In Memory of Merrigold

In last night’s post, I mentioned that yesterday a friend needed some support.  It was my friend Jen, who had a really tough day – she had to put down her cat, Merrigold.  Merrigold was a great pet, and had a good, long life – she was 17, and, as Jen liked to point out, lived in more places than many people.  Jen got Merrigold when she was a freshman in high school in a small town in rural Michigan, and Merrigold has subsequently lived with Jen in Ann Arbor, Chicago, Los Angeles, back in Michigan, and then in Los Angeles once again.  Merrigold has had kidney problems for the past couple years, and over the past couple months has had some tough days, but has always bounced back.  At the beginning of this week, she stopped eating and drinking, and she wasn’t bouncing back.  Jen knew it was time.

I picked Jen and Merrigold up in the afternoon and took them to the vet.  I had never been present before during an animal euthanization, and was surprised at how quickly it all happened.  The vet shaved a patch of fur on Merrigold’s leg, gave her an injection of anesthesia, and within seconds it was over.  Merrigold was calm throughout the whole thing, and passed very peacefully.

I invited Jen to spent last night at my place, so she didn’t have to go home to an empty apartment, which she took me up on.  And because I had a houseguest, I thought I’d cook us a real dinner, using my stove (as opposed to the RediSetGo).  Here’s how I put together our turkey fajita-esque wraps:

1) I sauteed 3 cloves of garlic, 1 onion, 1 green pepper, and 1 anaheim chile (a mild chile pepper) in a little Pam spray:

2) They went into a bowl, and in the same skillet I browned 1 pound of lean ground turkey, adding adobo spices, cumin, paprika, red pepper flakes, rosemary, and garlic powder:

When the turkey was cooked, I added back in the veggies:

Meanwhile, in another bowl, Jen prepped the black bean and corn salsa.  1 can corn, 1 can black beans (both rinsed and drained), and she added 1 chopped up roma tomato, about 1/3 of a cucumber, 3 or 4 radishes, 2 scallions, and the juice of 1 lime.  Very colorful!

Right before we ate, I warmed up some whole wheat tortillas by placing them directly on my gas stove for a few seconds.  The stove is barely on, which is why you can’t really see the flame, but it’s there – I didn’t want to burn the tortillas, just make them soft and pliable:

I also got out the Queso Fresco that I had picked up at Vallarta yesterday.  This was the first time I’ve bought it, but I’ve heard it was good – mainly from the talking heads on the Food Network.  I got about 4 oz at the service deli at Vallarta, which cost me 98 cents:

Queso Fresco (which literally translates to Fresh Cheese) is a very mild, soft Mexican cheese that crumbles well.  It reminds me of feta.  And it’s really good for you, as cheeses go – 1 ounce is about 42 calories and less than 2.5 grams of fat.

To assemble, I put some turkey and veggies on a tortilla, topped with the black bean and corn salsa, a little of the cheese, and some chopped cilantro:

Delicious!  I had two.  So did Jen.  And I had two more today for lunch.  Now I’m out of tortillas.

After dinner, Jen and I went to the K-Mart down the street from my place for a little photo shoot.  Of me.  It’s a very cool photo that I’m going to share this weekend – so be sure to come back for that!  And, no, it’s not from the Olan Mills portrait studio… It’s just me in a very particular aisle.

Keep it up, David!

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