Tasty Tuesday: Little Red and Yellow Orbs of Goodness

Hey It’s Jet Here.

Before we begin, we want to send out our heartfelt hope that all our friends affected by Hurricane/Frankenstorm, Superstorm Sandy are safe.  Mom hails from NJ, so, she has a good sense of where the storm came ashore yesterday.  When you can, let us know what you need and how we can help in the aftermath.

Thanks to Sugar and Kol for initiating Tasty Tuesdays, today is our thirtieth participating post!

Many regular readers know that as Mom’s faithful Kitchen K-9s, we sit in rapt (VBP – Vocab Building Project) attention when Mom prepares salads.  Grape tomatoes, the red kind or the yellow pear varieties, usually conclude the preparation process because they leave Mom’s cutting board a bit sloppy.  We may also favor them because Mom usually tosses one or two to JJ and I whole so the orbs represent our largest tidbits!

Before JJ arrived, Mom grew several varieties of tomatoes including: cherry, grape and Everglades in our backyard garden during the winter, as do many South Florida residents.  When harvest time approaches, a roster of yummy tomato laden dishes helps show off the hard work.  Here’s Mom’s version of the classic Italian Panzanella Bread salad which flew off her table during her Farmers Market demonstration.

Lori’s Panzanella Bread Salad (Adapted from Regina Cowles and Simply Recipes)

• 1 tb. Italian Herbs
• ¼ c. Olive oil (best quality you can afford!)
• 4 c. slightly dried out rustic bread, cubed or torn in small pieces
• 1 ½ ripe grape or cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
• ¼ c. red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 cucumber, thinly sliced
• 1 ½ c. arugula leaves, torn
• 1 bunch basil, torn in small pieces
• 2 tbs. red wine vinegar
• Salt to taste

Mix Italian Spices into the olive oil, set aside.  Place bread in large salad bowl.  Add tomatoes, onion, cucumber, basil and arugula and toss gently.  Add the vinegar and toss again to blend.  Spoon the olive oil mixture over the salad, add the salt, toss again.  Set aside for 30 minutes at room temperature to allow the bread to absorb the dressing and the flavors. Toss once again before serving.

Mom’s Ideas:

•  Add some fresh mozzarella or feta,
• Throw in a few garbanzos or leftover roasted chicken, turkey or tuna
• Switch spinach or other lettuce varieties for the arugula.

Another yummy grape tomato day!

Advertisement

Tasty Tuesday: Magic Eggs

Hey It’s Jet Here.

Thanks to Sugar and Kol for initiating Tasty Tuesdays, today is our first participating post!

Mom boiled 18 eggs for her Kitchen Counselor demonstration at the Farmers Market this weekend and she only used 4 yellow parts.  If my Scooby Doo Academy math course taught me anything, it taught me how to count food items!  She returned with 12 yellows claiming she shared two with other passing K9s.

Here’s what’s left.

JJ and I suggested we practice a family magic trick.

Place yellows (ok Mom one each) in our bowls.

Ok, you can ask us to sit and wait like we do for breakfast and dinner.

Poof!  It’s MAGIC… yellows disappear!

JJ making sure.

Uh, something is sticky in my throat, need water!

Another great magical day.

Mom’s At It Again

Hey It’s Jet Here.

I’m trying to practice understanding, really I am.  Of course, Scooby Doo Academy stresses good behavior.  Understanding remains as challenging as patience for a herding K9 like me.  Following Mom back and forth from the kitchen to the office to the kitchen to the garage freezer, to the kitchen to the car to the kitchen with these bag thingies, to the office, to the kitchen… you get the idea.

Mom shared with my human sister, Rachel, on Friday night that the next week will be something called insane.  She has four Kitchen Counselor classes, including one class where she will make smoothies for 500!  I scratched my ears to make sure I heard correctly.  500, Mom?  Yes Jetty, 500 people in 1 hour no less!  I will have two blenders going besides ours.  Phew, good to know Mom.  Hey Mom, is that the reason the machine which holds all of Ish’s delicious eggs looks like you cannot fit one more ounce of stuff in it?  Indeed.

Hey Mom, is that why JJ accompanied you to the outside freezer like 100 times?  Correct again.  Rachel did a fantastic job manipulating all of our personal items to fit everything in.  Did you listen to us giggle when chatting how we left the grocery store without any frozen fruit? Well almost no frozen fruit. 

Mom, why did you shop again today if you did all that last night?  Great question.  I have a class at University of Miami tomorrow and needed to purchase those ingredients today, since we did not have room last night because of the Farmers market ingredients.

Wow, no wonder we needed a nap this afternoon.  Hey Mom, one last question.  If the outside freezer and the inside freezer and the refrigerator cannot fit another thing, why can’t JJ and I help out?  We like fruit, yogurt, turkey, eggs, butter, veggies, etc… I know sweet boy, you two help so much, however, this food must feed others.  We’ll have special treats on Friday.  Ok, Mom… I guess…

Another great day… well actually night.

P.S. Mom, of the 45 bananas you purchased, ripened, peeled and froze tonight, would it have been too much to ask for a taste before you brought all 45 to Miss Mary Ann’s freezer?  Huh?

Fair and Square

Hey, It’s Jet Here.

Since Mom grew up as an only dog human, and my human sister, Rachel, is an only human, and for almost five years, my K9 sister, Koko, was an only K9, Mom had to learn about sharing time, love, and attention with multiple K9s when I joined the family.

Of course, she had a smidge of practice when she adopted my feline brothers, Puffy and Fluffy almost ten years ago, but… you know those felines are an independent sort.  I think Fluffy must have a K9 gene somewhere in his DNA because he talks to Mom incessantly (vocabulary builder) and hangs out with her/us a lot.

Anyway, Mom for the most part, from my perspective maintains a pretty fair balance with her time, love and attention now that JJ has joined the family.  Case in point:  you may have read my post about meeting Miss Eileen and the woman in the moving chair.  If not, catch up here.  Well, Miss Eileen loves K9s as much as Mom and had not yet met JJ.  On the day Mom wrote the post, she felt it was the perfect time to take JJ in the car to see Miss Eileen.

Mom called Miss Eileen and said she had a surprise for her and to please call her (Mom) when she arrived in the office.  (Miss Eileen moved to a new space right off the elevator, so, no place to stay out of sight!)  Miss Eileen said ok and followed Mom’s request.  Guess what?  JJ had the same reaction to the stairwell that I did!  After Mom did a Scooby Doo Academy strategic head poke out the stairwell door to make sure no humans were there, Miss Eileen was there and exclaimed, LORI, IS THIS JJ?  SHE’S BEAUTIFUL!  They hurried in the office and closed the door.  Miss Eileen did this thing called kvel (fawn over) and Mom took pictures.

From my perspective, Mom and JJ disappeared in the car together and left me HOME ALONE.  I thought about making mischief as payback a response, however, as the good K9 I am, I took a nap. They returned after what felt like an eternity and acted like nothing happened.  I knew better, because of the new smells on JJ.  HMPH.

Three days later, according to Mom’s calendar, (we K9s can’t relate to time passage), Mom put my harness on and scooched me out the door, into the car, put the windows down and said, “Jetty, today is your day for alone time with me.”  We visited the Farmers Market and our friends Miss Amanda and young Mr. Will!

Another great, fair and square day!

Mom and JJ Finish Mom’s Book

Remember a few weeks ago when Mom began reading her Hannukah present from Auntie Liz?

Well, yesterday, after Mom took me to the Farmers Market, gave JJ and I spa day, and had some visits with friends, Mom took a few moments to finish her book.  JJ finished Mom’s book too!  Both gave excellent reviews!

Little Miss Reader…

Another great literary day.

Thanks to Alfie’s Blog, Snoopy’s Dog Blog, My Brown Newfies and Luna, A Dog’s Life…for sponsoring the hop!

Mom FINALLY brought me to the Market

Hey, it’s Jet here.

Mom got this thing called laid off from the Farmers Market, which made her sad.  Since she had to hand in her last receipts, I decided  suggested I go with her to visit her vendor friends.  Also, I thought it only fair since JJ went for a special car ride on Thursday.  (more about that another time.)

Yesterday, our friend, Amanda, called us from the Cayman airport to say that she and her son, Will, were flying up for 2 days and would Mom like to meet them at the market. (Will really enjoys the market when he visits.) Mom kept  their visit a surprise.

Will took some of the pictures and walked me better than Mom, according to Mom.

Me, waiting politely while Mom spoke with Miss Karin.

Miss Karin telling Mom about her new gluten free items.  Mom taste tests for her.

Sniffing out the best tomatoes…

Learning about Italian olive oil… I LOVE olive oil… 

If Mom REALLY loved me…

I met some new acquaintances:

 

Hey Mom, when can we go back, when? when? when?

Another great Farmers Market Day.

Food Network Mischief?

Hey, it’s Jet Here.

Did you notice we did not post yesterday?  I thought about raising a ruckus with Mom until I heard her conversation with Auntie Liz.  On Saturday, Mom had this exciting opportunity to attend a taping of a Food Network show.  Since Mom is The Kitchen Counselor, you can imagine how appreciative she felt towards my Tia (Aunt) Maite’s sister-in-law, Veronica, who provided this invitation.  Well, Mom knows a bit about tv production and thought the filming might run a bit late.  The call time of 11:00 a.m. turned into a real filming time of 3:30 p.m., finishing at 6:30 p.m.

Mom then ran home to feed and quickly walk us and off to the hospital she went to visit my Grandpa.  She finally returned home at 10:30 ish, kindly (if belatedly) walked us, had dinner and began preparing for the Farmers Market the next day from11:30 p.m. to 12:15.  We went to sleep around 1:20 ish and woke up first at 4:36 and rested (well tried) together until around 6:00.

Mom intended to go to Publix at 7:00 (really went at 7:30), arrive at the Farmers Market promptly at 8:00, work until 1:00 ish, walk us, visit Grandpa, return home in time to feed us dinner, and take my dictation and post late, but POST.

Food Network mischievously changed all that!  Mom greeted Veronica in the parking lot and saw my Cousin Christopher too.  He was the paramedic on the set both days.  Mom was as proud of him as Tia Maite would have been if she was there.  Everyone at the Market pulsed with excitement with the anticipation of being on tv!

The shoot time of 9:00 a.m. became:

• Probably 11:00, maybe 11:30,
• We’re deciding where to film, should be about 1:30 p.m., no… make that 2:00,
• Production assistants popped up, some standing guard like casual soldiers in the designated filming area and some scurrying talking into their walkie-talkie mikes like secret service people saying probably 3:00,
• Assistant directors, culinary production teams, wardrobe and lights arrived around 3:30, really soon, sorry.
• Filming began around 4:00 and went to 7:00 ish, with almost all the vendors gone!

Mom arrived home pooped, ate dinner, made her calls and fell asleep on the couch watching… Food Network of course!

Another great culinary day (for Mom!)

Thanks to Alfie’s Blog, Snoopy’s Dog Blog, My Brown Newfies and Luna, A Dog’s Life…for sponsoring the hop!

It’s Like a Regular Zoo Around Here

Hey, It’s Jet Here.

Since I had so much to share about the GRSF Reunion the last few days, you don’t know that I solved the BOOM, BOOM, BOOM mystery.  Jet, who solved the mystery? Ok, Freddy’s Dad filled in the missing pieces when you asked him Sunday at the Farmers Market.  Then… Then you told me after work and I marked it down for my Scooby Doo Academy Coursework.  Good Boy, Jetty, now you can go on with the story.

As I was saying, Mr. Richard told Mom the house behind Vance and Vilda’s house have this thing called a transformer which blew up.  The power company people said that either possums or rats (ewwwww) got into the transformer and… details not fit for reading.

Dixie’s Mom reported seeing several rats on the power lines across the street from her house on Sunday.  (ewwwww)  She screamed. Completely  understandable.  I, Jet, the Bird Dog (or part bird dog from my retriever heritage) spotted three fat birds on the wire parallel to our side yard this morning.  I monitored their conversation carefully before going inside for a nap.

JJ, our creative girl, has recently expanded her animal mimicry skills.  She imitates a gazelle, deer, ibex, antelope (take your pick from that type of creature) when Mom walks down the hall on her way to take us outside.  Her graceful full body leaps really show off previous ballet classes.  Excuse the situation, however, JJ takes a perfect kangaroo posture when doing her solid business.  She can trot like a Budweiser Clydesdale, too.  When we wrestle, Mom says we look like young bucks seeing who will lead the herd.  Finally, when she grips her chewies and shakes her head with reckless abandon, you know she’s watched Jaws a few too many times.

Considering this is dry season, imagine what the rainy season will bring: snakes, frogs, iguanas etc…  Who needs Metrozoo?

Another great creature filled day.

Ahhh… Afternoon Siesta and Evening Meaty Bone

Hey, It’s Jet Here.

When Mom gets home from working at the Farmers Market, we keep her company while she unloads the car.  JJ and I then hang out in the kitchen as Mom puts things away and piles the dirty items in the sink.  Since the clock ticks way past noon, Mom prepares a late lunch and savors the ability to sit down after 5+ hours on her feet.  We accompany her under the table.  After cleaning dishes and her work items, we gear up for a quick tank emptying and then…. it’s Siesta time!

I usually snuggle with Mom for a bit, and depending on lots of stuff, I may move around the room.  Yesterday, JJ and I napped the whole time on Mom’s bed.  The only bad part – JJ continued to CHEW Mom’s wool blanket, hidden underneath her comforter.  Mom was NOT amused.  She scolded JJ and asked her, “Would you chew a sheep?”  No response from the Chewminator.  We woke up refreshed and ready for the balance of the day.

I tried very hard to extend my walking time last night.  As we turned the corner towards my friend, Dixie’s house, I saw the silhouette of a beautiful girl, heritage undetermined due to lack of light.  I pulled and barked so loud that – Jet, look away from the post for a moment.  Why, Mom?  Because I asked you to, Jetty.  Ok Mom.  He barked so loud and for the length of about 3 houses that he covered the sounds of the pops going on in the neighborhood.  Ok, back to you my boy!  Thanks Mom!  I couldn’t catch up to her, so I returned to my evening constitutional.  We completed our typical morning rectangular route and Mom acted very happy when we unleashed in the garage.  She looked at JJ and me and said those delicious words, “I’ve got a special treat for you.”  My tail did the happy wag when she pulls the bag of frozen meaty bones out of the freezer.

As chief of the fur family members I rightly get the biggest bone.  JJ, Miss Chewminator, loves bones as much as I do.  We go to our respective special spots and start chomping.  I worked on my bone for almost four hours.  Mom threw it away because I cracked it into sharp edges.  JJ eats her bones in a more lady-like style.  We went out to empty tanks before bed and kept Mom company as she and the felines did their nighttime rituals.

Meaty bones and naps, Sunday bliss!

Another great (Sun)day.

Housework

Hey, It’s Jet Here.

In general, I’m a helpful kind of guy.  I help out around the house when appropriate; Mom doesn’t even have to ask me.  For example, on Sundays my housework helper gene kicks in early.  Before Mom leaves for work at the Farmers Market, I sniff the bags resting on the floor, to make sure all items smell fresh for the market goers.  By lying down in front of the refrigerator, I remind Mom that she has items in the fridge and freezer she must take.   When Mom comes home after work, she usually has lots of dishwashing to do.  No worries Mom, Jet, the Housework Helper at your service!  I methodically prewash the items in the dishwasher, guaranteeing a cleaner outcome.

I have better manners and wait for Mom to pull out tray and stand beside machine.

As previously mentioned, twice a month, I wipe down the walls in a majority of the house.   Because I’m such an upbeat guy and possess such a grand tail, I can multitask sweeping the floor while sitting along with showing Mom how happy I am to help her.  I clean my bowl when I’m through eating and willingly clean any food particles from those sloppy felines.  Jet… Yes Mom?  I even clean up when they throw – Jet, let’s not go into disgusting details.  Ok, Mom.  My human sister, tends to leave things here and there throughout the house.  I, Jet the Housework Helper, relocate those items to places I believe Mom would prefer.  Jet, I appreciate the thought and effort, however, sometimes your relocation process just confuses us … or makes us laugh!

I could go on, however, bragging does not suit a gentleman like me.  So, fellow K9s, continue helping your humans, you will make them smile, laugh, offer biscuits?, and do your part as a participant in your family community.

Oh, in case you wondered why I do not fetch the paper… Mom does not receive the paper!

Old School...

Another great and helpful day.