What a good weekend!

Watson passed his 'Obedience 1' class at Zoom Room! Yes, he still has more obedience classes to go to, but we're so  proud of him. He even got to visit the dog park and make some doggie friends.

Watson with his "Certificate of Excellence" and my roses from Al!

Watson and friend checking out the little dog park, from the big dog park.

Al made some delicious stir-fry shrimp and I made a raisin-topped bread pudding with a yummy brandy sauce. Both were our first attempts and came out very well.
 

Painting with a twist

I love art and have always wanted to try one of the Paintnite classes. It's where you learn how to paint a wonderful picture but it's laid back and you can drink and chat with your friends. I finally got a few people from work to go and we selected this one, Gnarled tree at El Ceviche grill. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I knew that they show you how to paint step by step, so I couldn't really goof it up. The tasty margarita also helped! Everyone's paintings came out great and even though, we all painted the same thing, they all looked unique in their own way. All in all, we had a great time and here's my finished product.

My tree topped off with a 'Corona sign'

Baby Animals

Watson as a puppy maybe?

Since we adopted Watson as an adult dog, we always wonder what he would have looked like if we got him as a puppy. I'm
sure he would have been super cute because I have been around new born boxer puppies (parents' dog) who are uber-adorable. So I googled images to see if any of them would match up and here is my best guess .

My parents' boxer's pups... just a week old

This then led me to google several baby animals pictures and I had to share this site. It's perfect for when you want to keep saying  'Awwwwww' and actually contemplate hugging a bear or tiger. It also reminds me that I would love to have a hedgehog as a pet and that I've got to play with a little duckling, that we found lost at the pool. 

Some more shoe love

I got this in my inbox this morning from DSW and had to share. I LOVE the peacock fabric and the ankle strap is a great reinforcement for the super high heel.

Homemade pizza bianca

Our favorite pizza when we visited Italy was the 'potato pizza bianca' - bianca meaning white or plain and without red sauce. It was the simplest pizza you could imagine and the tastiest too. The toppings were potato slices, rosemary and olive oil on a thin crust pizza base. We decided to replicate this and found a recipe from the NYT columnist, Mark Bittman. We made the dough from scratch which was surprisingly easy and cut up some potatoes and threw them on top with olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary. How easy is that! While it didn't taste like the pizza we ate in Rome, it was still very good for a first attempt and has inspired us to try making more.

Gimme some more s'more

Summer means sun and fun, but it also means s'mores! Even though you typically eat these when camping at a big open campfire, we decided to enjoy these last weekend over our charcoal BBQ.

Beautifully browned marshmallow
just out from the toaster oven

I had never tried s'mores before I lived in the US because I don't like marshmallows. However, once I tried a s'more with melted marshmallows and chocolate, it was something I had to have every summer since! I've even made a baked s'more dessert when we had lefover s'more ingredients, but my favorite way to make it is actually using the broil feature in my toaster oven. It's easy, effective, quick, safe and I can have it whenever I want and not just on camping trips.

Another great thing to do is try chocolate with other fillings like nuts, rice crispies or butterfinger crunchies.

Happy 4th!

Today I get to experience my first independence day as an American! Woohoo! We're going to stay at a cabin at Lake Buchanan this weekend with a few friends, and celebrate American style with BBQ, alcoholic beverages, fireworks and swimming in the lake. I hope that wherever you are, you're having a great July 4th, American or not. And in honour of everyone grilling out there, here's an awesome guide to grilling everything from veggies, to meat, to fish and fruit!


Sunset view from the Lake Buchanan cabin.

July 4th deals

Every big occasion in the US brings out special offers and July 4th is no exception.

Just got this one from LivingSocial.com today. I mean who doesn't love a coupon on top of a deal already?

And this one is pretty awesome too! You can use STARS30 at Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic.

Of course there are many more if you search the web, but these were two good ones I thought I'd mention.  Happy shopping!