For those of you that do not know, I am a foodie. I know it's an add thing to say since I really don't eat meat, but still, I am. I love cooking, trying new foods, and learning all things food too. If I wasn't so desperately in love with the idea of animals for my career, I'd be a pastry chef. That is my fantasy life for sure! Anyways, it has been suggested to me that I should document some of my trials and errors, as well as the successes. So, why not start now. I made a Star Spangled Fruit Tart for the holiday weekend when I hosted dinner for my immediate family. This time, I took pictures! Until then, here is the recipe.



Recipe's Ingredients: 1 tube refrigerated sugar cookie, 1 8oz. package cream cheese, 1/4 c. sugar, 1/2 tsp. almond extract, 1 c. blueberries, 1 c. raspberries, 1 c. halved strawberries
I use the term 'recipe's ingredients' because I did some tweaking. I didn't have strawberries and I also didn't bother measuring either of the berries out. I made the star pattern on the cookie with the blueberries and just filled the interior with the raspberries.

Instructions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Press cookie dough onto an ungreased 12" pizza pan. Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden brown. (For me, this took around 20 minutes actually.) Cool before spreading on the cheese mixture. In a mixing bowl, mix the cream cheese, sugar and almond until smooth. Spread this on the cookie. Arrange the blueberries in the shape of a star (outline) in the center of the tart and around the border of the cookie. Fill the star with raspberries. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

My final thoughts on this one was that it was tasty but I've had much better. I would not make this one again, but it was whimsical and fun for the fourth, and it was easy and fast too!

I will continue to update this post throughout the year, altering the date each time I do. If there are additional notes about any particular book, it will link to it. So, here ya go!

Little Bitty Mousie by Jim Aylesworth
Library Mouse by Daniel Kirk
Cow Moo Me by Stephen Losordo
Body Movers 2 by Stephanie Bond
The Ultimate One-Stop Vegetarian Cookbook: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food by Mark Bittman
Tall, Dark & Dead by Tate Hallaway
Dead Sexy by Tate Hallaway

So, I'm reading this book called How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food by Mark Bittman, and I'm thrilled with it. First of all, you heard me correctly. I am indeed READING a cookbook, but this is SO much more than a cookbook. In fact, as a recipe guide, I've yet to use it at all. There are no full color, mouth-watering pictures. No black and white photos or celebrity faces either. There are a few illustrations of food prep techniques, but that's about it. But, what is lacks in 'looks', it makes up for in content. Let me secondly say that the book costs a mere $35.00 full retail price, but I've had my copy from the library for about a month now. I will be buying this one though, but I will also be checking for a deal somewhere... likely Amazon or a coupon via Barnes and Noble. Another nice thing that I should mention from the get-go is that this author is NOT a vegetarian. He is just an author and cook that has become aware, as many Americans have, that we need to get healthier, and a diet high in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and legumes is the way to go. So, this book is not only for vegetarians, but for the growing trend of 'flexitarians' too, as well as health conscience meat eaters that want a break from a pounds of animal protein and fat in their diets every day. I'm all for that!

Anyways....what is it that makes this book so grand?

1. Ingredients. This book is NOT unrealistic, so you will not find it describing only organic products, exotic produce, and foreign cooking techniques. This is a book to the real at home cook. He does discuss that you should try to purchase the best you can within reason and budget, but this isn't always necessary either. In fact, some olive oils for $5 are just as good as a $30 bottle. He does list 8 ingredients that you must not skimp on though. They are extra virgin olive oil (must be extra virgin), parmigiano-reggiano (the real stuff, not the powdered crud in the green shaker), real soy sauce (it's only ingredients should be soy, wheat, salt, water, and bacteria) , yogurt (whole milk please), dry pasta (from Italy only), basmati rice (from India is best), salt (kosher or sea), and peppercorns (grind your own..it makes all the difference). He also has a "bottom line" list, which is 25 ingredients that any vegetarian pantry should stock. Here they are: Extra virgin olive oil, neutral oil like corn or grapeseed, vinegar (which he details later in the book), real soy sauce, rices (long and short-grain), pasta, beans (dry and canned), spices, flours (all purpose and wheat), cornmeal, canned tomatoes, dried mushrooms, eggs, real parmesan, lemons or limes, butter, aromatic veggies (garlic, onion, shallot, carrot, celery), dairy (milk, yogurt, buttermilk), nuts, seeds, baking soda, baking powder, cornstarch and yeast, standard condiments (ketchup, mustard, mayo), and long-lasting produce (potatoes, apples, oranges, etc.). Okay, so it's more than 25 technically, but you get the picture. He also lists an additional 16 for an ideal pantry. Those are capers, seaweed, miso, sesame oil, bread crumbs, coconut milk, dried fruit, wine, parsley, sour cream, peanut butter, frozen vegetables, black beans, sake, fresh scallions (ginger and chilies too), and exotic condiments (curry, horseradish, hoisin, etc).

2. Equipment. This is a nice section of the book too. For someone like me that struggled for weeks on which cutlery and pots/pans to purchase, this was a great confirmation of the decision I ended up making. It discusses the essentials for cookware and cutlery, and the differences between the types, including pros and cons. I myself settle on Calphalon Contemporary cutlery and Calphalon One Infused Anodized cookware! They were good choices for me, but the pieces will come slowly as the price was inhibiting. But, in this book, he goes much further, discussing essentials beyond your stovetop cookware too. Loaf pans, pie plate, springform, ramekins, cake pans, muffin tins, bundt pan, souffle dish, cookie sheets, tart pan, roaster, baking sheet, square pan, and gratin dish. WOW!! From there, it's more in depth about small utensils. I would say that this section is valuble to those just starting out, giving them a guideline for what they need, but also helpful to those like me that want to round off an ideal kitchen collection as well. He really does well to cover everything from a whisk to a mandoline to a microwave to a melon baller to an ice cream machine to a skewer! This section had me jotting down things for about an hour.

3. Techniques. I really enjoyed this section. I love my knives, but I always battle the 'proper' technique, so this was helpful in not only how to hold and rock a chef knife's blade, but how to get the perfect chop, mince, julienne, and even chiffonade! It also covers the ten essential cooking techniques, and as simple as some may seem and often as they may be used, this section was still informative and interesting to read. Those 10 techniques, by the way, are boiling, steaming, sauteing, stir-frying, deep frying, braising, roasting, baking, grilling, and broiling. I admit I have never broiled in my life, but I certainly would like to now! Of course, food safety, leftover ingenuity, and reheating are in this section too!

4. Salads. Of course, as would be expected, this section starts with a 'lexicon' of salad greens, and covers most of the basics from price to prep and storage, as well as some of the less known. By this point in the book, if you are reading it like a book, you SOOOO want to make something. So, I'm off to try that... more to come later.

So, this afternoon, it finally happened. Floozie gave birth to a litter of thirteen babies, and all are doing well. This litter will produce all dumbos in fawn and rex, with standard, rex, and double rex coats. All details and daily pictures will be posted on my rattery website here: http://www.coverattery.com/rats.htm.

So, I must admit than I am a TV junkie. I have shows that I love and pretty much freak out when I miss them. The weekday nights now have a lot to offer me, and I find myself glued to the TV for too many hours now.

MO 8:00pm - House
TU 8:00pm - American Idol on FOX (yeah, yeah, I know)
TU 9:00pm - Beauty and the Geek on CW
WD 8:00pm - Wifeswap
WD 9:00pm - American Idol on FOX
WD 10:00pm - Top Chef on Bravo
TR 9:00pm - Lost on ABC (if it's a repeat, I'm all over Celebrity Apprentice - course it's less of thrill to me with Baldwin gone!)

Bear with me here because these are not my own ideas.. these are ideas taken from past issues of the Rat Fan Club's newsletter, which I'm compiling here so I don't have scraps of paper everywhere!

The five common obstacles, according to the North of England Rat Society, are the bridge, the see-saw, the hoop jump, the weave poles, and the long tube. Ideas can be seen here: www.neratsociety.co.uk/1stshow3.htm, www.furryfeet.co.uk/ratalbum.htm, pipsa.flaming-trout.com/fences.html (not in english), and www.midlandsratclub.org/shows.shtml(search agility).

The easiest obstacle is the hoop jump. It can be done as simply as using an empty cardboard center from a roll of packing tape and a squat, sturdy bowl. Tip the bowl upside down and tape the cardboard roll to the bowl's base. There's your hoop jump! To teach your rat to go through this, you need to lead the rat through the hoop with food. Make sure the rat is all the way through the hoop before you reward with a treat.

The next one to try is the A-frame. Make it from thin wood or heavy cardboard. Ramps average from 6 - 12 inches long. They should be 5-7 inches wide. The entire ramp will be like a triangle, with a base for support. If using wood, be sure to sand it well. Glue or tape together and cover the ramp with a non-slip surface. Teaching the rat is down also would food lead and reward.

There is also ideas for hurdles using legos! The rat must jump a series of hurdles in order to get their treat!

The last one I wanted to add here is a test for the rat's sense of smell more than a part of agility. In a large cardboard box, put a small bowl with a scent in each corner. Place the rat in the center to find their preference. Either rotate the scents each trial or put the rat in facing a different direction. You can do food smells or not, but be sure nothing is toxic. Record the order the smells are visited for 60 seconds. This was even done as a science fair project, with the student hypothesizing that rats would prefer sweet smells! Kind of neat!

Just so more bits and pieces of info I didn't want to lose track of...

1.      Anogenital distance

·        Genital opening to anus

·        Distance relative to hormones pup was exposed to during development

·        Males have a larger distance due to an increased testosterone exposure

2.      Anogenital statistic

·        Anogenital distance (mm) divided by weight (g)

·        Can predict males and females

3.      Rat reproductive system and environmental components on behavior

·        21 day gestation in the rat; 1^st trimester is 7 days

·        During 1^st trimester, sexual differentiation is ambiguous, that is, the pups are bipotential for sex.  Sex is set in the following trimesters.

·      Environment effects the degree of maleness of femaleness in the pup.  Neighboring fetal pups and hormonal exposure shape development.  There is a position effect of hormones on growth and development within the uterine horn.  The uterine horn holds the pups next to each other in a common placenta.

4.      Rat sexual behavior

·         Female proceptive behaviors – hopping and darting, travel and kick, ultrasonic singing and ear wiggling. The female typically initiates mating.

·         Female receptive behaviors – lordosis (reflexive female mating posture - back arched down, rump up, and tail to the side, which physically rotates the vulva to a backward facing position), the stereotypical arching of the back in an inverted manner with head and hindquarters elevated.

·         Male pre-copulatory behaviors – stereotypical grooming and washing, investigating female for chemical cues.

·         Male copulatory behaviors – mounting (male's copulatory position), intromissions, and ejaculation.  The value of intromissions is believed to be the stimulation of egg release.

·         Post-ejaculatory interval – the refractory interval following copulation.  This period of rest or inactivity after ejaculation is displayed by both sexes.  In the male, it lasts 5 – 10 minutes.  In the female, it lasts 30 seconds – 1 minute.  This promotes polyandrous reproduction.

·         Male rats have a tonic hormone secretion, which stays fairly constant.  Female rats have a cyclic hormone secretion.  She will mate at the peak of the hormone curve or estrus.  The estrus cycle is 4 days in length.

References:

http://www.spflrc.org/user/rats/Glossary.htm

http://www.spflrc.org/user/rats/norway_rat_ethogram.htm

Lange, Gary. Ethology Lecture. Saginaw Valley State University.

Here is the list for 2007. Here we go!
Lean Mean Thirteen, Smitten, Hot Stuff, Thanksgiving, Metro Girl, Rocky Road to Romance, Back to the Bedroom, Love Overboard, Plum Lovin', Full House, Full Tilt, Full Speed, Full Blast, Full Bloom, and Full Scoop by Janet Evanovich
20 Times a Lady by Karyn Bosnak
Inkspell by Cornelia Funke
The Ethical Assassin by David Liss
Can a Guy Get Pregnant: Scientific Answers to Everyday (and Not-So-Everyday) Questions by Bill & Rich Sones, PhD
The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster by Bobby Henderson
All I Know About Animal Behavior I Learned in Lochmann's Dressing Room by Erma Bombeck
Shopoholic and Baby by Sophie Kinsella
Body Movers by Stephanie Bond
Hypochondria Can Kill by John Naish
Beach House, Lifeguard, and Violets are Blue by James Patterson
The Hypochondriac's Guide to Horrible Diseases You Probably Already Have by Dennis DiClaudio
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows by J.K Rowling

This is just a few more notes on some of the things rats love to do with regard to behavior.

 

One such thing is caching or stashing. This is most often done with food items. The rat will collect items of food, and run to deposit them somewhere else. The cycle is often repeated many times. Usually, food is hidden in a select location for that particular rat, with corners, nestboxes, and protected locations being most common. This behavior can sometimes be seen in nesting as well, with the rat dragging any soft or preferred nesting material into their sleeping areas. Female rats tend to do this more often than males. The reason why this stashing occurs is thought to be an adaptive trait for rats that would need to secure food for later use in times where food may not be as readily available.

 

Another item worth mentioning is digging. Rats do not burrow like some animals, but still seem to have a blast digging holes and pulling handfuls of dirt this way and that.

 

One of the most important things a rat does is sleep, typically doing so for upwards of 15 hours a day. Rats are considered crepuscular, and are most active and dawn and dusk hours. Rat positions can vary just as much as the rat themselves can, and depends on temperature, location, substrate, social situations, etc. Some prefer sleeping alone, some in groups, some in enclosed areas, and some out in the open. It all depends on the individual rat and environment.

 

A couple other notes on things I've seen and find interesting are these: the flank mark and tonic immobility. Flank marking is a way to scent mark but uses the flank rather than facial or genital secretions. The flank is rubbed against objects, and the rat typically leans sideways on a vertical structure, pushing the body sideways against that object while stepping forward. It is done in familiar environments, as urine marking is done more often in new environments as well. Tonic immobility is interesting as well, and occurs as a freezing behavior when the rat has pressure applied to certain areas like the upper back or nape. It can be seen when holding a rat with pressure on these areas, but is also the explanation for the immobility when a rat is on its back, having contact pressure on this area from the floor. The immobility tends to last longer in less dominant rats, interestingly.

 

http://www.spflrc.org/user/rats/Glossary.htm
http://www.spflrc.org/user/rats/norway_rat_ethogram.htm

Bruxing is a fascinating thing that rats do. The sound that you hear is from the repetitive grinding of the incisors against one another. This not only sharpens and maintains the length the teeth, but also seems to be done in times of relaxation and in times of stress. This is often accompanied by the justly named, eye-boggle. The eyeball literally vibrates in and out of the socket as the masseter muscle below it is moving. During bruxing, this muscle, which passes beneath the eye, causes the jaw to move up and down. These contractions can also vibrate the eye at the same time, and is most often associated with contentment and pleasure.

 

The process used to brux is much different than when a rat gnaws or chews, though, involving different muscles and tooth placement. The three jaw muscles used for chewing and gnawing are the masseter, but also the temporal and pterygoid as well. When a rat gnaws, its bottom jaw is jutted forward so the incisors line up and the molars are no longer together in a chewing position. The ability to move the jaw forward when gnawing gives the tooth a beveled edge, which is why they are so sharp. The additional iron compound in the teeth, giving them the orange appearance, also keeps them strong and sharp. Rat's teeth and rootless and grow continuously, so it is important to their overall health that their teeth also be healthy. Different from gnawing, when a rat chews, the molars are aligned to grind food and the incisors are no longer lined up.

 

http://www.spflrc.org/user/rats/Glossary.htm
http://www.spflrc.org/user/rats/norway_rat_ethogram.htm