The Mystery Basket

Image courtesy of Food Network

I am not a big fan of the show Chopped, but people must love the concept of the mystery basket because there are entire nights that are devoted to repeats of it all night long.  I like the concept in a theoretical kind of way, and like all of you viewers at home I try to decide how I would make an entreé from halibut, radicchio, instant coffee and Twizzlers.  And that is what drives me nuts! I am at home lying on my bed (because that’s where my TV is) racking my brains about how I’d try to melt down those corn-syrup laden Twizzlers and balance them with some vinegar to try to make some kind of palatable sauce, that won’t taste wretched with the bitter radicchio and then I need to do something with that coffee!  Frankly that’s just too much pressure for me!

And now, pan away from my bed, the camera glides down the stairs (which unfortunately need vacuuming) and through my living/dining rooms, and we cue some scary music, and open my fridge!  AGHHHHH, it’s like a Chopped basket in there! My fridge can be challenging under normal circumstances, but I am blogging seven days a week,  and a good portion of that requires cooking things, and that involves leftovers of cooked food as well as parts of things I didn’t use all of; half a lime, half a can of adobo sauce, some pieces of butternut squash (I really hope they’re not moldy) a lot of sauce from yesterday’s post , goat cheese, pasta, roasted garlic, and onion jam and, and, and… uh huh.

I have always prided myself on my ability to whip up a meal from anything you (or I) have laying around the house. Seriously, try me  But now I have the mother of all mystery baskets in there, and I feel a bit overwhelmed with it all, and I’m looking at the week ahead and there is more cooking to do. Mercifully some friends came for dinner last night, and even took some food home with them, I don’t know if they realized they were doing me a favor, so let’s keep that between us.  

Perhaps if I blogged about politics instead of food my fridge house would be jammed with newspapers and magazines, do people still read actual papers? Anyway, food is my medium and you can’t cook virtually (yet) so I am stocked. I think my next few meals will be mystery basket meals and maybe, if I’m lucky they will be tasty and photogenic enough to be featured here, so stayed tuned!