apple and thyme dog biscuits

On the evening of January 24th, I slept poorly. The eve prior to traveling I always wake up periodically to check if I remembered the toothbrush, the camera charger or write myself a reminder to move the car in case of a snow emergency. But at 6:09 am on January 25th, I looked at my phone to see a text message from my mother. Arlie was refusing to walk and they were taking him to the vet.

I contemplated cancelling my trip to LA. I dissected the possibility of calling in to work, driving to Rochester and returning to MSP in time for my flight. It was pretty infeasible, so I spent my work day pushing pixels on the last few pages needed for a website while keeping one eye on my cell phone. Around 5 o'clock, my parents informed me Arlie had arthritis and they were getting pain killers to help him deal with the initial stage. All he could do is rest until he got better, so I might as well go on my trip.

Sometime during the afternoon of January 30th, I felt the urge to call my mother. They were leaving the vet, again. Arlie had attempted to follow my mother down the stairs and had hurt his back further.

I had originally planned to take Arlie and Etta back to Minneapolis this weekend, but an unexpected work trip this week has prolonged their stay at my parents' place. I felt horrible and decided to travel back to Rochester to spend the weekend comforting them and accompanying Arlie to his follow-up vet visit.

Arlie's crooked walk, arched back and whimpers of pain brought me to tears. My mother tried to reassure me, telling me he had improved greatly over the last week, but he seemed so much worse than Etta had been over the summer with the same injury. The vet who had initially visited with Arlie agreed with my mother and suggested that he spend the next week resting in his crate. While I plan on keeping him under the same plan the University of Minnesota made for Etta (a month in the crate), Arlie is quite a different dog. Unlike Etta, he naturally likes sitting in his crate and will remain there even if the doors are left open.

While I was in Los Angeles, I wanted to find a fancy dog-spoiling treat to help make up for my absence during this difficult time. Instead of artificially-flavored, pink-frosted doggy doughnuts, I bought The Doggy Bone Cookbook, which is filled with natural recipes for hounds, though poorly designed and art directed:

Once you get past the fact that the book has been updated five times since the nineties and no one has bothered to redo the horrid illustrations, you find the book is filled with several simple recipes containing very few ingredients.

I was wary about apples, unsure if the dogs would like them, but Miss Etta sat under foot, happily picking them off the ground as I accidentally dropped pieces. The recipe also claimed that it would make approximately two dozen biscuits with the included bone-shaped cookie cutter. I counted sixty after they came out of the oven.

My brother inquired if people could eat them. I reviewed the six short ingredient list and proclaimed they were edible for people. He took a bite. His face soured and he exclaimed they were not sweet. Well, duh. I tried some of his biscuit and handed the remaining third to my mother. They're deliciously savory.

Apple and Thyme Dog Biscuits (Thyme for a Treat)
from The Doggy Bone Cookbook

Makes: 2 Dozen (Actually Makes: 60 Biscuits)

Ingredients

2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons fresh chopped thyme
1/2 cup finely chopped apple
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup milk
1 egg

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Mix together flour, thyme and apple. In a separate dish stir together olive oil, milk and egg. Add to flour mixture. Knead until smooth.
3. Roll dough 1/4 inch thick and cut with cookie cutter.
4. Bake for 25 minutes.
   

2011 in polaroids

In September 2010, my parents' home, which sits on a bluff in Pine Island, Minnesota, was among thousands of homes that suffered from flood damage in southern Minnesota. The basement was submerged and my parents spent the entire winter cleaning carpets and throwing away relics stashed from the past. When visiting in March 2011, an unfamiliar rainbow cube caught my eye in the damp laundry room. Inside the worn, colorful box was my father's Polaroid Super Shooter Land Camera, a $5 purchase from a thrift store in the seventies. I brought that camera back to the Twin Cities with me and it accompanied me for most of the year.

Joshua Tree, California — April 2011

A month after finding the camera, I flew to Los Angeles to visit my boyfriend. We took a vacation to the Mojave Desert and stayed at the famous Joshua Tree Inn & Motel. I brought along color and black and white film, only to find the black and white finicky. It only produced one nice photo at the very end of the pack.

Minneapolis, MN — May 2011

Sanden flew into Minneapolis for the wedding of Molly Bloom and Andy Ducett and little did we know hard winds were following. The day these photos were taken, I had brought Sanden to Art-a-Whirl to see my Artcrank poster. The clouds rolled in menacingly and we decided to head back to Uptown. While we fled Northeast Minneapolis, a violent tornado struck North Minneapolis, separated only by Highway 94. Unaware of the disaster just a few miles away, we played in the rain.

Memorial Day, Minneapolis, MN — May 2011

Memorial Day felt like a regular Monday this year. My savior after a hard holiday spent at work was a barbecue thrown by Jared A. May.

My Birthday — June 2011

I took these photos just before Etta jumped into my face and gave me a fat lip. And that happened just before my roommate ambushed me in our own apartment with a surprise party.

Rock the Garden, Minneapolis, MN — June 2011

I didn't have the stomach to take on Rock the Garden in its entirety this year, especially a rainy one. So we stood outside the fence and tapped our toes to what we could hear of Neko Case's set.

Strawberry Basket, Monticello, MN — June 2011

Strawberries make a popping noise when you pull them off the vine. I picked a pound more than I needed to make strawberry jams because of this discovery.

Gold Rush, Oronoco, MN – August 2011

Etta slipped a disc before the Bark at Art poster show and the next four weeks were spent trying to keep her comfortable while under medical treatment during a incessant heat wave. She did enjoy being carried around Gold Rush.

Casey Quinn's Memorial – August 2011

Casey's tribute was my first experiment with Flash Cubes. Like the goal to launch 34 lanterns for Casey's 34th birthday, the cubes proved to be rather unsuccessful. I ended up sharing the photography of Justin Mueller when I blogged about the event.

Minnesota State Fair – September 2011

These photos were suppose to be a part of a blog post about the Fair that never came intro fruition due to some scanner issues. But the highlights were the heat, the food, the group karaoke, the food and the glitter bombing.

Oktoberfest and Amery, Wisconsin – October 2011

Arlie raced in the St. Paul Dachshund Races and performed well above expectations. He also had the opportunity to meet the Kaiser, himself. After our Oktoberfest adventure we visited my cousin in Amery, Wisconsin, where I spent summers as a child.

new year's resolution: accomplished

At the end and beginning of each year, my twitter feed is twice beaten over by hashtags marking the creation and progress of New Year's Resolutions. As if being trapped inside during the winter wasn't bad enough, now people feel the need to impress upon the world every boring gluten-free calorie they intake and photos of every weather-neglecting, frivolous outfit they appropriated in their quest to look like Zooey Deschanel. You get my drift. By April, most of the design-a-day blogs are abandoned and I have been annoyed by these pursuits of nothing for nothing.

If you google searched every phrase I've ever uttered, "I'm perfect" will deliver "Did you mean: 'well-intentioned'?". I have failed to stay with the time-suck that was flat-track derby. Ten pounds were gained this year, instead of lost (see: quitting derby). My long-distance boyfriend and I are still a year-long blinking contest: who will move first? There were minor goals that failed as well like finding an image for the 100 Most Beautiful Words in the English Language. And my journey to an exclusively plant-based, whole foods diet is resembling more a plight.

At the end of 2010, there were a lot of articles being passed around about the "social reality" in relation to the goals or resolutions we make. We achieve enough satisfaction by informing others of our dreams that we feel less committed to actually finishing them. Derek Sivers talked about it on TED (here's his write up):

Around the same time, I had an idea and I was determined not to tell a single person until it was accomplished. This goal was to play in front of a crowd.

Play what, Jordan? The Sims for an audience? You're going to have to put in a lot more effort than not telling anyone.

Shut up, brain, or I'll stab you with a Q-tip. I know that. And I ignored that until the end of July when I purchased my mandolin. In mid-August, I started picking away at Keep on the Sunnyside and Down in the Valley with Brianna Lane. In October, she sheepishly smiled at me and asked if I wanted to join the Fall Recital being held by Twin Town Guitars. It was being held at the Whiskey Junction and I would be able to enjoy whiskey, children's performances and the ukulele group as well. My secret New Year's Resolution had its opportunity. Yes. I would play a recital despite not having the excuse of being eight years-old should I mess up.

Saturday evening, I arrived at the venue to find that the children I'd be following were very, very adorable and talented. As the youngin's portion of the program ended, they filtered out with their parents to be replaced by genuine Whiskey Junction clientele. Not what I exactly signed up for. Where were the parents who were going to sympathize with me? I'm in my mid-twenties and trying something new here! I need low expectations.

Oh well, Melissa Lo documented my travels through the many stages (get it) of stage fright.

While we were waiting, I showed off how I now have to cut my left hand's nails extremely short to be able to capture the best tone on the mandolin. I am constantly and unnecessarily pointing this detail out to avoid people assuming I'm like Curley of Of Mice and Men. Everyone's mind travels to subversive sexual details mentioned in Steinbeck novels from 1937, right? (I am not missing a digit either, this photo was just caught funny.)

These are the eyes of a woman who is not used to doing this. In this picture, I'm secretly plotting to throw the music stand into the nice man here, jump the four feet from the stage to the ground and then exit without cracking my mandolin on the skull of one of the few remaining children.

The shadow of this stand conveniently hides how I have wet my stretch pants.

Oh no, I'm smiling like a ten year-old who knows someone's taking a photo of them.

The beginning was awful. I don't even know what song I was singing. The words were coming out but probably in a tune closer to Barney's I Love You versus Will the Circle be Unbroken. Brianna looks rightfully afraid.

I found if I closed my eyes firmly, I could only feel the dead pan stare of 150 middle-aged motor cyclists.

It's over! No one boo'd and I was greeted with encouraging praise despite missing most of the chord changes and barely meeting the remedial vocal requirements to perform this little diddy. Will I do it again? Yes. And better.

I would like to thank Jared A. May and Melissa Lo for showing up and taking photos and video of this whole ordeal. The video? That will be sent to no one other than Sanden Totten, another I would like to thank. He's been a great support in helping me accomplish all these crazy dreams of mine, even from a couple thousand miles away. Forest Taylor, Arlie and Etta have tolerated my endless practicing over the last few months like champs. And I'd like to thank Brianna Lane, who is an excellent and creative teacher.

halloween "fraidy cat" dog treats

The air is fragrant with change, pumpkins dot the neighborhood porches and the crunch of leaves has become the soundtrack of each walk around the block. It's that time of year again! Yes, it's time for our biannual comprehensive veterinary visits. These day-long ventures can be quite traumatic and this time, Etta's includes a dental cleaning. Etta has ghoulish teeth, despite daily Greenies and brushings. Last year's dental visit ended in a bill that scared me.

In the meantime, I'm preparing for a little vacation to visit the boyfriend in Los Angeles. The pups will be spending a week with my parents. The combined events made me want to make something to ease their anxiety or at least mine. On Pinterest, I noticed this recipe for dog biscuits with some great photographic storytelling. But on Facebook, the ASPCA which contained whole wheat flour. I have a ton of whole wheat pastry flour (from an unfortunate attempt to make gangster gingerbread cookies for Ludachristmas) I've been meaning to find a use for.

Funny thing about canned pumpkin, it's slippery. It happened to plop in the bowl of dry ingredients, making a mushroom cloud of flour, cinnamon and baking soda.

It was really hard to mix. So hard, I broke my Pampered Chef spatula and had to switch to this flashy model.

The only cookie cutters I had were candy canes and Christmas trees, so my downstairs neighbor loaned me this appropriate Halloween cookie cutter—in exchange for a doggie treat for Kuma, her standard poodle.

The cookie cutter was a little large, so the recipe didn't make a ton of cookies. I managed to cut out about nine plus two moon-shaped blobs.

Arlie and Etta ended up having a mixed revue at the vet. Arlie, thankfully, survived his rabies shot without a serious allergic reaction. Etta will have to return to the vet in a couple weeks to have a few teeth removed, the ones slightly out of reach of my brushing. The rest look very healthy, so there's hope that after this surgery, Etta's periodontal troubles may subside.

When they came home, they were very excited to hear me ask them if they'd like a treat. Due to the cookies' monstrous size, they each shared one. They didn't seem to mind and spent a good 15 minutes trying to trick the other one out of their half.

Halloween "fraidy cat" dog treats
from ASPCA.org

Prep Time: 20 min | Total Time: 60 min

Ingredients 

2-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup fresh or canned pumpkin (not seasoned pie filling)
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup water as needed

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, pumpkin, peanut butter and cinnamon in a bowl.
3. Add water as needed, but dough should be stiff and dry.
4. Roll to 1/2 inch thick and cut with holiday cookie cutters.
5. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until hard.



oktoberfest and amery, wi

Madcap cooking adventures aside, this weekend I broke out the Polaroid Super Shooter with an aging pack of black and white film. I don't share all of my photos (I had an entire post about the Minnesota State Fair that never came to fruition because I couldn't access a scanner until everyone was sick of hearing about SPAMcurds) and this post doesn't contain a necessary reason, so I'll keep it short.

Arlie met the Kaiser at St. Paul's Oktoberfest. Arlie, Etta and I are a part of a meetup group called Dachshunds Making a Difference (whose proceeds benefit the rescue I adopted Etta from, Coast to Coast Dachshund Rescue) and this month, the gang was participated in this Oktoberfest celebration's dachshund races. As the Kaiser announced prior to the race, Oktoberfest is a 201 year old celebration of a marriage that originally held horse races. Since it's pretty difficult to obtain a license for such an event on Rice Street, they went with racing small German dogs.

As for how Arlie did in the races? We came close, which was an upset for me. Arlie was just happy to get the cheese I held for him at the finish line.

After the races, Arlie's pit crew and cheering section crossed the street to dance polka and enjoy authentic Deutsch cuisine (um, a sausage with kraut and pretzel) prepared in food trucks.

When I was not mourning the meal I created for the trip to Amery, WI, my cousin and I went to visit the home that once was our family cabin. My uncle Ross and aunt Mary sold the cabin a few years before Mary passed away in 2009, but the current owners didn't mind (a.k.a. were not home) that we explored the grounds. It seemed so unfamiliar. All the danger was missing as the deck, dock and stairs have been replaced with modern materials. How are you suppose to get a splinter to go with your horsefly bite? The house is brown instead of rust and the neighboring shack has been demolished to be an empty lot. Oh well, all's fair in love and real estate, but one thing didn't change:

Lake Wapogasset still looks like all my favorite memories from the original Parent Trap. And autumn is a such a funny season when you live in a climate doomed to six solid months of winter. It's a time where people are holding onto summer with their right hand while premeditively bringing along the winter coat in their left. But so is spring. The lake was missing the speed boats and pontoons, but docks still dabbled at the water's edge, hoping tomorrow will be another of these indian summer days. I didn't spend much of autumn in Amery, WI growing up. It was a summer tradition, but it seemed appropriate to say goodbye to the old cabin on a day like this.

One final note: thank you Phineas and William, BBDO's ever trusty receptionists, for scanning my photos.