Today's life lesson #2

Today I learned that it might be a good time to start thinking about cleaning out our food cupboards, even though we still have another 9 months to live here. I'm saying this because I DO NOT want to be in the predicament of having to pawn off all my old, unwanted food products to my friends who remain in Basel after we leave. What sparked this revelation? One of my friends (friend #1) is moving back to NYC after having lived here for 2 years. A few weeks ago, I went by her house to collect unwanted goods that I might like. These are things you have in your cupboards but don't love enough to take home with you. I know this process well because I went through it before moving to Basel. Thank you again, Megan, for taking all my opened flour, sugar, and other random baking products. On my first trip to friend #1's house, I came home with some spices, a bottle of Kahlua (the movers won't pack alcohol), some soba noodles, a bunch of garlic, a bottle of balsamic vinegar, a bag of pine nuts, and a container of sea salt. In other words, all good things I could use. Today I went over to another friend's house (friend #2) to collect more unwanted goods that I might like. This is because friend #1 has been staying with friend #2 since moving out of their house, so consequently friend #2 got everything that was still left unwanted! In round 2, I came home with a bottle of Frangelico that's designed to look like a Francsican monk (it even has the rope belt), more spices, a plethora of various cleaning products, a giant (unopened) bottle of KC BBQ sauce, baking soda and baking powder (both are hard to find in Basel), an unopened box of yummy cookies from Spain, and a couple tins of Altoids. There were also a number of things I didn't take. I suspect these things will remain unwanted and sitting in friend #2's house for a long time to come. This included mincemeat (!), half of a bag of black-eyed peas, some organic cheerios from Whole Foods (yes, the American store), more baking powder and baking soda, and half a box of tapioca. My very favorite thing that I found in the bags of unwanted goods was a box of scalloped potatoes from Safeway (yes, the American store). At closer examination, I discovered that they expired in November 2003! I promptly suggested friend #2 throw them out. Here's the funny part-- she then remembered that the box of potatoes had actually been passed on to friend #1 from another woman (friend #3). Friend #3, who moved back to the US in February 2004, had pawned them off on friend #1 when she was trying to get rid of the unwanted goods in her cupboards. To make the story even more bizarre, we live in the same house where friend #3 lived while living in Basel, so if I had taken the potatoes they would have ended up where they had originally started 3 years ago. It's time to start cleaning out my cupboards.