Everything in our refrigerator has been frozen since Saturday. I don't mean in our freezer — everything on the REFRIGERATOR shelves is frozen — jars of olives, miso, sundried tomatoes, kimchi, soup stock. The stuff in the drawers and door shelves is extremely cold, but not quite frozen. We've already gotten rid of the frozen salad greens and ruined bok choy, and managed to use the frozen kale, but I'm still waiting to see what will become of the olives. It's so hard to dump a giant jar of kalamata olives under any circumstances. And what about the coconut milk? Anyone have experience with frozen cans of coconut milk?
Did you know if you pop a box of frozen (formerly fresh) mushrooms into a pot of soup they taste perfectly normal after they are cooked? Frozen tofu, of course, has a nice chewy texture after being defrosted and cooked, and peppers can also be frozen whole then cut and added to dishes.
I had no idea it was so hard to get an appliance repair person to come out to the house, and it's just not possible to bring a fridge in for service, hahaha. The first person we called refused to come at all. The second one said he'd come Friday or next Monday, and the third agreed to come this past Monday. Of course he had to order a part which didn't come until last night, so I'm still waiting for him to return today. It's already long past the time he said he'd call, but oh well. It's weird not having a working refrigerator, though the worst thing is probably the inconvenience and waste of having to replace all the staples we keep on the shelves. One plus was we had to remove everything from the freezer so the repair guy could troubleshoot, and now it's all organized and clean — and we know what's in there!
Anyway, we weren't much in the mood for cooking last night until I happened to watch a video on Vegan Lovli's blog showing how she and her partner made butter bean curry in 30 minutes. It was a wonderful video that got me in the mood for making curry. Actually, it got me in the mood to show my husband the video and convince him to make it. I really liked the 30-minute aspect as well, though it took a bit longer at our house. We had the butter beans (lima beans, actually) and a couple of very cold veggies still unfrozen in the vegetable drawer — not to mention a frozen pepper — so he made a nice curry for supper. You should, too! Vegan Lovli's photos are much better than mine, and her video tutorial is wonderful, so go on over and be inspired!
I like your ploy to get your husband to cook for you.. muahahaha! :) I could probably convince Rob the same way, because he loves curries. :)
ReplyDeleteThe video was pretty convincing, Janet. Just pick a time when he's really hungry. :D
DeleteOh, how miserable! It's hard to be without those things you need multiple times a day and take for granted, like a refrigerator. I hope it gets repaired soon!
ReplyDeleteThe refrigerator is finally repaired, thankfully. I kept thinking I should be more like our European friends, and just go buy a fresh veggie for dinner each night, but truthfully, I'm too lazy, and I really missed having a normal refrigerator!
DeleteMy fridge does this when there is little to no food in it which has been a lot lately. Ever try cooking a frozen onion or cabbage, very hard to cut. Thanks
ReplyDeleteThe repairman said if you turn the freezer temperature colder, the refrigerator is less likely to get too cold. I'm skeptical, but maybe that would work for you.
DeleteFor what it's worth, I often freeze half cans of coconut milk if I can't use them all in one go, so I'm pretty sure there's no major harm done that a good stir can't fix. I'm also rather happy to learn that frozen kale can be saved! Does the texture change? At least the curry shows that you can still get a silver lining from a ropey fridge...
ReplyDeleteThe kale was OK. I really love kale a lot but I didn't love it so much after it was frozen, though I ate it. Let's just say I don't recommend it, but it wasn't a total loss.
DeleteIt is curry season indeed!
ReplyDeleteWhat a bummer about your fridge. My last fridge was a lemon, but mostly just leaked and didn't stay cold at all. Veg foods were consumed at non-ideal temperatures!!!
I hope everything gets sorted out very quickly!
Staying cold doesn't seem to be a problem with this fridge, but it's fixed now so all is well. And the olives seem OK — that's the most important thing, right?
DeleteI'm so glad that my partner's curry inspired your husband to cook. :) He'll be super happy to hear this! Adding cauliflower in is a nice addition, we very often do that too. Thanks for sharing the recipe on your blog.
ReplyDeleteI am also sorry to hear about your fridge. Mine sometimes does that to items closer to the walls when it's too full.
Actually, my husband cooks a lot, but neither of us was in the mood to cook, and your video inspired him to make us dinner! Thankfully, the fridge is now fixed. :)
DeleteGreat to hear about the fridge. Now, you did motivate my partner to make more videos. lol.
DeleteI hope so!
DeleteOh, a broken fridge is so inconvenient! I hope its all fixed soon. Meanwhile, you got me craving curry :)
ReplyDeleteI'm relieved to say the fridge is fixed, and a curry craving is definitely fixable!
DeleteWhat a bummer, at least the fridge is fixed now. I've put coconut milk in the freezer when I couldn't use it all before leaving on a trip. It seemed ok defrosted but I did use it in a soup. I watched the curry video, it's awesome and really easy to follow along.
ReplyDeleteI should have moved the frozen coconut milk into the freezer and left it there until I needed it, but didn't think of it, and now it's defrosted and still in the fridge. I guess I'll find out soon enough if it survived. I'm glad you liked the video — I thought it was really well-done.
DeleteWhat a frustrating situation. I'm so glad to see that you're handling it with humor. I hope your fridge defrosts soon!
ReplyDeleteHumor is the only choice sometimes. :D
DeleteOh, that's frustrating. Glad you figured out a way to use most of the frozen food. And, yes, lucky break on tofu only tasting better when frozen and defrosted. That's a step I'm honestly too lazy to do often.
ReplyDeleteCurry looks great. Good luck with the olives.
Well, truthfully, I'm usually too lazy to freeze it, too, except if it's about to go outdated. Then, sometimes I freeze and sometimes I let it go bad. (No one will read this, right?) It was nice of the refrigerator to do the job for me, and we had a tasty stir-fry with frozen tofu as a result. The olives seem OK. Not too sure about the sun dried tomatoes, though ...
DeleteI love Lovlie and her blog, her Mauritius cuisine is filled with interesting spices and flavors! I love curries to go - I usually make one huge pot of Japanese curry, put whatever veggies in it, add finely grated apple, and add my roux in the end.
ReplyDeleteI recently made a huge pot of Ethiopian veggies and we ate them for days. I wish I still had some!
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