Patient Tora

Tora is the cutest when she is completely focused on doing something.

When she finds an insect,

She keeps staring,

staring, 

and staring 

where the little bug

goes..

She has a great ability

of concentration 

and endurance.

2010 Calendar

A calendar from the last photo shooting became available finally!!

Front cover

Rescued dogs are displayed in front of unique sites and landmark of Hong Kong.

Margaux and Tora appear in April page, posing in front of the legislative office.  This is a montage picture but it looks like the photo was taken on site, isn't it?

This is going to be a memorable item.  : )

Melancholy Margaux

Sometimes, Margaux is all by herself and looks outside the window for hours.  I wonder what she is looking and thinking.

Outside is rain. 

She maybe feeling little melancholy, perhaps...

A new weapon at our household #2

A coffee maker by Cuisinart.

This machine does both grinding and brewing automatically.  AND!  here's the great part.  This machine has a timer so you can program it to grind and brew anytime you want!  It must be nice to wake up in the morning with a smell of coffee rather than a sound of alarm clock!  

A cup of coffee in the morning tastes so good!  

Whispering dogs

'Listen, Tora... (whispering)'        'a-huh..'

Dragonfly

What's this?

sniff, sniff

hey, you!

Boarrrring!

oh, don't escape!

now you can't go anywhere..

oops, it's gone!

but then, this blockheaded dragonfly came back.

oh, look!  it came back again!

Welcome back, mr. dragonfly.

hello?!

Can I smell it, too?

bugger off, Tora!

Hello, Mr. Dragonfly..

Later on, Mr. Dragonfly was drawn up to heaven... amen.

A little brid

I heard the chirping of bird from the balcony and found Margaux and Tora were playing with something in between their front legs.  I went closer and realized it was a little bird! 


I rushed to the dogs, pushed them away and saved the bird.  Fortunately, there was no apparent wound.

Not knowing what to do, I put the little birdie on a blanket.  

It was in a shock and breathing hard.

According to a dictionary, I found that the bird is called 'Asian Stubtail Warbler'

10 minutes later, the bird suddenly seemed to remembered something and flew away into the bush in front of our balcony.  

Typhoon Koppu

A typhoon Koppu was approaching since yesterday evening.

'strange weather..'


Clouds were moving at fast pace.

Sea water is blasted by a gust of wind.  They typhoon landed at night and heavy rain and strong wind continued throughout the night.

this is today at seven in the morning.  

The typhoon moved away by the morning, but heavy rain continued throughout the day and we had no chance to go outside.

'how boaring, we can't go out.'

Kayaku Gohan - a rice dish

For tonight's dinner, I cooked Kayaku gohan (= a rice dish with seasonal ingredients), that I learnt from a recipe my mom sent to me. 

This is Kayaku (= a mixture) that goes into rice.  It includes, diced chicken, fried tofu, carrots and burdocks, seasoned with soy source, sake and sweet rice wine.

Burdocks add very nice rich flavor.

So, here's how our dinner table looks tonight.

Nothing fabulous but tried my best as a freshman housewife!

                      

Kayaku Gohan turned out very good!  Next to it, is a soup made of fish broth, cooked with Shiikake (mashroom) and Mizuna.

By the way, fish broth is a key in Japanese cooking.  Both rice dish and the soup used a packaged fish flakes* my mom purchased from Seikatsu club (one of co-op groups).

*each bag contains fish flakes and you can extract fine broth in 600ml boiling water.

---

To mom,


I've read the book you sent to me and I came to realize the importance of food again.  Thank you! 

1 year since Margaux came

It's been a year since Margaux came to live with us.
I am so lucky to have you!  

2008 September

2008 October

2008 November

2008 December

2009 January

2009 February

2009 March

2009 April

2009 May

2009 June

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2009 August

2009 September