Five Lessons From a 20-Year-Old Cat

Anyone who has pets knows that there will come a time when that adorable pet of yours will break your heart. As an adult, I have had a total of three pets. The first two, I adopted in 1993 -- kittens that I named Sid and Nancy. Nancy broke my heart in 2000, having been diagnosed with cutaneous hemangiosarcoma. She developed a big tumor; it was taken out; it grew back; it started spreading; she stopped eating. I made the very difficult decision to let her go in April of that year (she had just turned 7). I don't remember driving home from the vet's office. Sid wouldn't come near me for a couple of days and then spent a week, wandering around my 600 square foot apartment in Chicago, looking for her. I cried for days.

In 2009, a sweet little cat appeared on my porch and stayed there. It took six months to gain her trust and I finally got her to come inside. Porch Kitty became Pique and she was a lovely maine coon, with lynx tip ears and tons of personality. She was very skittish with everyone but me. I didn't know anything about her, but less than 2 years later, she stopped eating and started hiding. She turned out to be significantly older than the vet and I had first thought and was about 15 years old. She was now riddled with cancer, so Pique broke my heart in March, 2011 (the day after my birthday). Ironically, when Pique appeared to me, I thought she was there to cushion the blow over what would be my biggest pet heartbreak to date, which happened today.

Sid, the other half of the Sid and Nancy pair I adopted in 1993, has been with me through a lot. He's been with me for 20 years -- half of my life (give or take). Sid has been slowing down in recent months and I have been worried about him for at least a year. Regular vet visits and daily medication and on paper he was in really good shape for an old man. I had been out of town for a few days and my neighbors were taking care of Sid for me, giving him his daily tuna and dose of meds. I'd checked on him while I was gone, and they'd told me he was being Sid, doing fine.

When I got home yesterday, I noticed something was wrong. His back legs weren't working very well. As always, when I would come home, he'd want to get up from his chair and come and talk to me. He struggled to get out of the chaise. I sat with him and snuggled him and he eventually got down and wobbled his way to follow me to the kitchen. I noticed a significant change in his gait and noticed his back legs were splaying outwards and he was dragging his feet. I called the vet, made an appointment for the next day, to see what was going on. I had dinner plans with a friend, so I got Sid a drink of water and headed out to meet up with my friend. When I came home later, Sid had changed again. In addition to his back legs splaying outward, his right front foot looked broken. It was flopping around and no longer able to bear any kind of weight. He could barely walk. I carried him to the kitchen for a drink of water and got him settled back on his chair. I realized what was happening. Sid was breaking my heart. His chirps and purrs to me were telling me that it was time to go. He tried to get up again and got down off his chair. He kept falling. Meowing. Looking at me. I couldn't just sit there and watch that, so I scooped him up and off we went to the emergency vet. To make a long story short, Sid's health had been significantly compromised. Suspected blood clots, a known heart murmur, loss of mobility with 3 out of 4 limbs and blindness (in addition to the fact that he'd been deaf for 2 years and that he was 20 years old) and the vet said I had some decisions to make.

This is the part of a pet owner's life that everyone dreads. I cried a lot, realized what I had to do and started the process of saying goodbye to my sweet baby, the cat that had been with me for 20 years. He stayed in my arms and went very quickly and peacefully. I managed to get the car home without hitting anything and then allowed myself the freedom to cry. In many ways, Sid's passing is more than just the loss of a pet. He represents the first part of my adult life. I adopted him going into my senior year of college. To help in my grieving process, I wanted to look at the lessons that Sid has taught me, beyond the years of unconditional love and trust that he gave me.

• Take a risk -- Sid was with me when I got my first "real" job out of college. A job that would take me to three different offices and two different states. When I was promoted and asked to move to Chicago, Sid fearlessly sat in the carrier as I loaded up my 24-year-old life into my 1990 Honda Accord and drove to Chicago for the first time. He slipped out the window of my new apartment the first night and I completely freaked (a stunt he also pulled as a kitten, falling out a third story window and not getting hurt). I found him wandering around our new backyard and he came trotting up the stairs as soon as I called him.
• Share -- Sid was all about sharing. He loved to share my spot on the couch. He loved to share the bed (and slept against my foot until about a year or so ago, when he was no longer able to jump onto the bed). He loved to share my food and felt completely entitled to sample whatever it was I was eating or drinking. I learned to never leave my coffee cup unattended or a glass of water. One paw in the cup or glass to get a closer look and I'd hear a "thunk" and have to go get the paper towels. 
• Try new things -- As part of Sid's sharing campaign, I learned that he liked chicken, steak, fish, any kind of bread, but especially pizza crust, most any kind of cheese, balsamic vinegar, tomatoes, potatoes, and most any kind of dairy (including, but not limited to yogurt, milk, sour cream and whipped cream). 
• Love without agenda -- Sid had no great agenda for me. All he cared about was that I came home each day and gave him his tuna every morning, turn on the tub for a big drink of water and provide ample cuddles and snuggles whenever he wanted. In return, I had a little presence in my life that never judged my waistline, or what kind of day I had. Sid was just happy to see me and tell me about his day. 
• Decisions are hard -- When it comes to decisions, ultimately, it is YOUR decision. No one can make choices for you. And in the end, you need to be at peace with the decisions you make. This was Sid's hardest lesson for me. He told me in his own way that he was ready to move on. He waited until I got home from my trip and then showed me how hard it was getting for him. But, it was up to me to make the decision I had to make in his best interest. I have a feeling I will be crying for quite a while over my rumply little cat, that sweet soul that wanted nothing more from me than unconditional love. In time, my heart will open to another sweet soul, but there's a spot that Sid will always occupy and I know he'll never be far away.

Is it Spring yet?

March 27. It's March 27. Wednesday. Snow on Monday. Snow on Tuesday. Today, the sun is out and I'm staring at the forsythia bush out my living room window and trying to see if new buds are starting to break. Once those break, that's when I'll know it's actually spring. I've been woefully remiss in updating this blog. Not that I haven't been experimenting in my kitchen. Recent culinary triumphs include Nutella Pie (yes, it is proof that God loves us) and Ginger Apple Pear Marmalade. It's one of the many projects on my list -- sharing with you all of the goodies I've been creating in my kitchen. Soon, my friends. Soon.

Spice, Spice Baby

One of the darling things I loved about my 99 year old house was the herb garden the previous owners had planted underneath the windows in the kitchen. Now, to be fair, I do not have the greenest thumb out there. Whatever is in my yard is survival of the fittest. I do well with containers, but actual yard? I'm still learning. The herb garden has sage, oregano, chives, and thyme. I added a lavender plant the first year, which started blooming a couple of years ago. This makes me deliriously happy. There's also a nice corner spot where I can stick a tomato plant every year that seems to do well.

Well, it seems that my general neglect of this herb garden is exactly what it likes. The sage bush that was so sweet and tame had grown to hip height and was covering the sidewalk. The oregano is choking out almost everything else. One year, I could barely even FIND the chives. The thyme was starting to spread into the driveway. So, of course, now I'm on a harvesting kick.

Last summer, we harvested a nice sized jar of thyme and two big jars of oregano. This year, we decided to tackle the sage. It was completely out of control. Someone suggested I make smudge sticks, but then I learned that this is the WRONG type of sage for that purpose. So, I started looking up how to make my own dry rubbed sage. Seemed simple enough, so my mother and I last weekend started hacking at this plant.

When we were done, we had rediscovered the sidewalk and I had a huge basket of sage leaves to pick through and get to drying. My sister came up and brought her food dehydrator to go along with the one that I bought. We cleaned and cleaned the sage, got it really dry and added it to the racks. Two days later, we had dried sage leaves. To turn that into rubbed sage, all you really have to do is push them against a sieve. It's taken me the better part of a week to get through it all (about 13-14 total trays of the dehydrator) and get it pushed through the sieve to store. But, I ended up with a beautiful jar of fresh rubbed sage to use. Since I have a plethora of oregano and thyme, I'm thinking it might be time to play around with my own type of blend -- I think it would be great to use to season a roast chicken. Pictures to follow..

A little nosh

I got a call that my sister was planning to visit me for the weekend. The weather in Cleveland has been BEASTLY hot. I started to plan what we could have for a little nosh. She was arriving a little late, so I didn't really want to do a lot of cooking (two reasons, didn't want to have a big meal very late and, mostly, it was too frippin' hot in my house to cook). I started digging through my fridge and freezer and looked for a few things to prepare.

1 -- Ol' Faithful -- Stinky Cheese. Can't go wrong with a nice, stinky blue cheese. Procured a wedge of a nice buttermilk blue.

2 -- Carb element -- Stinky cheese needs a carb delivery element. Procured some sea salt pita chips from Trader Joe's and got a loaf of french bread out of my freezer (which I bought during a church bake sale -- fundraiser for the parlor renovation). I grilled the bread on my grill pan, using a little olive oil for some extra flavor.

3 -- Salt element -- Olives. My particular favorite is picholine. I'm not a big black olive fan, but I adore these little picholines.

4 -- Veggie options -- Took a few minutes to consider my options. I had some pretty radishes, which I dolled up with butter and sea salt. I'd actually never had that before until about a month ago and my world has been changed. Cherry tomatoes, yellow ones, from my farm share, would look nice on my cheeseboard. I wanted a dippy thing of some sort, so I made a pea dip using english peas (one bag of peas I'd frozen, supplemented with a bag of frozen petit pois from the grocery store), ricotta, lemon and mint. (recipe courtesy of Michael Symon). I liked this dip, although next time, I would try making my own ricotta (which doesn't sound difficult) and I would prefer fresher peas. There was a real difference between the batch I froze on my own and the ones from the megamart.

By the time my sister arrived, I had assembled a nice little nosh for us to have with a glass of wine and start our sisterly weekend.

Eating Locally -- August 9, 2010

Monday night, and I'm always trying to figure out what to make for dinner. I was out of town this past weekend and haven't been to the store yet. So, last night, I went pilfering through the freezer to see if I had anything worth defrosting. I found a package of ground turkey. In the fridge, I found 6 green peppers, mushrooms, squash, and a few other things. Hmmm.. I'm never going to eat 6 green peppers on their own, so I need to do something with them. I decided to improvise a recipe for stuffed peppers. So, here we go, Stuffed Peppers a la Spice.

I grabbed a rectangular baking dish, preheated the oven to 375 and spread a thin layer of marinara sauce in the bottom of the dish. I cut the tops off 6 green peppers, seeded them and placed them in a baking dish. I discarded the tops.



I took the three small spring onions, a couple of hungarian (or maybe banana) peppers (whatever was in my farm share) and a couple of cloves of garlic and chopped those up. Side note, I wasn't paying too much attention after cutting up the peppers before scratching my nose. I spent the next 20 minutes googling remedies for pepper burns and remedies. I'll spare you the visual. It's been almost an hour, and there's still a slight tingling on my nose from my ill-fated sneeze earlier. So, please, kids, learn from my mistake.



I sauteed the aromatics in a couple of glugs of olive oil over medium heat, about 15 minutes, while I chopped up half an 8 oz. package of sliced mushrooms and a yellow squash. When the onion, pepper and garlic mix was done, I added the veggies and a nice pinch of salt and pepper. I tossed in some of my favorite multi-purpose seasoning mix (one by Penzey's called Tuscan Sunset) and cooked the veggies until they were done. I put them in a large bowl. I added one package of ground turkey and browned it until it was no longer pink in the middle. I drained off the fat, and added it to the veggie mix in the bowl.

For a binding agent, I didn't want to use eggs, and I didn't feel like cooking up some rice or anything. I eyeballed a 1/2 cup or so of plain, dried breadcrumbs, sprinkled on some grated parmesan cheese, and added about half of a 15 oz. container of low-fat ricotta cheese. I mixed things up thoroughly and filled each pepper with the mixture (and had just enough mix for the 6 peppers). I topped each with a spoon or two of marinara sauce and a little fresh parmesan for the top.



I baked the peppers for about 25 minutes (altho truthfully, they could have gone another 10, the peppers were still a little raw). I paired this one with a glass of King Family Vineyards 2008 Chardonnay. The filling has nice flavor, so I think this one will be a keeper! And, once again, most of the ingredients came from my farm share.

Eating Locally -- July 15, 2010

OK, I'm behind schedule on my blogging. I don't get paid for these little ramblings, so unless someone wants to throw some cash my way, the updates will come after I've taken care of my day job and other responsibilities. It's also been really. flipping. hot. I live in a house that's almost 100 years old and it doesn't have air conditioning. As much as I love roast chicken, the thought of having my oven on for 90 minutes when it's literally 85 degrees in my house just isn't appealing. Fortunately, the weather has eased a bit, so I got back in the kitchen today. I've been wanting to make a derivation on salad nicoise for some time now. I finally had everything together to make my own variation.

I got some gorgeous stuff in my farm share last week. Beautiful red potatoes, yellow beans, blueberries, tomatoes, etc. This whole thing probably took 90 minutes to put together, but it's me, myself and I in the kitchen. It might have gone faster if I'd had an extra set of hands to help me out.

Basic components of tonight's dinner -- hard-cooked eggs, red potatoes, beans, tomatoes, olives, fish, dressing..

I cooked the eggs by putting them in a pot of cold water, added a little salt, brought to a boil, then simmered for about 10 minutes. I ran the eggs under cold water until they were cool, then peeled them and set them aside. I also boiled the new potatoes for about 10 minutes, until they were tender. I removed them from the water and put them in a colander. I covered them with a dish towel to let them steam a few minutes and, because I'm lazy, used the same water (which was already salted) to blanch the yellow beans.



I also learned today that farm fresh eggs are a pain in the ass to peel. If anyone has any tips for that, let me know, or I may have to remember that for next time and buy a few conventional eggs.

I made a quick little vinaigrette using a tsp of dijon mustard, a splash of white wine vinegar, some salt and pepper and whisked in some olive oil.

I grabbed my grill pan and seasoned my salmon with a little salt and pepper and grilled until it was done the way I like it..


I assembled my dinner on a plate and added a half a tomato and some picholine olives (I didn't have the traditional nicoise olives). I drizzled some vinaigrette over the salmon, potatoes and beans. Grabbed a glass of a 2007 viognier from one of my favorite Virginia wineries, King Family Vineyards and had a great dinner.

Eating Locally -- Farm Share Week 2

Week 2 and it's another day to pick up my share of locally-grown organic produce. I still have a few things left over from last week (perishables like salad greens and onions and I still have some eggs, bread and popcorn). I'm really diggin' this CSA. I feel like I'm getting my $16 worth each week, that's for sure. In this week's bounty, my take ended up being:


Strawberries, pac-choy (like bok choy, just all green), spring onions, beets, kohlrabi, swiss chard, garlic scapes, some blackberry jam, a tomato, and of course, more lettuce -- beautiful red leaf and green lettuce this week. The heads were huge, so Robin and I just tore them apart to split.

I'm already plotting my grilled salmon with sauteed mushrooms and the pac-choy (sauteed with sesame oil, soy sauce and garlic) and a fantastic salad with roasted beets, goat cheese (or blue, whatever I have) and some toasted pecans (or walnuts, whatever I have in the freezer). I will say, tho, I've never bought, stored, prepped or eaten kolhrabi, so I'm looking for ideas there. I'm also not sure how I'll fix the red chard. I'll figure it out, tho.

In the meantime, anyone want some salad?