Lobsterfest 2011 - Day Two

We started our second day at a relaxing pace, having a wonderful breakfast of homemade blueberry cake and hot beverages while catching up with our hosts. We sat outside and enjoyed watching the dogs romping around the barn while waiting for the arrival of two more friends and their dogs. The warm sun eased away any ideas we had about sightseeing that morning.


Once Patty and Elaine arrived with Jack and M.O.E., we got down to the serious business of doing absolutely nothing productive.

And for those of you who think I'm a nutjob for letting Carter sit in my lap... 

It's A Setter Thing.

Greg with Lucky.

Pat with Eden.

Patty with Jack.

Mind you, it's not all fun and games with the setters. There are some consequences to running around in the sun and having fun. Like drool....

The arrival of Leo Lin and his family indicated the start of some serious cooking. Leo whipped up a batch of Chinese peppered pork and noodles (under Greg's watchful eye) which we devoured along with grilled steak. And the ever-present mah-garitas. My stomach's growling just thinking about this.

After stuffing ourselves and lounging around while trading gossip and news, we decided it would be a great time to run up to Old Orchard Beach and let the dogs check out the ocean. 

Jack dived right in; he LOVED the surf!

Tucker? Not so much.

Moe wasn't super convinced either. He did, however, pose pretty once he was safely away from the encroaching waves.

REALLY enjoying the sand between our toes. LtoR: Elaine, Patty, Pat, and Karin.

Leo and Karin's daughter, Laura, and her friend Holly, were quite a bit braver than we were.

When everybody was satisfyingly tired, damp, and sandy, we returned to the farm to collapse and cuddle setters. What a great second day!!

Day 1                           *                                Day 3

Lobsterfest 2011 - Day One

Vacation!! Woo-hoo! Just the thought of a break from work and the daily routine is enough to put a smile on your face. In the fall of every odd year, we go to Maine to visit some friends for an event we call “Lobsterfest”. It’s dog-friendly and we usually make the 14 hour drive with our furry pack to enjoy the beautiful farm in Saco, not far from Portland.  You have to understand, I love lobster. I hum and tap my feet while I'm eating it and I once nearly stabbed a waiter with a fork when he tried take my crustacean away before I was done. I will gladly travel across the country for a few days of friends, setters, and as much fresh soft-shell lobster as I can eat. 

This year we flew, leaving our fur-kids behind in the excellent care of family. We landed in Boston in the early morning and decided to explore downtown before venturing up the coast to Saco. We started off at the Museum of Fine Arts, right on the edge of Northeastern University's beautifully manicured campus. The museum was a pleasant surprise with some stunning permanent collections, all thoughtfully displayed. We could easily have spent the entire day wandering around, and then some.

There was an exhibit of musical instruments from around the world. The amount of detail and love shown to the individual pieces was amazing. Exquisite carvings and inlays that must have taken months of painstaking work to complete. Where do we see this kind of craftmanship in today's mass produced economy?

We stopped by the jewelry exhibit because what woman can resist the flash of gems...? A Faberge bulldog decorated in rubies, gold and diamonds; a delicate spray of cherry blossoms out of gold and diamonds; a coral shell elaborately embellished with precious gems.

This stunning Chinese headpiece is covered in more gems than I could name.

There is an enormous exhibit of Old World art which includes Egyptian sarcophagi and statuary, Greek and Byzantium pottery and carvings. The lion on glazed tiles reminded me of the mind boggling Ishtar Gate I saw in the Berlin museum many years ago. The bright and colorful glaze bridges the gap of 2,500 years, startling in its vibrancy. The small stamp is only an inch square, the carvings so intricate and delicate, it takes a magnifying glass to appreciate it.

There was plenty of two-dimensional art as well by artists such as Picasso, Gauguin, Giacometti, Dubuffet...

What a wonderful display of art. Pieces from around the entire globe; textiles, canvases, pottery, statues, glassware... dazzling. Everything from a 42ft tall Dale Chihuly glass statue reminiscent of Superman's cocoon to a large gold-leaf Japanese Buddha statue. This museum is definitely worth a visit or two. Or three.

Although we could certainly have spent more time here, our grumbling bellies led us back out into the gorgeous September sunshine. It was time for lunch and what better place to eat but the oldest restaurant in America, the Union Oyster House! We made our way through the maddening maze of Boston to Faneuil Hall where we parked and headed to the picturesque restaurant.

We were quickly seated upstairs, in an old wood-paneled room with comfortable seats. The menu wasn't anything innovative but we figured it wouldn't be hard to mess up the food. And we were right. The New England Clam Chowder (sorry, Chowdah) was excellent, the battered haddock perfectly crispy, and the salmon beautifully cooked and moist. To be honest, the highlight of the meal was the french fries which harked back to the perfect pommes frites (oder pommes) sold by the street vendors in Germany. I haven't found any fries like that in the States and could have devoured several pounds of them at the Union Oyster House. If you stop in, forget the calories and order a big side of fries!


After lunch we decided to walk some of it off and visit the areas open markets. Oh, the food! I could spend a small fortune picking up the fresh produce, fish, and meats! Too bad we were flying instead of driving or I would have packed up the car. There was also entertainment to be had, as in the escape artist hanging upside down in a straight-jacket in front of Quincy Market. (he dislocated both shoulders to get out of the jacket... you could hear them *pop*)

In a sobering moment, we realized we were standing next to the New England Holocaust Memorial. Six million numbers, each representing a murdered Jew. The towers are stark yet hauntingly beautiful, the dark granite walkway engraved with the single word "remember" in Hebrew.

We then quietly wandered down to the Columbus Waterfront Park.

Although we were certainly enjoying Boston, it was time for us to make our way up north to Maine. A two hour drive would put us in Saco for dinner. A quick call to our hosts who made mention of Mah-garitas... time to put the pedal to the metal!  We made good time and, as promised, had some citrus-y drinks waiting for us when we arrived. Now THAT is a promising beginning to this long weekend!

Day 2

It's a Quiche, Not Rocket Science

Photo courtesy of Susie Cushner - Real Simple

I'm always amused by people who are flabbergasted when they see me eating quiche, as if it were some exotic food that required hours of prep time and expensive ingredients. Maybe it's the "qu". I mean, who would name a simple egg pie using a "qu"?  A quiche is my standby when I'm lazy and don't feel like being creative in the kitchen. It tastes great, is simple to make, and I usually have all of the ingredients on hand. You can make a quiche fancy with interesting ingredients like seafood or unusual vegetables. The best part of a quiche is it's flexibility. You can put in anything you want depending on what you're craving. My basic is a quiche lorraine - swiss cheese, onions, and ham (or bacon). But I've made quiches with goat cheese and spinach, cheddar cheese with salsa, shrimp and scallops, blue cheese and chicken... the options are as endless of your imagination.

Here are the basic ingredients:
1 deep dish pie dough round (pre-made is fine)
3 whole eggs, 2 egg yolks
1 small container of greek yogurt
1 cup of milk
salt and pepper
Stuff (3 oz of cheese and 1 oz of meat or some variation thereof)

That, my friends, is your quiche. I love using yogurt because it gives it an extra bit of tang and gives it a richness. I use Greek yogurt because regular yogurt has too much liquid. If you don't have yogurt, you can substitute it with a cup of cream or half-and-half. I use fat free yogurt and skim milk so that I feel less guilty about dumping in the rest of the ingredients.

Directions
Preheat your oven to 375'.  Put the pie dough in your deep dish pan and prick the bottom a few times with some fork tines. This keeps the bottom from poofing up too badly. Once the oven is preheated, put the dish in for 5-10 minutes. Not too much longer or the crust will start to shrink down the sides of the pan and you'll have less room for your filling.

While the crust is par-baking, beat together your eggs with the yogurt and milk.  If you want a tall fluffy quiche, you can beat all your egg whites into a meringue-like stiffness and then carefully add your yolks and dairy. It'll still taste great if you just beat all the whites and yolks together - it'll just be flatter. If you are using cheese, grate it or crumble it into the egg/dairy mixture and mix it up.  I find that just putting the cheese in the bottom of the pan makes it kind of stay towards the bottom in a thick layer. Add a little salt and pepper if you think it needs it.

Pull your crust back out of the oven, place your other "stuff" in the bottom of the pan (if using things with a lot of water like spinach or mushrooms, make sure you've squeezed out as much moisture as possible before putting it in), dump the egg/dairy mixture on top, and put the pie back in the oven. Set your timer for another 45 minutes and sit back and watch your favorite TV show.

The quiche is ready when it's golden brown on top and doesn't jiggle in the pan. I'd recommend letting it sit for 10-15 minutes before cutting and serving to give it a chance to cool and set. I enjoy serving mine with a simple salad with a red wine vinaigrette; the vinegar provides a nice balance with the eggy cheesey pie.  Quiche also reheats great in the microwave for the next day.

A single pie will serve four people as a main meal, quarter pie each. One hour, start to finish with minimal ingredients and no advanced culinary degrees required. Make one or two or three and impress you friends with your cheese pie spelled with a "qu".

Niagara Falls and SuperStar Dogs

A few months back I joined a great organization called HeARTs Speak, made up of artists who use their talents to promote animal rescue. One photographer, Marcia Leeder, caught my eye with a picture of a beautiful fox-like big-eared dog named “Little Dude”. I began following her on Facebook and enjoyed her postings of puppy piles and feisty kitties. Several weeks ago, Marcia announced that she was doing a photo shoot for Peachy Keen Pets and was looking for canine models; interested parties would submit a photo of themselves and their dog and then people could vote on Facebook for their favorite to be photographed in Toronto.  Thus I began a three week campaign of bribery, intimidation, and persuasion. It was an exhausting process and towards the end, I even annoyed myself.  On Friday, March 25th, Marcia announced that Carter and I had garnered the most votes and would be featured in her photo shoot! We were going to Toronto!

We had to be in Canada, 8 hours away, by Monday. On Saturday, Carter got his travel papers and had a grooming session with Tracy Poplinski, who graciously trimmed him up in the middle of her kitchen. We left Sunday afternoon and made it to our Red Roof Inn outside of Buffalo in record time. I tried to crash but Carter was far more interested in what was going on outside the hotel room than sleeping. I was up several times, getting dragged around the parking lot while he pretended he needed to pee. Add to that the ridiculously arctic temperatures and several inches of snow, and you get a pretty grumpy dog owner the next morning.

Since our shoot wasn’t until 5pm, I decided to stop by Niagara Falls on the Canadian side. We crossed the Peace Bridge (gorgeous with the ultra-blue water and snow) and then spent a few minutes explaining to the border guard that yes, we would only be there for a few hours, and yes, I was only there because of my dog, and yes, he was very handsome, and yes, he was an English Setter, and yes, he was getting his picture taken by the famous Marcia Leeder.  After he’d determined that Carter could indeed pose pretty, we were permitted into Canada.

The parking lots at Niagara Falls were empty and the sidewalks barren so we drove slowly around, scoping out the best spot for some photos. The sun was shining and the sky was a brilliant blue, making a perfect backdrop to this stunning natural feature.  I couldn’t get over the color of the water – a sharp deep aquamarine that foamed and thundered over the edge and onto fantastic frozen shapes.  I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.

This was a great time of year to come if you dressed warmly.  There were maybe a 200 people there, a miniscule number compared to summer crowds.  Carter was enjoying the wheeling seagulls and nearly went over the fence to the falls to get to one particularly low-flying fellow. Some people gave him a wide berth on the sidewalk but plenty more asked to pet him and he even got his photograph taken – like he was some sort of Canadian tourist attraction! He had one elderly couple in stitches as he threw himself down a snow bank on his back, all four legs wriggling in the air like a demented upside-down crab. What can I say; Carter loves snow. After an hour of walking around, we headed back to the car to continue our trek to Toronto.

Wow. I wish I could have handled a camera as we drove into Toronto. What a fantastic downtown area! There are so many skyscrapers it’s like driving through a valley of green glass sitting on the edge of deep blue water. I will have to go back. I’ll be the one with my head and camera hanging out the side of the car as we go whizzing through downtown.

We stopped at the Don Valley Brickworks to check out their dog park but Carter was having none of it. He’d had enough of walking around so we got back in the car and headed for the studio. As we walked up the street we passed a bench and Carter put on the brakes, hopping up and laying down. I couldn’t argue; my feet hurt, too. So we sat, side by side, for about 15 minutes watching the traffic go by in historic Leslieville.

At 5, we met up with Marcia and headed upstairs. We waited for the white-washed studio to clear out from a previous session, watching impossible tall beauties glide out surrounded by photographers and assistants weighed down with hundreds of pounds of camera equipment. Once we were in, Marcia immediately got down to business setting up the shoot. Yes, she always wears a sailor cap (no, she doesn’t).

We were joined by two other models, the owner of Peachy Keen Pets, a hair and makeup team, and a videographer and producer from Pet TV.  There were several other dog models and Carter, who likes to show his pearly whites to dogs that invade his space, was a good boy and didn’t make a sound.  Marcia started out by shooting Niki from Peachy Keen with her pugs, Miso and Hummus, dressed up in a chic leopard print. I was a tad hungry and whenever Niki or Marcia called out “Miso” or “Hummus”, my tummy growled. Thankfully, there was real hummus to go along with my champagne. Yup. Champagne. I could get used to this.

I had my makeup done. For an hour. It was very relaxing, like getting your hair washed at the salon. But I did wonder what took an hour. My makeup routine at home takes less than a minute. I guess we’ll see. Carter found a good spot under the makeup table and pretty much slept there until we had to go on set.

Carter was outfitted in his custom collar and leash. There’s a story here, which is fairly amusing. Carter is regularly outfitted in Lucky Fiona collars, made by Shannon Barry out of Chicago. Fantastic gal, great product, Carter has over 70 of her collars. In 2007, Shannon named a collar after him in honor of an upcoming trip to the east coast. It was a red fabric with pirate skulls, starfish, and anchors – very nautical and perfect for a trip to the beach. Here’s a pic of it; Carter’s not quite two, still a puppy. Adorable, yes?  So… imagine my surprise when Marcia and Niki present me with the custom Peachy Keen collar for Carter…

Yup!! It’s the Carter LeDoux fabric! It was perfect for the shoot and looked great on him so I certainly didn’t want to say anything but I was laughing pretty hard on the inside. What are the odds!! Must be fate.

The shoot was a lot of fun. All those years of watching ANTM were completely useless. Anytime Marcia finally got me in the position she wanted, Carter moved and I moved to make him stop moving.  *sigh*  I think being a fashion pet photographer may be the most difficult job in the world. Once we got the magic of Bil-Jac treats figured out, Carter did great. He really was pretty amazing. He never grumbled or barked or drooled. He was very malleable, letting me flip him over when he was facing the wrong direction. And when we weren’t shooting, he’d just go lay down somewhere. His energy was super mellow. The TV producer thought he’d be awesome for commercial print work. Of course, I already know that since I photograph him every d*** day. 

Marcia spent over an hour photographing us, adjusting the lights, the poses, the wardrobe, the camera settings to get just the look she was after. I knew what to expect (ANTM, again) and it was a blast to be in the middle of it. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a lousy model but I’m pretty sure Carter pulled it off. Here’s one of the final shots with a quick edit.  Marcia said it’d be a couple weeks before she finished going through all the film and post-processing but I made her promise to give me something to appease all those Facebook peeps who voted for three weeks!!  Isn’t my little boy handsome?!  And yes, those are my ankles.

We stayed as long as we could, watching Marcia photograph Angella and Stella. But with another 2 hours of driving to get back to Hamburg we had to head out. The nighttime drive through Toronto was surreal; the raised expressway making it seem like we were flying through the shining skyscrapers.

Carter was pooped and declined his royal seat up front. He crashed on the (tempur-pedic) dog bed in the back and snored all the way back to the hotel. Oh, he did wake up to say “hi” to the American border guard (Yes, I was only in Toronto for the day, and yes, I was only there because of my dog, and yes, he is very handsome, and yes, he is an English Setter, and yes, he got his picture taken by the talented Marcia Leeder).

Couscous with Meat and Vegetables

I grew up enjoying a multitude of fantastic foods, courtesy of my father, a gourmet (et aussi un gourmand!) chef. One of my favorite dishes was a sweet, salty, spicy dish called “un couscous”. Meat, usually chicken, stewed in a spicy Tunisian hot chili sauce called harissa, and served over couscous grain liberally tossed with sweet raisins. The combination of flavors was addictive. When I moved to the States, I made certain that I brought with me a tube of harissa paste so that I could continue to enjoy that dish. Couscous originated in North Africa centuries ago and is now eaten worldwide. The grain “couscous” is made from semolina which is moistened and rolled by hand to make small pellets. “Un Couscous”, a singular couscous, is an entire dish which consists of the meat or vegetable stew served over the couscous grain. The recipe I grew up enjoying has its roots in Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria and is considered one of the national dishes of France.

This dish can be prepared with any number of proteins and vegetables. My favorite includes chicken and merguez (spicy lamb sausage) with carrots, turnips, and chickpeas.

Ingredients
2 tblsp olive oil
1 lb fresh merguez sausage, pricked with a fork.
2 lb lamb pieces (with bone)
10 chicken legs
2 large red onions, coarsely chopped
1/3 c chopped parsley
1/3 c cilantro
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp saffron thread, crumbled
1 ½ qt chicken or vegetable stock
2 tblsp Harissa (or to taste)
3 tblsp Tomato paste
6 carrots, halved lengthwise and cut into 3 inch strips
3 small turnips, cubed
Salt and pepper to taste
2 lb couscous
2 tblsp unsalted butter
1 c cooked chickpeas
1 c golden raisins, soaked in warm water for 15 minutes and drained


Directions
Saute merguez over medium heat, turning with tongs, until well browned and cooked through, about 15 minutes. Remove the sausage, cut into 1-inch lengths and reserve. Add the chicken and lamb to the pot in batches, browning (10 minutes). Remove the lamb/chicken.

Stir in the onions, parsley, cilantro, ginger, saffron, and cook, stirring up the brown bits until the onions are soften and lightly browned, about 6 minutes.

Return the lamb and the chicken (not the sausage) to the pot, add 5 cups of stock, harissa, and tomato paste, and cook, stirring occasionally for 1 hour, or until the lamb is tender.

Add carrots, turnips and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Add the reserved merguez and chickpeas to the pot, cook for 10 more minutes, then taste stew for seasoning.

Cook couscous per package instructions. Add butter and the raisins to the couscous and mix.
Arrange the couscous piled high on a large platter. Top with the solid contents of the stew pot, arranged decoratively. Drizzle with a little of liquid broth mixture and serve immediately. Pass the remaining broth mixture as a sauce.

Indian-style Cornish Hen with Honey-Tamarind Glaze

I love Facebook. In addition to giving me something to do with all that time I would normally waste *sarcasm*, I get to catch up with old friends and learn to cook new, waist-expanding recipes. Recently, someone from my high school started a group dedicated to all of our alumni foodies.  We share recipes, post pictures, and drool a lot. To make things more fun, we just started our own version of "Chopped".  Once a month, an alumni gets to pick a main ingredient and add in a few twists for excitement and we all have to go out and make an appetizing dish.  This month, our ingredients were cornish hens, a green vegetable and some other side. I grew up on game birds - guinea hen, quail, pheasant, cornish hens, goose, duck, even the occasional chicken. Usually stuffed and roasted and served with potatoes or some such starch. I really wanted to try something different and so I got pretty excited when I found this recipe by Bobby Flay for an Indian style hen. This is a nice twist on a soy sauce/honey/garlic sauce I often make for chicken. If you use a store-bought chutney, and some chicken breasts or thighs, this is a protein that can be on the table in 30 minutes and will impress guests!  I served this with curried spinach and chickpeas and a side of garlic naan.

Garam Marsala Rubbed Cornish Hen with Honey-Tamarind Glaze

Recipe adapted from Bobby Flay

Ingredients

Cornish Hens, washed and patted dry

Salt

Garam Marsala

Honey-Tamarind Glaze

Directions

Preheat oven to 425'

Season the entire hen with salt, including the cavity. Rub the garam marsala over the entire hen. Place the hens, breast side up, on a lightly oiled baking rack set over a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Brush with some of the glaze and reduce the heat to 375' and continue baking until cooked through, 15-20 minutes (160' degrees in the thickest part of the thigh), turning occasionally to baste with the glaze. You can finish the bird off under the broiler for 2-3 minutes to crisp the skin on the breast. Remove the hens from the oven, brush with the remaining glaze, and let rest five minutes before serving.

Honey-Tamarind Glaze

2 tbsp canola oil

2 shallots, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 tbsp minced or grated fresh ginger

1 seeded and chopped jalapeno

1 tbsp tamarind paste

1 tbsp white vinegar

¼ cup water

1 cup of honey

Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add shallots and ginger and cook until soft. Add garlic and jalapeno and cook for about 30 seconds. Stir in water and cook until reduced by half. Add vinegar, tamarind paste, and whisk in the honey and cook for about 15 minutes or until slightly thickened, stirring occasionally.

Alternatively, there are some excellent Tamarind Chutneys available at your local grocery store. Use equal parts chutney and honey to glaze the hens.

40 Minutes (or less) Eggplant Parmigiana

A few months ago I visited Buca di Beppo and was reminded of how much I enjoyed a good Eggplant Parmigiana. I've always been slightly intimidated by the big purple vegetable and have never tried to make the dish myself. After some encouraging words and suggestions from a Sicilian friend, I decided to give it a try. I peeled, sliced, battered, breaded, and fried an enormous eggplant, made my own marinara, and shredded mozarella. The results were divine! At least, food-wise. My kitchen, on the other hand, looked like it had been hit by an Italian tornado. I've retried the recipe several times in the hopes of finding a short-cut to perfection and last night, I think I finally hit it. This involves prepared, store-bought ingredients (hiss hisssss) but makes a great Eggplant Parm, serving four for about $10. The recipe is easily doubled/tripled/etc.

You can, of course, use your favorite brand of jarred marinara in place of the Pomi. But if you have access to a World Market in your area, I would highly recommend trying this one. I haven't had much success getting the flavors I wanted out of a from-scratch marinara (cooked either all day or quickly) and could not find a jarred one that came close to anything good. Until I found the Pomi. It's really really excellent. I swear. I stock up on several boxes and use it with pasta, lasagna, meatballs, parmigiana... anything, really, that requires a marinara sauce.

I was super excited to find the frozen breaded eggplant at Trader Joe's. I've never seen it anywhere else but I haven't been looking, either. I used my deep fryer to thaw and brown the eggplant slices - 4 minutes at 375 was plenty. The directions say they can also be baked or nuked and I'm certain that'd be just fine.

Ingredients
1 pkg Trader Joe's Eggplant Cutlets
1 pkg Pomi Tomato Marinara
2 c shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 c shredded parmesan cheese
optional - red pepper flakes for a little heat, fresh basil

Preheat oven to 375'. Prepare the eggplant slices per package directions.  In a 2 - 2 1/2 qt casserole dish, put a thin layer of marinara at the bottom, add a layer of eggplant slices, more marinara, and a hefty layer of mozzarella. You should have enough ingredients to add two more layers of eggplant, marinara, and mozzarella. Top it off with some parmesan cheese and bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and golden. Served with a green salad and some garlic bread, this will make a thoroughly filling meal with little effort and little mess!

No pictures of the finished product... we ate it before I thought to get the camera!!

Crab Rangoon Dip

Every once in awhile I get a huge craving for Chinese food. Not grocery store LaChoy or some healthy vegetables stir-fried at home, but real 7,000 calorie, MSG-laden, Chinese take-out. One of my very favorite things to order is Crab Rangoon, crunchy fried wontons filled with a crabby cream cheese wonder. Forget eggrolls; these little babies will make your tastebuds do somersaults and beg for more.

I found this simple recipe and now I can have as much crab rangoon as my congested heart desires. You can stuff the mixture inside of little wonton pouches to make "real" crab rangoon but I find it a lot easier to just fry the wontons and serve the mixure as a dip. Super easy, super yummy!

Ingredients

8 oz cream cheese

6 oz canned crab meat

1/2 tsp Worchesterhire Sauce

1/2 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp minced onion

1 tsp minced garlic

2 tsp chopped green onions

square wonton wrappers

Cube the cream cheese into a microwaveable container and nuke it for 30 seconds to soften it up. Add the crab, Worshestershire, soy sauce, onions, and garlic, and stir to combine.

In the meantime, heat up a deep fryer to 375. Drop in the wonton wrappers for about a minute until the edges begin to brown and then pull out to drain on some paper towels. Make as many as you'd like... then dive in and devour.

The crab dip can be served cold, room-temperature, baked, or micro-waved and refrigerates well.

Masher Cakes

If you should, by some miracle, find yourself with left-over mashed potatoes, this is a crunchy delicious way to finish them off. I'll bet you could also make them with store-bought mashers like Yoder's or Bob Evans.  I've made a similar dish frequently with Market Day's frozen Mashed Potato Patties but this is the first time I've tried making my own. The crunchy breadcrumbs add a great touch; I much prefer these!

This recipe is from Alton Brown's "Good Eats", a great cookbook if you appreciate the science behind cooking. Alton calls for parsley, thyme, or green onions to season the mashers but you can put in any combination of spices you'd prefer (indian style with ginger, tumeric, and coriander?). I added garlic (of course) and some italian seasoning. No salt or pepper as they were already seasoned for their previous incarnation of mashers. I also had enough potatoes to at least double the recipe.

I often top the patties with Boursin soft cheese and some crumbled bacon. *drooling* Today, I changed it up with some sour cream, smoked salmon, and capers. Also delicious!

Ingredients

10 oz mashed potatoes (about 2 servings)

1 tbsp herbs (parsley, thyme, Italian herbs, garlic and/or green onions)

1 large egg

1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs

Directions

Combine the potatoes, herbs, and egg in a bowl. Divide the mixture evenly. Flatten these gently into rounds approximately 3 inches in diameter. Set aside on parchment paper.

Scatter the breadcrumbs in a shallow dish and coat the cakes one at a time. You don't want to handle the fragile cakes more than necessary so it was easier to scatter more breadcrumbs on top of the cake rather than risk flipping them. Return each coated cake to the parchment (cakes can be refrigerated for several hours at this point).

Fry the cakes for 2-3 minutes per side (if frying in a pan with oil) or total if using a deep fryer. Remove carefully with large slotted spoon or flat spatula when they are golden brown.

Drain and let cool for 2-3 minutes before serving.

Photography or "Jeez, another pic of Carter?"

Hi. I'm an amateur photographer - "a person who engages in a study, sport, or other activity for pleasure rather than for financial benefit or professional reasons." That's me. I'm not half-bad; I've got a good eye. People have even given me awards for some of my photographs. I'm OK with saying that with a straight face - I'm proud of my work.

But I get teased a lot. "Really, Danica? More Carter?" I take a lot of photographs of my English Setter, Carter. He's gorgeous, he's always available, and he doesn't care if his hair's out of place, or he blinked, or his muffin-top is showing. Did I mention he was gorgeous?

I love my dog and he's pretty good looking so I take a lot of pictures of him. (I feel like I'm at an AA meeting announcing my addiction...)

Pets are easier to photograph than people in many ways.  In other ways, in a "could you please sit here calmly while I try to find the right light" ways, they're a nightmare. Don't think I'm copping out by photographing animals; it's its own kind of challenge.

My sister took this photo and I love it, if only because I rarely get to see myself interacting with Carter. In hindsight, I think this photo's pretty funny. Here we are, at Acadia National Park in Maine, arguably one of the most beautiful vistas in the country. We drove for 18 hours to get here, climbed out onto dangerous slippery rocks to get a better view, and what am I photographing? Yeah. My dog.

Here's my argument. Although I enjoy a good landscape photo just as much as anyone, it's static. To make that photo come alive, you need something that brings in another dimension - time. In the face of landscape that's been the same for centuries, the small blink of fragile life makes the image that much more powerful. Whether it's a crab scuttling across a beach or an English Setter running through a field at dawn.  Plus, it anchors the image to a particular period of time. This isn't just any photo of Acadia. This is the photo I was taking when I twisted my ankle sliding down the slick seaweed covered rocks the morning after we decided to take the dogs camping at Acadia. The trick is to make it look good and not like something your Uncle Bert's showing in that endless "Summer Vacation" slide show.

Here's another good example.  I took this photo on a cold winter morning. I think the drab chilly mood comes through in the minimal colors of the landscape. But what's this? A flash of gold. A small warm ember that brings life to that cold panorama.  This is the photo I took the day after my Flatcoat died and I was depressed as all get-out. But my Golden wandered into the frame and reminded me that there were others who needed and loved me.  That photograph suddenly becomes about hope to me. All because there's a dog in it.

In the end, it doesn't matter what others like. Photography is art; it's subjective. This is what I love to photograph.

So I do.