Pancake Day

Today is Shrove Tuesday, which in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Canada is commonly known as Pancake Day due to the tradition of eating pancakes on that day. This tradition comes from a time where any rich foods were eaten on the day before Lent, and fasting, begins. I decided that since my boyfriend, Wiggle the Dog celebrates Pancake Day that I should, too! So when mom got home from work tonight, she made blueberry pancakes for dinner. Here is a pancake frying in the pan:

 She told me that she was making a blueberry pancake just for me!

 She cut my pancake into pieces so I wouldn't gobble it in one bite & put maple syrup on it.

 It was delicious! Here I am enjoying it:

This is the second year we've shared in this tradition with our UK friends and it's such a fabbie one we're going to do it every year!

A Gorgeous February Day

Yesterday & today we have had unseasonably warm weather here in Seattle. A few weeks ago we were deep in snow, and yesterday it was 62F / 16.6C ! Today was not quite as warm but was still nice so we walked down to Magnolia Blvd, which is a lovely walk along the Puget Sound bluffs just north of downtown Seattle.

 There were lots of people & dogs out walking & plenty of sailboats in the Sound, although there wasn't much wind.

 There was so much to look at I kept turning my head excitedly this way & that, & wouldn't look at mom for a picture!

 A cargo ship, probably from China, anchored out in the Sound:

 The Olympic Mountains to the west:

 The Elliott Bay Marina with the Port of Seattle in the background (and the edge of Mount Rainier on the right)

 There are many view points along the Boulevard in which to admire the views.

 Walking south on the Blvd, with downtown Seattle & the Space Needle (just above the house on the left) visible in the distance:

 Back home on my front porch, I STILL wouldn't look at mom for a picture! This time I was interested in the neighbors across the street dragging their recycle bin to the curb, BOL.

 But later, in the back yard, I finally looked into the camera for mom & smiled!

Snow!!!!!

We got snow in Seattle! Yay! We have about six inches right now & it's still snowing lightly. I got to play in it with my soft, flingy frisbee!

I am a happy girl!

Something Fabby in the Mail!

Today right before we left to go to Tru Value Hardware, the mail carrier delivered this exciting envelope! Since we were on on way out when it arrived, I had to wait until we got home to open it. It had a stamp of the Queen & it said "Royal Mail" so I knew it was from Wiggle!

 Inside the envelope was this fabby calendar from Labrador Rescue South East & Central (www.loveyourlabrador.co.uk) with Wiggle's late brother, dear old Sir H, gracing the cover in all his muddy glory:

 For January 2012 there is this cute picture of my love, Wiggle, with his flappy ears in the wind & Sir H in the background:

 Close up of Sir H saying hello with Wiggle peeping over his shoulder:

I was so excited after seeing these pictures that I had to go into the back yard to work off some energy as my walk earlier didn't do the trick. Looking at mom through the back door, telling her I want her to come watch me play:

 My stupid, yellow rubber squealing monkey with the silly smirk was just the thing to whap around:

 Monkey is all a-blur with my whapping, BOL!

 Stupid monkey is face down, trying to hide from me, BOL BOL BOL. All in all, a good start to the day!

Birthdays, Baking & Other Things

It has been a while since my last post! First of all, on October 7th I turned 10 years old & it was a totally fab day! It started with me opening my parcel sent by my love, Wiggle the Dog, all the way from England:

 I got this official Squirrel Patrol tag from Wiggle, which I now proudly wear & has kept those pesky squirrels at bay.

 He also gave me this (as he described it) "roundish, fluffly thing" which turned out to be a silly smiling toy which I take great pleasure in whapping:

 Thank you, Wiggle! xx

 Then at lunchtime, mom put me in the car & drove me to the most fabulous place in the universe, Dick's Drive In on Holman Road! Mom stood in line to order while I waited impatiently in the car.

 I was so excited I was all a blur!

 Mom also took a little video of me being sung Happy Birthday to & eating my birthday fries, which Dick's Drive posted on their facebook page! Lots of people saw me enjoying my birthday treats.

Yesterday we celebrated Shadow & Slinky's 13th birthday. Since mom is not sure when their exact birthday is she just estimated, as they were 7 weeks old when they were adopted from the Seattle Animal Shelter in December, 1998. They got lots of these nommy little treats (that also freshen their breath, that sneaky mom, BOL!) and then they had a catnip bash which is mom dumping a bunch of catnip around & letting them roll around in it in a very silly manner. Shadow actually fell asleep on some catnip & was snoring loudly & happily. This is Shadow, who is very lazy, even for a cat:

 And this is his brother Slinky, who is still in remission from his cancer (yay!)

 Today is very warm, rainy & windy so mom decided it was a good day to make her favorite pizza, a pear, gorgonzola cheese, walnut & red onion one. Here it is!

Making pizza from scratch is very easy & takes about as long as it would if you ordered delivery! Most can be made in about 30 minutes or so & it's fun to do! A pizza stone is very helpful, but if you don't have one you can use a terra cotta planter base turned upside down, which is what mom does. Here is the recipe:

Pizza Dough

2/3 C warm water
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 package or 2 & 1/4 teaspoons of active dry yeast
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder (optional)
1 & 1/2 C. flour (mom uses half whole wheat & half white)
1/4 C cornmeal

Put stone in oven & preheat to 500F or 260C

Put sugar & yeast in the warm water & let sit for about 7 minutes, until you see the yeast foaming. In a bowl mix the flour, cornmeal, salt, & garlic powder. Add the yeast mixture & mix until it forms a ball. Put on a floured surface & knead for about 10 minutes, kneading in more flour if it seems too sticky, until it's smooth & elastic feeling.  Let rest for a few minutes, then roll out to a 12 to 14 inch circle.

Grease a cookie sheet with olive oil & dust heavily with cornmeal. Put dough circle on cookie sheet, place on stone & bake for five minutes, & then take out of oven. You are now ready to add toppings!

For the Toppings:
Brush pre-baked crust with olive oil, then sprinkle on sea salt.
Add grated mozzarella cheese (about 1 & 1/2 C)
Sprinkle with gorgonzola cheese or bleu cheese (if using gorgonzola, go light - a little goes a long way!)
Then add thinly sliced red onion (about 1/3 of an onion)
Add 1/2 to 3/4 of a very ripe, thinly sliced pear
Top with chopped walnuts, then drizzle with extra virgin olive oil & sprinkle a little more salt.

To Bake:
Gently slide off cookie sheet directly onto the pizza stone (since you've alreay pre-baked it a little this is easy to do) & cook for about 7 minutes or until the edges are browning. Slide the cookie sheet under the pizza to remove from the oven. Let cool for several minutes on the cookie sheet, then cut & enjoy!

My "Meeting"

Often when mom is at the office & I'm at home, nomming my kong, I sense that she is eating all sort of fabulous food leftover from "meetings." Yesterday was one of these days as her company had Safeway store managers in for some product demo. So, they had: bacon, sausages, eggs & pastries in the morning, chicken with carmelized onions, giant pretzels, fruit & cheese mid-morning, and then for lunch (yes, they had lunch after all that!) pulled-pork & beef BBQ with potato salad & cornbread. Anyway, there were lots of leftovers so mom & other employees were snacking on that all day. My boyfriend Wiggle The Dog suggested that I too should have a "meeting" & have snacks brought in. I decided today at noon would be my meeting, and my caterer, who looked a lot like mom, prepared this tasty tray:

 Calling my Meeting to order:

 Being served my catered snack tray:

 Attending to important business - meeting adjourned directly following the eating of snacks

 Last night on our walk, it was still so warm (84F degrees) we decided to walk down around the Magnolia Bluff, on Magnolia Boulevard, as the sunset was spectacular:

 The Olympic Mountain range west of Puget Sound

 Not much breeze, but lots of sailboats were out in the Sound

 As we walked southward on Magnolia Blvd we could see the rising moon:

 The moon through the Madrona trees growing on the bluff:

 Me on our walk last night:

Such a beautiful, warm night & a fab walk! We met lots of people and dogs out enjoying it just like us.