Amber & The Art of Tray

River House is a long-standing tradition, spanning multiple actual houses, guests, hosts and kitty companions.  But one thing has remained constant: the necessity of Making a Tray.  A Tray can be featured for lunch, a light dinner, or for an appetizer course served while grilling dinner.  Beth, our first 2010 River Guest and an excellent start to the season, is seen here with a lunch tray, featuring garlic- and prosciutto-stuffed olives, cracked green olives, roasted red peppers, marinated sun-dried tomatoes, a baguette, multi-grain chips, genoa salami, marinated mozzarella, sliced pickle, sauteed zucchini slices, and prosciutto bread.

What all Trays do have in common are: a variety of tasty items for picking at, olives or other Italian specialities, some kind of bread or crackers, leftovers from the prior night's dinner which can be eaten on aforementioned bread or crackers, some kind of cheese, and accompanying cocktails.  The quintessence of Tray is really variety, tastiness, and savoriness.  And, ease.  Tray is all about easy deliciousness.  And fellowship.

Diana has raised the Tray game and made it more about antipasto.  And that is fine because it is still about variety, tastiness and savoriness.  And fellowship.

Also, it is about River.

Sorry, Ginger.  Tray is for people only.

Amber & You Are What You Love And Not Your Epiploic Appendagitis

Oh hai.  Meet my organs.

I have an internal boo boo.  The good news is that they finally figured it out (remember my ER trip and my "flank pain"?) and I am going to be super duper fine.  The bad news is that I am on bed rest for the next seven days...  although that might turn out to be a very good thing for the blog.  Except that I am all stoned on pain pills.  Again, could be good.  You be the judge.

The sad, sad news about being on bed rest is that I can't go to the birthday party for this gal.

Remember when I gave her all those cats as a present when she came to visit me in Canada? Too bad she forgot to take them with her.

(Photo by Jimmy)

I once noted her signature style was warm hats in the winter.  The real quintessence of Diana is beauty.  Both internal and external.

(Photo by Jimmy)

I love Diana.

Amber & Portrait of the Ampersand as a Young Man

A friend forwards this found portrait of me.

I love four cats (especially ones wearing birthday hats) and flowers and guitars and boat trips in Alaska and French press coffee and lamps and being at home and yarn and birds (especially owls who say "hi") and cupcakes and ice cream cones and tea pots and boots and rainbows and bees and leaves and other stuff!  The resemblance is uncanny.

Amber & Woodra Pooja

Today is the second of the annual kitty poojas!  Happy Woodra Pooja every one!

(photo by James)

Like, Gigi, Woody has a dual nature that we celebrate on this special day.  Woodrow Wilson Gutherie Feline is both an incredible snuggle monster, always close by and looking for under-leg tummy rubs...

But also the world's crankiest old man cat, barely tolerant of the affections of his little brothers.

Thus, Woody teaches us that we are all compassionate, but that being nice doesn't mean letting others walk all over us (or chew our necks).  Woody reminds us that, through it all--even if we start out a small snake-eyed frizzy beast...

...even through Elizabethan Collars and knee surgery...

(photo by James)

...our foremost duty is to honor and respect the miracle of life and to enjoy every day that we can spend with our fellow living creatures-- especially if they provide us with environments.

 To celebrate Woodra Pooja, there be lots of ritualistic face rubbing, with the customary shedding of great amounts of facial fur.  Thus, we coat ourselves with the essence of Woody: softness.

(photo by James)

Once the rubbing has completed, there will be some eating of wet food mixed with water, plenty of sink hands (with Woody perched on the edge of the tub--not on the sink) and then we will repeat the cheek rubbing and coating of our pants in fur, pretty much every time we sit down.

There will be the traditional offering of a cup of water out of which I have taken sips for paw bathing and drinking.

(photo by James)

And there will be appreciation of how beautiful and special all living things are.  And we may even get weepy thinking about how lucky we are to have such magical and unique interspecies friends who mean so much to us every day and give us unconditional* love.

And then there will probably be more lap time.

Happy Woodra Pooja!

*Unconditional as long as there is wet food, clean litter and belly rubbing.

Amber & Mind Blenders

Sometimes on the weekend when I am engaged in meditative activities like laundry and house chores, my mind is like a blender mixing together different ideas and thoughts and quite often coming to exciting new conclusions (often then forgotten by Monday) or new resolutions.  Today, I made a smoothie from the different delicious fruits and yogurts and ice cubes that CRD served up over at Internals Plural.

I was thinking about what I would be like if I hadn't ever met some of my BFFs and also remembering how central Kate Bush, who might just become HUGE with the Twighlight fans any minute now when they Google "Wuthering Heights," was to many of my first conversations with CRD.  And if it wasn't for Kate, Jerry and I wouldn't have first bonded, and I would have never met his roommate, Kevin, who introduced me to Diana, or his friend Chuck's friend James.  And then who would I be?

And that made me think about how much of who I am, the quintessence not sparked by my BFFs and family, is all thanks to Kate.  After all, Kate defined pretty for me with leotards, beautiful sparkle eyes and red lips.

And where do you think my love of big hair came from?  When I want to be pretty, really, I want to be Kate.

And without Kate, I might not have pursued my dream and honed my skills in interpretive dance...and wouldn't the office be a less interpretive place without it?



And, aren't we, after all, what we eat?



Like a pomegranate, insides out, all is revealed: everything I am, Kate, is you, too.

Amber & Lucie, My Softy Boy

Lucie, I remember you fondly.  You were soft, loving, and an honorable beast.  I am glad to have known you.

I don't think I would ever have a loft bed again.  What would be the point without your tiny face on that big fat neck peering down at me?

Amber & Self-Recognition

The person CRD was with when he made this post made this for me.

He got my face shape totally right, and I did henna my hair on Gigi Pooja.  And I do like lady purses, especially ones from outlets, and tacos are a staple of my diet. And I wear glasses, and the body shape is almost dead on.  But I don't have bunny slippers or a gray tabby, and my eyes are so not blue.  I do have these shoes where the rubber outsoles are supposed to come off and you just have the indoor slipper shoe (two shoes for the price of one).

But I never do that.  Slipper inaccuracy aside, is it wrong that I'd rather think this is a better avatar?  Maybe if you squint?

She has bangs, and the right color eyes, and I love wearing scarves.

Amber & Pretty Little Guy

Nick sends this video from the Boston Museum of Science and asks, "What is this little guy doing?"





Drying his wings, I'd guess.  And being a beautiful little butterfly buddy whose quintessence is daintiness.

Amber & Tiggy's Spirit Animal

Everybody knows that Tiggy's Spirit Animal is a hedge pig, and not just because of her namesake.

Her coloring is totally hedgie, and she has that sensitive pink underbelly.  She has dainty little feet and a tiny cold nose.  And, people think she's a little prickly when they first meet her, but she's really just shy and needs to protect her belly.  Just like a hedgie.

And, she does sort of stand in her bowl just like a hedgie.  But that may be more about keeping the brothers away from her grub.

All this reminds me: remember Spud, the hedgie who had no spines?  Kevin discovered that Daily Mail reported back in July that Spud was recovering well thanks to the care of the folks at Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital.  And they included this photo to prove it.

The little guy looks more like his cousin Tiggy re-spined.  I sure love Tiggy and her all her spirit and Spirit Animals.

Amber & Branded

You know you have been branded a monkey-lover when James sends you this photo from the street.

Chimpy bling.

And, in other branding news, my lunch delivery from Laura is now an official club.

On today's menu:
 - Paprika roasted sweet potato, NY cheddar and half sour pickles from the Pickle Guys on Italian bread
- Green Rice Salad
- Butternut Squash Chocolate Cookies

I love clubs.

Amber & Self-Avatar-It

I know what I look like. But, I can't seem to make an avatar that looks like me. CRD made this one of the two of us in the style of that show all the kids love these days.  The coffee is the only real give-away that it's me; the body type is 100% me, but the nose is not-quite-exactly-Amber.

I made this one.  I got to pick from lots of different faces and noses and eye shapes.  I still don't think it looks like me.  It has the right hair and bangs, maryjane shoes, brown eyes, and $35 jeans, but it's still not quite right.  It just doesn't look like me.

It sure is hard capturing my essence in pixels.  Maybe because there's no avatar setting to coat yourself in cat fur?

Amber & Seasonal Spooky Delights

Kevin's love of, and lack of self control pertaining to, Dots is one of his Distinguishing Characteristic Properties. He has eaten them for longer than I have known him, and often remarks on the freshness or the particular gumminess of each batch. He is a Dot connoisseur.

Yesterday, he partook of a new seasonal offering, the Ghost Dot, which you can read about in greater detail here.Essentially, it's a spooky green dot in some mysterious unnamed flavor. (Although the web buzz seems to be that maybe each one is a different flavor.)


For the forthcoming holiday season, Dots also come in blood orange Bat Dots and Candy Corn Dots. I can't wait for Kevin to try them all. I think he liked the Ghost Dots on account of how he ate the whole box.

Amber & The Namesake

Peter, whose signature style involves colorful pants, striped shirts and slip on shoes, sends this recon from the street. Peter Loopted it thusly: "It is on 9th and Sixth, next to Citarella's and in the former E.J.'s Luncheonette space."


But the question is: what is it? It could of course sell the named resin itself in jewelry form, but I think it's unlikely that merits an entire retail space. The logo looked like a restaurant to me-- maybe a place that should serve pitas or wraps or smoothies? But hardened tree sap isn't really a very appetizing name for a food establishment.

Turns out, after some research, it's a whole chain of pan-Asian restaurants. Web reviews are mixed, and I am disappointed.

I hate this use of my name. But, maybe it will make people remember me more? Or, maybe it will make them associate me with overpriced raw fish.

Hmpf.

[Apologies to all the Jhumpa Lahiri readers who accidentally Google themselves to this post. It's a good book, though.]

Amber & Birthday Memories

Thanks to CRD (pictured here with sidecar) for a super duper birthday, complete with periodic well-wishes during the day, "Le Grande Mac & Cheese," and laughter. Once again, CRD to the rescue-- this time sans cheerleader movie.

Amber & Behavioral Inertia

The more things change, the more they stay the same.


At River House, there are fewer city buses, more eagles, and just as many facial masks.

Amber & Outward Bound

You know those programs where you take a bunch of "at risk" youth and make them hike in the wilderness? And while you are eating beans out of a can and wearing bear bells you learn about nature and the environment while also learning about yourself? This morning, the kitties and I had our own woodland version of that, and I discovered things about my true nature... and about the quintessences of the kittens.

For example, I learned that Pickles is really a rabbit. His preferred mode of transit in the brush is hopping and bounding.


Of course, this means that wherever he goes he travels exceedingly quickly which often leads to crashing into tree trunks or bounding off the side of hills slippery with fallen wet leaves.

I also learned that his brother, Ginger, is really a prairie dog. Whenever nature makes a noise-- a falling branch, a bird fluttering past, an angry chipmunk, Gigi sits up and listens with his front paws dangling in the air.


And the thing that I learned about me is that when there is an event to photodocument, I will usually leave my camera back in the house.

Amber & Prices We Pay

Sometimes, we do things we know are bad for us. Like: We have that second shot of Sambucca to toast our eternal friendship with our college friend, even though we had four tequilas earlier and only weigh 102 lbs. And we pay the price later, perhaps in the form of a black eye or a wicked hang over.

I am living on the edge today. Used to be that my Distinguishing Characteristic Property was red lipstick. But then, Kevin pointed out that my lipstick was on a list of those that had lead in them. And, I decided that I had already lost enough brain cells during my summer as a lab assistant at Technical Coatings. I now only wear the lipstick on special or business occasions. Except for today.

You see, my nose skin is all blotchy and horrible from using the pump shower soap at the Y after swimming instead of my very expensive face soap. (I am sensitive; I cried over CRD's post yesterday.) You can't tell in the photo above because Photobooth nicely porcelainifies my skin. But, I thought that red lips would help distract from the red around my nose.

I'm not sure if it's working-- maybe because I am, right now, losing brain cells that would help me decide if it is working.

Amber & Distinguishing Characteristic Properties

In chemistry, we learned all about distinguishing characteristic properties. Those are the traits that a substance has which help uniquely identify it. It's kind of like a signature style, but not at all changeable. Like, if a compound finds out it has lead in its lipstick, it can't stop using the lipstick without becoming a different compound. I, on the other hand, am still ALH whether or not I have floral handbags.

Some people are mean. That seems to be a distinguishing characteristic property for them. I don't like those people.

The central struggle for me, many times, is to figure out how to be a happy little flower when surrounded by Mr. Means. Tap Dancers are surprisingly nasty people and those flexible legs have a surprisngly long reach. So far, Gardeners seem much nicer.