What is in your cupboard?

You know when you walk into someone else’s kitchen; you can’t resist looking into their cabinets. If you are real nosy, check out the refrigerator.

It is just curiosity of how well the cooks stock up. It is judgmental.

Just like what people hang on their walls or the type of furniture they have selected, the kitchen is where the party goes.

Is the wine cellar full or the bar? Are you offered a quality drink or something out of a box?

The same is for that trip to the toilet. While you are looking for some air freshener, you check out the medicine cabinet. Hopefully you don’t have to ask your host where the plunger is.

The bookshelf is a fine display of intelligence or taste. The choice of music also shows how hip you are, but it doesn’t detail your knowledge of classical, jazz, metal for you want pleasant music that people can talk over.

If you guest want to sneak away to the closet they can check out all your shoes and dresses and even open a bureau drawer to check out your t-shirts.

The tool shed will display all the power tools and latest batch of ladders, screwdrivers, hammers, and work space rarely used.

If there is a hobby, there are art supplies of brushes, pastels, brushes, needles, thread, yarn, paints, instruments, cameras, boats, guns, cars, etc.

This is our stuff.

Guest will compare our stuff to their stuff. The comparison values your lifestyle.

The cabinet is bare. No tarragon or basil or thyme. No flour or baking soda or garlic or even eggs. There are plenty of cooking instruments but much less than before. There are still drawers full of utensils never used.

Food is purchased by the day so there is very little cooking and few plates to wash. Summer tee shirts are replaced with long sleeve tee shirt when the heat turns on. Can’t walk the red carpet without a tux. All supplies once required have been limited and even that is too much. Tables and chairs are in storage for there are not enough places to put them and there are no televisions.

Life is simple. Don’t ask to borrow a cup of sugar because there is none here.