food storage 101

1. One of my favorite things to do when I'm traveling is grocery shopping. Ask my friends about my giant bag full of Guatemalan Honey Monster cereals, or the borrowed duffel ready to burst with Haribo gummi Smurfs and Jägerschnitzel mix from Deutschland.

2. I have a tendency to collect food. I mean to eat it. Really. But I want the occasion to be perfect, shared with close friends who will fully appreciate the rare and hilarious qualities of the food I've brought at ridiculous spacial expense (hey, backpacks are small) from thousands of miles away. For whatever reason, these moments do not spring up nearly as spontaneously as necessary to keep up with the supply of weird food in my cupboard.

3. Three years ago, amid a rare cupboard reorganization campaign, roommate/photographer Amy hijacked a couple boxes of my foodstuffs. Mesmerized by the bizarre array, she took them to the studio to photograph. Nothing came of the photographic venture save some laughs, though she did send me this image of some of the raw files:

4. I realized that at least half of that food is still in my cupboard.

5. In an effort to be economical, especially since I don't intend to be in Los Angeles for many many more moons, I have decided to make myself eat my copious foreign and otherwise curious food supply. This has meant that in the past week, I have dined on the following:

- gingerbread waffles (delicious. 1 year old)

- Thai garlic noodles, sauteed (llgugll. 8 years old. 8!)

- curry udon (2 years old. I have 3 more packs)

- baba ghanoush (1.5 years old)

- carrot ginger soup (from Erin's aged cupboard, prior to her move)

Up next: the blackcurrent jelly (that's Irish for gelatin) that I bought in Ireland 5 years ago. And if you've any interest in some Guatemalan hot chocolate (made from a giant cinnamon-y chocolate tablet), just come on over.