Weekend Cat Blogging: What Did You Eat?

Our friends Kashim, Othello and Astrid are dedicating Weekend Cat Blogging to our fellow cat blogger Sherry “Sher” Cermak of What Did You Eat?. She passed away suddenly last Sunday.

Sher was also an accomplished food blogger, and we have made some her recipes before. So in addition to Weekend Cat Blogging, we are also participating a tribute hosted by the “Bread Baking Babes” this weekend and preparing her last recipe.

So let us move to the kitchen and dining area of CatSynth HQ:

And with Luna ready to supervise, let us begin:

Angel Hair Pasta With Red Pepper Pesto

[Adapted from Food and Wine.]

3 medium red bell peppers or bottled roasted red peppers
1 tablespoon pine nuts
1 small garlic clove, smashed
1/4 cup basil leaves, plus 2 tablespoons chopped basil
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 pound angel hair pasta
1/2 cup grated pecorino cheese

Roast the red peppers over a gas flame or under the broiler, turning occasionally, until charred all over. Transfer the peppers to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let cool. Peel, core and chop the peppers. (We opted for the bottled peppers here at CatSynth.)

In a small skillet, toast the pine nuts over moderate heat until golden, about 4 minutes. Let cool.

Transfer the peppers and pine nuts to a blender or food processor (If your food processor has been sitting in a box at the bottom of a kitchen cabinet since moving, make sure to clean it first.) Add the garlic and whole basil leaves and blend until coarsely chopped. Add the olive oil and cheese and puree to a chunky pesto. Season with salt and pepper.

In a large saucepan of boiling salted water, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain and cool slightly under running water. Transfer the pasta to a bowl and toss with the pesto. Season the pasta with salt and pepper. Top with the chopped basil and pecorino and serve at room temperature.

Now let us raise a glass and toast…


More tributes can be found at Weekend Cat Blogging, hosted at Astrid’s food blog. I’m sure the boys won’t mind too much.

The Carnival of the Cats will be hosted here at CatSynth tomorrow. Click here to submit your entry.

The Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos will be hosted this week at Pet’s Garden Blog.

And of course the Friday Ark is at the modulator.


Weekend Cat Blogging #163

It’s time for the Weekend Cat Blogging #163 round-up:

Luna will supervise the festivities from one her high perches.

Thanks to everyone who wrote in to wish us a happy second anniversary of CatSynth. And with that, let us begin…

Breadchick threw out her back lifting some heavy amplifiers (another reason why we at CatSynth prefer software for our audio work). But fortunately, LB is there to look after his mom. Breadchick is in the pro-audio business, so maybe she will come visit us at CatSynth while recovering for music, audio and feline fun. Oh, and that New England breakfast is looking pretty good this morning…

We move from pro audio to Music and Cats, where Sergei is puzzled by the behavior of his siblings Sasha and Lyra. They have been fighting a bit, and Sergei doesn’t understand why he can’t curl up with them for naps. “Sergei’s a lover, not a fighter, so he gets out of Sasha’s way, and looks to his people for affection.” We at CatSynth wish more humans were like that.

Things are more peaceful at Rosa’s Yummy Yums, where Fridolin has been an angel and doesn’t even mess with Maruschka. “He can be such a loveable cuddly kitty when he is not behaving like an evil little ‘monkey’!

More feline friendliness can be found at Sammawow, with some great “then and now” photos of China Cat and Willow napping. It is great to have some constants in life, like the setting for these naps, that one can return to for years.

Napping appears to be activity of choice this weekend (and perhaps most weekends). And there is a serious snoozefest at CorgiFeathers featuring Titania and Oberon. A Midsummer’s Night Dream, anyone?

A little more activity can be found with Chica and Pumuckl, who are pretty intent on something on their ceiling. You will have to follow the link to find out what it is…

Our friends at the House of the (Mostly) Black Cats share some pictures of the friends (or rather, pikshurs of furrends). There was a little bit of difficulty with a disposable camera, and apparently much cursing (by their mom) as a result. But they still have some great pictures to share.

Our friends Samantha and Tigger are hosting the Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos this weekend. The theme is “Christmas in July.” Now if it only it was Channukah in July…

Time for some WCB Apocrypha!

Arthur and the other cats at Gattina’s are mouse hunting. Fun all the whole feline family.

Of course, it wouldn’t be Sunday without Lectionary Readings from LOL Cat Bible.

We were happy to receive wishes from our house-panther friends, including Mickey the Black Cat.

And Mr. Hendrix.

And that concludes the round-up for now. As always, we will continue to post entries as we receive them through Monday morning, so all are still welcome to participate.


CatSynth 2nd Anniversary (and Weekend Cat Blogging)!

July 19 is the Second Anniversary of CatSynth!

And by coincidence, we are hosting Weekend Cat Blogging (really, it is a coincidence). So we invite all our friends to participate and celebrate with us. As always, please leave a comment with your link, and we’ll post it during the roundup later this weekend.

Of course, we must post the photo of Luna that started it all on July 19, 2006:


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and some fun stats for the occasion. Over two years at CatSynth, we have:

657 articles.
2,476 comments.
106,000 visitors.
298 “catsynth pics.”

The latter is using some custom analysis tools I created for the occasion, which also provide the top 33 tags/categories here at CatSynth:

cats 738
synthesizers 444
luna 280
music 169
news 136
wordless wednesday 101
weekend cat blogging 97
wcb 94
art 90
highways 85
personal 79
modernism 54
san francisco 50
stats 39
electronic music 35
experimental 34
carnival of the cats 32
mathematics 29
podcast 29
mp3 28
kitty 27
keyboard 26
friday ark 25
analog 23
photography 22
reviews 22
video 22
cotc 21
black cat 20
cats on tuesday 20
festival 19
california 18
chaos 18

Some tags, such as “photography”, should really be much higher.

Many readers may recall that last year, on our first anniversary, the site went down due to a rather annoying problem with our service provider, and we were sent into exile at the CatSynth FEMA Trailer. So we are leaving an anniversary post at the trailer as well.

A year ago, we at CatSynth had no idea what was going to be in store for us over the next year. A new job, a new home, a new life.

We traded the sun and greenery of our old home:

for our new home:

and life in the big city:

But some things remain the same. Luna, of course, is always here. And our friends and family. And CatSynth!

And we’ll still be here, continuing to do what we always do…


Some other significant milestones this weekend:

The 200th Friday Ark boards this weekend at the modulator.

Our friend Dragonheart is two years old today.

This is week also includes several birthdays for friends, whom we won’t embarrass by announcing their ages on our rather public forum…

It’s only one weekend after the Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos first anniversary, so let us include it as well. This weekend’s edition will be at Life from a Cat’s Perspective with Samantha and Tigger.


Weekend Cat Blogging: Another busy weekend

Between rehearsals, work, and social activities, this Sunday morning is our first break at CatSynth for Weekend Cat Blogging. And so we make the most of our time, with photos from the studio:

and downstairs:

Luna had just done something very cute, lifting up the red-and-green mouse-on-the-spring toy with her paw. It’s one of those countless things that just happens – they are not photographed, but just enjoyed in real time, and then recorded in words.


Weekend Cat Blogging is being hosted by Kate and Puddy from “Puddy’s corner,” which features a scratching post and tunnel, a nice leopard-print house, a chrome light stand, and other sundry items. It looks like a nice spot for a cold Australian winter day.

The next Weekend Cat Blogging will be hosted here at CatSynth!

The Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos has a new home, which will be hosting the first anniversary edition this weekend. We’re supposed to contribute a “bad thing” that Luna has done. That’s a bit of a challenge, actually.

The Carnival of the Cats will be hosted today by Kashim and Othello.

And of course the Friday Ark is at the modulator. It’s edition #199!


Bon Voyage

It’s always hard to go away on a trip and leave the ketzela behind. But Luna will be in good hands while I am gone, with our new cat sitter.

And this trip is very necessary. There has been a lot of fun, excitement, love, playfulness and beauty in our new life, but there are a lot of things that have been difficult. Getting away for a few days seems like the right thing to do. Even that simple decision has been challenging, with plans gone awry and sore feelings among friends dominating the start of this journey. But as things move forward, there might actually be a little peace, inspiration, and even a little fun.

In the meantime, please visit other Cats on Tuesday. And we’ll be back soon.


Weekend Cat Blogging: Playfulness

A moment of play at CatSynth HQ:

This orange mouse is currently one of Luna’s favorite toys:

Often, it ends up knocked off the balcony to the floor below.

Indeed, we have a favorite game now where I throw toys, such as balls or mice, up onto the balcony and Luna knocks them off.


Weekend Cat Blogging #160 is being hosted at Stellaluna. Watch hamsters and cats playing together.

The Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos is being hosted this weekend at Pet’s Garden Blog

The Carnival of the Cats will be up this Sunday at [url=http://2tabbys.blogspot.com/]Victor Tabbycat’s.

And of course the Friday Ark #197 is at the modulator.


Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos #50

Welcome to the 50th Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos! Summer is now officially here, and we have been celebrating the solstice. We are also (yet again) experiencing a bit of a heat wave.

Nothing says summer heat like the desert. And that is where Chey finds himself lost this week.

From Egypt, we move on to Israel, where the Lady in Red enjoys hunting a mousie toy, at Elms in the Yard.

Ping is doing better this weekend, but still needs some good healing vibes from friends. Doesn’t he look a little like the Lady in Red?

Speaking of look-a-likes, Puddy is joining us again this weekend, and enjoys some chin scritches at A Byootaful Life. And honestly, who wouldn’t enjoy some chin scritches?

Meanwhile, Zorro puts an ugly vase out of its misery at the House of Chaos. We at CatSynth can sympathize with the desire to not be surrounded by ugly things.

Summer in Vermont means June bugs, and lots of them. But for Mouse, they are just more toys to be batted and squished. Andrée of Meeyauw presents Mouse’s June Bugs.

Now we go from pouncing to biting. Rosie may look sweet and innocent, but it turns out Rosie bites. Ouch!

And from sharp teeth me move on to the sharp claws of Bazel at Mind of Mog. Meanwhile, iInfidel enjoys some yummy food. And finally, the handsome Meowza relaxes as he tries to stay cool. 113F makes our own heatwave seem cool in comparison.

Samantha and Tigger are beating the heat in Florida with water. While Tigger drinks from the faucent, Samantha enjoys playing in the rain. Yes, a cat who enjoys the rain. :)

Well, that’s it so far for this weekend’s Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos. We’ll continue to post submissions that come in today. Thanks to all who participated, and stay cool!


Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos coming to CatSynth

We will be hosting the Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos this weekend. The optional theme will be summer as the season is officially upon us. We also want to celebrate diversity with cats of different colors, geography, ages, histories and lifestyles.

To participate, please use the handy submission form, or leave a comment.



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