Review & Giveaway: In the Kitchen with Cookie & Compositions in Black and Green 2013 Calendars

We kitties do not need planners or calendars. But our humans do. Are your humans still looking for a 2013 calendar? Read on.

We were recently contacted by animal artist Bernadette Kazmarski, whose blog, The Creative Cat, I’m sure all of you know. If for some reason you don’t, I urge you to visit her website.

Bernadette is a multi-talented artist and an animal lover. My human and I enjoy the many ways she shares her passions on her website: from pictures of the members of her extended family of furry friends, to beautiful paintings, drawings, sketches of kitties (hers and others’), to beautifully written stories of rescued kitties, there is always something funny, moving, or inspiring (usually a combination of the three) to enjoy at her place on the Internet.

So we were thrilled and honored when she contacted us (really me, Texas) to ask if we would be interested in reviewing her 2013 calendars: In the Kitchen with Cookie & Compositions in Black and Green.

Compositions in Black and Green will be sure to meet your daily needs for mischievous kitty prowesses: playing in their human’s bathroom, offering their both cute and majestic mirror reflection to the artist’s camera. Each month offers wonderful and funny pictures of Bernadette’s five black cats in front of the white and green theme of the artist’s kitties’ bathroom.
Mimi, Mewsette, Jelly Bean, Mr. Sunshine and Giuseppe Basil Verdi will assuredly help you start each day of 2013 on the right paw. It will also help you see black cats in a whole new color.

In the Kitchen with Cookie will bring you an assistant chef in form of a calendar. When your name is Cookie, you make it a point to wear your colors (especially when they are tortoiseshell) proudly and that surely gives you a licence to spend more time than any kitty can dream of spending in the kitchen. This calendar is an adorably sweet (and savory) mix of beautiful pictures of Cookie and related (to Cookie’s postures) recipes from the artist. Evidently, Bernadette and Cookie formed a great team in the kitchen.
I tried to convince my human to try the cheesecake recipe (especially since Cookie seemed to require that kitties test the filling) but my human is on a diet too! She preciously kept the recipe though.

Both calendars allow for you to input important appointments and some notes. Yet they are small enough to fit in a hand bag if necessary. They both exist bound either on the top (as a wall calendar) or to the left (as a journal calendar). My human had a preference for the journal calendar, but it all depends how you expect to use it. Both versions of both calendars can be ordered here.

Bernadette has kindly offered to giveaway one copy of In the Kitchen with Cookie (wall calendar) and of Compositions in Black and Green (journal calendar).
To win a copy, please leave a comment telling us which calendar you prefer and why. Don’t forget to leave your email so I can contact you if you win. You have until Saturday, Jan. 26, 9.00 pm EST. A random drawing will give us the two winners, that I will announce on Sunday.

***Receiving a copy of the calendars did not influence this kitty’s or his human’s opinion.***

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2013 Third Annual “Architects for Animals: Giving Shelter”

My human went to the Third Annual “Architects for Animals: Giving Shelter” event last Thursday. This project, which was launched in 2010, aims at helping NYC feral cats:

Every year since 2010, some of New York’s most prestigious architectural designers, through an inventive project called Architects for Animals, have been helping New York City’s feral cats by creating imaginative winter shelters to provide them with a refuge from the cold. We are delighted to present these collections of unique, inspired winter shelters for public viewing at the Architects for Animals: Giving Shelter exhibit before they are placed in locations throughout the city to provide comfort for the cats. This annual exhibition benefits the New York City Feral Cat Initiative of the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals.

It was taking place in the place called Manhattan, very close to Columbus Circle.

I would like to start by thanking Sparkle for posting so quickly about the event (that’s how we learned, and we live in NY!), and Tamar of I Have Cat for sending the info to bloggers.

Thankfully, a lot of people showed up; the showroom was crowded.

So of course, my human didn’t even offer to bring me to the event. Okay, there was a LOT of people, but she could have offered still.

My human took the pictures during the event, so the pictures tend to be crowded too. You can see good shots of each shelter at Cat Wisdom 101 and I Have Cat. But here are my human’s.

Leslie Farrell, founder of Architects for Animals, made a short speech to thank everyone. She got a little emotional.

She invited everyone to pick some kibbles at the buffet to put in their favorite shelter’s bowl, in order to vote. Yes, furriends, despite my human pretending there would be only human food at the buffet, there were kitty kibbles!

The first one is by M. Moser Associates. You can click on the third picture to read more about these kitty pods.
See the bowl on the floor? That’s in those that people could vote by throwing kibbles in there.

The following one, Shelter A, was created by Callison Barteluce. You can also click on the third pic to see details (although the quality isn’t that great)

The following one, Swiss Cheese by Stonehill & Taylor, was entirely made of recycled materials.

The next one is a simple, one cat shelter, by H³ Hardy Collaboration Architecture. You can click on this one.

Since this is NYC, it’s only fair that kitties have their skyscraper (okay kinda) too. This one is by Francis Cauffman.

The last one my human took pictures of (apparently, she missed one) is quite original. It is made with recycled cat food cans (yes, cat food cans!) that are insulated. The shelter is made so that 2 to 4 cats can be inside it at the same time, but still not be too close to one another (I am not sure it is very visible on the third picture, but the inside kind of has corners). It was made by the American Street Cat. This shelter is aready being used (check here).

Last but not least, this DIY NYC Cat Fort, by Pilot Projects. Isn’t that cool?! You can find the details here.

My human was glad to see Tamar of I Have Cat and Layla of Cat Wisdom 101, that she had both met at the Rentaneko projection. She was also very glad to meet Kevin and Tracey of Animal Shelter Volunteer Life. I wish I could have meet them too!

All in all, my human says the event appeared to be successful. Let’s hope it will be able to do its part to help NYC feral kitties.

You can find more pictures here, as well as “in progress photos of a habitat for NYC’s homeless animals,” Stonehill & Taylor’s shelter, on Stonehill & Taylor’s Facebook page.

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Wonderful Christmas ornaments for a good cause – with our names on the ornaments!!

[The awards post will come later today – I have something to show you first]

Did you know that our furriends Star and Leo, from Celestial Kitties, and their human, are running a Christmas Fundraiser for Winnie’s Wish?

Star’s and Leo’s human, Andrea, is making (herself! – it’s not my human who could do that!) beautiful Christmas ornaments, some of which can even be purrsonalized with our names!

Here are ours:

You can even ask for catnip inside. Since the humans won’t have a Christmas Tree (they are afraid we Kitshka will destroy it), the ornaments serve as toys for us. Yep. Ours have catnip.

For a donation of $15 you get three ornaments. Additional ornaments are $3 each.

Every dollar above postage and a very tiny materials amount goes to Winnie’s Wish! That’s about $12 a basic set! Winnie’s Wish is dedicated to rescuing abandoned or feral kitties and finding them great homes where they can be loved for the rest of their lives!

Go check the details here!

They were instantly successful with us. They are beautiful, smell sooooo good and make great pillows too!

Look at my reaction first!
[click on any picture to biggify]

It smells good!

It looks very nice!

It’s resistant

I love it!!

Nom!

What? Yes, I drooled on it…

I am still the nip guru…

Ommmmmm…

…mmmmm-nommmmmm…

Kitshka was first hesitant, but that didn’t last long!
[click on any picture to biggify]

Oh! Texas is all baked again!

You think I should try?

Well, it is very soft under my paw

It has beautiful colors

I can definitely play with it!

It smells a little weird

What should I do?

Let’s try on the tree

Hiya beautiful ornament!

Come closer to me

I kind of like the weird smell actually

Will you resit my mighty paw?

Will you?

Not bad!

I think I like you lots, beautiful ornament

You smell gooooood…

Let’s snuggle!

I wonder if I could apply to a nip guru workshop…

Milou was a little shy because he’s not used to being featured on a blog…
[click on any picture to biggify]

You mean it’s MINE? With my name on it!

Oh thank you!

It smells like great nip inside

Feels nice to my left cheek

Right too

Let’s try on the tree too

The female human is taking pictures of me

You think I could be a star too?

This is angry Milou

Meditative Milou

Astonished Milou

Shy Milou

‘scuse me for a second I have to wash my paw…

Okay Milou. Thanks for this but the goal was to play with the ornament. Never mind.

As the nip guru, I of course had to try each and every ornament, to make sure the nip was extra great quality. It was.

What? I know it’s Milou’s!

Yes, I know it’s Kitshka’s!

I’m not stealing them I’m testing them!

Look!

You know what?

I love these ornaments

Be sure to check the fundraiser.

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Dear Sparkle – Cat-to-Cat Advice from the world’s foremost feline columnist: A review

A little less than a month ago, I pawticipated in my first ever Twitter pawty. It was organized by Baby Patches of Nip and Bones and the beautiful Sparkle. It was a virtual book signing pawty for Sparkle’s book!

I was very excited and liked every minute of it. The beautiful Sparkle answered questions and pawtographed books like a pro. Of course, being a kitty, she is a pro!

The pawty ended with the olive on the tuna cake when I was first to answer the question asked to win a pawtographed copy! Look at the beauty on the right! (click for a bigger version)

“Dear Sparkle: Cat-to-Cat Advice from the World’s Foremost Feline Columnist” is a must-have for any feline, my furriends, and for many reasons.

The book is full of colored pictures of the beautiful Sparkle, and this only is a reason to own it. But the book is so much more.

Sparkle has collected letters from kitties from around the world that sent her their questions about kitty issues that you and I may well have encountered: from toys and games to dealing with strange human habits to litter box issues. Sparkle answers with wits, humor and charm (is there anything more charming than a Ladycat with repartie?).

I liked that the book was divided into sections related to different kinds of issues. I also absolutely loved the little “Sparkle Says” tidbits of wisdom here and there.

The book reads well and you can either read it from cover to cover, or pick and choose a letter and Sparkle’s answer. Even if you don’t have the issue mentioned in the letter, there is always something to learn from the expert. What better expert can you ask for as a kitty than a kitty? This book has been written by a kitty and you can clearly see it.

Open-minded humans will read this book and take it as a way to better understand their master kitty friend.

Conclusion: we give it four paws!

I mentioned above that I answered a question to win the book. It was about her next book, and it is going to be about cat rules for humans. I am eagerly waiting for this book and Kitshka and I have started applying rule #882, as you can see below (we were on the human’s hubby’s chair).

THANK YOU Sparkle, for this great book!
Furriends, Christmas is coming, this could be added to your list to Santa Paws ;-)

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Beautiful Japanese cats drawings

We’re a little late reblogging this but some of you might have missed it (like we did initially). So check these wonderful paintings of Japanese Cats at Myau Myau’s photo gallery.

Myau Myau's photo gallery

Cat lovers had better to go to watch Ukiyoe cats images exhibition at Ukiyoe Ota memorial Museum of Art at Harajyuku, if you stay in Tokyo. It will finish on July 26th (THU) 2012. These cats are wearing kimonos, dancing, playing Kabuki, eating, drinking, frightening people, taking a bath, wedding and so on. They are splendid works for Kuniyoshi school members at Edo period.

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Minette’s Feast: a book about a cat and food in Paris. What’s not to like about it?

Remember I mentioned this book before?

Well, my human borrowed it at the library some time ago and we had the occasion to read it together. No, I was not snoozing!

Well, it’s a lovely little book. My human even plans to buy it when she can to keep it.

It is primarily a children book, so it is a quick read for a cat or adult human. It is full of beautiful drawings of Minette, Julia Child‘s Parisian cat.

It tells the story of how Julia Child, then studying cooking in Paris, came to adopt Minette and what Minette’s life was like living in Paris with Julia Child.

Both my human and I liked it lots. Me because it’s mostly about a Parisian cat and my human because it’s about a cook and beautiful drawings of her cat. Also, as mentioned before, this makes a great book to introduce cats and cooking to a child.

All in all, go check it out.

You can see part of it on Amazon (to give you an avant-goût).

You can also go check the author’s page. You can watch the author in the following video (talking about Minette’s Feast, starting at 1min20) and see some of the drawings from the book. Minette was really cute =^.^=

Also you can see images here and here.

We hope you’ll like it!

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Rentaneko… neko neko… Who wants to rent a cat?

So our humans left us alone, Milou and I, Wednesday evening. To go to the movies!! Can you believe that?

Well, the truth is I understand why they did: they had the opportunity to see Rentaneko or Rent-a-Cat. What is so unfair is that us kitties couldn’t go.

My human has written a post about the movie on her own blog:

Rent-a-Cat is about a young woman running a business of renting cats to lonely people. The rented cat’s mission, she explains to her clients, is to mend the hole in their hearts. But Sayoko, the young woman, is also yearning to find her special someone.

Then she included a video about the movie. Here:

 
I am a bit jealous because I would have loved to have been able to see the movie. My human liked it very much, as did her husband, and she said she will buy the DVD if it is released. So we can watch it all together. But when?

Also, my human had the occasion to meet two nice ladies from two of my favorite blogs (after all, that is thanks to me if she found out about this movie!): Ms. Tamar from I Have Cat, who posted about the movie, and Ms. Layla from Cat Wisdom 101, who reviewed the movie. I also wish I could have met these two cat lovers and my human said they were very nice ladies and they all had a good time!

Sooooo while we wait for a DVD, err, we’re going to take a nap.

Go watch this movie if you can! The humans say it is worth it and for once I’m inclined (vocab builder) to believe them!

Oh, also my dumb human realized why these were called neko flies… We do deserve to dominate the world, don’t you think?

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Furriends with female humans: Sauza tequila is what you need

Well, what your human needs actually. Or is it the Fireman? No! It’s the kitten of course, right?

Now if I could just get my human to STOP watching the vid. She says it’s for the kitten, but somehow I have a doubt.

Now check the following one. Who’s the star? Who’s the star? Exactly Ladies.

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A children’s book for furry and human friends alike

I bet my human is going to rush to the store to check it out. I’m talking about Ms Reich’s children book, “Minette’s Feast: The Delicious Story of Julia Child and her Cat”

The story, she said, should delight not just kids, but foodies, cat lovers, Child fans and Francophiles.

“Minette’s Feast: The Delicious Story of Julia Child and her Cat,” was released May 1 by Abrams and tells the story of Child’s first cat she adopted when she lived in Paris in 1948 with her husband, Paul. At the time, Child was learning to cook and the couple lived in an old apartment near the Seine.

I have lived in Paris too! Oui Madame !

Reich explained that as Child was learning to cook, she would often give Minette the leftovers. Her apartment, she added, also had mice in the walls.

“The crux of the story is about the cat preferring the mice to anything Julia Child cooks,” Reich said.

This reminds me something…

Gotta tell my human to buy it. Also you can check the author’s website.

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Desperate housewife Eva Longoria turned into crazy cat lady?

Purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…

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Ruining pictures 101 – Lesson 3: turn your back to the human

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Hoops & YoYo success story: another cat success story – Happy Mother’s Day!

Ah, well, we cats were simply created to be stars!

Here’s a story about Hoops and his humans.

Sound is important because the men make e-cards, email greetings in the form of short animations. Their core franchise stars an excitable pink cat named Hoops and his little green rabbit sidekick, YoYo, their voices high-pitched to an almost chipmunk-like shrillness. Hallmark said Hoops & YoYo, which have almost 200 cards online, account for about one-third of its total e-cards sent. The cartoon duo now have their own line of paper cards, coffee mugs, plush dolls, bumper stickers and a holiday TV special.

Go send a card to your Mom! Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms!

Sigh. I wish I would remember my Mom.

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“Feed Me!” Simon’s cat’ s success

We’re glad Simon and his cat are very successful and well-known. It is nice from Simon to recognize that this success is mainly due to his cat though ;-)

We are very much a fan of Simon’s cat in this house, furry friends and humans alike. That’s why after the videos, we’re going to ask our humans to check the book:

I think I’m hungry. Let me get my human to give me some food ;-)

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Ruining pictures 101 – Lesson 2

Always be quicker than your human’s camera.

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Make Santa Paws bring me a CAT-AT Luxury Condo!

I definitely want one of these! I bet it would even scare the dogs next door ;-)

Besides I like the way it was decorated. Check the birds head trophies here as well as other pics.

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CatCam: The life of Mr. Lee

Some humans venerate us so much that not only do they make movies about us, they also are extremely curious about what we do that they cannot see. This is how the idea for CatCam was born. Now Mr. Lee is a Holly-catnip-wood star!

And humans are happy they can see what we see. Well, almost.

Hat tip: Human Josh Horgan

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Ruining pictures 101 – Milou teaches you

Geez! Milou!

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Massages for cats

I want one like that too!

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A Cat in Paris? Are they talking about me? But I’m in New York now!

A couple of days ago my human and I were very excited to learn that a French animated film had been nominated for the Oscars. Not because it was French, but because it appeared to be about a cat. A Cat in Paris! (For those that don’t know me very well yet, I used to be “A Cat in Paris” until I moved to NY with my human, human’s husband and two half-brothers, to become “A Cat in New York”. My Facebook page is still called “A Cat in Paris” because I can’t change its name)

The animated feature film is called “Une vie de Chat” in French which means “A cat’s life,” although they gave it the English title “A Cat in Paris.”

My human managed to get a copy and we watched it.

Spoiler: The story is about a little girl whose father was killed by a famous gangster. Her cat leaves her at night to spend time with a theft and accompany him during his burglaries. When the little girl gets into trouble, the cat and the theft come to the rescue.

I won’t tell you more, except that my human and I were disappointed that with such a title, the film wasn’t that much about the cat, much more about the little girl and the theft, which is okay, only we were expecting more about, well, the cat’s life.

Anyway, we wish them luck for tonight!

Here is an article in French about the film : “Une vie de chat : la surprise française des Oscars”

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Kipling’s The Cat that Walked by Himself

Here is a little treat for our furiends and human friends alike. Kipling was probably a dog person. I’m glad my human is a cat person ;-)

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Yeats’ The Cat and the Moon: a New Year treat – HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Wishing everyone reading my blog, furriends and humans, fans and followers, a very Happy New Year! May 2012 bring you lots of purrs and treats!

I’m feeling in a romantic mood in this new year, so I would like to start 2012 by sharing this poem by W. B. Yeats: The Cat and the Moon.

The cat went here and there
And the moon spun round like a top,
And the nearest kin of the moon,
The creeping cat, looked up.
Black Minnaloushe stared at the moon,
For, wander and wail as he would,
The pure cold light in the sky
Troubled his animal blood.
Minnaloushe runs in the grass
Lifting his delicate feet.
Do you dance, Minnaloushe, do you dance?
When two close kindred meet,
What better than call a dance?
Maybe the moon may learn,
Tired of that courtly fashion,
A new dance turn.
Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
From moonlit place to place,
The sacred moon overhead
Has taken a new phase.
Does Minnaloushe know that his pupils
Will pass from change to change,
And that from round to crescent,
From crescent to round they range?
Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
Alone, important and wise,
And lifts to the changing moon
His changing eyes.

— W. B. Yeats

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CHocolAT by Pierre Hermé & Nicolas Vial

My human likes Pierre Hermé’s desserts/macarons/chocolates. I think I’m gonna like the guy!

He has two boxes of macarons named after the most intelligent of species: cats. It’s called “Chat Roux” et “Chat Brun” by Pierre Hermé. Check it out. Nicolas Vial’s website is here. He’s the painter :-) Great job by the way!

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The Rabbi’s Cat – Le chat du rabbin

Funny movie my humans watched yesterday (click CC at the bottom right of the video to get English subtitles):

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Bouygues Telecom cat ad rocks!

Just saw this great video from Bouygues Telecom (again thanks to BoingBoing). Love it! I would have made my human change her telecom operator should we still be living in France!

Enjoy!

French version:

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Barely feral?

Cats under 2 years of age shouldn’t follow this link.
 
Hat tip: BoingBoing.

 

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Kitties & bullshit

I like this smart girl‘s blog! I purrticularly like the truth of this drawing ;-)

Go check her blog!

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Cats in (human) clothes

Painter Heather Mattoon had the brilliant idea (not surprisingly, thanks to her cat) to paint cats in clothes.

Check her website here. There are some pretty nice paintings. You can even get a painting of your cat in clothes (think about it: a painting of your cat in clothes is so much better than actually trying to put clothes on your cat… no we don’t like it, no no).

And we can’t resist the urge of quoting the painter:

We should also be more like cats: soulful, stylish, and entirely unconcerned with others’ opinions.

(Hat tip: I Can Has Cheezburger)
 

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