What's in Your Pantry?

What’s in my pantry? No, I don’t have Vikings held up in there with swords and shields ready to attack me if I don’t tear up my old credit cards (like in the Capitol One commercial). Instead I have a plethora of legumes and grains.

Here is just a semi-completed list:

Rice: Jasmine, Basmati, Sticky, Wild Rice, Brown Rice, Red Rice, Arborio

Pastas: Orzo, Couscous, Spaghetti, macaroni, Angel Hair, Penne, Linguine, Thai egg noodles, wide rice noodles, skinny rice noodles

Grains: Bulgur, Wheat Germ, All purpose flour, Self rising flour, cake flour, rice flour, bread flour, buckwheat flour, blue cornmeal, regular cornmeal

Beans: Dried beans of every kind imaginable, 8 types of Indian lentils (dhal), canned cannelini and black beans

This is just the beginning. What is my obsession? Every time Donnie opens up the pantry door, he says we’ll never be hungry in an ice storm. We have plenty to eat. I like variety and I also insist on having the exact ingredient called for in a recipe. My more practical mother would substitute like items she had on hand, or just leave the item out altogether. Not her hoarding daughter, though. No, I’m the one who has 52 spices in her cabinet because, heaven forbid, should I leave anything out.

It’s kind of like my book collection. I have stacks of books that I own. At the present time, I have four large stacks of books on the floor of my office because I need a new bookshelf. We are in the middle of remodeling bathrooms at the moment, so a new bookshelf is on the backburner for now. They aren’t bothering me in the floor. They are in neat stacks, sorted by author or by subject, so when the bookshelf finally arrives, there will be no sorting or purging involved. These books line my shelves and my floor and the floor by my bed and tower on my nightstand. My husband thinks I’m crazy every time I bring a bagful of books home from the library. He reasons that I have plenty of books at home to read. I reason, “Look how much money I’m saving you!” To me, these books are like gold sitting on a shelf (or on the floor). I can’t bear to part with any of them. People have said, “Why don’t you donate the ones you have read?” These are just my nutty friends. I don’t get rid of books.

What’s worse? I have an entire list of books on my computer that I want to buy or read at some point in my near future. An obsession? Maybe. But, what’s in your pantry (or bookshelf)?