Spring seems like a dumb time to take on a cleaning project. Growing up in Ohio, I learned that the arrival of spring-or the arrival of any sunny day with double-digit temperatures-was the time to go outside and frolic in the mud, and, of course, to track all sorts of stuff back inside. So "spring cleaning" seems like a perfect way to waste time. Like cleaning the house while the kids still live there. (OK, the truth is, I can't think of any season that seems like a good time to wash the walls or dust the closets or even shine the silver. I'll never win a 'Good Housekeeping' seal of approval.)
While I'm not afflicted with the 'spring cleaning' bug, I do admit to having a seasonal organization problem. Sometime between Thanksgiving and Boxing Day, I start sorting. Not laundry, but "stuff" we've accumulated. I plow through closets and under beds, comb the bookshelves and rattle the cabinets in search of stuff we can donate or discard.
Having filled many a box for Goodwill already this year, I recently tackled a project I'd been dreading: my recipe collection. I'm not much of a cook, but I do have good culinary intentions. So I clip recipes. Recipes I want to try, recipes that sound good, recipes for which I'll never have the proper ingredients...can you just imagine me, standing at my neighbor's door with a measuring cup, saying, "can I borrow a cup of Udon noodles and lemon grass??" She'd laugh me off her porch.
So, armed with a clear vision of my culinary limitations (I threw away many recipes as "too complicated" - basically, I'm in good shape if I remember to thaw the meat OR marinade it; asking me to do both is asking too much!) I sorted and organized a three-inch, three-ring binder full of recipes. (Success: now the binder actually closes!) In the process, I found a worn magazine page, dated November 1999. Which magazine? Dunno. Maybe Midwest Living, maybe Ohio magazine. Doesn't say. Why did I save it? Surely not for the recipes-they're much too involved. Perhaps I kept it for the sidebar, dubbed "Nibbles and Bites" (is that like "Kibbles and Bits?").
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