The rose-chomping cat...

Two dozen of the most beautiful red roses arrived by Fed Ex Wednesday. Their arrival took me completely by surprise even though today (I'm writing this on Thursday) is our 21st wedding anniversary. I should have known my husband would send me flowers. He sends me flowers every year, but for some reason I was really taken off guard.

When I opened them I decided to put them in two vases. I put one dozen in the dining room on the table and closed the door. There are glass doors leading into that room so I could still see them each time I passed by that room and they were highlighted by the chandelier hovering over them. Perfect.

The second dozen I put in a tall vase and carried them up to my office. I wanted them on my desk, right in front of me where I could smell them and look at them. They had prime position right next to my computer. Perfect.

I worked a bit late last night. My husband was in the center of the city at a meeting, so nothing was pressing me to finish up my work. And I had a long conversation with a past client that I had not talked to in eons, so I had more things to do after that conversation ended. I put down my reading glasses about 6:30 and decided I'd better see what was in the refrigerator that I could turn into dinner.

I left my office roses unguarded. Big mistake.

My husband didn't arrive until much later, so our dinner wasn't finished until after 10 o'clock. Maybe it was because it was "anniversary eve," but we had a lot of fun at dinner. We even danced--all by ourselves in our living room. It was really a romantic, good time with a simple dinner made from things in the refrigerator (stand by, because the recipe comes from my creation that evening).

When we went upstairs I passed by my desk. Horrors! Four of my roses had been massacred! Their heads had been bitten right off! The culprit? Tattoo! Tattoo, our six-pound Abyssinian mommy kitty who is known for her rose chomping. She doesn't actually eat roses. She just sidles up to them and snaps their stems just behind the blooms. Their heads topple and she walks way. Given the chance, she comes back later and takes a few more whacks at some of the other roses and does it over and over again until she's wiped them all out. The roses hadn't been in my life 12 hours yet. They weren't even fully open!

I scooped them up and put them in a bowl with water. Still beautiful, but not quite the same. Tattoo, of course, was nowhere near the scene of the crime.

Our other two cats don't eat roses. It's just Tattoo, so I knew who was guilty.

Now what? Put the rest of my roses in the closet for the night? I didn't want to do that, so I thought for a minute. Where would the cat not want to go? Of course. The shower. No cat likes water. She won't go in there! I put the remaining eight roses in the shower and pulled the curtain shut. If she could not see them, I figured they were safe and she would not venture where she could possibly get wet. Definitely not. My roses were safe.

Morning arrives and I stagger half asleep into my bathroom. I glance over at the shower curtain and I see it has been moved to the side--just a teeny opening, just big enough for a six-pound, skinny little kitty to slide through. I whip open the curtain and (cue the horror movie music) another rose massacre! Four more heads lopped off sometime during the night! Four beautiful red rose heads lying on the shower floor, stems only left standing in the vase. The carnage repeated. Just four roses left in the vase.

What is this? Can she count? What's she thinking?!? I'll do four. Then I'll do four. And then I'll do four more?

I'm looking at the last four as I write this. I'm contemplating putting them in the vase with the other twelve that are locked in the dining room. What do you think? I'm about to go to lunch on my anniversary with my husband. I don't think I dare leave them unattended, unguarded or un-locked up. Tattoo may be small and innocent looking, but she's crafty and obviously determined.

From the refrigerator and my cupboard comes a simple Italian soup. Robust as it is, it can stand alone as a light meal with bread or crackers or a small salad. I served it late last night with grilled cheese sandwiches on the side. You decide how it will work for you.

Enjoy!

Hearty Italian Tomato-Mushroom Soup

1/2 large onion, diced
8 oz of mushrooms, chopped
1 Tbl olive oil
3 15-oz cans diced tomatoes (organic if you can find them)
1/2 cup prepared basil pesto
1/2 cup canned corn (drained)
Salt and pepper to taste
Tomato juice (optional)

Put the onions, mushrooms and olive oil in the bottom of a medium-sized soup pot. Cook on Medium until the onions soften and the mushrooms give off their liquid and just start to brown on the edges. This will take 7 to 10 minutes.

Add the cans of tomatoes, the pesto and the corn. Heat on Medium heat until the soup starts to bubble; then turn it down to a low simmer. Total cooking time for the soup will be about 15 minutes until good and hot. Season with salt and pepper.

This is a very thick soup. If you like your soup thinner you can add tomato juice to thin it out. I'd say a couple of cups of juice would be plenty.