Was this the original "Iron Chef" show or "Iron Chef America?"
If it was the original, I would say it may be impossible. There are many products that are just not available outside of Japan, where that show was made. Though if you live in San Fransisco or LA, you have a much better chance since both cities have a very high Japanese population and are ports of entry for ships from Japan. This means that Japanese products are much more available there then anywhere else in the US.
If the show was the American version, you have a better chance. Try your local Natural food stores (NOT health food, big difference. Health food stores are places like GNC. Natural food stores sell organic foods, etc.), and even talk to the produce manager in your regular store. Don't underestimate what he can get a hold of. He just may not be buying it because he is assuming there wouldn't be a market for it.
I just thought of this. Where do you live? Is rice grown nearby? According to www.usriceproducers.com, nearly all of the rice in America is grown in six states: Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Texas. If you live in one of them or nearby, contact a local farmer and buy some directly from him. Your best bet is a smaller farmer rather than a large production farm.
Do you remember what they called it on the show? If you knew that name for the "rice stalks", you could always Google it, and perhaps buy it over the internet. I tried Googling "fresh rice stalks" and couldn't find anything. Sorry. Maybe if you tried a Japanese cooking message board or chat room or group, they might know more.
Planned Parenthood is on a sliding scale and even free depending on your circumstances. I have been there myself. They even give you prescription medications for free. I do know that birth control is handled a bit differently, but is still very affordable and they will do everything they can to help your friend.
Fleas are EXTREMELY small. And they jump, not fly, though telling the difference can be hard since they can jump VERY far. It is also VERY hard to catch them. They also tend to bother humans at night. During the day they feed on their animal hosts, which they prefer. But you said you don't have any pets. But if you had a mouse or rat problem you didn't know about... That was how the Black Plague in the Middle Ages was spread. And they bite. But they usually only bite below the waist on humans. You would have bite marks from them. They are painful. And they may look fuzzy to you, as fleas are hairy. If this is what you have, you should get rid of them right away. They spread disease through their bites.
I had to share this with you. When I was in college, I dated a guy I thought I was head over heels in love with. And everybody thought that he was the nicest guy and that we made such a sweet couple. But soon things got weird. He was real distant and started avoiding me. Well, I was smart enough to recognize trouble. So I confronted him. He finally confessed that he had a problem with my weight (I was overweight, about a size 16) and didn't want to date me anymore because of it. I was shocked, and heartbroken. No one had ever been so mean to me. I had never been judged by my weight before (I was really lucky!) and I couldn't understand how such a supposedly "nice" guy could do it! We broke up. And I was very sad for awhile. And angry! I didn't hesitate to anyone the truth of why we broke up. Whick meant there were a lot of angry girls at him around campus! LOL!
But soon after this, I realized that one of my best friends was the perfect man for me. And now we have been married for eleven years. And he treats me like a Queen!
So never settle and never underestimate your own worth! It sounds like you are too young to be thinking of marriage, but dating is the same principals. Never be afraid to be alone instead of being with some guy that doesn't appreciate you.
A few tips for your acne: +Wash your face twice a day, without fail. +Never sleep with your make-up on. +Use a soap made for oily skin or for acne. Regular soap is way too harsh and can make it worse. +A good (and cheap!) astringent/toner is witchhazel. Use it straight from the bottle with a cotton ball. It doesn't dry out your face like alcohol, but cleans it well and removes the oil. Find it by the other toners in the store.
Many people may disagree, but I always did this and still do. And Dermatologists do it. Just make sure you do it right. Pop your zits.
If you are concerned about scarring, there is a certain type of acne that is genetic that is the type that causes the scarring. You probably don't have it (it is normally boys who do), but if you do have it, you need to see a doctor. Only perscription medicine can help this condition and prevent the scarring. If you are unsure if you have this, did at least one of your parents have it? If not them, any siblings and aunts or uncles? Talk to your parents about it. People who have had it and did not receive treatment (which was not available until about the last 20 years or so), usually have scars on their cheeks from the acne. Though they may have them on their back instead. Normal acne will not scar unless you constantly pick on the zits or small scabs.
So get rid of those zits! Clean up that face! At least the ones you easily can. Including black-heads. A pimple is trapped dirt in a skin pore. That isn't just going to dissapper. It needs to go somewhere. And if you don't get rid of it, it will build up and up until it makes a little zit volcano (which is very painful and can cause scarring from erupting because of the damage it does to the skin).
Before popping a zit: Always have clean skin first AND clean hands. You don't want an infection. If you cause a small wound or some bleeding, put some antibiotic creme on it to help it heal. Though before that, and after you are done, it is a good idea to wipe down your face lightly with witchhazel again. It will clean the dirt off that may have been smeared around (and help cause new zits!) and witchhazel is good for preventing bruising and inflammation.
To pop a zit: put your index fingers from each hand on either side of the pimple and push towards each of them, NOT DOWNWARD. Downward doesn't do much but cause pain. If it doesn't come out with a reasonable squeeze, leave it alone. It isn't ready. You don't want to hurt the surrounding skin. That can cause scarring. There is also a small blackhead removal device you can find in the cosmetics section with the other beauty tools that can be helpful. Dermatologists use one like it in their offices. There are instructions on the package. Just make sure you always keep it clean, washing it with hot water and soap after each use.
REMEMBER: What is trapped in a pore that makes up a zit is dirt and bacteria! So you don't want to spread that bacteria anywhere else. So be very clean and careful! It will help prevent new zits and infection.
After you have removed a zit, the pore is often left open and enlarged. A scab may form over it as it heals back to its normal state. DO NOT PICK ON THE SCAB. This is what truly causes scarring on girls. Leave it alone and let it heal. If you cannot leave the scab alone, do not squeeze your zips in the first place. A pimple is less ugly than a weeping scab that someone repeadedly picks on.
Believe it or not, you may want to check out your local gas station! We buy our milk in half gallon bags that came with a free special pitcher to put the bags in and they are cheaper then even Wal-mart milk. A lot of people around here buy their milk that way.
Otherwise, our Wal-mart has a good price for milk, and this a regular Wal-mart, not one with a grocery store.
When money is tight, I mix 1/3 regular 2% milk and 2/3 powdered milk. I always mix it at bedtime, so it can get good and cold overnight. I find you don't need the vanilla this way. But it does end up more "watery" than 2%. More like skim. So next time we buy a new bag (and we get 2%), it always seems thick and indulgent!
As the owner of four cats, and 8 more in the past, I thought I may have some knowledge that will help.
My first thought, since you said he is a nuetered male, is Feline Urilogical Syndrome. This is where too much magnesium in the diet causes the urine to form crystals and causes painful urination for the cat. It mainly happens in nuetered males and the first symptom is they stop using their litter box. Cat's are fastidiously clean and when they are sick, they like to be even cleaner. So, since their penis hurts, they do not want to go to the bathroom in a litter box, which usually has some residual waste already in it. So they see it as "dirty".
But before assuming this is your cat's problem, you need to ask yourself:
+ Have I changed the brand of litter I am using? + Have I changed where the litter box is located? + Have I added or subtracted anything to his litter (like baking soda, etc) ? + Is there a new cat in the house, even one just visiting (or was there just before the problem started)? + Have I changed the floor cleaner I use in the room where the litter box is? + Have I changed the litter box itself? + Have I changed his food? + Have I been cleaning the litter box more or less often then usual? + Have I added or taken away a mat/carpet in front of the litter box? + Do I feed him a low-magnesium food or a food meant for a cat's urinary health?
If your answer to any of these questions is YES (except the last one), you have a behavioral problem on your hands. And that is a good thing. Whatever you have changed, go back to the original. He must prefer it and is trying to tell you that. Remember, out in the wild, animals comminicate through urine. That is what he is trying to do with you. Unfortunately your sniffer isn't sensitive enough to get the message. So you have to use you brain to figure out his message.
The next thing I would do, is clean the area he has been marking with a enzymatic cleaner. They use enymes to break down the urine. Ask at your pet store or look around the web. Shop around for the most recommended. It may be a bit pricey, but get what people say works. There are many on the market that are crap.
For any residual smells, Fabreze Deep Clean works great.
Next, stop letting him have acess to your children's room. At all. At least until things are back to normal. The kid's may whine. But explain that he is being punished and they will have to understand. Keep the door closed during the day. And at night, if they can't sleep with the door closed, try a baby gate. Though he may be able to jump over that. I'm not sure what advice to give you. But keep him out so he gets the message. And PLEASE don't put another litter box in there! That gives him the message that it is OK to pee in there (as long as he does it in the box) and then you will never be able to take the box away, or he will start peeing on the floor again.
Sometimes cats decide they like a new place to pee. Either to act out and tell you they are angry or because ??? Who knows? They are cats! But cats can be trained! Don't give in to him!
He may be telling you that he wants his litter box kept cleaner. Sometimes males decide to boycott because they get choosey about the state of the cleanliness of the litter box. A great, easy way to keep it clean is to use scoopable litter (if he can tolerate it, some cats can't) and keep a bucket with a top (I got mine from the grocery bakery for 50 cents) and a garbage bag inside it next to the box and scoop it every day or even every time you go in the bathroom. Very easy and makes your litter last longer.
If your answer to ALL of those questions was NO, then you need to take him to the vet and tell him you answered no to all of those questions and tell the vet what he has been doing.
The sooner you get him to the vet, the better. The next stage of the disease, is the crystals all build up and block the flow of urine. He won't be able to pee.
If the disease isn't treated early on, the only treatment is a surgery that removes his penis (and isn't always sucessful and is expensive) or putting him to sleep.
I don't mean to scare you. I am NOT saying this is what he has. But it is nothing to fool around with. When I was a young cat owner with my first cat, I ran into the very same problem, and didn't take him to the vet on time because I thought it was a behavioral problem, not a health problem. I ended up putting him to sleep. He was 3 years old as well.
+ Make sure a game is one you want to OWN before buying it. There are a lot of games out there that you will never want to play again after "conquering" it. So why own it??? For those games, I wait until my friends who collect games and MUST have almost every game made, are bored enough with it to lend it to me to play. Then I get to play a great game for free! So find other gaming friends who want to buy the game you want to play and load up on some patience. Letting them borrow games from you also helps. Or doing something else to repay their kindness. My friend's never need games from me (they already have them first!), but I like to do them favors or give them a small gift, especially since I have been known to keep a game as long as a year and they don't mind.
+ No friends and no chance of making any??? Well, renting may be your best option. Go on-line and look up the game. See how long it takes to finish it (on average). Make sure if you are going to rent the game, you don't waste your time for those days doing a bunch of other stuff. Have a "game marathon." Even if you have to rent the game a couple of times to finish it, it can add up to a lot less than a $50 price tag on a game you only want to play once. But make sure you know that. Have a good estimate of how many times you will need to rent it and therefore how much it will cost and know how much the game does cost retail. You may be better off finding it cheap on eBay and reselling when you are done with it.
+ For games I think I want to own, I always try them first. I am usually able to do that at my friend's, but renting is another way. A game that looks great on a commercial may not be so great once you play it. Or, especially after you have played it for 10 hours. You may be bored and sick of it by then and don't want to finish it. So a few bucks renting it can save you a lot of money.
+ If you decide you must have it, look around on-line. My two favorite places are eBay and Amazon. You can get great deals. But make sure you know the going retail price (amazon's) before bidding at eBay. It may seem like a good deal, but it may be actually cheaper somewhere else.
+ And if you eventually get bored with a game (which you will!), sell it. Why let it sit around when you can make money off of it?? Either Amazon or eBay allows people to sell on their sites. Often you can make more on a game then you paid for it! (If you bought it frugally!)
+ And a tip about cheat/walk-through books. Never waste the money buying them!! You may think you need them to get through a game, especially a difficult one, but there are TONS of websites with the same information on-line (many even better than the books!) I can't post a single site, because every game I have played I have found that a different site had what I needed. Just search (use Google), by the game's name AND the game system (ie PlayStation, X Box, etc) you are using. You need to say the game system, because many games are made for more than one, but each system has quirks in a game that another system doesn't. So if you try to follow the cheats or walk-through of a system different than yours, you can get very confused.
I just wanted to say that I agree wholeheartedly with you! We crate trained our terrier, Natty Jane, and have never had problems.
As an adult dog (she is 5), she can be left alone all day long with no problems, outside her crate. And at night she still prefers to sleep in her crate, which is in our bedroom (she wouldn't put up with being in another room, but that is because we trained her that way).
She sleeps in her crate until her morning walk. Ususally about 8 hours. She has her own blanket and pillows in the crate to adjust as she pleases (like a dog would do in their den in the wild).
Another great advantage of her sleeping in her crate, is that she sleeps better. We have 4 cats, and they sometimes get a bit playful at night (understatement!) When Natty Jane isn't in her crate, this really bothes her and she feels she has to " police" them, and she doesn't rest well. In the crate, disruptions like this don't bother her anymore.
I would say that if you want your dog to be a guard dog (as well as a family pet), and need them to continue sleeping in the crate as an adult (some dogs have to all their life to avoid accidents, especially smaller dogs); your best bet is to place their crate near where they can hear an intruder the best. Your bedroom may not be the best option. The kitchen or family room may be better. Near the back door.
But remember, when a dog is in a crate, even though you may have given him blankets, they do not have control over their environment. They cannot get up and more to someplace warmer or cooler. So always keep in mind the comfort of your dog.
We bought a small fan that sits on the floor for really hot, humid summer days for Natty Jane. We don't have central air and she would get hot in the crate. But we only blow it so it hits half of the crate so she can move to the other side out of the way if it gets to be too much.
Good luck to anyone training a puppy. It is hard work. My advice, go to the humane society and get a beautiful abandonded dog that is already trained for you! LOL! But be careful, they have puppies there, too (that's how we got Natty Jane!)
