Summer Bounty: End of summer peaches. And a new kitty!

Summer just isn't the same without peaches.  With a huge box of farmer's market peaches, I got to work right away... poaching all 15 lbs. (maybe it was twenty.  I just did the entire box) into jars.

With this much peaches on hand, I was set with peach desserts for the rest of the year.  To start off, I made something refreshing...

 Almond Tofu, with farmer's market peaches, lychee, grapes, and mango.  Of course, there are tons more stuff I can do with the peaches, like pies, tarts, coffee cakes, muffins, scones, sorbets, mousse, etc.  But more on that later.  Now onto our newest family member...

 

 

Introducing Tiramisu!  Here she is, exploring her new surroundings.

 

So just to recap what's been happening in my life...

My dad got discharged from the month-long stay at the hospital, and was recovering for about a month at home.  The doctors then decided to start chemotherapy on him.  It was just a lot of stress on both me and my mom--we desperately needed some sort of healing, something to take the load off our minds, something furry and cuddly and cute... Yes.  This was the time for a cat.

We've been talking about getting a new cat for a while now, though dad has been against it.  But we decided to ignore his wishes.  WE NEED A CAT AND THAT WAS FINAL.

 

So with the help from my friend who knew about an animal shelter with free cats, I went in, not knowing what to expect.  There were several rooms, each with about 6 or 7 cats.  One cat, a scrawny brown tabby/calico mix named "Lottie" came up to me...and immediately jumped into my lap, begging to get petted.  I thought I was there to pick a cat... the cat picked me instead.

So I took her home that day.  We still had the litter box and the food/water dishes from Tanu, our late cat, so getting our house ready for a cat was not a problem.  Dad was pretty mad...but we figured he'll get over it in no time at all.

 

As for the cat, she indeed, had no problem settling in.

Nope.  No problem at all.  I picked the name Tiramisu, because:
1. Her color ranging from white to dark brown
2. I'm a pastry chef.  It's a given that I name my cat after a dessert.
3. "Tiramisu" means "pick me up" in Italian...just what my mom and I needed.  A pick-me-up to cheer us up during these tough times.