Freedom (from the Collar of Shame)

 Hey, that would make a great song title!  How ya doin' Natty Honey?  I hope you are having a fabulous time being Rock and Roll Princess.  Please keep yourself safe and healthy!  I was going to release Lookie from the Collar of Shame tomorrow, now that her coat has pretty much grown back.  But what difference does a day make in that matter, so I took it off today.  Here's a snapshot of her after I just removed the collar, going to town licking herself in bliss.  She still has somewhat of a rat tail since the tail was out of range of the collar, but it's not completely bald so there's hope for her yet that she's not a complete nervous wreck, now that her main source of stress (her mother) passed away.  Enjoy the view now folks, before she gives herself another bad poodle cut!

Dammit!  I didn't think of buying lettuce and tomatoes at the grocer.  Instead, I bought red hot chilli peppers and a carrot.  I still have meat pies on my mind, even though I took out some chicken breast from the freezer last night to defrost.  So I made some soft tacos, and I had to make do with what was in the cooler.  You know how to make small tortillas, right?  You know how to make dough, right Natty?  You don't?  I will teach you inshaAllah.  The stuffing was chicken, potato, anchovy miso, dried fried onions, and basil.  I wanted it slightly sweet, so I added sugar.  It didn't taste like anything I ever had before but tasted good, so I guess it wasn't a failure.  That miso stuff really does a great job at thickening meats, I'm getting hooked on it.  But my soft tacos weren't perfect.  It needed... lettuce and tomatoes.

Look what Google sent me after Mary Unknown7 finished her set!  Isn't that nice of them?

Sorcery

 Hi Natty!  Oh, cute puppy!  I hope you are having tons of fun being you my Princess, and keeping yourself healthy and safe.  I'm doing OK over here.  It didn't rain this evening, so I went around the yard killing stumps with the hoe.  The hoe seems to be much more efficient than the chainsaw or weed whacker.  I guess it boils down to brute strength over technology, when it comes to killing small stumps.  I absolutely had to make curry pups for dinner, and try my new stuffing made with miso.  I'm happy to report that it was a success!  It feels like meat pies made with all meat!  You want to try one?

The Power of God is not sorcery.  I can only do what God allows me to do, and I can only know as much as God allows me to know.  I find it ridiculous that humans prefer to believe in sorcery over God.  Especially the atheists, with their vaunted science and human superiority, refer to magic instead of God to rationalize events that their religion of no religion cannot explain.  Yet, imagine the power of spiritual muscle and science working together.  So Glory to Allah.

I didn't have Mary Unknown7 wear shades for her photo shoot, so I had her wear a pair when she sang and took a snap shot of that.

Congratulations

 Congratulations on your big brother's getting married, Natty!  What a lovely couple.  Best wishes and applause.  Being married is a great way to get the gay guys off his back, especially if he's active in showbiz.

Hey Natty, this miso stuff is quite useful.  Soups have a creamy texture, like cream of chicken soup.  I had half a fish head left, so I steamed it in miso soup for lunch.  Soybeans also have the reputation of enhancing meats.  So for dinner I had steak cooked in miso, with fries.  It was a success.  I used the anchovy miso which is salty, but if I had used a sweet miso it would be better I think.

Adventures in miso

 Hi Natty!  How are you today?  I pray you are healthy and happy.  Again, I'm sorry about all this waiting around.  I prayed as sincerely as I could for your life to be an easy one, without the worries of money or a place to live.  I have a feeling though that when the time comes for us to be married inshaAllah, I will approach you as gently as possible as you doze in blissful slumber, then you wake with a shock and stick your claws in me.  Yeah I know, I use a lot of cat metaphors.  But which would you prefer, a gentle prodding or a rude awakening?  Either way when the time comes inshaAllah, please make it easy for me otherwise I will feel and think that you are not interested in marrying me.  This international and long distance love is not easy for either of us, so please make the process of marriage easy for your husband.

Damn, these soybeans just won't break even though I cooked them for a day!  Unless I stick my hands in there and mangle them.  Which is what I did, when it cooled down of course.  Then the skins were in the way.  I tried Google to tell me how to separate the beans from the skins, and it got cryptic on me.  The only clue I got was that I had to buy a machine to do the separation.  Damned shadow marketing.  So I threw the lot, skins and all, into a jar with salt and water, and left it on my counter to ferment.  I put some aside in the blender, and made a mulch, which is basically miso, without the fungus.  But fungus is in the air, right?  It'll get into the mix eventually, especially in this tropical climate.  So I made 2 types of miso: one with just salt, and the other with all the leftover anchovies I had in my cooler.  I used the anchovy miso in my ramen, and it was a success.  There was anchovy debris at the bottom of my soup because I used fried anchovies, but next time I won't.

Just another average day

 Hi Natty!  How are you today, my love?  I saw that post by your USC grad school buddy, but I didn't see you, or maybe you were wearing a mask or something.  I can't say that I find your situation to be normal, though everybody is happy and smiling.  So please be vigilant about protecting your health and safety.

It is a normal day over here.  Sundays I clean my mother's bedroom , and I get takeout rice for lunch since I don't have energy to cook.  I had to take my mother to the hairdresser in the evening.  It's a good thing I had some soybeans stewing off and on all day.  They haven't broken up yet, but they're edible.  So I'll be making dinner after I pray the sunset prayer, which is steak and soybeans in gravy.  Very healthy!  Oops, gotta go!  Time to pray!

The humble but mighty soybean

 

Hi Natty!  How are you today, my darling?  I hope you are being vigilant about guarding your health and safety during these pandemic times.  I've been suffering eye strain lately.  I love computer work, but my eyes can't seem to keep up with the workload.  But I discovered recently that if I were to take a nap after I post this letter everyday (usually after the sunset prayer), I can work the rest of the night without my eyes having any trouble, or needing any of that eye ointment.  It seems to be working for me, I don't know if would help anyone else, especially those who stay glued to the monitor without eating, sleeping, taking a shower or a dump.  You have to take breaks, and give your computer a break too.

I'm not good with soybeans.  My last attempts at making tofu and soy sauce were miserable failures.  But I'm determined to master the soybean somehow, someway.  Soybeans are almost as cheap as lentils here, so I went ahead and bought a kilo.  Soybeans, being beans, are time consuming.  First you have to soak them, only then can you cook them.  And being beans, you have to slow cook them to death like chili.  I didn't do that today, I just cooked them until they lost their snap, making them slightly easier to eat.  I ate them with some of that slow cooked steak I made the other day, some dried onions and salt.  The rest of the beans that I cooked, I salted them and put them in jars to ferment a little.  This is going to take a while.  I'm not good with soybeans, but I'm determined to get better.

Friday

 Hi Natty!  How's life in sunny California?  I hope you are keeping healthy and safe.  Not much going on here for me, other than the usual.  It's past sunset right now, and I'm still eating my dinner.  Curry pups.  I was going to cut the grass over at my grandparents' grave, but the sky was so dark I gave that up.  It rained only a little, though.  Nothing special on the menu today either.  Just curry pups.  I'm going to finish my dinner now.  I love you!