Monday Mischief-Norbert's Tenth B-Day Blast

Norbert here: Ten is a big mile stone worthy of a big fun filled weekend.   However, I've always been a simple hound of simple tastes.  My birthday weekend started with a nice grooming at Canis Minor Jersey City and a walk with mom and dad, this was early in the morning before it reached an infernal 99 degrees, requiring me to spend the rest of the day inside in the AC.

When it had cooled down a bit mom and dad brought me outside to investigate my birthday gifts.

  This year my gifts seemed to have a sci-fi theme and they definitely met with my approval.

I got a knitted alien dog toy from the Kenana Knitters, these great knitted toys are made by women in Kenya who gain a lively hood, medical care, and education for themselves and their families through the sale of their merchandise.  You can buy these knitted toys at my favorite online store Olive Green Dog. 

  
Then I got a super cool space alien dog collar and leash from Day Dog Designs

   and mom says I am getting a tag to go with my new collar from Fetching Tags but it hasn't arrived yet.   I also got a giant bone cookie from Zoomies NYC.


Mom made me a special fruit and ice cream birthday cake:

most exciting of all the recipe is going to be featured on Tuesday, July 10 at Kol's Notes, one of the absolute coolest blogs out there.  To quote our friend Kolchack it will be "woofing awesome."


Since my exact birth date is unknown my celebration continued on Sunday with a long walk in Hoboken, Weasley tagged along.

We stopped  by the Bagel Smashery and mom and dad got me a smashed plain bagel with cheese.  I was feeling so generous from all my birthday fun I even shared it with all of my canine siblings!

I would have shared it with the cats too but they don't seem to enjoy cheese bagels, so in honor of my big day I had mom slip them some extra freeze dried chicken bits.


Hope your weekend was as awesome as mine!

And The Winner Is....

Southern Fried Pugs

 

These lovely ladies, and foster brother Oliver, are the winners of Norbert's tenth birthday give away and will receive a 25 dollar gift certificate to Polka Dog Bakery.  Thanks to everyone who participated!  

Rescued by Rover-The First Canine Film

Everyone knows about Lassie, Rin Tin Tin, and Benji.  The true canine cinema buff may be familiar with StrongHeart, but few people know that the first dog film star appeared on screens a full decade before silent star StrongHeart.  Her name was Blair.


Rescued by Rover was was made in England by Cecil Hepworth.  It was a family affair.  The script was written by Hepworth's wife Margaret and she played the role of the mother in the film.  Hepworth directed, built and painted the scenery and played the role of the father.  Their young daughter played the baby in the film, and the family dog Blair took on the role of the heroic Rover.  

The film was one of the first to feature a fictional narrative, rather then a recording of a spectacle.   The story is simple: a baby under the care of a neglectful nurse is kidnapped by a disgruntled gypsy women and the distraught parents are beside themselves and powerless to do anything.   However, the loyal family dog tracks the kidnapper and then returns home to lead the father to her lair.   The plot has been recycled a million times since its inception in Hepworth's film.


Rescued by Rover was so popular that Hepworth had to re-shoot the film twice after the negatives wore out from repeated viewing.   The popularity of Blair the dog as Rover caused Rover to become a household name and one of the most popular canine nomenclatures for years.  Its sparked a craze for canine focused films that lead to the careers of StrongHeart and Rin Tin Tin in the twenties and thirties.  

Here is the film in its entirety, watch and enjoy!

Full of Smiles-And Thanks!

We are so honored (and excited) to have received an award from the amazing Tucker the Crestie of Tucker Tells All and his family.   The award is the  Very Inspiring Blogger Award.



(Hopefully it will inspire mom to take some new pictures because this one of Ping is at least 2 years old).



1) Thank the person who nominated you and link back to them in your post.  
I am so flattered that Tucker and his mom choose us for this award, we have been fans of theirs since our Dogster days and Tucker's blog was pretty much the first dog blog we followed.   I am always inspired by Tucker's posts and I would feel very comfortable (and confident) following any advice his blog has to offer.

2) Share 7 things about yourself.  

This will be tough because their our a bunch of us, so it may not be evenly divided.

1) Bob, like Tucker, is a Canine Good Citizen.   However, Dad sometimes says that Bob's certificate should be revoked when he does something naughty like lunge on leash at a barking.  (Hopefully there are no CGC police arround)

2) Bob is addicted to eating grass (another reason to take that CGC).  He would rather eat grass then chicken (proven on walks).  Its so bad that we have taken to walking the dogs in the down town area of Jersey City rather then the big parks in order to avoid tall grass!

  3) We have so much pug themed stuff in our house that mom felt guilty about it and bought a Bulldog Throw for our new couch.  Now Bob can feel his roots are more reflected in our home.

4)  Baby (cat) is a survivor of two bouts of pneumonia, autoimmune disease, a week long escape after she opened a screen in a window and got out of our home in Brooklyn, and fatty liver after which she had to be fed through a tube for a month.   She is 11 years old now and in good shape (if a little chubby.) 

5) Tubby and Ping have both been Smilers in Bark Magazine.  Tubby was the online smiler of the day and Ping was in the magazine.

6) Ernie (cat) was at a vets office mom worked at recovering form having a damaged front leg removed.   He came home to stay with mom and dad for the weekend and took a liking to Norbert so mom and dad adopted him.

7)  Weasley barks more then any other pug I have encountered.  He loves the sound of his own voice.

8) Nominate other bloggers we admire:  Oh dear, there are so many blogs we admire and many of them have already received the award.  So I am going to nominate five blogs I just discovered:

Betty The Bichon-Betty loves the good life dining, travel, adventure.  Plus there are marvelous home decorating tips, of course my home is a mess but I can dream.

Susie-Belle The Foodie Schnauzer-I have to nominate this one as the protagonist is, like me, a foodie.  Plus this is an English Blog and I have always longed to live in the Brittish Isles.    Susie-Belle is a rescue and her human companions have put a great deal of work into helping her overcome her rough past.

Molly The Wally-Very cute and quirky blog.  Visit, you will have fun!

Dachshund Nola-This blog has been around a long time but I only started reading it recently.  The photography, and the writing, are a great inspiration.

Stella Rose The pugs on this brand new blog are so cute how could you not be inspired!

Well one award would have been more then enough, but we were doubly lucky.  The wonderful Zoe of Pawfect Days  gave us

 

Here are the rules:
Answer the questions that come with it
Pass it along and let them know they have received it

Here are the questions and my answers:
Favorite number: 7
Favorite Non-alcoholic drink: Coffee, and now Iced Coffee specifically Grady's Cold Bew
Facebook or Twitter:  Facebook, but I'd rather blog
My Passion: Interior Dogs, Food, Books, Science-Fiction and Fantasy (I'm proud to be a nerd)
Favorite pattern: French Style Sailor Stripes
Favorite Day of the Week: Saturday
Favorite Flower: Lilly of The Valley

I'm passing this award on too:

EVERYONE (it seems like lots of bloggers have gotten it and everyone out there deserves it!)

Stay Cool on the Fourth!

Tasty Tuesday-Treats for Peeps Grady's Cold Brew Coffee

On Saturday mom and dad went to Smorgasburg in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  The NY Times described this market as The Woodstock of Eating.  Since we are all confirmed foodies and plenty hip enough for the 'Burg we were eager to go.  Then mom dealt the blow, apparently Norbert and Bob are too big to be allowed on the train as they don't fit in bags, and at nearly 90 degrees mom and dad felt it was to hot for pugs.   We all got left at home in the air conditioning and comforted ourselves with the thought that surely Mom and Dad would bring us some treats.  Yummy hipster friendly treats.

Three hours later mom and dad came home with a small bag.   We imagined jerky, organic dog cookies, free range chicken nibbles, etc.   However the bag contained something forbidden to all dogs, coffee! 

 

 We could hardly believe it no treats for us.   We inspected thoroughly, but sure enough it was a bottle of Grady's Cold Brew Iced Coffee Concentrate.

Even more ominous then their evident neglect, mom and dad are addicted to this stuff.   They say its the best coffee they have ever tasted (and they've tasted lots).   The bottle cost them 15 dollars and will make 8 cups of iced coffee, not too bad they say when you consider the cost of Starbucks.  But 15 bucks could have bought us a giant bag of chewies or two boxes of treats.   Worst of all if they bring the bottle back to Smorgasburg they get two dollars off their next bottle, and they are planning to return in the next few weeks.  Seem like we will have to give them the cold shoulder for awhile.

Sunday Supper-Cream Fraiche Roasted Salmon

Living with 5 dogs and 3 cats means that travel is not much of an option for me.  I can't bear the idea of leaving my furry family members in a boarding facility and after vet visits, food, toys, treats, and other doggie accessories there is no money left over for travel anyway.   So I have become a fan of the virtual vacation.   To take a virtual vacation you make food from a place you would like to visit, since if you ask me food is the best part of travel, and you look at pictures of your idea destination on the computer.

I've always thought it would be neat to visit Iceland, Scandanavia and other Northern parts of Europe.

Iceland the place I'd most like to visit, It looks like Tolkien's Moddle Earth

A Scandanavian Castle

Since summer is such a fleeting moment in these frigid countries big Summer festivals and celebrations are common.

And since its a virtual vacation you need not dance around the May Pole

Fish is a popular food choice in Scandanavia and other Nordic countries and dill is a popular herb there.  So I decided to make Roast Salmon with Cream Fraiche and Dill for my virtual vacation.

Roast Salmon With Cream Fraiche and Dill

Kosher or sea salt 

Pepper

1 tub Vermont Creamery cream fraiche,  about a cup

1/4 cup chopped Fresh Dill

Preheat to 425 and line a baking sheet with foil.  Place the fish fillets on the sheet skin side down and season with salt and pepper.   Spread with the cream fraiche, trying to cover in a think but complete layer.  Roast for about 12-15 minuts until the fish is cooked through.   Test for doneness by seeing if the fish flakes in the thickest part.

Sprinkle with dill before serving.

Serve with boiled new potatoes tossed with butter, salt, and dill.

Tasty Dish, Bad Photo

Of course you will also be needing a nice summer friendly desert.   One of my favorite summer deserts is simple, Mint Chip Ice Cream with Hot Fudge Sauce, Yum!  Of course you could by hot fudge sauce but why would you when home made is so much better.

Simple Hot Fudge Sauce 

• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped (I use morsels)
• 6 ounces bittersweet  chocolate, chopped (I  use chocolate chips)

Preparation

• Bring cream and corn syrup to simmer in heavy medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Add all chocolate and stir until melted and smooth

This keeps in the fridge for weeks and can be reheated in the microwave at medium heat.   I like it served with Adirondack Creamery White Face Mint Chip