I was looking for something in my pantry and happened to be wearing my glasses. Big mistake. How many times do I have to tell myself that?

I discovered that I have a vinegar collection. Oops.

All together now

I know what happens, at least some of the time: I have a list of ingredients for a specific dish. I shop and buy those that I don’t already have. I return home and put away all the groceries. At mealtime, I decide I don’t want to cook and the new ingredients in the pantry fade into the background, become part of the landscape, as if they had always been there and should always be there, undisturbed. The new dish that I planned to prepare becomes part a distant past.

And, repeat.

I notice that the Alessi Balsamic Vinegar bottle boasts that it is aged four years in wood. Ha! That’s nothing compared to the time it will sit on my pantry shelf.