Mowzer is so devoted to Tom that she accompanies him on his dangerous journey to the fishing grounds, "for he was only a man, she thought, and men were like mice in the paws of the Great Storm-Cat. Even better, Tom catches fresh fish that he transforms into marvelous meals: a fish stew called morgy-broth baked hake topped with golden mashed potatoes cooked kedgeree with smoked ling grilled fairmaids fried launces soused scad with vinegar and onions and, best of all, star-gazy pie with prime pilchards in pastry. He serves her perfect bowls of cream, keeps the house toasty warm and tickles her in just the right place behind her left ear. Mowzer has "her own pet, old Tom," well trained. Tom makes his home with a black-and-white Cadillac of a cat named Mowzer. On the day before Christmas Eve a fisherman named Tom decides to do something about it. When a tremendous winter storm personified as a Great Storm-Cat descends on Cornwall, the people of a tiny fishing village called Mousehole ("They say it in the Cornish way, 'Mowzel,' but you may say it as you choose") begin to starve because fishing boats cannot leave the harbor. Inspired by an old Cornish legend, in "The Mousehole Cat" Antonia Barber concocts an original tale as delectable as any of the culinary specialties so lovingly described in her story.
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