Daily Blague

When we were building our present residence, I insisted we make space for a separate freezer, the theory being that since we would no longer be living within walking distance of a grocery store I wanted to be able to stock-up and avoid a daily (or even bi-weekly) 10-mile drive to fetch something for dinner. I entertained nostalgic memories of childhood summers at my grandparents' farm, being sent out to the garage (the site of the big chest freezer) to retrieve whatever it was that my grandmother wanted to cook for dinner (usually some form of beef that was formerly wandering about the place before being sent to the local abbatoir and returned neatly packaged--and labeled--in appropriately-sized portions). What I failed to recall from this childhood experience, though, was that one must remember to retrieve something from the freezer sufficiently in advance of cooking it to allow it to thaw. Since this is a skill I have yet to master, I have quite a bit of 'mystery meat' stashed away. At least 50% of my freezer space is usually filled with frozen vegetables, because I feed those to my dogs for dinner (appropriately cooked, of course), per the instructions of our veterinarian. I also like to keep a few tubs of frozen clarified butter on-hand. I never thought of freezing mirepoix, so thanks for the tip!