Mary Grace the Christmas cat (2025)

22/09/2025

The humans went out for dinner last Sunday which gave me a day off. Sadly it was not the best experience for them & the Daddy said it made him appreciate my culinary skills all the more. Thank mew, I lubz compliments. To keep the humans happy I served up a regular favourite on Monday – there is nothing better than lasagne with garlic bread & a side salad. The balance had been restored. Other meals during the week were chicken jalfrezi with pilau rice & a garlic naan bread, black garlic chicken stir-fry, sweet chilli salmon & king prawns with dauphinoise potatoes, peas & sweetcorn &, of course, the usual Friday night pizzas. I produced something new yesterday – Hong Kong beef fillet with vermicelli noodles. It was well received by my humans & certain kitties also enjoyed sampling it! Today I am planning on a full Sunday roast beef dinner to show my humans how it should be done. You can’t get better than Chef Gracie! MOL.

Sending all my love & purrs, Gracie ###

15/09/2025

Much fun in the kitchen this week. When I look back at the meals I have prepared it feels like I have provided a culinary trip around the world. Last Sunday I served up a traditional roast pork dinner with all the trimmings & accompanying vegetables that you would expect. Monday it was rump steak with jacket potatoes. This meant that my brofurs & sisfurs got a treat of both pork & steak as I always try to prepare food that is good for both humans & felines! Other meals were lasagne, chicken jalfrezi with pilau rice, garlic naan bread & vegetable samosas, pizzas (a Friday night regular!), buttermilk chicken withy fries, peas & sweetcorn then yesterday (Caturday) I made schwarma chicken with garlic infused rice. I must give a big shout out today to Kaz ( & Dave) who really is the purrfect sous chef, always there to help & first in line when it comes to tasting the food. MOL.

Sending all my love & purrs, Gracie ###

07/09/2025

I have really enjoyed my time in the kitchen this week preparing some different to normal dishes alongside tried & tested favourites. All went well with praise being lavished on me by my humans! The week began last Sunday with traditional roast chicken with the usual trimmings & a selection of fresh vegetables. No need to save any (although the humans did!) for all my brofurs & sisfurs as they got their own. Yes, a whole chicken to themselves as the Daddy found it reduced in price in the supermarket. Everypawdy remarked how super nummy it was.

Monday I served braised beef & chianti ravioli in a rich tomato sauce. With the Daddy away at a conference for two days I prepared dishes for the Mummy that she likes but the Daddy doesn’t – lamb moussaka & a spinach & ricotta ravioli, the latter being accompanied with a crisp green salad. Thursday & Friday I was back to simple fayre – sausages, beans & potato wedges & pizzas. Yesterday I tried a new dish, salt & pepper chicken with rice. The humans said it had just the right amount of “kick” to it so I shall add it to my repertoire.

So much praise for me this week (Ed: Says Gracie modestly!) & the Mummy is even considering entering me to the TV show “Master Chef – the Professionals”. Now that would be fun & I could show off my talents to the whole country.

Sending all my love & purrs, Gracie ###

01/09/2025

Whilst I’m not really sure just what a “normal” week is, the Daddy says that this last week has been a normal one for me in the kitchen with no limits & no restrictions in the menus I have prepared. What I do know is that I have really enjoyed myself preparing a varied range of meals. I just lubz to prepare international cuisine, selecting the best meals from around the world. Let’s face it, you don’t get awarded a Michelin star by serving up bland, boring food! The meals I have served this week were individual steak & kidney pies with triple cooked chunky chips, medium rare rump steak with jacket potatoes, a brandy & peppercorn sauce & a side salad, sweet chilli salmon, stir fry chilli beef with savoury rice, the usual Friday night pizzas & black garlic chicken with peppers & noodles. Today I am preparing a traditional Sunday lunch (for the first time since the start of summer) with chicken, a selection of fresh vegetables & Yorkshire puddings. This coming week the Daddy is attending a conference in London with an overnight stay so I will get to prepare some food for the Mummy that only she likes. I shall surprise her!

Sending all my love & purrs, Gracie ###

24/08/2025

One of the important things about being a chef is the ability to prepare food to your customers’ specific needs & so it was this week with the Mummy (OK, so she’s the Mummy & not a customer but I’m sure you know what I mean!). As you can read on Kaz & Dave’s page today ( & Dave), the Mummy was given medication & told it would probably upset her stomach so I had to prepare relatively bland food. Last Sunday was sirloin steak with jacket potato & peppercorn sauce plus a side salad. Meals for the rest of the week consisted of lobster ravioli, sausage, beans & chips, Chinese pork steaks with egg fried rice, cheese & tomato omelette, individual steak& kidney pies with mixed vegetables &, of course, the usual Friday night pizzas. Hopefully I had the right mix of bland yet appetising. Certainly there were no complaints from the humans so I reckon I got it right & there was always something left to interest my brofurs & sisfurs who love to clean the plates!

Sending all my love & purrs, Gracie ###

17/08/2025

Your famous & furiendly Chef Gracie reporting. After a quiet couple of weeks I have been busy in the kitchen producing some recipes that tested me. I have really enjoyed myself & judging by their reaction the humans have been more than happy with the meals I have set before them. Last Sunday’s ribeye steak – happily shared with all the Anderson household kitties – was followed on Monday by chicken jalfrezi. Battered king prawns with a sweet chilli sauce & savoury rice, a burger stack with all sorts of extra toppings & then a Thai green chicken curry with sticky jasmine rice (difficult to get out of my whiskers!) led to the usual Friday night pizzas & yesterday (Caturday) we had beef kebabs on skewers with coleslaw & potato wedges. I am still undecided about Sunday lunch – will it be steak or will it be pasta with a rich beef & red wine filling? It has been nice to let my humans eat al fresco several times this week the sunshine & fresh air increasing their appetites. My sous chef Kaz ( & Dave) continues to be a great help & he is particularly adept at sampling everything at every stage of our food preparation. – strangely he insists on doing so!

Sending all my love & purrs, Gracie ###

10/08/2025

The Mummy has had a bit of an upset tummy this week which meant I could not prepare anything too hot or spicy. Ribeye steak with all the usual accompaniments last Sunday was followed the next day with lobster & ricotta cheese stuffed pasta with a lobster & tomato sauce (something new & it proved to be super nummy with both humans & felines). A hospital appointment on Tuesday meant that the humans ate out although being well trained the Daddy brought home steak for all of us kitties to share. The rest of the week saw lasagne, burgers & pizzas being served. At least yesterday I was able to be a little more creative, producing schwarma chicken wraps with a tahini dressing. Steak again for Sunday lunch, sirloin this time with peppercorn sauce & jacket potatoes. My menu choices must have been appreciated as I got lots of petting throughout the week although I was told off for sleeping in the crockery draining rack next to the sink. Don’t my humans know that if it doesn’t have kitty fur on it then it doesn’t belong?

Sending all my love & purrs, Gracie ###

04/08/2025

An easy week in the kitchen for me this last week but don’t be fooled by this comment. It is only all the hard work behind the scenes in doing lots of preparation that makes the difficult seem simple. So what dishes have I served up? Last Sunday was southern fried chicken with fries & corn (the Mummy is from LA after all) & then came chicken fajitas, BBQ ribs & a king prawn & garlic curry with pilau rice. Friday night saw the usual pizzas & allowing me to have last night off my sous chef Kaz ( & Dave) served grilled sausages with beans & hash browns – an easy meal but enjoyed by the humans all the same. I don’t know if you noticed but there was something in all these meals that the humans were able to share with all my kitty brofurs & sisfurs. Yes, catering for humans & felines does indeed take a lot of planning. Right time now to fire up the BBQ & grill some ribeye steaks. Yummy.

Sending all my love & purrs, Gracie ###

27/07/2025

No Kitty Fest to cater for this week. Even catering for the humans was fairly easy with no major recipes called for which meant I was able to take things easy & I could even delegate some of the work to my sous chef, Kaz ( & Dave). We served up rump steak with peppercorn sauce & all the usual trimmings & sides, lasagne with a side salad & garlic bread, beef curry & pilau rice , burgers & fries & individual steak& kidney pies with crispy sliced potatoes & mixed vegetables plus the usual Friday night pizzas. Tuesday was a day off as the Mummy had a hospital appointment so she went out for dinner with the Daddy. They arrived whilst the breakfast menu was still being served so the Mummy had bacon & maple waffles whilst the Daddy had steak & eggs (more American than English & not often seen on a menu here). The Daddy even brought some steak home for all of us kitties to share – we have him well trained!

Sending all my love & purrs, Gracie ###

20/07/2025

So, as revealed last week, the “Goose Burgers” went down well. Two things to note. 1. As promised, I can now reveal that the “secret” ingredient was some maple syrup. 2. The burgers were made with beef mince, not goose meat. My nickname, given to me by my humans, is “Gracie Goose” but usually shortened to just “Goose”. I’m sure the neighbours must be confused when they hear the humans calling for me to come in: “Goosie, Goosie, Goosie”. MOL. Other meals this week were schwarma chicken with garlic rice, pasta filled with beef & red wine with a rich tomato sauce, lamb tagine, beer-battered haddock with chips & peas as well as the usual Friday night pizzas with spicy beef, ham & pepperoni toppings. Along with my sous chef Kaz ( & Dave) I also catered for Wednesday night’s Kitty Fest. Kitty Fest rules are such that I really cannot tell you much more other than to say that amongst the dishes were turkey in white sauce & individual beef pates with a jelly centre.

Sending all my love & purrs, Gracie ###

13/07/2025

I have enjoyed myself in the kitchen this week. After the disaster of my previous attempt I was relieved that this week’s lamb tagine was spot on. I added some dried apricots & some sultanas for extra flavour & texture & that seemed to work really well. Purrhaps I have been keeping my humans safe from vampires this week as I have used a lot of black garlic in my cooking. We had a black garlic beef stir fry & then pork steaks marinaded in black garlic. I have decided to make my own burgers this morning using some top quality low fat beef mince, diced shallots, sea salt flakes, black pepper & an egg to bind everything together. Oh yes, there was also a secret ingredient but you will have to wait until next week as I am not sure about it yet!

I had yesterday off. One of the children bought the humans a gift voucher at Christmas for afternoon tea & they went out to use it. They came back home most pleased not just with the quality of the food (a selection of sandwishes with a salad garnish, homemade cakes & then scones with strawberry jam & clotted cream accompanied by a pot of tea) but also with the surroundings & the standard of service. They went to ( Olde Red Lion) at Holme upon Spalding Moor about 12 miles from here. At the other end of the village is a small hamlet with a strange name – it is called the Land of Nod. Yes, really. MOL.

Sending all my love & purrs, Gracie ###

06/07/2025

A quite relaxed week in the kitchen with nothing elaborate being served up, just the tried & tested favourites including meat balls in a tomato & garlic sauce with pasta, the usual Friday night pizzas & burgers with fries & a side salad. I got a night off last night (Caturday) as the humans had a rare treat. After all the recent trauma of losing three members of our furamily in just two weeks the Daddy decided that a meal out might cheer up the Mummy & him although even that was tinged with sadness. Their favourite Thai restaurant is closing today after 25 years so it was a bittersweet trip out.

I was planning on letting Kaz ( & Dave) – my sous chef – loose on the BBQ today but as this is being typed there are spots of rain on the window so it may well be a black garlic chicken stir free instead. So much for having a second day off! Not to worry as I really do love being a chef.

Sending all my love & purrs, Gracie ###

Mary Grace the Christmas cat