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Agents Milk Tray and Gingerbread reporting

Helloooooo ladies! I have chosen the alias Agent Milk Tray because all the ladies love Milk Tray *winks* and my lovely chocolate fur.
I live with my brother who will be introducing himself shortly. Our human is best friends with Mopsy, slave of Dido, Agent Lettuce. I like sitting with my brother on my Mummy or Daddy and eating my favourite treats such as sweetcorn, spinach and the odd bit of carrot.
My actual name is the same as a well known fictional bear and I share his love of pic-a-nic baskets.

Misfits Thanks Giving

In the United States, Thanksgiving is on the fourth Thursday of November. On this holiday, a Thanksgiving meal is prepared with all the trimmings; families gather together and talk,laugh, eat, while others watch a game or a parade filled with pilgrims, Indians and other colonial figures. Some families may even have their own yearly Thanksgiving traditions.

What is the history of Thanksgiving in United States? The initial "Thanksgiving" feast, held in 1621, was really a traditional English harvest celebration. The Pilgrims shared it with the Native Americans because they had taught the colonists to plant crops and hunt wild game. Without the Native Americans, the Pilgrims may not have survived the harsh winter and been able to celebrate their first harvest of plentiful crops in the New World. The colonists' first harvest feast lasted for three days. Food was served all at once, instead of in courses, so people ate whatever they pleased in the order that they desired. The more important members at the feast were given the best pieces of meat, while the rest of the diners ate whatever was closest to them. The history of Thanksgiving demonstrates that feasts like the one at Plymouth were held throughout the colonies after fall harvests. However, all thirteen colonies did not celebrate Thanksgiving at the same time. In 1789, George Washington became the first president to declare Thanksgiving a holiday. By the mid-1800s, many states observed the Thanksgiving holiday. Meanwhile, the poet and editor, Sarah J. Hale, had begun lobbying for a national Thanksgiving holiday. During the Civil War President Abraham Lincoln looking for ways to unite the nation, discussed the subject with Hale. In 1863 he gave his Thanksgiving Proclamation declaring the last Thursday in November a day of Thanksgiving.

In 1939, 1940, and 1941 Franklin D. Roosevelt, seeking to lengthen the Christmas shopping season, proclaimed Thanksgiving the third Thursday in November. Controversy ensued, and Congress passed a joint resolution in 1941 decreeing that Thanksgiving should fall on the fourth Thursday of November, where it remains. What is Thanksgiving today? At its heart, it's a holiday where family and friends congregate to catch up, reminisce, tell jokes, share scrumptious food and generally give thanks for all the good things in life-exactly what they did at the very first Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving All!

Misfits (Patches our spokespig)

Thanksgiving Report from Agent Butterloaf

Agent Butterloaf reporting in about Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is a day where human beans get together with family, relax, and eat a lot (I'm an expert in relaxing and eating.) It originated back in 1691, when the Pilgrims set a day to celebrate harvest bounty after a successful growing season. The harvest was helped by advice from Native Americans, who taught the settlers how to grow crops in the new land.

Turkey is the main meat at the Thanksgiving dinner. Other common foodstuffs include: gravy for the turkey, green beans, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie. One of my human beans bought a butternut squash for Thanksgiving and said it looked like me (not true, I'm much more pleasing.)

Happy Thanksgiving to all agents and their human beans!

It worked: Endive feast!!

Hi there,

The recipe for endive our aunts Yaya and Janneke posted worked!
Daddy slave didn't want to eat endive for another day,
so we got the leftovers:

Yummie!

P.S. Can you see how big Lily'explorer (top right) and Lil'wheeker (top left) have gotten?

Interviewing Caplin Rous using Twitter

Hi All,

We asked Caplin Rous the Capybara the first questions that were asked on the blog.

Below a copy of our Questions and Caplin's answers send using twitter.

We are @Guinygirlz (it means caplin said something to us), and @caplinrous (is us talking to caplin) is our friend Caplin.

We, Guinygirlz, said:
@caplinrous Okay first questions for the interview came in on our blog. http://bit.ly/b235ip
@caplinrous The piggyfriends, little piggy sanctuary in the UK, say they love you and wish they had a capybara friend! 9:44 AM Oct 11th via Echofon  
@caplinrous The piggyfriends adore the video that shows your cousins being tickled and falling over. (Do we have link of that?) 9:45 AM Oct 11th via Echofon

Caplin answers:
@Guinygirlz Here's the link to best capybara video EVER: http://youtu.be/3A2s70Z_LTg


Guinygirlz:
@caplinrous First question from Ghost, a piggy living with the Hamster in UK: What is the weirdest website you have found about capybaras? 9:46 AM Oct 11th via Echofon

Caplin:
@Guinygirlz: Gosh, I don't think I've ever found a weird capybara website! There aren't that many of them.
 

Guinygirlz:
@caplinrous Surrey squeakers, UK, think they eat a lot, they want to know what sort of quantity of food you munch your way through in a day? 9:48 AM Oct 11th via Echofon

Caplin:
@Guinygirlz I don't know how much I eat since mostly graze. Reports say 5 lbs of grass per day but I don't know. Plus 4 popsicles, 4 yogurts

Guinygirlz:
@caplinrous Last one now, Ghost again: Mummy is making us new bedding tomorrow so we would like to know what sort of bedding a capybara has? 9:49 AM Oct 11th via Echofon

Caplin:
@Guinygirlz I don't use bedding. I have dog beds around the house and on the porches. I urinate/defecate in a bowl of water in the bathroom 





If you have more questions for Caplin, please comment here.

Endive; the Recipe

Hi all,

Since the veggie of the week is endive, I thought I'd write down a recipe for endive, so here we go:

Ingredients:

- (Broad-leafed) Endive

Directions

As soon as the endive is dropped into your cage, it is important to start slicing and dicing right away since endive is at it's best while it is still crunchy. Endive is always a tasty veggie, but at it's best when fresh.
Eat whatever is left after you're done slicing and dicing.

Enjoy!
Yaya

The Leftovers

A crop of endive is kinda big, so it is okay to share a bit with your humans for the following traditional Dutch recipe:

Andijvie Stamppot
(endive 'mash pot')

Ingredients (serves 4 humans)
- 400 gr. broad-leafed endive
- 1200 gr. potatoes (preferably floury)
- 80 gr. butter
- 4 cups of water (500 ml)
- pepper, salt and nutmeg
- warm milk
- Rookworst (Dutch smoked sausage)
- mustard
Variation tip: stir little pieces of bacon and Dutch cheese into the stamppot. My human likes old dutch cheese, but it has a strong taste so if you're not sure a young dutch cheese might be better.

Directions
Put the potatoes into the water and boil them until they are soft (about 30 minutes). Cut up the endive into small strips. Boil the rookworst. Drain the water from the potatoes. Mash the potatoes with a bit of warm milk, butter, a pinch of salt, pepper and nutmeg. Stir in the raw endive and serve with the rookworst and a bit of mustard.

For the non-dutchies: rookworst and dutch cheese (e.g. Old Amsterdam)

Christmas Fayre at Raystede Rescue

Piggyfriends agents Thorntons, Firenze and Venezia reporting.

 

On Sunday 5th. December from 12 until 3 there is going to be a Christmas Fayre at Raystede. This is the rescue from which we three came, as well as several other current Piggyfriends. It featured in Algernon Rat's travels when he was staying with us in April and can be seen on the Remembering Alge blog for that month.

 

http://rememberingalge.blogspot.com/2010_04_01_archive.html

 

We hope that somepig reading this will be able to persuade his/her slave to go along and support the cause. They need all the help that they can get so that they can care for even more animals.

 

Here is their website.........

 

http://www.raystede.org/

 

Slave will be there, desperately trying to avoid the cavy house as we do not have any room for more piggies right now.

Her son, Kevin, who is shown in the blog, will be manning the car park as he does not want to get roped in to sing in the choir. Slave is a show off and will sing anywhere. Sigh............

 

 

 

 

 

Veggie of the Week Endive

Here are Agent Dinosaur and Agent Bumble Bee eating a leaf of Endive:) they love it!

GPDD got problems again

As most of the GPDD readers probably noticed we haven't received the Guinea Pig Daily Digest for a few days now.
M and me were discussing whether GPDD had spam problems again, or that no one hadn't posted for a few days now.
As I wanted to know what was going on, I wrote an email to the GPDD and also to Tex.
---
Hi there,

I haven't received the GPDD again for a few days now.
I also don't see any new posts in the archives,
so i'm wondering if the GPDD got problems again,
or that just no one posted lately...

Wheeks,
Slave Mikey and piggies:
Guinygirlz: Woopy, Lily and Daisy (almost same weight as 2 year old Woopy,
and they're only 6 months!)
and Valentine Chico

---
Hi!

Yes, the same problem that happened a week ago seems to be happening again. We have a ticket in on it, and hopefully it will be resolved soon.

Tex
--

Well, let's keep our fingers crossed, they fix it soon!

Grtz,
Mieke

Veggie of the Wheek: Endive

This weeks' veggie will be Endive. Slave says this is a winter veggie, which can be bought here mostly in autumn and winter period.
As you can see, the Endive looks like a big crop of Salad, the taste is quite bitter,
and we get to have a whole leaf per guinea pig!
According to the Guinea lynx vegetable chart below, it's also known as Escarole.

Here is a table with it's nutritional values:

Guinea Lynx' VEGETABLE CHART 100 gram portions	Percent Water	Energy (Kcal)	Protein (g)	Ascorbic Acid (C)	Calcium (mg)	Phosph. (mg)	Ca:P Ratio
Endive (Escarole)	93.79	17	1.25	6.5	52	28	1.9:1

Source: http://www.guinealynx.info/diet_vegs.html

We also read it's high in fibe, vitamin A and K

Oh, wow, this is was wikipedia says about Endive: 'Endive (pronounced /ˈɛndɪv/[1] or /ˈɛndaɪv/), Cichorium endivia is a leaf vegetable belonging to the daisy family.' Wow, there is something like a Daisy family? I have got to be a part of that! Ow, it's a plant family? that is too bad...
Here you see me and Woopy sharing a leaf. Can you see, it's as big as me!

Slave says Endive is also very nice for people te eat, she likes in raw, mixed with mashed patatoes, and a sausage. What makes it really yummy is adding small chunks of Cheese (she's Dutch, huh?) and a little ketjap (soy sauce)...
Okay, those humans are weird, we just eat it raw.
Please send in your pigtures or stories about how you eat Endive!
Also i'd like to know if it's available in for example the US. It seems like a very Dutch veggie to us...

Green Wheeks,
Lil'Wheeker (aka Daisy)

Btw, Because of the Great Piggyfriend Slave Penny tips, our slave is now growing Endive and carrots inside (as it's cold outside)! We hope it will work, one of the seeds sprouted, but as slave planted both in one pot, we've no idea wether it will be carrot or Endive...

Piggy Snap; Tort and White Tricolours

Agent Vroom



Agent Lettuce

This is me with my little sister Snuggles (I'm on the right) we are both Tricolour or Tort and White piggies. Plz to note I am not named for the hoomin singer but after the queen of Carthage-I'm a regal peeg. Home is my pod in my Aunty Loosy's house, Snuggs lives next door with her hoomin. I enjoy long cuddles, using Twitter to talk to other peegz around the world, floortime (especially for chewing on Aunty Loosy's shoes) and being told how lovely I am. Sometimes I miss my big sisty, Irene, who died in the summer.
Veggie of the week is one of my fav things cause it has broadened my nomming horizons, Endive is now a favourite nom, still think carrot is a bit rubbish though.
Dido out




Mystery Agent Watercress

Hi Agent Ghost. I would very much like to become an agent and to play Piggy Snap for the Tort and Whites team! I have chosen the name Agent Watercress, because I was named after the long-haired girl in a famous fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. A near translation of her name from German to English is "Watercress". I love having my hair trimmed (and it can get a bit knotty at the back) but the comb - oh no no no. I think my performance was once nominated for an Oscar.

Agent Watercress has given you the best clues to her real name so get guessing...



Mystery Agent Cox's Orange

Hi from me Agent Ghost. I'd like to play Piggy Snap for the same team. I have chosen the name Agent Cox's Orange, after England's most famous apple variety. I am very bold, friendly and inquisitive. I have a pointy nose and I like to stick it into everything! Whenever the slave comes into view, I march straight up to her to see what she's got for me.

Agent Cox's Orange real name is also a popular variety of apples as well as the name of a hobbit get guessing.

Eating Tomatoes

Agent Minty reporting.

 

Here are pigtures of myself and my friend, Copper, eating tomatoes. We just love them. I wanted our pigtures taken outdoors so that my eyes would look the proper colour but it was raining and windy and I decided that I would make do with Slave's useless camerawork and she took these in the playpen. Copper didn't mind as his eyes are red anyway.

 

These are tiny cherry tomatoes so Slave only cut them into halves. As winter is coming the tomato plants in the greenhouse will not produce many more fruits so Slave will have to buy them from the supermarket. They do not taste as good as the home grown ones but we will eat them all up.

 

Yum yum.

Veggie of the Wheek: tomato

The veggie of the wheek is the tomato. Tomatoes come in many different shapes, small, big, sweet or less sweet. Above you can see a tomato cut in half. As there are four of us, we all get a quarter of the tomato.
We like tomatoes but our late friend Lotje used to adore tomatoes, watching her eat tomatoes was hilarious according to our slave. She would take a bite then her face get a disgusted look. But then she did like the taste and took another bite, get another disgusted look on her face and take another bite...

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Guinea Lynx' VEGETABLE CHART 100 gram portions	Percent Water	Energy (Kcal)	Protein (g)	Ascorbic Acid (C)	Calcium (mg)	Phosph. (mg)	Ca:P Ratio
Tomato	93.76	21	0.85	19.1	5	24	0.2:1

Source: http://www.guinealynx.info/diet_vegs.html

We don't get tomatoes often, but we do like them. Here you can see Chico enjoying a piece of tomato.

Here's some points to take notice of when feeding tomatoes:
1) Be sure to remove the green tomato plant tops, tomato plants are poisonous!
2) We just read that if you have big tomatoes you should remove the seeds. We never did that, but also don't get big tomatoes...
3) We are doubting whether tomatoes can be a bit acidic like apples, which are not nice to eat when you have a mouth sore.... and can even be the cause of mouth sores when given in large quantities!
4) We don't advise the really small very sweet tomatoes (also called snack tomatoes in the Netherlands) for your piggy, or at least in very small amounts, cause since they are so sweet they must be high in sugar! Which is not very good for piggies...

Okay, well I hope you enjoy tomatoes, do let us know how you eat them, and feel free to send in pictures or videos of you eating tomatoes (see the contribute tab on top of the page).