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Sheep in the vineyards in Napa Valley. Joseph Phelps.

Click here for the movie

I’m trying to find a good recipe for thom kha gai – a coconut milk based thai soup. when browsing the interweb i found a funny ingredient i had never heard of before. Can you guess which one?

1) 1 cup sliced chicken breast.
2) 2 tablespoons sliced kha.
3) ½ teaspoon turmeric powder or fresh tumeric
4) 3-4 pieces som khaeng
5) 1-2 tablespoons fishsauce
6) 2 cups coconut milk.
7) 3 shallots, lightly crushed.
8) 3-5 mouse-shit chillies (phrik kee noo)
9) 1 red chili, shredded.
10) coriander leaves.
11) 1 cup thick coconut milk.

well, we just picked up charlotte from the doggie kennel. she was there 5 full days while we were out of town and had her share of drama and stress. A very nice person from puppy class offered to take her on a walk one day while we were away. this was a fabulous offer because the kennel doesn’t take her on walks – they just do free play (and in my opinion not enough). Anyway… our friend called us while we were away to let us know that charlotte’s eyes were blood shot and VERY red. after much back and forth with the kennel, the friend, and the vet, charlotte went to see an emergency vet on sunday afternoon.

No ulcers were present, no oozing. the vet wasn’t sure but he thinks the red eyes were caused from her hitting her head. 8-( the official diagnosis is: “Subconjunctival Hemorrhage probably traumatic in origin.”

she is presently on the couch chewing on a dried beef tendon – yum! her eyes are still red, but we think its fading. her behavior is not entirely normal – she is a little timid with me and overly submissive to other dogs.

we just returned from puppy class where she was very well behaved. next week is puppy intermediate graduation!! yay! she has to perform a trick. we have yet to choose a trick.

Often i find myself thinking that i may actually be a pastry chef at heart. I crave the pre-meditation, the organization, the precision. i also love the decoration part!

Perhaps i should do something about this…

So one of my current projects is re-working a particular bed in my garden. there is a bench behind the bed and how it was planted before made it an uncomfortable place to sit. so i’ve cleared out all of the old plants (including some very thorny rose bushes), and have enriched the soil. Now it is ready to go!

All i need now is a plan.
hrmm…

Here is a picture of the empty garden bed:

Any suggestions?

Charlotte and I just returned home from our first road trip together. She was very well behaved in the car, and actually made the drive more enjoyable (I get really bored and antsy on long drives).

We attended Salt’s Bark-Mitzvah. Charlotte had a great time, even though none of the other dogs wanted to play as much as her. She even won a squeaky toy in a game of musical chairs! Go Charlotte!

Here is a picture of the Birthday Boy, Salt.

Then after that visit we went to see our friends on their vineyard. They have 6 dogs and lots of room for puppies to run!

Here she is – running!

We both had a fun time visiting our friends and their dogs. Thank you friends!

Now we are both at home and getting back into our routine.

i just finished up a very long jury duty stint and i am getting ready to go back to work. i feel as if the world was on hold for the last month. my life as juror #6 was pretty surreal. i am glad that i was able to sit on the trial and learn so much about other people and their lives. i am always amazed at how many different sorts of people are out there in the world.