Leftover Smorgasbord!

It’s that day again, National Clean Out the Fridge Day. Gosh, I hope you are cleaning your fridge more than just once a year. There might just be some strange, gray, hairy things lurking in the back of your fridge.

Way back in the day, when I worked right alongside my guys in the Event Industry, our eating habits were very different, as you can imagine. The Event Industry is very seasonal, and climate has a lot to do with the busy season. Here in our corner of the world Spring and Fall are hectic with all sorts of events. We works long hours. Often that meant Hubby making a run up to the nearest fast-food place, and we’d wolf down something while continuing to work. Our days began at sunrise, and ended well after dark. In the winter, things slowed down.

In the winter, we had time to eat real meals. With real left-overs. I took Thursdays off – not from work, but from cooking. We called it Smorgasbord Night. All the Tupperware came out of the fridge, and everyone just warmed up whatever struck our fancy. It was to make room for Saturday, when we did our grocery shopping. Why Thursday to clean out the fridge? Fridays are meatless. So unless we ate fish all week, most leftover contained some type of meat.

Since retiring, I have time to prepare real meals every night of the week. Leftovers, for the most part, are reserved for weekday lunches. So why am I serving up a Leftover Smorgasbord tonight? As today drew ever closer, I began preparing meals that I knew would yield plenty of leftovers just for today. Why? The National Day and my life just came together beautifully. Yours truly has been called to Jury Duty. Today is the first day. There is a part of me that would love to serve on a jury – to see law and order in action. Then there’s a part of me that hates the idea – I have better things to do with my time. And finally, there’s that side of me who is afraid – who am I to judge anyone?

When I received the summons, I called the county courthouse right away, hoping I would get someone who might just let me off the hook. I explained that I don’t drive, nor do I ride public transportation because I get lost easily. This is true. My guys find it funny that I get lost when riding in the car. I went on to say that I’m a diabetic, and when I have spikes or drops in my sugar levels I get confused. Also true. The nice woman on the other end of the phone let me defer serving until now – the slow season for Hubby, so that he could drive me to the courthouse. She also suggested that he take time off from work to accompany me, so that I don’t get too confused. Really? I practically said I’m a senile old lady, and still they want me to serve!

California is vastly different than Nevada. When we lived in Nevada, I was called for Jury Duty. I called the clerk’s office and explained that I just needed to arrange for childcare of our infant grandson. She said “Oh, you’re a care giver? Your exempt.” And that was that. Was never called again.

So, what’s on our Leftover Smorgasbord Menu? Soup, Chili Dog Casserole, and Beefy-Chorizo Taco Meat, perfect for a number of things. Who knew that cleaning out the fridge to make room for all the holiday cooking about to commence could be so much fun!

Have a blessed and beautiful day! May your holiday table be filled with love this year and every year to come.

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Rise up, O God, bring judgment to the earth