De Baking Psychopath

Another year has passed, and another roommate weekend was warranted, this time in Philadelphia! We had a whirlwind of a weekend, filled with food, random shopping, and catching up! Not pictured-- Friday night we went to Monk's Cafe , where we had yummy beers, buffalo-style fried frogs legs, steamed mussels, hamburger with truffled cheese and mushrooms, and duck confit. It was a hearty and delicious start to our weekend (although very dark and hence not photo-friendly). On the way back, we picked up frozen yogurt from Yogorino , which we brought back to the apartment to sprinkle on some crazy-awesome granola I had brought with me (recipe soon!). Bright and early Saturday morning, we took a stroll to the nearby Metropolitan Bakery and raided their day-old bin as well as bought several fresh treats. Eaten for breakfast: coffee/tea, carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, chocolate croissant, nut and seed roll, lemon vs raspberry bar taste test. Not eaten but saved for late...

A few more Kimchi update photos: Immediately after coming home-- And more recently, with fur nicely growing back in-- She's as happy as can be! The incision site is healing nicely, fur is finally making a headway in growing back in, and she is getting into all her usual hiding spots, so quality of life is as good as ever. Long live Kimchi!

Post-op Kimchi, lounging on couch Kimchi says thank you for all your concern! She is doing quite well, hopping and jumping around, as well as pigging out and drinking her fill after not eating much at the hospital due to being a little afraid of her surroundings. Her surgical site is healing beautifully and there's no sign of any inflammation or infection. She's already very active, even hopping up on her favorite couch cushions and onto the bed to snuggle with Mommy and Daddy at bedtime. She's learning to stretch and scratch her favorite wooden things again as well. She's so glad to be home, and of course Mom and Dad are paying her lots and lots of attention. A girl could get used to being spoiled like that, heh. If anything, she's actually being much more affectionate than previous, and whether it's the anti-pain medications (ie happy drugs) or whether she's more carefree without the pain of the lame leg, we'll have to find out in the upcoming weeks....

Sorry for being MIA lately. March and April have been kicking my butt in more ways than one. I've been preparing for a conference, which I just returned from, and then next week I'm off back to the motherland for a couple weeks for some personal family reasons that preoccupied me for much of March. Throughout this craziness, we learned that our 6-year old baby kitty, Kimchi, had bone cancer in her left hind leg and needed to have that leg amputated. She'd been limping on and off for a while, but it never affected her lifestyle, but when we took her to a new vet he was immediately concerned enough to take an x-ray...and then a biopsy...and then when we learned it was cancer, he recommended we deal with this as soon as possible. So we did. Her surgery was on Tuesday, and we're bringing her home today. Online references and anecdotal sources say that animals do very well with three legs, they don't suffer the psychological stress and pain that humans do over l...

We spent last weekend with this pretty one. Her name is Cordie, short for Cordelia. Her human is one of my best friends and 3-year college roomie, who rescued her from a massive adoption drive near her home this past Fourth of July. She spends most of her time sitting on or sprawled over this little area rug. It's her safe zone and/or throne. It is pretty much the focal point of the living room. She's still pretty young and has quite a lot of energy to chase after her toys...particularly if the toy has treats hidden in them, like the hollow egg she is chasing above. She is a little bit unsure of newcomers. It took her a little bit of time to warm up to us, probably because I half-chased her around the whole weekend, trying to pick her up and flip her into a position she couldn't roll out of. It works with my Kimchi, who is equally against being picked up. But she quickly let us stroke her and brush her. By the end of the weekend I think she was quite used to the triple...