucumber, prosciutto and a bag full of raclette cheese from the French farmers’ market that tempts me out of the office whenever they come to town.
Hidden away in the drawers are lots of salad ingredients, fresh herbs (dill, basil, parsley, chives) tuna steaks, chicken breasts and a selection of French dried sausage in three varieties: duck, wild boar and tomme de chevre (goat’s milk cheese). I still haven’t tried the tomme de chevre type, but am curious to see how cheese works in a dried sausage. Hmmm. Intriguing.
I think you can probably now understand why Monsieur and I are destined never, ever to be size zero.
Epicurienne 
Well, this is simply why I blog. Which is also why I love art. And, artists. Something ordinary becomes extraordinary.
Not only am I unfamiliar with “raclette”, tomme de chevre, rouille, tartines, I’ve never had dried sausage in either of three varieties.
The day I have wild boar dried sausage in my refrigerator is a day to mark on your French calendar. Mark it under “frogs fell from sky” day.
I do relate to Top Shelf, however! San Pelligrino and Coronas.
Thanks for this! Honestly, I’m going to link to all these things you’ve taken the time to highlight and learn what in hell you have in your refrigerator after all.
We are definitely having dinner at your house or Razz. I am out of my league here. And, totally fine with it, too. I like being the innocent!
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Hi Pat,
just remembered, there are also some of Spud’s baby brothers in there! Damn. How could I forget them?
Looking forward to “frogs fell from sky” day. When we meet for dinner there will definitely be dried boar sausage and lots and lots of CHEEEEEESE!
Thanks for the challenge and will try to get the others done soon.
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Yep, lots of cheese in that fridge. “Hope you’ve got teflon coated arteries”, says he who made Gratin Dauphinoise with half a kilo of Gruyère last night.
As for raclette, a Swiss friend used to make it. Very tasty but oh-so bad. I’ve got to take a lipitor (anti-cholesterol drug) now just for thinking about the stuff.
I have to admit though, I do have sausage envy!
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Hi Razz,
well, we probably only have raclette 4 or 5 times per year so that may just save our lives. Cheese is my chocolate so most of the time I refuse to buy it…
At that French farmers’ market I refer to above there is a man who sells soft goats cheese rolled in herbs or peppercorns or other tasty bits n pieces. I have to avoid avoid avoid him because I could eat one of those rolls with no help required. Bad bad bad bad bad.
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I’m stating for the record: That despite warnings against it, and elevated cholesterol levels ( #@$$!*),
I have CHEESE envy, reading your post.
It’s very evident that yours is a kitchen devoted to everything I can relate to ( or elate to !). Fab food, appreciation of said food, and well stocked at all times.
I love this series that Pat started, and I’ve been reading your comments for a long while and laughing out loud.
Thanks for visiting mine and leaving your wonderful comments about foods of the world and how true that is.
I don’t miss fresh apples so much when attamoya (?) are in season.
Bon Appetit- toujours!
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Well, Bonnie, I think you have landed on your feet in a place where you can eat such beautiful fruit, paint and enjoy Mango parties!
Did I mention that I love the Sandman crab song? Seriously amazing eyes on that little guy…
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Cheeeeeese – hmmm. Totally yumscious. However, also want to share one rather random postcard which has made it onto my fridge – completely off-piste from the foodie chat but makes me laugh every time I read it. It is Bridgett Applewhait’s tombstone, found in Bramfield Church in Suffolk. It can be found here, with an article about other entertaining tombstones (is that possible?!) in the UK. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1563985/BBC-reveals-Britain's-most-unusual-epitaphs.html
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WWW – darnit – getting 404-ed by the Telegraph page. Any chance of e-mailing it to me so I can post new link? BTW bonne chance pour demain…
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