Vet Visits and Veggiefied Noodles

It appears the UK is so busy with storms and flooding that today we got their usually crappy weather.  It seemed to be continuously raining without actual drops falling from the sky, like walking through an endless soggy cloud.
   

The community police-folk had kindly woken the doggos at 8am (on a Saturday!) to check my housemate's registration papers again, and unable to get back to sleep I indulged in a bit more Friend's watching and losing time on Pinterest. Originally looking for Chinese breakfast ideas (who knew I might actually miss school food), the morning magically disappeared and it was soon time to start thinking about lunch. Sticking with the Chinese theme, I recreated a version of the Omnivores DanDan Noodles, sans porc of course. I also tried to create my own chili oil. In the past, I'm sure Drew and I just threw chili flakes in to a jar of oil and hoped for the best - what amateurs! It was fun to do, my only wish was that I owned a funnel.
  

 Use all the spices!

Still, I'm thankful to finally have hot water in the kitchen which made cleaning up the aftermath that little bit easier. The first two years I was told by the letting agent that a hot-water tap in the kitchen is "non-essential," and used to have to wash up in cold water or by boiling the kettle. No wonder people are getting sick, smh.

In the afternoon, I left the house! I was able to take Bao to the vets, and if I'm being perfectly honest I was dreading it. Given how much my previous elderly foster dog had gone through; months of medications, blood-tests and a blood transfusion, eventually ending in an emotional euthanisation (and an exceedingly large vet bill), I wasn't sure what to expect. She'd had a blood test about a month ago, and found that certain levels were high, possibly due to liver or gallbladder issues - a result of living off a diet of rubbish (trash for my American friends) for a fair amount of her life. She'd previously been put on a kind of doggy-multivitamins, that seemed to be working well and given her a bit more energy. Thankfully, I was able to pop to the eerily empty shopping mall over the road whilst she had her blood tests done, and came back to find that whilst some levels were still off, the vet remained hopeful. Given her age, her condition, and the fact that she currently has a healthy appetite, he was reluctant to put her on any further medication in case it upset her stomach.
  

En route to the vets!

Unfortunately, he wasn't able to do anything about her snoring though, as medically it's not a problem, nor a sign of anything more serious.

It's just... so... loud!

Still, I'm just thankful she's doing ok. Next step will be to try and find her a permanent home for when I leave China. Let me know if you know anyone looking for an elderly snorasaurus...

As of Feb 29th:
1,400 unwatched YouTube videos on my 'to watch later' playlist (damn you recommended homepage!)
495 unread emails.
7 unread paper books (+ 1 kindle).
3 dogs and a hamster.

1 jar of chili oil.

198 episodes of Friends left to watch.