What's ON My Frig?

From time to time, I'd feature what's in my frig. (Right now it's a lot of leftover cranberry and pumpkin cheesecake.) But today I thought I'd show you what's on my frig.

This is actually a suggestion from reader Beth, who noticed my refrigerator is filled with magnets during my cooking demos on YouTube. Beth pegged me right as a magnet fanatic, and I've been one for a long time.

It all started when I first moved away from home and rented my first place. I didn't have a lot of money to decorate so it was cheap to buy a magnet to personalize my kitchen. Over the years I'd buy more and more every time I moved and eventually my refrigerator door was covered with magnets.

My friends know I'm such a magnet fanatic that they'd sometimes give me a magnet and that just adds to my collection. And it really is a collection to me. Whenever I moved (and I moved quite often in the early years), I would individually wrap each magnet with tissue paper like it's some kind of antique in a museum exhibit, and then I'd place them all into a shoebox for the move.

I don't know how many pieces I have, but the number has changed over the years. That's because some never really survived. There has been a few magnets that were the victim of me walking by and knocking them off and then breaking as it fell. Or some got so covered by kitchen grease over the years (I'm a fanatic but there's no way I'm going to individually clean each tiny magnet) that I end up just tossing it.

Here's a close up look at just a small part of my collection.

Many of my favorite magnets have a sentimental attachment to it, and some of that is because I got them during my travels. (Pictured above, left, a magnet from The Orangery tea salon in London; top right, a mosaic magnet from La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona; bottom right, a Fish Eddys magnet from New York, my most recent addition.)

Some magnets from my travel don't necessarily scream out where they're from, but I know. Like this beautiful ceramic magnet of a dragonfly. I got this from a flea market when I was visiting my sister in Portland a few years ago.

I get a lot of my magnets when I go home to Hawaii. On the weekends, they have crafts fairs at the beach and for awhile a few booths sold hand-made magnets. (Although not so much these days.) I like to find magnets that are just cute or reminds me of growing up in the islands.

Of course, there are quite a bit of magnets related to food. I've got magnets of cherries, watermelons in a basket, Reeses peanut butter cup ...

... and, of course, cupcakes!

There are a lot of magnets that remind me of my favorite characters, like Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street.

And I'm always a sucker for rubber duckies. There's just something playful but traditional about them.

Like I said, this is just a peek at what's all over my refrigerator door. It's like taking a stroll down memory lane every time I go to get something from the frig.