About Me
Hello and welcome! I am Rachel – a writer, science geek, wife (to Jelani), and mom to one human (5-year Paxton) and two cats (11-year old siblings Leila and Samar). We live near the Pacific Ocean in Northern California.
In another lifetime, I was working in an observatory where I wore several astronomy related hats. Today, in addition to blogging and being a member of a crazy family, I also am a science writer, contributing to science news websites and science education projects.
So why add a blog into the mix? I love cooking and baking and sharing my creations with friends and family. And leftovers, especially the baked ones, get sent with my husband to his office. He now has a small following asking when the next batch is coming in.
I usually throw things together, preferably in a single pot or pan, and hope they come out. When the concoctions do work out, I try very hard to remember what I did so I could attempt to recreate it next time. I really need to learn to actually write these things down. So why not a blog? And it would give me a place to practice my creative writing.
Why Fridge Two Table?
Honestly, I’d rather work alone in the kitchen. My husband tries, he really does, but sometimes I spend more time (and more patience than I may have) telling or showing him exactly what I want than if I’d just done it myself. And up until recently, all the kitchens we have had have been too small to comfortably have 2 people working in there. And, I like to spread out when I cook, so I’d rather have more room for me to spread out than try to accommodate another person.
The Two part comes from how I’m adapting to accepting another person into the kitchen with me. Both Jelani and Paxton are turning into my occasional sous chefs. Jelani is excellent at destemming kale, shelling peas, peeling garlic, and cleaning up after my many, klutzy spills. Paxton also likes the destem kale (then chew on the stems and shell peas (although, more peas end up in his stomach than in the bowl), and he is genuinely interested in learning how to cook and bake. So I’m teaching him some cooking tricks and letting him help with some baking.
The Fridge part of the name comes from how I normally go about cooking – taking what is already in the fridge and pantry. Yes, I do go grocery shopping regularly (at least once per week) so I’m constantly restocking what I have and adding new, fun things that look interesting. And unless I’m actually following through on meal planning for the week or hosting a get-together, most of the groceries are versatile ingredients that have a wide variety of uses.
One of my favorite places to shop is our farmer’s market on Saturday mornings. It is small and seasonal (and oh how I miss it December through April!), and I try to plan our weekly menus around what is fresh at the market.
I start pantry diving towards the end of the week when the fresh produce has run out. This is why I keep a staple of beans and grains in the pantry and several bags of frozen veggies in the freezer.
The Food
Everything in moderation – one of my grandmother’s favorite sayings. I’m not a nutritionist or dietician, and we don’t follow any diet or fads – we just try to eat a relatively balanced diet with lots of plant products and fewer animal products.
I don’t usually follow recipes. But I own way too many cookbooks and read through many other online recipes inspiration or ideas with using more unique ingredients. For the majority of the recipes posted here, I’ve had to go back a cook the dish a few times (good thing my husband likes leftovers!) and take note of how much of what to put in and what to change next time.
Many of the recipes you will find here are vegetable based. We do eat some animal proteins, but try to rely more on things like tofu, legumes, and fresh, seasonal veggies. These recipes are meant to be a guide for you to use as inspiration to change up as you please.