Frozen In Time

Do the contents of one's freezer reveal one's personality?

If you were to poke through my upright freezer right now.10:16pm EST., you'd find:

1 box of frozen prawns (often misapplied in the United States to denote larger-sized shrimps..when in actuality the two are superficially similar, with the prawn having branching gill structures; AND shrimp being the more widely used term in the US...too much info? I wrote prawn because the box in my freezer states that it holds 12 giant "prawns" in it)

3 lbs of large shrimps (each in one pound portions-much easier to deal with so keep that thought in mind when buying and storing)

1 rack of spare ribs (a gift from a recent visit by my mother; for which I will use soon with some chicken bones to make a noodle soup broth)

4 large sealed plastic bins each containing a 10 inch toy soldier made out of marzipan...rifles and all (My sister M threw a huge 50th birthday bash for her boyfriend last summer. The beautiful soldiers stood guard at each corner of the Sylvia Weinstock cake and were not served; they were too beautiful to leave behind so I asked the waiters to put them in boxes for me to cart home to freeze. "What are you going to do with them?" my husband asked me that evening as we loaded them up in the rear of our mini-van. We'll do something..reuse them or whatever on some other cake that i'll make, i said...i checked on one of them recently and he still looks perfect. My second son has a birthday coming up..maybe i will have the heart to use one)

2 packages of fresh rice noodles (until recent years, we were only able to get dry rice noodles. Not that they weren't good, but the fresh ones have a slightly chewier consistency and is a real treat! I save these for special pots of PHO, a traditional vietnamese beef broth noodle soup that is a favorite of mine since i was a child)

2 packs of beef bones (i buy these when they are priced well and freeze them til the need arises for my PHO stock. I don't, however, freeze any beef meats. I feel the flavor is totally gone from them once frozen)

1 package of lemongrass (minced and ready to use. I would add the lemongrass to some curries, sometimes certain soups, and in the summer, NEM NUONG, which means grilled cured ground meat. Lemongrass, garlic, sugar, fish sauce and onions are added in proportions to ground pork. They are then shaped into patties and cooked over the grill. You can have them on a roll or just plain; or served over cold rice noodles called BUN and topped with mint, shredded lettuce, basil, cucumber and a special spicy sweet NUOC MAM -fish sauce with vinegar, lime juice and chilies-YUM!!!)

2 Pullets (oh my Gosh...if you have never tried them before..you don't know what you have been missing. A pullet is a young chicken, more specifically a hen at least 20-weeks-old which has begun to lay eggs but has not yet moulted-which means they haven't yet fully shedded their old feathers..which i have no absolute idea what this has to do with anything aside from the fact that they are very young. Pullets are more productive than the older laying hens; they often produce eggs for an entire year, while hens will lay for six-to-seven months...this is all in research you know.i didn't know any of this. I just started to enjoy these chicken so much and wondered if it was because they were totally free-ranged when in fact it was a different specimen altogether. Anyway, pullets have much more flavors and produce a beautiful clear yellow broth compared to say a Perdue chicken whose broth is murky and more brown. If you don't know the difference, it is fine. Anyway, my freezer once held like 10 of them. My mother took me on a food shopping binge right after I had my baby girl last year and bought us tons of pullets. "Make chicken rice porridge everyday. It is good for your post-partum health!" Yes, mom...I will...and I did)

3 Pheasants ( our friend went pheasant hunting recently in South Dakota and brought three home for us. During season, hunters are allowed three per day; he was there four days and I guess came home with 12 of them; last year he brought us goose and duck. "The heads are still on them because of hunting regulation, do you mind?" he asked me. Nope..I'm going to make a very rich stock with the heads for a gravy. He knew I was a frontierswoman at heart...or a very out there Asian chick. Thank you DS, I am waiting for a cold sunday- with a roaring fire in our woodstove, and the kids sprawled all across the floor drawing, I will make a beautiful brandied-wild mushroom-shallot sauce to top the pheasant meat which I will sear ever so slightly on a hot cast-iron pan, and we will enjoy it with a nice bottle of William Selyem Pinot Noir. A meal like that has to be planned out and executed in the best of manners..after all, it was a very special catch by our dear friend)

12 boxes of NATTO- ( Natto is japanese fermented soy-bean and is often eaten at breakfast to accompany hot cooked rice. It is full of protein and unimaginable health benefits. The first thing noticed by the uninitiated after opening a pack of natto is the very strong smell, akin to strong cheese. It is also very sticky; stirring the natto produces lots of spiderweb-like strings- which my kids love- The natto itself has a somewhat nutty, savory, somewhat salty flavor that belies its odor. After marriage to my husband, it took me quite a couple of years to enjoy and eventually crave natto. Basically, it is not food for the finicky, but it is possibly one of the most perfect foods in the world. From building your immune system, isoflavones x million, soothing upset stomachs and poor intestines, to helping metabolic activities - i can't say enough! Usually i'll buy like a dozen boxes when i go to the japanese grocers-they are shipped frozen from Japan- and keep them in our freezer . Our family of five will eat 4 boxes per meal time as an accompaniment to some grilled fish or whatever i happen to be cooking up. Sometimes, when time is limited and dinner has to be made in a rush, our kids will just eat a big dollop of natto and soy sauce over hot rice; they love it and its gotta be better than pizza! I recently discovered Kendall's Farm in Massachusetts. They make small batches of organic natto and will ship a minimum order of 36 8oz containers of natto. I have heard that they might not even be taking new customers for a while, but I will call them tomorrow and find out..can't wait!)

4 large bags of iced (leftovers from a previous party..)

My upright freezer in the garage stores all the foods that I need but can't possibly acquire here in Westport; the contents collected over recent trips to NYC's Chinatown or Flushing, New York, Daido supermarket in White Plains,NY..or Fujimart in Greenwich, Ct..the woods up in South Dakota, or just a transfer from my mother's freezer in NYC to ours'

I don't know what the contents of my freezer may reveal about me, but akin to life and love, food is about that one true thing; that one fantastic, necessary ingredient that will comprise a beautiful meal that will serve as the foundation for a memory, a moment to linger on~~ What is in yours?