Mangia!

Raise your hands if you love to eat. (Me me me - raising my hand and the dogs raising their paws)

Recently I have been trying at least one new recipe each week and I would like to share them with you. You'll notice that most of my recipe selections are Italian, what can I say, I love Italian food and I love pasta.

1) Italian Baked Chicken and Pastina(picture above) by Giada De Laurentiis from The Food Network.

2) Bucatini All' Amatriciana by Lidia Bastianich from Lidia's Italy. This dish is so good that hubby asked for it again 2 days after I made it! He doens't normally want to eat the same thing within a few days.

3) Cajun Chicken Pasta by The Pioneer Woman

4) Carolina-Style Pulled Pork by Jen Yu from Use Real Butter. I cook mine in a crockpot for at least 10 hours. It is so so so good. I think it's time to make another.

5) Horseradish Coleslaw by Emeril Lagasse from The Food Network. I didn't use apple and green onions when I made mine.

6) Marla's Maple Pork from The Taste of Home Magazine (recipe below)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 Lbs. pork tenderloin

For the marinade:

• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard (I used spicy mustard)
• 2 teaspoons grated orange zest
• 1 1/2 teaspoon each curry powder and ground coriander (I have neither, so I used ground celery seeds. Hubby doesn't like curry.)
• 2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Instructions:

1. Trim pork of all visible fat. Place pork in a large resealable plastic bag or a bowl.
2. Whisk together all the marinade ingredients and pour over pork. Marinate pork in the fridge for at least 1 hour. Turn over pork several times to coat with marinade.
3. Transfer pork and marinade to a roasting pan or baking dish. Roast, uncovered, at 350F for 40 minutes or until thermometer inserted registers 155 to 160 degrees.
4. Let pork rest for 10 minutes before slicing. Slice pork and serve with extra sauce.

Note: When we made this, we were a little short of time, so instead of roasting the pork, we sliced the raw pork thinly(about 1/2") and pan-roasted the pieces. It cooked in just minutes and we served it as a pork sandwich with onions.

Mangiamo! (p/s: Simona, I hope I wrote that right.)

Snowy Golden Friday

After a long vacation in the southern states, Winter came back to us! Ha-ha-ha-roooooo! It started snowing here Tuesday morning and it kept on snowing until Wednesday afternoon. We've got about 10" of snow but other places around here got more. We are happy with 10" of snow!

A Trip To...

Last Thursday when mom came home from work, she let us outside to the yard. Then she yelled out: "Want to go for a ride?" Ride? Of course! We love going for rides!! Little did we know that this ride was kinda special. Usually when we go fur a ride, we had to stay in the SUV. But this time mom brought our leashes with her. When we got to the place, she came and got us at the back of her SUV.
We came to this place called Petco. Have you been to such a place? This was our first time there at Petco. This was not mom's first time there, apparently she has been there many times! How could she go to this place and not bring us with her? She had kept it a secret until now! No fair!

Here's us walking in the store (notice our happy tails?)

June: Wow, so many toys to choose! Can we get one of each, mom?

Samantha: Mmmm, smells like something I would love to eat!

Samantha: What's over here? More yummers!!

June: That's a lot of nom noms!

We hope we'll get to go on more trips to Petco, we really like this place.
Note from June: I like that place but I don't like the door.

YD's note: In my defense, it's hard for me to take them to Petco because I cannot hold them both and push a cart at the same time and if there are other dogs, they would want to go over and say hi. This time I took them around the store and let them check out everything there and then put them back in the SUV. Then I went back inside to get what I need for the girls.

Porky Pig

The initial title for this post was "Pork on Pork" but then I thought it really sounded like porn so I changed it.


Anywho, I have a recipe I would like to share with you. We eat pork tenderloin quite often and most of the time we just grill it. It was cold the other evening, I didn't feel like going out to grill and I wanted to try something different. So I came up with an idea using what I have in the fridge(bacon, hence the "pork on pork" title), freezer(shrimp) and pantry(cajun seasoning, rum). This is NOT a lean dish, in fact just reading it may cause weight gain. Please proceed at your own risk.

I'm sure you already know by now that most of my recipes do not really have exact measurements, so please use this recipe as a basic guideline(if you would like to try it) for this delicious pork dish.

Pork Tenderloin and Shrimp wrapped in Bacon

Ingredients:

• 2 Pork tenderloins (about 1 Lb. each), cut into 1 1/2" pieces
• Shrimp, the amount of shrimp to use depends on how many pork pieces you get from cutting them into 1 1/2"
• Bacon slices, also depends on the amount of pork pieces
• Cajun seasoning mix (or your favorite kind of seasoning mix)
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• A pinch or more of Parsley
• Toothpicks
• 1/4 cup or more Rum or water or chicken broth (This was hubby's idea. Good idea hon!)
• About 1 to 1 1/2 cup sliced onions
• About 1 cup of sliced mushrooms (you can leave out the mushroom if you don't eat fungi)

Instructions:

1) Put the pork tenderloin pieces and shrimp in a large bowl(or you can use 2 separate bowls) and season with cajun seasoning mix, S&P and parsley.

2) Take a piece of pork and a piece of shrimp, put them together and wrap them with bacon. Secure them with a toothpick. Continue wrapping the rest.

3) Place the pork pieces in a large skillet and cook them on medium to medium high heat. Keep an eye on them and flip them to different sides every 2-3 minutes. Cook them for about 15-18 minutes total.

4) Remove the pork pieces and set aside. Keep an eye out for food stealing dogs or humans.

5) In the same skillet, scoop and discard some of the bacon fat(or you can just leave them in) and add the onions and mushrooms. Saute for about 5 minutes on medium high heat until the onions and mushrooms are soft and a little caramalized.

6) Return the pork pieces to the skillet of onions and mushrooms yummy goodness, add the rum(how much rum or water depends on how saucy you like your dish) and cook everything for about 1-2 minutes more. Don't forget to taste for seasonings. Remove from heat and serve.

I served this dish with mashed potatoes(well, boxed mashed potatoes. Sorry, are you shock in horror?). I'm sure it's good with rice pilaf or wild rice or even egg noodles.

From my kitchen to yours, happy cooking!

Golden Friday

Before Tuesday 2/16/10

June: Wishing I have some snow...

June: Checking over there to see if there is snow. Nope.

June: Snow snow, where are you?

After Tuesday 2/16/10

June: Finally some snow!

Border patrol team. Making sure that the snow thief doesn't

come and steal our precious snow

Samantha: I better check here, in case the snow thief tries to come up from the ground

Mom spying on us from her kitchen

Rabbit Food

If you guessed Carrot Cake, you've got the right answer! Your reward for guessing it right would be: a look at this Carrot Cake and a taste of this fine cake. Oh wait, you can't eat this cake through your computer. Don't worry, I took the liberty to eat it for you and it was very delicious, you'll just have to take my words for it. :-)

If you really really want to eat this cake, you can make it using the recipe below. I do not remember where I printed it from.

Carrot Cake With Fresh Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

From The Sweet Melissa Baking Book by Melissa Murphy

For the cake:

• 2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
• 4 large eggs
• 3/4 cup of canola oil
• 2 cups of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 pound freshly grated carrots
• 3/4 cup of chopped walnut (I used chopped pecans)

For the frosting:

• 12 oz. of cream cheese, at room temp. (I used 16oz.)
• 1/2 pound of butter, at room temp. (I used 1/4 lb, 1 stick)
• Zest of one orange
• 2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Butter and flour 2 8x2" round cake pans and line with parchment paper, set aside. (I used 2 9" round pan)

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon. Set aside.

In the bowl of electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the eggs on high speed until light and fluffy. Decrease the speed to medium and add the oil, sugar and salt. Mix to combine. Decrease the speed to low and gradually add the flour.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the carrots and nuts with a rubber spatula.

Divide the batter evenly among the pans. Spin the pans to level the batter. Bake for 45 minutes(shorter time if you use 9" pan) or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 20 minutes before removing from pans to cool completely.

Frosting:

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitter with the paddle attachment, beat together cream cheese, sugar and zest. Start on low speed and then gradually increase speed to med-high and beat until smooth and fluffy.

On medium speed add the butter and mix until smooth. Add the vanilla and mix until combined. Do not over beat.

Note: I forgot to get an orange so I made a pecan cream cheese frosting instead. I used the same recipe for frosting but added 1/2 cup of finely chopped pecans and skipped the orange zest.

What Is It?

Let's play another round of "What Is It?" game.

This time it's slightly different.

Can you guess what I made?

The answer will be posted on Wednesday.

Happy Guessing!

p/s: The vet called, Samantha does have UTI but the good news is she doesn't have crystals. So now she is on antibiotic.

Samantha update

Thank you dear friends for all your warm wishes and concern to Samantha. I have not heard back from the vet yet because they had to send the sample out for testing(it was Friday morning when I sent in the sample). So hopefully today I'll hear something back. Samantha seems to be doing fine, not peeing a lot anymore(since Saturday). I'm sure it was UTI but I have never seen blood in their urine before, that's why I decided to send some samples to the vet, just to be safe.
I think the yogurt and Apple Cider Vinegar really helps. I have read that giving ACV daily to dogs and cats can really help with alleviating allergies, arthritis, establishing correct pH balance.
I will update when I hear back from the vet. Thank you.

Golden Friday

Dear furfriends and friends,

Please keep your paws and fingers crossed fur my sister Samantha. She woke mommy up at 2am Thursday morning and then on 5am to go out to pee. She kept peeing and peeing. Mom took a sample from her Thursday evening and saw a little bit of blood. Friday morning she again woke mom up at around 4am. Mom took another sample this morning and it doesn't have blood. Mom dropped off both samples at the vet this morning. Mom has been giving her some yogurt and Apple Cider Vinegar but seeing blood makes her worry. Hopefully it's nothing major.

This Sunday is Valentine's day and we would like to wish daddy and mommy Happy Valentine's Day! These pictures below were taken on Valentine's day last year.

This Sunday is also Chinese New Year day. We would like to wish our friends Mochi and Sugar and their families Gong Xi Fa Chai(in Mandarin) and Gung Hay Fat Choy(in Cantonese).

Happy Weekend everyone!

Love,

June & Samantha

Mommy & Me & Daddy & Me Day

Now I'm sure all of you are anxious to find out the answer to our "What Is It" game.

So here it is:

Can you say Wubba Wubba Wubba?

It is Samantha and her Purple Wubba!

If you bigify the picture, you'll see where that "section" was.

As some of you may know that our friend Maxdog is going through a very very tough time. I will not go into details but please visit his blog and give him & his mom Caryl some support. In honor of Maxdog, we are going to do what Caryl did: "Mom & Pup together" photos! We will also include "Dad & Pup together" photos.

Dance like you never danced before

Love like you never loved before

Live like you never lived before

Samantha & daddy

Pupsters and daddy

June & mommy

Samantha(& her wubba) and mommy

What Is It?

It is time for another "What Is It?" game. Can you guess what it is?

The answer will be posted on Tuesday at 9am.

Have fun!

Golden Friday

Just some random photos for your enjoyment.

Samantha: Can you see me now?

June: Sticking my tongue out at mom


We know by now you must have noticed the Bully Sticks banner on the left sidebar of our blog. We just wanted to let all of you pups and pups' moms/dads know that our mom had joined their affialite program to advertise fur Bully Sticks. It is a place to get All Natural dog and cat treats. She had ordered some Bully Sticks & Sweet Potato treats fur us and they came in the other day but she hasn't given those to us yet. No fair!
For those pups who are on the raw diet, they also offer
Paw Naturaw(All Natural Organic Raw Dog Food).
If you have some time, please click on over to check it out.

Lastly, we would like to keep wishing our friend Maxdog and his mom good luck. We really hope that the vet will be able to find a way to treat his liver cycst.

Free to Good Home

Seeds, free to good home. What? What did you think it was? I hope you didn't think what I thought you think.

So I have got these seeds that were given to me but I no longer want them anymore. So if you are interested in any of these, please email me at ysdavis at h o t m a i l dot c o m. These seeds do not have seed package planting info. I have found some info on Evergreen Seeds (a site which offers lots of Oriental vegetable seeds), please click on the link to get growing info.

Komatsuna
Chinese Kale - These are also known as Kai Lan or Gai Lan. I have never eaten them raw. Mom used to cook them by just stir-frying them as in spinach with garlic & chicken or shrimp.
Mibuna - I planted these but I didn't quite like the strong taste. I have tried it raw in salad and cooked(like when you cook spinach) and I didn't like it. Maybe you'd like it more than I do.
Thai Yellow Egg Eggplant - These were free seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds last year. I tried planting some but with last year's cold, wet & miserable summer weather, it didn't have a chance. Given the name, I think it probably would do much better in warmer climate.

The list below are seeds that I will be planting but would like to share the extra seeds if any of you are interested. It will be first come first served.

Carrots, Red Cored Chantenay
Fennel, Zefo Fino
Lettuce, Grand Rapids
Radish, Sparkler
Radish, Watermelon (Heirloom)

Long Long Longevity

Food plays a major role in the Chinese New Year celebration. When serving for Chinese New Year, hosts often think of serving "lucky" foods. These "lucky" foods each have it's own symbolic meaning, some might be because the food pronunciation in Chinese sounds like a "lucky" word, or it could be because the food itself symbolizes good luck.

What are these "lucky" foods?
1) Noodles(long noodles) - Noodles are almost always served during CNY. When served, hosts try to keep them as long as possible. The long noodles symbolize long life.

2) Fish - In Chinese, the word for fish is "Yu" which sounds like the word abundance in Chinese. Fish is served whole(yes, with the head and tail) to ensure a good start and finish for the year. Of course you don't have to serve a whole fish if you are squeamish about the head and tail being on the table, you can just serve something that contain fish in it.

3) Tangerines - Displaying, eating or giving tangerines are said to bring wealth and good luck. However, one must not display or give four because the word four in Chinese sounds like the word death. Eight, on the other hand, is a good number because it sounds like the word prosperity in Chinese.

4) Jiaozi - Also known as Chinese dumplings or pot-stickers, signify family reunion. This however is not familiar to me. From Wikipedia: "Dumplings Jiaozi are one of the major foods eaten during the Chinese New Year, and year round in the northern provinces. They look like the golden ingots yuan bao used during the Ming Dynasty for money and the name sound like the word for the earliest paper money, so serving them brings the promise of wealth, good luck and prosperity! Many families eat these at midnight on Chinese New Year's Eve so they have money at the changing of the years. Some cooks will even hide a clean coin in one for the most lucky to find."

Please check out Chinese New Year Food for recipes. I should also mention that if you have an Asian market near you, you might be able to buy some of the sweets I mentioned in the previous post.

Now on to a little Chinese New Year traditions:

1) On Chinese New Years eve, every family will clean the house thoroughly to "sweep" away all the old and ill-fortune of the year past, that way you can start new and fresh for the new year.

2) Paper cut-outs of the word "Fu"(pictured below) are displayed on windows and doors. The Chinese word "Fu" means Good Fortune.

3) Family "Reunion" dinner is often had on the eve of Chinese New Year. This is when those "lucky" foods are served.

4) Just like on Christmas day when kids open their presents, on Chinese New Year morning/day, children will greet and wish their parents "Gong Xi Fa Chai"(which loosely translates to "Congratulations and be prosperous") and receive money in red envelopes called Hong Bao. Hong Baos will also be given by married relatives or friends to children and unmarried adults. Picture below shows assorted Hong Bao at a market. I have found out that our local Walgreens store sells some Chinese New Year cards and Hong Bao!

5) Wearing red clothing is common because red is believed to scare away evil spirits and bad fortune. Black is never a good choice as black symbolizes death.

There you have it. Now you know about Chinese New Year more than you have ever before.