Black Pepper Steak in Happy Call

V wryly observed that to cook steak well, one should probably be colour-blind :(

Cold Storage was selling such wonderfully cheap and attractive steaks, so I bought a pack home. As it was the first time I tried cooking steak, I pounded the meat with a mallet to make sure it remained tender. To my horror, in the pan, the meat kept oozing blood! It was so puzzling! I grilled and grilled the meat for a long time, knowing that it was getting tougher by the minute, but it oozed so much blood still! Finally by the time the blood stopped, the meat was sadly overcooked and chewy, despite the pounding :(

That is why V said, one should probably be colour blind to cook steak well. At least then he won't be so freaked out by the blood.

The consolation is, Happy Call pan is pretty easy to clean. I wiped it with kitchen towels and rinsed it. Nothing stuck.

V's entry: Leftovers

One can get used to anything, even eating pets' leftovers, like:

Cheese - Masterofboots gave the Squeaks cheese to get them growing, then she read that hamsters are lactose intolerant, so no cheese allowed. I have been having the cheese in my sandwiches since.

Beansprouts - to cool the Squeaks down. But as we all know, beansprouts come in packs and those tiny critters eat only one strand per day. Guess what happened to the rest?

Toasted wheatgerm - is supposed to be exceptionally nutritious. But being toasted, it feels somewhat oily. The hamsters got raw wheatgerm instead, and Masterofboots mixes the toasted wheatgern into my milk shakes.

But as I observed, after a while, these things feel normal. In fact, I have been contemplating the rabbits' Burgess Oregano pellets lately. Wonder if they make a good low-fat, high fibre snack. I mean...there is a certain aroma about them, a tasty crunch...

V's entry: Horrorstruck

This has better be the last, last addition to our zoo (for now).

I am not surprised, since the writing was on the wall. Masterofboots brought Blackie for rabbit dating. Remember she kept saying that Blackie was lonely? We went out with one rabbit in the carrier and came home with two! Now we have two sets of bitty teeth, two torpedoes in the yard, and twice the poop and pee to clear! I am reeling.

This has better be the last addition to our zoo. But there is a tiny tiny problem. PipSqueak is lonely.

V's entry: the zoo is going wild

In the absence of their doting mother owner, the zoo is behaving terribly.

Blackie has overturned his food bowl, after peeing into it. RABBITTTTT!
PipSqueak is even more picky an eater than ever. I shall just let her go hungry if she wants to be so difficult.
Friendly wants to come out to play, to come out to play, to come out to play to play to play.
Ninja as usual is the best baby Squeak. She only ate up all of her food, and Friendly's too.

When is Masterofboots coming back?

V's entry: The BRATSssss

I have never seen such a group of spoilt, wilful pets.

PipSqueak has such refined tastes that she refuses to eat regular hamster food, and will only deign to nibble on organic pine nuts and flaxseeds.

Friendly insists on her morning and evening runs every day. We now have to talk in a whisper whenever she is around because if she hears us, she will bite on the cage bars until we let her come out.

Blackie!!! Blackie throws a terrible tantrum whenever we don't let him out quickly enough first thing in the morning. If you delay his playtime even by a little, you risk having him throw about his litter box (with all its content).

Ninja is the only one who doesn't misbehave too much. So far, her naughtiest act is to poop heavily into the shared foodbowl (every day and night) so that Friendly can't eat the food there.

And masterofboots just waltzed into the petshop nearby and asked them why they aren't stocking organic hamster food. They must think some seriously pet crazy people live around here.

And you know what? They are right.

A Special On Ninja

One should never display favouritism...but I have to admit that Ninja is really the cutest Squeak of them all :P She always has a confused 'what is happening' look about her. 

This is the first shot I took of Ninja using the new camera. Hehehe...I just grabbed her in one hand and clicked away with the other. Ninja is so docile that she hardly protested. She is just baffled, as usual. "Am I flying? Is it treat time again?"

Looking at V inquiringly. "Are you going to give me another pine nut?" I'm happy to say that our Squeaks trust us perfectly and have no fear in our hands. It must be due to our loving care :)

Animal Lovers

How extreme a pet lover can one be?

I know, some folks thought it is rather ridiculous of me to keep bringing a hamster to the vet, but while there, I met a lady far more fanatic than me. She has 11 guinea pigs, and told me that she had acrylic containers built specially for them. One of her sick pets was brought to the...(get ready for this)...acupuncturist! What? I didn't even know that people can do acupuncture for animals! And the guinea pig finished course of 10 acupuncture treatments *faint*.

Alarmed, V warned me solemnly not to befriend her, though I wanted to ask her where she got the carpenter from. I would have liked to custom-build an enclosure for Blackie. Hahaha!

:( Vet suggested that we amputate (!!!) PipSqueak's foot to solve the abscess issue once and for all :( NOOoooo! She loves to run on her wheel! How horrid it would be for her to wake up and find a foot missing! *cry* I would rather just bring her to the vet again to get the abscess drained if needed.

On a happier note, she is recovering very nicely and played the whole night.

V's entry: Clash of territorial males

It is hard to dispute Masterofboots' argument. Blackie is an active growing boy who needs lots of space to run about. Hey, some people let their rabbits run everywhere in the house. They would be miserable if they are confined to the cage all the time. And hence, this is a compromise of sorts: Blackie gets the laundry yard, the master bedroom toilet and the hallway. Grrr...my beautiful home!

The long and narrow hallway is perfect for a rabbit run. We only have to close the doors and block up the escape.

But!!! The naughty thing isn't even contented with the space he's got! See the rabbit ears sticking out behind the barriers? He is wondering how far he can breach his territory. Hmmm!

Shooed back into his area. Now he is investigating the doors and trying to get into the rooms. Rabbit! Stay in your area!

In the kitchen

A rare sighting in the kitchen

A terrific mess! And this is a non stick pan mind you

The results of the great effort - two sunny side ups, with too much olive oil

Oops, one yolk was broken.

And this is why I'm the head chef at home.

His/Hers

His

 Hers

I admit, I'm a beauty product junkie. Hey, which woman isn't? Ruefully, I took stock the other day, and conclude...I just have to throw some away. They are taking too much space, and deep in my heart, I know that I'm never going to use them again. Why did I buy them? Because...because...they seem like such good ideas! Like the FaceShop paste that promises to pull out all your blackheads (didn't work), or the mask that envelops my face in oxygen foam...(I see no difference after that).

Sigh...if all these products only do half of what they claim, (like the 'miracle broth' space age cream), I should look about 12 years old, because they are supposed to 'reverse ageing at the DNA level'. (HAH!) But there are still fine lines around my eyes, so I'm obviously a s*cker prone to wishful thinking and vulnerable to hyperbolic marketing :(

This is merely half of the damage. You guys haven't seen my vanity table yet.