Mini Japanese sweet potatoes

With my Japanese lessons at Shaw House every Sat afternoon, I like to visit Isetan's basement supermarket after the lesson. They have some interesting Japanese food stuff. Last Sat, I bought a packet of the mini sweet potatoes.
Mom steamed them the next day
and I had some for dinner and the rest for breakfast on 2 days. I like the slightly sweet taste. The next time, I will try the normal size Jap sweet potatoes.

Baking therapy

I haven't baked for a long time and last Sun, I baked an almond cake cake sprinkled with chocolate chips and dried blueberries. However, I blindly followed the recipe and set the oven temperature at 160 degree celsius instead of 180 or 200 and the cake didn't look brown after an hour.

It tastes quite yummy but feels rather oily. It tastes better after I toast it in the toaster oven. Ever though the cake didn't come out as nice as I thought it would be for my family to enjoy, at least the baking process did help to destress me a little.

My love for food

I enjoy eating especially if yummy food can be shared with my family and friends. For 2 consecutive Sats, I actually got Dad and Mom to pick me up somewhere after my Japanese language lesson and go for our dinner at Old Airport Road Food Centre.

On the first Sat, I had this yogurt topped with strawberries, blueberries and cashew nuts from this stall @ the basement of Raffles City.
It was quite satisfying and priced at $6.30. I also bought some nuts (which Mom and I love - the raisins, cashew nuts, peanuts and almonds as a snack) and organic chocolate sandwich cookies from the supermarket and organic milk chocolate with almond and muesli from Marks and Spencer).


Over @ Old Airport Road, I share some refreshing and spicy Thai papaya salad with Mom

and also ordered this chocolate lava cake
from Cilantro, a food stall which sells interesting western food. I had to wait for about ten minutes for them to bake the cake. Dad was quite amused to see the little cake resting on the big black plate :) I like its smallness and @ $4, I was quite happy by its chocolatey taste and the oozing lava. I also had some ice blended lemon soursop.

On the 2nd Sat, @ Old Airport Road, mom and I shared another salad (mango instead of papaya) and fried oyster with sotong slices.
Dad has some simple chicken chop that tasted yummy too marinated with some slightly sweet and savoury sauce. I tried an ABC juice (apple, beetroot, carrot) from the same fruit stall. We also bought some traditional looking bread like this red bean paste one.



And I must show you what the organic dark chocolate sandwich looks like.

We think it tastes a bit like Oreo cookies but definitely less sweet and more chocolatey. Sis said it tastes too strongly of cocoa but shouldn't this be what it tastes like instead of laden with sugar and artificial flavours? I feel less guilty when I have a craving for something sweet at night. Late July (the brand of this cookie) also has a few other flavours like peanut butter and cheese - maybe I can try them after I slowly finish the chocolate one.

A cat and the toilet bowl

Another funny video clip found by Sis

Nice music video of cats

Sis sent me the link of this video and Mom and I were quite tickled by some of the cats :)

Fried organic brown rice

I get to eat my parents' fried rice every Mon evening as it's the easiest dish they can cook before Mom goes for her Taiji class. Recently, Mom bought a packet of organic brown rice and has been serving that instead of the usual steamed white rice with the dishes.

Last Mon, she also cooked the brown rice in the late morning, let it cool down in the rice cooker before stir frying it with meat and veggies to make a nutritious dinner. This is contrary to the traditional fried rice which uses leftover rice from previous night. Even when cooking fried white rice, Mom usually cooks the rice on the day itself.

No emails so far

I'm not surprised that there has been no emails enquiring about Bob. Looking at the ads of other cats and kittens on Cat Welfare Society's website, there are so many of them looking for a good home.

Bob still exhibits the hunter persona when we let him out of my bedroom while Angel will hiss if he can see or sense Bob outside the balcony. If no one is interested and good enough to adopt Bob, we will of course keep Bob with us. I was wondering aloud to Mom if Bob and Angel will ever mellow down over the years or continue to be unfriendly towards each other.

Learning Japanese language again

After more than 8 years, I'm picking up Japanese language again. This time, I'm learning with a good friend, Flying Raisin and hopefully we can motivate each other to be able to use the language when we next visit Japan, to read Japanese craft magazine. I can also read the labels of Japanese cat food and treats. Hee.

Yesterday was our first lesson. With fellow classmates of all ages, we learnt how to introduce ourselves, some Hiragana characters, numbers 0, 1 to 10, greetings, etc. It's really fun and nice to be in an environment where everyone is keen to learn and Sato-San was enthusiastic too to teach us. The Ikoma School's staff are also friendly. One of them even called me this morning to remind me to attend the lesson and asked whether I was sure I want to start from basic all over again since I had learnt Japanese for almost a year. I told her that it was a long time ago and I haven't been practising at all.

Hopefully this 3rd time, I will persevere and achieve my objectives :)

My room-mate up for adoption

The adoption ad for Bob is up at Cat Welfare Society's online adoption bulletin board.

BOB. A 18-month old male cat, has a cream colour coat with ginger markings, light blue eyes and a bob tail. Affectionate and curious, he likes to be hugged and kissed. Formerly a stray cat, he has been sterilised with a tipped left ear. He is also vaccinated, dewormed and litterbox-trained. If you can give Bob a good home, please email coboypb@care2.com

Sis said I should also mention that Bob likes human company, resting near us. I will let potential adopters know more when they email me.

For the many nights over the few months, Bob has been sharing my pillow with my head, be my alarm clock with his meows, jump on my bed or nip when I get lazy to wake up after snoozing my handphone's alarm. He likes to stretch and climb onto my chest/shoulder and kiss/lick my face and I will hug and kiss his forehead/nose. I think he likes that. He's such a baby.

Since Bob's presence in our house, Angel has also grown to be more affectionate and vocal. He seems to like and enjoy our attention in other ways. Angel can tolerate me putting my head on his body for less than a minute when he's resting but not my face near his to kiss him. He likes me to use my feet more than my hands to stroke his neck, body, back, chest and head. Bob is not ok with me using my feet - he bites them. He likes me to comb his fur coat and I try to do it every night or my clothes and skin will collect quite a bit of his hair. My face too if I kiss him :)

And Bob's meows or sounds of protest when he senses that I'm leaving my bedroom. He sounds scared of me leaving him or he wants to leave with me too. When he gets to move outside of the room, Mom said he sounds like an old man, grumbling away. Haha. He also starts to look for Angel after he finishes exploring the house. The other day he climbed up on top of the sofa so that he could stare through the "stained" glass door of the balcony while Angel was resting on top of the shoe cabinet in the balcony, hissing occasionally.

As I'm typing this, my room-mate is now walking around the house and meowing away while Angel is in the balcony. I wonder what he is saying/thinking :)

A big SIGH :(

I reluctantly put this down in writing as it means I have made a decision. We'll be putting Bob up for adoption. It seems impossible for Bob and Angel to be able to live together in the house. All this while we have been separating them, only allowing Bob a few hours outside of my bedroom when Angel is resting in the balcony or sis' room. Angel would run and hide when he hears or see me entering or leaving my bedroom as he is probably scared that Bob is let out. Bob would also hover around the room where Angel is and starts to get excited pacing around or trying to burrow a way but to no avail.

I can also feel the frustration of Bob in being cooped up in my room most of the time. Recently he has bitten me a few times. I'm not angry with him. I'm just sad that I don't know what to do to make him and Angel accept each other. On Wed, before I went to work, I actually broke down and cried after Bob bit me quite hard on my arm and legs in frustration. He hasn't bitten me since and I still sleep with him in my room every night. He is quite attached to me and I to him.

I realise I have to make the choice to try to find him a good home where he could have more space most of the time and also with an loving human friend and maybe even other cats whom he can accept and play with (since he was also alright with Bush, White Neck and the other community cats in the park). I myself have also been feeling the stress from work and recently the town council officer in my area told me about 2 residents in 2 different blocks complaining about the cats in my area. I have asked him to let me have more details and also allow me to speak to the residents so that I can help them to understand about community cats and TNRM. The TC officer said he likes cats too and would contact me again. Sigh, I had been quite happy that I had not heard from him of any complaints about the cats so far. I guess life is always filled with challenges.

A friend has suggested that I could put Bob back where I found him but Bob can make a good home cat and there is a nasty gardener who will be at the park every fortnight to terrorise the cats while overpruning the bushes and flowers. Also there is a roaming pet cat, Manja/Shrek who was chasing Bob away most of the time.

I will prepare the ad to be posted in Cat Welfare Society's online adoption bulletin board to start the adoption screening process. As with the other 2 cats (Charcoal and Pearl), I want to make sure Bob will be happy in his new home. It won't be easy but I have to try. In the meantime, we'll continue to keep Angel and Bob apart and happy and less stressed.

Angel loves eating grass

I tried to serve a few strands of the grass to Angel on a pretty plate but Angel likes to eat them from the floor :) Bob just chews them a bit and loses interest while Angel really eats them up.



In the end, we just served the grass in its original pot and it seems easier for him to eat them but the grass also didn't last very long after all the battle scars :)

White cat's eyes

Last month, White cat's eyes looked terrible. We didn't know what happened but he seemed to have some eye infection and we felt sad looking at him in that state.

So we brought him to the vet and it could be his eyes were irritated by some chemical stuff. Since he likes to hide under the cars, it could be some fumes or oil that got into his eyes. The vet prescribed eye wash, eye drops, antibiotic, and tablets.


That afternoon, I bathed him as his white coat had turned grey and kept him in the balcony before releasing him back to his "home" a void deck a few blocks away. We would like to keep him at home to monitor his condition if Angel and Bob could get along.

Fortunately, even though we couldn't get him to eat the tablets (through hiding in wet food), his eyes and the surrounding area responded well to the eye wash/drops and antibiotic cream.

The photo below was taken a week after applying the medication. Now he looks almost as lovely as before but his coat is still grey instead of white.

Bony the community cat

Bony first came to our area, fearful of us (me, mom and dad) and the other sterilised cats feared him. Now sterilised and with tipped left ear, he loves to follow us around and likes me to stroke him, even when he's not hungry. He doesn't pick up fights with the other cats but he still has a habit of following them which freaks out some of them.

Why do I become a cat caregiver?

The comments made by the 2 Class 95 DJs on 7 May have resulted in many reactions and comments on blogs and ST forum and online forum. After reading them, we can have a good gauge of the different attitudes/perceptions/feelings regarding stray cats, the feeders, the caregivers, etc.

Everyone will have different opinions depending on:

• their experience/interaction with the cats or animals in general
• what they see in their estates - responsible cat caregivers or irresponsible/ghost feeders
• awareness vs ignorance - cat poo vs dog poo, cat feeders vs cat caregivers

Perhaps the good thing about this discussion is that it may educate people about the presence of responsible cat caregivers and Cat Welfare Society.

Cat feeders vs cat caregivers

Why do I bother to sterilise the stray cats in my area and also inform the town council officer to contact me if there are any complaints about the cats? Why do I implement Trap-Neuter-Return-Management (TNRM) programme?

I don't want to be an irresponsible cat feeder who just feeds the stray cats without sterilising and without clearing over the leftover food. For some feeders, they believe that it's good karma to feed food or by giving bones/scraps of leftover from dinner, they aren't wasting food or they think if people complain about increasing population of cats or litter from cat food and the cats get culled, it's fate and there is nothing they can do. Then why bother to feed the cats in the first place? It's not helping them at all as the irresponsible behaviour often is the cause of the complaints.

My motivation

A few years ago, I read from Dawn's blog that TNRM works and there are caregivers in other areas who work with TC and residents to solve complaints about cats humanely. I tried to help an FIV cat and started noticing stray cats in my areas. They are friendly and affectionate and even for the less approachable ones, I have won their trust by feeding them and started to sterilise those without left tipped ears.

From someone who has been keeping hamsters as pets for years, I have grown to love cats outside my home. They are definitely not like hamsters but after interacting with them, giving them names, I want to make sure that they can live in a safe environment for the rest of their lives. I want to ensure their well-being.

Nuisance - cats or irresponsible pet owners?

With sterilisation, the population of the cats is controlled but we can't control irresponsible cat owners who abandon their cats or let them roam. The stray cats are in our estate not by their choice - they are offsprings of abandoned pet cats. Sterilised cats usually do not cause nuisance to anyone and if they do, that's where the Town Council can contact me and I will volunteer to talk to the complainant instead of paying money to engage a pest controller.

Vacuum effect

Sterilised cats are territorial and can help to keep out new cats. When sterilised cats are removed, new unsterilised cats will come in to take over the place of the removed cats. This is called the vacuum effect. Removing the sterilised cats will just mean more and more cats and without solving the root problem, residents will keep complaining and the Town Council has to continue wasting money culling the cats.

TNRM

When these sterilised community cats are managed properly, they are not a nuisance to the residents. The cats don't need to cauterwaul or get into cat fights to find a mate. Cat caregivers are also there to help resolve reasonable feedback/complaints from other residents.

Real problems

Asking cat lovers/caregivers to bring the cats home doesn't not resolve the real problems. The real problems could be:

• irresponsible feeding of cats
• people feeding but not sterilising - so there will also be more and more cats
• cats removed but new unsterilised cats will roam in or irresponsible owners dumping their pet cats/unwanted kittens
• irresponsible cat owner letting their cats roam and the cats may poo at the corridors
• residents putting food outside their units and attracting cats to go upstair to eat and poo at the corridors
• dog owners not picking up the poo of their dogs
• residents littering the estate

Hope

Caregivers like me are actually helping to deal with the effects of irresponsible pet ownership (eg abandonment and roaming). Seeing how some people can be cruel to abandon their pets and how adults allow their kids to derive pleasure from scaring the cats or throwing things at them - it saddens me to see how the community cats which are not harming the people are being treated. There are also kids and parents who would approach me and my mom and take an interest in the cats and stroke them. It gives me hope when I see this group of people who have compassion for animals.

We can view community cats as a society's problem or living beings who have the right to live in our community/estate. When there are responsible caregivers who are putting in time, effort and money to make sure that the cats are taken care properly and everyone can live harmoniously together, why can't we give the community cats a chance to live?

I hope my community cats and all the others in Singapore can continue to live in peace.

Nonya kuehs from Maxwell Food Centre

When I think of Maxwell Market, I will think of the yummy nonya kuehs (sweet desserts coated with coconut flakes) I tried a few weeks ago. One is made of tapioca

and the other from gula melaka.

Angel's tongue

I took this photo of Angel a few weeks ago and I think he looks funny :)

Goodbye, Pebble

Pebble, our pet female Syrian hamster passed away yesterday. She could have been 3 years old or older. We knew her days were numbered when she was losing most of her fur, had soft stools, turned blind and in her last few days, she didn't eat much. Her 2 brothers, Peanut and Poofy are still as active as ever.

Being used/hardened to the passing of more than 30 pet hamsters over the past 16 years, I was still a bit teary-eyed when I held Pebble's hardened cold body in my hands as Mom and I wrapped her in tissue paper and said our goodbyes.

Shopping for cat stuff

For the past few weeks I realise I enjoy shopping for food, treats and toys for the cats.

Recently I got Angel and Bob some toys from this pet shop called Sundreams at Far East Shopping Centre. The lady there is friendly. I have also bought a scratching board for Bob, wet food imported from Japan for him and Angel. The wet food will be a weekly/fortnightly treats for them. I also bought this pet grass to see if I can grow them for the 2 of them and the community cats to eat.

Making a difficult decision

On Sat morning, we decided to let Bob and Angel meet without barrier as it has been quite some time. It was not successful. Both were growling at each other and it was clear that Angel couldn't hold his position as he was slowly retreating. At the same time, we tried to prepare the canned tuna as a treat for them but they were not interested at all. The moment Angel looked away, Bob pounced on him. Both wrestled with Bob on top and Angel managed to break free and dashed for the living room and scrambled to the top of the rack. We managed to hold back Bob by spraying water at him but that didn't really deter him. The moment he stood still, eyeballing Angel, I quickly grabbed him by his scuff and put him back into my bedroom.

Angel was shaken up quite badly and kept hissing at us too. We left him to calm down. I sprayed some Feliway, hoping to calm both cats. Angel stopped hissing at us almost an hour later and seemed to be back to his normal self. However, yesterday morning, he didn't rub himself against my legs or lay down on his side to let my foot stroke him when I woke up and came out of my bedroom. He just lay at one corner of the hall or under the dining table throughout the day. Luckily last night, he seemed to more like his usual self.

Today, he seems normal but he is still not covering his poo (like the past few days) and Mom observed that if he sniffed scent of Bob, he would look around to see if Bob is around. Otherwise, I could entice him with his food, play with him and stroke him when he was laying on the kitchen while I was having my dinner.

All of us in the family saw what happened on Sat and we felt quite affected by it. Sis said she feels heartache to see Angel being attacked. For me and Mom, it seems that Angel is unlikely to be comfortable with Bob around as we found him alone without his mother or siblings and he has no other experience with other cats. He has only seen cats I brought home in carriers, trapped for sterilisation. He had paw fights and hissing sessions with Charcoal/Salem during that brief period. When we were fostering Pearl, Pearl would also chase Angel who of course didn't enjoy it.

Over the weekend, I thought I would have to put Bob up for adoption as Bob is miserable being cooped up in my room most of the time. Angel is clearly affected by the encounter with Bob at the moment. From what I read, I have to do complete separation and reintroduction all over again. It will only work if Angel can be conditioned but if he is a cat who can only be a one-cat family, whatever we do will probably not help the situation.

I love Angel, my first pet cat. I have also grown to love Bob who has been sharing my bed every night since a week after Mar 20 (the day we brought him home). I don't mind sniffing his poo when he does his big business while I'm sleeping. Most of the time when I don't feel lazy I will wake up to scoop out and throw away his poo and clean his backside before I go back to sleep. I play with him or groom his fur for a short while before sleeping, to relieve his boredom of not able to go out of my bedroom. I'm still undecided at the moment whether to put Bob up for adoption. Dad and Sis were alright for us to keep Bob if he and Angel get along. But Sat's episode has made all of us feel upset/sad.

Right now, my mind feels cluttered. I need to get it cleared first before I can think about the best way forward and discuss with my family. I want both Angel and Bob to be happy.

Effects of Catnip

are definitely not wide eyes for Bob (he was probably surprised by me taking a photo of him as he didn't show much reaction to the toy)


and also does not lull Angel to sleep (as it was his usual nap time and earlier Angel did act a bit strange by hugging his head with his front paws for a short while)


I used my pair of old stocks and put some stuffing in with the dried catnip.

Turning 30

I spent my birthday last Fri at home most of the time, other than feeding the community cats in the morning and in the evening. In between, I busied myself by cleaning the cat litter trays for Angel and Bob and also played with them.

Since we kind of celebrated the day before by going out and having lunch, I was happy to enjoy Mom's home cooked meals of stir fried instant noodles with veggies and meatballs (lunch) and fried rice and soup (dinner).

Oops. I don't have no camera with me.

This is the response I have been giving to my family and friends when I was out with them last weekend and today. Somehow I have lost that something... to capture the moment when the yummy dish sat in front of me before I tucked in.... the candid shots of my family or my friends laughing or goofing around. But it's not that I have been feeling unhappy. Somehow I think it's linked to less time spent in front of my PC to blog and surf and I want to spend more time with my family and cats when I'm home. Or it could be I have been taking too much photos and now I'm just contented to soak up the moment and enjoy my food immediately or look at my family and friends and just tuck those happy moments instead of snapping them using my camera.

I guess when I'm thirsty for some photos, I'll remember to carry the camera with me.

Simply Peaceable's photo contest

I love Simply Peaceable's natural skin remedies:

• Bugged Outdoor Balm (I apply every night when feeding the cats to prevent being bitten by mozzies)
  
• Botty Balm (it's for baby's nappy rash and it works well for rashes I get during this hot weather and it's great as a body moisturiser too)
• Calm Balm (a nice smelling solid perfume that is soothing)
• White Clay Mask (to detox my skin gently)
• Polishing scrub (as a face and body scrub that smells deliciously like oats)

If you are interested in getting such stuff for yourself, you may wish to visit Simple Peaceable's website to check out the products or even join in the contest if you are inspired :)

Furry foot reflexologist

Angel likes me to give him a massage using my feet and also nuzzle his face against my toes.

Gifts from Japan

My cousin went to Tokyo recently with his friend and he helped sis to buy 4 tubes of mascara and on his mom's instruction, bought some lightweight sturdy brolly for her and me. He is also very sweet to get Sis and I handphone straps with cat cartoons. I choose the one with the eyes opened and I'm going to keep the paper wrappers (with cat stickers) :)

Angel, his new toy and the books

Angel also didn't take much notice to the toy initially and I had to make it bob in front of him.


He was more interested in checking out the 2 books I borrowed from the library. One book is "Cat vs Cat" that Sis said it is a recommended book by some online site on how to introduce a new cat to the resident cat. Another is "Meow Chow" - I want to find out if there is any good recipe that I could introduce to the cats if it's simple and nutritious. So far I have only been feeding them dry food and occasional wet food as a treat.

Bob in my bedroom

Bob seems quite comfortable in my room and also putting on weight.

He looked a bit cock eyed here.

and he was curious in the camera.


YesterdayI bought him and Angel some new toys (like a roly poly) so that he will have something to entertain himself when we are not in the room with him.

At first Bob wasn't too interested in the toy. He actually overturned it, so that it can't bob anymore. He was more interested in following me around the room.

Then I played with it myself and he noticed the new object and bit the felt material.


Then he went stoning after playing with it for a short while.

Busy

With Bob at home with us, I find myself less time to blog and surf the internet as I want to spend them with Angel and Bob after feeding the community cats with Mom. Bob is usually in my bedroom and we would let him out sometimes in the kitchen or around the house when Angel is sleeping in the other bedroom. Angel is still hissing at Bob, so we are trying to be patient and wait for the right time to introduce the 2 cats face-to face.

Work has not been exactly fulfilling but I'm fortunate to have bosses who are not nasty and nice colleagues. Come May 22, I will have been working in the same office building for 8 years. I have been thinking what else I can do but part of me enjoy the familarity of the work environment and also the pace of work that doesn't require me to work late often. I can then exercise with my good friend once a week, feed the community cats with Mom almost every evening, plan for outings with my family, squeeze in some time to catch up with friends or with things I want to do (like reading a good book) and also help a few other caregivers to trap their community cats to sterilise or handle occasional complaint cases about cats in our areas.

At the moment, I'll just go with the flow and see where it will lead me to.

Health check

I have recently received my medical screening results and was shocked to find out that my bad cholesterol is borderline high (used to be low) and my Rheumatoid Factor (RF) is 23 (acceptable range is 0 to 14)! Otherwise, I'm in the healthy/good range for good cholesterol, blood triglycerides, BMI.

I'm now waiting for my organisation to organise a post-briefing and I will ask the doctor present about my results. No point jumping about the information I have read about RF (eg. high RF could possibly mean risk of rheumatoid arthritis - scary).

However, I realise I have been eating less actively and exercising less. It's time to watch my diet and start exercise.