My Sweet Bulldog Bob

Meet Bob Bubba! He's an English Bulldog, 8 months old. I love him so much! He's such a good dog - hardheaded- but still very good. I had to put up this pic, cuz I thought it was cute and he was actually sitting still with that santa hat on his head. We wanted to take professional pics for Christmas to send out to everyone, but didn't have time.
Merry Xmas everyone!!

New Job

So I've got a new job - a position at the IT help desk for a winery based in Santa Rosa. It takes about an hour to get there in the mornings and an hour and a half in the evening. Beside from how far it is to my house, so far, I love working there! Not only do I get the satisfaction of helping people with their silly little computer problems, I also get rewarded with wine! My coworkers told me that sometimes, when we help our users, they show their gratitude by giving wine. I think that's an awesome perk. I got my first bottle today just for sending a technician out to one of the tasting rooms for a problem. I thought that was pretty sweet. I'm really beginning to like this job.

Happy Thanksgiving 2007

I'm thankful for many many things including my new job, my family, my friends, my dog Bob, and for being safe and well. It was a nice day eating and spending time with people who care about you. Although I didn't spend this holiday with my own parents and siblings, they were in my thoughts this day and I hoped they were having fun and being happy.

Today, I made marshmallow truffles. Instead of melting baker's chocolate I used vanilla Wilton candy melts. They seemed to be much sweeter than regular milk chocolate. I also used chopped hazelnuts and sugar sprinkles. Go to the Recipes page on my website to find this modified recipe under Easy Dessert Recipes.

Homemade doggie biscuits

Today I made my first batch of homemade dog treats. I used a recipe that I found online and ended up having to add more flour than the recipe suggested. The dough wasn't firm and was very sticky - there was no way I could roll it out. I'm not sure how much additional flour I added, but it seemed like a lot. But the results came out great! Bob, my 6-month old English bulldog loved them! I used a cookie cutter shaped like a bone and they came out a little big. I had to break up the biscuit into pieces so he could eat them. He kept coming after me for more of the pieces. So I think he really liked them. The great thing is that I used all natural, organic ingredients. Go to the Recipes page on my website to find a basic dog biscuit recipe.

Persimmon Flan: not what I expected

So I tried making the persimmon flan today, since we have so many persimmon fruits. I didn't have any pomegranates so I didn't use the seeds. It probably would have looked better it I did. So the flan came out ok, but the inside wasn't as smooth - it had a texture, I think because of the tiny bits of persimmon. I think it should also be served immediately. The next day it became crumbly and it wasn't very good anymore. I'm not sure what went wrong. I stored it in an air-tight container and put it in the fridge.

Persimmons: like little pumpkins

Right now, our fruit bowl is filled with fresh Fuyu persimmons. a great after-dinner dessert during the fall and winter months.

The peak season for persimmons is from October to February. They're shaped like tomatoes, but I think they look like little shiny pumpkins, so they make a nice decoration fruit for the fruit bowl during the fall season when Halloween and Thanksgiving are approaching. However, once ripe, they can only be kept for several days. We recently received a large bag full of persimmons that had not yet reached its peak ripeness, and now they're beginning to ripen, so we have to eat them soon.

The Fuyu persimmon is firm, unlike the Hachiya, and is crunchy like an apple. You can eat it with or without the skin, but I like to peel off the skin first. The longer you wait to eat it, the softer it gets, so I suggest eating it at its crunchiest!

For more information on persimmons, visit the Grown in California web site.

Click here for a persimmon flan recipe from Cooking Light Magazine