Cat-minding

There can be more to cat-minding than you might think.

Our only instructions were for a two-day stint of unlocking a thief-proof house, feeding three cats with a fishy kind of paté, top up feeders with dry cat food, give clear water, and leave a tap dripping as the cats liked to drink it that way. 

And there was the matter of litter mess to be extracted from two covered litter boxes and disposed of. This was my job as Margreet did the rest.

Well, that was all pretty clear and simple. Moreover our reward consisted of two bottles of good red wine.

On the second of our two visits we noticed that some sliding glass doors were held apart by a spacer on the lower rail, leaving just enough room for cats to squeeze through to reach a high-walled courtyard - considered to be too high for a cat to climb.

We hadn't noticed this gap before, so we telephone the owner to ask if this was intended. It was. All was well.

The owners arrived from the country the following day to find that one cat was missing. 

This one happened to be the one I liked best and, when I was sitting down, would lie on my upper legs and purr. So we were friends.

The search was on. The owners and I scoured the district, and Margreet rattled a tin of the dry cat food.

The cat had been seen and even turfed out into the street by the owner of a garden into which it has probably escaped.

Tired of leg and of calling "Jigsaw", we all retired as darkness fell, with the cat still at large.

With daylight the following morning came rain - thick, heavy, penetrating rain.

I telephoned the owners to find out where might be the best area for search.

So, with umbrella aloft, I was once more peering into gardens and below bushes. 

I was getting a bit wet, when, glory be, there was Jigsaw under the cover of the porch of an industrial building, looking sad and miserable.

I folded my umbrella and picked her up. Cradling her like a baby we set off for her rightful home.

Unable to hold the cat safely and the umbrella aloft at the same time, we both became thoroughly soaked.

Just to see the joy on her owner's face as she hugged Jigsaw made it all worth while. 

So, should you be asked to cat-sit at some future date, there may be more to it than you think.

Two adapted magazine recipes

 I never watch cookery programmes on TV as, generally speaking, I like to make up my own culinary concoctions. That's the fun of cooking.

In a like manner, I only give magazine recipes a glance, knowing that the authors of them have to provide the editor with so many words to fill the space, usually too many and too time-consuming to follow and cook. And the chefs also seem to like to add an ingredient or two that you do not have at hand, or possibly not even heard of. 

So I was surprised to see two recipes in a glossy magazine that I could relate to. They were both unnecessarily lengthy and time-consuming as expected, but easy to condense and simplify.

The first was a heated-through salad that involved frying garlic pieces in olive oil until just browning before adding pepper and salt, chopped fresh tomatoes and chopped red pepper flesh. The interesting part was to add finely chopped lemon that had been boiled beforehand. I have since used some chipped pickled lemon with equal success. For fresh and lovely lemons I grow a small tree in a pot in the garden. It does not produce a great crop, but those it does produce have a wonderful taste. I suppose it is because the lemons are freshly picked. The dish, when heated through gently in a frying pan with the lid on, is left to get cold before being consumed.

The second recipe was a way of forming a spaghetti sauce. Into a frying pan put plenty of olive oil, pepper, salt, lots of chopped garlic, plenty of black olives, with their stones out, then chopped, and anchovies. I have to go to the Portuguese quarter of London to find the kind of anchovies I like, in brine,  pale and shiny. But the dark tinned ones will do just as well. Cook this sauce for a short time to amalgamate the tastes, and add it to hot spaghetti (12 minutes boiling). 

To be in line with the "glossy" chefs who are inclined to use an unusual item, I do add to both of these recipes and many others, my own secret ingredient (it may not be secret at all). They are pickled peppercorns. Just put ordinary black peppercorns in a glass jar with a non-corrosive lid and cover well with vinegar. (I use my own home-made variety with a "mother of vinegar". But that's another matter.) When softening, they add a tasty crunch to many a dish.