15 September

And here I was, supposedly I'm to update my website but... hehehe don't want to, but heck, maybe I will if and when I feel like it later. Just have to check it out anyway, if everything's done and ready.

So... we've been eating duck stew during the weekend. My brother went to the other house, my sister-in-law's, and got a duck from them; they raised 10 of them I think, but were all males so no chance of reproduction, is there? Anyway, so my brother went there and got one, brought it back here and slaughtered it. Cool!

I've seen chickens killed before, but I suppose the process's the same -- wring the neck and hope it breaks and kills easily, otherwise, chop it off. Then it's to the boiling water bath to remove the feathers, then open the fowl up. My brother had a difficult time with the smaller feathers, the down I suppose it could be, and just removed the whole skin off. That he actually cooked for our cats!

Oh yeah, our female cat here recently gave birth to four kittens! Cute! Two of them are a mix of black and while, then one's almost white (like Shiro here) but its head has black markings all over it, while one's really pure black and absolutely adorable but shy. They haven't left their "roost" so to speak, and are just inside my brother's room.

Anyway, back to the duck. After that, you just open the fowl, get rid of the innards and what-not, chop it up and it's ready for the pot! Simple and easy. I haven't actually done the actual chopping up of a whole chicken, but I've seen it done and have read about it, so I suppose I should do okay, I hope.

But I'm the only one here who can really clean a squid up. My father taught me how, and no one actually likes to do the cleaning up when we have squid, so it automatically falls to me. Even the cooking of squid sometimes.

Cleaning whole fish is a lot more difficult, mainly because I'm not used to it and I tend to be OC with it. Then there's the fear of rogue fish bones splintering and piercing my skin, especially when you're cleaning the stomach. Gods, you have to remove that green sac, the liver I think it is, coz it's really bitter.



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13 September

Just watched Scooby Doo on cable ^__^ I'm really happy right now. I wanted to watch the movie on the big screen but one thing led to another and I couldn't go. At least they showed it on cable this soon. It was like watching the cartoons itself, only with 3D characters. Even though it was pretty obvious that Scooby was CGI, it didn't matter. I know I was enjoying the movie immensely, as I was laughing my head off at their antics.

Fred was Fred (forgot his last name), I somehow can't re-align the Fred in A Pup Named Scooby Doo cartoon with the Fred in the original cartoon. The previous Fred believed in anything and everything including the Mudmen who are in league with the Martians to take over the world, while the latter Fred just took everything with a grain of salt and that everything had to have a rational explanation.

Velma's the same as ever, the geeky nerd whose ideas always save the day no matter what. Bright orange, really bright color... Jinkys! And in the movie she was working at NASA developing that whatchamacallit weapons! Really cool! Dinkley or was it Dinkey, her last name...?

Daphne (Jones? all I could recall off the top of my head is that she's the one with the money among the group) was a bit of a reach. In the original cartoons, she was the pretty redhead with brains, though a bit of a klutz/ditz sometimes. What was it that Velma calls her... Danger-prone Daphne, that's the one. In A Pup Named Scooby Doo, she's the fashionista who once stopped a chase so she could have her butler Jenkins clean and press her wrinkled dress... I know that actually happened in one episode but I can't be sure which one, and which monster chase it was.

Shaggy Rogers... now that's a character. He's the hippie who never got out of the hippie age, owns the Mystery machine (yes it is his van people!), is best pals with a talking dog, has an appetite that can rival a black hole, a cowardly chicken who can still get the bad guys and wins out in the end. And in A Pup Named Scooby Doo series, his Dad's a policeman and he has a baby sister!

Scooby Dooby Doo!!

I can't actually remember when I started liking the cartoons but it seems like it's been a long time. They're a funny group, and the interactions between and among the characters are great. Fred, the leader, the typical American boy next door. Velma, the brains of the operation. Daphne, the pretty girl. Shaggy, the lay about. Scooby, the pet, the mascot, the hero.

You can't find them just anywhere.

Too bad about Scrappy in the movie though... bad puppy!