Last week I pulled something (a good guess would be a muscle) on the inside of my thigh. Not from running or doing a funky interpretive dance in my living room or something else fun, but from walking several blocks to the vet with my cat in my arms (Kitty Gus has made previous appearances in this blog here and here, as well as here). He was in a carrier, and I don't know how much that weighs but Kitty Gus is a heavy-weight champ at 14 lbs. The average weight of a cat seems to vary wildly on the internet, but to put it in perspective, a gallon of milk weighs about 8 1/3 lbs.
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How does a person pull a muscle in their leg carrying something heavy? I am not sure! But it could have been the stress because he was sick and I was trying my hardest to cradle him gently and not jostle him too much since he was pain. It turned out he had a blocked bladder (with crystals and debris!), and he was straining but unable to urinate, which meant he had to go into surgery immediately to clear it out. I'm happy to report that he came out of surgery well and after a few days in the hospital he was sent home after he ripped out his own catheter in the middle of the night and used his litter box. Did I mention he is a heavy weight champ?
Yesterday I ran for the first time in four days, for a little over an hour at a slow, easy pace. I didn't listen to music so I was able to hear a drunk man tell me that I looked like I was ready for the marathon. Thanks, dude!
Since I just spent roughly eight million dollars at the vet I made a huge pot of this soup yesterday after my run. I will call it "Oh Shit I Just Spent all my Money at the Vet, Potato and Leek Soup". You can make this for less than $10 and it tastes even more delicious the next day. It pairs very nicely with free faucet water.
Potato and Leek Soup
In a medium size pot heat up 1/4 cup of olive oil.
Add 4 cups of chopped leeks (I found large leeks at the farmers market and used two).
Throw in some salt and sweat the leeks stirring constantly at low heat.
Throw in 6-7 cloves of garlic (whole is fine since you will be using a blender later).
After the leeks have turned bright green and cooked down, add about 4 cups of water.
Throw in 5-6 large chopped potatoes, with skins on.
Add more water if the liquid does not cover potatoes. Add salt and pepper. Add two large sprigs of Rosemary's Baby...err, I mean rosemary. And boil until the potatoes are very soft.
Remove rosemary sprigs (if some leaves have fallen off into your soup, leave them) and ladle your potato/leek mixture a little at a time into a blender and add vegetable stock (from a qt box of vegetable stock).
Puree the potato/leek mixture with the stock a little at a time and transfer to larger pot. Keep repeating until everything is pureed and you've used the whole qt of stock.
Simmer on the stove adding a couple of teaspoons of apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice) until the soup has thickened.
Pita Crackers
I had some stale whole wheat pita bread so I turned it into crackers for my soup!
Massage oil into both sides of pita bread and on one side sprinkle with course sea salt, paprika, and dried parsley flakes. Place pita directly on oven rack and heat in oven at 350 long enough for the pita to be very dark and crispy.
I just started reading Haruki Murakami's memoir What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, and I learned that he likes to listen to Lovin' Spoonful when he is running. So, in honor of this fun fact about this literary genius and in honor of Kitty Gus I have here Lovin' Spoonful's "Nashville Cats". Meow.