BulgingButtons

Not bad for a fat girl


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Pet Adoption Genius

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Finding love in the 21st century affords people more options. No longer does one have to wait for parents or other relatives to provide an introduction to a suitable mate, nor does one have to subject oneself to nights in noisy, crowded bars. Modern people turn to the internet to meet a far wider variety of people than they might normally come into contact with, increasing their odds of finding love.

Not only can we encounter a wider cross-section of the population on the internet, but we can harmlessly flip through profiles, casting aside those that we don’t find suitable with the swipe of a fingertip, with no hard feelings involved. Genius.

Well the amazingly smart people at PawsLikeMe.com took the same concept and applied it to dogs. Not only do they have extensive listings of dogs to love, but they’ve taken the time to gather information about their energy levels, their independence, their focus, and their overall needs. Next, they administer a quiz to prospective pet adopters, and they use the results to match people with pooches.

This is Sunday

This is Sunday, isn’t she beautiful?

If you’re a couch potato they’re not going to match you with a high energy dog. If you’re not home for several hours a day you won’t be matched with a dog with a low independence rating. It’s genius, really. Instead of falling in love with a sweet face and then finding out that he or she is a poor match, they find the personality traits that fit best first. From that point you can still fall in love with their sweet faces.

No, I don’t get any kind of anything from them. I just love the idea and wish I could adopt more of the darling dogs they’ve chosen for me (yes, I took the quiz, don’t tell Lila).

If you’re looking for a canine companion, I strongly urge you to check them out. Even if you aren’t, it might be fun to take the quiz and see the sweethearts that could be a good match for you. If nothing else, share their site. The more dogs that go into suitable homes, the fewer homeless dogs in the world, right? It just makes sense.


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Test Kitchen

My sweetheart loves to cook. LOVES it. And he’s very very good at it, too.IMG_0147

The man is a grill guru, a smoker swami, and an oven oracle. Really, he’s good.

He also loves to experiment. He gets ideas in his head for various things he’d like to try out, then he researches his ideas before planning to execute them. This is the man who, before I met him, created his own TurDucKin (turkey, duck, chicken for those of you unfamiliar with this bizarre culinary concept). He tells me it was way more work than it was worth. I could have saved him the time, had I known him.

One of his recent successes was cilantro-lime rice, similar to the rice that’s served at Chipolte. With this recipe, you actually use a lot more water than usual and end up draining the rice at the end. Who knew that would work? It did, though, and it was wonderful.

His new project is cornbread stuffing for Thanksgiving. He’s made this recipe for the past two years, and while the flavor is excellent, the texture is problematic. The first year it was sort of blobby. Delicious, but weird on the tongue. Last year he cooked it in a shallower dish, and it turned out more like a casserole. Again, delicious, but not quite right. He’s still at it, puttering away in the kitchen looking for the solution. He will perfect this recipe, it’s just a matter of time.

I dare not go into the kitchen, it might interrupt his flow. There’s a grocery store roast-chicken waiting in the fridge to join this test stuffing (doing both in one day would require an effort similar to Thanksgiving, and we’re not ready for that quite yet). The house is starting to smell good, and I’m starting to get hungry. Cross your fingers that this experiment works out. It would be great to have the “perfect” stuffing on Thanksgiving.


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The Beverage Industry Has Stolen My Idea

When my son was little this time of year brought about a special drink. We called it Christmas Punch, and we looked forward to it every year. The first time we would have it would be Thanksgiving, then it would show up again throughout the holiday season, all the way to New Year’s Day.cranberry sprite

We even would sometimes have it on airplanes. He would order one part and I would order the other, then I would mix it up for us. What a treat!

What is Christmas Punch? It’s just 7-Up and cranberry juice, in about equal parts.

It’s delicious, and it’s a beautiful deep pink color, just right for the festive time of year.

Well, apparently word got out, and the beverage industry now offers it pre-mixed and bottled. A couple of different versions are available. I broke down and bought a bottle today, just to try it. I brought it home, and my son tried it too. We’re in agreement, “homemade” Christmas punch is better. Maybe because we missed the pink, I don’t know. I just think that ours tastes better. Let me know if you try it.