When You Have Lemons - Bake Something!

I'm definitely not the baking type but when my friend Kristin said she used the Meyer lemons I gave her from my tree and baked a Lemon Sponge Pie with them, first I drooled, then I had to know more. Well, Kristin is known for her cupcakes because she owns Meringue Bake Shop and makes the most delicious cupcakes. I had to trust her. I was a little nervous though because she's an expert baker. Turns out Kristin used this vintage recipe from the Bakespace Blog and used a frozen pie crust. Why not? These days frozen crusts are just as good as most regular homemade crusts (ducking daggers now) I assume. I can do that too!
Wouldn't ya know. I sort of failed on my first attempt though. It looks ok (above). But I needed perfection so I had to make another one the next day. After all, I had the lemons and I had the will to finish off another pie. Hee hee. I learned to cream the butter and sugar better. I don't think I did that well the first time. I believe I may have just combined it. Bleh. Also I folded in the egg whites a bit less to make it more fluffy. And third, I used the convection oven instead of the regular oven since I never use it and really need to more. It was perfect! Light and fluffy and set well.
So thank you Kristin for giving me a kick in the rear to do something with my lemons other than use them on salmon. I now am a pie baking mama!

Rain Equal Warm and Cozy

Today, just a photo for you....of Flick.

Another Wonderful Year!

Happy 11th Birthday to my wonderful dogs, Flick and Summer!!!

This is Flick as a puppy. As Whippets age, their spots fade and change. He has gotten more black under spots on his other side which is more white. And oh, they get pointier! We've had him since he was 3 months and got him from a breeder. He was "pet quality". Where all of the others in his litter were "show quality". That was just fine with us!!! Flick still acts like he's 3 years old. He has tons of energy and is always testing the limits.
Summer came to us from the same breeder at 5 years old. We adopted her after she Championed and had 3 litters. We actually had her during 2 of her pregnancies, but gave her to the breeder for the births and until the puppies were weaned. That was her thing! Now Summer is spayed and leads a lazy, happy life of quiet with only one other dog to handle. She is such a sweetheart. She loves everyone and is truly a people dog.
This is a picture of Flick(2nd from left) at a dog show. They tried him out. Eh, not so great. Anyways here he is with 4 of his brothers and sisters. So happy birthday to them too. They are here in CA. I only see one of them occasionally, which is Teddy. He's the big dog in the middle. What a sweetie he is. If you want to see more pictures of Flick and Summer, visit my flickr photostream on them. If you want any of those photos to use, please ask.

The Dogs Always Get The Healthy Treats

January 13, 1999 my two twin Whippets, Flick and Summer, were born. Actually they were amongst a litter of 8 but since I have both of them, I call them the twins. They will be 11 years old tomorrow and like us, they are celebrating their birthday all week. So yesterday I baked them (for the first time ever) dog treats. I found this recipe which seemed pretty simple (because I did do a search for easy dog treat recipes). Alas, this one came up. And of course I didn't have half of the ingredients but I figured it wouldn't hurt to have wheat flour in the house anyways, so I got some.

These little suckers were fun to make. They whipped up really quick. They were fun to roll out and I already had a dog bone cookie cutter. Don't know why, but I did. So as I made them, 2 dogs with a penchant for peanut butter sat at my feet as if to critique my every step. Actually they were waiting to see what I'd drop or give in and let them eat or lick. Not telling.

I ended up making 2 batches because what fun is a birthday if you can't share with your other furry friends. So gift bags will be going out in the next couple of days....that is if my kids don't eat them. Which they have been known to do. Straight out of the box. And those weren't homemade. Yuck. And my kids are teenagers. Double yuck. But I may have to give them one and take a picture.

You're a Pretty Big Deal on the Internet!

You know how most of your friends and family just don't get you and your internet thing and have no idea how involved you are or how big it's gotten? Kirsten Wright and I have designed a t-shirt (nice ones in hot pink or turquoise) with the slogan "I'm a pretty big deal on the internet"

Let me sell you some more. You know you’re a pretty big deal when your blog or your Twitter has so many followers it amazes you. When you’ve had so many Etsy sales you can’t believe it’s just you at your kitchen table. When you have so many comments on Facebook or your blog you can’t even imagine who these people are. You know who you are.

Initially the shirts are selling as a pre-paid order. So you can go to the shop at http://shopbonnin.etsy.com and order the shirt for $25 which includes shipping. Once 50 are ordered, the entire order will be processed, and yours will be delivered to you. Our goal is by the beginning of February. The more you tell your friends, the more we sell, the faster everyone gets the shirt. So Twitter it. Blog it. We’d love it.

Also, you’ll see a button on the right side of my blog. You can click that button and be directed right to the T-shirt page to purchase the t-shirt. Easy.