October 28, 2023

WEEKLY MENU 10.29.23

Halloween comes during the Weekly Menu 10.29.23, and a beautiful black cat leads the way~

We’re celebrating Halloween during the Weekly Menu 10.29.23 (finally!) and we have the perfect master of ceremonies with us on the blog to lead the way.

I’ve found that most people are either dog people or cat people. Or the type of people (like me) that aren’t really either. Every time I even vaguely think that a dog might be a nice addition to the family, I see someone walking around with a little bag of poo, and I change my mind. The older I get, though, the cooler I think cats are. They are elegant, beautiful and clean up after themselves, which is a win in my book.

Sadly, I am profoundly allergic to cats.

Plus, lets be honest, they are a little terrifying. They really seem to understand (and judge) people and situations. They are so human like, they’re mesmerizing. Do you know what happens if a cat owner dies with just a cat, alone in the house? Yeah. don’t google that one.

If I was ever going to get a cat, though, which I’m not, I would absolutely get a black one. If I could find one like the one on this post with those gorgeous green eyes, I would consider it a major win.

Superstition, prejudice, bringer of good or bad luck

Black cats are often a symbol of Halloween or witchcraft. In most Western cultures, black cats have typically been looked upon as a symbol of evil omens, specifically being suspected of being the familiars of witches, or actually shape-shifting witches themselves. Most of Europe considers the black cat a symbol of bad luck, particularly if one walks across the path in front of a person, which is believed to be an omen of misfortune and death. The black cat in folklore has been able to change into human shape to act as a spy or courier for witches or demons.
Wikipedia

In contrast, the supernatural powers ascribed to black cats were sometimes viewed positively; for example, sailors considering a “ship’s cat” would want a black one because it would bring good luck.^[15] Sometimes, fishermen’s wives would keep black cats at home too, in the hope that they would be able to use their influence to protect their husbands at sea.
Wikipedia

October 27th is actually Black Cat Day, but October 29th is just plain old National Cat Day. The second one is more about alerting people to the plight of over population with cats, but it does fall just before Halloween. Coincidence? I think not.

Some interesting facts about cats~

The oldest known pet cat existed 9,500 years ago
Cats spend 70% of their lives sleeping
Cats walk like camels and giraffes
Ancient Egyptians would shave off their eyebrows when their cats died
House cats share 95.6% of their genetic makeup with tigers
A house cat can reach speeds of up to 30mph
The record for the loudest purr is 67.8db(A)
A group of cats is called a clowder
A litter of kittens is called a kindle
Cats can’t taste sweets
Around 200 cats live in Disneyland’s park and help keep control of the rodent population
There are more pet cats in the US than pet dogs

Cat videos are all the rage –

My all time favorite are the ones where people put foil in places that they don’t want cats.

If you’re having an issue with your cat climbing all over your kitchen counters, then the tin foil trick may be for you.

Since most cats dislike the way aluminum foil feels and sounds under their paws, it can be an effective deterrent for keeping them off of a surface you don’t want them to walk on. At least, that’s certainly true for the cat in a now-viral video that was recently shared by YouTube channel ViralHog.
Time Magazine

If you get a chance, watch the videos. They are an absolute hoot. Man, can cats JUMP! (Affiliate links follow. See Disclaimer Page for details.)

I’m sticking to decor and costumes for my black cat…

Weekly Menu 10.29.23

I could make some sort of super cute cat cupcake for Sunday dessert, but I’m feeling lazy, so we’re going with Hot Fudge Sundaes instead. What can I say? My cat adoration is limited. Not so my feeling about Hot Fudge.

On Tuesday we’re celebrating Halloween, finally. We’ve got the Halloween Party scheduled as a possibility on Saturday night (we all know that’s not happening) but we’ll have a family classic Halloween dinner on Tuesday.

We always have hot dogs. Back when we still Trick-or-Treated, it was because it was easy to serve up for a quick dinner before heading out. Some years we go with a hot dog octopus in some blue tinted ramen. This year we’re going with Mummy Hot Dogs. All in one dog and bun, they are wonderful with a squidge of ketchup.

Delish, plus, ketchup adds some excellent atmosphere.

We’re trying a new to us Turkey Pumpkin Chili as a side dish. We’ll let you know how it goes. I figure we’ve got the hot dogs as back up if the chili is not as tasty as I hope.

We used to have bat wing waffles (frozen waffles cut in half, artfully arranged on a plate) dipped in vampire blood syrup (maple syrup with a little red food coloring) back in the day. Sometimes I’d add some blue food coloring to their glass of milk, but had to stop that because moldy milk didn’t hold much appeal. Check out the Halloween Party post to see more easy, fun, kid friendly fun.

How to Have a Screaming Good Halloween Party

I’m shirking my kitchen duties again this week with a different guest chef. Shocking all of us, Baby Boy decided he was going to make a chicken dish instead of his typical sausage heavy fare. His idea is to make Italian Sloppy Joes with chicken instead of the more typical ground beef or sausage. Sauteed chicken with some marinara sauce smothered in some mozzarella cheese sounds like it will work, no?

The Chicken Pot Pie Soup is back on the menu for round two. It was not soup weather this past Friday (it was almost 80 degrees!) so we had some boxed burgers on the grill while we were watching Hocus Pocus. We haven’t seen the second one because the first is just such a classic. we didn’t want to jinx it. (Ha! See what I did there?) Just saying … Black Cats are a big part of this movie!