Lurking in the back of the cupboard - hidden treasures

"Clutter is delayed decisions" Less Mess

When I went to find the jar for making that limoncello I talked about the other day I got a surprise. In the jar were some cumquats in brandy! I had completely forgotten about them. I had not ever intended to eat the cumquats, and I did commit the sin of throwing the cumquats away, because actually I was just trying to make some cumquat brandy. And I now have a bottle.

It's probably not that good and the bottle is a bit daggy but it's all I could find at the time, and I needed the jar for the limoncello. Perhaps we'll try it after dinner with our friends next Saturday, or maybe I should cunningly work it into my menu. There was a tiny bit leftover, that I confess I tipped into the lemon marmalade which was today's task. Don't think you can taste it all. So that was a bit of a waste. And I'm really kicking myself for throwing the cumquats away. I should have just packed them into a smaller jar with a bit of the brandy and maybe some sugar. Another proof, if you needed one, that I am not a true gourmet.

But it made me think of all the other things I have tucked away in the back of my pantry - and don't let's even think about the fridge. I don't even dare look really. Every now and then - and I mean very much very occasionally, I do go through the pantry and throw things out. But I think the last time might have been when we christened the new kitchen which must be coming up for three (or is it four?) years ago now.

When I looked for inspiration on the net for this article I mostly found articles from companies in the business of providing storage solutions, but I did find one bit of common-sense advice if you are ever thinking of tidying up - and it applies to anything really. Even life itself. Four rules for what you find:

"Keep - in this area

Rubbish

Give away

Keep - somewhere else in the house" Less Mess

There are two main things I have got out of this exercise. How time flies. It must be at least a year since I put those cumquats in the drinks cupboard - down at the bottom with spare glasses and empty glass boxes (now why do I keep them?). And when I do get around to sorting through the back of my cupboard, I am often amazed and somewhat horrified by the use by date on the things I find. Some of them are years old.

And I'm not going to talk about whether to use them or not because of their age. That's a whole other issue.

And the other thing - which again is proof of what an ungourmet-like person I am - is the nature of the things at the back of the cupboard. Or maybe it's an indication of how dull my life is. Because most of those things are exotic and special. I put them there for a special occasion and then never get to them until it's too late. Some of them were presents, so there is an added layer of guilt.

The final bit of advice I came across, that I thought worth passing on, is to put old stuff at the front and new stuff at the back. So maybe what I should do is - each week, or month even - bring out one of these hidden treasures - put it on my work bench so that it's in front of me all the time and USE IT!!! Every day is special and a gift after all, when you have reached my age - no always - so use something special every day. Now do we have any ice-cream? - because I think there's a bottle of chocolate grand mariner sauce somewhere.