Decluttering and Its Impact on Charcuterie Efforts

 

Welcome to 2025, folks! Yes, it’s nearly the end of January and I’m just now working on my first blog of the year. Oh, the shame!

 

Actually, I had started two other blogs earlier this month, neither of which I finished. Considering they were mostly complaints about the negative wind chill factors and how much snow and ice I had to tromp through when I took Maggie for her daily walks – it’s probably a good thing I didn’t finish either of them.

 

Today is a balmy 31 degrees F and I feel like we’re experiencing a heat wave. Ooh, double digits! Now, instead of donning a hat, scarf, gloves, parka and winter boots with spikes, I only have to wear the hat, coat and gloves. Leaves me with a lot of extra time in my day, so let’s hope the warming trend continues.

 

Yeah, sure. I mean, c’mon. It’s still January. And I fear that Old Man Winter and Mother Nature have teamed up and aren’t done with us quite yet. Apparently, they’ve decided to show us who’s boss this winter. (And if you live in temperate climes, consider yourself fortunate.)

 

Anyway, since I’m not a fan of cold weather, I’ve been trying to stay inside as much as possible. Thus, I’ve been working on household purging this month. I still have Too. Much. Stuff! I’ve managed to clean out all my kitchen cabinets, although a second pass probably wouldn’t hurt. Just because everything fits in them neatly, doesn’t mean I need all that stuff.

 

Yesterday, I cleaned out the cabinets under the kitchen sink. Not that I rummage under there often, but it is a good feeling to open the cabinets and see order instead of chaos.

 

I have noticed, however, that on occasion I purge a little too much. Most times I don’t have the need for all the serving platters and bowls that we used to own. This is true because I no longer entertain the way that Vince and I did on a regular basis. Plus, I no longer have two kitchens with sufficient cabinet space to house all that stuff either.

 

So over the past several years I’ve greatly reduced the number and types of party supplies in my cabinets. But recently I was invited to a dinner party where I was asked to bring the dessert – only I realized I no longer had a nice serving platter. On it, I was planning to bring fresh fruits and a dip as well as brownies for the chocoholics amongst us.

 

Instead of having one big display of all things sweet, I had to bring two small trays. It didn’t have quite the impact I was hoping for, although I don’t suppose it would have been a good idea to have strawberry juice making the ooey-gooey chocolate brownies soggy.

 

On the other hand, I wasn’t able to pull off a Pinterest Win with my display either.

 

I blame the charcuterie craze. Now instead of being able to slap some strawberries, grapes and blueberries on a plate and be done with it, our food offerings must now resemble works of art.

 

Like I have any clue how to cut a strawberry so that it resembles a fragile red rose.

 

I even saw displays featuring the pineapple crown as a Christmas tree complete with a pineapple star and cranberry “ornaments.” I may have given it the ol’ college try, but I neither had a pineapple on hand, nor did I want to make a last-minute Kroger run. So while that entire idea was out, I did use my star cookie cutter on the cantaloupe. AND the brownies.

 

Hey, I tried.

 

Since I have no photos to share, I clearly wasn’t impressed with my fruit board enough to document it – but grapes pretty much taste the same whether they’re plunked down in a section on a tray or they’re swirled on a board so as to resemble a river amid the sea of fruit.

 

Can you tell I want to be the person who makes the sea of fruit display? Yeah, I have Charcuterie Envy.

 

But I’ll do my best to restrain myself. I don’t have room anymore in my cabinets for those big platters anyway.

 

And, once I finish this blog (and it’s looking good that it might actually get posted as I’ve made it farther than either of the last two blog attempts), I am heading to the spare bathroom to work on purging and organizing the closet in there. Old towels to be gathered and collected for donation to dog shelters? Check. Over the counter medications that expired three years ago? Check, check.

 

Wish me luck. If the temps rise much further, I may be outside luxuriating in the fact that half my face doesn’t need to be covered in a wool scarf that makes it hard to see or boots that took an extra five minutes to don.

 

Enjoy the rest of January, friends. Keep warm. And feel free to show me your Pinterest Charcuterie Wins. 

 

Until next time…

Happy Father's Day - in Memory of My Dad

 

Tomorrow is Father’s Day and I’ve been missing my dad all day.  Well, that’s not exactly true…I miss my dad all the time – not just today.

 

He’s been gone almost five years now and in my head I can still hear his voice say, “Hel-lo, Jane” when I’d call my parents every Monday afternoon precisely at 5:01 p.m.  He’d even answer the phone that way before he heard me speak. And my parents were not extravagant enough to spring for Caller ID back in the day.

 

Guess we were both just creatures of habit and it was a pretty safe bet that I would be the one responding, “Hel-lo, Dad!”

 

I miss him. I miss his quiet, calm presence. I miss his words of advice and his selflessness in taking care of us. If I were visiting, he’d get up and, before I knew what he was doing, he’d come back with a glass of wine for me. Before every visit, Dad would go to the store to buy a bottle just for me since neither he nor my mother drank red wine.

 

Granted, it wasn’t an expensive bottle. Anyone who knows anything about wine would probably turn up their noses at the choice he made – but, to me, it was the finest of wines just because he picked it out for me.

 

Toward his later years, I was honored to return the favor. When it came time for a meal or happy hour, I’d be the one heading to the kitchen to prepare and provide. It was my pleasure since they had both spent years taking care of me and my siblings.

 

When I was cleaning out my parents’ home in Alliance almost five years ago, I came across an old yellow platter with a flower design on it that definitely had a 60s vibe to it. It had been stashed under the sink for years – decades even – and it brought back happy memories of my childhood.

 

Mom normally cooked breakfast and dinners every day of the week. And at some point, she decided that on Sundays it was Dad’s turn to prepare a meal for the six of us.

 

Somehow he invented the charcuterie board before it was a “thing” and we had meats and cheeses and crackers and fruits and all sorts of goodies on that round yellow tray. Granted, it was probably bologna and Kraft singles and Saltines, but we thought it was the coolest new tradition on Sunday afternoons at the Domian house.

 

I can’t remember how long we enjoyed this new style of eating, but I’m guessing it wasn’t long. My parents were admittedly frugal having grown up during the Depression and would have been horrified if anything had been left uneaten.

 

But no matter. It is still a happy memory for me – all of us sitting together around the platter snacking on our favorite bites.

 

Other happy memories come to mind. Summers in Cape Cod at Parkwood Beach. Walking down the street to the beach carrying our towels, plastic shovels and pails to build epic sandcastles. Splashing in the water and showing off our newfound swimming abilities. Getting up way too early and driving to Plymouth to go deep sea fishing with my dad and siblings. Remembering my dad – even in later years – with his line in the water, turning to me and saying with a grin, “Here, fishy, fishy!”

 

Of course, I can’t think about happy memories without also thinking of the sad memories. But I don’t want to dwell on them today. I have enough sadness in my life right now and it takes very little for my tear ducts to get a workout these days.

 

So I think I will close with my wish for all dads out there – have a Happy Father’s Day! Enjoy. Make happy memories with your kids, whether they’re infants or middle-aged.  They will remember.  (Well, maybe not the infants quite yet – but you know what I mean.)

 

And anyone who is still lucky enough to have their dad here with you…visit him. Pick up the phone. Make sure he knows you care. Life really is short and you may not always have the opportunity.

 

Happy Father’s Day, Dad. I miss you and I love you.