Left-Overs

One of the things in life I truly enjoy is cooking. I love putting a new twist on my old stand-bys and tweaking new recipes with my own personal touch. Normally, (well okay 99% of the time) there are only two of us in our house-hold. This creates a dilemma, as I've never mastered the art of cooking for a pair. My solution to this problem is to send the excess culinary components to K.'s workplace. He works rotating shifts with at least two other people, and the companion shift that relieves his group also consists of at least three people. Some of his coworkers have a two weeks on/off schedule, so they are able to reside out of state, commute and live here for their on-time. This can mean a lot of restaurant, diner and fast food. That can get get old, and kind of boring; not to mention unhealthy! So, most of the time I send enough food with K. for sharing, and I try to fix a shift meal when he works nights. Usually, this also feeds the other crew and any stragglers from other departments in the office. This is great for me because I lurv food preparation, ( AND eating as well) but space in our two fridges is always at a premium. I like to think that his workmates appreciate the home fare, and I get to nurture, albeit from afar. The down side is the containers sometimes get forgotten. The shuffle of passing on information about the operation to the next group at the helm, and the want to get the flock out after 12 hours usually leads to "Oops! I forgot the Glad Ware!" That's okay, because these convenient little receptacles make it back my way at the end of seven days, usually without fail. Sometimes, however I'm not so sure that I want them back! I know that these little vessels were meant to be disposable, but I find that wasteful. There are times that I think "Hmm. Maybe just this once..." I never get any closer than the thought of tossing the whole lot into the refuse, because I can still hear my Grama saying something to the effect of "Waste not want, want not!" or "What if you need those later?" (She's also the reason I can't seem to produce a common-sized spread!) Anyway, it is pretty amazing some of the science cultures morphing within! The trick to salvaging this mess is to dive in, breathe through the mouth, (if you dare breathe at all!) quickly scoop out the offending stuff into the bin. Next, immerse those plastic lovelies in some hot, sudsy water with a teaspoon of bleach, and you're good to go. You can run 'em through the dishwasher if you so desire, to assure complete sanitation, but I believe the bleach takes care of that, as well as the odor. I guess that clears the way for another mess in the kitchen! :)