Animals Archives - Page 4 of 11

Dinner at Bev’s

September 24, 2008 / Animals, friends / 1 Comment

My dear friend invited us over for a girlie night of puff pasty pizza and ferrets.

Bev … about to hack up something or another.

The makings of a very tasty salad – with rennet-free cheese.

Ummm I can’t even begin to explain this.

Bev starts on the pizzas.

Lol-isa can’t resist the feta.

Spreading on the topping.

LOL-ing.

My vege pizza with a corner of meat.

The meat-lovers’ pizza.

Covered in cheesy goodness.

Lise finishes up the salad.

Baked and ready!

After-dinner ferret-play.

There seems to be a ferret in the Tokidoki.

Or two!

What are you doing, naughty ferret?

“I am putting my head between my legs is what!”

When ferrets attack.

Acrobatics – trying out for Cirque du Soleil.

Tired and ready for snuggles.

Gone Bush!

September 21, 2008 / Animals, Family / 0 comment

We took Alec’s mum to Mount Kuringai to check out how the area had changed since she lived there. We packed a picnic lunch and head on into the bush for some nature watching and serious snacking.

Happy family shot

Sandstone cave. Very cool!

More happy families.

We then drove to Bobbin Head just for a look. As we were driving down one of the roads a family of wood ducks or geese (we weren’t sure what they were) stepped out in front of a car going the other direction. Luckily the driver saw them and stopped while mum, dad and all of the babies waddled across the road – straight under our car!

Why hello there little ones.

Straight under the car!

… and out the other side.

Safe!

Time for a drink.

All freshened up and ready for dinner!

Malabar at Crows Nest

September 4, 2008 / Animals, friends, Sydney Food / 2 Comments

I’ve never been a fan of Indian food – with the exception of cheese naan (which I was told recently wasn’t traditionally Indian – what a disappointment!).

Beverly and Lisa however have been raving abut their favourite Indian place in Crows Nest, Malabar, so in the spirit of trying new things, I agreed to come along for some new flavours.

I was pleasantly surprised by the delicious food – although I shouldn’t have been surprised since B & L are usually right when it comes to good restaurants. I was also pleased by the variety of vegetarian food on offer.

The interior – very dark unfortunately which made it not optimal for taking photos.

Colourful menu.

The house specialty is Dosai – B & L have been raving about it for a while now so I had to try it out.

The Dosai – a thin pancake wrapped around lightly spiced potatoes. Very, very tasty.

Hello there Lisa!

Patti Samosas – filled with spiced potatoes and peas.

Malabar Paratha – some kind of fried doughy bread. Delicious!

Bev in food heaven.

Nomming isn’t always a graceful thing.

Dessert – pistachio ice cream.

I can’t remember what this was called but it was a dessert with cottage cheese I believe, deep fried into dough somehow.

We adjourned to Bev’s house afterwards for ferret play and internet surfing.

The ferrets REALLY want to get on Cute Overload … “Ein, get out of my WAY!”

Malabar
334 Pacific Highway,
Crows Nest, NSW,
Australia
(02) 9906 7343

Puppies Galore

August 24, 2008 / Animals / 1 Comment

I miss my babies and wish I could see them more often. The naughty pair came over for visit this weekend and did cause some havoc, but isn’t that what puppies are for?

Buffy likes to burrow into the cushions – as captured below. The girls liked to cuddle up to their dad as well. Alec calls them “stalker dogs” because they don’t like us to be out of their sight. If I get off the couch to go to the kitchen, I turn around and there is one or both of them, at my heels looking up expectantly. Somewhat disturbing, somewhat cute. It’s hard to decide.

I met up with my parents to hand over my babies again. I really like walking the dogs here on a nice day like today.

Mum with baby Buffy. She is such a little micro dog.

Kahlua – my soul mate in doggy form.

Puppy Power!

July 28, 2008 / Animals / 1 Comment

I just realised that I still call my dogs “puppies”, even though they are all grown up! I think it’s because they’re so small and act like puppies. Particularly Buffy, she’s such a midget and makes the cutest baby noises.

I had the girls over on the weekend for some quality puppy time.

On the couch, Buffy likes to wedge herself under the pillows. Yawn!

Kahlua tries to lick Alec.

Buffy tries it on too.

We took the girls to a dog exercise park nearby to enjoy the sunshine.

Snuggled up to Dad.

So TIRING being so cute!

Whatcha looking at, huh?

Oh, me!

I know I’m cute …

Kahlua explores …

This pointer wanted us to play with him. He dropped his slobbery ball at my feet until I threw it for him. Which he fetched …. again, and again, and again …

This other big doggy adopted us. He was huge and friendly, but Buffy didn’t like him encroaching on her territory and growled at him. She was lucky she didn’t get eaten in return.

It was so great having my girls over – they are such sweet babies, and were amazingly well-behaved. I can’t wait to have them with us full-time.

I Am Not A Nugget! Chicken Are People Too

July 27, 2008 / Animals / 1 Comment

I’ve been thinking a lot about chickens lately. I stopped eating them a long time ago, but recent reports and Jamie Oliver’s Fowl Dinners program has made me want to do more to help the poor little things.

I’ve read that about 50% of eggs labeled as “free range” are actually from caged birds because there is apparently no legal definition of “free range” that the egg farmers have to comply with, so they charge more for the eggs that caring consumers are buying, and still give the chickens a terrible life.

This weekend I have been trying to contact people whose job it is to handle these issues – the government. I have emailed the Hon Ian Macdonald MLC – Minister for Primary Industries NSW (macdonald.office@macdonald.minister.nsw.gov.au) and the Hon Tony Burke MP, Australian Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (Tony.Burke.MP@aph.gov.au). I have also contacted the Department of Fair Trading in the hopes that they will care that consumers are being sold eggs that are labeled in a misleading way.

The next step is trying to find out which eggs are actually free range. I can’t find a list anywhere, except the recommendation to buy from grower’s or organic markets as they are more likely to be eggs from small local farmers.

I have also bought Alec, his mum (who is a chicken lover) and myself tees from PETA that have a chicken friendly message on them – “happy families, not happy meals”. I thought it was about time that I started to wear my heart on my sleeve about the animal issues I’m really passionate about. I also bought the PETA black singlet top, shown below – if the tees are nice and fit well, I am considering buying more.

In the past I haven’t spoken up much about the animals causes I’m interested in out of a concern that I would make other people around me uncomfortable and have them then either avoid me or make fun of me because I haven’t been a vegetarian for a very long time. I realised this week hat what matters is that that I speak up for those who can’t, so expect to see more post like this on my blog in the future.

You can read more about the short lives of chickens at the Animals Australia site Free Betty, or on the RSPCA website.