DockDogs Recap: Ocean County Decoy and Gunning Show

Posted in Bailey, Trips by

Last week I cautioned New Jersey to watch out for the Little GSP and it turns out I was right! Bailey had a fantastic weekend at the Ocean County Decoy and Gunning Show and came away with the top jump of the weekend and a big blue ribbon to show for her efforts. Everything about the weekend was great — huge crowds, perfect weather, lots of new competitors, and season-topping jumps from Bailey!

Prior to this event, Bailey had actually only achieved three scores in her “Elite” title category this year — a 23’1 at June Bloom and a 23’2″ and 23’0″ at Dover. All of that changed this weekend when Bailey jumped over 23 feet a total of SIX times! This was such a pleasant surprise that I’m pretty sure I was smiling all weekend. Here are the scores from her four competition rounds:

Saturday Wave #3: 23’3″ and 22’2″
Saturday Wave #4: 24’1″ and 23’10” (woohoo!!)
Sunday Wave #6: 23’4″ and 13’6″ (<;-handler error on that second jump!)
Sunday Finals: 23'2" and 23'6"

I didn't take a single photo this weekend, but here's a video that fellow competitor Tom Aquilone took of Bailey's 23'4" jump during Wave #6. I suggest you stop at the 1:23 mark unless you want to see me mess up my throw on the second 13' jump… 😉

Other highlights of the weekend included a brand new competitor — a yellow lab named Dexter — who started his first-ever Extreme Vertical competition at the opening height of 4'6" and ended up WINNING the discipline with a grab at 6'4" (a HUGE achievement for a new competitor!!) and also some beautiful elite-level jumps from our canine friends Mojo and Bosco. Off the dock, we got to meet the nice volunteers from the GSP Rescue of New Jersey and it was neat to get to tell them at the end of the weekend that Bailey had won the DockDogs big air competition! Maybe next year we can try to coordinate with them to get some GSPs that are in need of adoption on the DockDogs dock in front of the big crowds.

I think my favorite part of the whole weekend was right after we won. Several parents wanted to take photos of their children with Bailey so I had Bailey sit while each little kid stood next to her and smiled for the camera. I put a Zuke’s peanut butter treat between Bailey and the photo-taking parents and as a result she was very well behaved during her impromptu photo shoot! Bailey was very sweet to all of the kids and I think she could definitely tell that she had done a good job at the event. 🙂

Last weekend’s event was awesome and we definitely hope that the Decoy and Gunning Show will invite Delmarva Dockdogs back to Tuckerton next Fall. Delmarva’s next DockDogs event will be the Waterfowl Festival in Easton, Maryland from November 9-11. We will be at the event but Bailey won’t be jumping due to the colder weather (she’s a baby) and the fact that we’ll be gearing up for DockDogs World Championships the next weekend. If you’re interested in learning more or signing your dog up for the Waterfowl Festival, you can click here to visit the event web site. 🙂

Watch out Jersey, here we come!

Posted in Bailey by

Next weekend Bailey, Matt and I will be joining Delmarva DockDogs for our second annual event at the Ocean County Decoy and Gunning Show in Tuckerton, New Jersey! I loved this event last year because all of the spectators are waterfowl-hunting, outdoors-oriented, dog-loving people and there are hundreds of vendors who are catering to that crowd. For me, that makes this festival MUCH more fun to walk around than a big state fair with aisle after aisle of funnel cakes and ‘fresh squeezed’ lemonade (although those are nice, too..). Last year we saw multiple German Shorthaired Pointers spectating with their owners which was really neat since GSP’s tend to be rather uncommon in the greater Philadelphia area. I’m hoping to meet even more GSPs this year!

My favorite little GSP had a great time at Tuckerton last year, bringing home the blue ribbon in Extreme Vertical and a 2nd place in Big Air. Hopefully the weather won’t be too crisp and fall-like this weekend or else she may decide that it’s too cold to jump!

The Details:
What: 30th Annual Ocean County Decoy and Gunning Show
When: Saturday and Sunday September 29-30, 2012
Where: Tip Seaman County Park, Tuckerton, New Jersey

Do you think your dog would like to try DockDogs? This is a great event for first-timers because there will be lots of practice time and plenty of Delmarva club members willing to help! The cost is $10.00 for an unscored “Fun Jump” or $30.00 for registration in a “wave” which will get you 2 scored jumps and a chance to qualify for finals which are split up into five divisions. Learn more at the DockDogs event page (or just ask me!). 🙂

Our Bathroom Makeover!

Posted in Adventures at Home by

When Matt and I bought our house in February 2011 we bravely tackled several do-it-yourself projects like removing a laundry chute, replacing a toilet, painting, and creating a vegetable garden.  One project that we did not tackle was our ugly, pink and black master bathroom.  The bathroom – well, the whole master “suite,” to be honest – was really unattractive.  All of the trim was painted gloss black, the walls were purple, the tiles were deep fuschia, and the tub, toilet, and sinks were black.  Oh, and let’s not forget the brassy gold faucets.  Can you tell why I didn’t like this bathroom?!

The master bathroom was SO bad that we decided to bring in professional help.  We made some initial floor plan designs, settled on a rough budget and found a contractor that we liked.  Demolition began in late April (it was great to see that black toilet go!) and the whole project took about 8 weeks.

We chose a fairly contemporary style with a neutral gray color palette, natural stacked stone cladding on one wall, a frameless glass shower, and white vessel sinks with sleek chrome fixtures.  We’re thrilled with how the bathroom turned out so I thought I would share a few photos here on my blog!

My dream bathroom! This is the view from the shower.

Our shower floor is covered in smooth black river rocks. They feel great under tired bare feet!

Our huge shower! The dimmable light in the shower contains a hidden exhaust fan.

For anyone in the Delaware County, PA area looking for bathroom remodeling help, here are the companies that we worked with.  We were very happy with all of them so please feel free to contact me if you want to know more about them!

Contractor:  Gavin Design-Build (Media, PA)
Fixtures / Vanity:  Ferguson (King of Prussia, PA)
Tile / Stone Cladding:  Avalon Carpet, Tile and Flooring (Wilmington, DE)

More Comfort Food… Smothered Pork Chops!

Posted in Recipes by

Last Friday Matt sent me an email that said “Let’s make something blog-worthy this weekend.”  Ha!  I guess that means we were eating really boring meals last week, right?  🙂  I immediately agreed to Matt’s proposal and Matt spent the better part of an hour paging through our voluminous The Best New Recipe cookbook on Saturday before settling on a wonderful Fall feast:  Smothered Pork Chops.

Despite being a Fall “comfort food” recipe, we were still able to use several ingredients fresh out of our summer garden including thyme, parsley and garlic.  The rest of the ingredients are mostly standard pantry items which meant that we only had to go out to purchase the bacon, pork chops and onions.  This meal takes a while to prep and cook, but I guarantee you that the smell of the simmering pork chops and onions in a thyme-garlic broth will be MORE than worth every minute!

Smothered Pork Chops with Onions and Bacon (adapted from The New Best Recipe)

You will need…
3 slices Bacon, cut into 1/4″ pieces
2 tablespoons Flour
1 3/4 cups Low-Sodium Chicken Broth
2 tablespoons Peanut Oil
3 Thin-Cut Bone-In Pork Chops, patted dry with a paper towel
Ground Black Pepper
2 medium Yellow Onions, halved and sliced thinly
Salt
2 tablespoons Water
2 Garlic Cloves, pressed through a garlic press
1 teaspoon minced fresh Thyme
2 Bay Leaves
1 tablespoon minced fresh Parsley
1 package Egg Noodles, cooked accordingly to package instructions

Directions…
Fry the bacon in a small pot or saucepan over medium heat until the bacon is browned and the fat has rendered, approx. 8-10 minutes.  Use a slotted spoon to remove the bacon bits and set aside on a paper towel lined plate for later use.  Whisk the flour into the bacon fat over medium heat and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until the mixture is light brown.  Gradually whisk in the chicken broth and then bring the mixture to a boil.  Remove from heat, cover, and set aside.

In a large skillet heat 1 tablespoon of the Oil over high heat until smoking.  Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper over the pork chops and then transfer them to the skillet and allow to brown – approximately 3 minutes per side.  (Watch out – the oil will splatter so use a splatter guard!)  Remove the browned pork chops and set aside on a plate.

Reduce the skillet heat to medium and add the remaining tablespoon oil, onions, 1/4 teaspoon salt and water.  Scrape up the browned bits of pork with a wooden spoon.  Cook the mixture, stirring frequently, until the onions have softened and are turning brown around the edges, approximately 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and thyme and stir until fragrant for about 30 seconds.  Return the pork chops to the skillet, cover with the onions and add in the reserved sauce and bay leaves.  Cover and allow to simmer over low heat until the pork is fork-tender, about 30 minutes.

Transfer the pork to a serving platter and tent with foil.  Increase the heat of the onion mixture to medium-high heat and simmer, stirring frequently for about 5 minutes until the sauce thickens.  Remove the bay leaves, stir in the parsley, and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Pour the finished sauce over the pork chops.  Sprinkle each smothered chop with the reserved bacon bits and serve over a bed of egg noodles.

Shepherd’s Pie (Fall Comfort Food)

Posted in Recipes by

The weather in southeastern PA is starting to cool off and that can only mean one thing… comfort food!  Don’t get me wrong, I love fresh summery pasta dishes and salads, but after a hot, humid August I am ready for Fall and all of the warm, hearty foods that come with it!

On Friday we kicked off our Fall food season with a delicious shepherd’s pie.*  We didn’t feel like grocery shopping after work so Matt searched around on the internet until he found a recipe on Food.com that used ingredients that we already had on hand.  The result was an all around solid dish.  It wasn’t amazingly gourmet and didn’t really have any “wow” factor, but it definitely satisfied my craving for a solid, comforting meal.  After all, how could you go wrong with ground beef covered in creamy, golden mashed potatoes?  🙂

*Shepherd’s pie is technically made with ground lamb, but we had ground beef so that’s what we used.  I think that a Shepherd’s Pie made with beef is called a Cottage Pie…?

Shepherd’s Pie (serves 6) (from Food.com)

You will need…
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
15-20 Baby Carrots, chopped into small discs (or use “real” carrots!)
1 Yellow Onion, diced
1 teaspoon ground Black Pepper
3-4 sprigs Fresh Thyme, chopped
1 lb. Ground Beef – we used 93% Lean
1 cup Frozen Peas
2 tablespoons All-Purpose Flour
3 tablespoons Butter, divided (or Butter Spread like Earth Balance)
1 glass Red Wine (we used a Pinot Noir)
2 tablespoons Tomato Paste
2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
1 cup Beef Stock (we only had chicken broth; would be better with beef stock!)
Salt and Pepper to taste
8-12 Small Yukon Gold Potatoes, peeled and cut in half
1/4 cup Fat Free Half & Half
1/2-3/4 cup Skim Milk
Grated Parmesan Cheese

Directions:
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the chopped carrots and saute for a few minutes until they start to become tender.  Add in the onions and saute for another 1-2 minutes, then add in the black pepper and thyme and stir well.  Add the ground beef and cook until browned, stirring occasionally.  Drain the beef if there is excess fat (there wasn’t with our 93% lean beef).

Add 1 tablespoon of the butter and the peas and stir.  Sprinkle with flour, stir, and then add in the wine, tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce and stir again.  Bring the mixture to a simmer, allow to reduce for a few minutes, and then add in the stock.  Simmer the mixture for several more minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mixture takes on a thick, meaty consistency.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

While you are waiting for the beef mixture to thicken, add the potatoes to a pot of boiling water and allow to boil for 10-12 minutes (or more, depending on the size of your potatoes) until fork-tender.  Drain the potatoes, return to the pot, add in the half & half, milk, and remaining 2 tablespoons butter and mash with a potato masher until creamy and smooth.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Transfer the meat mixture into a 13 x 9 casserole pan and spoon the mashed potatoes over top.  Spread out the potatoes carefully to complete cover the meat.  If desired, sprinkle some Parmesan cheese over the top of the potatoes.  Cook the Shepherd’s Pie for 30 minutes in a preheated 400°F oven.  In the last 3-5 minutes of cooking switch the oven to broil and put the Shepherd’s Pie until the broiler to give the potatoes and nice golden crust… yum!

Megan and Nick’s Wedding!

Posted in Uncategorized by

Last weekend Matt and I got to be a part of the wonderful marriage of Matt’s sister, Megan, and her husband Nick.  Congratulations Megan and Nick!!  🙂

The official wedding festivities began with an amazingly delicious rehearsal dinner at Le Virtu in South Philadelphia and ended with a fantastic wedding celebration at the historic Powel House in old Philadelphia.  Megan and Nick had a professional photographer documenting the official wedding but I had fun taking some photos during the rehearsal dinner and the “getting ready” portion of their wedding day.  Here are a few of my favorite shots!

Nick and Megan at their rehearsal dinner on Friday night.

We had an amazing 4 1/2 hour meal at Le Virtu in South Philadelphia. Click on the photo to zoom in and read the menu! My favorite course was the Palott cac’ e ove Braised egg and cheese croquettes in tomato sauce.

Megan and Matt’s cousin Denise has the cutest daughter ever! This is 13 month old Frankie.

Megan’s beautiful wedding dress!

Megan gave each of her bridesmaids a pair of these lovely custom-made earrings along with a cute robe to wear while getting ready. Thanks, Megan!

Welcome to Philadelphia!

Megan walked down the aisle in these snazzy pink peep-toe pumps.

Matt and I made a DIY photobooth for Megan and Nick. Here we are hamming it up for the camera. 🙂

Megan and Nick’s wedding bands in a custom bowl.  The inscription reads:
“I carry your heart with me (I carry it in my heart) September 8, 2012”

Best of luck to Megan and Nick and hope you’re having a blast on your honeymoon in Hawaii!!

Volunteer Vegetables!

Posted in Adventures at Home by

Guess what?  All of these veggies came from “volunteer plants” in my garden.  Volunteers are plants that grow on their own, either from the wind or a bird dropping a seed or, in my case, from compost.  Seeds aren’t normally supposed to sprout out of your compost so, judging by the huge quantity of volunteers that are growing around my house, I think I must be doing something wrong!  (Or very right, depending on how you feel about volunteer mystery plants!)

The squash and pumpkin plants sprouted by our front door and quickly took over our pink cosmo/dahlia flower bed.  By mid-August the crooked-neck gourd vines were completely out of control and could be clearly seen from the street so we picked the mature squash and ripped out the vines.  The pumpkin vines were growing across our front walk so today I finally decided that the pumpkin looked ripe enough to pick it and pull out the plant.

The tomatoes are the most exciting volunteers because we’re actually getting to eat those.  We have about a dozen volunteer tomato plants and the campari-sized tomatoes are just starting to ripen on their vines.  This is perfect timing because my “planned” tomatoes are pretty much done producing.  Can’t wait to each some of them for dinner tonight!

Dover Summer Splash!

Posted in Bailey by

On August 25th Matt, Bailey and I drove down to Dover, Delaware for Delmarva Dockdogs’ Summer Splash event.  If you’ve been following my blog you’ll know that Bailey had been quite ill earlier this month and, after receiving a diagnosis of Lyme Disease plus a vague possibility of torn ligaments, I was very nervous to see how Bailey would feel about flinging herself off a dock.

Matt had the first jump of the weekend and Bailey went about her business in normal, happy, healthy form.  Woohoo!!!  Oh, and by “normal form,” I mean that Bailey launched into the air after her wubba, landed in the water, forgot all about her toy, and started swimming around the pond trying to catch bugs and frogs!  Bailey always does this at the Dover pond so Matt and our club president are always prepared to wade into the pond and drag her back to shore so as not to hold up the rest of the competitors (thanks Matt and Mike!).

Bailey was clearly feeling better after her bout with Lyme Disease.  She placed second in the Extreme Vertical competition with a grab at 6’4″ and capped off Saturday with a great 23’2″ jump for me — her best of the whole season!!  We returned to Dover on Sunday for the last qualifying rounds and then got ready for the Elite/SuperElite finals where we would be competing with our canine friends Mac, Mojo, Cali, and Rain.  Bailey set the bar high with her first finals jump of 23’0″ and never looked back.  Bailey’s jump was good enough for first place, a big blue ribbon, and a prize bucket full of goodies.  Go Bailey!

Here are some photos from the event:

Alice, a beautiful browndog, wows the crowds with bouncy leaps on the dock as she works herself into a frenzy before jumping.

Alice’s owner Kelli took this photo of Bailey soaring through the air during finals. I love how relaxed she looks!

This 8 month old puppy Nico had several personal bests at Dover. Nico’s handler, Laura, helped him out with beautiful, well-timed toy throws.

Coleman, a Chesapeake Bay Retriever, had a fantastic event with multiple 21 and 22 foot jumps. Great job, Coleman!

During a brief rainstorm on Saturday Bailey happily wedged herself onto her squished up bed and snuggled under a fleece blanket.

Related Posts:

Bailey’s Health Scare

Posted in Bailey by

Hello blog world!  You may have noticed that I’ve been somewhat absent lately but I’m back!  We had a bit of a scare with Bailey earlier this month and I didn’t want to post about it until we knew what was going on.  Now we know that she’s going to be fine so I’ll give you the whole scoop.

On Monday, August 13 we noticed that Bailey seemed a bit under the weather.  When it was time for bed she was too stiff to walk up the stairs and then she stayed up all night crying and moaning.  We spent most of the night telling her she was fine (Bailey can be a bit of a baby sometimes) but by the time 4AM rolled around I couldn’t take it anymore and made the mistake of googling “dog crying in pain” or some similarly alarming phrase.  As you would expect, the internet presented me with all sorts of horrible conditions and diseases that Bailey could have been suffering from so at that point I called our local emergency animal hospital and we had Bailey in their office about 15 minutes later.

Sick Bailey looks a little bug-eyed after having her temperature taken and blood drawn at the animal hospital.

The vet examined Bailey’s back legs and concluded that she was exhibiting signs of bilateral tears in BOTH cruciate ligaments (like a human with partial ACL tears in both knees).  This was terrible and shocking news since, as far as we knew, Bailey hadn’t done anything especially stressful and we had no idea why she suddenly would be injured!

Desperate to find an alternate diagnosis, we asked the vet about Lyme Disease.  Lyme frequently causes joint pain in infected canines so we hoped this might explain her discomfort.  Sure enough, a quick blood test revealed that Bailey was positive for Lyme.  Woohoo!  I never thought that I would be happy to hear that Bailey had Lyme Disease, but given the alternative Lyme was starting to sound pretty good.

Snuggled up under a comforter trying to feel better.

The vet put Bailey on Doxycycline for a month and sent us home feeling cautiously optimistic that Bailey’s “ligament tears” might just be symptoms of the Lyme Disease.  Bailey spent the next week curled up in bed with limited leash walks while I spent the week worrying, hovering, and watching Bailey’s every move, trying to detect any signs of continued back leg pain.

After the week of forced rest was over Bailey was happy, sound, and eager to get back to normal life.  We had scratched her from a DockDogs competition on August 18 but since Bailey was clearly feeling better we decided to let her trying jumping at our club’s DockDogs event in Dover on August 25-26.  Check out my Dover Summer Splash post to see how things turned out!

Radiatori with Sausage and Garlicky Broccoli

Posted in Recipes by

Matt has a knack for creating great flavors in meat and pasta dishes.  Some of my favorite recipes on this blog are entirely his creations (like Chicken Cutlets and Bucatini with Asparagus and Sausage in a White Wine Sauce!) and he carried on the tradition of melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness with this simple combination of sausage, broccoli and pasta.

If you don’t have broccoli on hand, you can easily substitute other in-season vegetables and feel free to try other types of sausage and pasta as well.  Last week Matt made a version of this dish using zucchini, Orecchiette, and freshly made Chicken Cordon Bleu sausage from Maiale and it was so delicious that we ate all of it before I had the presence of mind to snap a photo!

Radiatori with Sausage and Garlicky Broccoli

You will need:
6 Tablespoons Olive Oil, divided
10 cloves Garlic, sliced into thin discs
1 ½ – 2 cups Broccoli Crowns, cut into bite sized pieces
1 Yellow Onion, sliced into ¼ inch rounds and quartered
2 Sweet Italian Pork Sausages, grilled and sliced into bite sized pieces
1 teaspoon Chili Garlic Sauce (in the Asian food section of most grocery stores)
1 lb. Pasta, cooked according to package instructions (We used Garofalo’s Radiatori pasta)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Grated Parmesan Cheese

Directions:
In a large skillet or wok, heat 4 tablespoons of the Olive Oil over medium heat.  Add the sliced garlic and sauté until aromatic, 1-2 minutes.  Add the broccoli, stir well to coat with the oil, and allow to sauté for approximately 20 minutes, stirring only occasionally until broccoli starts to brown.  Remove broccoli and garlic from wok and set aside.

From left: Broccoli with garlic, onions, and finished, combined pasta dish

Add remaining 2 tablespoons Olive Oil to wok and return to medium heat.  Add the sliced onion and sauté, stirring frequently, until onions start to become translucent.  Add the cooked and sliced sausage and the chili garlic sauce and mix until the onion and sausage are evenly coated with sauce.  Return the broccoli to the wok and stir well to combine.  Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.

Carefully add the cooked and drained pasta into the wok and stir well to combine ingredients and coat the pasta.  Sprinkle on 1/4-1/2 cup of shredded Parmesan and mix well.  Enjoy with your favorite chilled white wine or, if you’re like us, with a good Oktoberfest-style beer!