Other People's Pantries #1

From Mae (Mae's Food Blog) in Michigan:

I'm not much of a squirrel: I mostly have spices and gadgets. My favorite shelf contains mugs from my collection of Mona Lisa objects. I'm into Jocondologie -- the study of La Joconde, as they call her in France.

Every Saturday, we peek into someone's pantry. Want to show us yours? Here's how.

Comments

That is a nice big pantry! I am fascinated by the collection of Mona Lisa objects.

Thanks for including me in the Pantry series. I'm looking forward to seeing inside more pantries and reading more pantry philosophy!

Mae

Very nice! Love the la gioconda mugs. ;-) Cool!

Paz

I love the Mona Lisa collection. I'm a Michigan blogger, too! I'm going to pop over to your site now. ;-)

I am so glad you're doing this one Lydia!! We love snooping don't we!!
Mae's is a wonderful pantry. Great Mona Lisa collection!!

Such a fun idea! I have to share with you my very traumatic experience. My pantry needs to be re-stocked because I discovered that tiny moths (not sure which species) were living in there! I think there was a whole colony!!! This has never happened to me before so I was so traumatised and disgusted when I saw a few of their babies (larvae). I had to clean out my pantry and throw a way a lot of good stuff :-( I've learnt my lesson now, everything that are in packages (e.g. rice, flour) will go into a jar or container from now on.

I keep opening & checking my pantry now, a bit paranoid at the moment...I am sure I will "recover" ;-)

Nupur, me too!

Mae, thanks for kicking off this fun feature. I'm looking forward to seeing more pantries, too (and I'll show more of mine).

Paz, Jen: would love to see your pantries....

MyKitchen, we are snoops by nature, I think. I love to watch people come into my kitchen, and start poking around and opening drawers!

Nora, don't worry -- we have all had them (mealy bugs, I'm guessing) at one time or another. Sometimes they just arrive in a package of flour or grain, and you don't know it until they mature. I do keep everything in jars and airtight containers now -- which makes it fun to collect jars to put everything in -- but still bugs get in with the groceries. Nothing to do but clean out and start again.

Pests in the pantry -- devilish things. Flying ones are usually grain moths. Cautionary measures are possible -- put new items in the freezer for a few days (kills eggs) or strew bay leaves and put them in the jars too, hand a pheromone trap -- may work! I recently (in my store) had to get rid of many pounds of nuts and seeds because the moths snuck in. Feed what you can to the wildlife, compost the rest. No rest in the pantry.

Now that is not something you find in every pantry!
Thanks for the peek!
Sandi

Thanks for the peek!

I was inspired to take a look at my pantry (a small metal rack in a closet under the stairs) and was shocked at the stuff I had accumulated! All the multiples of items and stuff with expired dates. A good clearing out is needed. If I hadn't read your blog, I wouldn't have checked.

Lydia & Susan G - thanks for all your suggestions.

Susan, thanks for the tips about freezing and bay leaves.

Sandi, I'm looking forward to seeing your pantry.

KitsChow, welcome! The same thing happens to me -- lots of duplicates of some things while I run out of others. Thank goodness for expiration dating.

How fun! I'm afraid to show you ours, but maybe one day! What a cute idea.