the Great Leftover Experiment: A Field Study of Human Optimism, from Back Fridge to Good China Cabinet

Every leftover begins with hope. So does every china cabinet. >It starts at the back of the refrigerator. the mystery container, the beige leftovers slowly turning into archaeology, the mustard older than several relationships, the ten-year-old turkey still in the garage freezer. Then it opens the good china cabinet, where the same hopeful habit is quietly waiting: the plates too nice to use, the silver nobody polishes, the furniture that outlives us, and the heirlooms the kids very kindly don't want. Written as a series of short, sharp, oddly comforting essays, it's a book about leftovers - the kind you make and the kind you inherit. But underneath the jokes is the truth we all share: nobody is operating at full capacity, everybody is saving something for a better tomorrow, and the special occasion we keep waiting for is usually just an ordinary Tuesday. A perfect gift for anyone with a full freezer, a junk drawer, a china cabinet they're afraid to open ... or a mother who saved every address label the mail ever sent her. Use the good dishes. That's the whole point. Part of the Oddly Comforting Collection: delightfully unnecessary, surprisingly meaningful.