vie a la table » gracie

puppy love

kris — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 17:00:19 +0000

just taking a moment over here to think about my sweet girls. my sweet great dane girls. i don’t doubt that god utilizes his creation to bring us joy…because these two make me happy.

owning a dog is not always a joy. there are the expenses, the destruction of your favorite things, the repetitive ‘no’ when you are trying to find a rental, the difficulty of just carefree leaving to go somewhere, and the poop. oh the poop.

but those all somehow get outweighed when they bound to the door getting wiggly with excitement to see us returning home, the snuggles whether i am asking for them or not, the sense of protection, and the constant source of entertainment on boring weeknights when they are silly and easily teased.

i love that these big girls (i’m pretty sure they both weigh as much as me, or more), have big hearts. gracie can be needy at times, but all she wants is just to be next to you or in your lap. and ava loves giving you bedroom eyes while she gets up close and personal to your face. i’m very curious to how they will act when we start a family, when they are not the only ones getting attention. but for now, they do get all of our attention, and on a gray cloudy day with little on the agenda, i thought it was fitting to bake them up some homemade treats.

i like that this recipe (courtesy martha) is incredibly simple ingredients and incredibly simple instructions. i didn’t feel like i needed to get fancy with add-ins or flavors because when it all comes down to it, they just love the plain ole milk bones. i don’t think most treats on the market are all that nutritious anyways…why then would they be called treats?

i have had wheat germ on hand from making granola bars and if you don’t eat it, i recommend trying to incorporate it into things here in there…baked goods, on your cereal, etc. it is crazy packed with nutrients and benefits. as for the brewers yeast, i have never bought it, and it is not equal to baking yeasts so i used oatmeal instead.

simple homemade dog biscuits
from martha stewart

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup oats (instead of brewers yeast)
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 cup low-sodium canned chicken stock, plus more for brushing

1. set oven to 400 degrees. whisk together dry ingredients together and set aside.

2. place oil in a large bowl. add stock and flour mixture in three alternating batches, beginning and ending with stock and mix well. add more flour if needed if dough is too wet.

3. roll out dough to about 3/8-inch thick on a floured surface. cut out biscuits with a cookie cutter of your choice, or use a knife to cut your own shapes. remember to keep in mind the serving size you want them for the size of your dog. i got about 18 cookies with a cutter that’s about 4 inches long.

5. transfer to parchment-lined baking sheets until all dog has been used. i even baked the scraps left because honestly, it’s not like they’ll know they are not in the shape of a bone.

6. bake biscuits 10 minutes. brush with stock; rotate baking sheets, and bake 10 minutes more. turn off oven and let sheets stay in oven for about an hour and a half to completely dry and crisp up. i actually opened the door a few times in the beginning of the drying time to let out heat as i didn’t want the cookies to continue to cook too much more (some of them got a little over done).

7. store in an airtight container – start getting your furry friend to do some tricks for you!

inspiration workshop – week four – spend the day playing

kris — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 20:34:26 +0000

recipe for the perfect day of playing:

sleep in, just enough, and don’t make the bed.

make sure we get to enjoy the day with our favorite people.

go on a walk that really takes it out of ya, and then collapse on some cool grass.

follow the sun around the house and try and lay in it every moment.

watch the world go by.

when mom’s not looking, sneak into the chair we’re not allowed on.

see if dad will sneak us some food while he cooks.

when the day starts to wind down, watch our favorite show america’s funniest videos, or maybe the westminster dog competition.

don’t forget to whine to mom and dad when it starts to get late that all this relaxing has made us ready for bed again…

pear and brie chicken

wil — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 22:03:01 +0000

it’s been a while since i’ve been inspired to make anything really interesting or creative. it’s not that i haven’t wanted to, but being on the road for so long and not having my ‘own’ kitchen, it’s hard to find a groove. we finally did a big grocery trip yesterday and i got a few ingredients for a dish i’ve been thinking about recently.

pear and brie stuffed chicken breast over a bed of fluffy white rice:

this is a pretty simple dish that starts with preparing the chicken. i used 2 breasts, about 1/3 lb. each. after pounding them each for a few minutes to tenderize and equalize the thickness, i butterflied each one to make a pocket for the filling adding a bit of olive oil to each. i knew i wanted the filling to be basic with pear and brie, but i also knew it needed some other flavor (like an herb). i wanted to use mint since it goes so well with pretty much any fruit, but i wasn’t sure how that would go with brie; and since we don’t have jobs and already had some herbs at home i went with rosemary since it has a sweet aroma like mint, but also has some robustness that would mix well with the cheese. i chopped some rosemary (about 1 tsp) and mixed it with about 4 Tb of cheese. a bit of salt and pepper to finish it off and we were ready to go. i placed a sprig of rosemary in each pocket first, then spooned half of the cheese mixture in before adding the pears – 4 slices, each 1/4 inch thick per breast. once the chickens were stuffed, i seasoned (salt and pepper) each side and placed in a very lightly oiled baking dish. after a light coat of olive oil, i placed a few slices of pear on top of each piece and popped it into the oven for about 45 mins at 375.

while the chicken baked away, i cooked the rice according to package directions adding a tablespoon of butter and a pinch of salt to the rice-water mixture. i always add a touch more water and cook it for a minute or two longer, i like to think it gives the rice a more fluffy texture vs. a more ‘grain-like’ texture. (my personal taste)

The girls always like to watch, hoping for a scrap here or there..

as an accent to this dish, i carmelized some pear slices in a tablespoon of butter. the sweetness and soft texture of those pears ‘paired’ extremely well with the dish and just helped bring out the great fruity flavors. once plated, i sprinkled a bit of parsley over the chicken and rice for a nice, crisp finish.

whenever kris and i have a dish like this that takes planning and analyzing, we talk about what we think of it, what it needs, what it doesn’t need while we eat it. we both agreed that the flavors were perfect together, but it needed more brie. a lot of the cheese oozed out of the breast in the oven, even though i tried to avoid that. i think a light dab of the cheese mixture on top, for the final 5 minutes of baking would be a nice addition.

i try to remember the stuff we talk about, but it doesn’t always go well. so i found a recipe program for my laptop that gives me an interface to write ingredients, directions and notes about recipes. hopefully having that will help me keep track of my creations and how to improve them while i learn how to cook..

preview

wil — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:38:01 +0000

Here’s a little preview of what life inside our apartment looks like…

separate ways

kris — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 23:55:18 +0000

wil and i went our separate ways the last two days!

wil walked into our cabin-home for the next two months right about the same time i stepped into our nashville-for sale home.

yesterday i went with my boss to atlanta…she goes once a month and this was my last time accompanying her (it’s usually every other month between me and cassie who joins). it was lame to add two days to the tally of being apart from wil, but before realizing that, i knew i wanted to take advantage of my last chance of visiting atlanta and our usual design stops.

wednesday we leave at 7 am, and it’s a 4 hour drive…we head straight to the design center…walking through showrooms looking at furniture pieces and different lines, requesting fabric samples to take back, and any other odds and ends that we are looking for at the time. it’s always really enjoyable to see things in person and also match faces with names of the people we talk a lot with on the phone.

it also made me curious if whoever i might work for visits the seattle design center and what that might be like.

we wrap up right at 5 when it closes, and usually have a great dinner…last night was no let down. we more often than not will shop for an hour or two- this time we visited the mall (usually it’s philene’s basement). but thursday has in store a very early start with lots of walking, so we honestly go back to the hotel and go to bed very early!

now, i know wil and all those starbucks folks are used to getting up at 4 and 5 in the morning, but it’s not so easy for those of us who are used to getting up 2-3 hours later. it’s rough! but we do it not so much for the deals, but by getting to the antique market while everyone is literally pulling stuff off the trucks, you are ensuring you get the best stuff before someone else! we wake up at 4:45 nashville time, and get to the buildings at about 6…

here is not long after we arrived in the south building…this row of vendors was just starting to unload. carolyn was checking out the size of a chest to be used for in a powder with a sink. it didn’t work.

this is maybe 3 or 4 hours later, and mind you, this view shows about 1/15th of what this building holds, plus a 2nd building of the same size…the ‘booths’ in this building are less defined, except for those hanging blue signs of letters, and tend to look a little more sparse than the north building because the south tends to have large furniture pieces and the north all the lighting, and other piddly things like silver, jewelry, books, etc. and it’s kind of madness the whole time. the economy has hit it, with usual vendors not showing up, or repetitive inventory, or just less inventory like this picture shows…more often than not you are maneuvering between pieces close together.

there’s definitely a lot of interesting nice pieces, but there’s still junk and stuff you wonder why someone bought that thinking someone else would want to buy it from them… our favorite usual dealers are either european, or go to europe themselves.

one very specific thing about scotts is the food. there are ‘food courts’ all over, and it’s all junk! this one is particular makes the whole center smell sooo gross..greasy southern food. just think about smelling fried catfish at 9 in the morning. pleasant.

oddly enough, after a lucky morning after buying a bunch, the power went out in the whole building while we were trying to look at oriental rugs. instead of picking a rug in the dark that we thought was brown and unroll at home and find out it’s like hot purple or something, we left about an hour early. i was quietly thankful, because usually the last hour is the hardest on my feet and mental endurance.

we got to nashville earlier than usual, and i made my way to our quiet home…i don’t want to get myself all down, but it’s really weird sitting at the computer just waiting to hear for the dogs to come up the stairs and see me.

wil, on the other hand, made it to brevard! yesterday was full of goodbyes and last social endeavors…golf, lunch, driving around, dinner, games. and i got a picture from his phone last night…

we decided in the last week to actually let the dogs be on the couch since it was the end of their time with that couch, and who cares! gracie had definitely tried to establish this for the last….well, forever, so you can tell she was all over it, and i don’t think ava quite gets it. : )

it looks like wil might have been stuck in some traffic, but he’s there! i asked him to take a picture of our cabin, so i will share. or maybe he can! maybe we can separately update the blog while we have our own adventures. that’d be fun.

an open house

kris — Sun, 31 May 2009 23:17:12 +0000

a house update…no news.

open house today. had three different groups of people come through. we still worked the same amount and were out of the house for the same amount of time for a regular single showing, so i would have only been disappointed if no one showed up.

hey, that’s 3 more potential buyers. our realtor was still there when we returned, and got the lowdown, and said it was all positive…one of the couples loved loved loved the house, and had already placed an offer on a short sale house with the bank, which means they could still have 3 months to wait, and maybe liked the option of this house as a plan b if they decided to withdraw.

but no offer is still no offer. we are patient.

prior to us putting the house on the market, i knew in my head that i’d be stoked if we were even able to sell it by the end of the summer. but since we’ve had so much interest right off the bat, the positivity has actually caused anxiety over not getting an offer yet. ugh!

and this time is all going way too fast.

wil leaves in like a week and a half and i just can’t handle that realization. him being gone, and how much stuff we potentially have to do and pack before he leaves.

it hurts my head thinking about it.

but we’ll probably have another open house next weekend, or the next. there are just too many variables to why people do and don’t come to open houses, so it makes sense to all of us to just keep getting it out there and available to show. maybe people are on vacation that weekend, maybe the weather is too cold, maybe the weather is too hot, maybe people ran out of time seeing other open houses. you just never know.

but it gives us time to just keep packing, keep tinkering with the age and look of the screened porch (what we feel like is the only thing that could distract people from all the positives), and keep keeping the house clean.

i love having an always clean house! love it.

and the dogs love getting to go in the car so much. i think ava officially thinks that she gets to go everywhere with us now, but we have happy worn out dogs whenever we return. and they keep somehow getting treats from us because wil and i feel bad for disrupting their routine so much.

being in the car is treat enough though right? i’d say yes based on their faces.

if only they know they have 4-5 days straight of this in the next few months…

photos schmotos

kris — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 20:23:38 +0000

so i went through and organized the photos i have taken this year.

not only had i not even deleted the images from christmas off my card yet, the only pictures i have taken since christmas are the few of the oscars statue…i literally had 8 photos for the last two months prior to today.

that’s it. i don’t know what my deal is…i certainly hope i haven’t been unbitten by the photo bug, but i’ve just been completely uninspired to even pick my camera up. i had the novel idea of putting my little point and shoot in my purse with the hopes of capturing more life and friends and social ventures…but it’s been in my purse for over a month and i’ve only taken like two pictures of me and wil at the preds game.

pathetic. maybe spring will get me out of this slump. the trees have started to blossom which is magnificent, so we’ll see.

but, at the request of dena, i tried to get some shots of the girls for at least a start. they were completely dreadful at participating, so this is all you get.

‘you see a kitty cat?!’ i think i am faking her out here.

neither of us knew i was taking a picture…i accidentally had it on 10 second delay…i thought her expression was a funny catch.

ava is significantly taller than gracie now (although gracie’s still got more weight), and i kept trying to get a shot comparing the two…both dogs were oblivious to me or what i was trying to do. the table behind gracie is a 42″ counter height, and ava can sniff stuff above it…

take a guess

kris — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:53:09 +0000

Updated…i was waiting for as many guesses as possible, but it’s been a few days, so i thought i needed to end the suspense!

WINNER: Candyce!

Gracie weighed 124!!!! I don’t know how, but she seems to have lost weight! skinny minny!

gracie went to the vet today for some booster shots… and she hadn’t been weighed, for probably a year since last appt, since she’s too big to weigh at home (plus ava got so big that she and wil broke the bathroom scale!).

take a guess of how much you think gracie weighs… it might surprise you!

winner gets…a big hug from me. heh

dog day

kris — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 21:38:51 +0000

i just told wil a few minutes ago… “i’m bored”…not very often do i get tired of the ordinary routine, or run of out things to do, but today is one of those times. while wil watches football, i’ve just been sitting around kind of trying to keep myself occupied. i’m currently in the internet phase that once i check my email, facebook, flickr and the blogs i frequent (that sounds like a lot, but i can sift through them in a snap!), i am done and have no desire to really float from site to site, so i didn’t want to just waste away the afternoon on the computer.
but wil directed me up to the office and told me to write a blog entry.

so here i am. and while sitting here drumming up thoughts, i realized today was a dog day. every once in a while, not by any planning, we’ll have a day that seems to give a lot of attention to the girls. today started with an accidental late wake up, so we missed church (and deciding to go to the 6 o clock service) and lazily got ready. we’ve been having an unseasonably warm october, and today was really pretty to say the least. we had to go to wil’s store for him to do a quick deposit thingy, so the girls got to come with us.

they had their fair share of strangers wave to them as we idled at stoplights, and they watched the happenings of the starbucks/kroger parking lot from the car while we sipped coffee and i ate some oatmeal in the back section of wil’s store (ooo! secretive!)…sidenote: the oatmeal, btw, is really yummy for all your starbucks customers…since the dog park is down the street from wil’s store, we told them we’d go there for a social run around.

as nice as the weather was, there weren’t too many people there, and the dogs weren’t too active. we haven’t been to the dog park in quite some time (definitely not as convenient as the franklin one we could walk to), and it was slightly disappointing that we caught it at an off time. the girls still had fun, and it’s interesting to see their age really affect their activity level…within 25 minutes or so, ava was already laying down in the grass next to us.

eager to get back to his football, wil decided to take all his girls home, so we loaded back into the car once again and made the drive. a quick stop through the walgreens drive thru was great for gracie and ava though, since they got treats from the nice lady behind the glass.

they were exhausted once we got home…even though they didn’t run around at the park all that long, they are just as silly in the car (ava bites the wind), so i think the excitement of the car ride and errands pooped them out. trying to find something to do, i decided to make some dog biscuits. it seemed easy enough to have all of those kind of ingredients on hand…some flour, oats, beef broth and bacon proved to achieve a biscuity kind of thing in a little dog boney shape, so we’ll see what the girls think when they cool down (i’m hoping they like them…these dogs usually eat anything, but ava all the sudden got bored with her food).

hopefully they’ll just sleep the rest of the afternoon…ava is currently spread eagle on the futon…not very ladylike. but right before i came upstairs, they did want to say hello to the internet world:

happy birthday gracie!

kris — Wed, 28 May 2008 00:13:22 +0000

you’re two years old today! we love you.