Wild garden

So, when I say that for a few weeks now, I've been thinking about sorting out the kitchen, what I actually mean is that for the last few months I've been mildly anxious about the vague odours that I occasionally encounter in the kitchen and also known that nothing short of a proper clear out and clean was going to locate whatever strange alchemies were taking place both in the fridge and in the (unintentionally long-term) storage facilities (cupboards).

In the end, I emptied the fridge, cleaned it, and returned rather more to its shelves than the bin, which is where I'd anticipated most of the contents would end up; the only really whiffy culprit was some camembert, which I'm holding on to.

Next I emptied the cupboards. This was a slightly more "ew" experience. There was nothing that was actually disgusting but certainly a few items that had sailed past their sell-by dates, many the year before last. There was also ample evidence of my haphazard purchasing process: two bottles of Golden Syrup, with about a tablespoonful used from each; three tubs of baking soda (two of which were out of date); various sugars, all without sell-by dates (why is that?); and a number of tins of beans of various types, which I must have purchased for some exotic recipe but never actually cobbled together.

I took a photo of the worryingly large mound of stuff that I then moved to a bin bag and thence the wheely bin but, in the end, it was a bit gross. So, instead, here's a picture of my splendidly wild garden, in the afternoon sun.