Do the Best Things in Life Come with an Expiration Date?
As a pessimist, I would say that they do. But I am not so sure. As I prepared for tomorrow's feast, I noticed this small familiar object that I have mostly ignored over the years.
My wife and I have been married for 43 years. I don't remember when we acquired this can of cinnamon but I am pretty sure it was soon after we married, if not before. I looked at the can to see if there was a date on it. There wasn't. Obviously, we don't use a lot of cinnamon in our diet but we do use it in a pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving and Christmas and have put it on French toast on Sunday mornings at least a thousand times over the years.
It is hard to tell how much spice is left in that beaten can. Someday, maybe, I will try to sprinkle some cinnamon on my grandkids' toast and nothing will come out and I will have to buy a new can. That may happen but I think it is more likely that that same can of cinnamon will be in my kitchen cabinet when my kids are sorting through the detritus of possessions left behind after my death.
If we knew, when we bought that tin of cinnamon so many years ago, that we were buying a lifetime supply, would we have bought a larger tin?
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Feb '11
Re: Do the Best Things in Life Come with an Expiration Date?
Love this post.
My parents bought a summer cabin in 1966, years before I was born. Several summers ago, we converted one of the very small bedrooms into a larger kitchen. As we transferred items to the new kitchen cabinets, I came across spices and other items that I swear came with the house. Do you think my mother let me throw any of them out?
When I lived in Oregon, I shopped at Albertson's. There is no Albertson's for hundreds of miles where I now live. I left Oregon 13 years ago. I still have a package of 500 Albertson's Q-tips (yes, I packed them up for my x-country move). I use them frequently, I think, but like the flour of the widow who fed Elijah, my Q-tips never seem to be depleted.
May your grandchildren enjoy your container of spices, and share the family heirloom with their children as well.
May '11
Re: Do the Best Things in Life Come with an Expiration Date?
Exactly. The flour of the widow who fed Elijah is the perfect metaphor for the miracle of life that shows up in Q-tips that never seem to be depleted and tins of cinnamon that never run dry.
Jul '12
Re: Do the Best Things in Life Come with an Expiration Date?
"On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everone drops to zero." - Narrator of Fight Club. Strictly speaking, everything has an expiration date if you wait long enough. So yes.
Aug '10
Re: Do the Best Things in Life Come with an Expiration Date?
Use by dating is a recent phenom. Ignore it in most cases, although spice does go stale. everything else will tell you in a quick sniff.
Being half swedish, I always heard that a normal svenska couple could tell how long they have been married by how much was left in the tabasco bottle they acquired upon marriage. at fifty years it was pretty near gone , eh ?
mexican cuisine and cajun talk cook shows have ruined all that.
uff da ! habanero flotbrot and lutefisk comin up ! eh ?
Oct '10
Re: Do the Best Things in Life Come with an Expiration Date?
Seems Ludefisk and Hardtack have no expiration date. Mom had a pantry in the basement. The expiration dates on the goods were beyond the grave. Twelve year old Smuckers jelly is a little scary.
May '11
Re: Do the Best Things in Life Come with an Expiration Date?
As a clueless southern boy, I have no idea what habanero flotbrot and lutefisk are. Willing to learn, however. Willing to learn.
Feb '11
Re: Do the Best Things in Life Come with an Expiration Date?
You might regret saying this... Lutefisk. Flotbrot is just a kind of flat bread from Scandinavian...cuisine.
(can one say "cuisine" when talking about lutefisk?)
Jul '10
Re: Do the Best Things in Life Come with an Expiration Date?
flownover: Use by dating is a recent phenom. Ignore it in most cases, although spice does go stale. everything else will tell you in a quick sniff.
Being half swedish, I always heard that a normal svenska couple could tell how long they have been married by how much was left in the tabasco bottle they acquired upon marriage. at fifty years it was pretty near gone , eh ?
mexican cuisine and cajun talk cook shows have ruined all that.
uff da ! habanero flotbrot and lutefisk comin up ! eh ? · 8 minutes ago
That's perfect. My Norwegian dad (who would likely have Tabasco dating from the mid 70's if he hadn't moved so much) received a lovely clock for the mantle when he left a job in the early 80's. The inscription: oof da!
Maybe I'll make him some smoked serrano lefsa for his birthday.
Jul '12
Re: Do the Best Things in Life Come with an Expiration Date?
@ Southern Pessimist.... The less you know about lutefisk, the better. Just know that it's fish that's been buried and dug up. Ewwwwww
May '11
Re: Do the Best Things in Life Come with an Expiration Date?
Mama Toad
You might regret saying this... Lutefisk. Flotbrot is just a kind of flat bread from Scandinavian...cuisine.
(can one say "cuisine" when talking about lutefisk?) · 7 minutes ago
Went to your link. Lutefisk sounds much worse than turkey jello and that is pretty bizarre.
May '11
Re: Do the Best Things in Life Come with an Expiration Date?
Palaeologus
flownover: Use by dating is a recent phenom. Ignore it in most cases, although spice does go stale. everything else will tell you in a quick sniff.
Being half swedish, I always heard that a normal svenska couple could tell how long they have been married by how much was left in the tabasco bottle they acquired upon marriage. at fifty years it was pretty near gone , eh ?
mexican cuisine and cajun talk cook shows have ruined all that.
uff da ! habanero flotbrot and lutefisk comin up ! eh ? · 8 minutes ago
That's perfect. My Norwegian dad (who would likely have Tabasco dating from the mid 70's if he hadn't moved so much) received a lovely clock for the mantle when he left a job in the early 80's. The inscription:oof da!
Maybe I'll make him some smoked serrano lefsa for his birthday. · 7 minutes ago
I may have smoked some serrano lefsa in my youth but I am sure I did not inhale.
Oct '10
Re: Do the Best Things in Life Come with an Expiration Date?
Traditional Ludefisk is dried fish cured with lye to preserve it. Takes about three weeks of soaking to make it appear edible, which it is not.
Jul '10
Re: Do the Best Things in Life Come with an Expiration Date?
Mama Toad
You might regret saying this... Lutefisk. Flotbrot is just a kind of flat bread from Scandinavian...cuisine.
(can one say "cuisine" when talking about lutefisk?) · 12 minutes ago
You can say it. But can you really mean it?
(link includes mild CoC violations courtesy of Dennis Miller)
Jul '10
Re: Do the Best Things in Life Come with an Expiration Date?
Southern Pessimist
Palaeologus
flownover: Use by dating is a recent phenom. Ignore it in most cases, although spice does go stale. everything else will tell you in a quick sniff.
Being half swedish, I always heard that a normal svenska couple could tell how long they have been married by how much was left in the tabasco bottle they acquired upon marriage. at fifty years it was pretty near gone , eh ?
mexican cuisine and cajun talk cook shows have ruined all that.
uff da ! habanero flotbrot and lutefisk comin up ! eh ? · 8 minutes ago
That's perfect. My Norwegian dad (who would likely have Tabasco dating from the mid 70's if he hadn't moved so much) received a lovely clock for the mantle when he left a job in the early 80's. The inscription:oof da!
Maybe I'll make him some smoked serrano lefsa for his birthday. · 7 minutes ago
I may have smoked some serrano lefsa in my youth but I am sure I did not inhale. · 9 minutes ago
Good thinking. Inhaling is always a bad idea when Scandies are cooking.
Jul '10
Re: Do the Best Things in Life Come with an Expiration Date?
I see an expiration date on my bottle of water, but I don't see one on My tap.
Aug '10
Re: Do the Best Things in Life Come with an Expiration Date?
tap water mostly maintained by chlorine gas, just imagine if the house next door has been empty for two years and the water sits in the pipe, better pray for back pressure.
the expiration on water will always be two years from bottling, silly rule from a couple years back, no basis whatsoever.we bottle the stuff with a residual bactericide called ozone.
quite a talk about lutefisk eh ? golly, wonder what do they think about potato sausage and aakavit ? lefsa with lingonberry jelly .
Edited on November 22, 2012 at 4:38amFeb '11
Re: Do the Best Things in Life Come with an Expiration Date?
Or my heritage food of choice: blood pudding. Mmmm...
(photo credit Karl Ehmer Meats, a local and fantastic resource here in the Hudson Valley)
Re: Do the Best Things in Life Come with an Expiration Date?
Can someone explain to me why this post made me cry?
Feb '11
Re: Do the Best Things in Life Come with an Expiration Date?
Was it the habanero lutefisk?
Re: Do the Best Things in Life Come with an Expiration Date?
Anything that reminds us of our mortality is a cause for melancholy. But when it's tinged with a touch of nostalgia -- my mom had a cinnamon spice container just like that!-- it's a sweet melancholy. Thanks for a fantastic post, SP.