Categories
Cooking

Dragon Fruit

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This fruit is so gorgeous in both appearance and flavor, it makes one wonder at nature for creating such a thing. The ranch I live on grows them but, considering that it’s a $1,000 fine to take fruit off the vine, I was happy to buy this relatively small to medium sized one for $8 to see what all of the fuss was about. Before eating the white flesh with a spoon I did a little research on the description of it’s flavor and found that the “cross between a kiwi and a pear” was not too far off base. I would add, however, that in taste it is more like a kiwi than a pear and in texture it is more like a pear than a kiwi. The little black seeds are a great textural element to the fruit. All and all, I would say the $8 was well worth it.

Categories
Animals

The Dremel Strikes Back

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So this happened while I was filing a pet’s nails. Note to self: don’t do this again. No hair was actually harmed in the making of this disaster.

Categories
Animals

Happy Husky

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This is Jack and he is my favorite Husky. He has an incredibly sweet and goofy sensibility. Love him!

Categories
Cooking

Classic Hummus

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1 can of garbanzo beans (15.5oz)

1/2 cup water

3 tbsp. tahini paste

2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

2 tbsp. olive oil

3 garlic cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

Combine all ingredients into a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. This hummus really shouldn’t be eaten until it has been left in the fridge for 24 hours. Once it has had time to hang out in the fridge, the garlic flavor mellows out  and the olive oil flavor is a bit more pronounced. I add some water to my hummus because I just feel like it is way too thick otherwise. Once refrigerated, the hummus will thicken a bit. If you are not a fan of garlic, reduce the amount of cloves to one. Also, if you have never purchased tahini before, most grocery stores carry it and it should be next to the peanut butter. I first constructed this recipe a handful of weeks ago and since then I have been making it in double batches for Gar and I. I’m usually dipping at least one carrot or pita chip in my quart-sized container of hummus each day.

Categories
Life

Rough Couple of Weeks

As if day after day of working overtime for the past week or so was not draining enough, I began this week with one of the worst cases of neglect I have ever seen and a very loving family whose three year old dog was hit by a car and killed as a result of a freak accident. After extensive efforts, the doctor and I were unable to resuscitate that dog. Just the thought of that family still causes my eyes to well up. My empathy allows me to be absolutely great at my job but it also leaves me susceptible to great emotional fatigue at times. The two incidents this week, especially in comparison to each other, left me utterly drained. My request to take a personal day today was granted.

I wanted to write this post to give everyone a little update, thank you for your great comments, and let you know that I plan to increase my posting efforts more and more. I have also been volunteering some of my time to help an absolutely incredible cat sanctuary and I look forward to presenting more information about this in the coming week. I’m also planning on getting married this year so stay tuned and thanks again for your support.

Categories
Cooking

Dehydrated Fruit

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I finally used my dehydrator that Gar gave me last year for something other than beef jerky. Dehydrated strawberries and bananas are a great yummy and chewy snack. I feel like dehydrated and freeze dried strawberries are basically on par. The dehydrated banana, however, is far superior to the freeze dried banana chip due to its intense banana and slightly caramelized flavor. There is so much more I want to do with the dehydrator. Maybe next year I’ll find time for making fruit leather.

Categories
Animals

April Is National Heartworm Awareness Month

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This month I created a promotion and employee incentive for National Heartworm Awareness Month. I would just like to say that I am pretty positive that I just made THE BEST National Heartworm Awareness Month employee incentive poster in the history of National Heartworm Awareness Month.