Friday, December 31, 2010

GOODBYE 2010

I know I shouldn't be sad to see 2010 end. But it's been such a superawesome year, I just don't want it to be over. I've made so many amazing friends (uh, that's you) and done some pretty cool stuff.

From falling in love, to being famous, to meeting lots of new friends (including my long distance bromance Stubby), turning 2, and getting my first taste of bacon love - 2010 has been full of adventure. And I'm soooo glad you've been here with me like every single day, to share it.

So goodbye 2010. You were good. And I will miss you. But I think 2011 is totally going to kick your butt!

Happy almost New year everybody!


Thursday, December 30, 2010

BEST. PRESENT. EVER.

Yeah, I know. It's almost next year and I'm still talking about Christmas. And you're probably thinking 'Ok Pug, enough with freaking Christmas already'. But trust me, you totally want to hear about this present.

Because this present is the gift of never-ending cookies. And it's a gift I'm going to share with all my friends (that's you!) so everyone can enjoy the Best Present Ever too.


I'm talking about The Organic Dog Biscuit Cookbook.
Yup. A bit fat book of cookie-making awesomeness, written by the geniuses at the Bubba Rose Biscuit Company. I should probably mention that this present requires the use of working thumbs and was technically given to my human, but even she got kinda excited about it. Even though it's a recipe book and we all know how she feels about ovens and recipes and stuff.

Anyway. I was so excited about a life full of cookies from the ODBC that I wrote to the Bubba people and asked them if I could share some of the recipes with you (something about a copyright? Not sure. Google made me do it). The Bubba people were totally nice and said it's ok for me to share (thanks Bubba people!). I even convinced my human that we should test the recipes out before I share them. Y'know, for quality control purposes.

How awesome is that??

Pretty awesome, I think. My human has been totally MIA this week so we haven't tested any of the recipes yet. But I don't want to wait around for her thumbs to get home, so I picked out a recipe from a list of special treats for each month on the calendar. Since December is practically over (and January sounded super yummy), here's a recipe to help you celebrate the new year.

Oh yeah. First, a few things about the ODBC recipes. They are all corn, soy and wheat free (attn: Noodle and other allergics!!). I'm not technically allergic to corn, but it kinda makes me fart, so my human was happy to see the words 'corn free'.

Some of the ingredients they use might sound a little funky (what's an oat flour?) but my human said she's seen all of them in our local grocery store. If your human can't find something, the ODBC says dog biscuits aren't rocket science so it's ok to make substitutions and play around with different ingredients. I say you should add bacon whenever possible, but that's totally up to you and your human.

{January}
From Bubba Rose Bakery's Organic Dog Biscuit Cookbook

For the dough:

1 cup oat flour

1 1/4 cup brown rice flour

1/2 cup peanut butter (unsalted)

1 TBS honey

1 egg

2/3 cup water


For the topping:


8 oz. CAROB chips (check label for soy lecithin if allergic to soy!)
8 oz. WHITE chocolate chips (white chocolate is dog safe)

Preheat oven to 350. Combine all dough ingredients together and mic until a dough forms. Roll out on a lightly floured surface to 1/4" thickness. Use a round cookies cutter or the rim of an upside down grass to cut our 2" circles of dough. Reform and reroll the dough to get as many circles from it as possible. Place the circles on an ungreased cookies sheet (they can be rather close together as they don't grow much while cooking).

Bake 20-25 minutes. Transfer and let cook completely on a wire rack.

When the cookies are cooling, prepare the topping. To do so, heat the white chocolate ships over low heat in a double boiler or microwave until melted. Dip half of each cookie into the melted white chocolate and place back on a wire rack to cool. Once all cookies are cooled to the touch, heat the carob chips in a double boiler or in the microwave until melted. Dip the other half of each cookie into the melted carob and place back on a wire rack to cool.

{Note: the San Antonio Pugs' patented drizzle technique would totally work for these cookies. Just put the melted stuff in plastic bags, cut a small hole in the corner of the bag and squeeze}

Store the cookies in a loosely covered container at room temperature or in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

{or immediately eat as many as possible before your human catches you}

Enjoy!

PS: I don't know if it's possible to be more afraid of baking than my human, but if yours just won't bake you can always order Bubba Rose cookies from their website or find them in a store near you.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

BAD A$$ IS BACK!

If you've known me for awhile, you might know that I used to wear a very cool harness with skulls and crossbones on it. A friend of my human's gave it to me after I "defied death" during my boy-part-removal induced heart attack.

Even though I have one of those Puppia things everyone thinks are so cute, skull and crossbones are just so... well... bad ass. Like me.
I was 6 months old when I got the skull harness and wore it, like, pretty much every day for a year and a half. It became like a part of my soul or something. And then my human lost it.

Yeah. Lost it.

No idea how you lose a harness - especially when your dog wears it every freaking day. But Miss Gimpy Brain loses pretty much everything and I guess everything includes my favorite harness. And this wouldn't have been such a big deal, except the person who got it for me couldn't remember where they got it. Even Google didn't know where to find a new one, and Google knows everything.

So for months now, I've been wearing either the
Puppia thing (that I hate because it goes over my head) or just a collar (that my human hates because it chokes me whenever I'm on a leash and decide to go poodle on someone). But not any more. Because the Santa dude left a brand spankin' new bad ass harness in my sock. Woo! Hoo!

Don't ask me how Santa knows more than Google, but apparently Google doesn't know everything. Might explain why Google couldn't tell me how to get my thumbs to work. Right now I'm trying to learn how to put my own harness on, but so far it hasn't been any easier than putting on a sweater :(

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

NOT VERY MERRY

It sounds like everyone ended up having an awesome Christmas. Except maybe Ollie in Canada (who got a snowsuit but no food) and Frodo, Molly and Cleo in Nj who got like a million feet of snow. Well. For everyone out there who didn't exactly get what they wanted under the tree or in their giant sock, this is for you.

Because even though I got loads of cool stuff in my sock (and one of the best presents ever) I also got shampoo. And you know what shampoo means. Uh huh. Baths.

Thanks Santa dude.

It's been really rainy lately, which means it's been really muddy. Really muddy means really dirty, and really dirty means... yup. Baths. I guess that's why the Santa dude put the shampoo in my sock. He must have gotten me confused with some other pug who likes baths, because I really don't mind being dirty.

Hear that Santa? Really. I don't like baths.

But I guess my human does, because she was all excited to try out my new shampoo. I've been kinda itchy, so she used the Oatmeal + Aloe on me, even though I thought the 'Mango Tango' flavor sounded much more fun (Dutch got the Mango). My human thinks the Oatmeal + Aloe smells better than the Mango, so I guess I'm glad I itch. The Earthbath stuff is totally natural, so at least Santa got that part right.

Anyway. To be totally honest I don't really mind baths. I just pretend I do so my human will feed me cookies in the bath tub (totally works, try it). And I guess if I'm going to have to be clean, I might was well be un-itchy, nice to the planet and smell good when it's over.

Monday, December 27, 2010

IT WORKED!

I hope everyone had the awesomest Christmas ever. I know I did. The weather has been really crazy, so we didn't get to visit the snow like we did last year (or visit the drive thru to get Nuggets). But that didn't matter because our giant empty socks totally got stuffed.

Even though I did exactly what everyone told me to do (hang the socks, leave out food, etc.), I was kinda surprised when I woke up Christmas morning and my sock was full. I have no idea how the Santa dude got in and out without me or Dutch hearing him, but it's probably a good thing he didn't wake us up in the middle of the night. We might have accidentally attacked him and who knows what would have happened to our socks then.

Totally stuffed!

Here's what the Santa dude stuffed in my sock:

- Omegas!
- salmon sticks
- Dingo candy cane
- a big fat carrot
- mini squeaky tennis balls
- a Stella & Chewy's patty (aka, puglet crack - I'll do a whole post on them later)
- shampoo (huh???)

Dutch got pretty much the same stuff, except he got a bag of Primal lamb hearts instead of Omegas. We each got a present too, but I'll save that for later this week (suuuuperexcited about my present!!).

What was in your giant empty sock on Christmas morning? Did the Santa dude leave any presents under your tree??