"Good Bye, Sweet Precious"

The love in my life has died. She was my 'just a cat'. Her daily perilous drop in weight, in recent weeks, from her evil hyperthyroid disease, coupled with issues of internal bleeding - gums and bladder - dramatic loss of critical fatty tissue and potassium while losing valuable body temperature made my decision an 'easy' one. Her doctor's look ended any optimism I might have had.

The morning began as usual with her jump on to the floor looking for fresh water, in her two ceramic bowls. Her habit of moving these troughs, in miniature, while testing the water with her tiny paw made it a messy place, daily. In her carpeted room, decorative place mats adorned her eating area. Her stainless steel bowl had been replaced with a newly bought ceramic 'sink', a heavy container that was  virtually immovable. A dipping bowl of Greek yogurt began her morning ritual most mornings.

She drank often while making her water 'cloudy'. This was not good, I knew. Why now, though? During nighttime, she would munch on her prescribed dry food which always gave me hope. But she took too long to eat her soft foods. These tender morsels ended up in her water, hence another round of ongoing fresh cold water, otherwise known as room service. A long walk to the 'toilette' to see her dad, that day, was her final visit, a peaceful end on a journey punctuated with a mother's love. I miss my enigmatic kitty. She had been a loving addition to our family.

From the beginning, Tiggy had a fighting spirit. But that quality could mask her suffering, too. In the end, her tenacity had worn out its welcome. Her suffering was now up close and personal. We could no longer hope for life. Her meds had become a burden to administer as she could not swallow easily. Her cloudy water bowls gave clear evidence of that. Her body was a fraction of its former self, a skeletal frame 'adorned' with a thin layer of skin. She had stamina so characteristic of my family. She finally earned the right to die.

My life has a large chunk missing from it now. After finding her - 16 years earlier - on the shoulder in -25 weather, my life would never be the same. I was about to fall into love with a snappy little girl. She had 'spoken' to me that frigidly cold morning. As I drove by I looked down and there she was, a screaming lump of 'dirty snow' grasping at life and breath. Shock enveloped me. I now had a life long duty to this furry bundle from the road. How could anyone do such a thing? But the planet is full of horrible people doing all sorts of despicable things to oh so innocent animals of every kind. The online world attests to the horrors of animal abuse. Our Tiggy was found, just in time, half an hour before her death. I saw and listened. A real love story began.

Over the years, she would enter the room of our two retrievers only to be greeted by a cacophony of jumps and barks. Her visits seemed to say, “ I live upstairs guys. Would you like to play with me?” Not really they would reply. ... Upon entering, she would linger, on occasion, then sneak a drink from their large water bowl, the size of a small sink, big enough in which to bathe - for her. Was their well water better, she mused? 

 

Comparisons were important to her. She ran outside, one morning, then was noticed hours later on the kitchen balcony. I remembered thinking how beautiful this 'stray' was until I noticed it up close. It looked alot like ours! I opened the doors to let her in while watching this blur run past me, upstairs, to the place she'd called home for many years. Outside was better, from a safe distance, she now realized. In that moment, I knew she was mine.

In her golden years, we'd meet and nap together in her room on a bunk bed. She welcomed the company. I did, too! She'd sleep in the crook of my knees and stay there till it was time for me to go. She liked it that way. Resting her small head near the Himalayan floor salt lamp made her feel safe and secure, too. An outstretched paw and gentle head always told me she was near. A magnet cover beneath her special bed helped in her comfort and healing. All in all, everything humanely possible and available, that made sense, was tried. We all deserve that.

Her entry into life was a loathsome event. But she would leave it surrounded by love - from all corners! Someone hated this innocent beautiful newborn, weighing less than two pounds, that fateful morning. Both sides of humanity were on display, vividly, that day. My side won that debate and a wonderful life was lived and loved. Vivid memories and a lasting heartache now remain.

The Yummy All-Purpose Salad

They'd arrived for lunch. They would make it, their way. Much of what they were eating for the next few weeks was raw produce, a family affair. Even their son, my 22 month old grandson, loves his bananas and clementines, the healthy footprint of his future. Children will always follow mommy and daddy's lead, like no other!

Salad is the main attraction, always has been. It is a cacophony of health benefits, vitamins, minerals and probiotics. No leaky gut here. Processed food is the culprit which leads to problems with gluten intolerance, so one doctor says, and other allergens to health. Pay attention the the medical medium. He has the gift of food and health. Others are talking, too. Lucy, my editor and daughter-in-law, is expecting baby #2. As always, since the day I met this former teen, diet has been a priority, in all meals, in all ways. Salads have always been her addiction. Now both mommy and daddy have this affliction.

The young couple began, in earnest, to make lunch: a sea of produce: a large volume of organic lettuces, baby romaines, thinly sliced tomatoes to chunky pieces of cucumbers. Onions were not entered into in this maze of produce this time. The bowl I use for making pizza dough or pastry was used to mix the ingredients. It was huge. As Lucy gathered the produce together, her husband, my son, made the delicious dressing containing avocados, both of which were mashed to begin the dressing with added spices: parsley flakes, onion powder, olive oil and lemon juice. Quite the 'meal' and quite the hit of health benefits. I was hooked. No vinegar according to the Medical medium.The salad reminded me of the classic caesar. My My! What a transformation!

Momsey does not always follow the dietary rules. She does like desserts but chooses wisely and homemade. Coleslaw is my addiction, a salad of grated cabbage and other enhancers. I have loved it from the beginning and make it many different ways, now, to suit the main meal. The latest discovery is a dressing with lime and lemon juice with olive oil. Salt, pepper, dried onion flakes help bring the flavour alive. Overnight helps to develop flavour for that in restaurant taste. I am in love, again!

Salads are a very important food group. The Miracle Medium knows this. The words 'never' and 'organic' do not seem to be in his vocabulary. Vegetables and fruits are. Better to eat them any old way than not at all. And if certain protein foods are loved but 'disagreeable' internally, then it behooves us to fix the problem. Life is too short to ignore digestive issues. Health is at stake. The Miracle Medium has opened my eyes to my beloved radishes, this cancer killer in bright red. I wrote about him last year. But other things matter, too. Celery juice seems to be tops in every way. Our Mr. Wiggles, Sally and Emerson will have some too, very soon. Juicing is easy and takes the work out of eating to retrieve valuable nutrients deep inside the produce we should be eating daily.

Make that salad. It is a life insurance policy on your health. Use nuts for protein, mixed with fruit.Toss it onto the mountain of produce. Dress just before needed. Choose to eat it every day. Your life depends on it.

Gluten-Free Chiffon Cake!

The gluten-free syndrome is real. It may well be the result of our digestive systems time immersed in processed food too often, perhaps in a toxic environment, too. Funny how glucose-fructose is eerily included in some of these so-called healthy foods labelled 'natural', homemade with no preservatives or colours added. Upon closer inspection, the truth is revealed!

The other day I made a gluten free chiffon cake without a recipe.... (Gluten interferes with thyroid's function - my daily problem)... I'd always loved the taste and texture of this unusually light cake, no butter or milk included. This time I concocted the recipe while researching the cake's unique properties. Though sugar is a must in this sweet confection, I move its position into the egg white department to strengthen the whites, around 8-10, as they billowed into a mound of leaven heaven. No fat permitted, here. Lemon juice is included to replace cream of tarter to help stabilize the whites. ('Anna', the Canadian pastry chef, said to do this).

The glistening stiff whites were moved to another bowl as the yolks were beaten in the 'clean' bowl just vacated. A few tablespoons of sugar, to lighten the yolk batter and strengthen its structure and give more taste came next. (Salt lessens the amount of sugar required in a recipe, I have discovered). Vanilla extract is added, too. A few tablespoons of grape seed oil is added to the yolk mixture for moisture, tenderness and taste. (Fat is important as it aids in the absorption of Vitamins A, D, K, E. Nutrition can happen anywhere).

After a few minutes of beating the yolk mixture to the desired stage, the flour mixture was added slowly. Water was added, too. I used some all-purpose gluten-free mix along with brown rice flour and millet to make the 1 cup of sifted 'flour' needed to make the cake. I did not use baking powder. I was experimenting. Thought I'd wait and see what happens.The beaten egg whites are then folded in to the yolk/oil mixture  and poured into an ungreased tube pan in a 350 degree oven for about an hour. Turn pan upside down to cool to help lengthen the strands of protein in the cake. Remove when cooled. Serve with organic whipping cream, fruit or chocolate ganache icing.

(The other day I used potato starch to make a cobbler topping. Big mistake! Never again. Crumbled too much with little flavour. A crunchy apple would have been a better choice.) Potato starch was substituted for wheat flour in a brownie recipe, found recently in a copy of Woman's World from 2018. I could not believe the results. Neither could my guests.

Remaking recipes to reflect current health status does not take courage. It simply requires the will to do. What are cookbooks but a collection of recipes someone concocted, revised, over and over again, till the results were acceptable? Letting others create gluten free products/mixes is silly. Let's do it ourselves. Once we understand the behavioural properties of ingredients or mixes is the beginning of homemade experimentation. Sometimes, we are successful, sometimes, not. What do we have to lose? Never be afraid to bake without a recipe. Just a have plan in mind.

The sponge/ chiffon cake is my go to cake, with its minimal sugar. There's no point to dessert unless it is low in sugar and high in other benefits. Excessive amounts of sugar sounds the death knell for any dessert for me. Because sugar is not a requirement to a healthy diet, only to dessert, its use must be curtailed. I use Canadian maple syrup known for its 57 health benefits to add sweetness wherever possible. Sugar, if invented today, might be classed as a poison, I read, many years ago. I use it sparingly and never in my teas: green, white, oolong, rooibos, lemongrass and others.

Personalize the mixes you make and the recipes you create. This unknown path just might surprise you. I know I have been, many many times. My daughter-in-law would happily agree.