When my daughter Kara wanted to do her 6th grade Science Project on animal behavior and wanted to buy a rat about eight years ago now, I said, "No way." But we relented, and got our first ratty named Dot. Then Dot looked lonely, so we got a second ratty named Snoopy, and, folks, the rest is history. I would say we've owned about a dozen or so ratties, some that only lasted a couple weeks because of the respiratory disease that many of these rats are born with, but we knew Pinky (later named Stinky since she always bit), Spastic, Sweetie, Cookie, and Monkey...
Monkey got her name because of the way she hung onto the top of her cage with only one arm...she actually swung back and forth and was totally a sight to see. The respiratory disease took her first two partners quickly. I thought she was destined to be an only rat until I tried one more time and got Cookie after seeing Monkey looking aimlessly in her cage for company. Now I see Cookie doing the same thing looking for Monkey, but she was able to get a sense that Monkey is gone when I brought her home from the vet where she literally died in the Vet's hands when he was examining her...that Monkey wasn't going to be told what to do, and she died just to make her point. So energetic to the end, and I'm so glad that prior to our visit to the vet that I fed her bananas, yoghurt, and Cheerios, all her favorites.
So now Monkey is part of the garden out front...found a perfect spot below a freshly planted flowering vine...I'll miss her and sharing my bowl of Cheerios with her...these critters sure tug at our hearts...too bad ratties don't live long enough...
Kara's home for her Spring Break from SJSU, and she offered to make gnocchi for us. She learned how to make this during her Food Preparation class for her Nutritional Science Major.
It takes a little practice, but the pasta dough made from riced potatoes is rolled with your thumb over a special gnocchi board...much easier than with a fork...and it makes these neat ridges.
The gnocchi is then gently boiled for a few minutes, and then you can lightly fry it a pan with some marinara sauce, or put in an oven proof dish and broiled until the sprinkled smoked cheese is melted thoroughly on top...both methods tasted so delicious! Definitely stealing this recipe!
