Finding myself with a few too many cucumbers than we can eat fresh (happy, happy, joy, joy), I decided today I’d make those long-awaited home-grown pickles!

Found myself with a bit too much brine too, so I went ahead and pickled some onion, garlic, and (home-grown) carrots. Woo hoo!

And of course, I also burnt the hell out of part of my left hand. Had I not been wearing protective gear, it would’ve been worse, but let me tell you, boiling hot water and vinegar is, well, boiling hot. Ouch!

This photo did not catch Myu in mid-movement. This is where that cat lounges for HOURS every day. One would think a hard wooden chair back wouldn’t make an especially comfy pillow, but Myu is one weird cat. She’ll drape herself across the stool and chair back and just hang there hour after hour after hour … until it’s time to move to the bed for more lounging. Her life mission is to do as little as possible at all times.

This photo barely captures how pretty the clouds were at sunset yesterday, but it’s enough to remind me they were pretty enough to make me go outside to take a photo.

“The issue for us was, can it be done in a way that didn’t violate the zero-tolerance for weapons?” he said. “Nothing was being done to limit patriotism, creativity, other than find an alternative to a weapon.”

Yet another zero tolerance tale. I do grow weary if pointing completely obvious things out to people who should know them just as well as I do, but here goes:

This is not a weapon. It is a toy soldier holding a rather poor representation of a weapon. It is in fact a harmless object, though I suppose someone could poke someone’s eye out with it, if they really, really tried.

These are weapons. They are dangerous and deadly, especially in the hands of the insane, untrained, and small children.

If schools wants to ban representations of violence, more power to them (and good luck), but banning toy soldiers holding tiny plastic replicas of weapons under the guise of BANNING WEAPONS and calling them WEAPONS is the height of stupidity.

Want to know one of the many things that has directly lead to the dumbing down of America and the failure of its schools? Zero tolerance.

Tonight’s dinner was rather multicultural. Homemade Mexican flour tortillas; couscous (with peas) from Israel (actually FROM Israel); mushrooms, onions, garlic, corn, and tomatoes sauteed in olive oil, roast Halil (free range and organic) chicken breasts, and a ton of Tzatziki (a Greek yogurt/cucumber sauce). Tonight’s dinner was also something of a production number. I spent forever in the kitchen!

It was worth it though, as everything turned out tasty!

Now for some bonus food porn … last night’s pan fried pork chop, oven-roasted asparagus, and a mushroom, onion, and cucumber salad soaked in balsamic vinegar and olive oil. It was also tasty!

I’m finding myself a little more boo-hoo about the kitten being gone than expected. So easy to get attached to such an adorable little thing! She’s off to a good home though, and I’ll still get to see her growing up, so it’s all good. But still … waaaaah!

I cleared the living room of kitten tending goods, treated the rug and furniture with flea spray, have the bedding in the laundry, showered my cats with affection and playtime, and after a little bit of lunch, I do believe a nice long nap will be in order. I’m hoping that once my monsters have had the chance to share the sunny spot on the bed with me again, peace will return to the household. It hasn’t yet. Ronin is still being grouchy, and he’s making sure we all know about it.

I’m sure I’m not the only living creature in the house looking forward to the end of the hissing, growling, snarling, and whining. He can really be obnoxious when he feels put out, and it doesn’t take much to make him feel put out. The tiny interloper seems to have pushed him entirely over the edge, but I’m sure he’ll get over it in a day or two. He better. It’s becoming intolerable. LOL!

Well, time for lunch … and then cat cuddling and snoozing. I am seriously wiped out! I was wiped out pre-kitten, so I could definitely do with some sleep.

And cat cuddling. I haven’t spent much time with my own monsters for two days, and that’s really unusual. I miss my monsters!

The kitten squeaked a few times, but she was quietly playing in the carrier, so I just left that be. She’ll get hungry shortly, and there’s no ignoring her when she’s hungry. She’s got a squeak that could break glass, and she knows how to use it. While I’m sitting around waiting to make some formula and feed the baby, I’ve gone back to the beginning of Ronin’s and Myu’s life with us. I can’t believe it’s been four years. It’s been making me smile to remember their early adventures.

The night before we went to pick them up, while I was frantically getting the house ready and making sure we had everything we would need for kitten safety, health, and fun, I posted this:

They may be perfect angels from the get-go and won’t need to be locked up often. Or … they could be total hellions who get into everything.

If ever there were famous last words, those would be them! I’m still waiting for them to become perfect angels. Ronin and Myu are both mental in their own unique ways. Ronin is Emo Cat, and Myu is Needy Cat. They can be perfect angels, but only if they really, really want something, and they didn’t fully figure out that method would work until Tora came along two years later. Tora is my Perfect Angel.

I better go check on the kitten again, and if she’s not ready to eat, I am going to go to sleep for a little while. There’s no chance of me sleeping through her squeaking, not with the carrier right by my head. LOL!

Because I’m feeling reminiscent, here’s the what Ronin and Myu looked like on their first night home:

And the first photo I took of Tora:

Ah, the memories!

As the time for making dinner approached this evening, I found myself with a pound of ground beef and a strong desire not to make meatloaf or spaghetti or chili, which are the things I would normally do when confronted with a pound of ground beef. Lin had asked me a few weeks ago why I hadn’t been making tortillas, and since I was feeling bored with my usual meal choices and somewhat adventurous, I bounced off to the kitchen at 7 pm to make tortillas … and thus have tacos for dinner.

Two hours later, after much gnashing of teeth and a few tears, we were eating tacos on homemade flour tortillas. I will admit those two hours were filled with the gnashing of teeth and even a few tears. I was almost certain I was failing to make edible tortillas. When I served them to the spousal unit, I warned him I had NO idea if the plate of food I had just handed him was edible or not.

Well, it turns out … my tortillas were certainly edible.

The tortillas were thicker and a little chewier than I would have liked them, but I’m thinking I can improve on that when I try again. I could probably use all purpose flour instead of my bread flour, for a start, and I could let the dough rest a little longer. And I will be trying again, because these may not be perfect tortillas, they weren’t at all bad. They had the proper flavor and smell, they held the taco ingredients without falling apart or getting soggy, and they are satisfyingly filling. I just need to tweak things a bit.

I will probably be trying again tomorrow. I suspect that once I get the recipe right and the process down, making a batch for a Taco/Enchilada Night will be no more stressful than making a pizza crust on Pizza Night, which means not at all stressful and mostly carefree –unlike tonight, which was a non-stop ball of stress. When I was in the midst of my second nervous breakdown over the state of the tortilla process, Lin said “You can’t expect them to be perfect the first time you make them.” Why, yes … yes I can expect them to be perfect! I haven’t actually had a cooking failure in so long, no matter what hair-brained thing I decide to throw together, that naturally, I would expect my first batch ever of flour tortillas to be perfect. Why wouldn’t I? LOL!

Also, I really didn’t feel like having fast food tonight, so I am glad everything turned out well.

Notice I haven’t been complaining so much about the garden lately? Well, it’s always nice to eat the fruit of my labor, which we did tonight. Tomatoes, lettuce, and cucumber all fresh from my garden.

I’m stuffed. So stuffed I can’t even eat a single one of the cookies I made for dessert!

Friday’s pizza: pepperoni, artichoke pesto, black olives, two varieties of tomatoes, and mushrooms. Mmm…

Last night’s dinner: Couscous salad (with pork sausage for Lin). Soaked some of my cucumbers in balsamic vinegar with minced garlic (yummy on its own), added that plus tomatoes, black olives, red onions, and basil to the couscous … and pigged out. Very thrilled there’s leftovers for my lunch today! I am really liking couscous.

Look. Cucumbers. The first ones in years, and there’s more coming! Also two huge tomatoes and one small one to spend some time in the kitchen window finishing up with the ripening (they came off in my hand, so they’re edible now, I imagine), some basil for tonight’s pizza, and two peppers I know are two hot for any human to eat (my lone MILD pepper plant is making peppers too hot for even Lin).

Good harvest today, but will it keep up? Guess I better be happy with what I’ve got!

Tried something new tonight. Couscous! Lin was non-committal about liking it, which means he at least didn’t NOT like it, and I love it. There’s great possibilities with couscous! Definitely adding it to our regular diet. I was getting so tired of pasta, rice, and potatoes. I had to find something else.

Now I need to find a store that sells it in bulk, because the little packages at my worthless grocery store are just a little to precious for the budget. Surely I can find it somewhere cheaper.