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It’s almost Christmas! I’m soooo happy! My stocking is full of stuff for my first Christmas holiday with my new family. I hope my Mommy and Daddy got me some fun and yummy stuff!

So far this Christmas, I helped my Mommy make some cookies and pies. It smells so good in the house when she bakes!

But, I gave Mommy a little scare on the day after Thanksgiving. Lemme tell you why…

Mommy had a doctor’s appointment so she had to leave me alone for a bit. I like to walk around on my back legs. I’m kinda a circus dog. I was nosing around the house trying to find some new things to play with when I came across a big box on my human’s tall pub table.

I climbed up on my back paws and got it down. It was a huge box of dark chocolate covered coconut patties! It was so yummy!!

But, when Mommy came home a few minutes later, she started freaking out when she saw what I had done:

Me and Mommy spent the afternoon at the vet’s office…again. I had just seen the doctor a few weeks ago. I guess eating a half an angel food cake and the plastic container isn’t a good thing either. Humprf!

Anyways, I was at the vet and they took me away from Mommy. I threw up a lot of stuff. There went all that yummy chocolate! Then, the vet put a tube down my throat with something called charcoal to soak up any of the rest. It was terribly stressful!

Well, the moral of this story is — don’t eat chocolate my dear doggie friends! It’s bad news. I learned it has to do with something in the chocolate called methylxanthine. This compound can affect a doggie’s central nervous system, leading to restlessness, hyperactivity, diarrhea and a rapid heart rate. Not good! It can be caused if a doggy eats chocolate, coffee grounds, tea bags or some people medications.

So, be sure to stay away from those things to stay safe this holiday season! And, you also want to avoid some of these food items: onions, grapes/raisins, avocado, macadamia nuts, yeast dough, garlic, chives, milk and salt. Also, stay away from those pretty flowers — I think they’re called poinsettias.

Anywhoooo…I’m off to nose around some more. In the meantime, my Mommy made this video of me being a little silly.

Happy holidays and I’ll write back soon!

♥ Dakota

Happy Munching!

I thought I’d take a quick glance at some of the quirky foodie finds that you can find out there this year. All of these items were found at a local CVS pharmacy in the metro Boston area so you may not be able to find all of these in your area. I’ve tried linking to online shopping sites that carry the items, if you’re curious.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the foodie gifts…

The first item on our wish list is this Super Pretzel maker. Now, you can bring home that soft-baked pretzel taste from the ballpark. You can make five mini soft pretzels and warm up cheese for dipping. It also comes with a recipe book. In the store, it sells for $19.99. Buy online here.

Bake up mini pies using the Keebler “Uncommonly Good” Pie Maker. Bake four personal sized pies in under 10 minutes with this small kitchen appliance. It’s like having a tree-ful of elves in your kitchen! This one also sold in-store for $19.99. Buy online here.

I’m guessing it’s the year of the pie? With the “My Lil’ Pie Maker” you can make pies, quiches, pot pies and more. In the package, you’ll receive a recipe book, spatulas and pie cutters with this “as seen on TV” gadget. The appliance is dishwasher safe. If you buy online here, you’ll get 2 pie makers for just $10.99 plus shipping and handling!

Pop up to 1-gallon of movie-style popcorn at home with the Cinema Choice Movie Theater Style Popcorn Maker. The machine has a stainless steel popping chamber and the door comes off for easy clean up. Also comes with a measuring cup and a spoon. Buy online here for $49.

Anything Chia needs no introduction. I love the Chia pet and all of its cousins, like the “Gourmet” Chia Herb Garden and the Chia Cat Grass Planter. With your herb garden, you’ll get three mini terra cotta planters plus seeds for dill, basil, curled parsley, chives, cilantro and marjoram. Buy online for $17. With the cat grass planter, give your feline pal a nutritious snack. Buy online for $18. Could someone get me the Chia Gnome?

Beam me up! I’m totally geeking out after this one! It’s a 25th anniversary Pez dispenser collection for Star Trek: The Next Generation. Fact about me: I’ve been to a Star Trek convention. Total nerd. Met Michael Dorn, the actor who plays “Worf.” Had a communicator button, tons of T-shirts and posters in my room. Yes, middle school was a hard time for me.

But, this present is worthy of any Sheldon Cooper in your life. It includes Pez dispensers of Dr. Crusher, Data, Geordi, Commander Riker, the Enterprise 1701-D, Capt. Picard, Worf and Counselor Troi. Wait…..No Wesley Crusher? [sigh] Buy online here.

Grab this hard-to-fine goodie ASAP before Hostess goes out of business! The Twinkie bake set includes a special pan, pastry bag with several tips and recipe booklet. Once you bake all of your Twinkies, you can make some Twinkie Tiramisu. Buy on eBay for around $30.

Well, those are all the goodies I could find for now. Have you seen anything fun this holiday season? Let me know in the comment section below!

Happy Holidays!

This week, my mommy and daddy have orientation at my doggie school. I’m enrolled in a class called “Diamonds in the Ruff” at the MSPCA for eight weeks. I’m a little afraid of other dogs and some people, so this class — we hope — is going to get me more comfortable around some other four-legged friends.

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year. I love chasing after my daddy outside and he’s really good at tug ‘o war. But, my mommy likes fall a whole bunch, too. This is one of her favorite times of year to bake things. So, she made me some really awesome homemade baked doggie treats. Let’s see how she made ‘em…

Pumpkin Peanut Butter Dog Treats
From Heather Homemade via Use Real Butter

• 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup canned pumpkin purée (be careful not to get pumpkin pie mix)
• 3 tablespoons peanut butter (mommy used natural peanut butter that was creamy but I think you could use chunky, too)
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl. Mommy used a hand mixer but you could use a food processor if you have it. If the dough seems to be dry, add a tablespoon of water at a time until it comes together into a ball. Now, if it happens to be too sticky, sprinkle some more flour to the dough, just a little bit.Lightly flour a work surface and dump out the dough. Knead it a few times until it forms a ball. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough until it’s about a quarter-inch thick. Using a knife or cookie cutters, cut the dough into shapes and place on a cookie sheet. You can re-roll the scraps of dough to make more cookies. Mommy used a two-inch dog bone cookie cutter and the cookies filled up two sheet pans.Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. The cookies will have puffed up a bit and have started to turn golden brown. Then, rotate the pans and flip over the cookies. Lower the heat to 300 degrees and bake for another 10-15 minutes, or until the cookies are hard. Remove from the oven and cool completely. Share some with Fido and store in a air-tight container.These treats are really, really yummy. I hope you like them as much as I do!

Love,

Dakota ♥

When my father-in-law said he wanted to take us for breakfast at the Honeybaked Ham Store when we were visiting Columbus earlier this fall, I thought to myself, “Really? The Honeybaked Ham Store?”

One of my faults about food is coming to a decision much too quickly — even before getting to the final destination. This was just one of those times.

Now, I love me some Honeybaked Ham at the holidays. I’ll be hovering over that pork carcass peeling off the sugary coating and licking my fingers of its savory juices. The leftovers are perfect for omelettes and sandwiches in the following days.

The Honeybaked Ham Store runs Sweet Clove Sunshine Cafe in Columbus, Ohio. This sit-down restaurant churns out hearty breakfast sandwiches, towering pancakes and mouth-watering good eggs benedicts.

So, let’s take a closer look at this breakfast mindblow…

The waiting area of the restaurant is the standard Honeybaked Ham Store but packed with some other goodies, like maple syrup from Vermont and frozen side dishes.How can I not approve of a place that sells Milwaukee’s own Sprecher sodas?!? Four-packs of soda are available for less than $7.The cafe’s seating area is open and sunny. There were plenty of happy groups of customers waiting for breakfast.Each table starts off with a mini loaf of a crumb cake served with a side of whipped maple honey butter. The bread was a bit too crumbly but had a nice cinnamon flavor to it. We were a party of four and the mini loaf didn’t provide us with a lot to go around.The “Legendary Breakfast Sandwich” serves up an egg souffle, cheddar cheese and your choice of Honeybaked Ham, bacon or turkey on a croissant. It’s served with oven-roasted home fried potatoes or fresh fruit.You can’t order breakfast without a hefty side of Honeybaked Ham for just $2.50.These hearty pancakes are made with buttermilk and then fresh apples, brown sugar and cinnamon. This was just an enormous mound of carbs!But, those towering pancakes aren’t complete without the fresh whipped cream that comes out with it! Your server scoops out the dairy delight tableside. No need for syrup.Now, hands down the winner at this meal was Brett’s signature Ham and Eggs Benedict. The fluffy English muffin was topped with thick slices of Honeybaked Ham, poached eggs and an awesome lemony Hollandaise sauce. The side order of potatoes was just perfect to sop up the mixture of leftover Hollandaise and egg yolk.

Next time someone tells me we’re going to eat at the Honeybaked Ham Store, I’m going to jump for joy. I can’t wait to try this place again. I really hope they open more of these locations across the country soon.

Today, we stopped at Starbucks to enjoy some of their new fall offerings. I totally indulged in their new salted caramel mocha. Wow — this drink is smooth! Brett enjoyed a (decaf) pumpkin spice latte, which was equally autumnal.Then, we dropped by Mann’s Orchards and Bakery for some of their apple cider donuts. Just stepping out of the car, we were accosted by the warm, inviting smell of these yeasty treats. They were absolutely incredible! A sugary coating and a fluffy interior. I’m just drooling thinking about what these would be like right out of the fryer.

So, what’s your favorite fall food? Leave a comment below!

Finally, I think we’ve found somewhere to call home…at least for longer than a 12-month lease. Our new apartment is in a converted old textile factory in northern Massachusetts. When it was originally built back in the early 1900s, it was called the “Eighth Wonder of the World” because it was just so enormous. In today’s world, the building is still a monster. Only about a third of it has been rebuilt into modern, eco-friendly housing, with the remaining two-thirds still being gutted for future residential and commercial use.

I’ve always wanted to call a loft home — with the exposed brick and wooden beams. There is just so much personality to such a building. I’m seriously convinced there have to be some sort of ghost stories with our new home, but still haven’t been able to uncover any mysteries.

One of my favorite features with our new place is our kitchen. It’s so spacious that I don’t even remember the last 12 months spent in that galley kitchen in our old place. Plus, all of the appliances are brand new and energy efficient. I am so in love!

To christen this most-used-room of the house, I made some “thank you” cupcakes for the staff in the leasing office. They were absolutely incredible during every step of the process. So, what better way to thank people then by baking them some home-baked treats! I chose these sweet and summery carrot cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting (using fresh carrots from the weekly CSA crops) using a recipe originally from “Joy of Baking.”

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional – note you also may want to toast these for a few minutes in the oven to get rid of some of their rawness)
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup granulated white sugar
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 1/3 cups finely grated raw carrots

For the cream cheese frosting

• 1/4 cup butter
• 4 ounces cream cheese
• 2 1/4 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Putting It Together

Check out his letter to readers of “All’s Fare Food Blog” here >>

Brett and I are very excited about our new addition! He’s a wonderful new forever member of our family and we’re very happy to have adopted him!

P.S. I hope you will go check out the Animal Rescue League of Boston, where we found Dakota. They have plenty more dogs, cats and small animals in need of good homes. Please consider becoming a four-legged friend’s new family!