Lions and Tigers and Other Cool Cats

The cool cat would be me. *nod nod*

So lots of my person's family came to visit us this summer. They weren't really visiting us specifically, more like visiting Southern California. Which is good because we don't have room for that many people and I hate giving up my room. While they were here, they went on all sorts of adventures. Finally! Usually more of my person's relatives means more dorkiness but this time they actually did cool stuff. My person says that there's enough stories that us three have to share. Whatever. Edmund is ridiculously excited about his post. Something about a really big fish.

Anyway, one of their adventures was going to the San Diego Wild Animal Park. Usually, I don't like these types of things because they're educational, but this place was pretty cool. There's the usual stuff like lions:

I totally got my napping technique from them. My person also has this thing about ugly birds.

Apparently, these are super-endangered or something.

But the hands-down coolest part was a bus trip through this big open-air exhibit. The animals aren't in cages. They're just roaming with around each other like animals are supposed to. They do keep the eaters separate from the eaten, which is probably a good idea. This guy is a great big rhino and he's totally letting a antelope looking thing push him around!

Edmund tries to do that sometimes with our food bowl and I just ignore him. Dude! You're like four times his size! You can take him!

There was lots of other cool stuff, too! Like gorillas with wigs:

And baby elephants. My person thought they were adorable. I think they're funny looking.

So, way less lame than usual. She'll probably spend the next three months inside just to make up for it. *rolls eyes*

Yes, but where are the plums?

During the winter holidays, Jason's delightful mother, Lynn, came to stay with us. It was so wonderful to reminisce with her about my youth and the joys of being permitted outside. Oddly, she seems quite fond of Jennifer (something about keeping Jason decently clothed and fed) and refused to discuss the merits of indoor-outdoor living for felines. I know that Jason can be quite a handful, but I fail to see how that should impact my comings and goings.

On a happier note, Lynn is a champion cook and she and Jennifer spent a few days preparing various holiday dishes. Apparently, it is a tradition in Jennifer's family to prepare plum pudding to serve with the holiday meal. I had no idea her background contained such a delightful treat. Ah, plum pudding. A dessert immortalized by the great writers of the Victorian era! It has even found it's way into the words of the popular Yuletide tune "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." Although many people have heard of the dish, few know much about it. As Jennifer was kind enough to take pictures of the process I thought I would share some of my vast store of knowledge on the subject.

One of the most difficult steps is acquiring all of the necessary ingredients. Jennifer had to travel to several stores over the course of a week to find all of the supplies. One of the most difficult to locate was also the most important: suet. Suet is rendered beef fat and is used in plum pudding in much the same way lard or butter is used in other dishes. Unfortunatly, Jennifer failed to take any pictures of it, despite the effort she expended finding it, so I am unable to share any with you.

She did remember her camera at other points, however. As you can see, the recipe requires quite a few items and they all must be chopped before they are added to the mixture. Surprisingly, there are no plums in plum pudding. "Plum" is a British slang term for raisins and this recipe calls for two different kinds.

Once the the batter is prepared, it is put is a small heat-proof container. Because Jennifer did not have a pudding steamer (silly, girl), she had to wing the next few steps. She covered the small container with tin foil and a plate and placed it on a trivet inside her largest pot- a turkey roaster in this case.

She then poured boiling water into the roasting pan, placed the lid on, and placed a brick on top (I told you she was winging it).

After three hours of simmering the water and thereby steaming the pudding, the dish was finished! As you can see, it is not a pudding at all but rather a very dense cake. Why humans insist on calling it pudding instead of cake is an issue for another day.

Traditionally, a quantity of brandy is poured on top of the pudding and then lit on fire just prior to serving. It was quite a spectacular show! Pale blue flames are not easily photographed, however, so you will have to take my word for it. Jennifer was so shocked at the flames that she dropped the match on the pudding itself!

As a finishing touch, the still-warm pudding is served with a cream and brandy sauce that is quite delightful. Unlike the brandy in the pudding (and on the pudding) the brandy in the sauce is not cooked and therefore retains its potency.

A very merry Christmas indeed!

It Must be Genetic

Given how cool our last guest was, I was really excited to hear that my person's sister was coming to visit. Not only is she not a grad student, she lived in Japan for six months. She even said she'd cook Japanese food for us. How cool is that?!

Her visit started off pretty promising. They all went to a Tiki bar in N. Hollywood and stayed out until like 2 in the morning. Even though I didn't get to go, at least my person finally went out on the town in L.A. The next day was pretty quiet. Which was fine because someone needed to scratch my ears and I wasn't about to let TGWWGA do it. But things started to go downhill after that. On Monday, they did go get drinks at a swanky bar in town but before that they went to a garden. A very educational garden that had lots of cactuses and stuff. What is it with these people and going to educational parks? They already know how to open a tuna can. What else could there possibly be to learn? Especially about cactus!

They said they were going shopping the next day which got my hopes up, but did they shop for something cool? Oh no. They went to used bookstores. That's right. More than one. Just what my person needs: more books. >< My person and TGWWGA took her out to karaoke that day, too, but they manged to find they only one that didn't serve alcohol. They said they had a good time, but I'm pretty sure that cool people aren't sober when they're singing karaoke.

Her last day here, they decided to go the beach. Finally! A normal California thing to do. They even took their bathing suits with them. Turns out, though, that the real reason they went to Laguna Beach was to go to an art exhibit about that World of Warcraft game they're always playing. They did go walk along the beach, but they didn't even put on their suits. I can understand not wanting to get wet, but it was a beautiful, sunny California day at the beach and they spent most of it at an art museum! How much dorkier can you get? My person wanted me to post a WoW picture to go along with this entry, but I'm not gonna. Someone has to draw the line.

My person's parents are coming to visit next week but seeing how both of their children are dorks, they probably are too. *rolls eyes*

Oops!

I forgot to include this pic in my post yesterday. I must still be getting over being abandoned. QQ

Anyway, my Mommy's Mommy is a very talented artist and she drew this picture (there's a bigger one below) to decorate the Children's Room at the library she works at. Normally I'm scared of dragons, but this seems like a nice dragon. Come to think of it, he looks a bit scared himself. Cool! I have something in common with a dragon! I wonder if he likes having his tummy rubbed too? It's time for my second afternoon nap! ttyl!

She Left Me!

Even the Monster left me! Well, maybe that's not such a bad thing.... But, still! Mommy left me! She did come back. Eventually. Doesn't matter. I was left all alone! Except for Dante and Spanky. But they don't scratch my ears and they're not Mommy! *pouts*

Deep breath. Start at the beginning.

The Monster's brother was getting married (Monster's have brothers?!?) and so he went back to Michigan where we used to live for the wedding. It was just us and Mommy. Yay! I got lots of cuddles and snuggles and sitting on the Monster's chair (I'm a brave kitty!). Then Mommy left for work and didn't come home for four whole days! Apparently, she had to leave right from work to catch her plane. But why didn't she take me with her? Oh right. I don't like things that go "whoosh" and Mommy says planes do that. Well, why couldn't she stay, then? Monsters' brothers' wedding can't be better than me, right? ;-(

Mommy says the wedding was lovely and the bride and the groom were very happy. Which is good I guess. My Mommy looked pretty awesome, too. That's a picture of her with the Monster's sister (Monster's have sisters too?!?). She looks nice. Definitely not scary like the Monster. Mommy says the Monster looked very handsome all dressed up for the wedding but I'm not going to post any pictures of him because I'm not that brave of a kitty. Mommy also got to see her family and sleep in her old room. Which is also nice but it would've been much nicer if I was there to frolic and get cat hair all over things and meow randomly. It sounds like her family is going to come visit us in California soon. Maybe we could work out a deal where they stay here and we send the Monster back there?

The Wedding Party

Christmas on the Beach!

I'm enjoying being a California kitty. Instead of driving through snow and sleet and ice for Christmas, my Mommy and Two Nice Ladies Who Scratch My Ears went to the beach! Here are some pics: