Things learned in Boston

[mindstalk]

Fanw cooked one night. I forget what the main meal was, but I told her about Burmese coconut rice, a la Mandalay here in Bloomington, and she had coconut milk handy so tried that. Not bad, though comparing to my memory it could use more milk and/or sugar.

Also, she took me to a Tibetan restaurant which seemed better than either of the ones here. So much for "brother in law of the Dalai Lama" or whatever we have going on.

Conversely, she introduced me to za'atar, a Middle Eastern condiment. Basically a bunch of herbs mixed together and poured onto a plate, and we'd dip bread in olive oil and then into the herbs. Tasty. I've been replicating it, mostly by pouring herbs directly into oil and dipping the bread in that.

I kind of taught her the family meat sauce. Made it while she watched, anyway.

Her cat really wants to go down into the basement. She (the cat) has clearly identified the doorknob as the key part in opening the door; she'll stretch up the door toward it in a way she doesn't elsewhere, or get up on the counter and try to paw the knob. Can't reach, though. I'd tantalize her by gripping the knob while she sat in front of the door... then let go, and she'd give me this look. Recently I thought that she could be held up so as to be able to paw the knob, so as to learn that that won't actually help her get out, since she'll still be missing the human magic touch.

Comments

[heron61.livejournal.com]

I had an exceptionally brilliant cat when I was in grad school. I adopted him up as a stray, so I don't know how he learned this trick, but the doorknobs in this building were exceptionally loose (it was a very old building), and so he could stand on his hind legs, grasp the doorknob between his paws, and turn it. The first time I saw my bedroom door open, and looked up to see no one standing there, but then saw the cat walk in was rather surprising.

Similarly, when I was a child, my great grandmother had a smart (and somewhat evil) cat who could open doors in her house. However, that process was made easier because these doorknobs were actually short levers, and simply leaning on them opened the door.