Saturday, October 29, 2005
Weekend Cat Blogging - Kiri's Party
The charming Clare at Eat Stuff is inviting everyone to the adorable Kiri's birthday party!
Maggie (who celebrated her first birthday in late July) is here in her best bib and tucker:
Is she cute or what??!
(She was about six months old at the time. She still tries to crawl out sleeves, but she is a lot larger now so she usually gets stuck.)
Two of my very favorite and very social cats have unfortunately gone to eat tuna off God's counter in the last few months. Since they were "party animals" I'm putting them in the post.
My beloved Maya (1989-2005), from about a year ago; yes, she was Queen of all she surveyed:
Maggie and Maya didn't get along very well due to their differences in energy level (Maggie wanted to play, and Maya was, well, old and set in her ways) but here is a picture of them putting asides their differences:
And this is Brigid (1998-2005) who was one of my church's resident cats. She attended services every Sunday (she usually spent early service on someone's lap) and was always around for her fans at coffee hour and during evening classes and meetings. She, like Maya in her prime, was a mighty huntress, so some of those meetings got a bit lively when she brought something in! Our church's symbol is the lion and she did her best to live up to it:
The kitties and I wish Kiri many happy returns and many happy years with Clare.
Maggie (who celebrated her first birthday in late July) is here in her best bib and tucker:
Is she cute or what??!
(She was about six months old at the time. She still tries to crawl out sleeves, but she is a lot larger now so she usually gets stuck.)
Two of my very favorite and very social cats have unfortunately gone to eat tuna off God's counter in the last few months. Since they were "party animals" I'm putting them in the post.
My beloved Maya (1989-2005), from about a year ago; yes, she was Queen of all she surveyed:
Maggie and Maya didn't get along very well due to their differences in energy level (Maggie wanted to play, and Maya was, well, old and set in her ways) but here is a picture of them putting asides their differences:
And this is Brigid (1998-2005) who was one of my church's resident cats. She attended services every Sunday (she usually spent early service on someone's lap) and was always around for her fans at coffee hour and during evening classes and meetings. She, like Maya in her prime, was a mighty huntress, so some of those meetings got a bit lively when she brought something in! Our church's symbol is the lion and she did her best to live up to it:
The kitties and I wish Kiri many happy returns and many happy years with Clare.
Saturday, October 22, 2005
MMMMMmmmm ... Donut ...
I finally had one of the donuts available at the Farmer's Market at the Bennett Valley Bakery stall.
It was filled with lemon curd.
I became one of those "walk obliviously down the aisle" people as I made sure all that curd got into my mouth.
(I was there to buy some broccoli rabe and some Calabrese sausage from Fatted Calf, because the rapini-and-Calabrese pasta I made last week was Most Excellent. I think I may try some red bell peppers and/or roasted cauliflower in the mix this time.)
It was filled with lemon curd.
I became one of those "walk obliviously down the aisle" people as I made sure all that curd got into my mouth.
(I was there to buy some broccoli rabe and some Calabrese sausage from Fatted Calf, because the rapini-and-Calabrese pasta I made last week was Most Excellent. I think I may try some red bell peppers and/or roasted cauliflower in the mix this time.)
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Tales from the Kitchen
Has it been over two weeks since I updated my blog? I guess it has.
I haven't been high-energy in the kitchen lately; was working hard, and coming down with a cold, so wasn't cooking much (if at all). As a note on how hard I've been working and how tired I was, I haven't even been reading food (or other) blogs much. (And I got hit by a wave of comment spam. Verification is now on.)
I got all the materials - lovely peppers, eggplant, and zucchini from the market and some chickpea flour from my friendly neighborhood Pakistani grocery - to make the ratatouille with socca crepes that Brett made for IMBB #19. I couldn't do more than one thing at a time though. Finally put all the pieces together last Saturday, and made the socca pancakes last Sunday to eat with it. Once I figured out how to swirl the pancakes, life was good!
I did, however, clear massive amounts of no-longer-good food out of both the refrigerator and the freezer, so I have ROOM FOR STUFF. *happy dance*
In dining news, I was treated to a lovely dinner of tapas at Thirsty Bear in SF and it was all good. Not quite sure of all we had, as we did the "please bring us a suitable number of dishes that you think are extra good tonight" thing. But it was all mighty tasty. (calamari with romesco sauce ... Outstanding). I have also been thinking of foccacia sandwiches after snagging one off the buffet table at the technical seminar I went to at the St. Francis (unfortunately it was all I got, as I had to leave and that was the only thing I could carry out, but it was outstanding - roasted vegi filling).
Last weekend I was starting to move along normal lines due to a convergence of three events: one, my best friend's birthday celebration, two, the regular Evensong reception at the church, and three, being tapped for Snack at my adult Bible study class. I also seem to be thinking ahead for the holidays (which for me will start with the Bishop's visit the day before Halloween) because I made my first batch of truffles in quite some time (will photodocument it and blog it ... promise).
Here is what I made:
Quadruple batch of hummus (double batch to the church, single for the other events)
Large batch of tapenade
Normal recipe of Susan Hattie's Goat Cheese Torta, divided in two smaller bowls
Peanut butter cup cookies
Kahlua truffles
One batch of Barb's Brownies for the church
Served with raw veg dippers, pita (I kept having to go to the store for more), and sourdough bread
So: brain functioning along normal lines.
The only flaw in this was that I didn't make myself anything for lunch on Monday/Tuesday (the ratatouille is not going to be sustaining enough for my lunch), so I was scrambling for lunches.
The cupcakes that E made are inspiring me to think about experimenting with cuppycakes of my own (when this cold goes away and I can eat sugar again). I still haven't used the whip attachment on my kitchenaid ... And there were all sorts of wacky decorations available at Spun Sugar when I poked my nose in to look for boxes for my truffle fundraising venture.
Truffle recipe to be forthcoming shortly. I will document the process, honest.
This past weekend was the monthly feeding of the multitudes exercise at the church. Interestingly enough I haven't spent much time at all in the kitchen since May, as I have been learning to run the front of the house. I am so used to being a worker bee that it is tough for me to switch gears and Tell People To Do Things. I was annoyed when someone threw out my lunch, but it was made up for by the fact that someone had obtained boxes of the Scharffenberger individual milk chocolate wafers and there was enough chocolate for the volunteers.
I haven't been high-energy in the kitchen lately; was working hard, and coming down with a cold, so wasn't cooking much (if at all). As a note on how hard I've been working and how tired I was, I haven't even been reading food (or other) blogs much. (And I got hit by a wave of comment spam. Verification is now on.)
I got all the materials - lovely peppers, eggplant, and zucchini from the market and some chickpea flour from my friendly neighborhood Pakistani grocery - to make the ratatouille with socca crepes that Brett made for IMBB #19. I couldn't do more than one thing at a time though. Finally put all the pieces together last Saturday, and made the socca pancakes last Sunday to eat with it. Once I figured out how to swirl the pancakes, life was good!
I did, however, clear massive amounts of no-longer-good food out of both the refrigerator and the freezer, so I have ROOM FOR STUFF. *happy dance*
In dining news, I was treated to a lovely dinner of tapas at Thirsty Bear in SF and it was all good. Not quite sure of all we had, as we did the "please bring us a suitable number of dishes that you think are extra good tonight" thing. But it was all mighty tasty. (calamari with romesco sauce ... Outstanding). I have also been thinking of foccacia sandwiches after snagging one off the buffet table at the technical seminar I went to at the St. Francis (unfortunately it was all I got, as I had to leave and that was the only thing I could carry out, but it was outstanding - roasted vegi filling).
Last weekend I was starting to move along normal lines due to a convergence of three events: one, my best friend's birthday celebration, two, the regular Evensong reception at the church, and three, being tapped for Snack at my adult Bible study class. I also seem to be thinking ahead for the holidays (which for me will start with the Bishop's visit the day before Halloween) because I made my first batch of truffles in quite some time (will photodocument it and blog it ... promise).
Here is what I made:
Quadruple batch of hummus (double batch to the church, single for the other events)
Large batch of tapenade
Normal recipe of Susan Hattie's Goat Cheese Torta, divided in two smaller bowls
Peanut butter cup cookies
Kahlua truffles
One batch of Barb's Brownies for the church
Served with raw veg dippers, pita (I kept having to go to the store for more), and sourdough bread
So: brain functioning along normal lines.
The only flaw in this was that I didn't make myself anything for lunch on Monday/Tuesday (the ratatouille is not going to be sustaining enough for my lunch), so I was scrambling for lunches.
The cupcakes that E made are inspiring me to think about experimenting with cuppycakes of my own (when this cold goes away and I can eat sugar again). I still haven't used the whip attachment on my kitchenaid ... And there were all sorts of wacky decorations available at Spun Sugar when I poked my nose in to look for boxes for my truffle fundraising venture.
Truffle recipe to be forthcoming shortly. I will document the process, honest.
This past weekend was the monthly feeding of the multitudes exercise at the church. Interestingly enough I haven't spent much time at all in the kitchen since May, as I have been learning to run the front of the house. I am so used to being a worker bee that it is tough for me to switch gears and Tell People To Do Things. I was annoyed when someone threw out my lunch, but it was made up for by the fact that someone had obtained boxes of the Scharffenberger individual milk chocolate wafers and there was enough chocolate for the volunteers.
