kahlua....

Andre picked Kahlua out from all of the dogs at the Round Rock Animal Shelter back in the spring of 1995. She was a border collie mix and as a puppy she was funny looking, to say the least. Several of her friends tried to talk her out of picking this puppy but Andre could not be deterred.

She's been a part of our life for the past 15 years. For a good part of those 15 years, she resided at 1702 Norris Dr but she never forgot who her master was. Weeks or months could pass between visits but when Andre walked in, Kahlua would get especially excited.

She was not an aggressive dog unless she was chasing a possum away from the cats food outside. She had a great relationship with the various cats that we've had. She became the companion of the builders and remodelers that walked through the doors and worked on our house. They rewarded her with lunch from Taco Cabana. She was the only dog I ever saw do the downward dog Yoga pose when meeting someone new or getting ready for a walk. When we walked to the corner store, she would sit patiently outside waiting for the trip back home.

Dogs don't mark time with life events, emotional drama, successes or failures. They are like the reliable grandfather clock that keeps on ticking while the household around them goes through storms and changes. You really get lulled into a belief that they will be there forever.

A few weeks ago, Kahlua started wheezing, stumbling and she lost her appetite. Mary took her to the vet last Thursday and she was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in her throat. It was decided that she needed to be put to sleep.

Rather than putting her through another visit to the vet, we decided to euthanize her at home. We found a really nice mobile vet that came over this afternoon and took us through the process. Andre came over with her boyfriend and Mary and Emily were here. The normal way of saying goodbye in a vets examining room and then having her led away wasn't appealing at all. It was a little troubling to actually see the procedure but it was the right thing to do.

angel flying too close to the ground....

I had 2 dozen eggs in my refrigerator with a dozen approaching the expiration date. I didn't feel like making a dozen deviled eggs. 15 egg whites later, with a little sugar and cake flour, I had an angel food cake. The picture was taken a few hours after it was made. It's being eaten so quickly, I won't have time to make a strawberry glaze.

Producing 15 egg whites left me with 15 yolks. I keep some heavy cream on hand for such an occasion. Having all those yolks forced me to make some ice cream. I got a quart of rich vanilla ice cream out of it. Yummy

major award....

Emily likes to eat the occasional meal at Whole Foods Market. She walked into the store on Sunday afternoon and a worker asked her if she wanted to enter a no-cost raffle. She filled out the ticket, ate, bought some hummus, came home and thought nothing of the raffle. The barrel of entries was full so she thought there wasn't much of a chance.

During a nap that day, her cellphone rang with the happy news. She was one of 7 winners with each winner getting a different bag of goodies. Her prize was a sampler of fish. Among her bounty was some marinated salmon and crab cakes. She's a huge salmon fan.

Congrats Em on your first raffle prize ever.

clones...

After 10 weeks, I've got croissant rolling figured out. My first attempt at that skill back in January resembled a pile of dough but little else. This tray was one of 4 that I knocked out this morning. These croissants are fairly large and they will be used for making sandwiches. The hotel also makes a slightly smaller version that is sold on the breakfast menu. I say smaller but they are still substantial. There are also chocolate croissants. Whenever I make those, I have a hard time not eating the chocolate batons that go inside.

There is something zen-like in the repetition of the rolling and the resulting tray of uniform croissants all lined up. These little guys are off to the freezer. They will be pulled off in groups of 15 or 30 at a time (depending on the day), thawed, proofed and baked. If you throw in a few banquets, these won't last long and I get to do it all over again.

Peace and serenity.

then there were three...

I have 3 weeks left in the externship. This upcoming week is spring break so technically it's not part of the externship. South by Southwest is a large music festival that takes place in Austin during spring break so the hotel is super busy. I don't have any plans so I've decided to work during the week. Apparently, music hipsters like breakfast danishes and bar food. This includes focaccia sandwiches, sliders and pita sandwiches, all of which is an adventure to make. You haven't lived until you've made 400 slider buns. It turns out that before labor laws were enacted, kids in the 1890's were forced to shape slider buns which explains their happy disposition. Giggle.

The work continues to be rewarding but hard. I did manage to put in 6 miles after work today. The weather in Austin is ideal this week. It is in the 40's in the morning and the 70's in the afternoon. I still have Sunday and Monday off each week. Having stores, roads and restaurants to myself on Mondays is fun. It's a great day to have off.

sunday night goodies....

For my Sunday afternoon project, I made Madeleines. I had gotten the mold tray as a Christmas gift so today was the maiden voyage. If you've never had them, I recommend them. They have a lemony flavor and a muffin consistency. It's traditional to dip them in tempered dark chocolate, which I did. I had some extra chocolate and I love chocolate dipped strawberries so it seemed like dipping some was the natural thing to do. I couldn't help myself.

half is more fun than a whole...

I drove 30 miles south of Austin to San Marcos and ran in a small half marathon this morning. I've been doing Moe's Half Marathon for years and I wasn't about to miss it this year. The course is out in the country so the only crowd support is the occasional herd of cattle. They all line up along the fence and mock us as we run by - "you humans claim to be more evolved than us...that's bull." They like to throw out a little bovine humor. The race has 300 participants at the most. The marathon that I ran in Dallas in December had over 10,000 so this was a nice change.

Some half marathons hand out medals to the finishers which I find silly and useless. Moe hands out coffee mugs. You can never have too many coffee mugs.

ah, nuts.....

Even though I'm not getting paid, here's a nice little fringe benefit...

Imagine this - someone orders an ice cream sundae at the cafe for dessert. It is made with homemade vanilla ice cream, freshly made whipped cream, chocolate sauce made from scratch and a bunch of cherries. The patron looks at it and says "Yuck - It has pecans on it. Please take it back."

Happy happy joy joy. Let's just say that it was returned but not thrown away.

pink clouds...

I had some frozen strawberry puree and heavy cream so I fired up a strawberry mousse. It turned out fluffy and tasty. I need to come up with an alternative to gelatin. You can't taste it but the thought of it is kind of gnarly. I'll use these results as a baseline and I'll start experimenting. I think that using cooked yolks as the thickening agent is a possibility. It won't be as easy as gelatin but it will definitely be more appealing. I'll keep you posted.

numbers...

It's been 13 months of no paycheck. I'm starting my 9th week of the externship tomorrow and I'm starting to think that a job there isn't going to materialize. I continue to apply for every management, engineering and pastry job that I see. I have even expanded my search outside of Austin. It's easy to get down about all of this but there is some bright side. School and the externship was rewarding so I don't call that a waste of time. The 13 months has been a good breather after being on the job and on call 24 hours a day for 30 years. There are a lot of people in worse shape than me in terms of losing homes, draining savings and having school age kids. I don't take pleasure in their misfortune but it is a reality check for me when I'm moping around. The economy is a big barge and it will take awhile to turn it around....