Lavi's spot in her new backyard.

Chicken hearts - Lil' nuggets of love

Well, I thought I was buying chicken livers at the farmers' market but when I got home I realized they were chicken hearts! What is a girl to do??? Cook them of course. I found a James Beard's 1956 recipe for grilled chicken hearts Instead of sherry wine, I used rice cooking wine.

Here are the hearts as I am prepping them. I took off the filmy skin that surrounds them.



After 24 hours of marinating, I sauteed them in a fry pan rather than on the grill because it was easy.



DELICIOUS!!! Lavi and I ate them all. If you find yourself with a container of chicken hearts - don't fret, MARINATE!

Cherry Hand Pies

I wanted to post some pics from my latest empanada creation - cherry hand pies. They came out great. I used fresh cherries and the empanada disks. Yummm.



I love my cherry pitter (also used for olives)



Just off the stove, picture is blurry from the steam



Finished!

Agility Fun Match

Lavi and I had a great time at the JAG Agility Fun Match on Saturday. We were lucky that the weather cooperated and everything went off without a hitch.

After her initial zoomies, Lavi really settled in and had 4 really good runs. I entered her in the beginner and novice runs and that really let us build up some confidence.

Here are some action shots that Natalia got.

At the end of the dog walk expecting a treat :)



Doing some easy weaves...she loves the weaves!



More jumping...






Running out of the tunnel...



To see more pictures of all the dogs, visit the JAG website.

Great Doggie Dash Again

Lavi and I joined Roxie and Susan for the DASH again this year. Don't know the final count but there were A LOT of dogs and their people again.

Here we are getting ready for our walk.



Roxie modeling this year's t-shirt.



And we are off...



Lavi midway through the walk taking a breather.



Laura and Marv joined us for the walk. We also walked with Tim (another co-worker at 211, actually my supervisor) and his girlfriend. They ran the 2-mi bridge to bridge option of the dash. We did the 1-mi stroll but I think I'd like to do the run with Lavi one of these years.




Thanks again for the generous donations on our behalf. We are happy to help out all those other critters still looking for homes.

Doggie Dash 2011

Lavi and I are planning on attending the Doggie Dash again this year. Here is a link to our participant page if you would like to make a charitable donation to the Oregon Humane Society in our honor.





Lavi says "You know you want to!"

NJ Trip

Better late than never, here are some pics from our trip to New Jersey in early March.

After landing in Newark, we went to the Prudential Center to watch the NJ Devils take on Tampa Bay.

Devil's Army truck






Matt's infamous shot from center ice


Matt's favorite pizza from The Trattoria



Mom's birthday









The NJ critter crew

Spree


Suri


Shawnee and Curry




Grammy visit





Julie and Rocco (future Good Fella)



Brandon busy at work