Clean fridge

So today was my day to make a decision on a future job. I had an offer ready to go at a wonderful company and yesterday I had an amazing interview with another great one. It was a hard choice. I know some people enjoy making lists of pros and cons to work out which choice would be better. I've never been that person. I love making lists, especially to-do lists. They work for me, on occasion. I generally go into a day with so much productivity and make a list, only to make myself feel better at the end of the day by adding all the things that I actually DID and crossing those off. IDK if that's the best way to go about it though... 

I made the decision more by gut feeling than by anything else. I decided to continue interviewing with the second company although I really can't tell you why. Most of the big decisions in life have been gut feeling to me. Marrying my husband was just something that felt like the right decision (it turned out pretty great), moving to the USA to actually live with him and continue studying... I definitely feel some regret about that (when looking at syllabi at my uni back home), but hey it was worth it. 

ANYWAYS, going off on a way far tangent here. The only thing basically that wasn't on my to-do list for today was cleaning, which I ended up spending the majority of my time on while waiting for the call from -let's call it- company B. I cleaned the cabinets which were filled with grime, and the fridge, that hadn't been done in months. I've been home alone for a week now and I'm enjoying the meal planning (another list that I really can't stick to properly yet, maybe with some more practice.. not giving up!) and the autonomy in the kitchen. I'm not sure if the guys (hub and BIL) are enjoying it as much as I do because I'm suddenly feeding them all kinds of strange foods, not really the stuff they're used to as much. It had me down for a little bit, especially because it caused so much food waste and I felt like I couldn't feed them properly. (BIL is already skinny like a twig and I didn't want him to fly away.) But, things picked up today, hub loved the pad thai, with brown rice instead of noodles because I'm lazy af and don't want to go to the store. 

I washed all the glass plates in the fridge, took out the drawers and cleaned those too with vinegar and lemons. I have this book called Salt, Lemons, Vinegar, and Baking Soda that helps me whenever I want to clean without buying all kinds of cleaning products. Most of the formulas consist of only the above-mentioned ingredients and maybe some water, so you're always ready to go. These products can also be bought without packaging in many supermarkets. In the ATL region, Sevananda's has bulk vinegar (also soy sauce, olive oil etc), lemons are everywhere, salt and baking soda at Sprouts, Sevananda's, Rainbow Grocery and I believe Whole Foods. Then I cut up all the smaller leftover pieces of vegetables, cleaned the brussels sprouts off their outer leaves and prepped the carrot with some rice vinegar for my Banh Mi sandwiches later.  I really like having them in see-through, glass containers. It's very hygienic because glass is easy to disinfect with hot water (one can boil it and all the bacterias are goners) and it's so easy to see how much you have of everything! Now I know exactly what I'll be working with tomorrow and the back of my brain might be considering different options already. Maybe cauliflower wings, some sauteed Brussel sprouts, and roasted bell peppers with mashed potatoes? Or maybe a Stir fry of everything together? Or perhaps pasta with cauliflower "cheese" sauce and silken roasted bell peppers and brussels sprouts from the oven? There are infinite possibilities even with just a few different vegetables. I'm definitely going to continue this for the next two weeks while I'm in charge of the kitchen, and hopefully, our food waste will continue to decline.