The kids are with me this week, which means the dog is too. And we're all having fun with the kitties, but I'm not sure Rina is having as much fun. Before bringing her to my house, every time we took the dog out, she and her siblings would come up to see her, and she'd nuzzle and lick them. Now Rina is in Mandy's territory and Mandy is not too happy about it.
First of all, Mandy doesn't get to go to her basement. The kittens are living in the downstairs bathroom, and since Mandy made her own squeak toy out of the baby bird she found in the back yard the last time she was here, I'm a bit nervous about how she might play with a kitten! So she's not too happy with that gate across the stairway.
She's also determined to let Rina know whose house it is. Whenever she sees Rina, she runs up to her and puts a paw on her back to push her down. Rina just stops moving when Mandy approaches, and sits there calmly with the paw on her back.
We are equally determined to NOT let Mandy show Rina who is boss. So whenever Mandy pulls her paw on the back, my daughter puts her hand on Mandy's back and pushes her to the floor and holds her until she stops fighting. Mandy is pretty sure that she's the one in control, so she's not happy with this.
Hopefully they learn to coexist soon. And when little Zephyr is bigger and we let him out, I think Mandy may get a few swats to her nose if she tries this with him. I certainly hope so... someone needs to put her in her place!
2. Plants
One of these was hiding in the long grass I pulled on Sunday.
I am less than happy about that today. We're going to have a little Roundup battle soon.3. Publications
I just finished reading The Hunger Games over the weekend, and on Friday my book club meets at my house. I've been trying to plan an appropriate menu for our dinner; below are the ideas I've come up with so far. If any of you have read this book and can offer any alternative suggestions, please speak up!
The Hunger Games Menu
Main Course
Chicken legs/thighs cooked on an a charcoal grill
it's not rabbit or wild turkey on an open fire, but it's the closest I can easily do
Endive salad with hard boiled egg
with a warm bacon sweet & sour creamy dressing
Katniss would find greens for salads... I'm not sure what sort of dressing she may have used on them, but since her sister had a goat, it could have involved a milk base.
Steamed whole carrots
Katniss ate a lot of roots, and generally boiled them
Variety of bread from various regions
I'm making a loaf of homemade whole-wheat bread in my breadmaker and adding green food coloring because the book specifically mentioned a green bread from one of the regions.
I'll also purchase a few other regional breads (i.e. croissants?) as well.
Dessert
Strawberries, and other mixed berries over angel food cake
Katniss found a wild strawberry patch and sold the berries to the mayor.
Other berries she found in the woods and ate. (I will avoid any poison berries, as she did!)
Beverage:
Mint tea
Katniss would chew on a mint leaf when food was scarce to
trick her body into thinking she had food
Main Course
Chicken legs/thighs cooked on an a charcoal grill
it's not rabbit or wild turkey on an open fire, but it's the closest I can easily do
Endive salad with hard boiled egg
with a warm bacon sweet & sour creamy dressing
Katniss would find greens for salads... I'm not sure what sort of dressing she may have used on them, but since her sister had a goat, it could have involved a milk base.
Steamed whole carrots
Katniss ate a lot of roots, and generally boiled them
Variety of bread from various regions
I'm making a loaf of homemade whole-wheat bread in my breadmaker and adding green food coloring because the book specifically mentioned a green bread from one of the regions.
I'll also purchase a few other regional breads (i.e. croissants?) as well.
Dessert
Strawberries, and other mixed berries over angel food cake
Katniss found a wild strawberry patch and sold the berries to the mayor.
Other berries she found in the woods and ate. (I will avoid any poison berries, as she did!)
Beverage:
Mint tea
Katniss would chew on a mint leaf when food was scarce to
trick her body into thinking she had food
As an alternative, I thought I could just serve a mixed greens salad with some added items you might find in the wild... sunflower seeds, mushrooms, dried cherries, etc. Possibly with some crumbled feta cheese, since Katniss' sister had a goat.
I'm considering serving the meal without utensils... but the salad isn't very conducive to that. It's not like Katniss had utensils during the games. My daughter loved this idea... not sure how the other book club members would take it though!
I'm considering serving the meal without utensils... but the salad isn't very conducive to that. It's not like Katniss had utensils during the games. My daughter loved this idea... not sure how the other book club members would take it though!
2 comments:
Definitely some bread made with seeds. That would cover more than one district since Peeta's family bakery made a lot.
Goat cheese with basil leaves and warm bread - remember the morning of the Reaping? Could be a great appetizer. Also - the soup Katniss fed to Peeta? You could throw in some meat and avoid having to grill while you're all dining.
Salad with no utensils sounds like a no-brainer to me. You can use bread to sop up the dressing goodness.
You might want to make a chutney made with dried fruits to serve with the chicken - like the lamb stew with "plums" Katniss liked when she was in the Capitol.
Love the idea of mint - you can make cold and hot mint tea and let people choose their preference. You can also use mint to make some homemade whipped cream for those who don't want cake but do want to dip some fresh berries.
Carrots: you could do a grill or oven roasting of several roots veggies - carrots, turnips, potatoes, and beets.
They usually didn't eat meat except when wild dog was able to be traded so you could wrangle your way out of meat and go vegetarian.
Mouthy, Wish I had more time to do more of your suggestions. But it'll still be fun. I'll have to send you a pic of the decoration I found as I was unpacking... a paper mache sculpture of Katniss that the pumpkin made for a 7th or 8th grade book report project! :)
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