It's not winning any beauty pagents...

But it's a darn tasty bread. Shiner's a pretty strong beer, so you could definitely taste it, but it wasn't so strong that non-beer drinkers like myself wouldn't enjoy it. Without a doubt though, the best part is the buttery, crunchy crust. A normal person would run away at the thought of pouring an entire stick of butter into the loaf pan, as any sane individual should. I, of course, was undaunted. Instead, I'm thinking about trying a mini-loafpan next time, so I can increase the surface area, and thus the buttery goodness. Maybe I'll make it with rye or whole wheat flour next time. The whole grains cancel out the butter, right?


Beer Bread
Source: The Pastry Queen, by Rebecca Rather

Ingredients:
* 3 cups all purpose flour
* 1 tablespoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 3 tablespoons sugar
* 1 (12 ounce) bottle good-quality beer or ale (Shiner Bock)
* 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously grease a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan with butter or cooking spray. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Pour in the beer and stir until just incorporated. (The dough will be sticky and heavy). Pour half the melted butter into the bottom of the prepared loaf pan. Spoon in the bread dough and pour the remaining half of the butter on top. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until the bumpy top is golden brown. Remove from the pan and serve immediately.

Rally Obedience Class

Poor Miss Coral. Duke does more tricks, and is better behaved in public, so he's the one who always gets to go out and about. However, the reason he's better is because I used him as my demo dog when I was helping a friend at her dog training facility. Prior to that, Coral was the good dog, but Duke improved rapidly when I started working with him more. Coral got the short end of the stick, which is why I need to start working with her again.

So when Holly said she was offering a Rally-O class, I signed Coral up. She knows basic obedience, she just needs to learn to calm down when we're out and about, and this sounded like a lot more fun than a general obedience class.

Because we're more interested in having fun than serious competition, Holly decided to go with UKC Rally Rules. Since it's a short class (4 weeks), Holly went ahead and started with some of the harder exercises first, so the pups would have more time to get them right. Unfortunately, I had not practiced heel with Coral previously, so she was a little behind. She did fine regardless, but she and I are going to practice heel a lot this week.

Raspberry Cream Cheese Breakfast Buns

Few things are better than warm, fresh baked muffins. These best-sellers at the Magnolia Bakery in NYC's Greenwich Village certainly don't disappoint.

If you don't have really big muffin pans, it makes 12 regular sized muffins (I put about a teaspoon of preserves on each one). I attempted to use liners in an effort to be lazy and have easier cleanup. Yeah, don't bother. They puffed up and spilled the raspberry preserves everywhere so I still have a big mess to clean up. Besides, you miss out on more of the crunchy goodness if you use liners. I wouldn't use them next time I make these.


Magnolia's Raspberry Cream Cheese Breakfast Buns
Source: More From Magnolia
Makes 9 buns

BUN:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound (one 8-ounce package) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

TOPPING:
1/2 cup raspberry preserves
Garnish
Confectioners’ sugar


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease and lightly flour 9 large muffin cups.

In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese, butter, and sugar until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs and beat well. Add the dry ingredients in two parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups, filling them about two-thirds full. Drop 3 small dollops (about a teaspoonful each) of raspberry preserves onto the top of each bun and, using the tip of a sharp knife, swirl the preserves into the batter, forming a decorative pattern. Bake for 25–30 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the bun comes out clean.

Allow the buns to cool for about 30 minutes before sprinkling with confectioners’ sugar and serving.


ETA: These are best warm and fresh from the oven. They're still tasty the next day, but they're better fresh.

Lure Coursing is FUN!

A local agility club/Dock Diving group had a fun day on Sunday, and one new event they brought was lure coursing. It's actually not a "new" thing, it's been around since the 30s, but since I don't have sighthounds, I've never heard of it. From the link above, this is the short definition of lure coursing: "Lure Coursing is a humane sport which attempts to imitate the coursing of the rabbit or hare by sighthounds but without the hare. The sighthounds chase an artificial lure, usually a white kitchen garbage bag, sometimes tanned rabbit skins, or fake fur strips."

This is what it looks like when done correctly. That, however, was not what it looked like when my pups were playing. It took Coral a couple tries *cough*seven*cough*, but she finally got the hang of it.

Round 1: Coral took off after the lure, rounded the far corner, but didn't turn sharply enough. Then she just ran for a few more feet for the pure joy of running, and then make a quick turn and ran back to me at the start.

Round 2: Same as round 1.

Round 3: I guessed that when she stopped running, Coral thought she was too far away from me, so she kept running back to me. So I decided to start her off, then run inside the course with her so I wouldn't be too far away. The guy running the course ran the lure the opposite direction this time, and the lure went around a sharp corner, and Coral lost it, so went into her default and ran back to me.

Round 4: Coral ran about a third of the course, lure got too far ahead, and she gave up and ran back to me.

Round 5: She rounded the sharp corner again, apparently saw something shiny in the distance, and got distracted and chased after it. Then ran back to me, and I got her refocused on the lure.

Round 6: Tripped over the rope and pulled the lure off the course and had to restart.

Round 7: Made it around the WHOLE course chasing after the lure!

I NEVER said she ran it well, I just said she had fun.


Duke ran it twice after Coral's first two tries. He did exactly the same thing she did, but I thought his gait was a bit off the second time, so I was afraid he hurt himself again, so he didn't get to play again. Sad, because he's the one that likes to chase and that can actually take tight corners. Less prey drive than Coral though, so I wasn't sure if either would really take to it.

My tartpan runneth over

While browsing food blogs a few months ago, I ran across a group of bloggers called "Tuesdays with Dorie." It's a group of bakers who take turns picking a recipe every week, and on every Tuesday, they blog about making the recipe. The recipes are chose from Dorie Greenspan's book, "Baking: From my home to yours." In order to join, they only ask two things: That you purchase the book so you can participate, and that you participate at least two weeks a month.

While I was interested in joining, I decided to pass for now because:
1. Did not have the book.
2. Didn't think I'd consistently bake and post on Tuesdays.
3. Don't have a whole lot of baking paraphernalia.

Back in January, I saw this post on Dorie's blog. I thought it was really cool that she was supportive of the group, and I figured she knew what she was talking about when she says this is one of her favorite recipes. When an amazing baker tells you what their favorite recipe is, it's probably a pretty darn good recipe to try. This isn't a recipe that would normally catch my eye, but Dorie's description of it certainly caught my attention.

Unfortunately, I don't own a tartpan. It was on my to-buy list, but since I don't like shopping...one hasn't wandered home with me yet. However, a month ago I was "helping" my mother-in-law in the kitchen and stumbled across a set of small tartpans, and warned her then that I would be borrowing them in the near future. I finally snagged them, and I can't believe I waited this long to try the recipe. I had skimmed through it several times, but honestly didn't realize how easy it was. The almond cream mixed up quickly in the food processor, and then refrigerated. The crust was mixed up in the food processor and then frozen for a bit. Then when I came home later that night, I popped the crusts in the oven to pre-bake, sliced up the canned pears and set them on paper towels to dry. After letting the crusts cool for 15 minutes, I added the almond cream and pears and popped in the oven for 50 minutes. That was it. And I had a very yummy and impressive dessert for my efforts. The crust was cookie-like, the cream was tasty, and the browned parts were caramelized. I dug in about 15 minutes after pulling it from the oven, so it was still all nice and warm. Nom, nom!


FRENCH PEAR TART

Adapted from "Baking: From my home to yours"

Makes 6 servings


For the pears:
6 canned pear halves
OR 3 medium pears, firm but ripe
1 lemon
4 cups water, optional
1 1/4 cups sugar, optional

For the almond cream:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup ground blanched almonds
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 large egg
2 teaspoons dark rum or 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 partially-baked 9-inch tart shell, made with Sweet Tart Dough (see below), at room temperature

Confectioners' sugar for dusting, or apple jelly for glazing

Getting ready: If you are using canned pears, you have nothing to do now. If you are using fresh pears but do not wish to poach them, you have nothing to do now. If you are using fresh pears and want to poach them, peel them and leave them whole. Bring the 4 cups water, the 1 1/4 cups sugar and the juice of the lemon to a boil in a saucepan just large enough to hold the pears. Add the pears to the boiling syrup, lower the heat so the syrup simmers and gently poach the pears until they are tender when pierced with a knife, about 15 minutes. Cool the pears to room temperature in the syrup.

To make the almond cream: Put the butter and sugar in the workbowl of a food processor and process until the mixture is smooth and satiny. Add the ground almonds and continue to process until well blended. Add the flour and cornstarch, process, and then add the egg. Process for about 15 seconds more, or until the almond cream is homogeneous. Add the rum or vanilla and process just to blend. If you prefer, you can make the cream in a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or in a bowl with a rubber spatula. In either case, the ingredients are added in the same order. Scrape the almond cream into a container and either use it immediately or refrigerate it until firm, about 2 hours.

Getting ready to bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Have a lined baking sheet at the ready. If you are using fresh (unpoached) pears, peel them now. If you are using poached or unpoached pears, cut them in half from blossom to stem and core them; rub the unpoached pears with lemon juice. Whatever pears you have, make sure to pat them dry - really dry - so that their liquid won't keep the almond cream from baking.

Fill the baked crust with the almond cream, spreading it even with an offset metal icing spatula. Thinly slice each pear half crosswise, lift each half on a spatula, press down on the pear to fan it slightly and place it, wide-end toward the edge of the crust, over the almond cream. The halves will form spokes.

Put the crust on the lined baking sheet, slide the sheet into the oven and bake the tart 50 to 60 minutes, or until the almond cream puffs up around the pears and browns. Transfer the tart to a rack to cool to just warm or to room temperature before unmolding.

Right before serving, dust the tart with confectioners' sugar. If you prefer, prepare a glaze by bringing about 1/4 cup apple jelly and1/2 teaspoon water to the boil. Brush the glaze over the surface of the tart.

Serving: This tart goes very well with aromatic tea.

Storing: If it's convenient for you, you can make the almond cream up to 2 days ahead and keep it closely covered in the refrigerator, or you can wrap it airtight and freeze it for up to 2 months; defrost before using. You can also poach the pears up to 1 day ahead. However, once you've baked the tart, you should be prepared to enjoy it that same day.

Playing around: The almond cream is a great companion for a variety of fruits. It's as good with summer fruits, like apricots or peaches, as it is with autumn's apples.

SWEET TART DOUGH Adapted from BAKING FROM MY HOME TO YOURS

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick plus 1 tablespoon (4 1/2 ounces) very cold (or frozen) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg yolk

To make the dough: Put the flour, confectioners' sugar and salt in the workbowl of a food processor and pulse a couple of times to combine. Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients and pulse until the butter is cut in coarsely - you'll have pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and pea-size pieces and that's just fine. Stir the egg, just to break it up, and add it a little at a time, pulsing after each addition. When the egg is in, process in long pulses - about 10 seconds each - until the dough, which will look granular soon after the egg is added, forms clumps and curds. Just before your reaches this clumpy stage, the sound of the machine working the dough will change - heads up. Turn the dough out onto a work surface.

Very lightly and sparingly - make that very, very lightly and sparingly - knead the dough just to incorporate any dry ingredients that might have escaped mixing.

If you want to press the dough into a tart pan, now is the time to do it.

If you want to chill the dough and roll it out later (doable, but fussier than pressing), gather the dough into a ball (you might have to use a little more pressure than you used to mix in dry bits, because you do want the ball to be just this side of cohesive), flatten it into a disk, wrap it well and chill it for at least 2 hours or for up to 1 day.

To make a press-in crust: Butter the tart pan and press the dough evenly along the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Don't be stingy - you want a crust with a little heft because you want to be able to both taste and feel it. Also, don't be too heavy-handed - you want to press the crust in so that the pieces cling to one another and knit together when baked, but you don't want to press so hard that the crust loses its crumbly shortbreadish texture. Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer, before baking.

To make a rolled-out crust: This dough is very soft - a combination of a substantial amount of butter and the use of confectioners' sugar - so I find it is easier to roll it between wax paper or plastic wrap or, easiest of all, in a roll-out-your-dough slipcover. If you use the slipcover, flour it lightly. Roll the dough out evenly, turning the dough over frequently and lifting the wax paper or plastic wrap often, so that it doesn't roll into the dough and form creases. If you've got time, slide the rolled out dough into the fridge to rest and firm for about 20 minutes before fitting the dough into the buttered tart pan. Trim the excess dough even with the edge of the pan. Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer, before baking.

To partially bake the crust: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter the shiny side of a piece of aluminum foil and fit the foil tightly against the crust. Bake the crust 25 minutes, then carefully remove the foil. If the crust has puffed, press it down gently with the back of a spoon. Bake for another 3 to 5 minutes, then transfer the crust to a cooling rack; keep it in its pan.




***I used 4 5-inch tartpans. I filled them to the top with the almond cream, not realizing how much it puffed up, so one of the tarts spilled over. My tartpans were also teflon coated and dark, so my crusts ended up very brown. Not burnt, but not as pretty as I'd like. I would probably drop the oven temp 25 degrees next time if I use the same tartpans. Also, one 5-inch tart is a bit much for a single person. It was really good, and I finished it, but it was more than I needed. Especially since I think the tart would go really well with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Smaller tart pans would probably be wise if you wanted individual servings and don't want to weigh 500 pounds. Remember, there's 2 sticks of butter in this recipe...so there's half a stick of butter in each of those 5-inch tarts I made.

When making the crust, I tried pressing the dough in since I thought that would be easiest. I didn't care for the mottled appearance, so I ended up rolling out the dough instead. Sort of. I don't like my rolling pin, it's big and bulky and heavy, so I rolled the dough into a circle, then just flattened it. Once it was big enough, I peeled it off the wax paper and popped it into the pan. MUCH easier this way.

How fun would this be?!

Wouldn't this be fun to do?



I'm going to start working on teaching Duke stuff to do this. If you're in the Houston area, Holly and Courtney at Pupscouts are trying to get a group together. It'll be fun!

Chocolate Wafer Cookies

When I saw these pictures last year, I was ready to make an Icebox Cake. However, I didn't want to order the cookies online, nor could I find them locally. So I drooled and moved on. When I saw that Smitten Kitchen had a recipe for the cookies, I was THERE.

What I don't recommend though, is making the cookies in a small blender/food processor. I tried that. It wasn't pretty. The little food processor wasn't big enough for the batter. My kitchen will probably smell good forever though, because of the cocoa/flour powder flying all over the kitchen that I'll never be able to completely clean up. If, however, you're trying to make as big of a mess as you possibly can, then this is the way to do it. In the comments section, Deb of Smitten Kitchen suggested making the cookies in a mixer if you don't have a food processor, you just have to soften the butter a little more. I wish I had read that BEFORE making the cookies.

As soon as I ate one of these, I knew I was in trouble. Within minutes, my first tray of 12 were gone. And I only shared 2 with Tim. They had a deep chocolate flavor, they were rich and buttery like shortbread, and they were slightly caramelized. The first batch was slightly bitter because I overbaked it (I sliced them about 1/8 inch, and baked 13 minutes), but that obviously didn't slow me down any. This morning, I only baked them 10-11 minutes, and they were perfect. I ate the first tray, and used the second tray for pictures.

I still want to make the icebox cake at some point, but it will have to wait. The casualty rate on these cookies is too high, and I've already eaten too many cookies to make a cake. I think I'm going to have to make a double batch in order to have enough cookies to make the cake.

***The notes in the recipe are Deb's. Most of my cookies never inflated and deflated (thus my overbaking them), but baking 10 minutes worked well for me.

Chocolate Wafers
Adapted from Alice Medrich’s Pure Dessert

Makes 50 to 60 1 3/4-inch wafers.

1 1/2 cups (6.75 ounces) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (2.4 ounces) unsweetened cocoa powder (see Note)
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
14 tablespoons (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly softened
3 tablespoons whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Combine the flour, cocoa, sugar, salt, and baking soda in the bowl of food processor and pulse several times to mix thoroughly. Cut the butter into about 12 chunks and add them to the bowl. Pulse several times. Combine the milk and vanilla in a small cup. With the processor running, add the milk mixture and continue to process until the mixture clumps around the blade or the sides of the bowl. Transfer the dough to a large bowl or a cutting board and knead a few times to make sure it is evenly blended.

Form the dough into a log about 14 inches long and 1 3/4 inches in diameter. Wrap the log in wax paper or foil and refrigerate until firm, at least one hour, or until needed.

Position the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Line the baking sheets with parchment paper. Cut the log of dough into slices a scant 1/4-inch thick (I went thinner, closer to 1/8 of inch. If you’re trying to emulate the store-bought wafers, slice as thin as you can, and watch the baking time carefully, as it might be less.) and place them one inch apart on the lined sheets (cookies will spread). Bake, rotating the baking sheet from top to bottom and back to front about halfway through baking, for a total of 12 to 15 minutes. The cookies will puff up and deflate; they are done about 1 1/2 minutes after they deflate.

Cool the cookies on the baking sheets on racks, or slide the parchment onto racks to cool completely. These cookies may be stored in an airtight container for up to two weeks or be frozen for up to two months.

Note: These cookies should crisp as they cool. If they don’t, you’re not baking them long enough, says Medrich — in which case, return them to the oven to reheat and bake a little longer, then cool again.

Did you know....

that you CAN balance a treat on a pug's squishy nose? It just requires a smaller treat.

The Amazing DukeDuke!

My mom decided that everyone needs to see Duke perform his stupid pet tricks. So I present......the amazing DukeDuke! Don't mind his "Is it time to eat yet, huh, huh, huh?!" dance as I'm trying to get him to weave between my legs. That's just what he does when it's feeding time at the zoo.

My very scary houseguest

I'm dogsitting for my brother-in-law, and Coral and Duke are scared of their dog. If Dolly is sitting next to me, they won't approach me. If they do come close, they approach from the other side. If they're heading in one direction, and Dolly heads towards the same place, Coral and Duke turn around and go somewhere else. She's really quite scary. Scroll down to see a picture of this ferocious dog.

















Scary, isn't she? My dogs are such weenies.

Bad blogger! No cookie for me

I really have still been baking lately, I promise! Things have been hectic, and I just haven't updated the blog.

I was asked to make a cheesecake for my brother-in-law and his fiancee's couple's shower last month, and decided to go with the Brownie Mosaic Cheesecake. I've made it before, but Tim took it to work, and I didn't get to taste it. Rumor has it that it was a tasty cheesecake, and this didn't seem like the proper occasion to use the audience as guinea pigs, so this was the one.

I was leery about the bittersweet chocolate ganache, because I'm not a huge fan of bittersweet, but it does go with the cheesecake really well. And next time, I would probably make the crust without sugar. Oreos are plenty sweet enough, they don't need more sugar.



Brownie Mosaic Cheesecake
Source: brownies, crust and cheeescake adapted from Smitten Kitchen, ganache from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Ingredients:
For the brownies:
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
¾ cup butter
1 ¾ cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
½ tsp. salt
1 cup flour

For the crust:
1 ½ cups finely ground chocolate cookies
5 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup sugar
1/8 tsp. salt

For the cheesecake:
3 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
4 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup sugar

For the ganache:
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
½ cup plus 1 tbsp. heavy cream
2 tbsp. butter, cut into two pieces

Directions:
To make the brownies, preheat the oven to 350°. Line a 9×13” baking pan with foil, leaving the ends of the foil overhanging the sides of the pan. Grease the foil and set aside.
Microwave chocolate and butter in a large microwave-safe bowl on high for 30-second intervals, stirring in between, until the butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in sugar. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Add salt and flour; mix well. Spread into prepared pan.
Bake 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with fudgy crumbs (do not overbake). Cool in pan on wire rack. Remove brownies from pan, using foil handles. Cool brownies, then cut into ¾ - 1” squares for use in the cheesecake. Set aside 2 cups for the recipe, and will have many extra brownies left over.

To prepare the crust, combine all crust ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir until well combined. Press onto the bottom and one inch up the side of a 9-inch springform pan. Fill right away or chill for up to 2 hours.

For the cheesecake, preheat the oven to 350°. Beat the cream cheese and sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating on low speed, scraping down the bowl between additions. Add vanilla and beat until well combined.

Fold in brownie cubes very gently and pour mixture into cookie crumb crust. Bake in the middle of the oven for 45 minutes or until cake is set 3 inches from edge but center is still slightly wobbly when pan is gently shaken. Allow to cool completely.

To make the ganache, put the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Bring the cream to a boil, the pour half of the cream over the chocolate and let sit for 30 seconds. Working with a whisk or rubber spatula, gently stir the chocolate and cream together in small circles, starting at the center of the bowl and working your way out in increasingly larger concentric circles. Pour in the remainder of the cream and blend it into the chocolate, using the same circular motions. When the ganache is smooth and shiny, stir in the butter piece by piece. Don’t stir the ganache any more than you must to blend the ingredients – the less you work it, the darker, smoother and shinier it will be. Let sit until it thickens to desired consistency. Then pour on top of cooled cheesecake and spread evenly. Chill to set.

Duke's first frisbee competition!

Our frisbee club hosted a USDDN competition this past weekend. There were 4 categories: novice toss and fetch, super open toss and fetch, open freestyle, and super open freestyle. The super open categories were for those competing for a spot at World's. Novice and open were for us kids (or dogs) who didn't know what they were doing. Freestyle is the really neat competition, where people have a routine and they do all sorts of tricks and stunts. Toss and fetch is just that, human stands behind a line, throws a frisbee, and dog retrieves it. Points are based on how far away the dog catches the frisbee.

Noone was signing up for the novice toss and fetch, so Duke's chances were looking pretty good. At the last minute, about 5 more people signed up in novice. Chances...not so good.

In the first round, Duke did great, caught almost all the frisbees. According to the announcer, my strategy was to throw lots of shorter tosses that are easier for the pup to catch. Longer catches give more points, so most people throw as far as they can. Little did the crowd realize....I was throwing as far as my little chicken arms could throw. You also get an extra half point if the pup makes the catch with all 4 paws off the ground, or within a smaller column in the middle of the field. Duke got one of the extra half points on all of his catches. Yay Duke.

Then came round two. Where I sucked a big one and couldn't throw. When the frisbee goes sailing straight down, there's only so much poor Duke could do.

Duke still got third, and I'm happy, even though we got beaten by a 10 year old and her 9 month old dog. First place was a ringer though. She could throw, and her dog could catch. ;)

One person who flew in to compete was Matt DiAno, the reigning World champ for the past 3 years. We've got a pretty small club, and our club loves him, so I got dragged over to meet him a couple times. Then he saw me throw, and realized I needed all the help I could get. Unfortunately, even he couldn't help my throw. Sad, but true.

We had a professional photographer out there, and here are some pictures he took of Duke. Don't mind the silly asian in the background looking confused. On that throw, I had sent Duke behind me, and as he ran out, he jumped up and headbutted the frisbee as I was throwing it. I was asking him what he was doing. As usual, he just ignored me.

Professional pictures


If you've got time to kill, here's a link to the pictures I took. Beware though, there's about 200 of them.

These are some of my favs:















The last picture is Matt DiAno and his beautiful and amazing Maggie.