Interuppted evening

Tonight I was going to make a re-do of the dry sauteed string beans.

But, as chance has it, my neighbor came knocking on my door with a request and I was busy for quite a while.

And then I came home to this:

Excuse the blue tone - the lighting in the photo came out all wonky so I tried fixing it in Lightroom - clearly a failed attempt.

But do you note the expression in that face? The feeling of, "I have done everything for you but my tummy still aches - could you take a minute and do something about it?" 

But this was not an actual plea for help. This was Abby's way of getting Connor to leave his rawhide. 

While I was getting the tummy medicine, Abby swooped in and grabbed the prized piece of cow hide and settled down on the couch to munch away in a state of bliss.

Clever girl! In a totally annoying and frustrating kind of way.

Connor looked devastated in a sweet 'I really thought her stomach was upset' kind of way. So he got a big piece of smoked salmon.

Abby was not pleased with this turn of events. 

And, yes, Abby got a piece of salmon but a much smaller one.

She was still not happy. She would have traded that rawhide for a big piece of salmon in a heartbeat. Lesson learned.

Oh, and to make it food related - another picture of my failed scalloped potatoes which I will be remaking tomorrow. 

 

Mac & Cheese and why manicures make me cry

I love getting manicures.

I love the idea of perfect nails.


Does my love for either one of those things bring me joy? No. It only brings about an initial state of euphoria followed by tragic heartache and tears.

Which results in the need for comfort - cue the Mac & Cheese...

To fully understand my sorrow take a look at my nails during my euphoric stage:

Semi-pristine looking nails.

I was blissfully cooking away when I noticed this:

*gasp* Oh, the horror!!

The camera kept focusing on my middle finger - I suspect my camera has a hidden, cheeky sense of humor. 

And, no my hands usually don't look so crone-like - but they did after my desperate attempt to remove the yellow stains. Tumeric (or yellow mustard - I am not sure which) and manicures do not go together.


So now you know why I needed -

Why only two shots of the Mac&Cheese? Because it is really hard to photograph things when dogs are in your face.


Example 1:

Abby with schmutz on her muzzle.

Connor - who has added a nice tone of agita to his 'in your face' technique.

  
Oh, and before I type out the recipe - I bit the bullet and made an About page. Eeek! Check it out at the top of the page:-)




Mac & Cheese

Serves 1-3 depending on your need for comfort.

Ingredients:

2 cups of pasta (any kind) cooked al dente

2 pats of butter

1 tsp. of AP flour


1 cup of chicken broth


1/2 cup of milk


2 cups of nutritional yeast


1 pinch of tumeric


1/2 tsp. of yellow mustard


1 dash of powdered garlic


1 pinch of salt


cracked black pepper to taste

1/2 tsp. of lemon juice (fresh or bottled)


Directions:

Cook 1 cup of dry pasta in 1 quart of salted water until al dente, drain and set aside.

Put a saute pan on medium heat. Add the two pats of butter into the pan. When the butter is melted, add in the flour and stir for a few minutes.

Add in the rest of the ingredients and allow to simmer (you may need to turn the heat down to low at this point) until the sauce is thick and bubbly. 

Pour the cooked pasta into the saute pan and mix well with the sauce. Pull the pan off the heat and let the pasta hang out with the sauce for a couple of minutes. 

Grab a plate and enjoy!

Hummus and an afternoon of socializing

We did go socializing this afternoon.

Abby and Scout - Abby is still settling down after the noise at my place - Scout was worried about her.

Scout's owner was kind enough to invite us over after hearing about the barrage of noise on the roof.

Abby took a few minutes to relax - but with the help of Scout (who is the calmest dog on the planet) she was soon fast asleep on the couch :-)

Connor was not that bothered by the noise - but I think he may have just been putting on a manly show for Abby - because within 10 minutes he was stretched out on the carpet snoring.

Thanks, Scout!

 Dinner was fast and easy:

Hummus, lettuce, carrot and cucumber.

I am soo hoping they will not be working on the roof tomorrow :-(

Don't forget the dogs

Since I had all of that puff pasty dough left over I decided to make some treats for the dogs.

I cut much smaller pieces of pastry for the dogs. They were just large enough to cover the bottom of each well.

They cooked for 18 minutes in a 375 degree oven.

They came out nice and golden brown. I cut the tops off and added toppings tailored to each of the dog's tastes.


Connor gobbled down this:

Slices of banana topped with a healthy dollop of peanut butter.

Abby's version:

A bottom layer of anchovies.

A generous curl of smoked salmon.

After all the cooking I did today all I wanted for dinner was a salad.

I cut medallions of goat cheese, coated them with panko and pan fried them.

Goat cheese and panko bread crumbs.

Use a piece of thread or floss to cut the medallions.

The toasted goat cheese on top of a bed of baby spinach dressing in a raspberry balsamic vinaigrette.

I am going to enjoy a nice lazy Saturday evening :-)

S&S - a classic combination

Anyone else have a dog that loves to knock things off tables?

Guess which one of my dogs loves to do this?

Yup, it is Abby. Left to her own devices she would not jump onto the table to get this food. After all, jumping up on tables is not allowed. 

She will however (with zero sense of guilt) nudge this plate until, "Oops!" it falls onto the floor which, of course, makes it immediately available for doggie consumption.

Today, while I was cleaning, I put down the bottle of spray cleaner to pick up something or wipe down a surface.  

Two seconds later I heard the thud as the bottle hit the floor. Abby, in those two seconds, had magically transported herself back to the sofa and had a suspiciously innocent look on her face.

But I digress, what I made for lunch was, as promised, a big bunch of greens.

Lettuce, cucumber, avocado, shredded carrot, mushroom tossed with 1Tbsp. of Udo's Oil and 1 Tbsp. of balsamic vinegar.

And a small bowl of chicken and rice soup (from a can).

Simple and fast.

Now I just need to get myself to the store to pick up that missing ingredient for tonight's dinner!

Guess who came to lunch?

I intended to take the dogs for a long walk but instead we ended up socializing.

Abby, Connor and their good friend Scout.

 And in the end, I don't think the dogs missed the long walk. After saying hello to several canine friends they were more than happy to head back home.

And guess who came to lunch? A very special guest -


French Brie!

The strawberries I ate for breakfast were so delicious I knew I wanted to include them in my lunch. I was going to save the french cheese for dinner tonight - but I decided I couldn't wait :-)

Here is how lunch shaped up - 

French brie, fat-free raspberry balsamic dressing, strawberries, slivered almonds and lettuce.

I wish I could tell you what it tasted like all together but I will admit that I ate all the brie first, then the strawberries and then and only then did I eat the rest of the salad. 

The dogs got a slice of strawberry with a sprinkle of almonds.

More french cheese (yup, I bought more than brie) on the horizon...

No food, just a dog

I should divulge something - so you can appreciate the story I am going tell you.

Connor (unofficially) works as my hearing assistance dog (but he alerts to much more than that). You rarely see him in photos because (unless we are out on a walk and he is in front 'working') he hates being photographed. 

I took this picture of him today - but you can see he looks worried - he is always thinking "Am I supposed to be doing something?"

I have a hearing loss - first diagnosed when I was 25 - the doctor at the time commented, "Too many loud concerts." Which I was very proud about. But, nope, it is just genetic.

It has not become much worse over time but it is bad enough that when Connor was a pup - I encouraged him to point out things. Where is the phone? What is making that noise? That kind of thing. 

At some point when he was an adolescent the realization seemed to hit him, "Holy crud, she will burn the place down because she hasn't heard the kettle whistling for the last 10 minutes." 

I never had him certified as an assistance dog because I could not stand the idea of him poking me about every noise. 

If I clearly react to the noise and I choose to do nothing - he does nothing. If something is going on noise related or otherwise and I have not reacted to in any way - he alerts. He whines, pokes and just bothers me till I pay attention.

And I will have to say I am the worst person to assist - when he alerts - most of the time I say, "No, I am not getting another rawhide. ENOUGH."

But he is unswervingly persistent - until I pay attention to whatever is amiss.

So, today, he is pestering me - I get annoyed - he keeps pestering me. Finally, I give in. Fine! show me what is the problem.

It turns out I left a big chunk of avocado on the edge of the table after making lunch(I was too excited about watching the horror movie and forgot). He did not eat it - he just calmly walked over and pointed out the item. 

Ok, now I feel like crud. But Connor and Abby did get to enjoy avocado as a snack :-)

And no, Connor rarely if ever gets a food treat for alerting. He is just a great guy that way - he does it for the satisfaction of doing a great job.

Lunch, lounging and scary movies

The dogs vetoed the outing. I gathered up all of their things and stood at the door with leashes in hand - and nothing...

Abby was busy sunning herself. 

A true California girl - sunshine above all!

And why are you interrupting my sunbathing???

So a leisurely Saturday it was. Connor was doing the male dog/lounging/taking up the whole surface area of the bed thing (no picture of that - believe me - I'm doing you a favor).

And I decided to go with the flow and watch a movie. You should know - I love horror movies. The more campy, schlocky and/or adding nothing beneficial to humanity the better. But this one was surprisingly good. 

If you are afraid of heights and hate being cold - you will love this one. Pretty darn scary - in a good way. 

I made this for lunch:

Blanched collard greens on a white corn tortilla.

Add in some frozen corn heated up in the microwave. 

 Some avocado.

 And some salsa. It was great. Now to finish watching the scary movie :-)

Sooo hungry

I probably should have had a little something for dinner last night because I woke up this morning STARVING. Not a good thing.

I wanted something fast so - 

1 cup of muesli + 1/2 cup of milk + chopped apple + blueberries.

It was just what I needed - quick to make and quick to get in my tummy.

The morning would not be complete without caffeine.

I am amazed how plump and juicy these blueberries have stayed all week long.

I guess I could call this post "The Ode to Blueberries" except it is neither lyrical or poetic :-)

I am hoping to get in a dog outing later today - we shall see...

Did someone call me?

I was in the mood for something I could scoop up with veggies for my lunch today.

Tuna with carrots, celery, cucumber and baby tomatoes.

I mixed the tuna with some mustard, black pepper and garlic powder.  I would have included some mayonnaise - but with tuna - I can not be trusted with the mayonnaise. Half the bottle will be used before I can blink.

A garnish of black pepper and mustard.

Did someone call me??

Ahh, yes, Abby and her obsession with all things fish related :-)

The dogs did get a small taste of the tuna - trust me on this...

A journey of a 1,000 miles ...

After my savory breakfast, I felt unusually energetic so I decided to take the dogs on a long walk.

I know what you are thinking - "Pfft, she is just procrastinating. After all, she said she was going to put in 8 hours of work."

But, I wasn't(well, maybe a little). But the dogs DID need to get walked - and exercise IS healthy so I should do it, right?

The dogs at the start of the walk -  

Raring to go!

The dirt is what is left of my front yard after the demolition - hopefully they will put the grass back eventually.


For those of you struggling with horrible winter weather you have my sympathy - And I apologize for the next picture...

A beautiful sunny day!

The dogs at the end of the walk - 

Let us in!

Notice that Abby is helpfully pointing at the doorknob - just in case I forgot where it was :-) 

And as I look at this picture I realize that it is a good thing they are painting next - my door jam needs it.

How far did we walk?

Over 3 miles!

You are probably imagining that we had an brisk invigorating walk. I am sorry to say that you would be wrong. It was more of a shuffling/shambling affair since I am nursing two bum feet.


When we arrived home - I was very thirsty and just a little bit hungry.

Ice cold water, Amazing Grass and Udo's.

All mixed up.

Time to work before lunch.

A savory morning

And because I am a savory kind of girl...

Another helping of Shepherd's Pie for breakfast - with the addition of baby heirloom tomatoes. 

Can't forget the tea!

Oh, and yesterday I got this for the dogs. 

Yes, that is grass. When I lived in a house (rather than an apartment) I used to plant a bed of sedge grass. The dogs would munch on it like little furry lawn mowers. 

I am contemplating a planter box for my patio so that I could grow some grass for the dogs. 

I could show you a picture of the above mentioned plant after I gave it to the dogs - but it isn't pretty. But it does make me realize I need to get a bit more greens into the beasties diets. 

On the docet for today? Writing - and lots of it. Here is hoping (*crossed fingers*) that after 8 hours of writing I will end up with at least one decent sentence...