Wordless Wednesday - Treat

 

Excuse Me

 This new diet isn't working for me. Give me some of your toast.

Picky, Picky - by Phod

 Dear pals,

When we were younger dogs, Hailey especially, would eat about anything. We happily ate the food put in front of us. We had some preferences, like we always liked a cookie on top, but Lady says we were happy to eat.

Now we are picky. Some days, we just skip meals (we didn't do that before) and some times we decided the food we have is garbage food and just won't eat it. Lee will pick a piece out of the dish and try to bury it. 

We decided to pull this trick again. We have been eating kangaroo. We have loved kangaroo. It has given us excellent energy. Lee has been eating a special food for her tummy as the topper. While we were eating breakfast later in the day, we were eating what Lady and Man would expect in a day. Lady says I have lost some weight and while it is good for my joints, I can't lose too much. 

Last week we decided we no longer ate kangaroo. This was after our people had just bought us a huge bag of it. Lady and Man decided they would pick up another food to use as a topper to see if this excited us.

I must say, kangaroo topped with rabbit is very good.

Finally eating again

your pal, the picky eater, Phod

Wprdless Wednesday - Za

 

Pizza Please

 Pizza has always been one of Lee's favourite treats. It was our angel Loki's as well. Towards the end of his life we ordered him a small cheese pizza and tried to serve it whole. He had no idea what to do. We had to cut it up for him. I don't think, if in the same position Lee would have the same problem!

Travel Tuesday - Niagara - The Food

Last week I shared the falls. While my friends aren't as active as I am, they do enjoy a good meal and were very happy to work around my gluten and soy allergy.  Today we will talk about some of the food we enjoyed. 

Before I share two special meals - Niagara is a very dog friendly place. At a pub we ate at, I noted this on the menu:

The first special meal involved a winery.

There are over 50 wineries in the Niagara region and we visited this one twice, because it is one of my friend's favourite wine. The first afternoon was for a wine tasting and the second was for lunch.

I am not a big drinker, but enjoy the occasional drink. If I am going to drink wine, it is going to be red.

My favourite was the Merlot followed closely by the Pinot Noir.

For our meal we had charcuterie board, flat breads with fancy stuff (I could not eat the bread, but ate some of the toppings!) and salad:

Fancy food pictures courtesy of a friend who had fun playing around 

The vineyard

The second special meal was all about me. Anyone who has watched the show The Bear. may be familiar with the character Neil Falk. Neil, is played by Canadian chef Matty Matheson. Matty, went to high school with one of my friends and she has known his wife since kindergarten. She was able to arrange a reservation at Rizzo's House of Parm.  

I don't know if you hadn't heard about it, if it was the type of place you would rush too. From the outside, while busy, it isn't fancy and the vibe instead is very casual. However, if you didn't, you would be totally missing out. 

The food was fantastic. I want the salad dressing recipe (they grow a lot of the ingredients at a farm not far from the restaurant).

Our appy course

It was the best gluten free pasta I have ever eaten, and they don't up charge for a gluten free substitution. 

The service was flawless. Anyone who has watched the show may remember them talking about how the diners should never see the staff communicating, and we never did. Apparently one of the secrets to this (because I know someone who knows) is to overstaff.  Two of my friends had not watched the show and both had worked as servers and were also blown away by the food and the service. 

The price was great. We had an amazing 3 course dinner, for 4 people, with enough leftovers for a meal the next day, with one drink each, and a very good tip for about $290 Canadian/$213 US. To compare five of us ate at a moderately priced chain the following night, one drink each, appetizers,  and one dessert to share, the food was not as good, the service was not good and it cost $450 Cdn/$330US.

I am not usually a big celebrity follower, however this was a fun and delicious experience. It was fun to play 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon!

Treating Myself - by the Lady

On my day off a week or so ago, one of the tasks I had was to do all my end of the year photo things, which included making my annual calendar. 

When I went to order it, the site asked if I wanted to add a mug with the pictures to my order. Now I am sure like many of you, I have so many mugs that I really didn't need another. However, I couldn't say no. 2023 has been a challenging year, personally, professionally, really in all the ways. Having those I love the most hold my tea, seemed like a wonderful treat to myself. 

Sometimes Ican buy small bits of happiness and it is often the small things can bring me joy. 

Speaking of joy, the hat tax pictures will start next week! 

Mischief Monday - Changes in Eating - by Lee

 Dear pals,

When I was younger, I had to have a slow bowl to slow me down. I would eat anything and everything so quickly, I would throw it up.

Over the last couple of years, I am eating slower, and need a regular bowl. It is too much effort to use the slow bowl. 

In the past few months I have also gotten extremely picky. While I have had phases like this before, this seems to have stuck. I don't want boring kibble. I will pick out pieces I don't like and leave them all over the kitchen floor. I can go a whole day and barely eat one cup of food. However, I will take most human food and treats. I am being picky not stupid.

Maybe Dragon will enjoy this boring kibble

This causes my Lady and Man worry, so they has been trying things. They have changed the flavour of kibble and usually have 2 types on the go at once.  This week (because Phod started being picky too) they put a little beef broth on it. This seems to increase the likelihood we both will eat most of it. 

Lady wonders if anyone else has had a dog get really picky in their golden years? Did you find anything that helped?

Wordless Wednesday - Birthday Treats

Tasty Thursday - Real Whipped Cream

Regular readers may be aware that usually, on Sundays, the Man makes pancakes. Last weekend the Lady made real whipped cream. Usually we get the stuff that comes from the can. 

 Even if we had to wait . . . 

It was worth it! (The spilt food couldn't even distract us!)

We now expect this every weekend! 

Tasty Tuesday - Advent Time

We were so excited that our Costco had Advent Calendars for us. We had never had them before! Lady was away December 1 and 2, so we doubled up to start to catch up but now Lady says one a day.

We are delighted

Note - we didn't have to wear hats, the paper dog did instead!

There are 6 different types of treats to enjoy! 

We are very much looking forward to tasty December! 

Wordless Wednesday - Cheese Please - Hailey

 

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Movie Night with Friends

 Dear pals,

This really great thing happened a few weeks ago. Callie's kids, Dylan and his sisters M and J came over for a movie night so their parents could go out without them.  We all had a great time and the kids want to come back soon.

Watching Hocus Pocus 2

Sharing popcorn with the girls

Babysitting is hard work

Tasty Tuesday - Gotcha Day Treats - by Phod

Dear Pals,

Thank you for all your kind gotcha day wishes, and especially comments about cake and ice cream because as you will see, they helped land me some awesome treats.

First, I got a little chicken at dinner. I love chicken, but it makes me itchy so I can't have much.

Next up was dessert, vanilla ice cream! We have only had this a few times, so it took me a few minutes to decide it wasn't poison and I could eat it.

What is this and why are you singing so much Lady?

It is pretty good!

Don't worry, Hailey got to partake in all the treats too!

I even got a little swim. It was a great Gotcha Day!

your pal who has the perfect for him house, Phod

Tasty Thursday - Phod's Birthday Treats - by Lee

 Dear pals,

Last Saturday, Lady and I set out to make Phod some bake-a-bone cookies. As you saw on Monday, he wasn't the best behaved dog on his birthday and then on Saturday, in a 45 second period while Man was explaining 'again' to Lady on how to work the generator in case she is home alone and needs it, Phod came back covered in turkey poop. This landed him in the shower with the Man.

Let's get baking!

I thought given that things were not coming up Phody, we should make him some treats.

Lady picked a beef and oat recipe from the book. She put all the things together under my supervision.

Lady needs close supervision in the kitchen.

Every 8 minutes for the next half hour or so, I made sure she took out the cooked ones and put in batter for new ones. We made 20 cookies in the end, some we will have to freeze as for some reason Lady said that was too many to eat in a short period of time. 

After 87 million years, some of the first batch were ready to eat.

Let's eat!

I thought since I helped, I should get the first cookie, but I had to wait for Phod. 

He did what he always does with new treats, assumes they are poison (in his defence, there was one time he was offered a marshmallow and he is terrified of new treats ever since), and took it away to check it out. 

New treats need to be tried here, to make sure they are safe.

After a good sniff, he decided to try them and he loved them.

I loved them more.

The best, helpful sister, Lee