2016-05-25 05:06 Pavlova, My favorite Aussie and Kiwi cake
Y (Kuma's owner)
Last week, I bought a small Pavlova at a super market. Pavlova is a common cake in Australia and New Zealand. It's a meringue cake with fruit toppings.
I usually don't eat cakes except chocolate cakes. I'm a chocolate lover, so I eat chocolate cakes but not often. The reason I don't like cakes is most cakes are too sweet to me. I wonder if my tongue is sensitive to the sweetness?
In addition, I don't like spongy textures very much.
However, Pavlova is an exception. It's made by meringue and it's not heavy. I like the edge of meringue most because it's crispy. Even if the base of meringue is a little sweet, the fruit topping is sour and has a refreshing flavor.
My only concern is, it's difficult to cut and put Pavlova on a plate. You know, it's made by meringue, the base of Pavlova is very soft and light but toppings have some weight. Every time I serve Pavlova, it collapses and looks miserable.
Well, I don't mind. However it looks, the taste is great.
I heard that Pavlova is named after a Russian, Anna Pavlova. Why is it not an Australian or New Zealander? This is a bit strange.
When I was in Japan, I have never heard the name of Pavlova. I think Japanese would like it.
I'll have guests from Japan in August and I'm going to buy a Pavlova for them.
I hope they will like it.
2016-05-23 04:09 Moko's nose
Y (Kuma's owner)
I have an old cat named Moko-Nyan. Moko means fluffy in Japanese, and he is a long-hair cat. Nyan is the same as meow, the sound a cat makes. I don't know his age exactly because he was an abandoned cat, but the vet estimated his age looking at his teeth and said he is approximately 13 years old. He is a big boy and he might be a mixture of domestic cat and Main Coon cat.
One day I noticed that his nose was running. I thought he would be good soon but he wasn't. Every time he ate food, he had to look down a little and his nasal mucus came out and it annoyed him very much.
I took him to the local vet and he got an injection for cat flu. Cat flu is a common disease and the vet and I thought he had got it. However, he hadn't recovered and I took him to the vet again. The vet gave him another medicine but it didn't work at all.
Therefore, the vet recommended taking a blood test. The result of the blood test indicated that he might have some parasitic worms. That was very surprising because he is an indoor cat. He has never been outside. I got three tablets of parasitic worms and gave them to him. The blood test also indicated that his kidney condition was not perfect. This is a condition that is common among old cats so I decided to give him kidney diet food. Luckily, his kidney condition was not serious, and the vet said that I don't have to give him diet food every meal.
It was good that we could find out his kidney problems, but this is not the reason that his nose was running. There's something that caused it. The next step was a nasal mucus test. The vet took his nasal mucus and sent it to the specialist's laboratory. The specialist did a bacteria culture and made sure what Moko had in his nasal cavity. Then, we finally found the cause! There were two kinds of bacterium in Moko's nasal cavity; Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus sciuri. I was told before that there was a possibility that he had cancer, but there was no cancer cell found. I was so relieved.
It's much easier to treat him if we knew the cause. The vet gave me some antibiotic tablets that work for these bacterium. He has been taking these tablets for about a few weeks. His nose condition is now pretty good. I haven't seen him with a running nose for nearly two weeks. Finally, it stopped! It stopped but he has to finish all the tablets that we've got because they are antibiotics. He will be finished his medication in the first week of June.
I'm so happy Moko is getting better and I'm very appreciative of the vet.
Thank you, John!
2016-05-19 06:30 Something cold on my face!
Y (Kuma's owner)
Well, I cannot think of a good subject for my journal. Usually, the subject of my journal is a recent topic, but the meaning of this journal existence is for improving my writing skill, so I think it's O.K. to write about something I experienced long ago.
I am going to write about my most fearful experience. If you are the type of person who is easily frightened, please do not read this story, hehe.
It happened when I was 10 or 11 years old. I lived on the fourth floor of a building that has five-stories, near Tokyo, with my parents. My room was very small but I liked it because the view from the window was spectacular.
One day, I went to bed as usual. It was an ordinary night. I slept about a few hours, and woke up because something heavy was on my face! I remember that the outside was still dark, so maybe it was 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning.
I had a hamster when I was younger. One night he sneaked out of his plastic house and walked on my face. But he already died, it wasn't him. "What's this?" I caught it unintentionally. It was heavy and as cold as a dead body! Oh, no!
In movies, a heroine or hero screams at the critical moment. I think they are brave. I couldn't do it. I even couldn't scream.
That mysterious thing was still on my face and I grasped it. It was like a thick branch but soft. I moved my hand and touched it. It became gradually thicker. It bent on the way and I kept moving and touching by my right hand to find out what it was. And ... I touched my left shoulder! That mysterious thing was connected to my shoulder!
Yes, it was my left arm! I understood that my left hand was on my face!
I got up and made sure, yes it was mine! My left arm was numb. I was an untidy sleeper, I think my left arm was under my body and was paralyzed. That was why I couldn't feel anything when I was touching with my right hand. If I was left handed, I would have noticed quicker.
I was so relieved. It wasn't a dead body or zombie.
This is a true story that happened to me.