Yesterday, I was looking for a pouch of charcuterie meat that I was sure was in the fridge. I hosted book club last night, and I thought I would use it. The thing is, I KNEW I had seen it a couple days ago. And it’s a flat tray thing, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find. I usually keep flat tray things in the long drawer that goes across the entire width of the fridge. I admit, searching gave me a chance to clean the fridge, keeping the food items that are on the edge of being good, so I can toss them next week, since I had no plan to actually eat those items. 

A thought occurred to me while I was looking. Could the flat tray thing have slidden (is that even a word?) off the back of the drawer and fallen under the drawer so perfectly flat that it became undetectable? Certainly not, right? Wouldn’t it impinge on the closing of the drawer? I had just spent some time a few days prior fishing food from behind the giant freezer drawers. I knew that something was there because the drawers wouldn’t close. Am I the only one that HATES the freezer drawers? Is there a company that makes a normal top freezer with a double door fridge on the bottom? I spend significant time fishing food from behind the drawers that has fallen from the top of the stuff I have jammed in the freezer. I can hear food falling down as I pull open the drawer, while I yell, “NO! NO! NO!” After that, the drawer doesn’t close because the food item blocks it. So, it demands immediate attention. But, at least I knew it was there, as I tried to use tongs to grab or slide the item out from under the freezer drawer. Colorful language is assumed. Last weekend, I required Tayden to grab the food items from one side as I whacked at it from the other. He said, “Who thought this design was a good idea?” Someone who doesn’t stuff their freezer full of food probably. 

Back to the charcuterie tray thing. So, I opened the fridge doors all the way, and removed the wide drawer. Refrigerator drawers are so much easier to remove than the heavy duty freezer drawers, which must be designed to hold the weight of a child as they use the freezer drawer as leverage to grab food in the fridge. And there was the charcuterie tray thing! Except it was looking a little gray, which is not good for charcuterie meat. The real discovery was under the charcuterie. There lay an unrecognizable tray thing package. It was tough to even read the packaging, since the contents of the tray thing had gone black with some sort of growth, which made a black on black presentation. After some time, I figured out it was a cheese platter. Upon reflection, I recall a time (some time ago) when the fridge was emitting a smell that I couldn’t pinpoint, causing me to purge tons of food and condiments. I never discovered the source of the smell. I ended up putting a box of baking soda in the fridge and waiting it out. I now believe that this cheese was the source of the smell. Its latest presentation was more like a hockey puck, so it wasn’t emitting much smell. 

I have pantry moths in the pantry, and biology experiments in the fridge. I think my house is slowly making me purge things. I suspect that the freezer will soon cause a purge too. 

Have a great week everyone. I did not take a picture of the former cheese. You’re welcome.