[I am too angry to title it]

Whenever I read the news, the first thing that I do is to scroll down the headlines, and upon seeing no upsetting news, I'd tell myself "hmm, this is a good day after all".

Today is not one of those days.

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From Apple Daily - 3 March 2010

無意攞命　只想令牠終身痛苦
斷肢殺手再現斬花貓


【本報訊】曾發生斬斷小貓後腳兇案的上水彩園邨，前晚又有花貓遭截肢。動物義工救走一頭拖着血淋淋左前腳的花貓救治，獸醫發現牠的左前腳遭利器齊口切斷報警。對於兇徒再現，關注動物權益組織譴責狂徒殘暴，無意取命只為令貓隻受盡一世痛苦，希望警方嚴辦。
遭截肢花貓約一歲，雄性。獸醫從左前肢部份傷口已結痂來分析，估計小貓 10日前遇毒手，小貓左前腳僅留半截，恐防影響日後活動，獸醫昨晨替牠切除左腳餘下前肢。



左前肢遭狂徒切斷的小花貓 Faith，被送往獸醫診所接受手術（圖）。讀者提供圖片

稱遭警不禮貌對待

07年 11月，彩園邨有狂徒斬斷一個月大的小貓藍藍一對後腳血案，藍藍雖撿回性命卻終生殘障，香港群貓會總幹事陳小姐指，事隔兩年又有虐貓案，雖未能確定是同一人所為，她替前晚大難不死小貓取名「 Faith」（即信念），向「貓殺手」宣示不畏暴行決心。

前晚 6時半，有動物義工到上水彩園邨彩屏樓對開公園餵貓，發現燈光下有一頭拖着血淋淋左前腳花貓蹣跚而行。女義工通知香港群貓會。並將花貓送到旺角一家獸醫診所急救。當時小貓對陌生人十分兇惡，數度想咬護士。獸醫發現其前肢傷口齊整，疑是利器斬傷。義工指狂徒最可惡不是取命，而是斬手腳，令貓隻殘障一生。

昨晚群貓會總幹事陳小姐陪同女義工到旺角警署報案。陳表示當時在警署受到不禮貌對待，她憶述，負責警員質疑貓隻是否剛做完手術逃走出來，又說「邊度發生，去番邊度報警」。她說經歷這次不快經驗已對警方破案不存寄望，但發生虐待動物案，不報警可以怎做？

Things that make me giggle.

Happy Year of the Tiger, my loved ones.
________________

I love children's drawing. They always make my day :). This one is from my friend M-Y's lovely kids, Evelyn and Oliver.

Watching Escape to River Cottage one night, BB made a comment about Lulu looking like a pike. They both have the same silly eyes.

This is based on a WFI recipe. BB has been giving me less-than-subtle hints the past three years that maybe I should try making meringues, as they are "super easy". So, here it is, my Valentine's Day dessert. Instead of the plums and pears that the recipe called for, I substituted them with starfruit(!) (homegrown by my dad) and frozen berries. I also skipped the Greek yoghurt, and used brown, not white, caster sugar. It turned out perfectly yummy*. So, it is official - contrary to popular (i.e. BB's) belief, I DO KNOW HOW TO COOK.

*Though, if you want to give this recipe a try, I would suggest you stick to the traditional berry ingredients, unless you also have a father who has given you three humongous star fruit and you need to find a creative way to use them up before they perish.

My Valentine's Day present - chocolate coated almonds from La Maison du Chocolat (BB bought himself a box along the way). Probably the most expensive chocolate I have, and would like to have, tasted. These two little boxes cost a whopping four-digit figure.

When Pepper first joined our family, she was all-out neurotic. I couldn't blame her - shortly after we adopted her, we whisked her to the vet for double surgery. Now, after 15 months, she is totally at ease. One of my daily pleasures is waking up in the morning to find her sleeping by my thigh.

Random shots taken with my 2-inch toy digital lomo.

Village Cat.

Do Re Mi Fa.

I am obviously running out of things to post. So cats it has to be.

Constipated

is my brain. Hence you have not seen me here lately. The usual (non-)reasons -- work is getting crazy; my "Adam's Family" (a term employed by BB to describe his family-in-law...) is growing in number (with niece #2 coming in mid July); the 7th season of 24 was hugely disappointing; Generation Kill was as enjoyable as The Wire; the cats are naughty as ever; the weather is making me down; The Last Station is not anywhere close to showing AND the filming of The Details has stopped AND Wanted 2 may not be what it should be (triple whammy for all JM fans out there); I had to miss the 1st July demonstration; the dress that I have altered specifically for a wedding this Saturday has "mysteriously shrunken"; the deadline for the French course that I want to apply for is approaching and I have done zilch about it......

Well, just the usual chaos of life.

In troubling times such as these, one should always go back to the things that can cheer one up.

For all the mums out there.

Belated Happy Mother's Day.

I am back but too lazy to blog.

so instead of describing my awesome trip to London and my awesome experience at the Apollo Theatre in my awesome seats (yes - "seats" with the plural "s" - I saw it three times, but let's not get into it) seeing the awesomely awesome James McAvoy on stage for 2 hours x3, i thought i should post this:

glad to be back home too.  always nice to know that both human and feline missed me.  and honestly, the water in the UK is b.a.d. - something a life-long soft water user like me can never get used to.  (mental note - bring lots and lots of moisture masks and lotions next time)

i hope my happiness reserve will last me through next week, when a sh*tload of work is waiting for me in the office.

Sometimes I wish I had a carpet shark at home.

This is for T, who complained about my recent lack of blogging activities.

I haven't updated my blog for a long time, I know. It's not that my life has been so boring that there is nothing to write about (well, maybe it is, but don't tell me), it's just that I've been too lazy / busy to write. Lazy because I've always been. Busy because since three weeks ago, all cat chores (scooping litter, grooming, cleaning, feeding, etc) have been x4.

Pepper (or Siu Sai, as I insist on calling her that)(and no, it's not crude - what is your dirty mind thinking???) is "BB's daughter", since he has always wanted his own cat. I had my doubts as to whether he will make a good cat owner, but he has impressed me - on the first night when SS arrived, BB almost stayed wide awake all night, just to ensure she was settling in ok. In the past I felt that he didn't really appreciate the effort I put into the cats, or why I had to care so much about them as to losing sleep, but now that he's joined the club, we are more in sync in this department. BTW, SS is now recovering from her double surgery (fixing a born eyelid defect and spaying), and we will continued to be stressed out parents until she is 100%.

Hmmm, to avoid turning into one of those people who talk about nothing but their cats/dog/goldfish/children, and to show that I do have a life to live, here's what I could have told you, absent feline:

- I started watching Gossip Girl season one a few weeks ago, but I couldn't stand it. It's too highschool, the story was bad, and the acting worse. And Blake Lively is NOTHING like a 17-year-old.

- Of the drama series that I have watched lately, my favourite is Samantha Who. Christina Applegate is so cute, and almost every piece of outfit on her I would like to see in my own wardrobe.

- Have also watched the River Cottage DVD series. Conclusion - as much as I like to live in the country side and lead a self-sustaining lifestyle, I need a grocery store. I am scare of the worms and insects that crawl out of the crops soil, and I cannot eat any farm animals that I raise. How can you name your pig Martha, your chicken Clive, your sheep Molly, feed them and play with them (and see them give birth to little Marthas and Clives and Mollys), only to chop them into 100 pieces two months later?

- Also, thanks to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, I am officially done with sausages.

- Have read In Between the Sheets - a bit disappointed. Amsterdam is a lot better.

- Had lunch today with a primary/secondary classmate whom I have lost contact for over 15 years, only reconnected lately through Facebook. Feels kind of weird, but in a nice, yeah-I-would-love-to-continue-to-see-her kind of way.

- My latest movie favourite: Revolutionary Road. I thought I should like Slumdog Millionnaire more, but for some reasons I am really drawn to the pain and suffering of the characters in the Winslet/DiCaprio collaboration. Am now reading the novel, by Richard Yates.

- Saw Murder in San Jose, and totally enjoyed it. Sunday is Lisa Ono.

- Have spend over 2 hours this evening going through the HK Film Festival Programme. Personal must see: Genova, I've Loved You So Long, and Wendy and Lucy. Quite interested in Machan too.

- A recent trip to CitySuper tells me that a Happy Meal (cooking with organic and free range (hence happy) ingredients) is roughly three times more costly than an Unhappy One. Time to venture out of the high-end supermarkets. Where can I buy organic happy ingredients more cheaply?

Something to kick the PMS out of me.

From I can has cheezburger.

Do Re Mi.

Vienna & London.

The Schonbrunn Palace. The weather was excellent that morning, which made all the difference. When we left after lunch, the sky was clouding up already.

The absolute highlight of my trip to Vienna - conker picking. Until then I didn't know what a conker was (horse chestnut, looks like a regular chestnut we see in HK, but you cannot eat it). Apparently children in UK collect them and turn them into a toy. Such is the privilege of kids in the west - they are so close to and comfortable with nature and what it offers; unlike most of the Hong Kong- (or city-) raised kids, who don't even know the feeling of walking barefoot on grass.

BB's highlight of his trip in Vienna - listening to a (free!) organ concert. I felt asleep half-way through.

A group of US tourists saw me giggling and taking photos of this statute. They immediately took out their cameras and did the same.

Natural History Museum in London. One of the less expensive (free entry!) activities in London. Everything else costs you an arm and a leg.

A giant spider, the current exhibition at Tate Modern.

Borough Market. It's not huge inside, but all stalls offer the freshest food in town - organic fruits, fish & chips, home-made everything (sausages and pies, cheese, chocolate truffles, olive oil, etc). We had a chorizo sandwich, a veggie burger, a sausage bun, a spicy cider and an apple juice. Very satisfying lunch.

The prize winning pork pie at Borough Market. I bought one and carried back home for my dad.

小貓咪。

小貓終於找到主好人家了。除了愛心小姐外，還有其他人表示有興趣收養小貓。香港的有心人，還是有的。（但大多也是女性唷。）

由於新主人今天早上才接小貓，她昨晚便在我家度宿。我的三頭貓如臨大敵，整晚都在戒備狀態。直到今早，其中一隻對她好像友善多了，走上前又哄又聞。但是十分鐘後，小貓便要走了。

貓離開後，我竟然流了兩滴眼淚。想不到，只是一晚的相處，我會這樣捨不得。

小貓咪對世界充滿好奇，沒有戒心，無論大貓如何“怒啤”，她也一派天真無邪。在她眼中，世界是美好的，是充滿可能性的。看著她，我看到久遺了的，叫作“純良”的東西。我被她感動了。

大城小事。

*這幾個星期，工作前所未有的繁忙，每個project也是urgent，一天到晚也在check emails 和conference callls。
*看情況，未來幾個月，情況應該都沒有改善了。
*但看看Lehman Brothers, 又會暗自安慰，有份工作，已經很幸運了。
*原本在父母家裏的肥貓Lulu，最近因身體不適 -- 即年紀大（13歲）和癡肥（17磅）-- 要長期吃藥。父母照顧不了，結果Lulu“過檔”來了我和伯伯家。我看著Lulu由手掌般小巧，長大到現在我要出盡力才能把她抱起，13年晃眼就過。
*希望在Lulu有生之年，我可以好好照顧她。
*昨天下班時分，在往小巴站途中，看見一頭小貓咪。比手掌還小，但聲線洪亮，喵喵喵喵叫不停。（應是餓壞了。）我忍不住，把她抱起來，去了最近的獸醫診所。初步檢查，是頭一個月的小貓女，健康精靈，只需要杜蟲除蚤。因不能把她帶回家，只好把她暫留在獸醫診所。
*過去18小時不斷跟各流浪貓中心和愛貓朋友聯絡，看看能否為貓咪找到安身之所。
*剛剛收到電郵，有位愛心小姐想領養小貓！！

吃，因為無聊。

所以肥囉。

Spiced red wine poached pear.

A night with Tony Parsons.

My knowledge about Tony Parsons or his works does not go beyond Man and Boy, Man and Wife, and page 16 of One for My Baby, all of which I read over 6 years ago. However, when BB suggested that we attend a literary dinner with him, I was quick to say yes. After all, I have never been to a literary dinner before, and the mere words “li-te-ra-ry dinner” sound sexy and posh enough (shallow I know). Plus, lately I have been reading nothing but Hello!, Elle and Marie Claire (plus more than my share of Next Magazine, Sudden Weekly and other local trash gossip magazines), and therefore a literary dinner sounds a timely and much desired cultural fix.

So we found ourselves sitting inside Grappa’s at 7.30pm last night, waiting to meet the international bestseller (Man and Boy sold over two million copies worldwide). Dinner was from 7.30 to 9.00. At the price of $500 per person, dinner was, at most, mediocre. I had a Caesar salad and duck breast while BB went for the onion soup and chili spaghetti. When my dessert came (chocolate semifreddo with summer fruits), there was fruit juice all over the plate – obviously the kitchen staff did not bother to wipe the rims of the plates before serving the dish. I wonder what Chef Ramsay would say (apart from the two dozen F-words) if we were in Hell’s Kitchen. BB and I calculated that the cost of our 3-course meal plus a glass of wine would be less than $80. What a rip-off. But then again, we came for Tony, not the food; besides, who in the first place would have any expectation about Grappa’s food?

At 9pm, Mr. Parsons came to the podium. He was a lot funnier than his books (or at least my memories of them). He took questions from the audience and gave witty and very honest answers. For example, when asked what prompted his transition from being a music journalist to a novelist, he said without blinking “Unemployment!”. He is a huge fan of Hong Kong too, having visited the city many times over the past 10 years and having made some good friends here. According to him, Shanghai, the place where his latest novel (My Favourite Wife) is set and where he spent a lot of time over the past three years doing research, can never beat Hong Kong.

Despite having met him in person and coming home with two nicely autographed books, I still cannot say that I am tempted to start reading his latest work. BB, on the other hand, is busy reading The Family Way, a present from BB's dad that has been sitting on our book shelf for more than a year before finally finding its way into the light again.

It got me thinking – which writer would I want to meet most? This year, I think my answer would be him.

Life is a Blessing.

Emma, my niece.


Wonder of all wonderment!
Momentous moment when small form
First feels life in itself.
When new eyes open wide
On old, old world.
When tiny hands handle air;
Touch tenderness and love.
When ears first wake to sound
And silent lips find voice and food.
Soon newly wakened baby wearies.
World will keep.
Being born is quite enough
For one short day.
Baby hands rest;
Baby mouth yawns;
Baby eyes close in sleep.

--- Baby's First Day, by Mary Dawson Hughes

With Love from Switzerland.

Standing on Jungfraujoch, surrounded by white, almost all by myself. I felt so overwhelmed, and a little bit scared.

My near-death experience (ok ok I am exaggerating) and my trousers after escaping from the 12-inch deep snow.

Thun - where we stayed for BB's training. The weather was fantastic for a few days and behind the hotel was this magnificant Thunersee Lake. I walked along the lakeshore everyday, marvelling at the lake and the grass and the trees and the clouds and the blue sky. It's heaven on earth.

My virgin "lunch by myself" experience - I have this notion that it is sad to be eating a meal by yourself (a quick coffee at Starbucks is OK; lunch in Cafe de Coral is no; dinner at Spoon is miserable beyond description). However, since BB was in training while I travelled to Emmental, and I was desperate to try out their local restaurant menu containing (what else but) emmental cheese, I had no choice but to find myself telling the waitress "table for one please".

The verdict - it wasn't too bad, as long as you have a book that you can pretend to read. And the cheese and vegetables rosti was yummy but extremely filling (I only managed to finish 1/3 of it).

South to North.

BB and I are going to Switzerland this Friday. He is attending a training programme in Thun, and being such a good wife, of course I would tag along to *ahem* make sure he is well taken care of during his stay, thank you very much.

Too bad there's not much (shopping) to do in Thun, but at least it is close to Emmental, hometown to the famous cheese. I will come back another size bigger for sure. Bad news for BB.

While I am getting ready for my 3rd trip in two months, I now have a bit of time to sort through the Sydney photos. Once again, food photos have taken up more than half of the album. And you wonder why I am getting happier (read: fatter) each day.