Tuesday, March 19, 2024
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In the Kitchen With Cookie: A Cookie in Every Pot

tortoiseshell cat in white enamel pot
A Cookie in Every Pot.

This pot being a one-gallon pot, I now know that Cookie’s total volume is just about one gallon of tortoiseshell ingenuity.

Cookie napped in the cooking pot on this day in 2010 and was the September feature photo in my 2013 calendar In the Kitchen With Cookie.

. . . . . . .

tortoiseshell cat in garden
Cookie supervises the pea harvest.

Here’s a tasty meal to make on a September Saturday that will last you through the winter!

As the months in this year’s calendars come to the end, I’m working on next year’s calendars! I’m expanding In the Kitchen With Cookie to a larger size wall style calendar, still coil-bound. It will include all new seasonal recipes and also notes on the garden and backyard wildlife habitats as part of good home cooking and living green with your cats and other pets. Photos will include the supervision of a certain tortie cat in garden and kitchen as well as the originals from the 2013 calendar. This year’s recipes will be included in the back of the calendar.

Mimi and I remember Cookie in the garden where she loved to nap and supervise me. I’m so glad Cookie passed her kitchen and garden wisdom along to Mimi so that I never go without guidance, and never lack for a friend. So now while the harvest is plentiful and possibly you are having your first cool days too, get the pot simmering and get your vegetables together, and make sure you have adequate feline supervision!

. . . . . . .

Cookie continues her series of poses as Domestic Goddess (in addition to being “The Goddess”) by curling up in one of my enamel cooking pots. This time I had no garnish for her; though I would have been glad for a few carrots and stalks of celery, they’d already gone into another pot of soup. I may get some and leave the pot where it is in the hope that she’ll do it again.

tortoiseshell cat bathing in enamel pot
Cookie gives the pot the bath test.

This pot being a one-gallon pot, I now know that Cookie’s total volume is just about one gallon of tortoiseshell ingenuity.

She is intelligent and self-aware, curious and inventive yet feigns humility, and this habit of crawling into kitchen items has always seemed to be a thinly veiled bid for a photo op. Until recently, she hated having her photo taken, and to my dismay would look away from me at the last minute as I tried to capture her many expressions. Her objection may have only been that she wanted to choose her venue and pose. She’s been very ostentatious about these kitchen poses, pausing to look directly at me, then arranging herself just so.

This is the second in a series, the first being “Cookie in the Pasta Bowl”. My kitchen has no lack of things to get into—safely, of course—the room being very small, and at this time of the year I’m cooking a lot because vegetables are ripe and ready for soups and such. I’ve brought all my extra pots and baskets and mixing bowls out from storage and they are everywhere. But even without all these extra props I’ve found Cookie curled up in the basket with the tomatoes, curled up on my dinner plate while I’m cooking dinner, and curled up next to a rustic loaf of bread on the bread board in imitation of its shape and color.

black cat looks at tortoiseshell cat in pot
Giuseppe checks on his sister, how did she do that?

I don’t know how Cookie managed to tuck herself into some of the places she chose. Remember, this is from two years ago when Cookie was 18, and she’d always had difficulty walking and climbing, yet stepping into an one-gallon enamel pot, having a bath and curling up for a nap were not a problem. I had to take a second look when I’d walk in the kitchen and out of the corner of my eye see Cookie’s tortoiseshell fur somewhere it, well, normally wouldn’t be—I certainly can’t say “where it shouldn’t be” because it apparently very well should be where it was because Cookie put herself there.

. . . . . . .

September In the Kitchen With Cookie

 

RECIPE: RECIPE: ALL-DAY VEGETABLE SOUP

This is intended to make a large pot to cook all day and to put a lot of it in the freezer for winter. A big pot of soup simmered all day cooks gentler so the goodness is coaxed out of the vegetables, and each vegetable manages to maintain its flavor and texture slow pressure of gentle heat. I use my canning pot that holds four gallons of liquid, boil two gallons of stock or plain water, reduce to simmer. Add two cups of dried beans and, to taste, garlic, onion, celery, plus three pounds chopped tomatoes, four cups each chopped carrots, potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower, green and/or yellow beans snapped in 1-inch sections, chopped cabbage, fresh corn kernels from four ears of corn, fresh peas, anything else you have on hand like turnips, parsnips or other root crops, brussels sprouts, collard greens, kale, mustard. Add chopped vegetables one by one, beginning with the firmest, and ending with the greens. Simmer at least two hours past the last vegetable added. Add chopped fresh parsley, tarragon, thyme, simmer one half hour more. Let sit, covered, for about an hour. Eat several bowls. Cool completely, pack in freezer containers and enjoy on a snowy January day.

Not this weekend, but definitely next! I late summer/early autumn and harvest time, and it’s time for this pot of soup. No one else ever curls up in my pots and pans and pasta bowls…Cookie was one in a million. Remembering Cookie with a big smile.

. . . . . . .

Here’s the two-page spread for September:

calendar pages
In the Kitchen With Cookie for September

And as a bonus, here’s the pot of soup!

pot of vegetable soup
All-day Vegetable Soup

. . . . . . .

In the Kitchen with Cookie 2014 Calendar

Desk and journal calendars for 2014, "In the Kitchen with Cookie" 2014 calendar
Desk and journal calendars for 2014, “In the Kitchen with Cookie” 2014 calendar

If you’ve followed my daily photos on The Creative Cat you may be familiar with my photos of Cookie interacting with properly-warmed pasta bowls, enamel pots and glass salad bowls in the series called “In the Kitchen With Cookie”. I was lucky enough to catch her in the act through the years photographing a dozen amusing images of Cookie exploring alternate uses for these items.

A number of readers requested a calendar which sounds like a wonderful idea to me, especially as a tribute to a part of Cookie’s unforgettable curiosity that still makes me laugh. The calendar is a 5.5″ x 8.5″ spiral-bound calendar printed on 100# matte-finish text paper so it’s easy to write on but the art still looks bright and crisp.

Each month includes one main photo of Cookie caught in the act which was either taken during that particular month or is themed for that month food-wise, plus a bit of the text from the original post on The Creative Cat—and Kelly even makes an appearance with Cookie in two of the photos! I’ve also included a simple recipe of my own that corresponds.

On the right a monthly calendar includes basic holidays, moon phases and room for notes at the bottom, and other photos of Cookie from the same and related explorations decorate open areas on the calendar page.

The recipes celebrate winter days in my kitchen and the seasons of my garden, long enjoyed with Cookie’s supervision, including my special “Cheesecake”, “Healthy Multi-fruit Crisp”, “Easy Lemon Vinaigrette” and my best advice for cooking fresh sweet corn.

images of calendars with cat
In the Kitchen With Cookie, journal and wall style open to spreads.

The convenient size is coil-bound either across the top so that it hangs like a wall calendar, or down the left so that it opens like a journal. I have both variations available for sale, so be sure to choose Wall Calendar or Journal Style when you purchase.

example of artwork.
Side view of 6″ x 6″ wood-mounted photo of “Cookie in the Pasta Bowl”.

As a complement to the calendar, I have also designed from the images in this calendar a number of products such as placemats, decorative trays and wood-mounted artwork, all handmade by me so you’ll want to check my Etsy shop to see what’s available—search for “In the Kitchen with Cookie” or just click here.

Also, any image can be ordered as a print, and if there is one you’d like as a print or a special handmade item, just ask. I’ll offer these through 2014. Sign up for my e-newsletter at the bottom of this page to be sure you don’t miss any special offers.

Below is a handy slideshow so you can flip through the pages like a book, and below that you’ll find ordering information.


[book id=’4′ /]


Order In the Kitchen with Cookie

You can purchase this calendar directly from this page using the “Add to Cart” button below, and you can also purchase from Amazon.com with the Amazon link below. I also have it available in my Etsy shop if there are also things you’d like to purchase there or are using a coupon or gift certificate.

Wall Calendar

Bound across the top and drilled for a hook or nail.

Purchase through PayPal:



Purchase on Amazon.com
In the Kitchen with Cookie 2014 Wall Calendar with Select Recipes

. . . . . . .

Journal Calendar

Bound on the left side to open like a book.

Purchase through PayPal:



Purchase on Amazon.com
In the Kitchen with Cookie 2014 Journal Calendar with Select Recipes


Browse some rescued cats and kittens—browse here or visit PittsburghCAT!

cats and kittens
Gallery view of Pittsburgh CAT cats for adoption.

All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check my Etsy shop to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit Ordering Custom Artwork for more information on a custom greeting card, print or other item.


© 2014 | www.TheCreativeCat.net | Published by Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Weekly schedule of features:
Sunday: Essays, Pet Loss, Poetry, The Artist’s Life
Monday: Adoptable Cats, TNR & Shelters
Tuesday: Rescue Stories
Wednesday: Commissioned Portrait or Featured Artwork
Thursday: New Merchandise
Friday: Book Review, Health and Welfare, Advocacy
Saturday: Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat, Living Green With Pets, Creating With Cats
And sometimes, I just throw my hands in the air and have fun!

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Bernadette

From health and welfare to rescue and adoption stories, advocacy and art, factual articles and fictional stories, "The Creative Cat" offers both visual and verbal education and entertainment about cats for people who love cats, pets and animals of all species.

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