Having Nesta Over

We had a busy week, but we wanted to fulfill a playdate with Nesta and his pawrents. We talked about that months ago, but never gotten around to having them over to get in a longer conversation than our quick hi-byes at walks and the parks. We knew we would be short on time, so we started food prep a day early. A ragù and pasta would always be easy to do. Thankfully, our guests were cool with the menu and a one-dish meal.

We prepped a three-hour oven-braised ragù of minced pork, lean beef and lamb. That's always an easy meat sauce to freeze or put in the fridge, and then tossed with pasta when we need it. This batch could feed like six people. Hahaha. So we froze a box for our own meal next week. For dinner tonight, we opted for tagliatelle al ragù alla Bolognese. Served up an easy side of Malai broccoli. It was so easy to do. It was marinated in cream cheese, greek yoghurt, spices and topped with shredded cheddar, and then grilled for fifteen minutes. Our guests had a huge lunch, but our tasty portions for dinner weren't gigantic either, so there were no leftovers. Hahaha.

Nesta's pawrents were mortified that he sprayed thrice at the edge of our carpet. He knows he's not supposed to, but he couldn't help marking because he was sooo excited. Ah well. Boys. I leave the training to the pawrents. Aunty Imp here is fine because a Choya lives here, and she does have poop accidents at home. Heh. (She has also famously peed in the friends’ study, leaving us mortified as well.) The pawrents knew Nesta's cues, caught his attempt to mark each time, and scolded him. The pee was minimal, and his pawrents wiped it up quickly. There would be minimum stains. Also, my bottles of enzymatic cleaners work superbly well. Nesta and Choya played fine together, in the usual Shiba way (fangs and all), and after a while, went to lie down in each of their corners for some shut-eye and solitude.

I'm terrible with desserts and tend to forget about it. This time I didn't. I didn't want a cake or ice-cream. Went out to Tarte by Cheryl Koh to get some tasty tarts. I was pleased to see a Kinokawa x Tarte collaboration. It matched our meat-heavy menu perfectly. Bought a medium-sized Wakayama Orange tart. It held Haruka and Shunpo citruses from Kannonyama Fruit Garden in Kinokawa, Wakayama prefecture. It was soooo good.