TiTi's Pee Pee

 

 

 

 

October 17, 2008
We’re on a cooking marathon. What I had thought would be a once every couple of weeks cooking lesson has turned into an almost daily event. This left Kim to ponder and ask, “I wonder why Rita thinks she has to teach you everything in one week?” Rita has initiated more and more and I do not want to say no to her generous offer and great kindness. Today, upon my arrival at Rita’s to make gnocchi, she was in a bit of a twit because her rabbit, TiTi had just “pee peed” on her couch for the second time this week. She greeted me at her door with cleaning supplies and began telling me how TiTi had just used the shower area to “pee pee” but then, not 10 minutes later, she used the couch again to “pee pee”. I could barely contain myself; it took great strength on my part to not burst out laughing. Poor Rita’s hands were flying everywhere as she cursed the little rabbit she dearly loves. Little TiTi just quietly munched away in her cage, oblivious to the chaos she had just caused. My first reaction was to begin to try to problem solve a housetraining regime but I quickly remembered that my Italian wouldn’t even begin to address such an issue. So, I just shook my head and gave her my sympathy and chided TiTi with “male TiTi; male, bad , bad TiTi".
So on to cooking and the creation of gnocchi—little pasta dumplings made from flour and potatoes. It’s been interesting for me to be in someone else’s kitchen and to adapt to their preferences and idiosyncrasies. Rita is quite fastidious and definitely has her way of doing things. I would say that I am much more casual in the kitchen and she’s more formal. You would quickly notice this also in the way she dresses. She is always dressed to the nines and looks very elegant, even when wearing blue jeans. Me, well you all already know that I missed out on that gene. And where I would just pick up a cooked potato and peel it with my hands, she delicately uses a fork to pull away the skin, the potato never coming into contact with her hands. She has me wear an apron, and where she tends to measure and weigh, I’ve always been a “throw in about this much” kind of cook. Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining. I am just noticing the differences and when you add this to our language barrier sometimes I’m just a tad anxious….I do try to use humor when I can. Today while shopping she accidentally hit me in the face as we were loading groceries. She quickly asked if I was okay and I decided to just collapse down into the trunk of the car as though passed out. When I looked at her face she was so horrified that I immediately burst out laughing and thankfully, so did she. We laughed and laughed and it melts away my sense of inferiority.
The gnocchi was easier to make than I thought it would be. She sent me home with enough for two meals along with the ragu sauce that we made last night (that involved a three hour simmering job). While at the store today, we also bought the ingredients for two more dishes: one I think will be another type of sauce and the other is something called “Rabaton”. She says that it contains spinach, ricotta, eggs and flour. I am not so sure because to my ears it sounds a lot like a soft little creature with floppy ears… Run, TiTi, run!