What's In My Fridge?

Looking into a person’s refrigerator is like looking into their soul. What will you see when you open the door? Will you like what you see there? Will its emptiness betray an emptiness of spirit? Or will there be goblins like that scene in Ghostbusters with Bill Murray and Sigourney Weaver?

A long time ago when I lived in Atlanta with my friend Lauren, I showed you the contents of my fridge. Looking back on that post now, I feel like I’m looking at the soul of a different person. Our fridges change as we change and now that I’ve been food blogging for almost five years (“lord have mercy!”) it’s time to peek in again and see how I’m different. Are you ready? Here we go….

Why what’s that we have there? That’s the lasagna I made for Craig’s parents when they came last week. It’s, of course, a Barefoot Contessa recipe–her lasagna with turkey sausage from her Family Style book. Of course, I swapped the turkey sausage for real sausage and it was that much more decadent. A big hit that Craig will be having for dinner tonight, even though it’s a week old. (He’ll heat it up in a pot because we don’t have a microwave. I think that’s funny.)

There’s a bottle of wine from last night’s dinner. I made my famous roast chicken with potatoes and served a Macon-Lugny Chardonnay from France (don’t worry, I didn’t memorize that: I just went into the fridge to read the label.) It was minerally and light; I’d prefer a more robust Chardonnay next time.

You’ll see a beer left from the six-pack we bought a few days ago for company. The beer is resting on anchovies that I use to make various sauces and salad dressings. Next to it is Crisco which I haven’t used since last summer when I made pie. On top of that is creme fraiche that I bought from Key Foods and that isn’t really that good (I much prefer the Ronnybrook brand I can get at Union Market). Next to that you’ll see mayo which I rarely use and next to that the Lingonberry jam from Ikea that’s just ok. And then, of course, our Brita filter.

Let’s look at the top shelf:

The top shelf is where things get a little crazier. There are lots of egg cartons, mostly because Barefoot Contessa recipes require extra-large eggs so I have the eggs I bought for her souffle and then just a random scramble (pun intended) of other eggs I’ve purchased over the last few weeks. I see Lolita’s canned cat food which I give her in small portions every now and then. I see cherry tomatoes that I need to throw out. I see a bottle of horseradish I used in the smoked salmon spread that you see in that checkered bowl. There’s sour cream and the milk Craig’s parents bought. There’s grainy mustard we like to eat with our chicken. There’s black currant mustard I bought at the Italian import store at the Chelsea Market, but I haven’t tried it yet. There’s more anchovies from the Caesar I made with the lasagna. There’s thyme from the chicken. And in the very back left pancetta that I also bought from the Italian import store.

Now let’s look in the side door of the fridge:

Oh no, I’m almost out of butter! (I buy big blocks of four sticks and go through them like water.) There’s cheese wrapped in plastic for grating on pasta; there’s cream cheese from 8 million years ago that I should throw out. There’s hot sauce and mustard and I see my baking soda and more anchovies and a carton of sun-dried tomatoes that I should also throw out.

And that, my friends, is the inside of your fridge. Do you feel like you know me better? Are you scared by what you’ve seen? Do you dare show us the inside of YOUR refrigerator? If you do, write a post and link to it in the comments.

From my fridge to yours,

The A.G.