One spoiled puppy

Aussie doesn't get table scraps, but I do give her veggie bits when I'm chopping up fresh veggies. You know, that tough end of the zucchini or those bits of tomato that are a bit green and hard? Or the slightly bitter ends of the celery stalk? Aussie's jaws make short work of them and according to the vet, they're good for her. Perfectly edible, but they just don't taste very good or are difficult for us humans to digest. But they don't bother the dog and she loves them. When we were trying to get her weight down to the minimum possible and have her still be healthy to put less pressure on her legs and back, the vet told me to cut her food in half and give her salt-free canned or frozen (thawed of course) veggies as filler. And he recommended baby carrots instead of dog biscuits. But those aren't table scraps. She gets treats, but not table scraps. No human food leftovers at home. I really don't consider giving her veggies spoiling. Or the treats I used to train her. She's loved, but there's discipline and she's well trained (which is constantly reinforced). I believe Cesar Milan would call her a "balanced dog" rather than spoiled.

Not so when we visit family. My entire family spoils my dog. My entire family. Grandmother gives her "great grand-dog" pieces of apple and carrot. My aunt's husband gave her pieces of ham because she "politely and patiently waited" while he cleaned the meat off the bone. Patiently waited. Mind you, this is because I trained her not to beg, but to lie quietly out of the way when food was involved. My aunt saved the bits of ham slice edges to give to Aussie after dinner each night. She got bits of Christmas dinner leftovers [ok, special occasion, and I was the culprit in this case, but nothing bad for her like sweets or onions, which are toxic]. And I know people gave her other bits when I wasn't looking. Bits because "she's just such a good dog." [These people obviously don't live with her if they believe she's good all the time...]

Then there was her Christmas haul. Santa brought her a rawhide bone, peanut butter flavored (her favorite). But she also had her own gifts to open. My cousin and his wife gave her a big bag of fancy treats. My aunt gave her a new squeaky stuffed toy (which she will rip into and pull out all the stuffing and then run around with the "shell" for weeks). I explicitly told my grandmother to NOT get her anything this time, that I would bring a bone for her, as last year she gave Aussie lots of treats PLUS a big rawhide bone.

Then there was what my mom sent her grand-dog. When I walked in the house with that package from her Aussie wouldn't let me move until she had inspected every side of the box thoroughly. It took a good 10 minutes of nose work before I could finish walking through the living room and put the box down on the table. Mom had apologized ahead of time for the squeaky toy she sent, but there was more. Oh yes, there was quite a bit more. A chicken flavored "health bone" with all sorts of vitamins and minerals in it. Aussie enjoyed that on Christmas Eve.

The Rogz squeaky toy is named "Rogzette." Rogzette is a "sportimal" K9 beauty and surfer queen. That's what the label says. She looks kind of like a cross between a dog and a rat, but with no tail, pink spiky hair and a pink bikini. The most disturbing aspect of Rogzette is the little knot of silver thread that's supposed to be a belly-button ring. And no, I'm not joking. Nor did I make Rogzette up. Go look for yourself. Aussie has managed to kill the squeaker, and is now working on ripping her apart and gutting her. She's currently trying to rip the pink bikini bra top off to get at the stuffing.

But perhaps the most interesting gift from my mom were the two packages of strange brown objects that smelled very good to Aussie. So I read the labels. Roo heart. Lamb puff. Lamb ears. Beef hide. OMG. Lamb puff? WTF is that? [I don't recommend Googling it by the way...unless you enjoy being disturbed] I asked my mom about these two little bundles when we talked on Christmas. They're very common dog treats in Australia. I guess kind of like pig ears here in the U.S. But still, um, yeah. And no, I still haven't opened them and given any to Aussie. I can't decide if I'm disturbed by them or not. And frankly I'm afraid of how they might smell.

Aussie will never lack for treats and spoiling as long as my family is around. Never ever. By the time we get through this year's haul it will be Christmas again and we'll have a whole new set of treats and toys! Yes, Aussie is one spoiled puppy. Secretly? I admit I think she probably deserves/earns it.

Easter basket in a box

I arrived home today to a box on my porch. A distinctive box. One that indicated that it came from Australia. Woot! Goodies!

My mom sent me Easter candy. Essentially, it's an Easter basket in a box. I love you, Mom! You rock!

In addition to a rockin' t-shirt from the XXXX Brewery (Queensland beer!), the package was filled with lots and lots of chocolate. The food of the gods. Several varieties of Tim Tams (which are heavenly, and I require regular shipments to prevent Tim Tam withdrawal). Caramel filled chocolate eggs. Candy coated milk chocolate eggs. A dark chocolate egg with dark chocolate coated candied ginger in it, which is my current "I just can't get enough" variety of chocolate.

And the annual chocolate Easter Bilby. Yes, a bilby. NOT an Easter bunny. Because, in Australia, rabbits are a pest. They have no natural predators. Which means they flourish, and have become a serious pain in the rear for ranchers, devastating crops and grazing lands. So they don't have an Easter Bunny. They use Easter instead to draw attention to a native animal, the bilby. And the Darrell Lea company makes Easter Bilbies in milk chocolate, dark chocolate and white chocolate.

Not one chocolate Easter bilby has arrived intact. Not one. My mom's been doing this for a good 10 years now, and every bilby arrives in pieces. Apparently the turbulence on the flight is just too much for their delicate sensibilities. Fortunately, the chocolate still tastes just as good.

Also included was the amazing Flat Pack Chocolate Easter Egg from Bloomsberry & Co. Some assembly required! And the package even provides instructions...but you have to provide your own egg-shaped mould. They also provide a disclaimer that reads:

IMPORTANT NOTICE: The makers of the amazing Flat Pack Chocolate Easter Egg offer no warranty either explicitly or implied as to the success of your endeavors when attempting to assemble this process. As you can imagine, working with chocolate is not east and requires a high level of skill. Therefore your chances of completing the task to a satisfactory standard are, in a word, slim. We've never managed it.

But the chocolate it is made of all fair trade ingredients. Frankly, I'm not going to bother to take the time to try to make the egg. Too much work. I'm just gonna eat the chocolate.


Excuse me, I have to go stuff my face with Easter chocolate goodness now.

Pots and pans!

I have new pots and pans! Woo hoo! Happy dance around the kitchen!

I had a message when I got home from UPS telling me they had a package that would be delivered between 8AM and 7PM that day. I was a little confused, knowing I hadn't ordered anything. And given my past experience with UPS, I figured I had missed them but there was no little UPS sticky note on my front door. So I waited. And naturally, as soon as I went upstairs to change pants the doorbell rang and the dog went nuts. So back down I went, without changing my pants, to greet the UPS man. Who had a VERY big box. From Amazon.com. Addressed to me. Still confused, I signed for said package and pulled the box indoors, all while trying to keep Aussie from defending my honor and following the UPS man out the door to chase him down the steps. I'm not sure if she wanted to make friends or not, but she made a LOT of noise.

Imagine my surprise to see that the contents of said box had been ordered by my dad in Australia. My BIRTHDAY GIFT!! [Note: for those of you that have difficulty with dates, and you know who you are, this is a good month and a half early, so don't worry.] A few years ago, it was decided that we would dispense with exchanging Christmas gifts. His wife has 4 sons, who among them have 6 sons (so far). So my dad and his wife focus on the grandsons at Christmas rather than the daughters and sons and daughters-in-law (because wow, there's a lot of us) and we do big birthday gifts instead. I'm okay with that. In fact, I now do the very same thing with some of my friends. That way the costs of gift giving are spread out over the year and it helps ease some of the insanity around the holidays.

Dad had told me what he was going to get me, based on what I had ranked as "high" or "highest" on my Amazon.com wish list. I just didn't expect it so soon. So while I knew what it was, it's arrival was still a surprise. Pretty good deal, huh?

Back to the contents of the box. Inside was a set of Calphalon One Infused Anodized pots and pans. These are damn good pots and pans. "Investment" pieces for your kitchen. They are gorgeous. Seriously. I've been lusting after them for quite some time now. When I decided I wanted some really nice pots and pans, I did my research, and decided on Calphalon. Because they're fantastic. Oven AND broiler safe. With a lifetime warranty (provided you don't put them in the dishwasher, which I don't have, so it's not an issue). I should never need to buy pots and pans again. They're that good.

The box

The gorgeous pots and pans themselves

I've been slowly outfitting my kitchen with good quality tools. I started with my dishes. Denby Imperial Blue. Then my flatware. For this I saved up Betty Crocker points (unfortunately they've discontinued their catalog and points) and went with Oneida in the Paramount pattern. Over the years I've asked for and received several small appliances including a rice cooker, a blender, an electric kettle (beyond useful, highly recommended investment) and a good quality toaster. When I made these requests I received not only the appliance but many looks and "are you sure" questions. Apparently unmarried people in their early and mid 20s don't ask for small kitchen appliances as gifts. Go figure. A few birthdays ago I received the KitchenAid Artisan Series Stand Mixer. Not only an amazing kitchen appliance, but a work of art at the same time. Alton Brown painted flames on his.

A year ago I finally bought a good quality set of knives. I had been using hand me down knives for years, and they had gotten to the point that they just weren't holding an edge. And dull knives are a safety hazard. I did have one knife I really loved, by J. A. Henckels. So I ended up with a set of their International Classic knives complete with knife block. They cut through anything like butter. It's fabulous. Of course, since I had been using old knives, my cutting boards weren't all that great either. So to go with the knives I bought a set of bamboo cutting boards. They work great.

And now I have good quality amazing pots and pans. With the exception of baking pans (I don't bake much so I'm not too worried), a few random items, and adding to my dishes, my kitchen is pretty much complete.

So THANK YOU, DAD! I'm so very excited to actually try cooking with them. I'm going to go pull some chicken out of the freezer to thaw right now...

Holiday traditions: Part 3, food

Food. Traditions and the holidays always come back to food. Dinners, buffets, desserts, treats, it's all about the food. I remember many holiday food traditions growing up.

Recipes
There is a huge list of traditional family recipes that always made a holiday appearance. These include: pumpkin roll (aforementioned), spiced & sugared nuts, boiled custard (no eggnog in this family), cranberry-orange relish, mincemeat pie, Grandmother's sweet potatoes/yams, peanut butter and/or chocolage fudge, and mulled apple cider.

There were also regularly appearing appetizers: warmed cream cheese w/jalapeño jelly, spinach dip, sour cream and onion dip, brie warmed with marmelade and almonds on top, and mixed nuts. Other appetizers might get mixed in for a year depending on what people brought with them, but somehow we always went back to the same core group.

Meals
Our Christmas dinner was much like our Thanksgiving meal. It consisted of a random and eclectic group of people who's family didn't live close enough to visit, much like our family, which is scattered all over the U.S. and now the world. The dinner itself was a feast, involving many of the above recipes, a yummy turkey and/or ham (sometimes even a roast), stuffing, mashed potatoes, veggies (green bean casserole anyone?), rolls, and whatever our guests chose to bring and share from their own holiday food traditions. We all sat around and ate and talked and laughed. Somehow, despite the fact that the only thing everyone there had in common was knowing our family, we always had a good time.

[We also had a specific New Year's Day dinner, but more on that in a later post.]

Food gifts
Remember when you used to give holiday gifts to your teachers? And if you live somewhere where you can still do that, remember when they could be homemade treats? We did that every year. My sister and I would make pumpkin rolls and the spiced & sugared nuts for our teachers each year. Mom of course helped us, but she tried to make sure we did as much of it as possible to really be able to say the gift was from us. We'd get nice food gift containers to put the nuts in, and wrap the pumpkin rolls in foil and tie the ends with ribbon so they looked pretty. Then we'd haul them into school on the last day before break and give them out. I don't remember a teacher ever saying no, and I don't remember ever worrying about health, diet, food allergy or any other concern. We just assumed they'd be able to eat and enjoy them.

To this day I bring food to holiday parties, whether at work or a friend's place. Only now, I bring a copy of the recipe along for everyone to see just in case someone can't eat something that's in what I've made.

Stocking goodies
Our stockings always contained food in addition to little gifts, specifically nuts, candy, and fruit. Pistachios were the favorite nut, followed by walnuts and almonds, all of them still in the shells and needing the nutcracker to get to the meaty goodness. Of course the candy involved chocolate (Hershey's Kisses, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, chocolate covered marshmallow Santas, Peppermint Patties, cherry cordials for my sister, Godiva truffles for my mom) and sometimes hard candy. But mostly chocolate.

To add to the chocolate and nut goodness, we had oranges and apples. As a bonus, each year Santa brought a new and different "exotic" fruit to try like star fruit, kiwi, mango, pomegranate, etc. These were fruits that when I was young you didn't often see in the supermarket, except in the really expensive area and there was never very much of it. So Christmas morning after we emptied our stockings we all tried the fruit with breakfast. Some years were more successful than others. Kiwi and mango are still some of my favorite fruits. Star fruit, on the other hand, I don't think I've ever eaten since. I don't remember it tasting like much, although it was pretty to look at.

Hershey's Kisses
Mom always put Hershey's Kisses in decorative Christmas bowls around the house. The living room, the family room, the kitchen counter, they all had bowls/dishes with red, silver and green foil wrapped Hershey's Kisses. We would all walk by the bowls and grab a Kiss (or two) throughout the holiday.

Unfortunately, as pretty as they were, these were a temptation to the pets. Both animals would eat them, and it's a wonder they didn't get sick but somehow they never did. But you could tell which animal ate them. When the cat ate them, she removed the foil. You'd find this nice little pile of foil on the table next to the bowl. And she'd only eat one or two. The dog on the other hand would eat the entire bowl, foil and all. For days afterwards you could look out into the backyard and see little glints of the foil sparkling in the sun, almost like twinkling lights in the daytime. Disgusting, I know, yet strangely pretty.

Mom still put the Hershey's Kisses out, but she started using candy jars with tight fitting lids instead of the bowls. I'm now the proud owner of one such candy jar; it's shaped like a snowman and currently has red and green M&Ms in it. Yum.

Holiday traditions: Part 2, gifts

My family has a tradition of giving people exactly what they want or need. You give me a list, and you will get something on that list, preferably something that can and will be used. For example, when I started driving, the garage I used had no automatic opener on it. I had to get out of my car, unlock the garage door, open it, get back in my car, and drive in. Now, this is really more of an inconvenience than anything else, but I had a good reason for wanting a garage door opener for Christmas. I was on the swim team in high school. That particular winter was one of the coldest and snowiest on record, which meant that when I got home from practice and got out of the car, my wet hair would freeze solid. Seriously. So, I asked for a garage door opener for Christmas. Dad and I spent Christmas afternoon that year installing it. I was thrilled; my friends thought I was insane.

This practicality extended to gifts from Santa. How many people got underwear from Santa? For some reason I never understood growing up, Santa always brought my dad colorful underwear. Every year Dad got at least three new packs. Santa gifts were usually one big thing and lots of little things like bookmarks and pencils with your name on them. I'm still using those pencils. They're very handy at work where things tend to "walk off" and disappear. Pencils with your name on them always seem to find their way home again.

Opening
My family opened gifts on Christmas Eve. We'd eat dinner, open gifts, and then attend the late night service. My sister and I would pull the gifts out from under the tree and pile them up for each person in a different chair or corner of the couch. We were the "gift elves." Each person sat next to their pile. Remembering which chair/corner was yours was important because Santa left his gifts in the same place. The images you see of people tearing into gifts all at once with paper flying everywhere didn't happen at our house. We actually opened our gifts one at a time, each person taking their turn and paying attention to each person during their turn. I'm amazed that my sister and I had that much patience as kids, but apparently we did. Inevitably, one gift was matching nightclothes for my sister and I, which we would wear that night. The pictures on Christmas morning of us exploring our stockings and Santa gifts always had us in matching nightclothes. Were your Santa gifts wrapped? Ours never were. We each had a pile of Santa gifts in our designated space. My sister and I were different enough it was never hard to tell which pile belonged to whom.

Thank you notes
We wrote thank you cards. One of the...umm...benefits of us opening gifts one at a time is that someone could keep a list for each person of what they got and from whom. The few days after Christmas my sister and I would spend a little time each day writing thank you notes, whether we liked the gift or not. Somewhere over the years I got out of this habit...but shh...don't tell my mother. She'd be apalled. [Hi, Mom!]

Animal mischief
Hazards of wrapped gifts generally involved the cat and curling ribbon. She loved curling ribbon. She'd chew on it, eat it, and generally massacre any curling ribbon she could find, including ribbon still on the roll! We had to make sure any gift with curling ribbon under the tree was under another gift so she couldn't get to it. She also had a blast playing with the wrapping paper after we opened gifts. That, to her, was an awesome gift. A big pile of crinkled up paper and paper balls to attack and spaz out in. And don't forget the boxes to hide in. A kitty dream, I tell you.

Wish lists
We all keep wish lists. You know you do. Even if you never write it down you have a list in your head of things you'd love to have. My sister and I would spend hours going over the big toy book from whatever department store we got it from. It was sad the day Sears discontinued their Wish Book. I have many a fond memory of me, my sister, that book, and a marker for circling the things we wanted. As kids, our gifts weren't nearly as practical, but as we got older, they became more so, although there was always that one thing on the list just because you wanted it, no practicality necessary.

Now I keep my wish list on line via Amazon. With friends and family scattered all over the globe, it's the easiest way to let people know what I'm interested in. My wish lists usally consist of things I'd love to have and that I would use, but that I'd probably never buy for myself. And of course, it's not just one big unorganized list, but rather multiple lists, each with a different theme: DVDs, kitchen, music, etc. [Before you pick on me, remember, I organize things for a living. It's what catalogers, us librarians maintaining the library catalog, do.] I try to get my friends to give their wish lists as well. Sometimes I find that perfect gift that's not on their wish list (the things you see that just "scream" that person), but usually I stick to the list.

What kind of gifts do you give? Practical or just fun stuff?