Growing up we had a pet dog. At a very young age we had Kelly, then Ripple and then Java. When my sister moved to Korea she left Java (technically her dog) with Ninja and I.
We never had cats. We never liked cats. Like reeeeealy didn’t enjoy cats.
When my parents moved to BC I was working on a farm. For my birthday they (my bosses) gave me a 3 week old barn kitty. I brought this thing home and thought WTF do I do with this? LOL I named him Orion but ended up calling him My Kitty.
Java got used to My Kitty… Ninja not so much.
Me, I fell in love.
That cat was the DEVIL. He chased my feet when I moved while I slept. In the middle of the night he knocked stuff off the top of the fridge and he just plain did what HE wanted to do regardless of what you wanted lol. He had personality.
Java was the MOST loving dog. He was obedient (for the most part), loved cuddles to the point that you needed to push him away to get some personal space, and he always wanted to “help”.
Kitty was affectionate too… kinda. He walked up to your feet and dropped and rolled on to them, if he liked you. When I was pregnant with HBear, he would lay possessively on my belly lol, He wore the pants in the “Garfield/Odie” relationship he had with Java J
Ninja and I were talking the other night and we finally figured it out!
HBear is like a dog and SBean is like a cat.
HBear is affectionate and cuddly.
She wants to be on you, with you, near you ALL the time. She doesn’t like playing on her own, she is a rule follower that always tries to “help”. She watches. She is quiet and doesn’t like loud noises. When she crawls into our bed in the morning before all the chaos starts… it is magical. She cuddles so… fully, it fills my heart.
SBean is mischievous. She laughs at authority… literally.
She is possessive! She crawls right up to you and flips onto your feet with her belly up for a tickle lol. Right before her naps I nurse her in the glider by the moonlight (IKEA light) and then when she is done I hold her in a hug. She puts her arms fully around my neck and I stand and rock for awhile… it is my daily pick me up. It is my deep breath. Perfection.
She does not want to cuddle unless she is in the mood… she will actually squirm her way out of a hug and then scream at you in her gibberish, yet you definitely know what she is trying to say!!!! LOL. She wears the sibling pants for sure!
I mean tell me what you see here…
HBear is trying to give hugs and love and SBean is all like “thanks now get off!” lol
Yup, HBear is an affectionate, loyal and VERY loving dog while SBean is a possessive, impish, and VERY loving cat… but only on her terms LOL.
Tonight Ninja’s parents came over for football and dinner. I tried something new. I have this beautiful butternut squash I have been wanting to use so I made butternut squash ravioli. It sounds more intimidating than it is. When trying new things I pull out the trusty Joy of Cooking and follow the recipe. Next time I know what to try differently! It wasn’t that hard considering how yummy they were J
Butternut Squash Ravioli with Brown Butter & Sage
Adapted from The Joy of Cooking
Filling
1 medium butternut squash (1½ pounds)
½ cup grated Parmesan
⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste
⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat the oven to 375.
Spray a baking pan with Pam.
Cut squash lengthwise in half and scoop out the seeds and stuff.
Place the halves cut side down in the pan.
Bake 1 hour, or until tender when pierced with a knife.
Let cool slightly, then scoop out the squash.
Pass the squash through a ricer. You should have about 1½ cups.
Mix the squash with Parmesan, salt, nutmeg and pepper.
Dough
2 cups flour
3 large eggs
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon olive oil
Put flour in your standing mixer bowl. Make a well in the center and add eggs, salt and pepper.
Beat the eggs lightly with a fork, drawing in some flour as you go, until the eggs are mixed and slightly thickened. Gradually incorporate the flour into the eggs and blend everything into a smooth, not too stiff dough. If the dough feels too dry and crumbly, add a little water as needed. If it is too sticky, add a little more flour.
Put on your dough hook on and knead the dough until satiny and very elastic, about 10 minutes.
Divide the dough into 4 pieces, and wrap the pieces loosely in plastic wrap. Let the dough rest at room temperature for 60 minutes before rolling it out.
After resting, roll out the pasta dough using your pasta machine. If you don’t have one you can roll it out nice and thin. The machine is so much easier though J.
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| Ninja helped roll the dough, it is so much better with 2 people 🙂 |
Work with only a quarter of the pasta dough at a time, leaving the rest loosely covered.
Try to roll the dough into long, thin 4-inch sheets, the sheets should be as thin as paper—sheer enough to see your hand clearly through it.
On the bottom half of a sheet of pasta, place ½ teaspoon mounds of the filling spaced 1 inch apart. Dip your finger in water and run it around each mound of the filling. Fold over the unfilled half of the pasta sheet, taking care to cover each mound so that no air is trapped. With the side of your hand, press firmly between the mounds of filling to seal.
Use a biscuit cutter to cut the sheet into circles, checking that each piece is well sealed. Place the ravioli, not touching one another, on baking sheets dusted with flour. Let stand 45 minutes to 1 hour at room temperature, turning the pieces occasionally, before cooking. Repeat with the remaining pasta and filling.
TIP*** If you want to freeze the ravioli, this is the time to do it. Put the baking sheets in the freezer for about an hour before bagging the ravioli. This will keep them from sticking to each other J
Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a rolling boil. Simultaneously, heat in a medium skillet over medium heat:
Sauce
2 tablespoons salted butter per serving of pasta (in my case 10 tablespoons for 5 side dishes)
Finely chopped sage
Finely chopped sage
Brown the butter, stirring frequently to scrape the brown bits off the bottom of the pan, until the butter is fragrant and the milk solids have turned a deep brown.
Boil the pasta for about 5 minutes, or until al dente. Drain and serve with the browned butter and sage.
We had bacon wrapped BBQ chicken and asparagus with the homemade raviolis!
