Little noosh stayed over last night at the vet. He’s been throwing up and not eating for a few days now and it was just time to take him in. They put him in an incubator to bring up his temp and are rehydrating him good and proper. I hope he’s okay, we’re really worried about the little guy. Everyone send good thoughts Noosh’s way. I’ll post an update later when we hear. Cross all paws and tails.

Update: Well, Noosh came home and headed straight to the food bowl. Hooray, I think it’s a wrap! He’s still tired but had a rough week so he’s sleeping it off in his favorite chair. He probably ate something poisonous and then got so weak and dehydrated that he wasn’t strong enough to get better on his own. So relieved, he’s such a sweet kitty and I love him so much! We’ll break the news to him later about the part time job he’ll be working to pay off his Club Med bills. Heehee.

{tags weekend cat blogging babaganoosh}

Part deux of the Cooking Mama Recipe Series brings us back to her modest roots working in the vast electronics factories of Japan. Growing up was hard for Mama, most days she was rationed only one cup of dry rice with which she had to stretch into three meals for both she and her little brother Tetsuko.

Walking home from work at dusk was Mama’s favorite time of day. With her meager wages, she would buy whatever was available at farmer’s stands along the pixelated roadsides.

Usually only the humblest of ingredients made their way into her badly rendered canvas bag. I know, poor thing, but to Mama – therein lied the challenge. And we all know how much little nintendo characters like a challenge, right? Right! Because of this, she became a connaisseur of sorts in the fried rice department. So this, my friends is what I made. Vegetable Fried Rice.

(more…)

Earlier this month, for my birthday, Chris got me a Nintendo DS Lite that I’ve been hinting around like crazy for and the most beautiful earrings from Tiffany (the mere sight of that blue box sets my heart aflutter!) The jewels have been attached to my head and the DS to my grubby little mitts ever since.

One of my favorite games is called Cooking Mama where you make recipes while Mama scores things like your dumpling wrapping, shrimp peeling, egg cracking, and veggie slicing capabilities. If you fail a task, “Dont worry, Mama will fix it”, but she is clearly disapointed and deducts points accordingly.

I’ve been playing the game so much I’m pretty sure I’m getting subliminally programmed because I’m now craving all the things Mama and I made. Like gyoza, I want those soft juicy little dumplings so bad right now I can’t stand it. She’s all the time cussin’ and shaking her oddly formed angry fists at me. Isn’t she cute? Here’s a little flash video, just wait till you hear the song too, I love it:

Now, the moment we have all been waiting for has finally arrived, I officially announce my Cooking Mama Recipe Series. Wherein I’ll cook one of Mama’s recipes each time. I’ll try to do good for Mama, I know how she can be! First up the Gyoza I’m craving, yummy dumplings filled with gingery pork served with a mouthwatering dipping sauce.

(more…)

{sopes aka soh-pees, masa boats}

Ever since the lovely Sher posted her recipe for Sopes I’ve been secretly planning my attack. I had Maseca left over from making Gorditas, yet another one of Sher’s most irresistable recipes. I’m not stalking you I sware it! The allure here is that any filling is delicious, I used up a bunch of produce that needed to be cooked and some lonely chicken from the freezer. I grated up left over white cheddar cheese with chipotle (yum!), cranked open cans of olives and black beans and went for it. Here are the supplies you need for the little boats:

(more…)

(more…)

{sardine toasts}

Don’t be afraid of the sardine, embrace it. Haha, embrace your inner sardine! If there’s any one single canned item I couldn’t live without, it would be fish. I eat tuna almost every day, cook with anchovies regularly, and slurp down tins of sardines like it’s my jawb y’all. Godforbid I’m ever held prisoner in a subterranean dungeon, I can only hope there would be an opening large enough for my little elven friends to slip me tins of sardines. I’d eat them until I had the Super Sardine Strength of 10,000,000 tiny fishes with which I’d escape and then exact my stinky revenge upon my captors. Hiyah!

(more…)

{tags weekend cat blogging maxthehammer babaganoosh stone barrington}

{cold tomato mousse}

In case you tire from bailing out the ocean with a teaspoon this summer, I suggest peeling a boatload of tomatos to pass the time. Isn’t the day just *so* long? Heehee, I’m just bitter because I didn’t google it. Had I known I was supposed to first dip them in boiling water and then into icewater…, had I only known. This recipe is from an epic sized cookbook called The Sliver Spoon that claims to be ‘The bible of authentic Italian cooking.’ The recipes are simple with easily attainable ingredients and so far it hasn’t let me down.

This tastes so purely of the essence of tomato, it’s mild and creamy, nice and cold, refreshing and tastes like the last days of summer might if they were edible. Isn’t it so pretty too?

(more…)