Greetings everyone, I am trying to write this in-between gale force winds hitting the window of my work room. Its a bit distracting, but so far not too scary. At least I don't have to worry about the bad weather affecting our planned trip to Scotland where The Wolf was scheduled to fight for my honor. That's because, I won't be going anywhere any time real soon. And anywhere seems to include the first two floors of our house!
My foot is much improved (according to my own doctor) but that doesn't mean its well. It just means I am unlikely to have an unplanned stay in the local hospital with an IV full of antibiotics. Instead, I can stay home with my cats (who never did get moved out of the room) and enjoy the view from the third floor. Did I mention that our kitchen is on the first floor?
Here, in an old Irish house, that is normal. Kitchens in larger houses (as opposed to cottages) had kitchens in the dark and hidden basements. Ours has been dug out, by previous owners. So its more of a first floor than a basement, but its still dark and down a creaky back staircase. And it is this staircase that pretty much insures that Disaster Cat is upstairs and the kitchen is downstairs. This problem is timed just right, at the end of the month, when we have almost no easy to access food left in the freezer. So, we have two men downstairs effectively made bachelors and me upstairs relying on them for food and sustenance. Its been an interesting few days. Eating has looked something like this...
Day One: The first night was no problem, how about a frozen pizza? This was followed by a request for the magical incantations and other spells involved in placing a frozen object into an oven at 200 degrees Celsius for 12 minutes. Pizza showed up edible within the hour. Several hours later, left alone, I found myself carefully and slowly limped my way downstairs. Grabbed a shopping bag and filled it with what I could reach: crackers, peanut butter, a butter knife, some low-sugar cookies and a thermos of hot tea. So much for night one and breakfast the next morning. Later explained to both house-mate and husband that keeping the cat downstairs will only work if someone checks on the Cat every few hours to see if she needs anything. house-mate and Husband agree to do this.
Day two: after a day of nothing but dates, peanut butter crackers and cookies, the Lizard comes upstairs and asked me if I would like a nice, frozen Pizza. Before I can answer, I am saved by husband who has gone to the store and gotten some minute steaks and bread rolls. Which he serves with a flourish. Now I like raw steak, occasionally. But normally I put some olive oil, vinegar or other condiment on it. But this is MANLY FOOD, and is served as is. Roll and raw meat...I wonder if cave women ever had it so good? By now, I have an electric kettle which I can sometimes even manage to limp over and use. So, since I have hot tea, I figure I can face almost anything. ..Because we have guests, what I get to face is a very nicely cooked spaghetti with pork marinara sauce. Cooked by husband and I imagine he got the recipe from the gourmet cookbook he likes. Since I do not have to see the kitchen, I can enjoy the meal and not worry about how many pots and pans may have gone into its creation. I begin to grasp that sometimes there can be great joy in just not knowing something. Metaphysical musing aside we begin...
Day Three (today): Another breakfast of peanut butter, crackers and dates with hot tea. Lunch is another minute steak (this time cooked) and baked potatoes. This hot carbohydrate is a special request. Which is granted after the Kitchen Witch (aka Disaster Cat) is consulted for the appropriate spells for finding the "baked potato" button on the microwave oven downstairs. Since this oven has a timer that does everything, provided you count the number of potatoes correctly, I suspect that even my beloved can figure this out. He does, and brilliantly. I'm feeling better, food is improving.
When I asked what was for dinner, my husband asked "what do we have?" I inquired if anything had been bought and he said, "minute steak and bread." So, guess what dinner is going to be? Along with some more baked potatoes (special request again). It may be a bit monotonous, but its better than the alternative. The Lizard has cheerfully informed me that we have several frozen pizzas left!
Oh well, the end of the month pay check should be here soon. Then maybe we can have some beer with the frozen pizzas? No wait, that won't work, I'm on anitbiotics...just pass the hot tea...I wonder if I remeber the spells for for scrambled eggs....
Stay Tuned for "Disaster Cat Goes Downstairs to Raid the Fridge!"
Disaster Cat