Moriarty’s adventure last night.

In spite of my care, making sure upstairs windows are not so far open that a cat can get out, Moriarty attempted to fly last night, not very successfully.


The first I knew of it was when Dusty came into the kitchen, meowing even more loudly than usual. She seemed quite distressed, and was looking out of the patio doors. Calling Moriarty produced no result, so I looked outside, and there he was, crouched on the ground, looking very shaky.

Bumped nose…





I fetched him in, and checked for injuries. No obvious breakages, thank goodness. Dusty watched carefully as I did this. She is clearly nowhere near as stupid as she pretends to be most of the time, and very fond of Moriarty as well. The only injury that was visible was a bumped nose, which must have hit the ground quite hard, so it was no wonder he was shocked. He seems to have landed on his feet, as they mostly do, and is limping a little, but nothing worse. His huge purr was missing last night, but he has managed a few quiet purrs today.


Dusty is currently looking after him, having washed him pretty much all over.

Dusty comforting Moriarty


What to do with surplus vine leaves…

So, today I was chopping lumps off plants that had somehow become huge since I pruned them in the autumn. And there were a lot of nice big leaves on the vine that is twice the size of the other two put together, although they were all planted the same day. So I picked about 18 nice big ones.
Vine leaves, just picked
I blanched them with boiling water.
Vine leaves, blanched
I mixed some chopped shallot, Basmati rice, dried mint, dried Cretan oregano, lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil for the stuffing. With a bit of salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Rice stuffing
And began to stuff the leaves. Roll the near side over the rice, turn the sides in, and finish rolling. You’ll soon get it.
Stuff those leaves
Pack them closely in a pan.
Dolmades in a pan
Cover them with water, and a bit of olive oil, and weigh them down. Bring to the boil, and simmer for about half an hour.
Boil them
Nice with some halloumi and a bit of a salad. Sorry about this picture; it was a bit dark in the dining room.
Dinner time
It’s a hard life, and no mistake.