entry 006 Routines

My cats like routine. If the food bowl has less than 50 tidbits of kibble in it, Little Timida (spanish for timid) sounds the alert. She talks, squawks, and all but points at the bowl "come on gato gordo, it's not like you are refraining from feeding yourself! Get with it, take the bowl and fill it up. NOW. Same goes for the water and the winter litterbox. (Until I light fires in the woodstove, they come and go through an open window in the laundryroom/cattery.) She likes a full bowl or food and water and she likes her litter box clean.

Her best friend, Wally lets her do the negotiating even though he is always the first one to the food bowl. Wally really is the gato gordo (fat cat) but he is too lazy to manage me. He lets Timida do it. So this is their routine around food. I try and imagine how many 25 pound bags of kibble they have gone through on the 4 years I got them at the Used Kitty Lot. I can't even guess. But bowl by bowl, Timida has put out the cry, I have filled the bowl and Wally is the first to eat. Even if he has just eaten, if I fill the bowl, Wally will check out the new stuff. Wally and I are foodies. Well, I just looked it up in Wikipedia. I guess we aren't foodies Wally. "foodies want to learn everything about food, both the best and the ordinary, and about the science, industry, and personalities surrounding food." Being a caterer, I am very interested in food, and I do like both the best and the ordinary, but I'm not always on about it. you know what I mean? I think Wally and I just big eaters. We can pack it away. That is why this diet works for me. I never have to be hungry. I don't like to be hungry. I rarely wait until I am hungry before I eat.


So like the cats, I like routines but only here and there. Most times, I am more comfortable rambling along in my little world, dealing with what comes up, taking it as it comes. But in the morning, I like routine. I wake up at 7 every morning, jump out of bed. I never set the alarm. Well if I have to be up for an early breakfast gig, say 5:00 AM or before, I will set the alarm. But 9 out of 10 times I wake between 12 and 4 minutes before the alarm fires. Can't say why. But anyway, come morning, I don't want to have to figure much out. I want to travel well worn paths, padding along until I am in the car and turn on my "Things You Should Know" podcast.

I fill up my super red electric tea kettle and let her rip. I just found out about the beauty of these devices. They are quick, they shut off when done and don't whistle or carry on. They do not boil their guts out and lose half the water. They just do their job and sit in silence. No attitude. Perfect for my morning.

Now with this full kettle of boiling water I fill my coffee press 2/3 full after I have put in 2 scoops of Tony's organic shade grown coffee. (I have the same press as my buddies Kathie and Jackson, thanks for the idea guys)

I then take a pan down from the rack and pour 3 inches of boiling water in it and set it on the burner. I turn it on high. I get 2 eggs out of the fridge and put them in a small bowl and run very hot tap water on them. Warming them up for a few seconds means they will not crack when I spoon them into the boiling water. The water takes less than 2 minutes to return to full boil. Perfect timing. At the same time I put the water in the egg pot, I put in a scant half cup of kettle water in another pan. This is for my oatmeal. Really it is the Magical Oat Bran insisted upon my my guru Doc Dukan. He wants me to make galettes or crusty little cakes like he does. Let's see if I do. I'm going to be eating this Magical Oat Bran for the rest of my life so I ain't gonna say never on the galettes.  But I am not there yet.
Ok, so back to my routine. Sorry about that. I fire up the oatmeal water which takes less time than the egg water. I throw in 3 tablespoons of the Magical Oat Bran. Now I am only supposed to be eating 2 tablespoons in this phase, but I am not being willful or cheating. I just cannot get 2 measured out easily. I use a scant quarter cup of MOB and a scant half cup of water and the result is perfect. As soon as I put the MOB in the water, I take it off the heat. It does its own thing. Meanwhile, I take a third cup of non-fat milk and put it into the nuker.

My 3 minute eggs take closer to 5 for that perfect runny yolk but solid albumen state that I like the best. I take the eggs out of the water and put them in hot tap water while I whisk my non-fat milk into froth.  I build my latte. Two squirts of sugar free vanilla latte flavoring, fill 20 oz mug 3/4 full of coffee then dump in non-fat foam. Perfect fake latte. (if you like coffee flavorings, go to a restaurant supply place like Cash and Carry here in Seattle. there is sure to be such a place in your town. They sell 750 ml bottles of about 30 flavors for about one third the price of a much smaller bottle in the regular grocery stores.)

I crack open the top of the shell, scoop out the still very hot egg inside right into the small pan with the Magical Oat Bran. Why waste time putting it into cold ceramic bowl and there isn't that much of it so don't want to leave any in the pan. I salt and pepper and stir together.

Pot and mug in hand, I return upstairs to my library and cruise my internet spots for news headlines. No sense getting dressed to travel the 30 miles to work if Seattle was leveled by Godzilla during the night.