Wait! There's Still More Left to the Day

With a car full of goodies from the Lithuanian Picnic and Bread and Circus, we were finally ~ yes, FINALLY! ~ on our way back home.

Both Ariana and I were immensely pleased with the wonderful day that we shared. Put this one down for the memory books.

However, we knew that once we got home, there was still more to be done.

The refrigerator was full of old stuff and mutated life forms, not to mention it was also in desperate need of cleaning. There was no way we were going to be able to fit all those cheeses, yoghurts, and deli treats without the refrigerator first having to experience a major purge.

As we came home, to be greeted by a pack of noisy dogs barking their heads off like lunatics, it was time to get to work. Shunting the miscreant mutts into the next room, I brought the big garbage can and the compost bucket into the kitchen.

Let the tossing begin!

Ariana and I got to work ~ but not before putting those mouth-watering escargots in the oven. After all, we were going to need some sort of reward for all this dirty work that we were about to do.

First order of business was to totally empty the fridge ~ even the shelves and bins.

Spoiled veggies that turned into liquid in their plastic bags, thus becoming too gross to handle, went straight into the trash ~ not the compost bucket. There was no way we were going to open those bags and subject ourselves to contamination fit for haz-mat clean-up. No way!

By the time the entire fridge was emptied, the escargots were ready. Quickly spraying down the inside of the fridge with a mild cleaning solution,we turned our attention to those delectable snails.

Escargot! Food for the gods!

Is there anything that is far more skillful in seducing the taste buds than escargots? I don't think so.

We offered some snails to Neil, but he didn't feel brave enough to try. Oh good! More for us! Yippee!

(Not counting the dogs, who will eat anything ~ including kitty nuggets and half-decayed squirrels ~ Ariana and I are definitely the culinary adventurers of the the family.)

Anyhow ~ back to work!

Now that the entire refrigerator was emptied and cleaned out, and I was reinforced with the food for the gods, I was all set to tackle the challenge of returning the refrigerator shelves and bins back to their original pristine condition.

Maybe we needed the haz-mat crew in here after all. This was going to be dirty work.

Because there was only enough room at the sink for one person, I elected to do the dirty work while Ariana went on to tackle the second culinary conquest ~ making pizza.

Progress was being made.

The inside of the fridge was gleaming. And after much scrubbing, the shelves and bins were sparkling.

However, try as must, no one was able to put the meat and deli drawer back to its original configuration. It was easier to put Humpty-Dumpty back together again, even without all the king's horses and all the king's men.

Now was the time to purge the items that were out-dated and no longer deserved a spot on the refrigerator shelf.

The timer beeped to signal that the pizza was done. We paused to take a bite. Delicious!

Putting the stuff back in was not a task that I relished.

Having been sitting on the floor on a warm summer evening, all the previously chilled items started sweating profusely. It was tedious work wiping each one down so that I would not have puddles collecting on the bottoms of the shelves and bins.

But soon that odious task was done. Only two more small and quick tasks remained before I could throw myself at the thrall of Harry Potter.

Thank God it took nowhere near as long to make Neil's lunch for the next day and dole out all the meds for the week.

Harry Potter, here I come! The rest of the night is yours!