and the dog loves the cat

It's true!






So you can see my dirty shoes on the floor, but that doesn't change the fact that the animals love each other.

the orange cat

John went to the garage to get some stuff and heard a tiny "meow", and there went an orange cat! He probably got into the garage last sunday (and that's a whole week ago!) when John went in there to pick up something.

So John picked him up and brought him into the doggie room. The dogs are in the kitchen and they probably sensed that something was going on so they were a bit excited. We brought food and water to the orange cat and he was happy.

When the orange cat finished eating and drinking, John carried him to the neighbor's house to see if she knew who the cat belongs to. The lady said, "Ahh, he's the neighborhood stray cat. We call him 'the orange cat'." And she said that was the first time he let her touch him. She suggest that we put him behind the garage because he'll be all right.

The orange cat was really sweet. He tried to follow John for a while outside but then he went away. I hope he will be ok out there in the crazy world and not be locked up in a garage ever again.

yama runs in the snow

Yama is always happy when he gets to run and play in the yard. The other day when it was snowing I let him out in the backyard to play. He loved it! He's the best pay-attention-when-you-call-his-name dog. He always looks at me and runs toward me when I say, "Yama, Come!" He's cool.

icy mailbox

I almost forgot to post this pic I took the other day when it got warmer while the snow is still everywhere:

i'm clear

I went to have my fingerprints taken today for USCIS. The FBI has to review my finerprints to make sure that I am not a criminal before they naturalize me.

The last time I had my fingerprints taken was when I was going to teach at Horizonte high school... and everything checked out all right. And I believe I've been good.


no this is NOT my fingerprint.

can i walk with you

I'm really diggin' India Arie right now.


"Can I Walk With You"

I woke up this morning you were the first thing on my mind
I don't know were it came from all I know is I need you in my life, yeah
You make me feel like I can be a better woman
If you just say you wanna take this friendship to another place

[Chorus:]
Can I walk with you through your life
Can I lay with you as your wife
Can I be your friend 'till the end
Can I walk with you through your life (fades away)

You've got me wondering if you know that I am wondering about you.
This feeling is so strong that I can't imagine you're not feeling it too.
You've known me long enough to trust that I want what's best for you.
If you want to be happy then I am the one that you should give your heart to.

[Chorus]

Now everyday ain't gonna be like the summers day.
Being in love it really ain't like the movies screen.
But I can tell you all the drama aside you
And I can find what the worlds been looking for forever.
Friendship and love together.

[Chorus]

Can I walk with you in your life?
Till the day that the world stops spinning.
Can I walk with you in your life?
Till the day that my heart stops beating.
Can I walk with you in your life?
Can I walk with you
Till the day that the birds no longer take flight
Till the moon is underwater
Can I walk with you
Can I walk with you

This is the moment I've been waiting for
Can I walk with you
Can I walk with you
Can I walk with you

You are everything I've been looking for
Can I walk with you
Creative intellectual
Can I walk with you
Can I walk with you as your wife

new do

I got a haircut yesterday. Fumi is the best of the best. He's a hip Japanese dude who's super pro and really loves and knows what he does. I asked and he told me the story about how he went to Salon Keiji from Studio Salon and I got to see Mr. Keiji today too... he looked really serious, and as I described to John, "He looks traditional."



Now only if I can keep my hair straight every morning...

holding paws

Naicha and Yama were holding paws! Well it's more like "touching" paws... sort of reminded me of E.T. and Elliot. Cute.



Please ignore the semi-muddy-looking kitchen floor. It was snowy outside and you know how dogs are with their paws! OK I admit I contributed to some of the messiness too.

waking up to more snow

Yup!

snowy!

It started snowing later this morning and hasn't stopped since. The snowflakes are actually quite small, but you know how it goes... it snowed and snowed and just wouldn't stop.

And then there's more snow and the dogs are loving it.

happy valentine's day

my kitties are best friends

Yes they are! For some reason every time I pay attention to Ginger the Siamese mix she tries to rub her head on me or anything that's near by... in these photos, the bed. And Jasper is just cool.

mung bean soup 綠豆湯

I'm loving the crock pot right now. I still don't use it that often but I've been using it to make soup, stew, rice, and I just made some 綠豆 lv4 dou4 (Mung Beans)soup in it and it came out great! I like having it chilled. This soup is actually a more deserty kind of soup, so don't freak out when you read about the "cold bean soup." It's actually very delish.

My mom gave me a thermo cooking pot that was very useful as well. However with the thermo pot you have to actually cook your food in the inner pot and then insert it in the special-designed thermo pot. With the crock pot all I did was to rinse the uncooked mung beans and throw them into the crock pot and let it cook on its own for a few hours. I added some rock sugar to it at the end of the cooking cycle before I chilled it.

John doesn't seem to be too excited about my mung bean soup at this point, but I may just have to force him to try some anyway since it's so yummy!

nuki didn't like his dinner

Last night I prepared the food for the dogs and Nuki, probably still not feeling too well, refused to eat his food. Usually I give the dogs their dog food, semi-cooked ground beef and some extra little things like vegetables, eggs, rice, or a little bit of the food we eat to "spice up" the flavor of their food. Normally that makes Nuki happy enough to eat, even though he's overall picky.

But last night he just didn't want to eat. I held his bowl for him and he had a bite, but still wasn't looking too interested. He turned his head when I put his bowl by his mouth. I opened a jar of baby food and he licked it clean. While I was trying to trick him into eating more, Yama and Naicha came by to check him out and that sort of "forced" him to start eating. He still didn't finish all his food but he should have had enough for the day.


Please excuse all the teeth marks on Nuki's bowl. They are actually from Naicha.

men from new orleans

About 30 minutes before the caffe closed last night, two men came in and asked if we had free wi-fi. Apparently they were at the library across street and asked for wi-fi set-up help and they were given a sheet of instructions that didn't quite make sense.

Anyway, John set up their newly-bought laptop for them and they got a strawberry bubble tea and enjoyed surfing the web for a while. Later they asked John if he could call for a cab. Before they left they told us they were evacuated from New Orleans because of Hurricane Katrina. One man told me about his 5 kitties that he was not allowed to take with him, and the other man was quiet and just listened.

I told the guy that a lady we work with at No More Homeless Pets in Utah told me about their trip to New Orleans to rescue kitties and that 90ish of the stray cats came to Utah to find good homes. I also told him that his 5 kitties may be with great families now and he seemed happy.

The men were really polite and they called me "miss" and John "sir," and they tipped John quite generously because John helped them set up the laptop and all. The men said they were happy in Utah. They were mellow and overall quiet, and content. I hope they are well.

new books have arrived

I ordered some Japanese and Mandarin books and magazines and they arrived today! I'm so excited! I got some books on zakka, which is Japanese for the cool and hip crafty stuff, spring fashion, crafts, and other fun little things to read. I'm reading 米力生活札記 right now. It's a book on daily little crafts. The illustrations are fun and amazing!

doggie sick

Nuki has been making this weird noise since Sunday. It sounded as if there's a small fur ball in his throat. Yama started doing the same thing yesterday. Yama doesn't make as loud of a noise, but I knew both of them were not feeling well. I thought there were mucus in their throats, because they'd make this "kaaa-aa-kaaa" noise but then nothing came out. I tried to teach them how to cough and spit but that didn't work. I felt really bad because they seemed to be in great discomfort.

John called and made an appointment with the vet for today and there we went. Apparently Nuki caught kennel cough when he got his haircut the other day, and Yama picked it up from him soon after. Dr. Belnap prescribed anti-biotics and cough-suppressant for them, and mentioned that common cough medicine like Rubatussin would work on their coughs too.


It's tricky to give the meds to the dogs. I have to hide the little pills in ground beef and/or melted cheese, and even that Nuki would know there's something else in the yummy treat and refuse to take them... in that case I'll have to dig out other cheese-loaded stuff for him.

I'm a bit surprised that Naicha didn't get the sickness. She was usually the getting sick and going to the vet's. John thinks that she got sick so often when she was younger that her immune system just got all stronger!

I hope all the dogs will be well and healthy soon.

art in my little birthday cup

I got this little "Happy Birthday" bear cup in high school. It's a sturdy little cup and I've been loving it. I made a little latte art in it today and it looks fairly balanced. Yay!

ahhh... flan!

I'm out searching for the yummiest store-bought flan. In Asia (at least in Taiwan and Japan that I know for sure) we call all these caramel/vanilla custardy thing "pudding". I think there's a slight texture difference among the different brands and countries, but so far I've noticed that Japanese "pudding" is the closest to flan. And then you can totally imaging how surprised and confused I was when I had my first soft and creamy "pudding" (which is more of a "yogurt-like" consistency) in the U.S.

Anyway, so far I've found that Louisa's Baked Flan is the best I can find in a regular grocery store. Yum.


This is "flan".


And this is "pudding" in Taiwan and Japan.

it rains and nuki gets wet

Remember how people say that it always rains after you wash your car? Nuki just got his haircut the day before yesterday and then starting from last night it had been raining on and on, here and there.

And Nuki still likes to go out to the yard to pee and sniff around, and he gets wet. And therefore I'd say, "It always rains after your dog gets a haircut." Well at least his outer coat is thick and waterproof so he doesn't usually get soaked.