I'm stuck in 1940, and I can't get out...

Eating delicious, real food definitely increases the time spent in the kitchen, and though I've gotten better and more efficient at food prep, I still spend 3-6 hours in the kitchen, either on Saturday or Sunday, usually, in order to get the dishes prepared and the prep done so that we can eat well all week without waiting until 9 PM for dinner.  I do not love spending 4+ hours in the kitchen, but I do love eating really delicious food all week long, so I've tried to make them more interesting. I find that I dread my "kitchen days" much less now that I've made them more challenging by trying to accomplish as much as possible within my time frame. By making the work harder, more complicated, more challenging, it keeps me from getting bored.

My previous week's kitchen day, this was the list of chores:

Truffles

• pack lunches
• chop red peppers for guinea pigs
• roast red peppers (for hummus I'm making later this week)
• chop veggies for nachos
• make cheezy rice for nachos
• make double batch of veggie burgers to freeze (for lunches, snacks, meals on the go, etc.)
• make double batch of eggplant curry burgers to freeze (for lunches, snacks, meals on the go, etc.)
• make potato seitan miso stew (I made and froze seitan a couple of weeks ago)
• make 3-bean tomato curry soup
• make peanut butter truffles, (which turned out so well that I experimented and made cashew & almond butter truffles and a batch of strawberry truffles as well)
• peel and prep head of garlic (I like to keep prepared garlic and ginger on hand for quick use in recipes)
• pressure cook black beans (I keep a variety of cooked beans in the freezer, so I don't have to use canned)
• make trail mix
• cut and dehydrate sweet potatoes for dog treats

Sweet Potato chews for the dogs

Prior week's list:  

• pressure cook kidney beans
• roast red peppers (for hummus)
• make hummus (for coating kale chips)
• make kale chips
• make peanut lime sriracha marinade
• chop veggies (for roasting) and marinate
• chop and marinate tofu
• roast veggies
• bake tofu
• make black bean sweet potato chili
• pack lunches
• chop veggies for pizza
• make pizza
• make chocolate-covered marzipan

Each week I try to add more and up the challenge a bit, to see how much I can get done without making irreparable mistakes.  Each week there are different tasks and different dishes, and that keeps it from being horrifically boring.  It makes for a much smoother, more pleasant week, when I have the meals already planned and either ready to reheat or just throw together and heat.  I am, begrudgingly, starting to dread the kitchen days a little less and sometimes almost enjoy myself.  I think I am developing Stockholm Syndrome with my kitchen. 

I will never go back to eating processed crap and after eating so very well for so long, I don't think any of us would be able to tolerate food from a less-intense kitchen schedule, so I've accepted that it's an unfortunate but permanent weekend necessity.  My challenge now is to try to get better and more efficient each week, so I can accomplish more in less time. That's what I'm working on refining now.  I currently need one weekend day (at least) for grading and one for cooking, which leaves me with no weekend. I have dreams of maximizing my efficiency such that I could get both done in one day, but that doesn't feel very realistic at this point.

I have a little fantasy that L will develop a passion for cooking and will take over the kitchen duties. She has shown no inclination to do so, but I can dream. So far, her interest in learning to cook has been focused on the foods she likes to eat.  She has mastered making a few snack/dessert-type foods, with her favorite being sliced, roasted, seasoned potatoes. I am much happier with her making and eating these than chips, so I don't complain when I come down in the morning to find she's been leaving kitchen messes for me.  She has learned--(as we all have) that the preparation of food, touching it, smelling it, putting effort into it--makes eating it more enjoyable.  Another benefit is that one is much less likely to eat absent mindedly if one has to wash, slice, season, and cook the potatoes than if one can just grab a hand full of chips out of a bag. It's a good cure for eating out of boredom.

I would like to illustrate this post with pretty food pictures, but I find food photography fairly difficult. Whenever I try to photograph food, it never looks as delicious as it tastes, and sometimes it looks pretty gross.  I know that it takes some skill to get the beautiful and appetizing food shots that I enjoy looking at in the cookbooks and my favorite websites, and I just don't have the time or interest right now to work on those skills.  I have done a little reading on the subject and find myself horrified by how much food gets wasted and how long it really takes to get that perfect shot. I don't have the patience for that!

This is my kitchen planning board.  On the right side, I jot down my list of weekend "kitchen-day" chores.  On the left side, I keep a shopping list, and as I run out/get low on things while cooking, I add them to the list.  Once each meal is either prepped or done (depending on the meal and how well it keeps), I write it on the day of the week I plan to consume the meal.  By the end of my kitchen day, the board is a mess, but it helps keep me organized. I can snap a photo and have my shopping list ready to go to the store with me, and then clean up the board, leaving only the planned meals for the week.

My family enjoys modifying and adding to my list almost every week. I find myself wondering when they will run out of strange items to add to the list.  Note the three strange entries for this week (toasted spleen chips, fart goblin stew, and juicy groin).  They were written by two different people, so both M & L have taken to adding to my list.  I'm not sure which of the two started it, but it has apparently become a tradition.

On the chore list above, one of the entries was to make sausage. This was a new recipe for me, and it turned out very well. It's an Isa recipe, and hers are always hits. It was fairly simple and much less expensive (and more delicious) than buying vegan sausages.  I made this one:  Italian sausage, but there is another one on her site I plan to try soon:  Smoky maple sausages.

I used this recipe for the peanut butter truffles, but I did not use the rice crisp cereal at all. I used crunchy peanut butter. Also, I didn't have coconut flour, so I made oat flour and used that.  They were still ridiculously good.

Jasper

BACKGROUND
Jasper will be ten years old this August!  He has lived with us since he was about four weeks old. He and his siblings were left in a cardboard box at the administration building of the college at which I taught at that time.  They put out a plea for homes for the kittens and said that anyone who wasn't claimed by the end of the day would go to the Humane Society.  I waited until the end of the day, intending to take whoever was left. At that time, our only cat was Ivan, who was just a few months old. I wanted him to have a friend, because I'm vehemently opposed to singletons and believe strongly that animals can never be truly happy without others of their own species present.


Jasper was an adorable little daredevil, and we lived in constant terror that he would kill himself with his crazy antics.  Ivan was not an adventurous, curious cat like that, so he didn't get into the dangerous and scary situations that Jasper did. They became buddies immediately, and enjoyed cuddling, napping, and playing together.

Jasper's wild side got him into trouble when he was a few months old and he climbed a to the top of a fake tree in our bathroom, tried to launch himself by pushing off the wall which pushed the tree over with him still holding on to the top. We heard a loud thump and went running in to find him on the floor, still clutching the top of the tree with blood coming out of his eye and ear. It was one of the scariest, most horrible moments we've experienced.  It was a Sunday night, and we rushed him to the vet, where he was immediately given an injection to stop the brain swelling.  He was hooked up to an IV bag and spent the next four days in a coma. I insisted on taking him home rather than leaving him there in a cage with strangers. I took off work and Jasper spent the next several days lying on my chest, while I cried and hoped that my heartbeat and the love and massages would help him come back to us. At that point, our vet wasn't incredibly optimistic about him coming out of the coma or having any hope of being normal.  Sometimes my stubbornness pays off. I chose not to euthanize and said on that Monday morning, that there was no change by Thursday, I would give up.  Thursday morning, he woke for the first time. We went to his scheduled vet appointment and everyone was shocked that he seemed fairly normal--weak and shaky for sure, but he made an amazing recovery and was back to his normal, fearless self after a few weeks.


He also had repeated problems with urinary blockages, so he had PU surgery (basically removing the penis and stretching the urethra) many years ago. He has been very healthy since then.


DISPOSITION
Jasper is a pretty laid back little guy.  We've had many cats come into the house since Jasper, and he's always fairly nice to the newcomers. He is open to forming new relationships, providing the other cats have decent manners and respect his territory.  These days, his main territory is our bedroom. He allows other cats to share his territory, but occasionally needs to remind them that he's in charge by randomly chasing them off the bed (his bed, which he shares with us).  Carrie has staked a secondary claim on our bedroom, so he especially likes to keep a watch on her and remind her from time to time that though he generously shares, he was there first.


FRIENDS
Jasper->Ivan:  He and Ivan lost the close, sweet relationship they once had. We've never really figured out what happened, but as Ivan became increasingly mentally ill, their relationship seemed to degrade. Ivan's paranoia extended to Jasper, and I'm still really sad about that. Jaspy has many other friends, but Ivan isn't close to any of the other cats.
Jasper->Oliver:  They are very close friends. They cuddle together, play together, and groom each other. Jasper never reminds Oliver that he is the owner of the bedroom.
Jasper->Petey:  They get along quite well. They play and cuddle, but I don't recall seeing them groom one another.
Jasper->Lila:  They get along well, but Lila does not like Jasper's occasional reminders that he's king of the room. She doesn't come into our bedroom as much as she used to, which bums me out a little.
Jasper->Tica:  They tolerate each other, but she very much respects his territory. She has made her own claim in certain areas of our bedroom (under the bed, right below my head), under the chaise lounge, and up on the high cat shelves sometimes. She always does a check to see where he is and if it's okay if she comes in to one of her areas.

Jasper->Basil & Charlie:  This is not a good relationship. They are capable of getting along, because they all sleep on the bed together when I'm in there. These guys (the twins) like to play rough and they tag team and corner the other cats. It's all play to them, but the other cats don't tend to enjoy it.  Jasper does not like them and avoids them and takes cheap shots (stealth smack in the head is his favorite move) in whenever he can.
Jasper->Mimosa & Alexa:   Jasper plays chase with both girls on occasion. Neither of the girls cuddle with other cats, and both respect his territory, so they have a fairly harmonious relationship.

He doesn't mind the dogs but is especially fond of Jezebel.

HOBBIES & INTERESTS
Jasper gives the best hugs in the world! He wraps his little arms around your neck and squeezes and purrs into your ear. It's very special, and none of our other cats do anything like this.

One of his favorite pass times is to climb into drawers and armoires and kick all of the clothing out. If he wants to get into a drawer/cabinet and it's not open, he will scratch and cry until someone comes to open it for him, then he starts rearranging the clothing or towels or whatever is in his area.  He also loves to nap in any luggage or bags he comes across and never misses a chance to camp out in Mark's luggage when he packs for one of his many trips.

He enjoys chewing and eating string/ribbon, so we have to always be very careful to not leave anything like that around.  He also enjoys chewing tulle and any fabrics that are similar, so the beautiful tulle that I used to use to decorate the stair rail for Xmas stays in the container now.  I gave up on it, because it was constantly full of his (smelly) saliva and then it got crunchy and gross looking.

Jasper loves both cat food/treats and human food.  His favorite foods are tortilla chips and mandarin oranges. He will help himself to any open bags or containers of chips. He turns into a little crack addict when he sees mandarin oranges. I'm embarrassed for him and the shameless way he begs and cries for the oranges. Mimosa also enjoys mandarin oranges, but isn't quite as much of a pathetic addict as Jaspy is.

He also very skilled at determining when we are doing floor work during our workouts. We try to be very quiet, so he doesn't come in, but he ALWAYS shows up the minute we hit the floor. He loves to smear his furry little body across our sweaty faces repeatedly while we are trying to do push-ups, planks, etc., and have no way to defend our faces. It's really annoying, and he's lucky he's so cute!

Fool's Paradise

I've been a very good, responsible steward of my body, and have not worked out at all until tonight.  It was awesome to be back!  I did a light workout (cardio only--blah) but one that I have a lot of fun with (Hip Hop Abs--love my Shaun T).  I will take it fairly light this week, sticking with cardio and vinyasa yoga, and I'm hoping to get back to my real workouts next week.

I did need the time off, as much for mental reasons as physical.  The fact that it was that traumatic for me to stop made it vital that I stop and stick with it until I felt mentally okay with it.  I reached a point where I really missed the workouts, but didn't feel the sense of despair and panic over the loss.  That's a much healthier brain space for me to be in.

I may have to throttle back the intensity for a while--I will carefully evaluate as I go.  Some of the pain has cleared up but not yet all of it.  I'm a little bummed about that.  My skin has cleared up, and the nasty depression seems to have lifted, so there have definitely been improvements.

I ate basically the same as I normally do and didn't gain weight (which makes me think that I'm definitely not eating enough to build the muscle I'm trying to build, but finding the time to eat more is a bit challenging), and I can't visibly see any muscle loss.  I'm pretty happy about that.  I am a little nervous about resuming next week's full workout, because if I had any strength or endurance losses, I will see them there.  I can build that back up though, so I guess it's not the end of the world. :)

Przemek - 8 days ago

Last Monday I picked up a baby button quail who needed a home.  He came with significant head wounds, so we went straight from the humane society to the vet.  Apparently 'head bonking' (repeatedly jumping up, hitting the head on the top of the cage) is quite common in these little guys, and he was a mess.  I've been cleaning, soaking, and applying Neosporin to his head, and it's healing fairly well.  He has only the biggest, deepest scab remaining, and that appears to be healing well.  Once that's healed up, he will be out of his cage and free with the other birds in the room. I'm so excited for him to experience a cage-free life.  I named him Przemek, after a special family friend, who was also our first non-family animal care provider, house-sitter and babysitter.

Przemek - 8 days ago

We've never had a button quail before, so I've had to do a crash course in learning about them. I was really sad to find out they don't live nearly as long as the other birds in our family. They only live 3-4 years. :(  He's such a cute little guy, and I'm pretty obsessive about good nutrition, so I'm already crossing my fingers that he lives double that.  Of course, I do that with every animal we get, and as the law of averages would suggest, every blue moon one drastically exceeds their life expectancy, but most do not.

Przemek - today

L decided that she needed to adopt more babies. She is down to four rats (from eight--they don't live nearly long enough) and a hamster.  The rats are pretty labor/time intensive, so having four instead of eight has freed up a lot of time and space that she felt the need to fill. Now. She is not patient when she makes a decision like that. She hoards her birthday/xmas money and has tons of money that she is quite tight fisted with, so she got some lovely, enormous cages for the critters, and we picked them up on Sunday. She adopted a bonded pair of albino gerbil brothers (Hikaru and Kaoru) and a dwarf hamster (Excalibur).  We have really enjoyed getting to know them and watching them customize their large homes.  She hasn't yet gotten good pictures of them, but they will be coming soon.

Przemek - today

We picked them up in Madison, so we were able to squeeze in a trip to the Green Owl.  It's been way too long!  We ate from the brunch menu, and oddly enough, as many times as we've been there, we've never gone for their brunch before. OMG! It was all that we hoped for and more.  My only complaint was that I couldn't get one of their amazing desserts to go.  L & I each ordered the breakfast sandwich and split an order of tempeh bacon and a cinnamon roll.  It was a very hard decision. M got the biscuits and gravy.  We'll definitely be going back for Sunday brunch in the future, and since L's dance is on Sundays in Verona, it will work out very well.