"The Queen of Mold" -In sickness and in Health!

Day 5, and surprise surprise, Fraulein SoulFood is losing her mojo… Booo! This could be due to the fact that I am not feeling on top of the world. I had to leave the “Boss” in the lurch and leave work early due to a persistent queasiness. After collapsing on the couch drifting uneasily between sleep and consciousness, I tried to read a little and finished the first chapter (solid effort of 19 pages!) of a book the “Boss” lent to me as more inspiration; Ruth Reichl’s “Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table”. My queasiness would not be subdued.

As soon as I read the title of the first chapter, the thought flashed through me that Reichl had written my biography without my knowledge! The title, “The Queen of Mold” triggered alarm bells ringing in my head (rather painful when you already have a headache), as I instantly had an image of her, Mama SoulFood!

See, what I forgot to mention yesterday was Mama SoulFood’s major vice. The fridge. I mentioned she was adventurous in her cooking, and she rates herself on being inventive. Although Mama SoulFood is by no means as extreme as Reichl’s Mom who she describes as “…taste-blind and unafraid of rot”, and I would never have to designate myself as “guardian of the guests” to ensure nobody died of food poisoning, Mama SoulFood’s fridge is too often a breeding ground for funky little fuzzies. I sometimes think the only reason she has to be so “inventive” is because she needs an excuse to use up half the fridge’s contents before they expire the next day.

I am not particularly squeamish, but sometimes it scares me to open the door to the land of fuzzies, as it actually physically hurts me to see rotting food. My delightfully gritty Goat Gruyere coated by a blanket of mud-grey mould. Followed by a pang of guilt as I think “the poor children in Africa!”, what a waste! But there is no time to dwell. I pick him up gently, as not to break him up completely (but also not to touch his fur!) wrap him in a paper-towel, apologise to the Food Gods and lay him down into the deep, black plastic-lined hole that is the bin.

The state of our fridge caused such a disturbance within me at a young age that I in fact drew a picture of my future “Fridge Layout” so as not to have anything conspicuous ever lurking at the back of it, I shall post a photo of it when I find it again.

In the meantime, I need some SoulFood to reignite Fräulein SoulFood’s spark!

Adieu!

Fräulein SoulFood