Still Life, With Cats

We put up the tree today.

In years past, it’s been quite the production, with us having to remove cats from the box and from the tree as it’s being assembled. But Rupert is now ten years old, and more interested in sleeping than in wreaking havoc (most of the time), and Sherman, at seven, has also gotten a little less interested in the Christmas decor. So we had no help at all, and in a way it was kind of sad, to accept that last year might have been the final year of having a cat in the tree.

But then, this evening, while hanging out in the living room, watching a holiday baking competition show on TV, I heard rustling from the branches, and I turned around to see this.

View this post on Instagram

The self-decorating tree trend continues another year! #TabbiesAreTerrific #GreyOnesAreTrouble #FosterFail

A post shared by Jenipurr (@thetruejenipurr) on Dec 8, 2019 at 6:00pm PST

This is our tenth year of having cats in the tree. The poor thing is looking a bit lopsided by now, since the branches weren’t meant to support that kind of weight. But somehow it just wouldn’t be the Christmas season without at least one self-decorating ornament, so we were both quite happy to see that Timmie has taken on the mantle and was willing to continue the tradition.

‘Tis the season for Holidailies.

This morning I eyed the remains of the first batch of Black Friday Bread I had made. It was starting to get a little stale, plus there are two more loaves waiting to be eaten, so I needed to use it up some how. So in a move that will shock every single member of my immediate family, I decided I would try making something I have actively avoided my entire life: french toast.

In theory I should like french toast because it is made of a collection of lovely things – bread, cinnamon, eggs, milk. But the problem with french toast is that it takes all those lovely ingredients and then goes horribly wrong. It wants to be toast, which should be crisp, except that french toast invariably is disgustingly soggy in the middle. Combine that with the usual eggy overtone, and no. Just….no. Shudder.

But as I am wont to do (with varying success, because I am constantly trying to challenge my own innate picky-eaterness,), I decided to see if I could find a way to make it so that I would actually *like* it. And when it comes to french toast, this means using a sturdy bread so it won’t go mushy, thinning the batter to keep it from being overly eggy, dipping it lightly enough so that the inside remains the lovely toast it was always meant to be, and the gross soggy middle is avoided.

I found a promising recipe and mixed up half a batch, and sliced the remains of the bread into thick slices, and then dipped it and plunked them onto the pan. A few minutes later, we sat down to plates of french toast. I took a tentative bite, and hey, what do you know, I ate french toast and I liked it.

I suspect I’m always going to continue to be extremely picky about french toast in general because the rest of the world fully embraces the soggy middle thing that has put me off it for so long, and I don’t see that changing any time soon. But at least I’ve found a way to make it palatable for *me*.

‘Tis the season for Holidailies.

So how’s that Cheese Advent calendar going? Why, thank you for asking! It’s great so far!

Yesterday’s cheese was a lovely Applewood with a smokey undertone.

and today’s is a Red Leicester, with a nice sharp flavor.

I know there’s some kind of swiss coming, which I’m not looking forward to, but the first three have been quite tasty.

But wait, you say. The title suggests something else!

Why yes! Yes it does! I didn’t notice when opening the first two doors, but I finally caught sight of it opening today’s. Each little compartment comes not only with a tasty little round of cheese, but printed on the back of the little door is a joke about cheese.

Yes, folks, that’s right. It’s cheese, with a side of cheese!

Here’s the first three days, just so you can share in the joy. Put your best guess for the punchlines in the comments.

Day 1: What cheese would you use to coax a bear from the woods?
Day 2: What do you call cheese that doesn’t belong to you?
Day 3: Where can you buy second-hand cheese?

‘Tis the season for Holidailies.

Yesterday morning my friend texted. Could she swing by on the way home? She had something that needed to be stashed in my fridge.

Sure, I replied, a little confused. It wasn’t until an hour or so later that it finally dawned on me what her cryptic words meant. She had found the Cheese Advent Calendar!

We heard about this magical thing a few years ago, but it was only available in the UK. It did eventually make its way over to the US last year, but only in a very few locations, none of which were anywhere near us. This year it was going to be sold at Super Targets in the US, which was a problem because there’s no Super Target anywhere around…except that then she remembered there’s one in the town where some of her extended family lives, and she was going to be seeing them for Thanksgiving.

There were only 3 left on the shelves when they checked. We got two of them.

So this morning I ceremoniously opened the first little flap and pulled out the first cheese of the season.

It was a lot more neatly packaged but I forgot to take the picture before I opened it.

Verdict – not bad for a tiny little wheel of cheese. Richard and I split it and had it with potato pancakes (made from Thanksgiving leftovers) for breakfast. Yum!

‘Tis the season for Holidailies.