angst loves avocados, apparently

I kind of feel like a bad CatMommy for not knowing this, but I'm not sure if cats can see/identify colors.  I'm sure the answer is just a google search away, but I also don't really care if cats can see colors.  Here is what I do know: I was about a year away from finishing college when I got Angst, so he was around for all the highlighting and underlining and notetaking and studying and general ridiculousness that characterized my last year of college and the four years I spent in grad school.  He had very little interest in my highlighters, although he did find it occasionally amusing to steal one and bat it around, but the color was immaterial.  I also had a set of Pilot ink pens that came in four different colors to keep me amused (and theoretically, to help me differentiate important points in my notes): purple, green, blue, and red.

Angst LOVED the red pen.  I could not put it down for even a moment without him trying to steal it (and frequently succeeding) and carry it out of the room.  He was occasionally interested in the other pens, but he had absolutely no interest in the green one.

At this point, you're probably wondering where this is going and how soon after work I started drinking. I'll have you know that I am stone sober.  Where this is going?  Well, it seems like Angst has overcome his aversion to green (though he still favors red - just ask any roses he lets live) because now if something is both green and remotely edible, he cannot be deterred.

Tonight, I made Pasta Della California from Veganomicon.  I was originally planning to make the IncrediblyLongNamedAsianThemedDish, but then I remembered that I had the only non-rotten avocado in all of Philadelphia and realized that I probably couldn't expect it to keep up that title for long.

In pulling everything together, I had my first discovery of the night: I am completely in love with lime.  Lime juice, lime zest, whatever.  I was babbling about its delightful scent the other day when I made Jerk Seitan, since lime juice figures prominently into the marinade, but tonight I was sauteing a delicious amount of garlic with a generous pinch (or three) of crushed red pepper and the grated zest of the lime I juiced and added to the vegetable broth.  All of a sudden, the most delightful and sweet scent wafted up to my nostrils - I was not expecting the lime zest to cook up sweet-smelling.

Upon serving dinner, I had my second discovery.  Angst loves avocados.  That shocked me - I really did not expect it.  I mean, sure, he likes a lot of green stuff: spinach, arugula (sometimes), kale, basil, rose leaves... but they all share a common thread - they're leafy greens.

So, when he was begging for some of our dinner, his huge eyes got the better of me and I determined to "prove" to him that he had no interest in dinner.  My brilliant plan involved a small piece of avocado and my finger, which he knocked it off of and then slurped the little smushy greenness off of the floor.  As I watched him lick his little spot of floor clean, I was amazed - I did not think he would like it.  He wanted more!  So, I gave him another piece, which he slurped up like he'd never eaten before.

The most amusing part, though, was what happened after he ate his good, healthy fats for the day.  This happens every time we give him something with natural oils (or well-coated in olive oil) - he got Licky Face.  After each piece of avocado he finished, he licked all around the sides of his mouth for at least a solid minute, and once he was completely done, he gave himself a thorough face-washing with both his front paws.  It was like he was saying "EEWWWW, what's all over my face??"