the new diet

So we got the first installment of the new diet today. I went to the vet on the way home from work to pick up the gourmet japanese meal. It came in an exciting package, with various approval stickers to allow it to be exported to south africa, britain and australia. This is international stuff, it would seem.
The vet gave me very strict instructions that she is to have this food, and only this food for the next four weeks. I nodded gravely.
So then i went home to try the stuff out on her excellency.
The cat and i have a tradition: every day when i get home from work i giver her “the special treat.” This is nothing fancy, normally just half a portion of wet cat food (not a full portion, since then she gets over excited and eats too fast and throws up, normally on the carpet!) knowing this, the cat is always waiting for me at the door when i get home, and she pulls on my trousers leg incessantly until she gets her “treat.” So today seemed like any other, i came home, she went through her usual routine....except, alas, she can have her special treat no more....it contains the wrong kind of protein!
So i got out the bag of.....well, according to the label it is Catelin mixed with manioc. (i always though manioc came from congo, since i was introduced to it by congolese, and they are the only ones i have ever seen eat it...but the package claims to be an “exotic asian mixture”....i guess this mystery is not really worth dwelling on!)
The mixture smells truely and completely putrid.
When i was a small child, i had fish. These poor creatures lived in a bowl, which i was supposed to clean once a week, since they were, after all, my fish. Except that i absolutely hated the task, the bowl’s bottom was inevitably foul, and there was this gastly odour.....so this is basically what the catelin and manioc smells like. The whole room reaked within minutes.
The cat, however, didnt seem to object, and after some initial complaining about the change in routine, set about eating the new stuff. But then, cats go for the smelly stuff.

She has now been well fed, so i can return to my reading. I have been indulging myself since i presently do not have a paper to work on. I read drakulic’s latest on the war crimes tribunal....one of her better efforts, but still annoyingly superficial. I then read sandor marai’s conversations in bolzano, which was disappointing, i must confess. It had its moments, but after Embers, which i greatly enjoyed, it was a pale comparision. I think i will have to switch genre now and randomly try something more removed from my speciality.....