Daily Bun
Bunny's numbers came back…and improvement on most things… though when she eats now, she gets pretty sluggish.
I though it was the anemia, but I don't know now. The vet just lowered her Aluminum Hydroxide dose (and gave me a script that only cost $13 rather than the $90 I was paying for an equivalent refill. Every little bit helps.)
Anyhoo, I'm still miffed at my vet for letting too many other things get in between him and his focus on Bunny, but I haven't totally decided to switch vets yet. We'll see how pissy I have to get to get his attention.
(Picture Dirty Harry in the role of Aurora in "Terms of Endearment" and you'll get an idea of how I will go after any neglect of the Bunnycat.)
Still, it was a tough weekend and Bun is definitely feeling less perky than she was a few weeks ago.
We're both tired.
My new hero
is Crazy Aunt Purl who knitted this masterpiece:
Photo copyright CrazyAuntPurl.com 2009 I found the pattern made with regular wool as well here but the Noro is so freakin' gorgeous, I might have to be a copy cat. See? Still pretty but not nearly as orgasmic:
Roasted Corn Pudding in Acorn Squash Recipe for Mabon
Happy Mabon, y'all!
In honor of the harvest festival on the Autumnal Equinox, I made a harvest-y dinner last night.
http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/roasted-corn-pudding-in-acorn-squash-recipe.html
original photo by Heidi Swanson 101Cookbooks.com Isn't that beautiful? I edit things to my tastes, primarily to remove things I know I don't like (star anise) or to remove things that would kind of kill me (scallions, still…sigh)…though I would love to have had scallions in mine. Here is my version: Roasted Corn Pudding in Acorn Squash Recipe for Mabon
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup half & half
1 egg plus 2 egg whites
2 ears fresh corn kernels
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon garlic
1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1/3 cup grated 2yr Black Wax Cabot cheddar cheese
1 sliced apple ( I used Honeycrisp because the name reminded me of autumn. Any tart apple will do.)
1. Turn on your oven to 350 F
2. Cut the acorn squash in half and scoop out the seeds with a spoon
3. Drizzle olive oil and salt on the squash
4. Cook acorn squash until fork tender (~50 minutes)
5. Mix 1 egg plus 2 egg whites, 1 cup half & half, 2 ears fresh corn kernels, 1/4 teaspoon garlic, 1 cup grated parmesan cheese in a bowl (I suppose you could mix it on the counter instead of in a bowl, but it might get very messy.)
6. To keep the mixture from running out of the squash, I took a pair of tongs, turned over the squash and sliced a bit off the bottom to make a flat surface. Then set it back onto the roasting plate, filled them 3/4 full with the mixture and put them back into the oven.
I lowered the temperature to 325F at this point so that I didn't scald the mix.
It will set up in about 30-40 minutes. Test them for consistency around this point; you can pull them out earlier if you wanted more of a soup consistency or longer for a more firmly set pudding.
There was extra mix just as Ms. Swanson mentioned in her version, so I put it in a small oven safe bowl and baked it along with the rest of the squash.
7. Place on serving dish and grate white cheddar over the squash. I used a 2yr Black Wax Cabot cheddar cheese recommended to me by Jennifer… and it was spectacular in combination with the slightly sweet pudding and acorn squash mix. (I didn't brown the cheese in the broiler, but you can if that makes you happy.)
A tart white wine (not too sweet) or even a apple cider reduction drizzled on top would be really good with this… or go simply with the sliced apples that we had on the side.
Blessed be, y'all!
A Centro San Francisco
More pics from when Eden visited us west coasties…
Bunny wobble
Well, I think Bunny got a bit cold this weekend.
I'm sure her anemia is progressing, (hopefully it isn't to the point of needing shots, because that means that there is officially an expiration date on my cat) consequently that means her tolerance for anything that requires extra blood flow is slim to none.
Its kind of disheartening to see her a little more out of it and it was freaking me out.
The good news is that she just slept a little harder after eating (and she's still eating well) and I managed to not muck up her fluids while I topped her fluids tank off (I did a crap job of it the other night and she's a little wary of it now – which breaks my heart. She forgives me right after, but looks at me askew when I set up for it.)
She is fine today, though; yelling at Tex for brushies and eating well.
I'm the mess in this situation.
I hate emotion.
Bunny and the disembodied Hand of Tex (cue scary music here)
I've also cleverly scheduled some time off at the end of the year which will give me 10 days in a row for the price of 4. No plans yet. Well, I might plan some cooking and some footie jammies time with a whole lot of knitting, but that's about as ambitious as I plan to get.
My fuel pump is still suspect in Beast, so I drive it only to get to work and back, with very few other stops and starts. I also keep the revs under 2500 rpm to not really stress it… I get freaking amazing gas mileage this way but I get flipped the bird a lot more as well. I did get confirmation from my mechanic that the part I found on the web is the right one, so (4 weeks later, thank you Merc Rx communication errors) it is ordered. We'll see how long it takes to get here and get put into service.
I've also developed what I believe is tennis elbow (I haven't talked to Dr. Google yet) from schlepping my 7 pound work laptop home everyday just in case my car dies at some inopportune moment (when do they ever die conveniently?) and I get stuck at home for several days. Its my own fault for lifting it with my left hand, but now I need to get my arm fixed as lifting even a dish send excruciating stabs through me. I can lift my arm, I still have range of motion, but lifting is out. Fun.
Tonight is Mabon, so I will be cooking this ( http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/roasted-corn-pudding-in-acorn-squash-recipe.html ) as the Mabon feast. I'll edit here and there on the recipe, but the corn chowder in the acorn squash thing sounded yummy… and how can you go wrong with something covered in cheese? (I'll let you know if I manage to do so…)
Anyway, that's all there is. No wait, I did get new shoes…
That's really it. Yes, really.
Go home now.
Carcassonne at Night
Oh how I miss this place.
SW France seems like home to me.
Is it Tuesday?
Its kind of tedious lately.
Things are going OK, but its just lots of little details. Bunny management, day to day work stuff (we are in the busy season at work), trying to be remotely social instead of the cave troll that I default to…
But I am not unhappy.
Work is busy, which is a necessary evil. I get worried if I get bored at work… that means I don't have enough work… and if I don't have enough work, why are they paying me to sit and do nothing? My job would be in jeopardy… so crazy busy is, well, crazy, but fine. Eden is in town for a few short days, so we met up last night in SF for the abbreviated tour. My version of the tour (edited for a completely exhausted traveler) included a drive along the Embarcadero, pointing out places in geeky movies (Fog City Diner:So I Married an Axe Murderer), noting all the good crap shops (for SF polar fleece jackets, snow globes and Cable Car magnets and, of course the prerequisite Alcatraz Escapee stripey t shirt). Then past Fisherman's Wharf, the Cable Car turn around spot, Ghiradelli Square and a short stop along the jetty that encloses the harbor area in front of the Maritime Museum/Ghiradelli to see a glorious sunset making supernova spikes of light in the (Centro) camera through the fog and the Golden Gate Bridge.
We trundled back to Fisherman's Wharf for a small dinner, it wasn't high class fare, but Eden did like the crab cakes (she said it brought to mind Ewan McGregor-high praise indeed) and we headed back to her hotel as she was fading a bit after the very long day she had. We turned on to Battery street and saw the Fog City Diner and decided that we needed pie. Amazingly there was a parking spot right in front of the place (I'm sure this is her parkma, I have none.) then we sat at the counter and had a look at the dessert menu… we settled on a banana/chocolate bread pudding and the mile-high lemon meringue pie.
We each took a bite of the bread pudding and moaned. I think the wait staff looked at us nervously when we did so… the meringue was pretty dang good as well; in fact it was Eric the vampire good (the bread pudding was Oliver Wood good). I had coffee and she had a single malt scotch that smelled really amazing, but I didn't try it (driving, you see).
We giggled the whole time and took pictures and talked about a bunch of stuff.
A very good night :)
SPAM: Good day
Riiiight.
———- Forwarded message ———-From: U.N COMPENSATION OFFICE
Date: Sunday, September 13, 2009
Subject: Good day
United Nations Office, UK
3 Whitehall Court
London
SW1A 2EL Dear Sir/Madam, It has come to our notice that 25% of your countrymen has been scammed in one way or the other. On this basis, the UN Office-UK had an urgent executive meeting on the 18th of March, 2009. At this meeting, the issue of payment of compensation to victims was a key point agenda which arose to a lots of argument between executive members. Read the rest of this entry »
More than you’ll ever want to know about canned cat food
Earworm du jour: LOLLY LOLLY LOLLY GET YOUR ADVERBS HERE!
(and for those of you who don't get that, you are not of my generation apparently.)
She doesn't love going anyway, but recently, the vet's office merged with another office and the new facility's waiting room is loud and busy and scared Bun half out of her mind. She peed on her towel (which she never does) and was shaking. I took her over to a corner, out of her carrier and zipped her up against me in my jacket with a towel around us and talked to her. She calmed slightly, but we will never do that again. I'll tag team with Tex and sit out in the car with her til they call us but I will not subject her to that level of stress anymore.
(Oh, here's that bit about cat food…) I switched her over to the canned renal diet food the other day (as we do each Monday-Tex is home and he can usually feed her in little increments all day so she'll eat most of a can, but will generally lose interest in it by the end of the day. But, mission accomplished, as it apparently helps with her acid levels without resorting to more medicines.) and she scarfed it up so quickly that I gave her another can-which she also proceeded to demolish. We haven't given her much pouch version of the renal diet since then. Frankly feeding her pouch wasn't working too well anyway, she would lick all the juice off of it and ignore the (insert name of non protein substance) squares and leave a good amount of food in the dish everyday. Even squishing it all together with a fork wasn't working. I know she lost weight when she stopped eating all the pouch since the highly scientific luggage scale said she was down a bit.
However, since I switched her to the can exclusively, she's probably gained back a half pound in about a week… which put her only 2 ounces less than her official weight 6 months ago. So even when the vet commented on her 2 ounce loss, I wasn't all that upset since she's looking lovely and porky lately and I know she's still snarfing down those cans.
They took blood for tests as they have done before, but, she was pretty loopy when she got home exhibiting classic anemia symptoms and she didn't talk to me… just said regular cat meows. I don't know if they took more blood or if her anemia has progressed (or even if the high stress in combination with all of this was the problem) but she wasn't very herself until this morning when she talked to me and purred when I kissed her goodbye leaving for work.
I feel much better now… not out of the woods, but when she behaves like herself, I can take a lot more with equanimity.
If she doesn't feel good, all bets are off and I am a wreck. On the knitting front (and admittedly it is a very small front) I have been knitting at odd times (occasionally at lunch, at sushi) but not around Bunny… I can knit about 5 or 10 minutes before she gets cranky about it. So the sock is about 1.5 inches into the ribbing and going very slowly. Mama will be over this weekend for a little bit, so I will take advantage of Bunny avoiding the crowd (anyone that isn't me or Tex constitutes a crowd in her mind.. and also most likely we will be sitting out on the porch while Bunny stays inside) and will knit.
I'd really like to finish a sock before the next century.
(I'm such an overachiever.) Other than that, my brain is in weekend mode already and I react with horror at the fact that it is only Wednesday… and probably horrifying everyone with yet another rambly, incoherent blog entry talking about cat food.
Wow… 13 years of journaling/blogging this tripe ;) I don't think they had this in mind when they invented teh intarweb.
