Wednesday, August 13th - Animal

            I woke up this morning to the sound of birds chirping. The smell of food all over shook me from my slumber. I rolled up against my tree and stretched my fat limbs. I used my rough paws to push myself off the ground and went on a search for food.

           Once I found my bamboo breakfast, I chowed down and began getting ready for my day. To prepare, I washed my paws and ears off in the stream. I went back to my tree and brushed my hair with my leaf and rock hairbrush. It was now time to go to work.

           I worked in the Panda Kitchen Express and my job was to gather the herbs, flowers, bamboo, and bugs that we served on our menu. I walked about fifty feet and began picking the beautiful Japanese cherry blossoms. After I gathered two bags of those, I looked under the rocks by the stream to find the delectable crickets we loved to eat. I, then, walked about 20 yards away to a near by bamboo garden. I picked around fifty stalks and started my journey to the Panda Kitchen Express.

          Once I returned it was time to start the dinner preparation. (Even though we are called an "express" we have amazing sit down dinner services!) I heard our head chef say that tonight was booked full. I took the fifty stalks of bamboo and cut half of them for the bamboo soup and chopped twenty-five in half for the cricket and flower entrée. Once I finished the bamboo I had to prepare the cherry blossoms. To do this I pulled off the petals and set them in a pot of water. I used the insides to season the crickets so those were set aside. The pot of flower petals was covered and boiled for fifty minutes on low. While the flower petals boiled, I had to season and cook the crickets. To season our crickets, we place a pinch of salt over the bodies and set the flower insides over top of them. After that I heated the oven to 250 degrees and placed the crickets in the oven. They would sit there for half an hour.

           It was twenty minutes before our dinner service began and the flower petals finally finished. I pulled the crickets out of the oven and removed the insides of the flowers. I placed the petals, bamboo, and crickets under the heat lamp and set up another pot of water. Once the water began to boil I threw in the bamboo and pepper. The dinner chefs clocked in and told me that my shift was over. I clocked out and took home a bamboo, flower, and cricket entrée for dinner.

         When I arrived home I turned on my favorite TV show, "Secret Life of the Teenage Panda", and ate my dinner. I took a bath in the stream near my tree and fluffed my pillow. It was time for me to go back to sleep because living as a Panda bear is one difficult feat.

 

 http://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/giantpandas/pandafacts/