3 Ring Binder

Today I made three grain-free recipes, two savory, one sweet. Oddly, all the food I cooked had the same round, single-serving form.  There is something very attractive to me about single servings and the roundness comes from the easiest shape to make freehand as in the case of the Italian Scotch Eggs, or cooked in forms, such as the Greek Meat Muffins and the Gingerbread muffins. The first two recipes were from Melissa Joulwan ’s fabulous cookbook, Well Fed , and the third was from this blog under flourless gingerbread .  All are delicious! Here are my flourless gingerbread muffins but I didn’t have any maple flavoring and I don’t use stevia, so I substituted for both with 2 Tbsp of maple syrup. There is only one of a dozen muffins left and there are only three people in the house and that’s all I’m saying. Italian Scotch Eggs: I add my favorite red sauce and it tastes like a Chicago-style pizza (you know, if you haven’t ever had a Chicago-style pizza – but it is really good.)

It is with a heavy heart that I write this post this afternoon. The WKC has just jumped the shark in placing an alien footstool (thank you Eric Asimov ) on the same pedestal with such dog greats as Uno , Carlee , James , not to mention Rufus ! This little dirty-cotton-candy-dragger-gone-bad dustmop  shouldn’t even be in the same species as the regal Rufus .  If I were a cussin’ gal (and I am) I might scream out WTF WKC !?!  But as this is a family blog (sort of), I’ll constrain my colorful language to initials. Still, I try to remember that like the Poodle , the Peke-devil may be in the do .  (Of course that doesn't explain its motion like that of an inanimate object under the influence of dark magic.) At least you could see its eyes. Malachy or Malarkey? Now that that unpleasantness is out of the way, let me get to some of the good parts of the show.  In the Sporting Group, where there are lots of nice, real dogs, I would have chosen the black and white Pointer , the Weimaran

The Hound Group went first and it was a little disappointing. For the second, or third year in a row, I liked Chanel, the Whippet (who took third), and the PBGV (who took second), and much to my surprise, I really liked the longhaired dachshund !   She was very alert and peppy and walked so beautifully which are some things that I never say about the stunted little dogs!   I was most impressed with the Plott , a relative newcomer on my radar with a – dare I say – f’ugly breed name, unless you name her Plan and so can introduce her as “my Plott, Plan.” (A little civil engineering humor for you there.) Everyone in the house agreed that the Rhodesian Ridgeback was a stunning dog. (Hey – I used to know a civil engineer who owned a Rhodie!) Alas, my picks were not to be for the wire-haired dachshund took first place in this group! That’s right, the squatty little professor of English Lit-ra-chur looking beast won.   Harumph. Then came the Toy Group which was my chance to escape to mak

Dog jammies – check. Dog socks – check. Dog cookie cutters – check (well, 2 of them). Bone Silly Bandz – check.  from the WKC website : Broadcast Information   The Hound, Toy, Non-Sporting, and Herding group competition will be televised live Monday on  USA Network from 8-9 PM ET and continuing on  CNBC  from 9-11 PM ET. The Sporting, Working, Terrier, and Best In Show competition will be televised live Tuesday on  USA Network  from 8-11 PM ET.  Breed judging highlight videos are available throughout the day on Monday and Tuesday on the Westminster Web site. These highlights will be available after the show, as well.  To our West Coast viewers:  Please note that the West Coast telecast is delayed for your time zone. Since results are posted to our Web site as they occur live, if you want to enjoy the drama of the moment, please avoid the Westminster Web site after 5 p.m. Pacific Time on each evening.  Wherever you are over the next two nights, I hope you get a chance to enjo

The following is a story reprinted in the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals monthly publication, Our Dumb Animals , 1887 under the title "Courage and True Chivalry." Except that I found it searching for court cases relating to the intrinsic value of pets , it has nothing to do with dogs, but I thought it was sweet. Enjoy. Miss Comfort Walker went boldly ahead, opened a first-class boarding-house and made money.  "Men go on credit," said she, "and why shouldn't women? At the year's end, if I can't any more than pay expenses, I'll try something else."  But at the years end there was a snug little balance in Miss Comfort's favor, so she took heart, and continued.  "Oh, its you, is it?" said Miss Comfort, as she perceived Ellen O'Brien, the washerwoman, in the basement hall.  "Yes, it's me, worse luck, Miss Comfort," whimpered poor Ellen.  "And what's the matter?"  &

Just when you thought you might have a handle on identifying the various spitzes (#3) , they go and add another one or two to the mix. I think the foxy collar of the Norwegian Lundehund is distinctive enough to stand apart from the other spitzes - especially in the non-sporting group - but the impressive array of acceptable colors and markings of the Finnish Lapphund just confuses the issue further for me.  A medium height dog, the Lapphund can be black, blonde, brown, tan, cream, wolf sable, blue, brindle, and saddle! With that standard spitz smile, triangular ears, and curled-up tail, how is one to distinguish them from the other spitz types? Surprisingly NOT a Samoyed ! (Wikipedia commons) It appears, that except for the all cream color  (looks like a Samoyed to me), the Lapphund is likely to have some amazing facial markings.  Check out the spectacles and eyebrows on these beauties: Cool spectacles! (Wikipedia commons) Spectacles and Eyebrows! (Wikipedia commons)

Were you a kid going to the dentists anytime in the 60s, 70s or 80s? I don't know what the connection is, but it seems that dentist's waiting rooms during that time were lousy with Highlights magazines. If you were lucky enough to be one of those kids whose regular oral hygiene checks included a significant stay in a magazine filled room then Goofus and Gallant may just be among your early memories of behavior models.  Pronounced Ga-LAHNT, because GAL-ent never occurred to me, the well-behaved twin modeled perfect behavior while Goofus - let's just say, did not. But creator, Dr. Gary Cleveland Myers, was not the first to use pictures of boys with contrasting behaviors to highlight good behavior. An earlier instance can be found in the work of Utigawa Kuniyoshi , a Master of ukiyo-e , who created the Moral Guidelines for Good and Naughty Apprentices  in the mid 1800s. This shows a good apprentice doing his master's errands, while the bad apprentices are harassin

I'm talking about this dog's inspiration to move its body. I'm a sucker for that hard physical workout montage accompanied by the urging, peppy music and ending triumphantly with a new, stronger body (cue Mr. Incredible). The game inspired me to eat cookies and be disappointed. :(  I'm going to have to roll that ball down the stairs a few extra times this week. Now, where to find that perfectly compelling, but upbeat music . . .

That's right, friends and dog lovers! The anticipated number of viewers of Superbowl XLVI to number of viewers for the PuppyBowl  VIII is 110 million to 10 million. I hadn't realized that the underdog's popularity was even that high! What's the PuppyBowl you ask? If you have more interest in flyball than football, are still bitter about your team's loss, or just don't want to look at Madonna, tune in to Animal Planet's Puppy Bowl .  If, during the game, your still find yourself wondering, What exactly is that PuppyBowl? you should, as my friend Amy urged me in 2009, " Go turn on Animal Planet right now and find out! " This year promises to be bigger and better!

(WKC photo) Now that you’ve read the title, you will never be at a loss for syllables when identifying this unique dog. The Xoloitzcuintli (actually pronounced “show-low-eats-queen-tley” - gesundheit) is the national dog of Mexico – and has no hair! In fact, you may have heard of it as the Mexican Hairless, but someone decided that name didn’t have enough gravitas, so Show-Low it became. Maybe the pup’s PR manager had the right idea, because after more than 3000 years of showing evil spirits the door, the Xolo is now showing its stuff at Westminster this year (more than 50 years after being dropped by the AKC for rarity and perceived extinction ). "I love your eyebrows. We'll call them Frida and Kahlo" Name the movie. Xolos remain relatively unchanged from the naturally selected state of its ancient breed native to Central America. In addition to its likeness found on 2-3000 year-old  pottery  and its carcass served on Aztec banquet tables, the Xolo was widel

New Breeds To Debut At 136th Annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog « CBS New York

( WKC photo ) The first of the six breeds of dogs showing for the first time at Westminster this year is the Norwegian Lundehund. This smiling spitz dog has a fascinatingly specific breed history.  Its job: hunt puffins. ( Wikipedia commons photo ) As puffins ( lundefugl in Norwegian) are an endangered (and adorable) bird and are mostly protected throughout its range, the Lundehund is sadly out of work. Happily, its striking six toes used to help grip the treacherous coastal rocks where the puffins live and impressive contortionist abilities  used to get in and out of puffin caves are sure to be an asset to any new position.  If you think those skills might be transferable to any job you might have for one of these upbeat but down-on-his-luck pooches, contact the Norwegian Lunderhund Rescue here . (Also, if you live in Iceland or the Faroe Islands , the dog can still work in its original field.) Like many rare breeds, the Norwegian Lundehund was saved by a few notable bree

February 2 nd is Ayn Rand’s birthday.  Explained by Harry Binswanger , “Randsday is for reminding ourselves that pleasure is an actual need, a psychological requirement for a volitional consciousness. For man, motivation, energy, enthusiasm are not givens. Pathological depression is not only possible but rampant in our duty-preaching, self-denigrating culture. The alternative is not short-range, superficial "fun," but real, self- rewarding pleasure. On Randsday, if you do something that you ordinarily would think of as "fun," you do it on a different premise and with a deeper meaning: that you need pleasure, you are entitled to it, and that the purpose and justification of your existence is: getting what *you* want--what you really want, with full consciousness and dedication.” I LOVE the idea of doing something for myself. In fact, I love it so much that I live that way every day;  I do what I can to make myself happy on both a daily and long-term basis. I took

It's February. You know what that means, don't you? Yes, the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is only days away! (Twelve days to be precise). This year we'll be watching the show at home as usual. While this means we'll have cozy ring-side seats, lots of doggie-themed snacks, and the ability to yell comments and criticisms at the screen without interfering with our neighbors enjoyment of the event, it also means no benching area tours, no close-up and personal introductions to the dogs, and no trip to NYC (insert pouty look here). Nonetheless, in the upcoming days I'd like to introduce the breeds showing for the first time at Westminster, share some dog art, explore the long and intertwined man-dog relationship (including dog as fashion accessory), and showcase some silly and/or fascinating dog fun. In the meantime, in case you missed it, you can enjoy this latest episode of Castle , "An Embarrassment of Bitches."