Random Shots

Here are a few pictures that don't really all fit together, but they don't fit anywhere else either!

Sometimes I give Reno extra food to make him eat a supplement or medicine or something and I always soak it with water. I wet it down for two reasons. One, it makes him take in more water, which is always good. And two, it mixes up the medicine with the sweet feed and camouflages the taste. It always makes me laugh when he eats it because he makes these slurping noises and gets it all over his face, like in the picture below:

Reno at the farm, being good and eating his 2nd dinner.
I got a new blanket recently. Jesson and I are both cover stealers so when we would go to sleep at night it was every man for himself. One of us always ended up out in the cold. To solve the problem I bought a new blanket. Little did I know the dogs would love it and take it over! One day I went upstairs and found Turk sleeping on top of it...

...and Griffon sleeping under it!

Every once in a while when Griffon and Nano are both SUPER tired they will sleep together in the same bed. It's always cute to catch them when it happens.

Turk when he was a puppy. He is now more than twice this size! We jokingly call him "Shamu" because he is big and spotted!

Road Trip!

A few months ago we went with Buddy to check out a puppy he was thinking about buying. Obviously, he went ahead and bought the puppy as we have already put up a post about it, but we had a few pictures from our trip down there that we liked that we wanted to put up as well. Enjoy!

Nano always like to sit up front on my lap.

Griffon doing surveillance out the side window.
Teaching Turk how to do surveillance. Maybe one day Griffon will trust him enough to let him keep watch over one side of the car all by himself.....maybe.

Turk making friends with the dog in the car next to us.

Falling asleep after a hard days work.

All of our dogs LOVE Buddy. They get very excited when he comes to visit!

Griffon ultimately found a place to sleep, in the Captain's seat of course!

Buddy is about the only person Nano will leave me for.

Turk being a happy puppy.

Book Sale!

Every six months in Gainesville (April and October) the Friends of the Library host a book sale. It's a huge warehouse FILLED with every type of book you can imagine. New fiction books to old classics, there is something for everyone. Jesson and I go everytime and always have a blast! Below are a few pictures showing the crowds. We always go on the opening day and get there early so we can get in and get all the good stuff! Jesson usually heads straight for the computer software and sci-fi sections while I hit up the cookbooks and craft sections. We meet up afterwards and compare loot! It's a lot of fun and we always look forward to it!

Miss Maggie Moo

Jesson has been riding for almost a year now. He has come really far and it has been fun watching him learn. He is such a natural on a horse! Below are pictures from some of his lessons. Pat Deasy is his instructor and he rides a Clydesdale mare named Maggie. They are a great team! There is also a picture of his saddle. Yes, he owns his own saddle now! We found it in a tack shop in Ocala and were able to barter more than 25% off the price! On a side note, he and I competed in a pairs competition at the beginning of April and got 4th place! He has the ribbon hanging in our office now!

Jesson's new saddle (18" MW Karl Niedersuss Close Contact):

Taking instructions from Pat:
Giving Maggie a breather between jumps.

Up and over the cross rail.

Practicing his jumping position at the canter.

Fondue for Two!

Jesson and I love going to the Melting Pot restaurant, but we don't love their prices. We decided to try to make our own fondue at home. It turned out really well! Below are pictures of the meats we used and the sauces and dips we made. Our favorite by far was the Curry Chutney Dipping Sauce, we have made it several times since then and have used it on everything from chicken to vegetables to rice. It is yummy! I've included the recipe at the bottom if anyone wants to try it. It's very easy to make and you can use it on everything!

Below are the meats we cooked. Starting at the top and going clockwise we have chicken breast, Filet Mignon with a Sesame Soy marinade, salmon, plain Filet Mignon, and shrimp in the center.

Below are the dipping sauces. Left to right on the top row we have Green Goddess Dip, Honey Mustard, Wasabi Mayo, and Curry Chutney Sauce. On the bottom from from left to right we have Teriyaki Sauce, Horseradish Sauce, and BBQ sauce.
Our table, all ready and waiting for the dipping to start!

Jesson recovering after fondue night. He ALWAYS lays down on the floor for about 10 minutes after dinner to digest. Thank goodness he doesn't try to do the same thing when we go out to eat!

That is one happy fondue customer!

Curry Chutney Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup mango chutney

1 teaspoon lime juice

2 teaspoons curry powder

2 tablespoons minced red onion

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

Directions:

Place all ingredients into a blender or food processor and run for 30 seconds to 1 minute (until sauce is smooth and there are no chunks). Chill in fridge for at least 30 minutes and up to 3 days. Serve over grilled meat, rice, or vegetables. Enjoy!

Playing Catch-Up...

So I haven't posted in a while, and now I am WAY behind! I'm going to try and post a bunch, starting with my brother Ryan's birthday! We had him and two of his roommates over for dinner. We had steak, macaroni and cheese, tater tots, and broccoli. (this was HIS menu choice, a compilation of all his favorites!) We also had a layer cake. It was my first time making a layer cake so I took lots of pictures. I ended up using 4 cans of frosting on it, so it was so sweet we could barely eat more than 2 bites of it! Oh well, live and learn! It sure looked pretty though!

Assembling the layers:

"R-23" was in place of Ryan's name and how old he is, though we thought it also sounded like some radioactive isotope...
View after it was cut into:

Ryan's birthday present, gotta love Gushers!

Asian all the way!