Gin from the Cat Dish

Growing up we rarely had peas as my dad is not much of a fan. However, whenever there were peas served, he liked to note that he ate them despite them not being his favorite. This, of course, made my siblings and I roll our eyes. We weren't picky eaters by any means but none of us like beets or this weird cabbage dish appropriately called "Stuff", both of which my parents loved. We were a little whiny about it. So to set an example, Dad would announce how polite he was being every time he ate peas. Which was a good call because none of us would have noticed otherwise. To his credit, he doesn't do this anymore. In fact, my sister and I both made dishes with peas in them the last time he and Mom were out here and he made a point of saying how much he wanted to try it WITH the peas and was not only game but very complementary. Shaughn loves peas. They are easily one of his favorites so we grow quite a few in our garden. But every time I pick them, I can't help but ...

I love seeing all the old pictures on Facebook on Thursdays but I never really feel like I have enough time on Thursdays to sort through old pictures and post one. But this morning as I was rereading some of my old blog, I came across this post that cracked me up. It's even better than 80's hair in that it's pretty embarrassing. I can't believe I used to use the health of my va-j-j as material! Aghhhh!!!!! Friday, December 21st, 2007         About a week and half ago I woke up with some problems down yonder. So instead of a fun day with my boyfriend, I spent the morning at the Dr's learning that I had a urinary track infection AND a yeast infection. Later that day, I got my period and surrendered to the absolute shittiness of the situation. I basically cried for the rest of the night and sent my boyfriend home so he and I could cut our losses before I accidentally died. Things got better in the sense that my va-j-j recovered. But I'm still weepy. I l...

On August 6th, Shaughn and I will celebrate 3 years of marriage. Although we have talked about whether or not we wanted to go out or eat in (eat in: steaks from the quarter cow we just bought), there hasn't been much conversation around anniversary gifts. Which is typical. Of me.  Shaughn is an amazing gift giver. He puts a lot of thought into them and is happy to splurge on me. While I'll have to strong arm him to buy things he needs, he has no problem hording tip money to buy me something lavish. He never misses a birthday, an anniversary, or a Valentine's Day. I mean, I'm a real lucky lady. Last year was our "cotton" anniversary and Shaughn got me a big fluffy white bathrobe. I got Shaughn a big fat nothing. He even got me a card. Honestly, I thought we were just going out to eat for our anniversary. I had no idea we were exchanging gifts! I felt like such a schmuck.  This year I ALMOST DID IT AGAIN! The only reason I didn't was because I asked S...

These are by far my favorite spring vegetable. They are the first thing I look for once the farmer's markets start back up. This year we bought two bunches, complained at how expensive they were, and bought two more bunches the next week.  We brought Reggie with us to the farmer's market and he had a very nice time eating all the stray veggies on the ground and only made me second guess why I brought him with me once. And that was when he kept standing on his hind feet like a meerkat at the nut booth. As if the nut booth wasn't awkward enough. My favorite way to prepare these little beauties is to braise them until tender with the greens and finished with a large pat of miso butter. They are the best part of a meal. Recipe: 2 Bunches of turnips with their greens, scrubbed and separated from their greens.  2 T Unsalted Butter room temperature   2 T Miso 1 tsp Salt In a shallow pan with a lid, bring 1 1/2 inches of water and the salt to a bo...

My new favorite people watching place is the dog park. It's a true panoply of dog people. People with little dogs, big dogs, giant dogs, and medium dogs. There are beautiful dogs and weirdo dogs. Full breed dogs and inventive mixes. Reggie is a medium, beautiful, full bred English Cocker Spaniel. And we as the dog owners, size each other up and make certain assumptions about each other based on our dogs. For example: "Is she a Golden Retriever Dachshund mix?" --Nope. Actually he's just English Cocker Spaniel." "Oh!" "What kind of dog is yours--seems like such a sweetheart." "Oh she is. She's a rescue so you know, we don't really know. But we just love her! She had a lot of abuse so she was so skittish at first." From this exchange I know that she thinks I should have made the morally superior choice and rescued a dog instead of buying him from a puppy mill. That I just don't care about all those poor dogs needing ...

The other day I went outside to the let the dog out, when I noticed two extra chickens in our coop. We started out with 8 chickens last spring. In early January, Shaughn butchered one of them. She was the runt, not laying eggs, and at the very bottom of the pecking order. I mean we practically did her a favor. And a month later Shaughn butchered a second one. She was laying, but she was always getting out of her fenced in area, picking on everyone, and being a terrible influence on the other chickens. Honestly, she had it coming. So then, it was a great surprise when I came out and we had 8 chickens again. Oh shit, Ghosts Chickens! No wait, that's not a thing. I enlisted Shaughn's help to sort out what was going on. He was just as perplexed but suggested we check out the house kitty corner behind us. We knocked and peeked in the window. But the house was empty except for a shop vac and a stereo as if someone had been cleaning and listening to their favorite jams. A neighbor...

After several years of using pandora, I finally broke down and signed up for Google Play. And I love it. After some failures to backup my data over the years, my music collection has been saved on a gummed up data drive and a huge stack of scratched cds. But no more. Now I just search for what I want and listen to it as much as I want or even make a radio station out of it. It doesn't have everything but its pretty great. I was telling Jen last night that I finally took their lead and signed up. I mentioned that its a little expensive at $10 a month but I listen to music all day at work and every evening in the kitchen so it seemed worth it. Shaughn looked over at me and said, "Uh, you didn't consult with me about this first. I'm going to buy something for $10 every month like 2 used cds." Which got us talking about signing up for those music clubs as kids. My friend, Ruth, who rode the bus with me, signed me up. I loved looking through the magazine and ordering...

We got a doggie! His name is Reggie and he's cocker spaniel puppy. He is a total cutie patootie. Shaughn walks him into work every morning where he eats boxes, and the rug, and weird bull penis treats that Shaughn gets him to persuade him from eating the other things. He follows Shaughn up and down the store in complete loyal happiness. If Shaughn goes out of site, Reggie rushes to check on him. If Reggie is asleep on my lap and Shaughn walks out of the room, Reggie bolts awake and lunges to follow. Saturday Shaughn walked Reggie to the local coffee shop. Not sure if dogs were welcomed, Shaughn tied Reggie to the bike rack outside the door and went in. Reggie FREAKED out and pulled and pulled until he managed to move the bike rack far enough so he could reach the door and then stood with his big puppy paws on the glass door looking in at Shaughn and whined and whimpered as if Shaughn were being beaten. When Shaughn finished he untied Reggie who was all anxious and wound up becaus...

I really loved my 50 book challenge last year. This year, I've decided to do 50 Blog Posts! Wish me luck. So far during those last three sentences, I've cleaned my keyboard, texted dinner plans, and bothered Shaughn in the kitchen. I keep thinking of what I read on Allie Brosh's Hyperbole and a Half Faqs . She says that blog posts take longer because she has to work harder on material. When she was younger she had a bunch of material that was so good that it didn't take much effort. But now she has to tease out fuller stories out of ideas. And that's basically how I feel about my stories. I think writing blog posts used to feel like sitting around the table telling stories with my family and friends. Which is best time to write stories. We lived just down the road from my grandparents growing up and my aunts and uncles weren't too far away. And we had huge meals together and lingered at the table visiting. Do people still call coming over to chat visiting? Yo...

I did it! I read 50 books this year.  ****--4 Stars means: WOW! I should read this! 1. Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson My friend Phoebe recommended this book to me because she's a psychopath! Just kidding. It was incredibly gripping. I loved all the little gems he hangs on his overarching storyline. It made me worry about my own sanity as well as everyone around me. Well done, Mr. Ronson! 2. Naked by David Sedaris This is my second time reading this book and it was even better the second time around. Sometime humorous essays lose something with repeated readings but Sedaris is one of those friends at the party that you beg to tell old favorites. I think I especially loved reading it on the other side of my own hitchhiking adventures because there is a certain larger-than-life/nostalgic-but-gritty experience in this collection of stories that I feel towards that time in my own life. 3. How To Be A Woman by Caitlin Moran You know the joke, I'm sure I've told you...