Treasure hunt

Since the time my parents returned to India mid-October last year, this kind of conversation is very common place between me and my mom.

Me: You know what, Mee, I thought I had run out of sombu. So last week, I went and bought some from the Indian store ...

Mom (interrupting): But I thought I left behind quite a lot of sombu when we left in October.

Me: Yes, I realized that when I hunting for something else yesterday :-(. There were two packets of sombu in that big ziploc bag. Sigh! Now I have to finish all that plus the one I bought last week! As it is you left behind so many spices, enough to feed two families and now... (launch into my usual whining about how I hardly ever use any of the kitchen stuff which mom had brought along during her stay here and then left behind for my use).

Mom: See, that's why I asked you to make a list of things you already have in your kitchen.

Me: Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa - I know. I should do it some time.

A couple of weeks later, this conversation would again happen. Just substitute sombu with mustard seeds.And then again. Substitute something else. But I never made that list. Yeah, I know, I am one lazy person.

Anyways, after all those conversations, at long last, this evening turned out to be THE auspicious day. On the spur of the moment, I just opened my freezer and decided to make an inventory of the contents. When I took out all the stuff outside, I was amazed that so much stuff could actually fit into my not-so-huge freezer. You can kind of understand what I am talking about - this is what the door of the freezer looks like!
Anyways, what I thought would be a ten minute project turned out to take up an hour instead. Being the conscientious soul that I am I decided to clean up everything before putting it all back. My inventory list is about three sides long. I discovered some spices and ingredients which I did not know I owned. Yes, and all this is just the stuff which sits in the freezer. I am yet to check out the rest of the kitchen cupboards :-( - but I shall save inventoring those for the next prick of my conscience :-D.
I also discovered some interesting-looking unidentifiable powder in an unlabeled plastic packet. After doing the look test, the sniff test and the taste test, I was still unable to place it. And then I found a small card inside the packet. "Manna Health mix" it read. My smart mom had labeled it after all :-D. So tonight, my dinner is the health mix.
If I disappear from the scene for more than two days, someone please call the medical services!

In case you are wondering why I have put up this whole rigmarole about cooking and cleaning, I was actually supposed to write a longer post. But since the cleaning took up my time, I had to settle for a short post instead. After I racked my brain for ideas, it came up with this brilliant topic.

I know, I should try to sharpen my brain with brain-games from now on :-P!