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--- "Kendall, Roberta" <roberta.kendall@m...>
wrote:
>
Hi Shanlung, I hope you are well. : )
>
>
I wanted to ask you how much of the Mike's Manna
>
mash you make up at one time. I am picturing myself
>
up to my eyeballs in mash and no place to put it (as
>
I have just a standard refrigerator and freezer),
>
and thinking, "Hmm, I should tell Shanlung what my
>
kitchen looks like covered in Mike's Manna Mash."
>
>
Do you buy the kit from him, or do you make it
>
completely yourself?
>
>
Your comments would be most appreciated. I also
>
posted an email like this to the Grey site and asked
>
for your feedback. I may just take my life into my
>
hands and make up a batch this weekend. ; )
>
>
My best regards,
>
Roberta in CA
Hi
folks,
It
is great to be back here again having returned to
Taiwan
and reaching home at 1am on 3 Feb. It was a
wonderful
time in New Zealand where we got to meet 3
families
of parrot lovers in among our travelling in
their
beautiful country. More will be said of that
later
in another email.
Halftail
and Zorro were retrieved in the morning from
their
stay with the vet where they were spoilt and
pampered.
I
then had to rush off to the office to meet a
dateline
for a report.
In
the evening, we made our way to Yu family to get
Tinkerbell.
I called out from outside and was a bit
disappointed
not to hear her screaming to me like the
last
time when I came back from a long break in
Austalia.
I went up the steps to see her bobbing
herself
up and down from the top of the cupboard. I
was
so pleased to see her again and I just looked at
her
with what must be the silliest grin on my face.
She
then flew to my shoulder and pressed her head just
below
my ear and remained that way for a while. She
got
the gentlest headrubs from me and after a while,
she
flew to Joy, rested on her shoulder quietly.
We
were wary enough to check our backs to see if she
pooped
on us. She had shown her anoyance at us that
way
after we left her a couple of days to travel
about.
That was the time before we included her on
all
our trips in Taiwan.
I
felt heartfelt guilt to find our backs was actually
clean
and her flights to our shoulders was her warm
welcome
and not a precursor to punishing us for long
absence.
Mr
Yu then told us that Tink was very excited that
whole
day as if she knew we were coming to get her.
Tink
flew to the top of the cupboard and bobbing
herself
and knocking on the top the moment my voice
was
heard even if she did not call back to me.
That
Tink settled well at his house and was actually
talking
to them all from the 2nd day. Tink has only
spoken
out at home and recently, to us during our
travels
but only if we are alone. Yu has been taking
Tink
out on harness elsewhere. She had full run of
the
house and she would fly to where the family
gathered
and got on very well with their 3 kids.
Then
for the last two nights, you all do understand
that
I cannot get back into the net as Tink refused to
leave
my side the moment I get back home.
But
back to the Mike's Manna Mash. For one who never
made
it before, you have a good idea as to what you
are
getting into when you guessed you may be up to
your
eyeballs.
I
used Mike's formula as the basis as I could not get
all
the ingredients in Taiwan and he did not offer his
kit
of the dry stuff at that time I started on it more
than
a year ago. Below is the URL to Mike's Manna
Mash.
http://www.birdsense.com/
I
modified the preparation slightly especially in the
process
to leach out the proteolytic enzyme inhibitors
using
techniques from soybean milk preparation. I also
want
the beans to swell and slightly germinate for
better
nutritional value.
Assuming
your cooking day is on wednesday evening.
(note: I am a bad cook
and do not know cup is a précise measure.
The cup I use was a tea cup, and is slightly less than half of
The regular measuring cup.
PLEASE REMEMBER THAT IN RECIPE BELOW)
Morning
of Monday,
1
cup of soybeans
1
cup of kidney beans
1
cup of garbonzo beans
1
cup of pinto beans
1
cup of blackeye beans
1
cup of dry corn
2 cup of Great Northern white beans
Those
are soaked in their own containers and washed
and
soaked repeatedly until wednesday cooking
Evening
of Tuesday
1
cup of red beans
1
cup of green beans
1
cup of black beans
Again,
these are soaked and washed repeatedly until
wednesday
cooking
On
wednesday evening, about 6 cups of sweet potatoes
are
cut and sliced into small pieces.
1
cup of barley
1
cup of glutinious rice
1
cup of red rice
1
cup of brown rice
1
cup of oats
1
cup of rolled wheat berries
2
cups of millet
They
are all combined with the beans in a large pot
with
about 1 1/2 inch of water covering them and
boiled
together with a tablespoonful of wheat germ.
Boiling
is for 25 mins with constant stirring. Fire
is
turned off and the mash is left to cook and cool
for
an hour.
A
bag of frozen mix vege of carrot, beans, corn is
then
mixed in.
That
will be enough for about 6-8 weeks for
Tinkerbell.
That
mash is then ladled into sandwich bags good for
3-4
days and stuffed into every available space in the
freezer.
One bag taken out at a time to thaw in the
fridge
for use and given in morning and evening. A
pot
of warm water at about 40C is used to heat up the
portion.
Cherry
tomatoes, mango, banana and carrots are blended
separately
, frozen in little bags as per the mash and
a
glop of that is used with the mash. That is further
garnished
with chopped salad and alfalfa sprouts.
Tink
gets also dry food, Nutri berries and an oil palm
date
daily as well. Sunflower seeds are given as
treats
and bribes and in random places around the
house
for her to 'forage about'.
She
also gets to join us in a few bites of sashimi,
and
a bit of whatever we are having for dinner.
Tinks
variation of Mikes Manna Mash is not as complete
as
the original formula. But I do think her diet is
adequate
enough for her. When I think of what I eat
and
what I prepare for Tink, I feel slightly envious
of
her.
Hope
this can be of help to your fids
(footnotes added later by another email )
But some notes that beginners on mash making may find useful.
Try
a quarter recipe first using a quarter of everything. 1 cup of
dry
beans or rice can expand very drastically and many cups of beans
and
rice give you many many many cups of mash. Heck! that quarter
recipe
may be enough for 2 weeks or so. Stirring a small pot is also
going
to be a lot easier than stirring a HUGE pot.
The
gratification you get from seeing your fid in gobbling that mash
will
inspire you to go on to half recipe and finally to the full
recipe.
I
left out the veges (other than the frozen stuff) to minimise the
volume
in the freezer opting to add that in later from chopped salad
that
I can vary or add new experimental stuff. Otherwise my only
fridge
become a dedicated Tinkerbell fridge with no space for my
icecreams
and other human goodies that must be kept in the freezer.
=====
With
warmest regards
Shanlung
Joy
- wife, Tinkerbell - CAG & surrogate daughter
earlier
emails and photo links on Tink -
http://www.geocities.com/shanlung9
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