In memory of Oscar

I know that my last post rang with a (false) optimism that I would post more often as well as try to diversify my blog. That was all before my cat got sick. Oscar, who I have written about before, had been struggling with fatty liver disease since early December. He had lost several pounds and could not be coaxed to eat or drink. After several different treatments (we did not know it was fatty liver disease at first), we were left with the final option of putting in a stomach tube. Since Oscar had FIV our vet only gave him a 40% chance of survival. Knowing what a fighter Oscar was (he had previously recovered from a severe gunshot wound) we decided to give him this chance. He was doing well the first day after surgery and we were hopeful. However, on Thursday, January 4th he went into shock and could not recover. We had to put him to sleep.
So, needless to say, I have been very preoccupied. I have never lost a pet before and anyone who knows me knows that my pets are like my children. Slowly, I’m starting to feel a bit better, my brain has begun to de-fuzz somewhat. But then there are other times that I am so overcome with grief that I feel like I’ve been hit in the chest. I look forward to the time that I can look back on only the fond memories of my sweet little boy kitty, but right now all I can remember is the pain and the sorrow I feel.
Everyone tells me I am a great pet parent and that Oscar was lucky to have such a caring home. But I wish I could have save him…and it was just out of my control. I miss my Oscar.
I just felt the need to share. Not everyone understands how I am feeling now. Some people have been great and supportive (my friend Sarah and my husband Micah)…but I’m just taking it day by day.
In other news, I have been cooking and doing other things. I will try to post about them soon.

The picture above is what I imagine Oscar's dreams to be...60 ft tall and pillaging small towns.

Changes

After too much of an absence, I’ve given some thought to the direction that my blog should go in. As an aspiring information professional I feel that I really need to take the time to keep up with my blog. I think that one way for me to do that is to reduce my focus on my food endeavors. Yes, I love reading food blogs about as much as anyone, but I do have a full time job and I’m taking night classes – so I just cannot cook something spectacular every day of the week, and I think the pressure of that makes me not want to blog. The original concept of my blog was to be about food, books, librarianship and other interesting aspects of my life and I think I need to focus more of these other aspects. Maybe (fingers crossed) that will help me blog more regularly.
Now, that being said. I do have some food to share. I made VwaV Raspberry Blackout Cake for a small holiday celebration at my office. I think it turned out quite well and it is oh so yummy and decadent.

Gnocchi and Ribz!

I have been somewhat stressed out with work and night classes this past week…so I have not cooked as much. Late last week I made Gnocchi from VwaV – I had been looking to try gnocchi (I’ve never had it) and this recipe was really easy and good. I will make this again for sure. I added some chopped rosemary to the dough and then topped with some basic tomato sauce and steamed broccoli. I also made some quickie garlic bread by mixing some earth balance, chopped raw garlic and paprika and spreading it on some sourdough bread…it was pretty good…but garlicky! It was hard to take a picture of the gnocchi!
This weekend Micah and I went to dinner at a friend’s house – where we had a wonderful vegetarian feast – country fried seitan, mushroom gravy, sweet potatoes, and avocado casserole. It was terrific – I wish I had taken a picture!
Last night I was inspired by all the BBQ action on Get Sconed Blog (thanks for the idea Jess!) and made BBQ Ribz…it was a pretty easy recipe – and I’ll try to post it here soon. Paired with some French fries, it made for a wonderful comfort food dinner! BTW, it was the first time I had bought BBQ sauce in about 3 years and I could not believe how many of the sauces have anchovies in it! Yuck!

Alien Takeover!

This weekend was a lot of fun, as myself and my-coworkers hosted a baby shower for our co-worker, Whitney. As Whitney is not your normal girl, we decided that a normal baby shower was not for her…thus became the Alien Shower! Everything at the party was green or black and decidedly alien. Including the cake! Since the party was at my house and I got to make the cake…I made it vegan. I used a basic vegan wedding and buttercream recipe from Bryanna’s cookbook…then I just added my own food coloring. The cake itself was bright green and cut into two layers. I then put raspberry preserves between the layers to look like “blood”. It turned out really good and it looked like an alien autopsy when Whitney was cutting into it. Lots of fun!

Take me to your leader!

The Great Book of Amber

I wanted to take the time and blog about something non-food related. At any given moment I’m usually reading something science fiction-y. Right now I’m reading The Great Book of Amber by Roger Zelazny. The book is really a collection of 10 smaller books that are divided into two 5-book sections. All in all, it’s about 1250 pages long (which is good for me, as I read through books way too fast).
I’ve really enjoyed reading this series…especially the first 5 books. The series is a bit more fantasy oriented than I’m used to, but that’s ok. Zelazny’s writing style reminds me of Tolkien or LeGuin…it’s very epic-filled and full of vivid imagery. I would recommend this book to anyone who: a)likes a long, epic-length book that can get stuck in their head, and b) likes a type of speculative fiction that is somewhat a cross between science fiction and fantasy.

Fall is great!

Oklahoma, well…Oklahoma can be kind of boring sometimes. It’s also awfully flat and windy. But sometimes, you get to see the best stuff – hence the picture above. It was absolutely beautiful this past Saturday, so Micah and I took a drive to look at the fall foliage. We saw some wonderful colors and even better yard art.

Farewell, Grey Kitty...

Yesterday was a sad day as Micah and I had to say goodbye to “grey kitty”, an adorable little grey and white kitten we had been fostering for the past 2 months. She showed up on our front porch and wouldn’t take no for an answer. She demanded in her cute, kitten-like way that we feed and love her. Because we have 4 cats (!) of our own, we could not keep Grey Kitty (we tried out other names for her, but Grey Kitty stuck). It was not until yesterday that we were able to get her into Second Chance, a no-kill shelter here in Norman. We paid to have her spayed and I’m hoping that she will quickly be adopted. I wrote a letter to her future owner with the hope that someone will write me and let me know how she is doing. I’m sad, but I know that she will make a great indoor lap kitty for someone.


In food related news, we cooked quite a bit this weekend. For breakfast on Saturday Micah made Pumpkin waffles (we had leftover frozen batter) from VwaV as well as a Multi-grain waffle (with whole wheat and flax) that is of our own design. Both were quite yummy.

On Sunday I made an entire batch of Setain and used some of it to make Setain-Veggie pot pie. It really is a “kitchen sink” kind of meal…I threw in some carrots, broccoli, zucchini, peas, potatoes along with the setain. Add some mock cream of chicken flavoring, bay leaf, fresh thyme and you’ve got a great filling. The topping is a scone-like batter (I got the idea from Bryanna’s blog) – I just added some fresh and dried thyme. It was quite good and makes a lot of leftovers for lunches.