Contemporary essays, fiction, and opinion offered regularly by author Anne Brandt.






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Freezer Frenzy
Posted: 01/05/08
The presidential candidates are on to New Hampshire for a blitz between now and Tuesday evening’s voting. In honor of that state, I’ve decided to clean out our two freezers over the next few days. These two things might seem unrelated; but it’s a symbolic gesture. It’s cold in New Hampshire, and residents there will soon have their say. No matter who wins, it will be out with the old and in with the new come November. It will be out with the old before we buy anything new for our freezers too.

I’m not particularly familiar with New Hampshire, although I studied the current weather conditions at www.nhliving.com before making the statement that New Hampshire is cold this time of year. Unlike some candidates, I don’t want to be accused of outrageous comments without verifiable evidence.

Nashua is 31 degrees; Manchester is 33; Salem also 33, Portsmouth, 32, and the lowest point Conway is 22. Some of these names ring a bell in the far recesses of my memory dating back to my grade school study of the Revolutionary War. I hope today’s visionaries have as much fervor as their forbearers did. But I digress . . .

My freezer is a repository of vegetables that were parboiled last summer and flash-frozen for winter’s meals, mystery meat carefully wrapped in foil so that the contents are unknowable, and hot dog buns that have languished since a picnic in 2006. It is definitely time to throw the old out. I’m also discarding their cronies: store-bought Texas toast, Midwestern beef (or should I say “bull”), and NY strip steaks.

My pantry is another case in point; but there are plenty of primaries left after New Hampshire, so I’m relegating that project to the next one, which happens to be my own State of Michigan. By Super Tuesday, not only will I be informed but I’ll also have an immaculate kitchen.


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