Trashcan Picking Good!
Just before Christmas I did something that caused Ann to roll her eyes and say, “After 20 years of marriage you still surprise me and do things that leave me speechless.” I’m not sure whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but a similar situation came up this past weekend that I wanted to make sure wasn’t a bad thing. So I gave Ann a warning, lest she totally lose it.
In case you didn’t know, Ann more than periodically calls me a barbarian. It’s not that I’m overly crude (well, not too often) or dress particularly poorly (at least once I take my shower in the morning), it’s that I’ll periodically do things like lick my fingers in a restaurant, wipe my mouth on my sleeve (isn’t that what they’re for?) or I’ll occasionally man-handle things and use brawn over brains to get things done. Anyway, last December I went one step further and left Ann stunned.
You see, we had a bunch of leftover cherries from one of our cherry binges and Ann decided to make a cherry crisp. Ann being Ann decided that it did not turn out the way she wanted it to and that it wasn’t any good. I told her, in no uncertain words, that I disagreed - it was delicious. Ann informed me that, after the first serving, she wasn’t going to eat any more of it because it was a failure. I said, “Fine, all the more for me.” The next day (Sunday), I treated myself to not just one big serving, but two big servings with fresh cups of coffee. And I had another big serving to treat myself while writing a brief the next day.
So the next morning I’m working, writing away. After a few hours I think, wow, it would be great to have a cup of coffee and that cherry crisp. So I head into the kitchen and the pan was gone. I looked over to the sink and there it was - empty. I then turned around and looked in the trash can, and there was a big wrap of aluminum foil. I reached in and picked it up - yup, sealed like it was the night before. I looked at the bottom - it was clean, looked back into the trash can - nope, no raw chicken or meat there. I opened up the aluminum foil - fine, just like it looked yesterday. So I scooped up the crisp, put it on a plate and headed back to my office. Yup - just as delicious as it was the day before!
That afternoon Ann comes back from work; I’m still working on my brief. I hear Ann unpacking her stuff, putting her lunch dishes into the sink, and then a silence. Then, “Dan, did you eat that cherry crisp from the trash can?” “Yeah!” “Why?” “I told you it was delicious . . . .” Let’s just say it’s been the source of many jokes since December. Most of them along the lines of, “How would you know, you eat food from the trash can!”
Fast forward to this past weekend. This time I was working on another brief and we had a bunch of blueberries approaching their end-date. Ann makes another crisp, this time blueberry. And like the last time, “I think I got the mixture wrong.” No, she hadn’t. It was even more delicious than the last one.
That afternoon, in order to make myself very clear, I told Ann do not throw this one away. To make sure she understood me, that it was delicious despite her protestations otherwise, I looked her in the eyes and said, “It’s trashcan picking good!” She burst out laughing.
And for once she listened to me. It took me another couple of days to finish it off, but at least I didn’t have to go digging around the trash can this time.