Is It Me, Or Is There Only Weird Stuff in the Fridge?

For the tenth time, Andrew opened the refrigerator, hoping that something “good” would magically materialize. For the tenth time, when no miracle occurred and the exact same food stared back at him, he finally exclaimed, “Is it me, or is there only weird stuff in here?”

Because I hate grocery shopping even more than I hate cleaning toilets, I’ve been known to prolong going to the store for as long as is humanly possible, or until no one can stand to eat legumes and rice for one more night — whichever comes first.

But it wasn’t an empty fridge that caused Andrew’s distress. In fact, the fridge was full to bursting. With items like collard greens and kohlrabi and daikon radishes. And other inedible items, according to Andrew.

To add injury to insult, there was no grab-and-go food, like the usual cut-up veggies or sandwich stuff. There was no room.

So, is this some sort of weird new diet I’ve put my family on?

I guess you could say that. In a manner of speaking…

You see, I’m testing new veggies in new recipes.

Why?

Well, because these are sitting on my desk and I need to place an order in the next few days.

And since I’m expanding my garden again this year, I’ll have more room to add a more diverse selection. But before I take up garden space with food only I’ll eat, I’m better off testing it on the whole family first. So far, I’ve crossed off six vegetables from my list and added five. Not bad.

While Andrew may not feel that the current food in our fridge is magical, I tell you my seed catalogs are absolutely entrancing. After a winter of weekly snowstorms, I go to bed leafing through my seed catalogs and fall asleep dreaming of all the wonderful, weird stuff I’m going to get to grow this Spring. I can’t wait!