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cimoreneBIL & SIL and the niblings left this morning after being here all week with their elderly cat because they couldn't get a cat sitter. He was allowed to have the guest room as his safe space and was let out to explore the downstairs a few times, but he was scared of the bunnies and Tristana kept trying to have a conversation and work out their differences every time she saw him. These approaches were tense and careful, much more than when she was a kitten and introduced herself to Snookums, and they were both spooked every time she was removed, but I'm sure her ultimate goal was making friends. Snookums was happy to be avoidant, but they did sniff each other once and then back away with a little warning growl. Anyway, this was much harder for poor Iivari than for our cats because it wasn't his territory, poor little guy, and he didn't want to have a bunch of conversations with a tiny terror, so even though by cat standards she was in her rights to check out and speak to the newcomer to her territory, we interfered executively to minimize the chance of further growling and let Iivari nap in peace. He's probably very relieved to be going home - he didn't eat as much as usual while he was here, I understand.
Now the spare mattresses are removed from the floor and the cotton rugs are back to allow bunnies to run around. The box of hay, the napping cushion, the stuff to chew on and the little house to hide in are all returned to their spots in the dining room and Rowan is cautiously jogging around sniffing everything, so nature is healing. The niblings of this family continue to be determinedly single-minded in their interest in pets and the littlest one spent a great deal of time following the bunnies around staring at them like a stalker. For her pains she did manage to hold and pet each of them at least once, but most of the time it was a lot of thumping and hiding, because our bunnies don't like to be observed and they don't trust the intentions of visitors who might intend to pick them up. (They like scritches, but they don't like being picked up. Especially Rowan, who I think is afraid of heights. Japp just objects to manhandling in principle, because of his independent bunny dignity. He doesn't get mad if he knows the goal of the manhandling is to bring him to a treat that he wants or whatever.) Tristana spent a day or so mostly hiding, but she got over it and became friendly with all the new guests, even the smallest child (who is I think 9?), even though there was always a large risk of being picked up by her. (Tristana doesn't hate being picked up in principle, she's just usually busy because she has to cram so much playtime in. She is docile about being grabbed unless she was really interested in what she was doing, and by the same principle, she will start to wiggle after a short time, but there's no hard feelings once she is released.)
We made tortilla pizzas for everybody Monday, which, if you don't know, are pizzas made on store-bought flour tortillas. You heat the broiler in the oven and put a tortilla in a well-oiled cast iron (or carbon steel) skillet, top it with thin layers of sauce, shredded cheese (edam, because you can't get dehydrated mozzarella here and fresh mozzarella would make it soggy) and toppings, and let it cook there for 2 minutes to toast the bottom, then set it under the broiler (according to broiler instructions) for about a minute and a half to brown the cheese. This is why the toppings have to be paper-thin - cheese, basil leaves for margherita, or thin sliced pepperoni/sausage are the usual recommendations, but we used tiny quantities of paper-thin olives and mushrooms (but we pre-sauteed the mushrooms).
The several recipes we've perused all suggest that you oil the pan, wait for the oil to shimmer, then wipe it around the skillet using a paper towel to remove all excess, then drop in a tortilla and leave it for a few seconds before adding the sauce, then the toppings in the skillet. However, to save time, I was assembling tortillas on a plate - sauce, cheese, and toppings - and thenwaxjism was putting them in the skillet already assembled. (This might not work as well depending on your toppings of course.)
This meal was delicious and it created a convivial atmosphere, with all the adults hanging around the stove/kitchen munching on toppings and chatting, because you have to cook one pizza at a time and each adult had to consume a total of 2-3 of them for a meal's worth. (The resultant pizzas were not considered nutritional enough for child consumption, so the children's ones were topped with shredded basil leaves and fresh mozzarella and like... chopped grapes??? by my SIL. The kids liked it, so whatever.) We shared a bottle of red wine, and among four adults who rarely drink wine, that was enough to render all of us slightly tipsy. We had a three-language conversation with lots of shouting. It was great.
Tuesday BIL made spaghetti primavera, but he has to make this with basically zero seasoning because of the children, so it was an astonishing taste experience. Very reminiscent of when my dad used to cook when my mom was in grad school (around the time I was silent pastel goth goddaughter's age actually). Also he decided not to bother us by asking where the parmesan was and instead grated up a pile of Oltermanni, a mild and creamy-tasting soft cheese similar to Edam. Obviously, unlike parmesan, it just melted into little melted blobs when put on a plate of hot pasta. Still fine, I mean, spaghetti and olive oil aren't bad flavors, so at worst it needed salt and pepper. But very funny in contrast to my expectations with the name of the dish. It reminds me of the time we were staying with MIL and she announced her intention to make fried rice, but it turned out she meant Rice That Has Been Fried. She served pre-steamed white rice that had been sauteed until soggy at a low temperature in olive oil, with no seasonings and no other ingredients. The spaghetti primavera was not nearly that bad, obviously, because it was still mostly vegetables, but still. LOL.
Now the spare mattresses are removed from the floor and the cotton rugs are back to allow bunnies to run around. The box of hay, the napping cushion, the stuff to chew on and the little house to hide in are all returned to their spots in the dining room and Rowan is cautiously jogging around sniffing everything, so nature is healing. The niblings of this family continue to be determinedly single-minded in their interest in pets and the littlest one spent a great deal of time following the bunnies around staring at them like a stalker. For her pains she did manage to hold and pet each of them at least once, but most of the time it was a lot of thumping and hiding, because our bunnies don't like to be observed and they don't trust the intentions of visitors who might intend to pick them up. (They like scritches, but they don't like being picked up. Especially Rowan, who I think is afraid of heights. Japp just objects to manhandling in principle, because of his independent bunny dignity. He doesn't get mad if he knows the goal of the manhandling is to bring him to a treat that he wants or whatever.) Tristana spent a day or so mostly hiding, but she got over it and became friendly with all the new guests, even the smallest child (who is I think 9?), even though there was always a large risk of being picked up by her. (Tristana doesn't hate being picked up in principle, she's just usually busy because she has to cram so much playtime in. She is docile about being grabbed unless she was really interested in what she was doing, and by the same principle, she will start to wiggle after a short time, but there's no hard feelings once she is released.)
We made tortilla pizzas for everybody Monday, which, if you don't know, are pizzas made on store-bought flour tortillas. You heat the broiler in the oven and put a tortilla in a well-oiled cast iron (or carbon steel) skillet, top it with thin layers of sauce, shredded cheese (edam, because you can't get dehydrated mozzarella here and fresh mozzarella would make it soggy) and toppings, and let it cook there for 2 minutes to toast the bottom, then set it under the broiler (according to broiler instructions) for about a minute and a half to brown the cheese. This is why the toppings have to be paper-thin - cheese, basil leaves for margherita, or thin sliced pepperoni/sausage are the usual recommendations, but we used tiny quantities of paper-thin olives and mushrooms (but we pre-sauteed the mushrooms).
You can use purchased jarred spaghetti sauce as a shortcut for the sauce here, but because you're trying to minimize liquid in the sauce to avoid making the tortillas soggy, I always use this homemade pizza sauce recipe:
1 can of whole skinned tomatoes (if you use crushed tomatoes - which you can - it's a lot harder)
salt and black pepper to taste
a drizzle of olive oil
a pinch of red pepper flakes (optional - I left them out this time because of the children)
1-2 tsp dried basil
2-3 tsp dried oregano
1-2 tsp dried marjoram
Start by forcing the tomatoes through a strainer using a spoon or spatula to drain out excess liquid - squashing the whole tomatoes, or just stirring and stirring the crushed ones, until the liquid has more or less stopped coming through the strainer. Combine with all the other ingredients in a bowl and pulse with an immersion blender until as smooth as desired.
The several recipes we've perused all suggest that you oil the pan, wait for the oil to shimmer, then wipe it around the skillet using a paper towel to remove all excess, then drop in a tortilla and leave it for a few seconds before adding the sauce, then the toppings in the skillet. However, to save time, I was assembling tortillas on a plate - sauce, cheese, and toppings - and then
waxjism was putting them in the skillet already assembled. (This might not work as well depending on your toppings of course.)This meal was delicious and it created a convivial atmosphere, with all the adults hanging around the stove/kitchen munching on toppings and chatting, because you have to cook one pizza at a time and each adult had to consume a total of 2-3 of them for a meal's worth. (The resultant pizzas were not considered nutritional enough for child consumption, so the children's ones were topped with shredded basil leaves and fresh mozzarella and like... chopped grapes??? by my SIL. The kids liked it, so whatever.) We shared a bottle of red wine, and among four adults who rarely drink wine, that was enough to render all of us slightly tipsy. We had a three-language conversation with lots of shouting. It was great.
Tuesday BIL made spaghetti primavera, but he has to make this with basically zero seasoning because of the children, so it was an astonishing taste experience. Very reminiscent of when my dad used to cook when my mom was in grad school (around the time I was silent pastel goth goddaughter's age actually). Also he decided not to bother us by asking where the parmesan was and instead grated up a pile of Oltermanni, a mild and creamy-tasting soft cheese similar to Edam. Obviously, unlike parmesan, it just melted into little melted blobs when put on a plate of hot pasta. Still fine, I mean, spaghetti and olive oil aren't bad flavors, so at worst it needed salt and pepper. But very funny in contrast to my expectations with the name of the dish. It reminds me of the time we were staying with MIL and she announced her intention to make fried rice, but it turned out she meant Rice That Has Been Fried. She served pre-steamed white rice that had been sauteed until soggy at a low temperature in olive oil, with no seasonings and no other ingredients. The spaghetti primavera was not nearly that bad, obviously, because it was still mostly vegetables, but still. LOL.
(no subject)
Date: 15 Jul 2022 12:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 15 Jul 2022 02:14 pm (UTC)Definitely not a lot by my birth family standards: extended family was always staying with us when I was growing up. We used to host Thanksgiving and have my grandpa and step-grandma and both my dad's sisters and their partners all at once! And there was rarely a year that went by without my favorite aunt and uncle and their two kids staying with us for a week. It's a bit new for me now nonetheless though, because. Now it's my house. And my meal planning, and kitchen, and four pets...
(no subject)
Date: 15 Jul 2022 11:31 pm (UTC)The idea of Rice That Has Been Fried is mildly horrifying.
(no subject)
Date: 16 Jul 2022 12:07 pm (UTC)