A Sorting Hat, A Sick Cat & Cooking Experiments

It was one of those weeks that did not go according to plan!

This has not been a typical week around our house. Although, to be honest, that has been true for quite a while. I think I mentioned that we are moving later this year. And downsizing. Having lived in the same house for 22 years, we have accumulated a lot of things. We've been systematically going through the house and sorting everything in each room. We’re down to the kitchen and garage, perhaps the biggest chores of all!

As I type this, I'm reminded of the Sorting Hat used in Harry Potter. If I were using a sorting hat, it might just have 2 possible answers: Keep or Not Keep. Instead, I've starting asking the question "Do I want to move this?" Along with asking whether there will be room for it in the new, smaller by 1/3 house. It is not always easy. I've had to sort through my various collections -- Renaissance mugs, fire engines, butterflies, dolphins, etc -- and decide what to keep. I've allowed myself one or maybe two to keep from each collection.

I wonder if I could use a sorting hat instead? Know where I can find one? 😉

Of course, I continue to cook. And have even done some experimenting this week. I cooked my first Japanese eggplant this week. No pictures of the actual cooking or dish, though.

What is Japanese eggplant?

I'm most familiar with the large fat eggplant, like in this picture:

But there are many different varieties of eggplant. Here's a video from a trip to the grocery showing quite a few different varieties. Lots of colors, shapes & sizes:

Japanese eggplant are long and slender, with the familiar dark purple color. Like the ones in this picture:

They have a different shape, but their taste and texture are the same as the larger eggplant shown above.

I did a stir fry of the Japanese eggplant with onions. And a sauce made of soy sauce and maple syrup. Yum!

Mad About Saffron

Last week, I shared my recipe for Chilled Yellow Squash Soup and mentioned that I wanted to make it again with saffron. After all, it was a Chilled Saffron and Yellow Squash Soup that started me making Chilled Yellow Squash Soup in the first place! So, we bought some saffron last week.

And I made my soup again, with the saffron. It's an interesting spice with a distinctive look:

The first step in using it is to soak it in hot water. And it turns out looking like this:

My first attempt was good. I plan to keep trying as I want more of the saffron flavor. But it definitely changed the color of the squash soup:

The difference is subtle, but still there.

A Sick Cat

There's a lot going on in our world. The last thing we needed was a sick cat.

Our boy, Bubba, woke me up at 1:30 Wednesday morning because he was sick. And he couldn't pee! Our plans for the day were changed because he clearly needed medical attention. He had a blockage that prevented urine from passing. I'll spare all the details, but he did avoid surgery. He wound up staying overnight in the kitty hospital and was back home by Thursday afternoon.

We are happy that Bubba is home now and seems to be on the mend.

I’m still working on the soup. I want to get more of the saffron flavor in the soup. Gotta cook either way, right?