Are we a slightly spoiled creature of habit, Miss Coral?

Whenever I leave the house, I go through pretty much the same routine. Walk to the front door to make sure it's locked. Grab shoes if the ones I want to wear happen to be by the front door. Walk to the back door to lock that one. Grab either a biscuit or a kong full of frozen goodies and hand one to each dog in their crate. Shut the crates, put on shoes, grab purse, and say goodbye to the pups (who are completely ignoring me at this point if they're working on their frozen kongs).

I was rushing earlier today, so the pups were zooming around me, but by the time I grabbed my shoes by the front door, she knew what was coming next, and Coral was impatiently waiting in her crate for her goodie. Gotta make you wonder if they're just waiting for me to leave so they can get a treat.

In other news, Coral now has a carpeted crate. Yeah, we're not spoiled at all. When we first got her, she would shred any bedding we put in her crate, so she just didn't get any bedding. Lately, I've been putting a pre-shredded old blanket in her crate when I leave, and she's actually left it alone. Sort of. She still kicks it around and throws it everywhere, but this is a big improvement for her. My in-laws had a roll of carpet they had ripped out of one of their rooms, so I grabbed it so I could carpet Coral's crate. We'll see how long it lasts. I'm hoping she can't really pull it up and tear it apart or kick it around.

Doggie DDR

If you enjoy videos of silly pets, www.pettube.com is a good way to kill some time. Or you could upload videos of your own silly pets. I'm partial to the dancing dane.

If, however, you're not looking for dancing danes, and you're really looking for a cool collapsible crate for the car like I was, this is the pet tube you're looking for.

ETA: More cute ones:
Pup-o-dile rock
Dog + booties = entertainment
Dog fetches beer and recycles
Life's rough with a yogurt cup on your head
Air hockey, rottie style
Puppy attacks dandelion
How to break in a mattress

Intense Chocolate Shock Cookies

If you're going to bake chocolate cookies, you may as well bake CHOCOLATE cookies. How can you go wrong with a recipe that's primarily chocolate with just enough other stuff to call it a cookie? This cookies will buy you the undying love of any true chocolaholic.

Intense Chocolate Shock Cookies
Original source unknown, but revived by baking blonde

4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped
4 oz. semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
4 TBS butter, cut into chunks
1 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a microwave save bowl combine the chopped chocolate and butter. Heat in microwave stirring every 20 seconds. Heat until almost melted, stirring until smooth and melted. Do NOT overheat chocolate mixture.
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla on high speed until light and fluffy (about 2-4 minutes).
Reduce speed to low and slowly add the melted chocolate mixture. Beat to combine. Add the flour mixture until and mix until just combined.
Gently fold in chocolate chips.
Allow dough to firm up for 10 minutes before baking.
Drop dough by tablespoons onto prepared baking sheet. Bake 10-13 minutes or until tops are shiny, center is soft but edges are set. Do NOT overbake. Allow to cool on sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to rack to cool completely.

Agility dog fail.

Duke, you run THROUGH the tunnel, not nap in it.

Almond Crescent Cookies

The best part of making cookies is experimenting with new recipes. Well...the second best. The best part is eating them. Preferably fresh from the oven.

These were simple to make up, and were a nice sandy texture from the ground almonds.

Almond Crescent Cookies
adapted from The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook by www.ishotthechef.com

1 c (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/3 c sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract
1 c finely ground almonds
2 1/4 c all purpose flour
confectioners sugar for sprinkling

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two sheet pans with parchment paper.

2. In the bowl of your electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla extract, almond extract and the ground almonds and mix until thoroughly incorporated. Slowly mix in the flour until incorporated, but try not to overmix.

3. Make a ball with about 1-2 tbsp of the dough and roll into ovals and then form into crescents. Place onto the parchment lined sheets, leaving several inches between for expansion.

114. Bake for 12-15 minutes until very lightly browned. Cool cookies on the sheet for 1 minute and then remove to a rack to cool completely. When cooled, sprinkle liberally with confectioners sugar.

Makes about 4 dozen small or 2 dozen larger cookies.

Vote for Maty!

MATY needs YOUR VOTE for the role of a 3-legged dog in an independent film.

VOTE FOR MATY on link below for the role of 'Scrap' in the movie "Lucky & Rich" by Geoff Talbot.
Vote here

To view Maty and the other 3-legged contenders click on the link "Help find Scrap - America" on the right side tabs. There's a video of Maty placing 2nd at her last frisbee competition in Seattle on the "video" page.

Thanks, and help spread the word!
Lynne, Troy & Maty

Maty video

Biscotti for everyone!

Homemade biscotti was quite a learning experience. I learned how to make biscotti. I learned I'm still not a huge fan of biscotti, even when it's homemade. I learned what the maximum capacity of my KitchenAid mixer is. I learned what an unhappy KitchenAid mixer sounds like. Since I'm too lazy to type up the entire recipe, I'll just show you pictures of my two happy taste-testers.

Duke is in this month's Houston Pet Talk!

doing what he does best...

Houston Pet Talk

Right column, third down.

:)