Must Protect this House

My delightful little four-legged black daughter barks at everything when in our backyard. No more than 3 seconds after we let her outside she is barking, at what we have no idea. At all hours of the day and night. It is rather unnecessary.

So...facts: She has always been an inside dog but has spent extended periods outside. She is spoiled but can go camping without an RV or hotel.

Fact: I don't want to eliminate barking FOREVA because I still need the guard dog aspect, within a reasonable definition.

Fact: We have wooden privacy fence in the current backyard, our dog barks. Dog left in backyard over 3-day weekend, returned to have neighbors complaining that she barked till nearly midnight every night. They then think she just wore herself out or she would have continued.

Fact: Our house was not broken in to that weekend. There was not a murder most foul nor vandalism.

Fact: Home prior to had a wooden privacy fence, dog did not bark as much. Dog was left in backyard many times over the weekend with no problems or complaining from neighbors. Minus the time the cops were called because there wasn't enough shade.....another story. There was shade.

Fact: Our current housing situation is one of those where the backyard borders the alley/street. Garage is in the back of the house, unlike 'normal' houses where garage in front or on side, does that make sense?

Fact: Previous place of residence backyard bordered other backyards.

Fact: We live in a gated community (I know, we are soooo rich...but we don't have a limo). Therefore, we don't have lots of traffic and it's usually the same elderly ladies with their dogs or the same vehicles going down our back street.

Fact: Callie has sniffed every single post box, fire hydrant, rock, sidewalk, and dog we meet. Numerous times. She loves to meet people and other animals. Except when they nip at her.

Fact: She does not bark at the front facing part of the yard.

Therefore is she seeing more action through the wooden planks that she can't comprehend enough to know there is only one car going down the street? I'm not really sure but it has to be gotten under control. We have weekends at the lake which will be occurring on a regular basis in approximately 3 1/2 months where she will need to stay in the backyard. We also have trips planned in the meantime and I can't be worrying about cranky neighbors and an excessively barking dog.

So does anyone have any suggestions? Shock collar is not accepted.

The Capitan is going to tape black garbage bags or a dark tarp on the inside of the fence which hopefully will eliminate confusion on what her eyes see through the planks. Perhaps that will fix it?

I saw this Dog Spray Bark Control Collar at PetCo earlier and wondered about it. I have a friend who suggested I look into. Has anyone tried it or heard anything? I tried to read reviews from Amazon but the posts at the bottom were about whether atheists have dogs or condemning people for breeding puppies that are going to end up in shelters getting put to death. It was way off topic and weird.


Fact: At least I don't have 2-legged kids! 'Barking' all night in the backyard would be the least of my concerns-chuckle. :)

Cheers.

The Power of an Iron Skillet

For Christmas, the majority of the gifts I received were cooking related. Cookbooks, serving trays, warming trays, utensils, knives, deep fryer, immersion blender, and the likes. A cake carrier, lotions, polka dot galoshes, socks, Burts Bees products, gift cards, yoga mat and bag as well as measuring spoons shaped like flowers. Also included was cast iron skillet and a dutch oven. I'm pretty sure there was only one thing on my list I didn't get. Very blessed am I.

The first time I cooked in my skillet it was cheesy fried potato and apple hash. Trust me it's seriously yummy. However, the heat was turned up to high and I let it sit to long before I stirred it which caused the bottom layer to burn.

The first time I cooked in my dutch oven it was loaded baked potato soup. Intensely thick and just the right amount of creaminess and potato chunks. After the first servings were emptied into our bellies, we turned the back on the stove to warm the soup up again. After we dipped our second helpings up, the heat stayed on and of course I again under estimated the power of the iron cookware.

Point being: I love cooking with my cast iron ware. It adds a certain flavor and warmth to the food. However, it responds differently to heat and I need to pay closer attention to that or I'm going to end up burning things more often. It would remind the Captain of our first year of marriage though-HA!

Side note: this was also the week that I made homemade cheesy rosemary bread which didn't properly raise. It was heavy, very heavy. We didn't eat much of it so perhaps it was an off week for this cook in the kitchen.

I try. I also love cheese.

Cheers!

Come Rain or Come Shine

Five years ago today I became 'Mrs. Krause' on a very windy, very happy, very perfect day. 

Thank you for a novel worthy five years, babe! 

I love you!

More Candles

My  birthday is tomorrow and I wear a size 6. Oh wait...there is a slightly different version in red and I REALLY love red. I always feel jipped on my birthday. Everyone has over spent their budget on Christmas. They are worn out from Christmas cards and remembering to get gifts for everyone on their list. They are partied out from the holidays, food, friends and family and the weather is a big encourager of vegging out in flannel pants in front of the fire. The grunge of reality and school is bringing everyone down that I seldom receive the excitement for the day of my birth as I wish.

I do have some very good memories of birthdays in the past, of sleepovers, laughter, angel food cakes, and many times not having school to attend. However, because this is my blog and I have had a headache all day, I can focus on the negativity of my day. I can focus on the fact that important people have failed to call me on my birthday. I can vent about how people take the easy way out and give me $20 because they can't think of anything that I didn't get for Christmas that I would like. Way lame. I can post about how I never got to take cupcakes to school on my birthday and about how working from home sucks in that I won't have coworkers to take me out to lunch tomorrow or surprise me with a cake. I can vent about how my husband gives me a hard time because I'm hardcore birthday and I like balloons, singing, breakfast in bed, and not having dishes, laundry, floors or poop to scoop and special surprises that don't break the bank because yes, I over spent on the holidays as well.  I can vent about how I miss my college bars which would provide at least 3 new shirts for the next year. I can vent about how all my gifts are received within a month (Christmas, Birthday, Anniversary).  I get greedy.

Unfortunately I'm terribly blessed. Because the people who call me far outweighs those who just text or forget. Because I have a husband who will sing the birthday song for the 42nd time and take me wherever I want for my birthday dinner even if I end up only wanting to sit at home with a bottomless glass of wine and solve crimes. Because I have wonderful parents who birthed me out less than 30 yrs ago on a cold night with a full moon and provided a wonderful life molding whom I am today.

I can't party at this pity party for too long. Besides I just remembered that I forgot to pick up the cake and icing mixes for my birthday cake while at the market today. Kroeger is calling!

Cheers!

What a stupid question

Two Buck Chuck is a love of my life. No kidding. During my, approximately 16 months of living in the Land of Port, we became good friends. And I have to give props to Pautz as the person whom introduced us. After all of her fond stories tasty glass fulls I was thrilled to finally live in a location where there was a Trader Joe's. Which brings me to a point: the nearest Trader Joe's is in Nashville. A glass of wine at the end of the day is one life's most delightful pleasures.

Cheap wine isn't like cheap liquor. It won't make you sick from cheap production or products. If the bottle of Two Buck Chuck didn't flip my bic I could have always used it in cooking, but that was never the case, and I've never felt bad from purchasing the low price wines. I can taste the difference in the good stuff but my wallet doesn't allow for that anymore. I drank a lot of wine in Hawaii, a lot more than I should have, a lot more liquor than we should have but I digress. Costco was allowed to sell liquor in the stores in that state therefore liquor and wine was ridiculously cheap and we could afford to buy really nice wines for sunsets on the lanai.

But the point of this blog is in response to this article on Slashfood. Most wines have the same alcohol content so that can't really be a factor. One can judge wine on the label or the vineyard reputation, which are noteworthy, but it really leaves the taste, and everyone's taste buds are different. Everyone interprets the smell and taste from wine differently despite an attempt to add smokiness, berries, wood, etc in the wine during production. I can't wait to visit a local Whole Foods and try a bottle from Three Wishes Vineyards.

What are your thoughts? Can a $3 bottle of wine taste good?

Cheers!

Just like Martha

Over the past few days as we were putting up our Christmas decorations, the Captain came across an older issue of Martha Stewart Living that had cups of hot cocoa with homemade marshmallow snowflakes on the cover. He made a comment and I took notice and yesterday Callie and I made him heart marshmallows for our hot cocoa. Snowflakes were not an option among my cookie cutters and since all I have is love...well..gag.

Upon his arrival home today, he was greeted with a delicious cup of hot cocoa with heart marshmallows. I think he was surprised. I was surprised. Why don't you be surprised also! They are surprisingly easy to make-check out this recipe!





Items needed:
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
3/4 cups of sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
Dash of salt
Lots of Pam cooking spray
1/3 cup of water
Cornstarch

Spray a 12x17 inch pan generously with cooking spray, line with parchment paper, spray with cooking spray again. Set aside.

Pour half of 1/3 cup of water in mixing bowl, sprinkle gelatin on top, let set while you prepare the rest.

Combine sugar, corn syrup, salt, vanilla, and rest of the water in medium saucepan. Stir well. Cover and bring to a boil. Remove lid, stirring occasionally until syrup reaches 238 degrees, apparently this is the "soft ball stage" of candy making.

Pour syrup mixture into gelatin mixture and start mixer on low. Slowly increase to high. Mix on high for about 12 minutes. Product should at least double in size.

Pour mixture on to slippery pan. Smooth down with a spatula which you have also generously sprayed with cooking spray. Trust me, this marshmallow mixture is sticky. After you have spread the mixture out to your depth preference, set aside for at least 2 hours. I let mine set nearly 24. My life gets busy peoples.

Coat your preferred cookie cutter shape with plenty of, yep you guessed it, cooking spray and cut out as many individual marshmallows as possible. After each marshmallow is cut, lightly dust it with cornstarch. This will prevent it from sticking with the others in the container. Sidenote: the cornstarch doesn't prevent perfect melting in the beverage nor does it affect taste. Storing these in an airtight container for a week will lead to many yummy cups of hot cocoa, and it's the perfect season for that!

Cheers