coping with loss: bake bread.

I miss my cat. Like, a lot. She was my best friend for five years, and it saddens me that she isn't alive anymore. It breaks my heart that this really awesome cat doesn't run around being beautiful and funny. But she lived a very good life. Most of the sadness from her death stems from the fact that she doesn't get this chance to live anymore, because man. She was great.

I spent something around ten hours crying the day that I found Misty, and then because my head and heart were hurting, I baked Raspberry Almond Bread. 

 

 

 This recipe was colorful, fragrant, and took long enough to make that it was a welcomed distraction from grieving. By the time I was finished the kitchen smelt pretty tasty, and I enjoyed the bread with a cup of tea.

 I toasted the crap out of almonds, all my byself. I crushed some raspberry and folded it all into the thick batter. In the recipe Joy says to spoon it into a loaf pan, but my batter was really thick. i had to push it into place, rather than spread it around. My butter wasn't exactly room temperature, so I feel like that might have been where it went wrong.

 It still came out amazingly well though-- look at how pink that batter is! It was so pretty. The almond extract made it really fragrant, and it gave the bread an overall nutty taste. Biting into the raspberries was a real treat, too.

 And voila. Bread: made. I brought home the leftover loaf, but unfortunately before it could be eaten Mars managed to break into the platic wrap for a nibble, and then knock the entire thing into the litter box.

Faaaaantastic. Good one, Mars. So long bread! It was good knowing you while I did.

I'd like to share with you guys the gravesite my mother and I made for Mistoffelees. I wanted to plant a garden over her grave, so that I could watch it flourish and grow. It made me feel ten times better to actually wrap her in a warm blanket, give her some treats, and lay her to rest.

 

We planted yellow flowers, to match her eyes. There are two big yellow lilies, two little leos, and another plant I can't entirely remember. I replanted a forget me not next to the solar light, and painted that small rock the day before I left home. Mom also brough home pansies, our favourite flowers, and we managed to get nine plants out of one purchase! six pansies are planted in Misty's garden, the most important ones to us being a beautiful orange one, and a big bright yellow one, with black accents.

Pansies are wonderful flowers that have grown in all of our gardens. I'm really glad to see them there. I can't wait to watch this garden grow! We're planning on adding cat grass as well, and some rudbeckia once they grow. 

RIP, pretty kitty. I miss youu.