Finish It Up Mode

We are getting ready to leave for another trip in a week. That means that we're on Finish It Up mode. Anything that has been started or opened needs to be finished, or else it gets tossed. Since I hate wasting stuff, t's the kind of challenge I like. The fridge is currently a delicate balance between enough and too much. Never has spinach been so carefully rationed.

The thing is: Finish It Up mode is a bit like running downhill. It's fun, but it all happens so fast, and it can get a bit out of control.

Last weekend, I had a few nectarines that I needed to use up. They'd become so ripe that the fruit flies were having a convention around the crate they were sitting in, so I brought them in, peeled them, sliced them, and then made a coffee cake. I used an angel food cake pan because I figured it would bake faster, and I thought I was being smart because I could pull it out by the tube, but it was a bit tougher to get it off the bottom than I thought. Still, it looked good, and tasted even better:

I took one for the team and ate a slice, and it was easier to get it off the base after that. It was an excellent cake, and we finished the last slice today.

Fruit: complete.

This is a common sight in our bathroom: the almost-empty-but-not-quite-we-can-get-another-few-days-out-of-it tube of toothpaste sitting next to the ok-that's-enough-already full tube of toothpaste. I admit that I can't let go of a tube until I know I have managed to get every single drop of paste outta that thing. And it's better to take a brand new tube when traveling than one that might run out while you're on the road. I threw out the empty tube this morning. 

Toothpaste: complete.

Some things just aren't getting with the program. The butternut squash plant I've been nursing all season surprised me last week by finally showing some promise, just as I was about to give up on them. Now, I can't decide if I should be happy or disappointed. I'm going to have to find someone willing to dump a bit of water on them so they have a better chance. I hope they make it to full size while I'm away, but I'm not so optimistic. But darn, they are cute:

Squash: pending.

Of course, sometimes, when you're trying to use stuff up, you only end up with more stuff to work through. Case in point: this week's lunch, a vegetarian chilli, made with three different cans of beans, a cup of cooked quinoa, some corn, and a big can of tomatoes (based on this recipe). I decided to throw in the last few chipotle chilis in adobo sauce that has been languishing in the fridge for a while (I hope I'm not going to regret that, but the first few taste tests haven't blown my head off yet). 

Perfect lunch recipe, except I have about three too many portions for this week. The freezer is full again. Not such a bad thing in the long run (it'll save me making a few lunches when I get back), but goes against the Finish It Up program.

Chili: frozen. (Is that an oxymoron?)

And well, I have my knitting project to contend with. I've got one side complete, and the second side is more than halfway done. I'm trying to focus on it: I really want to get it done before we leave, but man, it's gonna take some pushing. It's not helping that I'm also trying to figure out what kind of project I'm going to take with me to work on while we're traveling. Planning future projects are the worst thing for Finish It Up mode.

Knitting: priority case. Better get on it... later skaters.