It’s Just Not Dinner Without Cat Hair

I intend to talk about food in a moment, really.

I want to say thank you with all my heart to those of you that left comments and sent emails over the past week.

We have an empty space here at Just Not Dinner.  For the most part, The Gidge and Baby have been normal, but that changed over the last two days.  I was awakened by Baby on Thursday morning - he was standing on my pillow, pawing at the pillowcase, and yowling to beat the band (remember that my hair was Sylvester’s sleeping spot his whole life).  He has taken to lounging for long periods in the top of Sylvester’s cat tree in our bedroom; Baby HATES this cat tree because there’s an opening in the top bed and he has never spent any major amount of time in it.  He also makes a point of calling Sylvester (loudly) at feeding time.  Gidget has done something strange as well - we have a green cat tree in our living room that is shaped like a house at the bottom and has a ledge for chillin’ at the top.  Sylvester spent a lot of time in the house part of this tree.  The other night, Gidget worked her way into the house, turned around, and laid there with her chin on her paws.

And me?

I cry a minimum of twice a day.  I can’t do anything “normal” without thinking of my sweet pea, even something as simple as blowdrying my hair, as I had to do this morning.  I am struggling with a tremendous amount of guilt, even though I know I did the right thing at the right time.  I have no appetite and have lost nearly 10 pounds since the Sunday that Sylvester got sick.  I can’t look at the video I made last week Friday without.  As long as I am keeping my brain busy in one way or another, I am fine.  As soon as I have an opportunity to think or have to do something that he would have involved himself in, it’s over.

The Man and I intend to create a memorial garden of sorts, not just for Vester, but also for The Man’s parents.  I have ordered a necklace from Whispers in the Heart so I can put some of his fur in it and while I am carrying his collar on my purse strap right now, when his ashes arrive, the collar will go around the urn.

I am sure I will babble on about my sweet boy quite a bit over the next while, so please be patient with me.

Now.

Yesterday, I finally managed to eat twice in one day.  Today, three meals.  Can you believe it?  I’m not sure I do.

Since I started this blog two years ago in October, I have gotten samples from various companies, receiving books, rice, bread, and most recently gluten-free teriyaki sauce fron Seal Sama.  I stashed one bottle on my pantry shelves in the basement and the other went into my kitchen cabinet.  Numerous things happened to distract me from trying it.  I was half-heartedly debating the possibility of making myself something for dinner tonight and was pushing through my cabinets looking for something - anything - that looked appealing.  I found some jade pearl rice from Lotus Foods, received as a sample and completely forgotten about, and the teriyaki.  Some green beans from my garden steamed with tomatoes, shallots, garlic, and fresh basil, and I had dinner.  I actually felt hungry as I was cooking.

I grabbed a piece of salmon from the freezer, quickly defrosted it most of the way, and then placed it into a plastic bag with a good half cup of the teriyaki sauce.  Into the fridge it went to marinate while I prepared the rice.  After a half hour, I heated the oven to 400 degrees, popped the salmon in, and got to work on the beans.  Very shortly I had a pretty good meal.

Verdict?  I like my teriyaki sauce a little sweeter, but this really is quite good.  And the rice was slightly sweet, which went well with the salmon.  And my greenie beanies were terrific, too.

Would I buy Seal Sama’s gluten-free teriyaki sauce?  Absolutely.  How about Lotus Food’s jade pearl rice?  Damn straight.

Now.  What exactly has been going on around here?  A plethora of bad things.  First bad thing: The Man did something….well, the only word I can come up with is “stupid”…which I believe led to losing his job at the end of May.  Second bad thing: I found out about some money things that I didn’t know about before.  Third bad thing: Vester.  Fourth bad thing: Sewer back-up.

Other than Vester, all of these issues (and I am sure there are more, but all are overshadowed in my mind by my loss of my best buddy) are no more.  The Man starts his new job on Monday - and while he won’t be making the money he made before, he will be HAPPY - no more 24/7/365 on-call status.  I truly believe that the industry he was in before led to other…issues…for him that have essentially been non-existent since he lost his job.  So everyone applaud for The Man, who will hopefully now have a less stressful work environment.

And applaud for my 88-year-old maternal grandfather, who underwent hip replacement surgery on Thursday and has been yelled at by his doctors and nurses for getting up and walking on his own.

So while we continue to reel from the emotional battering we have received these past months, good things are still popping up.

Recipes coming soon, I promise.

Whatever the heck bondo means.

I made The Man try a knee cap. And we recorded it.

In my former life (read: before the severe food poisoning in March 1997 that most likely was my gluten-problem trigger; I was sick every time I ate from that moment until going GF last October), I had something of a sweet tooth. If it was sweet and didn’t run away, I ate it. If it tried to run away, I gave chase and beat it down until it cried, “Fine! Eat me! You’ll pay for it later!”

For 10 years, I rarely ate a cookie or enjoyed a piece of cake. I thought for quite a while that my problem might have been sugar-related, so I tried to stay away.

NOT ANYMORE.

Several weeks ago, Food Network’s Alton Brown had a food allergy based show that featured his gluten-free chewy chocolate chip cookie. I DVR all his shows (love him, love him, love him) so I can watch them when The Gidge isn’t being a demon dog.

Imagine my surprise when Alton started talking about replacements for wheat flour! Holy old cow!

Now, a side story based on my adoration for my favorite TV chef. As you may or may not know, in addition to “Good Eats,” Alton also does a show called “Feasting on Asphalt.” The second season of this series takes him up and down the Mississippi River.

One of those Mississippi River stops was on a tow boat owned by The Man’s company, which is based in New Orleans.

And The Man didn’t do a damn thing to get me an autograph. He didn’t call any of his coworkers, nothing. He’s lucky I didn’t call up a lynch mob on his ass.

Back to the Chewy. After watching the show…twice…(god bless DVR) I printed the recipe and read it through. My first thought? HOLY HELL, THAT’S A LOT OF BUTTER!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, 8 ounces - or two sticks - of butter. I suppose, if you are gonna be bad, you should be bad.

And GEEZ! TWELVE OUNCES OF CHOCOLATE CHIPS? That’s a whole damn bag! I guess we’re going to be REALLY BAD.

Well, I couldn’t stomach all those chocolate chips, so I cut it in half. And I added a 1/4 cup of macadamia nuts I had sitting around (chopped up, not whole). But otherwise, I followed the recipe to the letter. The dough is chilling right now, so I will be back in an hour or so.

Two hours later…

So, here’s a GF Chewy.

Here’s a GF Chewy, broken in half (still warm).

How does it taste?

I now have a love-hate relationship with Alton. I still love him, but I hate him for ruining my dinner.

I am behaving and cute as hell.

We had a rough weekend with The Gidge - she got into something (don’t know what), which upset her tummy a little. Well, a lot. She just had her first normal meal since Thursday and I am crossing my fingers that her little butt behaves. So far, so good.

However, she personally is an uncooperative as ever. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I am not behaving and am channeling Demon Dog.

I have the woman thing going on. Every month, it gets worse. So at my next obgyn appointment, the doc and I are going to have a serious discussion about solutions without drugs. I am just not comfortable putting that stuff in my body any more.

I haven’t cooked much - well, other than rice and boiled hamburger for The Gidge over the past few days. So I made up for some of that today with a loaf of bread from a Breads By Anna mix and a nectarine and plum upside-down cake. I had a yummy sandwich and a wedge of honeydew melon for lunch and a slice of cake for dinner.

I haven’t cleaned either. Don’t come over. It’s embarrassing. I am normally Ms. Anal when it comes to keeping the house clean, but for some reason, I just don’t wanna. Going to have to do something about that tomorrow. Maybe.

I am on vacation again this week. The Man is off with me on Thursday and Friday, so maybe we can get some couple-time-without-the-dog-and-the-cats at some point.

Man, am I whiny. I will get over it, I promise. I don’t handle pain well. I am such a wuss.

So. About the Breads By Anna mix. I picked it up a few weeks ago but hadn’t had the motivation to make it until today. Oh my goodness. Gluten free bread that rises to the height of a gluten loaf! Tastes great, too! I may have to stock up. This could very well be my stand-by bread for when I don’t feel like making it totally from scratch.

And now, the nectarine and plum upside-down cake. I found a recipe on Epicurious that I converted to gluten free with mixed results. Don’t get me wrong - it tastes great, but the recipe I post below will include the modifications I believe are necessary to make my tastebuds totally happy - with the original amounts in parenthesis. Other than converting the recipe to GF and changing up the fruit, I followed the recipe. Too dang sweet for me, hence the adjustments.

Nectarine & Plum Upside-Down Cake
Adapted from a recipe from Epicurious

12 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar (original calls for 1 cup)
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar (not in original recipe-I didn’t have enough light in the house)
1 tbsp orange blossom honey (just honey specified in recipe)
3 plums, cut into 8ths (original calls for 6 large plums in 6ths)
2 nectarines, cut into 8ths (not in original recipe)
1/2 cup almond meal
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla (original calls for 1/2 tsp vanilla and 1/4 tsp almond extract)
1/2 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Combine 6 tbsp butter, the brown sugars, and the honey in a saucepan over low heat until the ingredients are completely combined to form a nice thick sauce. Pour into the bottom of a 9″ round cake pan with 2″ high sides. Arrange the plum and nectarine pieces in circles, alternating fruits, until the entire bottom of the pan is covered. If you want it to be pretty, place them in concentric circles.

In a bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients except the cup of sugar and set aside. In another bowl, cream together the remaining 6 tbsp butter and cup of sugar. When smooth, add the eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture, alternating with the milk. Mx until just blended and pour evenly over the top of the fruit in the cake pan.

Bake until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean - about an hour. Cool in the pan for 30 minutes, then run a knife around the outside to insure the cake comes out clean. Place your serving plate upside down on top of the cake, then invert so the cake side meets the plate . Remove the pan. Allow to sit for 10 minutes and then serve.