The Cabinet of Prof. Kitty: January 2025: And So It Begins.

The month of January felt really long and chaotic. First there was the joy of having some time off, the fresh feeling of New Year's and a birthday. Spending time with family and having some cake. Then, Los Angeles burned down. Apart from the horror of watching this happen, we have family who live there and were evacuated, so we were concerned about them and watched the fire perimeter creeping toward their home (it was okay). Then, the new fascist regime took the reins of power in this country and started wreaking hateful, reckless, idiotic havoc. They don't care about anything but themselves, and they definitely don't care about the America that I was raised in and that I loved for its openness, its brotherly courage, and its dedication to freedom, self-expression and the pursuit of happiness. These new, self-centered, twisted people want 100% of the power and the money, and they don't care about anyone's happiness or dignity or humanity. I am desperate to find places to help and voices of hope or just anyone who has a plan, but I have not found much of that yet.

ANYWAY. I still have a list of some things I did this month, and I did enjoy them. It's not frivolous to enjoy some parts of life, otherwise THEY will have won and beat us down completely. Just know that behind this list is an apocalyptic backdrop that is making me and many other people feel sad, hopeless, furious, depressed, outraged, disgusted, and much more.

Local Meat: Investing in Community

For years I have said I wanted to buy meat locally so I know how the animals were raised, that they were cared for and treated humanely, and that I'm supporting somebody in my own community. This January I took action! I have started going to the local winter farmer's market that happens every Saturday. I also go weekly to a farmstand that is practically on my way home from work and pick up beautiful large local eggs and any other things we need--onions or mushrooms for example. I strongly believe that investing back into our communities and local food systems can help sustain us now and into the precarious future. So far I've gotten local beef, chicken, and pork, including a ham steak. It's all been delicious, especially the local chicken.

Chicken thighs, stew beef & eggs from the Farmer's Market

Ground beef, mushrooms, eggs & onions from the farm stand

Bread Machine & English Muffins

One of us was given a small bread machine for Christmas, and we've been experimenting with making 1-pound loaves (which is the capacity of the machine). We've found that a 1-pound loaf is the perfect amount to bake up fresh and eat with dinner--alongside some thick black bean soup for example. The bread machine is really easy to use and an exciting addition to our appliance family.

Butter melting into fresh warm bread + black bean soup

I also made some English muffins this month from sourdough starter discard. They are not hard to make and quite yummy! I like to eat them toasted with butter and orange marmalade.

Miso Soup Season

In addition to buying meat locally, I'm also still trying to have several vegetarian meals each week because I think non-meat days are important. One belly-warming combo is to make a batch of miso soup and a batch of brown rice, and then put the hot warm rice into the soup for a nourishing and satisfying meal. For this soup I used the shiitake mushrooms shown in the farm stand photo above.

I like to make diagrams of meals so I remember the ingredients

Gaming Log

One of my newer hobbies is playing games on our Nintendo Switch system. I've now made my way through at least 9 different games, include Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild & also Tears of the Kingdom, Inside, Portal & Portal 2, and Wytchwood. Exploring the worlds and quirks of each game is delightful. My most recent game was called "Snufkin, Melody of Moominvalley" and my partner saw this cute Moomin notebook and had to get it for me. I immediately decided to use it as a little gaming log so I can keep track of what I'm playing and how I liked it. (I gave Snufkin 3 out of 5 stars, for example. Breath of the Wild got 5 stars and 3 plus signs because it's my FAVORITE.)