We Are Famous-Sort Of

Mom posted on here before in our product reviews section about much she enjoys Pug Talk magazine.  In mom's opinion the very best part of Pug Talk, is Pug People Say where pug owners write in with letters and cards featuring their pugs and other pets.    This year mom sent our Halloween card made on Shutterfly to Pug Talk.  The card had these picture of us.........


 

 

 









.....and guess what, we are in the current issue!

 Mom even sent a little letter promoting our blog and they published that too!  

OMP! We are in Pug Talk!

Chili Cheese Dog Casserole for Humans and Chili Dog Casserole for Hounds

Ping in foodie mode, requesting a treat

Everyone over here at Urban Hounds headquarters is a foodie, defined by wikipedia as an afficianado of food and drink.   Foodies are supposed to differ from gourmands in that unlike gourmands, who demand only the best and fanciest foods, foodies appreciate food in all its forms.   Mom once read something by a famous food writer, she can't remember exactly who, that said something to the tune of: "A proper American palate has an appreciation for both caviar and frito pie." That seems to  sums up our attitude for food.  We like both the snobbiest dog treats, and Mom sure likes caviar, but we wont turn down a milk bone and mom and dad are both quite fond of nachos.  

This weekend our mom made a classic low-rent, foodie treat.   For the humans Chili Cheese Dog Casserole and for the hounds Chili Dog Casserole (a healthy-ish version.)


Chili Cheese Dog Casserole  for Humans

2 15 ounce boxes of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix from Casserole Crazy
2 eggs
2 cups milk
1 large white onion, chopped
1 minced garlic cloves
2 to 3 tbsp olive oil
1 lb ground beef
1 package all beef hot dogs
4 tbsp chili seasoning, or one packet
1 8 oz can tomato paste or sauce
1 to 2 cup water (add more or less for desired thickness)
1 15 oz can red beans
1 15 oz can black beans
1 10 oz bag Cascadian Farms frozen corn
cayenne pepper, salt and pepper to taste
2 cups chopped white onion, about 1 large
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese


Preheat oven to 350


Prepare both packages of muffin mix in a large bowl according to package directions using the eggs and milk.   Pour into 9x13 buttered baking dish and bake five minutes until just set.
In the olive oil saute the onion and garlic and saute until translucent.  Add the beef and chili seasoning and cook until beef is cooked through.  Add the tomatoes and water, pour the water into the can to get any leftover tomato paste.  Use 1 cup of water for a thicker chili and 2 cups for thinner.   Mix well and add the beans stirring well, and the corn.  Add the cayenne pepper, salt and pepper.


On top of the corn  bread layer the hot dogs, raw onions, chili, cheese, and another sprinkle of onions.  Bake 40 minutes until bubbly.






The Healthier Version for Hounds

1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb lean ground beef
1 package Apple Gate Farms Organic Uncured Chicken Hot Dogs (these dogs really are just chicken and don't contain any of the nasties in other hot dogs).
1 package Cascadian farm mixed veggies
1 8 oz can organic diced tomatoes
1 heaping tbsp Tumeric (Tumeric is one of those super foods everyone is talking about so mom gives  it to us a lot she buys ours from Mountain Rose Herbs)


Preheat the oven to 350

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat and add the beef and brown.  Add the tomatoes and veggies and stir well.   Meanwhile dice up the hot dogs.  When the beef is cooked take it off the heat and stir in the hot dogs and tumeric.  Transfer to a baking dish and bake for 30 minutes.  Serve as a kibble topper to any excited hounds in the vicinity.

We smells something good!

  

Monday Mischief-Invasion!

Friends, we are under attack.  Our home has been invaded by a little green army guy.  He is everywhere

Hiding in mom's  display of dog cards:

Watching Bob from the top of the couch

 

Peeking out from the knitting basket

 

Hanging out under our portraits and among the teapot collection

 

 and on the dining room mantle next to mom and dad's wedding album

Watching us from the top of the TV

and the Harry Potter display

 But don't worry its nothing Norbert can't handle

Our new friend is from our favorite online store Olive Green Dog.

They have a whole section of retro pet toys and this little guy is modeled after children's GI Joes.   He is made of natural non-toxic rubber and has a nifty peanut butter scent.  Befitting an all American hero he is also made in the USA.  Tell your peeps to get you one! 

Check out monday mischief at 

My Brown Newfies

Weekend Pet Bloggers Blog Hop-Ping's Grand NYC Adventure

Today mom and dad decided to take me Ping, bike traveling pug extraordinaire,
on an NYC adventure.

We left early in the morning after our usual walk.  Mom and Dad took me outside and put me in my Cynthia's Twig's basket (mom says its very safe and secure).

Come on lets get a move on!

 We rode down to Exchange Place 

were you can take the Path Train to the World Trade Center.  Its a very short ride (only about five minutes).  I didn't seem to mind being a commuter pug.  I did wiggle around more in the basket when it was still, I like to be in motion.

We got out at the World Trade Center.  The new tower is almost finished:

We rode down the West Side Bike Path to 60th St.  Then we rode across town to Central Park.  Mom and Dad had a special destination in mind they wanted to take me to the statue of Balto.  

Balto is the famous sled dog who led the last portion of the 1925 run to deliver medication to Alaskan children in the village of Nome who where suffering from a deadly diphtheria epidemic.  Balto ran in a terrible storm.   When Gunnar Kassen the Norwegian born musher arrived in Nome and was thanked by the villagers he insisted that the majority of the praise go to Balto.   Ten months later the statue of Balto by Frederick Roth was erected .   It reads:

 

Dedicated to the indomitable spirit of the sled dogs that relayed antitoxin six hundred miles over rough ice, across treacherous waters, through Arctic blizzards from Nenana to the relief of stricken Nome in the Winter of 1925. Endurance · Fidelity · Intelligence

The real Balto spent several years touring on a Vaudeville circuit and like many performing animals of that time received poor treatment.   Eventually, a business man from Cleveland Ohio arranged to have Balto and his team brought to the Cleveland Zoo where they spent the rest of their lives in much better conditions.  Today, Balto's remains are on display in the Cleveland museum of natural history.

I was impressed by Balto's story.  I don't even like a dusting of snow imagine running miles through the stuff!  So I made sure to pay my respects to Balto 

While I was posing we met an older gentleman who visits Balto everyday and says good morning to him.  Mom and Dad thought that was very sweet.


Of course I wasn't finished having fun after we saw Balto.  I wanted to check out more of the park.  I hadn't visited for years and I wanted to see some of my old stomping grounds.  See when I was young pug: mom, dad, Tubby, Norbert, and I all lived in an Apartment on East 71st and we walked in Central Park nearly every day. Today was a great opportunity to relive those days.

I climbed on some rocks:

and I saw some awfully large dogs being ridden by police officers.  I had almost forgotten about those.

 Since its the warmest winter ever there were even flowers about

We visited Pug Hill near the Alice in Wonderland Statue.  There were no other pugs about but I had a good time running

 and getting hugs from Dad:

Then we walked by the Central Park Boat House.

Soon it was time to head home so back on the bike.  On the way home dad stopped to take a picture of me and mom near the Intrepid Air and Space Museum.   I wonder if they allow pugs on that big boat.
          

I was a very good girl on the ride home.   

Mom and Dad said I must have been tired from my big adventure.  An afternoon nap is in order.

Saturday PetBloggers Blog Hop Recipes

Most of us now that the first day of Chinese New Year was January 23, which is when I first wrote about how the hounds will celebrate the festival.   Chinese New Year lasts 15 days though, which means its still going on.  That seems to make it OK for us to share some recipes and pictures from two weeks ago.  

Here is Tubby in his red Chinese Style Jacket and no doubt smelling the pork I was roasting.

Slightly Asian Style Slow Cooker Roast Pork

1 pork shoulder (about 10-12 lbs) with fat  (this is called untrimmed)

6 garlic cloves

1/2 inch piece of peeled ginger

1 tbsp soy sauce

3 tbsp olive oil (not extra virgin)

4 tbsp rice vinegar

Heat the oven to the highest temperature possible (but not broiling) about 500 degrees.

Score the fat on the pork shoulder so that it looks like this (sorry for the dark picture)

Place the pork on a foiled like baking pan.

Chop the ginger and garlic up in a food processor, add the chilles, the soy sauce, a tbsp of olive oil and 2 tbsp of rice vinegar.   Process until a chunky paste forms.

Rub this paste all over the pork and make sure to get it into the little grooves t hat you made when you scored the fat.

Roast the pork in the very hot oven for 30 minutes.  In the same food processor bowl that you made the past add 2 tbsp of oil and 2 more of finger mix it up.  Take the pork out of the oven and transfer it to the slow cooker.  Pour the olive oil and vinegar mix over the pork and roast on low.

To make the Crackling

Preheat the broiler.

When you take the pork out of the slow cooker use a knife to remove the scored fat and transfer it to a foil lined baking sheet.  Sprinkle it liberally with salt and broil it for five to ten minutes.  Watch closely.  You want it to be very brown, and even blanked at the edges, but not completely burned.

Give a tiny nibble of this treat to a few hounds in your vicinity and taste one or two yourself and then throw away immediately!  As its pretty much the worst thing on earth that you can eat.

Simple Magic Loop Knitted Hat

I have mentioned before how much I like Magic Loop Knitting its super easy to learn and you can quickly knit up small diameter circular items.   I've used double  pointed needles too but Magic Loop is much easier.   I used magic loop to make this simple ribbed hat using the pattern from More Last Minute Gifts and substitute magic loop for double points.

To make a woman's size hat cast on 112 stitches of worsted weight yarn (I used one ball of Manos Del Uruguay) on a 40-47 inch long circular needle in US size 5.  Push all of the stitches to the middle of the long cord of the needle and divide the stitches in half.  Pull the cord out.  There should now be 56 stitches on each needle.    Here is a video showing you how to start magic loop.

 Knit the hat in double rib (2 knit stitches and 2 purl stitches) until it measures 6 1/2 inches for a women's size hat (add another inch for a man's size hat).   At this point start shaping the corn of the hat.   Knit two together (K2tog) and purl two together (P2tog) for one round.  Then knit one round in one by one rib (one knit and one purl).  Next round K2tog all around and repeat this last round until 14 stiches remain.  Cut the yarn leaving an 8" long tail .  Thread the tail through the needle and pull through all of the remaining stitches.  Pull down through the top of the hat and knot on the inside.  Weave the ends into the hat.

Wordy Wednesday-Hair of the Dog

Today, the opposite of worldess  Wednesday a Wordy Wednesday.  I started wondering about the origins of the phrase "hair of the dog" when I wrote about WC Fields on January 29.   I took Bob's photo for the post posing with an empty beer bottle.

Its impossible to see in the photo but the beer Bob is posing with is Hair of the Dog's Adam.  

 

It has a bulldog on it which is why I bought it from Whole Foods about a year ago.  It was fairly tasty, but for me the bottle was the selling point.

 According to  phrase finder Hair of the Dog describes a small measure of alcohol meant to cure a hangover.   The full phrase "hair of the dog that bit me" refers to an old Scottish belief that if a person was bitten by a rabid dog a hair from the same dogs applied to the wound would cure them.  It is similar to the phrase "like for like" meaning that the cure for something is often also its cause.  The phrases connection to alcohol dates back at least to the time of Shakespeare.  Whether or not the cure works is a matter of debate, but the phrase is certainly not going away any time soon.