baked quesadilla

I just made this up off the top of my head. It's a whole wheat wrap topped with black beans sauteed with garlic and jalaepeno pepper, diced tomato, green onion and vegan gourmet montery jack cheese. I put it in the oven on broil for a couple minutes until the cheese bubbles, and then I added the guacomole and folded it over.

Even though it doesn't look fabulous, it was actually really good! The wrap crisped up nice, but I was still able to fold it without breaking it. It had a nice flavour and was just the right size for dinner.

Tippy's fort

As most rabbit parents know, there's little a bunny loves more than a good box to rip to shreds.

At my work they were getting rid of this really big, 3 ft by 4 ft by 2ft tall lidded box, so I brought it home and Xactoed a few entry holes.

As I expected, Tippy has adopted it as her own fort. She now spends much of her out-of-cage time in this box, ripping it apart. If you look in one of the "entrances" at her, she hops over to push you out of the way. It's HER BOX, dammit.

The cats like it too, but I think Tippy discourages them from using it. She really calls the shots around here.

Here's a photo of Tippy in her box.

banana walnut muffins

Even though I wasn't posting, I have done a lot of cooking over the past seven weeks. Pictured here are banana walnut muffins from Extra-vegan-za, a cookbook Cherie gave me for my birthday. It is of course modified a bit. I reduced it from 1/2 cup of oil to 2 T of oil and the rest applesauce, and they turned out fabulously. I also used quite a bit more banana than the recipe called for, to add some more nutritional punch. They have lovely little muffin caps, which I love. These are absolutely delicious.

happy Pesto and dinner experiment

She's a little on the chunky side, especially since her medications have made her very hungry, but Pesto is definitely a happy little girl.

In this photo she's clutching one of her favorite toys, a little stuffed fish. She will flop around on the floor for ages playing with it. :)

Tonight I tried a new dinner experiment, inspired by Fresh in Toronto. We've eaten there about a half dozen times, including last week when we were in Toronto for Pesto's consults. What's pictured here is brown basmati rice smothered in Fresh's coconut curry sauce (with chick peas), topped with raw spinach, carrots, red peppers, green onions, and toasted nuts (sunflower seeds, almonds and walnuts). It was very satisfying. The verdict here is it's something we'll definitely eat again sometime soon.

No brain tumour!!

The MRI showed that Pesto does NOT have a brain tumour. Thank goodness!

There were a few abnormalities, but the neurologist said she's not sure we can attribute any clinical significance to them, and that if you did MRIs on 100 healthy people there's a good chance most of them would have some sort of abnormalities.

That being said, something caused her seizure. It might have been a stroke, but since more than 6 weeks have passed, most evidence in her brain would be gone. She had a small area that has some inflammation, and that could be related to a stroke.

She also has a tiny cyst that is commonly found in dogs. It is generally harmless and definitely not something that gets operated on. The neurologist says she has never seen one in a cat MRI. So, while it's a bit disconcerting that we still don't know what the cause is, it's wonderful to have eliminated the worst possible outcome. T

he neurologist says aside from the minor abnormalities, all of her bloodwork, behaviour etc. indicates a very healthy and normal cat.While examining Pesto, the neurologist did notice that Pesto's thyroid gland is slighly enlarged. This would not be a seizure cause, and it is something that is not uncommon in cats. It may require some medication or possible removal, but for now we just need to monitor it and have a thyroid test done at our local vet.

The neurologist was absolutely wonderful, and gave us a discounted rate for her stay at the hospital. I am very happy we went to her. Thank you to everyone here who has cared about Pesto and sent us good thoughts. It's not over yet, but knowing it's not a brain tumour is a huge load off of us. We sort of feel like this whole ordeal might have just been a cosmic kick in the ass for us.... but who knows.
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