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The celebration of the Chinese New Year actually starts a few weeks before the actual New Year Day, and one of the traditions is preparation for the new year by cleaning the house. Chinese people believe that the house should receive a thorough cleaning in order to "sweep" away any bad luck that has accumulated in the house over the past year.Now I'm not one for sweeping in my house, since I have carpeting, but I do like the idea of "cleaning house," or at the very least, my kitchen. Last year, I made it a point to look through the drawers, and force myself to part with gadgets that I know I will never use: a garlic peeler, a melon baller, etc. This year, I decided to look through my pantry and do an exorcism. Admittedly, it needed it. There were cans of vegetables that expired sometime last year, a small bag of all-purpose flour that was also expired (I didn't do much baking last year), and spices that were definitely long past their prime. Yes, it hurt me to toss them into the trash, but it gives me an excuse to buy anew!
What do you have in your kitchen that's past its prime and needs to be thrown out? Don't be shy...
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2-17-2007 @3:08PM Josh Woodward said... I don't do much baking, either, so when I tried to make a batch of pancakes last weekend, it took me awhile to figure out why they didn't rise. The baking powder that had expired in 2002 was one possible culprit. :-/
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2-17-2007 @11:42PM bdw said... I buy my spices at the local ethnic stores, Indian, Chinese, and Mexican, fresher and about 20% of what Spice Islands or McCormick charges at Stop & Shop. I store it in the freezer in a ziplock bag, and if I have to throw it out after a year or two, it's not so expensive that I gnash my teeth and kick the cat. I didn't use 79 cents worth of dill seed, for instance,or all 59 cents worth of cloves.
What did hurt was when some dried pozole I bought from Shoprite was infested with weevels and I ended up tossing about $120+ worth of flour, cornmeal, cornstarch, bisquick, oatmeal, rice, etc, and spent another $60 fumigating the house. Bitter? You bet. Next time I was at Shoprite I noticed an infested pozole bag again, and stalked into a manager's meeting, tossed it on the table and informed them of their dereliction, without, by the way, discussing the obvious shortcommings of their ancestors. "What's weevels?" they wanted to know, so I told them and stalked out. BTW I look like and used to be a 300 pound bar fighter. Next time I noticed, the pozole was gone and the door had a lock on it, but if I see more infested pozole, they're gonna need a better lock, or a new door.
Oh, and my sister in law gave me a cheese knife with a 90 degree angled blade to cut cheese cubes. Salvation Army. Somebody is using it to cut cubes out of a round of Gouda, but that's not me. She gave me an apple corer, too. I use a knife. And I peel garlic by crushing it mercilessly with the side of my hand.
Okay, I'm off to conquer England.
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2-17-2007 @3:31PM jason said... tumeric
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2-17-2007 @3:13PM Angela Pitt said... My boyfriend when he tries to cook. I guess I shouldn't complain, huh? He should at least get credit for trying.
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2-17-2007 @11:40PM producestories said... I have a jar of lemon curd in my refrigerator that I have tried to throw out a couple of times, only to find it's stuck to the refrigerator shelf...so it's still there.
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2-17-2007 @11:40PM kindli said... around our place its a weekly purge of the fridge (if we did it yearly we'd be in big trouble)... what's expired (the sour cream from janunary, the yogurt from december of last year --oops!), the molding green beans, the badly bruised fruit... then the items are put on the grocery list and we hope to remember they're there for next time. ha!
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2-17-2007 @11:36PM Jennifer said... A month ago, my stepsister and I tackled our parents' pantry, from which nothing has been disposed in at least 10 years. My favorite items from the process were a Lake Michigan ferry postcard that had no business in the pantry and a box of Pepperidge Farm Distinctive Stuffing with an expiration date of October 1993.
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2-17-2007 @11:37PM Chef JoAnna said... Someone came over for Thanksgiving dinner one year, and brought a box of Stove Top Stuffing. (thanks for not coming over empty handed, but HUH?) I kept it for the novelty, but finally decided that I didn't want to move it to my new house.
My friend K...... doesn't cook, but her parents bring her cans and boxes and jars of food on a regular basis. Stuff that's so old, it had to have been expired when they brought it! I purge her cabinets every so often, lest she try to eat something and poison herself (if she doesn't burn her own kitchen down!)
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2-17-2007 @11:37PM AL said... Ground mustard, at least 8 yrs old and fish sauce 6 yrs old, though it smelled fine, its been in the fridge the whole time.
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2-17-2007 @11:21PM thefishie said... It never fails something canned is in need of being tossed from my pantry. More than likely it's some sort of soup that I bought thinking "oh I can use that in ..." and I never made the dish.
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2-18-2007 @5:05PM mmm said... I was over at my pops house the other day and did some pantry cleaning. Found spices from the 70's. He insisted the saffron was still good. He let me throw the opened jar of cardamom best before 1986 though.
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2-19-2007 @12:15AM Colleen said... We're moving on March 1st so tomorrow I tackle the pantry. No telling what I find in there -- it's an old kitchen and the shelves are deep and made of dark wood so you can't see a thing. I'm afraid to even stick my hand in there, really.
A question, though: What is that fabulous spice gadget in the picture, and where can I get it?
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2-20-2007 @3:45PM Adriane said... This makes me feel so much better about my fridge.. and pantry..ahem..and cabinets..
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2-21-2007 @4:04PM jackie said... Even though I went to culinary school, my mom likes to give me "just add eggs, milk and water" type of bagged pastries. I have some Wild Raspberry Scone mix that she gave me about 3 years ago. I'm scared to open it. Why did I take it with me when I moved last August?
Also, for some bizarre reason, I got a box of Annie Chung's Pad Thai noodles in treats bag after running a half-marathon. I haven't run a half-marathon in about 4 years. Again, why don't I get rid of this stuff when I move! I think this box has been moved TWICE! (and maybe have been in storage for a while.)
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