Kitchn Cure Days 1 & 2

I'm curing my kitchen.

I've signed up for a cleanse, 10 days, to deeply and thoroughly clean my kitchen.

It's fall and I do tend to cook more. The little pink kitchen needs some attention. I'm a bandwagon kind of gal, so I jumped.

Curiously and delightfully I have two cleanse sisters. My, not metaphorically but literally, oldest sister Lil, and my new favorite friend of 2013, QV, who I got to know doing a healthy clean-eating cleanse back in April at Vitality.

They spied my posting of Facebook signing up for the Kitchn Cure and opted to sign up too. I really do need to check in with them. I dare not ask before I get this posted. If they laugh at me for being a geeky Kitchn Cure following lemming I'll be so crushed. Nothing like a barb from an older sister or one of the cool girls to make you feel like you are in middle school all over again. But I digress.

Day 1 was clean your refrigerator.



Before-No judgment

I have to say I took a nap instead. I was just too tired to do much of anything after work yesterday.

Day 2 was clean your pantry.



Before- Just the top shelf. I'd worked on the other shelves earlier.

Knowing I was going to participate in The Cure -Oh Robert Smith and "Friday I'm in Love" playing in my head-this past weekend I decided to clean my pantry. I didn't know what day it was going to fall in the prescribed cleanse, but I was pretty sure it would be early. I did everything but my spices, which were just too much to contemplate for "pre-work". Can you spy geek girl clue #2 or #3? I do pre-work on assignments, you know because I'm getting a grade on this cleanse thing.

So today I cleaned my refrigerator and my spice shelf.

Can I say thankfully my freezer was pretty empty aside from shrimp, some stuff from the Asian grocery, frozen peas, and 6 pounds of butter? Oh and this Mango Freeze Thing.

Boozy Ice Pack

I have to say that's older than a month, but I thought I've used it as an ice pack more than once and refroze it, it can refreeze again. Today  though, I consumed it, because the rules said consume things.

The other items are all less than a month old because one day in early September my daughter inadvertently left the freezer opened as we left the house for the day. I shudder to think of what I threw away.

I was really hopeful that cleaning out my refrigerated part would open up condiment space. It did a little but I can yet part with the bottle of rose water and pomegranate concentrate I bought at a Middle Eastern grocery and for which I've yet to find a use. I am open to suggestions. I can see further into my fridge though.

I can also see the back of the spice area of my pantry.



The spice shelf (the top one) I threw away so much!

After, the refrigerator!

So when is the last time you cleaned your refrigerator? What's the oldest spice in your cabinet? I found things I've had since before my 12 year old daughter was born. Really. I don't know why I bought a pound of white pepper over a decade ago. I did, but now it's gone. I have cleaned my spices before but I just couldn't part with it before now.

Whew.

Come on Day 3! Oh what will it be? Scrub the oven and range? Wash every plate in the cabinet? Wipe down walls? Sanitize garbage pails? Scrub windows and window sills? I'm just a little too excited.