How do you handle brats?

I've heard (and experienced) doggie adolescence. This is usually after you've already conquered the trials of puppyhood. Right when you start bragging to family and friends about how well behaved your dog is.

Well Thatdog has hit his "second adolescence" this week. I'm not sure what's going on but he's definitely behaving like an a-hole.

Let's start with Monday. Monday we went to dogpark and everything seemed fine. He sniffed all the regulars, did a bit of running, peed on some trees - the usual. One of his favorite roles is that of "greeter." He likes to be the first to get to the gate to greet all the new dogs coming in. I don't love this to begin with because sometimes the new dogs just want to get in before getting sniffed. Normally I make him wait to the side of the gate until everyone is in. BUT Monday I didn't get to the gate soon enough and sure enough, new dog wanted to stake his claim immediately. He growled at Thatdog, and Thatdog takes that as a personally affront and starts growling back. As soon as new dog is through the gate the two of them are on each other while new dog's owner and I are pulling them apart. Thatdog got put in time out with a stern warning to stay away from new dog. Which he was phenomenal about doing, while new dog went and growled at all the other dogs in the park. So yeah, my dog didn't start it, but I'd much prefer he not be the a-hole dog that continues it.

Tuesday on our morning run was strike 2. Lately we have been coming across another dog-runner. She and her dog seem very nice, but she's obviously faster than me (although really, these days everyone pretty much is.) Usually they pass us and keep going. Tuesday her dog really wanted to play with Thatdog. She passed us and took her dog off leash. He came running back to us. No big deal. I let the dogs say hello and we tried to get running back toward his owner. Which is when Thatdog snuck off his leash and took off with his new friend. Now granted, they only ran up ahead of us on the trail and then back, but I hate when my dog instigates a prison break. Running lady apologizes to me, I apologize to her, we hook up our dogs and continue on with our run.

The rest of the week someone was on his good boy behavior. No more prison breaks on the run, and a perfect gentleman at dogpark. Until today.

Thatdog has a very unusual habit. Habit might not be the right word, because it's not something he does on a regular basis. I'm sure you've all seen dogs assert their dominance by mounting another dog. Thatdog does this about once a year when he gets overexcited. Except, he's not very smart so he doesn't mount dogs from behind, he mounts them from the front. Yes friends, I am the owner of a head humper. Today he was running wild with a couple of puppies - a 7 month old rottie and an 8 month old pittie. And he was getting a little too excited. The next thing I know, he's got the Rottie in a love grip from the front. After 3 times I decided he was done for the day. We're going to sit him down tonight and give him a little talk about how girls don't like boys who sexually attack them.

I have no real transition between my trial of a dog and tonight's recipe. Other than to say it's a great way to woo. I wouldn't ever suggest starting off a date by grabbing your significant other and forcing your crotch into their face. This is a much better way to start off. And if you're lucky, you might get your way after dinner.

Red Wine Veal Chops
1 lb veal chops
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp oil
2 Tbsp onion, chopped
1 Tbsp parsley, chopped
2 Tbsp pancetta
1 clove garlic, cut in half
1/4 cup red wine

1. Melt the butter and oil in a skillet. Add the chops and brown lightly on both sides.
2. Add the onion, parsley, pancetta, and garlic. Cover and simmer 20 minutes.
3. Add the wine and 1/4 cup water. Cover and cook 10 minutes more.
4. Remove veal and boil down the pan juices to create a sauce. Pour the sauce over the chops and serve.
   

Stewed

Ready kids? It’s story time!

Thatdog is not a lover. He’s not into PDAs (or PrivateDAs either if we want to be entirely truthful.) He doesn’t want to cuddle or sit in your lap. If he’s on the couch and you sit on the opposite end, he will get off the couch and go sit somewhere else. This is very important background information.

On Monday night, Thatboy got home from work and Thatdog tried to bolt out the door like he was being chased by a debt collector. It was very suspicious behavior he had never exhibited before. Thatboy did a thorough check all over and came to the conclusion there was something wrong with Thatdog’s tail. As soon as he touched the tail, Thatdog would cry out in pain. Now, if a friend of mine asked me what to do in this situation, I would tell them to wait it out and see how the dog was doing the next morning. Except, Thatdog continued to exhibit odd behavior. He glued himself to Thatboy’s side, following on his heels, pressing his body into Thatboy’s leg. If Thatboy sat down, Thatdog jumped up beside him, leaning his body into Thatboy’s and resting his head on Thatboy’s shoulder. (See how his lack of clinginess is important?) So Monday night, we got to take a quick run over to our vet. (Whom I love. Especially since most times when I call it’s something like “can we please come in rightthisverysecond?”)

Dr. Awesome diagnosed Thatdog with a soft tissue injury and gave him some anti-inflammatory medication to help bring down the swelling. He claims this is a fairly common, though unexplained phenomena, in labs. We brought Thatdog home and started him on the meds, but they obviously weren’t kicking in right away. Unable to sit or lay down, because of the pain in his tail, he spent the evening resting his whole body weight on whoever of us was sitting on the couch. And getting up to get off the couch would send him squealing and running as he had to readjust.

When we went to bed, Thatdog, who usually likes to sleep in the living room on his bed or the couch, snugged himself right up between Thatboy and I, once again, leaning onto me, so he didn’t have to try to lay down. He would remain there as long as I continued to pet him, but if I stopped, he would climb on top of me, pushing his face into the wall behind our bed. Thatboy said it was as though he was trying to run away or distance himself from the pain behind him. Eventually he would fall asleep for brief moments, and slide down my body. Sometimes this would cause him to jump up crying in pain if there was pressure on his tail. Sometimes he would manage to fall asleep in just the right position to avoid it. And we would both sleep for a few minutes, until my body or his shifted and he would jump up crying again. It was a very long night, as I’m sure you can imagine.

By last night, he was feeling well enough to sit, lay, and even sleep in his own bed. His tail is still swollen, but much less so than Monday. Since, unlike Thatdog, I don’t get to spend all day at home, curled up on the couch, the lack of sleep is still hitting me. So I’m going to enthrall you with another post pulled from the archives. This one, all about stews.

There is something I just love about stews. And really, everyone should love them because they are the perfect way to use up pretty much anything in your fridge and freezer. Theoretically, you don’t even need a recipe for a stew, since it’s just a mashup of whatever ingredients you have on hand. The technique is easy enough – coat some cubed meat in flour, brown, and then add veggies and liquid. You can make it as thick or as soupy as you like. Serve it alone, over rice, or even noodles. And every culture has their own take on it. In general, I’m partial to Indian curries. But if I’m looking at the European style stews, I tend to favor those from Eastern Europe. Maybe it’s because it was my safety fallback when I was traveling through that area. My Slavic languages are limited to German, which I thought would be helpful in Bratislava and Prague. It wasn’t. English, German, French – tried them all and definitely resorted to pointing and signing during the majority of my visit to these two cities. But mealtime was easy – I just had to find goulash somewhere on the menu and I knew I would be okay. What’s interesting is that goulash varies from country to country. In places like Bratislava and Prague, it was a thick, brown stew, often served with a spaetzle type noodle. Goulash in Vienna had more of a tomato base.

Keeping that in mind, here are three different “stew” recipes, beginning with the classic stew you’re probably most familiar with. Get the technique down and you can easily change or adapt to suit your tastes or whatever you have on hand.

Beef Stew
1/3 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
2 lbs stewing beef plus bones
4 Tbsp shortening
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 large onion, sliced
2 bay leaves
1/4 tsp allspice
12 small carrots, trimmed and scraped
12 small white onions, trimmed
8 small new potatoes, peeled

1. Mix the flour, salt, and pepper and roll the beef cubes in the mixture. Shake off excess.
2. Melt the shortening over high heat in a Dutch oven or heavy bottomed pot with a cover. When the fat is very hot, add the beef, brown on all sides.
3. Pour in four cups of boiling water. Stir and add the lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, onion, bay leaves, and allspice.
4. Lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
5. Add the carrots, onions, and potatoes and cook another 20-25 minutes.

"Czech" Goulash
1 1/2 Tbsp butter
1/2 onion, chopped
2 Tbsp paprika
1 lb beef round, cut into cubes
1 Tbsp flour
salt
1/4 tsp marjoram
2 cups beef broth
3/4 cup potatoes, cubed
juice of 1/2 lemon

1. Melt the butter in a covered casserole. Add the onion, stir and cook until soft.
2. Stir in the paprika and cook 1-2 minutes.
3. Roll the meat in the flour and add to the onion, brown the meat.
4. Sprinkle with a little salt and add marjoram. Pour in broth and bring to a boil.
5. Cover and simmer for about an hour.
6. Add the potato and cook 15-20 minutes.
7. Remove from heat, stir in the lemon juice and salt as necessary.

"Viennese" Goulash

1 1/2 Tbsp butter
1 onion, sliced thin
1 Tbsp paprika
1/4 tsp salt
1 clove garlic, minced
1 lb beef round
1 cup canned tomatoes
2 Tbsp sour cream

1. Melt the butter in a covered casserole. Add the onion and cook gently for 10 minutes.
2. Stir in the paprika, salt, and garlic and cook 2 minutes more.
3. Remove the onions and set aside. Turn up the heat and brown the beef.
4. Return the onions to the pot with all the meat and the tomatoes.
5. Cover and simmer for 2 1/2 hours.
6. Remove from heat and stir in the sour cream.

Arrrrgggg Matey

I love limes. Love love love limes. My friend Des is the same way. There's a running joke among our friends that neither of us will ever get scurvy.

Scurvy is a sailor's disease. Or in this case - pirates. Since One-Eyed Willie is still moping around the house, its fitting to have a pirate meal. I dedicate this dinner to Ringo.

Taking care of him is actually pretty easy - except the three times a day when he needs his eyedrops. The hour before I start watching the clock and dreading each passing minute. When its time to do the deed, I chase him around the apartment till I can try to pin him down and wrestle with his head while I try to put in the eyedrops. Its a huge feat of acrobatic gymnastics. Its frustrating, and by the end both of us are in tears.

So you've noticed a lot of easy dinners this week. I don't have energy for anything else. Easy dinners usually involve me stealing an idea from someone else's blog. That way I don't have to be creative on my own. Tonight was no different. This one's from Tara. And tonight I added the magic extra - alcohol. Don't worry. It has lemon in it, so I won't get scurvy.

Cilantro Garlic Lime Chicken Panini (from Smells Like Home)

Step 1

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded to 1/2" thick
• 2 limes
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 1 Tbsp olive oil

Squeeze the juice of the limes into a large Ziploc bag and add cilantro, garlic, honey, and olive oil. Close the bag and squeeze contents to incorporate. Add the chicken and refridgerate for 8 hours.

Step 2

• 6 oz Monterey jack cheese, sliced and divided in half
• 1/2 roasted red pepper, cut into 1/2" strips
• 1/2 loaf ciabatta bread (or other artisan or thick-sliced sourdough bread)
• mayonnaise
• chipotle chili powder
• olive oil

Pre-heat grill and panini maker. Slice the bread into two equal pieces then slice open through the soft part of the bread. Drizzle some olive oil on to each piece of bread, place oil-side down on the panini maker, and close the lid. Grill chicken while bread is warming.

When chicken is cooked and bread is slightly browned (but not toasted), spread some mayo (to preference) on all slices of bread (the soft side only) and sprinkle with a minimal amount of chipotle chili powder (a little goes a long way!). Place a couple pieces of cheese on the bottom slices of bread, add a few strips of roasted red peppers, then top with chicken. Add more peppers, cheese, then top with the other sides of the bread.

Carefully put sandwiches back on panini maker and close the lid, pressing down slightly. Try to evenly distribute the weight of the lid over the sandwiches so that they aren't squishing out on one side. Remove sandwiches when cheese is starting to melt down the sides of the sandwich (takes about 3-5 minutes).

Prep time: Step 1 - 10 minutes; Step 2 - 10 minutes

Inactive prep time: 8 hours

Cook time: 12 minutes

Serves: 2

Pirate Punch

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

1 cup raspberries

1 cup rum

1 cup tonic water

juice of 1/2 lemon

1/4 cup sugar

1) Combine 1/2 cup sugar and water in pot over low heat, stirring until dissolved. Increase heat to medium and let simmer for two minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.
2) Combine sugar water with raspberries in pitcher and crush raspberries.
3) Add rum, tonic water, lemon juice, and sugar.
4) Serve in ice filled glasses

The One-Eyed Wonder

Friday night I grilled some pork tenderloin on my handy dandy grill pan. I forgot to turn down the heat and soon our little apartment was filled with smoke. No problem, a few open windows and a fan and we were right as rain. Except Ringo. Poor Ringo - his left eye was so red.

The next day his eye was still pretty red and he slept a lot of the day. "I don't think he's feeling well" I told Jon. Then he started getting some yellow/green discharge. Great. Our pup has pink eye.

Sunday I took him into the vet to get some drops for his eyes. Except, the vet said he didn't have pink eye - the redness and discharge was the result of 40% of his cornea being rubbed off. I learned a lot about eyes yesterday.

Turns on the cornea is made up of 3 layers, a water soluble layer sandwiched between 2 water-insoluble layers (for those who don't do science, this means the water layer can't get through the outer layers). Ringo's missing 40% of that top layer. Now, the cornea can repair itself, but it doesn't have a direct blood supply to do so. Instead it relies on the blood vessels in the whites of the eye. This means it takes a looong time to repair. The vet suggested a surgery so that the eye could repair itself more quickly.

Dogs have a third eyelid. Back before they were domesticated, this was a transparent lid that would come up as dogs ran through underbrush to keep the foliage out of their eyes. Now that dogs don't run wild, this eyelid has become opaque and unnecessary (kind of like our appendix). This eyelid is very vascular, so by lifting it up over the eye, it protects the dogs eye and allows the cornea to repair itself more quickly.

The surgery was over in a few hours and Ringo was able to come home last night. Which was trying in itself. He doesn't like coming off anesthesia too much. And around 5 AM he came out and couldn't figure out what the thing around he neck was and he wanted it OFF. For the next two weeks he has to wear an e-collar and get 4 different eyedrops in his eye three times a day. The poor thing is so miserable. He can't go for walks, he can't play with other dogs, and he can't even chew his toys!

We've been trying to tell him this is all part of his Halloween costume since the vet will put his eyelid back down the weekend after Halloween. I don't know if he buys it though.

A new addition

It is my sincere pleasure to introduce to you the newest member of our happy home. Meet Ringo. Ringo is a lab/shepherd mix we brought home from the shelter today. We're not sure his age, but peg him around 10 months. Here's what we ARE sure about.









1) This is a mellow boy. He hasn't barked once since we met him. We first saw him in his cage sitting quietly while the dog beside him was barking like crazy. He began poking his nose through the bars as soon as he saw us and began licking our fingers as soon as they were presented to him.









2) This is a sweet boy. Aside from the kisses at the shelter he is very people oriented. He already recognizes me and Jon and likes to be in the same room as us. He continues to "check in" with me after playing for a few minutes. He is full of love and kisses and puppy eyes.









3) This is a smart boy. He's already learned where the water is, and Bebe taught him how to get in and out of the car. He's also figured out that if he wants something, he has to keep it in his mouth or it becomes Bebe's.










4) This is a friendly boy. He gets along GREAT with Bebe. He adores her. And he plays so well with her. Its really cute to watch the two of them together. He chases her, she chases him, he follows her all over the house. She kisses him, he kisses her. I call it puppy love, then again, he's got us all smitten.