Refrigerator Cleaning

For the most part, Joe and I do a reasonably decent job of eating leftovers that get shoved to the back of our refrigerator and, if we don't, we do modestly well at remembering to dispose of them instead of leaving them in the fridge to fester. Note, I used terms like "reasonably decent" and "modestly well" which, to me, implies that we do have our fair share of gross, unidentifiable containers of leftovers that I pull out of the darkest corners of fridge from time to time. Doesn't everyone? (If the answer is no, please don't tell me; I've got myself happily convinced this is the case.)

But what neither of us does well-- and I suppose since I'm the one home I take the bulk of the blame-- is actually cleaning the fridge. You know, pulling out shelves and drawers and actually using soap and water back in the recesses of the fridge that nobody likes to visit. Each time I do it-- and no, I won't tell you how frequently or not that is-- I am amazed at how fridge gunk forms. What is that stuff all the way underneath the vegetable crispers and, more importantly, how the heck did that stuff get there?

Today the gunk got to me and Elisabeth and I pulled out every item in the fridge and cleaned, scoured and washed. While I still wonder how that gunk got there and what exactly it was, I'm more interested that it's gone and can, once again, not cringe when someone outside of our immediate family opens our refrigerator.