So I have been gradually watching the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show over the past couple days. We DVRed the two different sessions and I am now in the middle of the toy group. I saw on Sportscenter that Josh, the big-gorgeous newfie who was the frontrunner the whole way (apparently he got jacked last year, even though Mick, the Irish Blue Terrier, was a pretty solid dog) but I don't know the other group winners so it s a good time. Plus, for the most part, I just like dogs, they are pretty fucking sweet. You've got your working group, and you know there are some motherfuckers up in here who rock hardcore-the Bernese Mountain Dog, the Mastiff, the BullMastiff, and of course, one of my favorite dogs of all, the Saint Bernard. Well, you are all pysched up by this point of course, so maybe you get another drink real quick and tune in for the terriers.
You are not, however, excited about this prospect, because all though obviously there are some cute little pups in the terrier group, some scottie-dog little dudes and the rest, that this is kind of a downspot. You are surprised when the announcer lets you know that the terriers are the all time winningest group in Westminster history. I still don't think it really compares to the workers, or the toys, or the sporting, or the non-sporting, its a solid group. There are some dogs that are just really easy to make look good. You don't get the cutenessness that you find with the other groups, but some well built dogs. The announcers, by the way, have also gone a little overboard with the term "animal companion," its not like they don't use the word pet, or dog, but what the fuck. Everyone is not a superior animal companion, the German Pinscher, sorry, thats not a superior animal companion. Its an attack dog, if you don't need a dog that can reasonably respond to the command "Kill" with the thing you would expect a vicious looking dog to respond to that command with, you don't have anything that ends with "pinscher." The name sort of implies pinching and since the most likely scenario for a dog to pinch with is their mouth you can pretty much just rename the dog "German Biting Dog." No one has a Pekineese as an "animal companion" either, that is a pet, it is a lap dog. Your sheep dogs, your wiener dogs, your larger terriers and schnauzers. There be your animal companions.
I'm sure I will have more discussions of Westminster later on, especially since the pug hasn't shown up at all. I should mention, by the way, that the more my love for the pug dog increases the more I start seeing them. There is a pug dog that lives somewhere in the building next-door, but I have only seen it once. There are all these commercials which star the pug dog, especially that one drug ad where the dude chases his pug all around the city and then finds it sitting in the back of a cab. Really fucking cute. Beyond the fact that pug dogs just rock, everytime they look at you you would start laughing.
Okay, thats enough dog-convo. Out of town weekend in a row number two begins late tomorrow. We are headed out, only to Binghamton (about 3 hours) thankfully, but still I will be judging debates and not getting much work done. Katie and I have suspended some aspects of Valentines' Day until Monday to make the whole thing work out, but it is also exactly a year since we got engaged. I guess that anniversary sort of drops off in terms of importance after you get married, at least I think it does somewhat, isn't the wedding anniversary the big one. Fuck, thank God I am not married yet. I still have time to read some shitty.
My hope is that I will do some writing over the weekend, but probably not for my old bloggedizination, since I should keep this roll that I am rolling with rolling hard on the roll. I got a buttload of shit done today, especially considering the amount of time I had to do it in.
Final thing to mention for tonight, three of my favorite things to eat with ice cream.
--Cake-The oldie but hella-fucking goodie. You've got the obvious vanilla ice-cream chocolate cake thing, and thats hella good, but start mixing it up and you can go some crazy fucking places. Not long ago I combined the world's best chocolate cake recipe (Carole Kauf tribeuce) with Friendly's Nuts About Caramel Ice Cream, which was caramel ice cream with chocolate and caramel swirls and spotted (fairly regularly I might add) with chocolate cups filled with caramel, almonds, and cashews. This was a combination which walked that fine fine line between deliciousness and flavor over-load, not to be confused with flavor over-board, which is an entirely different concept that I just made up. You all have my hellafied encouragement to experiment with these combos.
--Combinations of cookie dough, butter, and Oreo cookie crumbs-Katie went out of town one weekend, for the Wake Forest Debate Tournament actually, not to be confused with the Wake Forest Debate Burn-ament, which, all though I just came up with it right now, would actually be pretty fucking dangerous in a forest, even one which is not at all sleepy. But I somewhat digress. The fridge was fairly full and all, but we were admittedly a little low on sweets (Katie says that she doesn't think other people use the word sweets, but I think its ususally a pretty good description for the type of food I am looking for, I mean, sometimes I will be more specific, modifiy it to "cakey-sweets" or "choco-sweets" but generally when I say that I need some sweets, pretty much everyone will follow my gist. Its a very clear gist as far as I am concerned. Anyway, there was a giganto bowl of cookie dough that Katie hadn't had full time to bake, a gallon of good quality vanilla bean, and some random everyday foods. One of which turned out to be Oreo Cookie Crumbs, that would most often be used, I surmise, to make a pie crust for like, a really hella tasty chocolate cheese cake or summin. Anyway, I created what, I must say myself, was a pretty fucking ingenious treat. It was a fairly thin disc of cookie dough, with a significant indentation in the center. I mixed the crumbs with butter, as is called for, and pressed them into the indentation. Then I baked that bad-child for 8 or so minutes, before removing it from the oven and allowing 7ish minutes of cooling before adding a couple scoops to fill in the now nicely crusted cookie bowl. I highly recommend this process, regardless of what type of cookie dough you may have around.
--Chocolate Malt-O-Meal-This one may come as a surprise I know, si, nce I don't know anyone outside of my family whom has ever done it. I guess I havne't asked everyone I know about the process, but more than I would care to count. If any of you out there have enjoyed this psuedo-breakfasty concoction you should let me know. Its pretty simple really. You've got the deliciosity of malted -wheat, flavored delicately with what I would imagine is General Mills or General Foods or whatever's highest quality chocolate. Everyone has realized that in order to properly enjoy this snack you need some dairy and some sugar. Ice cream accomplishes both of those tasks and adds a wonderful creaminess and a temperature shifting delight. I know its the classic choco-van, but there is usually value to the classics.
Have a Happy Valentine's Day to all, enjoy your chocolate, gifts, flowers, lingerie, loneliness, booze, depression, love, or whatev. If you aren't celebrating Valentine's this year do yourself a favor, go buy a bunch of Valentine's chocolate anyway, get stoned, and eat it. Seriously, this is a great holiday if you let it be. Don't get caught by those gothic hippies hating on Hallmark. You've never sent a birthday card Azriel, I'm sure you didn't complain when Grandma's cartoon dog handed you a couple bills after you graduated from Eden Prarie High School. You can spend it at St. Sabrina's if you want but don't pretend its not fun to eat good food, outrageous chocolate, drink good wine, and make some love. I'd imagine we've all spent some February nights alone, but love is something to celebrate. Get on the couch with a couple bottles of Ravenswood, a heart shaped box, a pipe, and put something on the TV. Sure, it can be a love story if you want, but I think West Wing reruns work just as well.
Peace,
MB-K
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