Another Quick Trip

I'm going on another short trip, hope to be back next Monday.

Have a lovely weekend!

Katrina

Parrot’s Day Out

I have two birds living in my house, a Blue-Front Amazon and a Gray Cockatiel.

Michelangelo

Puff

It’s a bit like living with extremely social aliens who have no understanding of personal hygiene or human hearing. Some people think that birds are sweet and refined little pets, but I don’t know where this misconception originated. If you don’t think you can manage breathing feather dust, having to yell to make yourself understood over the loud squawking, finding seeds everywhere in your house, and picking up poopy newspapers everyday, you should not have birds. That said, I am a bird person, so the parrots’ personalities, intelligence, and amusing antics more than make up for the aggravation.

We have a big cleaning day two or three times a year when the outdoor temperature is not too hot and not too cold for me to haul the big cages outside and scrub them down with soap and water and then hose them off.

This is Michelangelo’s favorite day, because he gets to sit front of the big mirror and talk to himself.

Today he tired of mirror-gazing and did some exploring.

Having a good laugh at my expense. (He pooped on the white carpet.)

Puff is not quite so enthusiastic about the process. She doesn’t really like change, and a day of alternative activities is just not as much fun for her.

Looking at me suspiciously - she knows her cage is next.

 

This is the exciting life of a parrot “owner.”

Katrina

Eating Snails

We have not resorted to eating gastropods from the garden, but we do have some delicious snails on the table.

Can you believe I actually baked something? These are schnecken from an old family recipe. The most basic of all cinnamon rolls, they are made with a simple pastry dough similar to pie crust, with cinnamon, brown sugar, and raisins rolled inside. Sliced into spirals, the little snails bake in a sugar-and-butter-lined pan to get the brown crunchy topping.

Our German schnecke is nothing like the enormous, yeasty, gooey cinnamon roll you find in America’s malls!

Cinnabon source

Ours are a little bit hard, a little bit dry, and just sweet enough. Perfect with coffee or tea, schnecken are supposed to be a breakfast food, but I eat them all day. Um, I mean, I could eat them at any time of the day.

I have resisted the Piemaker’s suggestions for “improvements” to this and all other family recipes (no chocolate chips, pecans, peanut butter, maple syrup, etc), because my grandmother lives in these schnecken. She also lives in marmorkuchen and streuselkuchen, German Christmas cookies, and many other precious recipes.

Hooray for grandmothers and old family recipes!

Katrina

Such a Lazy Blogger

It’s Wednesday already, and this is my first post of the week? I can’t even come up with a good excuse for that. It’s not like I’ve been doing anything important or interesting.

So I’ll just fall back on the lazy blogger’s trick – puppy pics.

The usual - ignoring my requests for a nice pose. Too many things to smell.

 

She was sleepy enough to sit still for a shot.



What?

Have a good week!

Katrina