My Angel

Christmas eve dinner with family

The ingredients for the pasta that I cooked:


I also tried to bake some red snapper fillet coated with cornflakes bits. At the same time, the frozen Swedish meatballs from Ikea were also being cooked in the oven.


The pasta turned quite not very tasty but still edible :P
The healthy version of the "fried" or baked fish was quite yummy.

Dad bought chilli crabs from the coffeeshop downstairs.

As usual, the meatballs were nice as long as we don't overdose on them.

Salem in his new home

On Sunday, Sis and I visited Salem (formerly known as Charcoal Monkee Jiji) in his new home. After a week-long trial adoption, Kelvin is keeping Salem who gets along well with his parents and other pets at home too. I'm happy for Salem who is my first adoption case. With a few other cats being dumped in my area, I think I may have put them up for adoption too and I hope that there are more adopters like Kelvin who are responsible pet owners and really care for their pets.

Merry Christmas!

This is inspired by White Cat, one of our community cats and the tree in the park (that looks like a Christmas tree).

Happy Holiday!

More cats to sterilise

Some heartless person has dumped their pet kittens and this was one of the kittens who has been approaching us at the park. I'm trying to find slot in early Jan to sterilise her and another female kitten. Her eyes are of different colours and she is slowly warming up to me and would rub herself against my legs and hands. Her sister whom we have bumped into a block near the park is very friendly and affectionate but we didn't see her last night and this morning. Maybe someone has decided to bring her home. We shall see if we can find her tonight.

This other male young cat, Snowball would occasionally visit us at the edge of the park. I think he comes from some other blocks and just came to the park to look for food. He doesn't dare to venture into the park as Fat Cat has chased him a few times. If he comes regularly, I would also try to trap him and send him for sterilisation. He is a friendly cat with short fur coat and a bob tail.

At home, Angel was sleeping soundly at the cabinet near my bed. I'm glad we could give him a home. The community cats are doing fine staying in the park since they are used to outdoor life but for the new cats who are dumped, I think with their long fur and friendly disposition, they are better kept indoor in good home(s). I'll try to find them good homes but what's important now is to get them sterilised.

Yummy homecooked meals with friends

Since last Sun, I had 2 more gatherings with my friends at their homes.

On Wed evening after work, we left the office together and bought some grocery from the supermarket before heading for our friend, Fion's place. She cooked for us a nice dish of Japanese pasta with colour bell peppers, cheese sausages. There were also healthy salad, red wine, honey Japanese tea and strawberries with melted chocolate. Her living room has a Christmas tree to add to the holiday mood.

I went to another girlfriend, FR's place on Thurs and tried some of the wasabi soba she, her hubby and MIL had earlier. Yummy! She had prepared the ingredients for ink squid pasta in nice little bowls. It looked like some scene in a cooking TV programme. She also let me tried her kombucha which tasted like apple cider vinegar and in the jar it looks like some human tissue. I like the dragonfruit enzymes that she has made - tasted like some sweet honey alcohol drink.

Her ink squid pasta was delicious - the squid, anchovy, sun dried tomato and tomato paste give a nice fragance and sour taste. I like the combination even though some of our friends find it fishy or sourish. We also had some bread and chicken and lemon honey drink to accompany the main dish. She and her hubby also made for Bam's sweetie a light cheesy macaroni.

We also helped her to make some gingerbread men which turned out a bit burnt at the edges but it was fun to cut out the shapes and break the arms and legs of the gingerbread men to taste them :)

I'm also impressed that FR's nice hubby was washing the dishes after we finished the meal. I think it's important for husband to share household chores with the wife especially when both are working. It's a good way to bond too :)

Hanging out with colleagues who have become friends

One of the best things about working in this organisation is the bunch of nice people I have worked with and got to know them better.

One of them invited us to her boyfriend's place and cooked us nice rosini
and made nice stuffed tomatoes. The rest of us contributed crackers, curry, lemon honey, chicken wings, pizza, waffles and ice cream.

The food was good and so was the company.

TNRM workshop and Farewell

Last Sat afternoon, Dawn conducted a Trap-Neuter-Return-Management (TNRM) workshop at the National Library. There were similar ones conducted a number of times this year but this last one was quite different as most of the caregivers knew about Dawn leaving Cat Welfare Society and wanted to say goodbye and thank her in person.

Some of them catered and bought food for all to enjoy. Dawn also made some yummy brownies.


Dell the adoption volunteer gave some tips on finding adopters for community cats. Dawn gave a good presentation about the importance of the Management element in the TNRM concept while Rebecca did a demonstration on the use of the cat trap.

Even though this is not my first time attending the TNRM workshop, I still did take away some good tips and important messages. I also did some catching up with some caregivers in my area and friends. Such interactions do give caregivers like me the inspiration and encouragement to continue to be the voice for the community cats despite the problems we face.

Water weights

I bought these 2 dumb bells from Daiso @ Vivocity last Fri. They will add nicely to my collection of Fit Ball, yoga mat, taiji shoes and sabre which are tucked in different parts of my bedroom. Haha. Right now, the weights have not been filled with water. I wonder when I will start to use them to tone my arms. Probably when I have time to sit down and do nothing.

Angel looking great

A photo I took of him a few days after his Spay day. Mom said Angel seems to be less naughty now.

Sis and I had to feed him antibiotic tablets for the past 10 days. Initially we started off with one of us holding him tight and the other trying to open his mouth to slip in the tablet. Then when one of us wasn't around, the other had to do a one-man show.

Angel is still the same to me - he will still hop onto my bed and rest on my pillow with my head. He will show his displeasure by nipping our fingers or pushing our hands away with his paws. I'm really glad that Angel has become a healthy grown up kitten from the little baby I found in May 07.

Baking Almond cake

I haven't been baking for quite some time. Since I keep today free to make sure Angel is alright after his sterilisation, I thought I might as well try to bake something. I have been wanting to bake the almond cake I tried some time ago.

That time, the cake turned out too rich/oily and sweet. This afternoon, I tweaked the recipe by using less almond powder and sugar and more self raising floor. I also sprinkle the top of the cake with dark choc, choc chip and some cranberries. Instead of using cupcake case, I use the loaf baking tin.

Mom, sis and I like the taste of the cake. Sis found the choc a bit too bitter. As the choc was given by my friend, I don't want to waste it. I think the bitter choc goes well with the sweetness of the cake.

Noose

We guess this is the work of the gardener. He is the only one who has expressed strong dislike for the community cats and Mom has seen him throwing stones from our flat on the 11 storey and he told Mom off for feeding the cats. The last time he also used string and wire to tie the 2 stone covers together.

If Bush isn't that scared of him, we might have discovered his head in the noose. Mom remove it after I took some photos. Moments later, she saw Bush walking in that drain under the covers and we both lifted up the heavy cover for Bush to hop onto the surface more easily.

Bush kept hanging around the hole of the stone cover in case any strangers or gardener walked past and he could make a quick escape using the drain.

Poor Bush :(