Last night was a bit of an adventure, as it always seems to be...
So the cats have been acting a little bit, "twitchy", if you will...I tried to take a nap earlier in the afternoon while Lexi was laying down and the cats were just staring at me like crazy animals!
Kind of creepy, right?
Later that night, Gordy was just sitting and staring at a kitchen cabinet. I jokingly said to Matthew, "I bet he's waiting for a mouse!"
Never should have said it. Five minutes later, Prue came tearing ass around the corner of the kitchen into the living room, leaping over the computer chair, growling like a pitbull in the ring. It was then I saw the victim. A fat little mouse huddled in the corner. My fat black and white cat had it cornered. She pounced and chased it back towards the laundry room. I followed suit and slammed the sliding door as fast as I could. Knowing I had two cats trapped in a 12x12 room with one scared rodent, I figured the poor thing had ten minutes tops. Boy was I wrong. The wrong cat got it. When I went in to retrieve the murdered mouse, my dumb white cat Gordy had it, fully alive. He was caressing and kissing it. Oy vey! He's very maternal and a little playful. I had to remove the culprit myself while he cried like a pitiful kitten. I trapped it in a baby wipe box and launched the whole box out the front door.
Now, I noticed that it was really cold in the laundry room while I was checking on the mouse situation. So I went back in to see why. There was a small amount of snow gathering at the back door at the top of the basement stairs. I was on my way to remedy the situation, when the cats darted - another mouse ran over my bare feet, and I screamed, jumped, and slipped on the melted snow... I grabbed the handrail, ripped it right off the wall and fell down the stairs. I gained a nice laceration on my big toe. Lovely. Just my luck! Didn't hurt a bit, but bled like a lovely! Gotta love being on aspirin.
Anyhow, I had to nail up a heavy blanket over the door to keep the snow out last night. The winds were so heavy, it was just blowing snow through the door! When I went to put the handrail back up this morning, I peeked to see how the snow situation was out the door... this is what I found INSIDE the door! Yikes!
Happy snow day to everyone. We're keeping busy here in the house. We've already made marinara sauce, meat sauce, meatballs, and french bread. The kids enjoyed a lunch of Bucatini noodles with meat sauce and Cheesy Garlic Bread.
For our meat sauce, today we used canned tomatoes. I don't get to see Todd until Easter for the fresh tomatoes! I saute three different types of onion, garlic, and carrots in a dutch oven in a quality olive oil until very soft, season with salt and pepper. Towards the end, I add a small amount of very high quality balsamic vinegar. I deglaze the pan with a good red wine. I throw in 6 large cans of tomatoes. Add bay leaves. I simmer for as long as needed, season as needed, add basil and oregano. I brown my meats in a separate pan. I use ground veal, ground pork, and ground sirloin in equal portions. I season them well. I use my immersion blender to smooth out my sauce prior to adding the meat. Key point: make sure you have it IMMERSED first.
I was a tad bit distracted today. My stove and wall (and unfortunately my bright white Old Navy Fleece pullover) are in dire need of some OxyClean.
I may or may not add some grated Parmesan at this point. Depends on how it tastes. I always add extra basil at the end. Season again as needed. Voila!
