Saucer Cat:   Mango operates under the impression that my breakfast is really "our" breakfast. He suns himself in the kitchen window while I'm cooking breakfast and, once it is ready, he follows me to the table patiently waiting for his share. One morning I was either too slow or he got too impatient so when I picked up my mug of tea he stepped onto the saucer to get a lot closer to the plate. Subtle little guy, don't you think?

Truffle Cat:   The other night Bev made pasta with truffle butter and some real truffles from a tiny can a friend of hers brought back from France. The moment the can's seal was broken Mango went goofy trying desperately to get to the can!  I tried to hold him back but he was far too squirmy (twisting and turning) to hold for long. Bev emptied the can and scooped the few remains out for him which he eagerly licked up and then he cleaned the inside of the can. After dinner he and Peaches thoroughly cleaned the plates (hey, there's no dishwasher needed in this house!).

Toy Mouse Flambé:   One evening Michelle and John came over for dinner and to meet The Mango (and Peaches & Bubbles, of course) and were treated to a typical evening with an Aby.  Dinner was baking in the oven when the oven started smoking a lot. There was something on fire in the oven (it's electric!) and it wasn't the food. After we fished a flaming lump from the back of the oven we learned it was a pretty well incinerated toy mouse. Evidently after the oven was cleaned and allowed to stand open for a few minutes earlier in the day, Mango had briefly been in the oven and had left a toy mouse behind. But the story doesn't end here. Michelle has a small open top purse with beaded loop handles and Mango (as always) was busy digging in her purse to see what was there. He had his head through one of the handles and was just realizing he wasn't able to easily get free of the purse when the toy mouse in the oven caught fire and started smoking. When the vent fan in the kitchen came on, the noise startled Mango just as he was dealing with his head trapped by the purse. He suddenly shot around the room slinging stuff from the purse as he ran finally breaking the handle (and breaking free!) after everything in the purse had been scattered around the living room. Mango was found hiding under the bed but a couple of cat treats got him back to normal. He was later mooching food while we ate dinner - you know, the dinner lightly smoked over a burning toy mouse - so everything was OK with him. Just another evening with Mango...

Escargot:   A local food store called Trader Joe's has unusual items in their regular inventory. One of these is pre-prepared escargot in garlic butter. A "taste test" was being performed one evening and the escargot was heated per the instructions and ready to serve. Once it was on the table, Peaches snatched the escargot off the a plate and ran off to a corner of the living room to eat it. Evidently she liked it as she came back for more! This is the same cat who also loves white wine (particularly Gewűrztraminer) and flavored vodka martinis. These Abys have expensive tastes...

Food Thief:   Peaches has finely honed her food stealing skills. On two occasions she has stolen food from a frying pan before the food got hot. The first time was bacon strip she snatched and slurped down. She looked just like a tape measure retracting the tape. The second time was when she stole an Italian sausage. She grabbed it by the end and dragged it between her front legs as she ran. She even growled at Mango when he got too close to her "kill." When finally recovered, the sausage was covered with cat hair and rug fuzz so it became cat food.

Of course, given Mango's household there are more stories to come...