Nayu's Craft Time #290 Watermelon Heaven

Today's main post topic is this beauty!

Over the last few days I've been enjoying some great books and loads of gaming (current addiction is Dragon Quest Builders which was made for me, it's that awesome collecting materials, building my own town, occasionally fighting monsters (some mega cute, others a tad scary (skeleton warriors..seen some zombies which I'm dreading. Looking forward to fending off dinosaurs!)). Building is the main aim of the game and I'm deliberately not completing quests fast so I can build everything just how I want it. 

I haven't yet seen Miss Multi-Console Youtube series of DQB but I plan to - just look at what you can achieve! I managed a 2 story tower but not got the pictures ready yet)

So much so after hours playing the game, I decided I didn't like it, wanted to demolish everything so simply started a new game because that was quicker. I'm now super happy with my town and will move on to the actual subject of today's post, watermelons! 

My beautiful mini watermelon (when it got here)

Over a month ago I ordered a smoothie box with a well known online organic box delivery company. In it was a recipe for melon smoothie...only there was no melon in the box. I rang up, they said I could have one in my next order (which wasn't for a few weeks). I was able to pick the type of melon so I chose watermelon, because it's my favourite. 

I was totally hyped for the mini watermelon, came down to slice it open only to discover it too was missing from the box. Cue a phone call with a promise it would definitely be in my next box. I was so disappointed that I asked my family to get me some watermelon, no matter the cost. Well they did. 

Comparison of mini watermelon with normal (large) watermelon - mine was as long as my arm! Picture source

It's so huge! They got it from a market in a town that's local but we don't generally shop there. Apparently the whole ones were ridiculously heavy. I love melon and can get through it quickly, so I had no problem munching down on this wonderful specimen of the thirst quenching fruit. It did last more than a day, but no more than 4. I love melon! 

I had a lot of watermelon!

I thankfully did get the mini watermelon on the 3rd delivery attempt, and it was yummy too, albeit tiny. I'm currently in melon paradise because Sainsbury's currently has them at £1 each (bargain), so I got a honeydew and a gala melon. 

Top is honeydew, right is gala melon, not entirely sure what the third is (maybe watermelon?) Picture source

Honestly there isn't a lot of difference between them taste wise (that I can tell), but they look very different as you can see. They are scrummy, and I've frozen quite a bit so they stay fresh long enough. Somehow I'd forgotten about some fruit I had, which needs eating pronto hence why I'm not keeping all the melon out. 

My idea of fruit heaven!

I'd love to hear your melon tales! And what your favourite fruit is. Grapes and berries are something else I'm very fond of, frozen berries are refreshing in this heatwave (which is still going & still awesome so long as I can sleep at night (so far so good). 

Thought you might be all melon'd out so here's some variety!

Over on Nayu's Reading Corner #13 Get my first impressions of Shining Resonance Refrain

Sadly can't play as this dark princess in the original story, I can in the Refrain mode but since it would muck up the main story, that route will be taken after I complete the game. There's musical instruments used as weapons, music, dragons, and elves (with their pointy ears that I don't like).

Been busy taking it easy before and after a family event this weekend, so only 1 post today over on Nayu's Reading Corner all about my thoughts on a new game for PS4 & the Switch which I'd pre-ordered in the post Nayu's Gaming Time #13 First Impressions of Shining Resonance Refrain (8/10E, JRPG)

Nayu's Product Review #6 Cadbury's Oreo Hot Chocolate.

These in hot chocolate form? Count me in to try it!

I love hot chocolate in many flavours - even when it's a hot day I may drink it, or just have it cold (I use a tiny bit of boiled water from the kettle to mix up the powder, then add cold milk to make it a refreshing milkshake (the kind without ice cream). I've tried several of what I call big brand hot chocolate flavours with a range of success, so was a little dubious about this one. In general I actually am not keen on Cadbury's hot chocolate, I prefer Options brand, Whittards (special treat!), or simply make up my own with either actual chocolate or plain cocoa (so many ways to customise it this way). A lot of coffee shops use Cadbury's original hot chocolate so I tend to avoid having it outside of my house. (This is a personal opinion, I know many people like it. This isn't a sponsored post!)

Tada! Weirdly this was the only picture I could find without taking one myself - I don't have 3 jars!

As a lover of oreos of course I had to try Cadbury's new drink. It does say oreo flavour on the packaging, so it probably doesn't have actual oreos in (hmm, I wonder if blitzing the actual cookies with milk would work? I may have to try that soon in the name of science!) On the first taste I immediately sensed that familiar Cadbury's hot chocolate taste, so I was a bit disappointed. However, a few sips later it really did taste quite a bit like an oreo, if you were to mix both the cookie part and the scrummy middle together in one flavour mix. I like it enough that I would buy it again if it's on offer, but for in the mean time I'll enjoy every last bit of the mixture, and then use other hot chocolate versions. I have another I tried but I'll save that for another post. 

I'd love to know what type of hot chocolate you like! (This isn't my photo, sadly).

Over on Nayu's Reading Corner #12 Sean Penn article

Love films? If so you may have heard of  Sean Penn, someone even I who has almost no clue about the entertainment industry had a vague idea what he does. Well he's written a book, so head on over Nayu's Reading Corner to find out my thoughts about it (it's not really a review, link to follow once live)

Nayu's Craft Time #289 Busy Gaming & Reading

I truly had intended to write what I call a full post, but after being out most of yesterday on various errands I need a rest. I'm doing this at top speed because it's the last of the 'must do' online tasks, the sooner I finish the sooner I get playing on this hilarious game which arrived this morning - yay! It will get a review in due course on Nayu's Reading Corner, for now know that I'm playing with crazy bunnies and Mario ^u^ And reading, as I've a mini stack of review books that need munching on. I've been doing craft too, more on those in another post. Time to go game! (Waited at least a week for this game to arrive)

Nayu's Craft Time #288 Let's Talk Cat Food!

Thought this was a more pleasant image to start with than an open tin of cat food

 The post I wanted to put up next was the watermelon post, but I only had time for a super quick one (I need to find a few photos both online and offline) so today I'm talking cat food. Regular readers will know how much I like to mention my cute kitty Belle. She is over 7 years old and thus classed as a senior by cat food companies. There are categories for kittens, as well as non-category food. I think these are important to some extent because at the early and later years of life cats need more specific nutrients. Mostly I don't think it would adversely affect a cat if you gave some food which wasn't in their supposed category: cats should get a variety of food to keep it interesting. 

This cat can be camera shy.

 I openly spoil Belle in trying as many cat food as I can especially when it's on offer. Naturally she prefers the expensive food! But she's worth it. She gets a mixture of 100g of wet food and some dry food too. Her wet food selection includes main UK brands Whiskers, Felix, Sheba and Gourmet. She used to have Sainsbury's own brand, but this year they changed both the packaging and the food itself (to have no grains) and somecat distinctly didn't like the change. 

Belle's trick is eating some of this Gourmet food straight from the tin!

Her biscuits are a mix of Go-Cat, Purina brand, and one I can't remember. She has recently had a more specialised biscuit added to help reduce her being sick (she can be a pukey cat. Using hairball medicine recommend by our vet every day means shes is rarely sick now). Biscuits are important for cat dental health - certain ones are aimed for that purpose, but she has a mixture of treats.

I mostly by fish varieties of food, or chicken/poultry. I avoid beef/duck/any other meat because you never know exactly what goes in cat food, and somehow fish and poultry seem a more acceptable type of meat than the others. This does minimise the amount of variety I have for Belle, but she still gets a wide selection. Ever since she started enjoying cat soup I've tried other types that aren't just in jelly which she has always liked: I try gravy and other similar textures.

A fair amount of the brands I've named are more expensive, but I think variety is important, and if she likes a brand I'll buy it as often as I can. I always get them on sale, and if I'm almost running out I get them normal price too: it is always handy to keep a few cat soups around in case she is unwell for a few days and needs tempting to eat anything. I always buy cat soups in a pack - they are sold singly but that's way too expensive. Cat soup is a good way of getting more liquid in a cat, as well as putting a tiny bit of water with every wet food, which is something our vet advised many months ago. 

 

An example of cat soup

I should have said this at the start but I'm not a cat professional, just a cat owner for over 2 decades who loves her cat and wants to give her the best I can. Speak to your vet first if you want to make any diet changes to your pet's routine. 

 

One day I'd love to have a Ragdoll cat! My favourite breed ^u^

 

Nayu's Feature Post #5 Water Safety with Royal Life Saving Society UK 2018

Image provided by RLSS UK

 I got approached by Royal Life Saving Society UK with tips on how to try and prevent water accidents. It's not the most pleasant of topics, but as you'll see in the post there are quite a lot of accidental drownings in water each year, and it's not necessarily always the people you hear about on the news. For some reason I didn't think people participating in water sports would be affected (surely they have life jackets and know about water safety), but they are. I knew about idiots who think it's fun to do cliff diving (NEVER DO IT!) and who invariable having severe or fatal accidents doing that. There are other surprising accidents with water. 

Because this is a PSA (public services announcement: something everyone should know) type post I am putting it on both my blogs, this one and Nayu's Reading Corner at the same time, to maximise the amount of people I can get this message towards. 

Here's the all important info: please share this with your friends and family, especially if they go near water. The first paragraph is directly from a RLSS UK email: 

Thousands of people are hospitalised due to near drowning experiences in the UK every year and hundreds more lose their lives. A national campaign to tackle the problem kicks off this week [this was in June, I'm a little later than planned posting this] and will see leisure centres, schools, businesses and communities uniting across the UK to try to prevent summer drowning tragedies. 

Here's an even easier image to remember the main points: 

This may be from a previous campaign - I got it from Google.

So wherever you are remember to stay safe this summer!