To every single person on this planet. Have a very merry Christmas xxx
Our kitty Scruffy goes to the vet for the second booster and leukemia booster.
He is growing in front of our eyes, and these days I often cannot trace the kitten face in him.
But when he is scared or uncomfortable, he sinks his face in between our arms, holding on to us. This is when we can see the baby face in him.
Since he came to our home, we have been with him all the time and rarely kept him alone. We have postponed holidays and been eating in a lot more. This week, we will leave for Japan for almost 3 weeks for Christmas and new year, and I am a little worried how he will take that. On top of that, it beats me that he will spend Christmas on his own.
I hope we will be able to travel everywhere in the near future.
Category : Cats, Home Cooking
Scruffy is a white cat. They are difficult to be kept white. Especially if he is a kitten!!!
Plus he has a complicated skin condition due to the poor environment he was in so today, Scruffy went for grooming!!!
In the bag…
Although our groomer is a great cat lover, Scruffy prefers to be home…
He was clean and fluffy but surely angry….
I want to be with Scruffy, but I have to start preparing weekend’s finger foods.
For Saturday night, we were invited to a NABE party; a dish cooked in a pot at the table. It’s very in thing to do in winter in Japan because it warms you up.
I decided to contribute and make samosas. It turned out to be GREAT!!!! I have to share with you. It’s quite simple.
I have;
1Kg of organic Potatoes
A cup of peas and diced onions (organic)
Quarter cup of cilantro
A cup of ghee
teaspoon of cumin seeds
3 teaspoons of Himalayan salt
Coriander leaves and coarse black pepper
Knob of ginger
1 egg
Wrapping sheets
Makes about 30-35 samosas, well, that’s not enough, trust me!!!
So basically what I did was boil the potatoes until they are nicely cooked, mash them and put it aside.
Melt the ghee and sweat the onions the add the peas.
When they are nicely shiny add cumin, salt and ginger. It is very greasy at this point but not to worry.
When everything comes together, add cilantro, mix for no longer than 20 seconds and add the potatoes.
When I tasted it I thought I wanted some kick so I added about 2 tablespoons of curry powder. This really did the job.
I waited till the mash is completely cool, and wrapped it with the sheets. I Googled on how to wrap samosas and to my surprise, most people have not figured out.
Us smarties figured it out ourselves. It’s quite simple really. Just place the filling on top left side of the paper but leave about 2cm, fold the paper in haf, hold the 2cm that you have left onto the filling and fold it so that it makes a triangle, until the paper completely covers the whole thing.
This is when the egg come in handy, you want to seal the deal so the flavour stays in. Simply brush them and seal.
In they go to the oil, about 180 degrees Celsius. To know this it’s simple. Take a chop stick (heat resistant please) and insert it into the bottom of the pan.
If little bubbles emerge, then it’s about 180. It’s a nice mellow bubblies like Champagne. If it bubbles away like beer you are too hot!
I fried them in grape-seed oil because they are heat resistant. Never use olive oil because they will not get hot enough to deep fry anything!
For Sunday we were going to go water rafting, and I wanted to make everyone lunch so I did some preparation while the potato mash was cooling.
The menu for lunch in the jungle was 4 kinds sandwich, samosa left overs, steamed veggies and fried chicken. I marinaded the chicken in 3 different sauces.
They all came from these simple ingredients…
On the left we have spicy soy sauce with loads of garlic and ginger, Chilli padi and lemon juice.
Middle we have yogurt, makes chicken heavenly soft.
Sweet chili sauce is on our right! I added some thyme so it’s exciting.
All I did was slice some onions to further help chickens to soften and chuck them into sandwich bags like so.
They can sleep in the fridge over night till I am ready to fry them! If you cannot sleep at night, it’s the chickens calling you! Go to the fridge and turn it around so everything is marinated nicely.
I made a critical mistake here; I forgot to get flour. I do not normally make fried food or anything that requires flour so flour does not live in my cupboard. There are no supermarkets open at 4 a.m. (this is when I miss Japan) so I fried them just like that.
There is nothing wrong with it but it just doesn’t look as good. It is also easier for them to puncture, so beware…
So here we are! let’s hit the river!!!
Water rafting is hardcore. I didn’t know what to expect but I did not expect THAT! Well, it was heaps of fun though…
When we arrive home, our tiny (not for long) Scruffy missed us so much. We were away from you for so long… We missed you too…
Hold me and never let me go…
Scruffy needed us to be home so we ate in.
We tried Bincho-tan Soba. Bincho-tan is a kind of high end charcoal. Charcoal is great in purifying and deodorising air. Similarly, it is great for our body in that it detoxifies the digestive system. It may look nasty but it is very nice. Normally Soba is eaten with noodle sauce and spring onions, but I replaced it with celery for extra crunchy bites.
Now it’s the way it should be; We are happy and full, and Scruffy is safe and sleepy…
Category : Cats
They say that cats sleep most of their lives… I think that is well true.
Day and night, he sleeps…
In various places…
In various positions…
But he is not always sleeping.
He has other important tasks in his life. He eats and plays.
Also, he is a strict mess-detector. Should he find a delenda such as clothes on the chair, I get punishment from the Department of Destruction.
You can’t park your parker here! You get a ticket mate.
In his diligence, he has found a monitor-tower.
Day and night, rain or shine, he stands on the tower to monitor us monkeys.
How, Scruffy, I didn’t know you worked so hard… No wonder you sleep so much to compensate…
Thank you for all your hard work.
The day has come… to go to the Vet!
Our little precious Scruffy has only been with us for 2 weeks and a half, but he has grown in us so much that we often wonder where he is sleeping when we get back home (it has become our favourite topic from the elevator to the door). He has become part of our lives in a big way.
This means that his not-so-perfect condition saddens us deeply. He does not have a life threatening diseases, but he did bring many friends we call fleas from the fish shop he spent 4 months in.
In under 3 weeks, he has been to the vet 3 times and he needs 3 more trips before 2007 ends.
Scruffy begs us not to take him to the vet…
Vet? Neverrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
I do not know of any cat that likes to go out, and Scruffy is no exception. However, this wonderful boy “give up” once we get into the car and just sleeps on my lap… ehhh, I’m driving sweetheart…
At the vet he is a star awwwing all the ladies and impress doctors by being such a good patient.
Today’s horrifying menu for Scruffy was;
Weighting
Temperature (Do you think the put it under his tongue? Think again.)
Vaccine
Blood Test
Skin test
The good news is, he has put on 200 grams in 2 weeks! We have been trying to bulk him up a bit and he has been very (very very very) cooperative.
For being such a fantastic boy, we decided to get him yet another gift; a scratching post! A second one! With the bed on top! And we bought the blue one because everyone assumes Scruffy is a girl and we don’t want him to have the identity crisis!
Scruffy tries to help me assemble the post…
Checking the fluffiness; I’m the pea princess!
Hmmm, not bad at all!
Of course, I don’t approve of just him getting the goodies, I want something too!
So we got ourselves a gift to help us breathe better. It’s the year-end, haze season. For a girl who has grown up in this beautiful tropical country, it is highly depressing to wake up in the morning and see overcast across the city. Plus we have Scruffy the hirsute so air purifier is essential.
This is Plasmacluster KC-6500 by SHARP (We always try to support brands from our countries :]). What it basically does is it balances positive and negative ions (crucial in purifying air and killing germs) and it works as humidifier and dehumidifier. There is also a censor that tells you what kind of air quality environment you live. You can see that we were living in the “Danger zone” as the red light flashes away!
Since we, especially Scruffy was exhausted from this big day, we decided to eat in and eat easy. I have decided to have just cheese and crackers, and grapes and celery on the side.
And Robert the bachelor guy had self-made egg sandwich. And after this it is needless to say that we all slept like babies in the forest air….
Category : Cats
I have added funny Scruffy jumping for his fish.
Check this out it’s cute…
Category : Cats
Oh Scruffy… Ma boy.
He was soiled and seedy and fragrant with gin… eh, FISH.
We found this cutie cat in a fish shop in Ampang…
How can one not take him home…
He was skinny as a pencil, but he had the brain-melting baby smell on his forehead.
Since he is with us, he plays and plays and plays (and eats and eats and eats).
Curious as a kitten, he explores and is eager to learn to type dhwuahhhhhhhjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj.
He is an early Christmas from Visa.
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