Sunday Cats #56

Here is that other video of Bob and Noodles playing on the cat house thing.

It was pretty much inevitable that Noodles would assert her dominance and take it over. Bob only gets it when she's asleep somewhere else or in the other room. And if she notices him on it she runs over, smacks him around and takes it back. He's kind of a wimp like that.

Sunday Cats #55

I'm still taking a break, but I thought I'd share a video I took of the real Bob and Noodles enjoying a cat condo we got them a while ago.

To encourage them to use it we rubbed it down with catnip. It worked. Oh and there's no sound, just so you know.


I have another, similar video that I was going to post but they take forever to upload so I'll just post it next week.

Taking a Break

I have a lot going on and I'm afraid I need to take a bit of a break from blogging. I'll be back though, so don't forget about me.

Blogger Burger Club: Grilled Cheese Burger

This months burger for the Blogger Burger Club gets four stars kids! Seriously. Course, I'm biased since I've been making something a lot like this since I was a teenager, but hey. A good burgers a good burger, know what I'm saying?

I guess there was a bit of controversy when the original recipe won a contest, with people saying this isn't an actual hamburger (it won a contest, so there has to be controversy, right?), but I'm not sure where the detractors get off. I mean if you really want to you can argue almost anything, but it's a ground beef patty in between two pieces of bread. That's a burger. I figure if you can call an open faced burger a burger then this is totally a burger. Shall I say it once more? Ok, burger.

Anyway, it's exactly what the name implies and it's awesome. I might just go make one for lunch today. Do you like burgers? Then head on over to Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice and get in on the Burger Club. It's a good time.

Sunday Cats #54

Since it's Mother's Day I figured I'd post some more pictures of Noodles and her kittens. Seemed fitting. Heh. Happy Mother's Day, kids.

Deviled Egg Salad

6 eggs, hard boiled and shelled
2 1/2 tbls mayo
1 tsp mustard
1/2 tsp paprika
salt and pepper to taste

Put everything in a bowl and mix it with a fork until it's the consistency you like. Let it chill for at least 2-3 hours, overnight is best.

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We seem to have skipped the best part of spring here in Boston. We went straight from cold and rainy to hot and muggy. Now I actually like cold and rainy (call me nuts, you won't be the first), but hot and humid is something I just don't need, especially so early in the year.

See, once the temperature reaches a certain point then I start getting... irritable. It's not pretty. Local villagers hide in their closets, root cellars and whatnot once it hits about 80, terrified that I'll come to town looking for a sandwich so I don't have to turn on the stove, or worse, an ingredient for what I've finally decided to cook, which they surely don't have.

That's when I pop and go off on a rampage. I spend the afternoon stomping on cars, throwing trains into buildings, breathing atomic fire and separating plucky children from their loving (and most likely single parent) families, sending them off on madcap adventures which end with a minor tragedy, two people finding love and everyone learning a valuable lesson. Then they are all reunited in an excessively sentimental scene, possibly involving a giant lizard, where they all vow not to take each for granted and be good, good people. At least until the sequel.
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Sooo, that doesn't really happen. But it is true that when it's hot I don't want to cook, which is why I decided to make some egg salad the other day. I mentioned deviled egg salad back in the beginning of last year in a post about egg salad in general, but didn't really elaborate on it. And that recipe up top is the reason. There's not really much to it, although it is greater than the sum of it's parts. It's just my basic egg salad (which I finally took down measurements for) with paprika in it. As I mentioned before, I like my egg salad nice and simple (not to mention a bit light on the mayo). The only thing I would add to this is a little diced shallot, but alas I had none.

Oh and yes, those are potato chips on it. Potato chips are a good time on sandwiches, even if they don't subtract calories like lettuce does.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

But I've got nothing. Honestly, I hadn't even realized Cinco de Mayo was coming up, otherwise I would have saved one of the several Mexican things I've posted lately for today. Oh well. I'm feeling lazy though, so I'm just going to shoot a few links from the archives your way in case you need any last minute ideas for festivities tonight.

Maybe something quick and easy, like guacamole chicken salad or taco burritos? Fajitas are always a good time and they can be done on the grill or in a pan. Plus that recipe is made with standard pantry stuff.

Of course there's always taco fries, those are great for a crowd.

Are my holiday obligations complete? Awesome, I think I'll go have a Negra Modelo.

Steak and Rice Enchiladas

I'm on a real Mexican kick, apparently. I've had the tamales, the Mexicanized shakshuka, that burrito wrap thing and the green chili enchiladas all within the past couple weeks. And that's just the stuff I've posted, I've made a couple things that I didn't get pictures of. Hope you're all not sick of it, we've got one more to go.

Enchiladas have an awesome stew-like kind of vibe in that you can use them to finish off all kinds of leftovers. When I made these I had a chunk of steak leftover from fajitas, two tortillas and some leftover rice pilaf so I figured I'd just whip something up with those. So I took those, some chunks of cheese, diced red onion, green chilies, some Mexican seasonings and mixed them up. Noodles was curious about what I was doing when I brought the bowl of filling over to the window for better light, but none of it was for her. Heh. I made a quick enchilada sauce with an eight ounce can of tomato sauce (I love those things), garlic, onion and some adobo seasoning and spread a bit on the bottom of a little casserole dish I have. Then I filled the tortillas up with lots of filling (no point in screwing around), rolled them up and dropped them in. The rest of the sauce on top, a goodly amount of cheese, some time in the oven and that's that. It came out pretty good, but the sauce needs a little work so I don't feel too bad about not having a recipe. I actually have been looking for a good red enchilada sauce, anyone have one they especially like and want to share?

Sunday Cats #53

The real Bob is a patient critter. Very patient.