Happy Birthday Otis!

Hi Everybody! I turned two years old today! Mom says that means I'm not a puppy anymore. I told all my friends at the dog park this morning that it was my birthday. They all wanted to play with me and chase me because I was the birthday boy and I loved it! At home I got to lie on the special blanket to take my nap. I usually get to do that anyway, but today it was because it was my birthday! Just like last year I got to have a special birthday cake.

I was very serious when I was waiting to get it and I posed in my good boy position, just in case!

This year, Ruby got to have some too.

She wasn't sure if she liked it and was a little afraid of it so I helped her out and finished hers too.

Then I got a present. Ruby got one too so she wouldn't steal mine.

Unfortunately, I can't always remember which one is mine so I make sure to chew on them both and to yell at her if she gets near either one of them.

Birthdays are the best, don't I look handsome in my hat and party banner?!

Love, Otis

Sushi Experiment

Rich and I really love that simple sushi that you can buy at the grocery store. I haven't been adventurous enough to try anything else but the california rolls and avocado rolls are delicious. We have been able to find them both made with brown rice instead of white at Whole Foods and our new favorite Whole Foods-type store, Central Market. But, the brown rice is made into sticky rice with rice wine vinegar and sugar, neither of which we are supposed to be eating. We discovered the seaweed nori at Central Market on Sunday and, on a whim, we bought a pack. Today for lunch we tried it out with brown rice, guacamole made my mom's way (with lemon juice and onion) and shrimp cut into pieces. Here is the pictorial story:

I'm sure that if you've made sushi you're screaming at this point that you don't cut it first. I realized that AFTER I cut the first two pieces into strips but BEFORE I tried to roll them...yay!

The rice wasn't sticky enough even though I tried to use extra water so I just mixed the guacamole, shrimp, and rice together and then spread it over the seaweed, rolled it, wet the end of the seaweed so it would stick, then cut it into rolls.

And, voila! Sushi rolls on pretty plates! I even got a little extra guacamole to go with my rice chips on the side.

Ruby and Otis didn't care.

Christmas and beyond

Anyone who reads this probably already knows that we had a perfect Christmas holiday! Mostly because we got to visit with everyone. We weren't held up by the snow storm and got back with no delays or trouble at the airport. The main reason I wanted to do a Christmas post is that my brother got me a wonderful gift card to Amazon and I was able to replace the plates (my wedding plates....I was so mad!) that the movers broke!!! BUT, the silver lining is that I love my new plates too and they are very colorful in the cabinet.

We use the bowls so much that it's hard to catch them in the cabinet! Each color salad plate has a different flower on it and the dinner plates are square. I have fun choosing what color to use for dinner each night! The last part of the make-up posting is that I just spent the evening making a special treat for our teachers' "superbowl" luncheon tomorrow. I'm on the social committee for this semester and the event we planned was a luncheon with baked potato bar (and all the toppings, don't even ask how this will work! Thankfully, that's not my part!!) and then some desserts. Of course I'm on desserts so I made these football brownies. I think they're pretty cute!

Finally, I've been feeling a little bit homesick for the past couple of days. I was looking through photos from home and I went through my collection of pictures from a trip my mom and I took to Cape Cod last spring. I'll leave you with this picture representing that trip, which is now the very relaxing and comforting wallpaper on my computer!

Ruby's first snow

Since I'm back tracking to catch up, here is Ruby having her first encounter with snow. It was during that same storm that almost ruined Thanksgiving! At first she wasn't sure what to make of it but once she realized it couldn't hurt her, she really got into it. It was much like Otis's first snow because it seemed to really energize her and she careened around for as long as we could stand the cold! I think that was the last time that it was seriously cold out here...