Sunday

Hello. This is Loki.

 

And this is Csonka.

 

They live in my house now. And they are at least partially responsible for all of the nothing going on at this blog for the last few weeks. I mean, they’re freaking adorable. How am I supposed to get anything done?

Really, The Day Job is just as much to blame for eating up quality cooking time. And reading time. And housekeeping and yard clean-up and squash-harvesting time. I’d rather talk about kittens, though.

Loki is all black and rather small. His brother was adopted away from him (we wanted to get both of them) at the local vet clinic, which took some adjustment on his part. We had decided that Loki was a good name for a black cat even before we knew that there were multiple families wanting to adopt his brother (who is just an average-looking striped tabby-type kitten). Since so many people were making a big deal about his brother and ignoring him, Loki was clearly the best name for him. He is a little weird.

 

Csonka is black and white with symmetrical, tuxedo-like markings. He’s big for his age, but is a good big brother to Loki. He only beats him up a little bit, and never at full strength or with claws out. He is mostly sweet and mild, and I was a little surprised that he didn’t get snatched up at the shelter because he was the prettiest, sweetest, mildest load of a kitten there. He was destined to be ours. 

 

Csonka was named Gronk at the shelter, but no New England Patriot is allowed in our house. We went back to a real undefeated team for a big-guy namesake, and so he is now Csonka. (If he continues to grow at his current rate, he will also gain the title Mister, like Harry Dresden's furry beast in Jim Butcher's Dresden Files.)

When I’m not trying to keep Csonka from drinking out of the toilet or Loki from climbing up my leg to get at any food-like substance he seems to think I have in my hands, I do cook the occasional meal, including a version of this black bean soup with peppers and tomatoes instead of a jar of salsa, pizzas on the weekend, this Zucchini Cheddar Risotto (there’s still so much zucchini!), and a version of this skillet pasta dish.

When I made up a list of favorite recipes posted in the month of October, I came up, quite accidently, with 31 of them. Since, if my math is correct, that makes one for each day of the month, on Twitter and Facebook, I’m sharing a link to an October “recipe of the day”. I’ll post a page here by tomorrow night with a running list to follow along.

It’s been a while since I really got into a good novel, but I just started Throne of Jade, the second book in the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik, which is quite good, and easy to read with kittens sleeping in one’s lap.

I’ve also been perusing Dappled: Baking Recipes for Fruit Lovers by Nicole Rucker. This book is wonderful, and I’d love to be baking my way through it.

Autumn is here, and I’ve got to get out to the garden to harvest the buttercup and butternut squash I grew, and clean up the other messes. I can’t wait to cut into those squash and make soup and chili, savory pie, risotto, and salad. I also want to try some new recipes for rosemary cheddar soda bread, jam tart with shortbread crumble, chocolate cookies, apple-zucchini muffins (still!), and apple, pear and pumpkin cakes and pies.

Sitting quietly with a cup of coffee in hand and a kitten in my lap is nice, though, too.

Another post like this one: Saturday Night (from about a year ago)