Where Has Waldo Been?

At the end of last week we took a little spring break trip to the desert, heading south to Anza Borrego State Park near the Salton Sea. The wildflower show promised to be good after a long rainy season with lots of those lazy (relatively) soaks. Well!! In the first place, I am a desert rat through and through. The Sonoran Desert is my favorite place in the world. I lived for years in the Phoenix area and hung out in the desert as much as I could. And I've never seen such a wildflower display as we saw last week at Anza Borrego. Oddly, even the cacti were nearly in full bloom. (Normally they flower later when it's hotter.) Everywhere you looked, everything was flowers, flowers, flowers. And the weather was quite lovely with a nice breeze that kept everything comfortable.

So now we're home and back to real life. The first day home after any trip is always laundry, laundry, laundry, vacuum, vacuum, vacuum (cat fur). Catch up with email, snail mail, phone calls, errands. I'm determined to get our art hung and placed, and the proper switch and outlet plates installed soon, very soon. So I stocked up on the proper hangers and screws yesterday.

Today we had a bit more fun. After plowing through a pile of itty-bitty to-dos, I went to SLO and found 3 pots for 4 of the cacti and succulents we brought home from a desert nursery in Borrego Springs. Randy wants a desert garden on the south-facing balcony, so it shall be. I can get down with that plan. Then Randy and I met at Luna Rustica to see if there was anything there we couldn't live without since they are having a preferred customer sale. Sure enough. We bought a few Talavera-style switchplates and 2 humungous decorative pots for the arched approach to the front porch.

And, I've started a reading program on which I've long planned to embark. I want to read some challenging stuff before I croak. More on that later. Yes, yes. I know. I'm not exactly cooking right now. Live with it. Tomorrow is our 20th wedding anniversary which we will celebrate with a dinner at Villa Creek in Paso Robles. After that? Back to real life in the food department. Which means back to spreading my culinary wings a little farther than before.

Busy Little Bee

Busy, busy week.

Other than trying to unravel this NCHS Facebook tangle (I have half of it solved), I've been working on Scott's quilt. The front is all done except for attaching the borders. The binding is nearly finished. Next is to make the back, send it off to the quilter, and attach the binding.

Monday I hosted the NCHS Board and a friend and consultant, Wendy, who is helping us think like a genuine non-profit Board of Directors. I'd planned to cook dinner for all of us, but ended up ordering pizza instead.

Tonight we ate dinner at the Paso Robles' Chili's. It was Give Back night at Chili's. Anyone bringing in a flyer for the event had 15% of their tab donated to NCHS. Sooooo, I've also been spreading flyers hither and yon all over the place. And emailing links to friends of NCHS asking them to print flyers from our web site and come to dinner. Looked like things went pretty well. I had ribs. Not anywhere near as good as Eddie's, but tasty nonetheless.

And laundry. And planting. And vacuuming cat hair. And emails. And petting cats. And on and on and on.

Cooking has consisted of reheating left-over pizza. I love leftover pizza.

5 Great Volunteer Opportunities at North County Humane Society in Atascadero, California

1. Shop-4-the-Shelter

Working in 2- or 3-hour shifts, pairs or small groups of volunteers pass out “shopping lists” requesting donations from shoppers at grocery and department stores in Atascadero and Paso Robles. The donated items, such as laundry detergent and canned cat food, are used in quantity at the shelter. Events are scheduled 2 Saturdays a month through May and then again in the fall. Great opportunity for couples and families. You’ll get lots of support and lots of personal satisfaction.

Leave a Shop-4-the-Shelter message for Kathleen at 466-5403.

2. Building and Grounds Maintenance

From fix-it projects to landscaping, there is always a need for repairs and maintenance at the shelter in Atascadero. Sometimes there are things that need to be fixed right now, but there is lots of room for individuals to take on projects that they enjoy. With staff and Board members, we often solicit donations of tools and materials. Individuals, couples and families are welcome to take charge of various projects during regular shelter hours, 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Tuesdays through Saturdays.

Leave a Building and Grounds Maintenance message for Larry or Geoff at 466-5403.

3. Fundraising Events

Work with staff and Board members in small groups or individually to plan and stage various fundraising events and activities. Established events include the Annual Membership Luncheon, K9 for Felines Walk, and quarterly newsletters. We have tons of great ideas planning happy events, but we need volunteers to make them happen. Take responsibility for an entire event or pitch in to help others in a variety of ways. Time commitments are totally variable to fit your schedule. We’re looking to have fun while raising money to help our animal friends. Events will mostly be held in North County.

Call Lisa, Shelley or Sherry at 466-5403 to tell us you’re interested in fundraising events.

4. Pet Point Data Entry

Do you have basic computer skills? We are using a new web-based database program called Pet Point. It’s a fantastic program that is making our lives easier and is making our service to both animals and people far more effective. However, we have a lot of catching up to do in terms of entering existing information about our kitties into the database. We need help! You can work at the shelter in Atascadero during our regular shelter hours, or even at home (although Pet Point is not Mac friendly). Work as much or as little as you would like, and get to know all of our kitties while you’re at it!

Leave a Pet Point Volunteer message for Shelley or Heather at 466-5403.

5. Adopt-a-Pet and Outreach Events

We’d love to step up our adoptions by taking adoptable cats out to 1-day or half-day off-site adoption events. Right now we have no off-site Adopt-a-Pet events scheduled due to lack of volunteers. Adopt-a-Pets require a serious commitment, although they can be scheduled, generally on weekends, in North County according to the volunteers’ schedules and interests. Volunteers need to learn North County Humane Society adoption policies and procedures, must take time to get to know their adoptable cats, and need to be able to take necessary equipment to and from Adopt-a-Pet sites. You will, however, get lots of help and support from staff and Board members. You’ll also get the incredible satisfaction of sending wonderful feline companions off to their forever homes. This is a great volunteer opportunity for couples, families, or small groups of friends who are self-reliant self-starters.

Leave an Adopt-a-Pet message for Shelley, Lisa or Sherry at 466-5403.

Maizie Jane Valentine

I think it was Albert Schweitzer who said something about life's greatest solices being music and cats. Or was it Mark Twain? Or Einstein? Well, something like that. The point being that when you've had a crappy day, a little music and a small- to large-sized cat will make you feel better. This is Maizie Jane Valentine. She's a medium-sized cat. She always makes me feel better.

Maizie's just about the most easy-going cat I've ever known. She came to us as an adult foster and quickly earned a permanent place in our family because she got along with all the other cats from Day One. How often does that happen? She's Ms. Valentine for the heart-shaped spot on the end of her nose. She's Maizie Jane just because it suits her.

Maizie really is a good traveler. She also likes to claim a vacant Pet Taxi as her own private cat cave when one is sitting around the house somewhere. Isn't she lovely?

Yeah, not the greatest day ever. I'm exceptionally aggravated with unknown people who set up North County Humane Society Facebook and MySpace pages, or get them half set up, and then just disappear without leaving login email addresses and passwords behind. They are stabbing NCHS right square in the middle of the back. I've spent the bulk of the day trying to track down these narcissistic brats (which is the nicest thing I can think of to call them). What did NCHS ever do to them to deserve being treated so meanly and cruelly. It's darn near a form of animal cruelty if you ask me. Ggggrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Did I cook? Well, I did saute the rest of those chicken livers and made a balsamic honey vinegar reduction to pour over them. Just for practice. It was good. Maybe life will look better tomorrow.

Vinegar Reduction

Who knew. We drove up to Paso Robles today for lunch and to check out the cat and dog art at the Studios on the Park. (Too delightful!) Oh gosh, while we were at it, why not a little stop at We Olive since Chaparral Gardens is having a special tasting of their wonderful, it turns out, vinegars.

I was inspired. Took home a bottle of Winter Ambrosia. Diced up some butternut squash and minced a shallot. Marinated the squash for an hour or so in a tablespoon of the Ambrosia. Sweated the shallots in olive oil. Then added the squash and 1/3 c. more of Ambrosia. Just let the whole thing sweat or an hour or so. OMG! Tasted like heaven! Served the squash with wild rice and toasted pecans. Impressed hubby with words like "sweated" and "mirepoix." The Ambrosia had just infused the squash with the most wonderful flavors.

And that's my story.

Chicken Livers

Sauteed Chicken Livers - pg. 347

I love liver. It's true. I love liver. Randy hates liver. I repeat: Randy hates liver. I cook and eat liver when Randy is out of town. Randy is out of town. Tonight, I ate liver.

Unfortunately, Alice has no recipes for beef or calves' liver. But she does give directions for sauteed chicken livers. I stopped at one major grocery store Wednesday and GASP! they had no chicken livers! Today I went to another store to get milk and THANK HEAVEN! they had chicken livers. Tonight, I sauteed and feasted on chicken livers. I've been cooking and eating liver in all sorts of ways for decades, but a nice plate of simply sauteed chicken livers was just excellent. I am a happy camper. Randy will be home later tonight. There are still some livers left to cook, but they will be mine, all mine, tomorrow.

Seasonal allergies are hitting me hard again as they do every year. Sigh. Grass pollen. I'm allergic to grass pollen. It makes me feel stiff, achy and tired. I have a routine to fight it. The routine is in full swing. What a PITA.

Wednesday I represented NCHS at a volunteer faire. That was kind of a bust, but I learned some thing about how to pitch NCHS to volunteers. Yesterday I spent the whole day repairing another public-relations problem. NCHS came out the better for it though. And we had our monthly Board meeting. Today I joined Megan at KVEC to talk about our featured cat, Leo, on Dave Congalton's radio show. That was good, too. You can see Leo on my Facebook page. He's a doll. A big orange tabby and white love bug. I'm tempted. I'm tempted.

And today I pissed someone off. Without trying at all. I hate it when that happens. Over-reactions. Drama. Spare me. Life's too short. I need the weekend to rest and heal. And attend to my own concerns. Cook and sew. By the way, with any luck at all the sale of the Los Osos house closed today and the new owners are sleeping there tonight. Yeah!!

59 recipes down; 246 recipes to go

Nicholas Longtail Moose

This is Nicholas Longtail Moose, the only boy kitty of our six resident felines. When Nicky was 5 months old I gave him to my husband Randy as a Christmas present. That was in 2008. Randy loved his gift. The 2 of them are best friends. Nicholas is quite social, making friends with everyone who walks in the front door, so he's a great favorite of visitors and repairmen.

In spite of his looks, Nicky's a 12-pound whoose. He recently went lame and had to go to the vet. The diagnosis? Dermatitis. Good grief. He got a shot of antibiotics and is fine now. (Photo by Cameron Taylor-Brown)

Day 84 - Beans and Squash

White Bean and Butternut Squash Soup - pg. 257

I truly thought this soup would be a bore. Alice's soup recipes generally don't look all that inspiring to me. However, I am bound by my vow to cook everything in the book, The Art of Simple Food. It's an exercise that's good for the soul and the mind.

This is a very simple soup, by Alice standards. Beans, broth, onion and a butternut squash whacked up into pretty small pieces (which is a lot of whacking). Salt, sage and a bay leaf. In "variations" Alice suggests serving the soup over oiled, toasted thick slices of rustic bread. And therein lies the salvation of this simple soup, turning the final dish into yet another delight.

Lately I've been asking Randy to make green salads to go with the dinner entrees. Hearty salads with fruit and nuts, dressed with a basic vinaigrette. I like having him involved and in the kitchen, at least at the end of the cooking.

It's been a busy weekend. We hosted the guest speaker at the weaving guild meeting last week. We now have all the new sitting room furniture in place. Yippee! I've been working on Scott's quilt, working on NCHS stuff, and trying to get more of my life in order (which is a constant struggle). Details? Can't remember.

58 down; 247 to go

Day 83 - I'm Whipped

Whipped Cream - pg. 387

Man, I hate to shock you, but I gotta tell ya the truth. Until a few weeks ago, I had never whipped cream. Seriously. I thought the stuff came out of aerosol cans. Only aerosol cans. I do recall my mother whipping cream a few times, but she performed other culinary desert-type miracles, so that doesn't count. Miracles cannot be performed by us mere mortals after all.

Now I've whipped cream twice and already I'm an expert. I like mine stiff. None of these "soft peaks" for me. And I prefer mine with almond extract. Frankly, I prefer nearly everything with almond extract.

And why, you might ask, was I whipping cream today. Well, we'll have a house guest tonight and tomorrow, so I thought that was a good excuse to take the afternoon off from life and just cook. I've made cream biscuits again. With the whipped cream and fresh raspberries, they will make up raspberry short cake. Why does it have to be strawberries all the time???

I've prepared carrot and parsnip sticks for oven roasted vegetables. Just a simple approach. And I've made a lamb tajine, Moroccan-style lamb stew basically. That will go over a few noodles. What fun!

That's pretty much what I've done today -- cook. Oh yes, I cleaned the house up a bit, too. I think I'm over house cleaning. The Los Osos house sale should close in 9 days. Then I call and hire the cleaning lady for this house. Cleaning the new house has simply lost its charm.

57 recipes down and 248 to go

Day 82 - I Yam What I Yam

Moroccan Sweet Potato Salad - pg. 320

Alice says, "Sweet potatoes and yams are virtually interchangeable in the kitchen." I agree. First I put a yam next to the refrigerator and a sweet potato by the sink. Then I put the sweet potato next to the refrigerator and the yam by the sink. Yup, virtually interchangeable.

Randy showed up in the kitchen at just the right moment and helped me make Moroccan sweet potato salad from a yam. This is one of those recipes that sounds a little weird, but is just excellent, excellent, excellent. And very easy to make. We'll be seeing this one a lot on our table. It will be perfect to take to pot-lucks. I love the citrus-ginger tang of the marinade which nicely soaks into the yam pieces. And it's pretty. I just added some pan-fried chicken with herb butter to the plates for dinner tonight.

Otherwise, while the weather was cold and windy but dry today, I dashed out for major grocery shopping: PetSmart, Costco, Food 4 Less and Trader Joe's. And you know how I'm feeling about shopping these days.... The up side is that I have this terrific 5 pound hunk of lamb leg from Costco. Stew! Lamb stew! With prunes and shallots and almonds. And I have parsnips and carrots for oven roasting. And raspberries and cream.

By the way, Nicky's little paw is just fine. I think he's mostly just a big whuss. Sweet and adorable and a big whuss.

56 recipes made; 249 still in the planning stages

It Was a Monday, Wasn't It?

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Laundry. Cat care (Nicky managed a soft-tissue injury to a paw late last night, but seems totally on the mend). Breakfast. Read the paper and do the sudoku. Email, including a long one about NCHS's web site home page. Having gotten the Green Light to spend $$$, it was off to Pier 1 to select furniture for the sitting room with a stop at the shelter on the way to unload Shop 4 the Shelter stuff. Lunch at El Pollo Loco. Wasted the rest of the afternoon. More email. Off to Pier 1 again to purchase and drag home everything but the settee. Dinner at El Pollo Loco. A hot night of Oscar fashion police shows. This is a day? I tell ya, I'm all over shopping for the house and pretty much over shopping in general. And it rained.

Busy, busy, busy...

It occurs to me that my mother-in-law reads this blog pretty regularly. Which means, Mary Anne, that you probably know more about the details of my daily life than does your son.

I've been busy with all the usual stuff. E.g., yesterday afternoon my friend Laurel and I worked a Shop for the Shelter in Paso Robles. This is how the shelter gets much of its basic supplies: paper towels and paper plates, bottles of Dawn, dry and wet cat food, garbage bags, bleach. Even some cash! People are so wonderfully generous in helping us help the animals. The highlight was part of a bottle of green apple Dawn spilling in my car. Not entirely a bad deal, however-- even after cleaning the spill my car smells really good.

The Academy Awards were totally, boringly predictable. Best part was Oprah's introduction of Gaby. Worst part was Sandra Bullock's lipstick. It's all politics, but the gowns are fabulous. I didn't see any real duds this year.

Today I tackled a l-o-n-g overdue project. I unpacked the very last boxes (other than a couple in my studio) and got the sitting room cleaned and organized. What's the sitting room? Well, when you come upstairs, there's a bathroom and my studio to the left and Randy's office to the right. But you can go straight ahead through what is basically a wide hallway to sliding glass doors that go out to a large balcony. That very wide hallway houses our version of a media room. The big screen tube is there and CDs and DVDs and players and speakers and stuff. And a couple chairs that live out on the balcony during good weather. I've been given the green light by the keeper of the financial records to purchase some better furniture for the sitting room. Yeah! In truth, it's the cats who make the most use of the sitting room. Not a bad thing.

It's going to be a busy week! With some sunshine!

Trying to Get Organized and Get Something Accomplished

Doesn't that title just spell out life in general??? Why is it so difficult? Or is it just that I think it's difficult. I don't know. Anyway, here I am, trying to get organized and trying to get something accomplished.

Yesterday was filled with little piddly stuff. Today won't be much better. I did get to a movie yesterday. Crazy Heart. Which isn't anywhere near the movie that A Single Man is. Nor is Jeff Bridges the actor that Colin Firth is. Nor is Bridge's performance anything near what Firth's is in the 2 respective movies. But, Crazy Heart is mass-market stuff, so Bridges will win the Best Actor Oscar. Firth in A Single Man gets you right in the gut. Reminded me of American Beauty. But, it's a loving movie about a closeted gay man trying to get a grip on his life and his heart. Not mass-market stuff. So there you have it. And Avatar should win Best Picture. The Hurt Locker was surely interesting, but I admit that I don't see why it's such a big deal.

Here's something that irritated me about Crazy Heart. Bad enough that the Maggie Gyllenhall character hits the sack with Bad, but I guess she's just dumb enough to do that. (I see herpes and HIV everywhere in this scenario given Bad's sexual habits....) But here's Maggie objecting to Bad's drinking in front of her son, although Bad's constant chain-smoking apparently doesn't concern her a bit. And why does she put up with either habit at all? What's wrong with this picture? Why am I supposed to feel anything for either of these idiots? I don't. Sorry. I don't.

No cooking happening right now. Tonight we'll go out for dinner and a concert. I am, however, getting the odds and ends cleaned out of the frig and that is a very good thing.

Day 81 - Chard and Salmon

Chard with Parmesan - pg. 310

Baked Wild Salmon with Herb Butter - pg. 330

Digging around in the frig early this afternoon, what did I find but-- chard! parmesan! frozen wild salmon! and herb butter! Everything I needed to make 2 new recipes, and an excellent dinner. I'm still not cooking fish quite long enough. I don't want the fish to dry out, so I err on the undercooked side. I'll learn. Gosh, guess I'll have to just bake more fish. Pity, since I think I could eat salmon just about every day. Halibut is good baked, too. And just about any other fish I can think of.

Did I mention that it's still raining? It's still raining. Local reservoirs are still only half full, so I can only gripe a little bit. I don't mind the rain, really. I just miss the sun.

For NCHS I worked on updating our surrender and adoption policies today. I really hope this doesn't get bogged down and that we can move this to completion.

And I'm working on Scott's quilt. It's so much fun to see the overall design coming together.

55 recipes completed; 250 to go

Uneventful Day

Basically, I'm nose-to-the-grindstone making Scott's quilt. Went out for a few errands. Dug in the frig and freezer for dinner tonight. How we can collect so much stuff in the frig and freezer I'll never understand, but here we go again -- dibs and dabs of stuff.

Started with asparagus I bought a couple weeks ago. Peeled and oven roasted. Boy, Alice has sure taught me to step up my game in the asparagus department. I love 'em oven roasted. I love vegetables oven roasted in general.

A skillet dish. Pieces of chicken "tenders" from the freezer. Cooked pasta from the freezer from when I made Alice's cheese and mac and Alice had me cooking way too much pasta. Whole-wheat fusilli. Trader Joe's frozen roasted corn left over from something I made in September when we had company. Santa Fe red chili sauce that Randy made some time ago. And goat cheese left over from making the fava bean and goat cheese spread. It was very good actually. Although, there is still chicken and corn in the freezer and red sauce and goat cheese in the frig. But not as much.

All in all, as I think about dinner tonight, I'm doing a much better job of "shopping" from what's already in the house and creating a really upscale meal. I'm pleased.

And it rained all day.

A Garfield Kind of Monday

Good grief. The day started with a dose of Wisconsin family drama. I'm so glad I live in California. I don't do well with drama. I don't like drama. Thank heaven it was all pretty much resolved by the end of the day. Did I mention that I don't like drama?

Following on that thrill was yet another trip to the title insurance office to sign yet more papers as we try to successfully close escrow on our old house yet again. If it's a pain to sell a house once, believe me it's even a bigger pain to sell it twice.

The weather prediction for today was partly cloudy. Which implies partly sunny. I couldn't find the sunny part. Didn't help my general attitude. So mostly I worked on my friend Scott's quilt. The one for his sister. I find great solice in sewing. Just sewing. In reality, I probably spend more time at the ironing board than the sewing machine while making a quilt, but the whole process is great fun.

Dinner was a reworking of that chili which I didn't like at all. To what was left (which was a lot) I added more tomatoes, more beans, and a lot more seasoning: chili powder, cumin, oregano, garlic and salt. Topped tonight with shredded cheddar (which is also one of those leftovers in the frig). Much, much better tonight. Randy added a salad with greens and fruit. And a wonderful blood orange vinaigrette.

After dinner I had to finish up the family drama, and then worked on the quilt. You've already read about all that. Not every day can rise even to the level of interesting. This one certainly didn't.