The Zen of Dog

Oftentimes, I catch myself glancing at Katie looking over whatever it is I'm reading to check on her, and see what she's up to. She is a good dog so it's really just a quick look and then back to what I'm reading. Usually, she's lying around either on her part of the couch, her chair, the floor in the hallway or the middle of the living room floor. It's nothing particularly exciting to look at but really for me, it's soothing to see her peacefully, blissfully asleep. I envy her. I really do envy the fact that she can just lie there and dream without being disturbed for however long she wishes. Sometimes, I want to sleep too. Sometimes I want to really doze and not wake up startled or worried that I am late for something. Like this morning for example, I woke up thinking I had to run off and be somewhere, whether it is out to brunch at school or at my internship, I'm always feeling like I am panicky when I wake up. That's just such a disturbing feeling. So for me, just being able to look at Katie, to feel that calm as she breathes in and out, watching the rise and fall of her little furry body sleeping is somehow just enough to make me relax. 

Then, I came across this article in the NYT about the Hamptons and how these dogs have free run of the beach at certain hours of the day. How I would love to take Katie to a beach and see what she'd do but she was none too thrilled about the pool. Period, end of story, she really did not like the pool experience and that was a kiddie pool. She nosed up and walked away from that ASAP. I don't know if the ocean would be different but I've walked her around the water when we lived in Edgewater, NJ and it was just uneventful for her. Perhaps because it was the Hudson River and maybe she is way...smarter than me such that she knows not to wade into such filth. The other portion of the article mentions the Yappy Hours and mingling with other dog owners. Nice. I remember those days of wine and whine. Katie liked to mingle but she was good with just hanging out with maybe one or two other dogs and then it was, "I gotta go." I'm that way too so I guess dog owners are very much like their pets. The article is here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/14dogsli.html?_r=1&st=cse&oref=slogin

Plus, there is a pretty good article in Newsdays's magazine about antidepressants for dogs. I'm not really into that because I read, "Marley and Me" and I think that drugging up your dog with a low dose tranquilizer is not necessarily the best idea. I believe in behavior modification.  Just the idea of putting your dog in a situation that is stressful and then drugging them up just to be convenient for you for me seems like a big no no. Granted, there are exceptions and what if your dog cannot ever be left alone at home without tearing up the place? Well, then there is an issue there and sadly you really need to get down to basics about what the real problem is. Like does your dog have an area that makes them feel safe? Most dogs need an area that is all their own, their safe zone where they can feel totally safe and if it is enclosed, why not? Dogs used to have dog houses. Remember Tiger from The Brady Bunch and Dino from The Flintstones? These although fictional characters, had little homes all to their own that had their names on it and they could go in their little house and be safe. A cushion on the floor is not a den. It's a cushion on the floor. Katie has a few spots that she can hang out or sleep without being disturbed by the tv or by outside noises. Dogs have extremely sensitive hearing and even the subtle noise of your neighbor can be disturbing if there is nowhere else to go but listen to mindless prattle of your neighbor talking on the phone all day on Sunday. (Yeah, my neighbor used to talk ALL DAY on the phone on Sunday. Katie and I used to have to be out for most of the day to escape that. One of the reasons why I had to move out of that apartment.) I think getting down to the basics, making a den for your dog, figuring out if there are any noises that may be very disturbing for your dog while you are out and even keeping your dog in the car alone is just a bad idea. You really never know how long you are going to be gone. Seriously. If you have ever timed a "quick trip to the grocery store," you'd find out exactly how long you spend browsing at stuff that is not on your list, getting home to realize that the 5 items that you had on your list took an hour to get? Yeah, that's time being swallowed up into that black hole of browsing. 

I ramble. I've got stuff to do. Chilling out with Katie is number one on my list. Brioche is number two:) 

Don't forget to load up on Halloween treats this year. Dogs love pumpkin!

Catching up

I have a lot of paperwork to do. I don't want to do it but it is seriously piling up on the corner of my office desk. My desk has become this horrible forest of stuff. It's hideous. It's like the black forest in fairy tales, the one that little children get scared about. Yeah, I'm scared too. 

One corner has the gadzillions of dog-mags, those that are for the avid pet owner, the pet related business owner, or for those who are just curious enough to buy this and then show it to a friend exclaiming, "Isn't this CRAZY that people actually do this for their PETS?!" Meanwhile, this person has just PURCHASED a magazine to mock and laugh about. These magazines aren't cheap by far. In fact, many of them are published a few times a year only. Like some are published every two months or quarterly even. I've resigned myself to just being the recipient of complementary magazines and trade journals related to the dog/pet snack industry. I get everything you could imagine, including those journals related to pet grooming. I am stuck with this stuff so since it piles up, I took to reading through a few of those previously mentioned pieces of literature. I learned many things. Like for example, there are tons of shampoos out there for your dog. I actually don't wash Katie a lot because I brush her almost daily so this was just useless for me. The next thing I learned is that there are a lot of doggy bakeries out there. I myself am just a stay-at-home, easy bake dog treat baker. I do not consider myself as upscale as those that advertise in magazines, but my cakes are good. Dogs don't always eat everything and I think that my cakes are really pretty good. 

Pile 2 consists of miscellaneous "stuff." I do not say 'stuff' a lot. I DO say the four letter word that has the same letters as "carp." a lot when I refer to my desk. Sometimes I just want to torch everything on that desk because it freaks me out how much stuff accumulates if you don't pay attention. It's like sugar. I say this because we  are actually studying sugar shaping in class and well, sugar is great because you can do so...much with it but if you burn it, there is no going back. 

Moving centrally, I have a few non-doggy related magazines on my desk too. Like FOOD by Martha Stewart is good for really quick and easy recipes and some basic information about herbs or whatnot. 

My collection of decorative tools for Marzipan, brushes for painting on cakes, all types of colors for cake decorating, cookie cutters (billions), ribbon samples, paper samples, my huge bucket of pens that ranges from fine to big fat highlighters...ah, gotta love the smell of fresh ink:) Not really. 

I've got my favorite flowers, ranunculus in a glass vase in the middle of the desk. It isn't the most convenient spot for this decorative piece, but I love this fake plant because it is so bright and colorful. It's gorgeous. 

Much to do...

I found another dog almost as cute as mine. This dog, Harley the English Bulldog was just plain amazing. If ever I get the chance to get another dog, this would be it. Katie doesn't know it but this is my ultimately favorite breed next to Shelties...LOVE EM! 

I was just cleaning up after finishing Harley's birthday cake and I caught a glimpse of this big 1 year old baby romping across our lawn to greet my dad. Dad is the ultimate employee. He is like the face of Honeybark lately. He's been delivering the cake, presenting the cakes, really representing the company. It's cool. I'm really like the baker anyhow. I don't enjoy PR but it's fun to do on occasion. The cake was really cute...photos to come...and Katie loved the frosting. She spent a good ten minutes licking frosting off the roof of her mouth. My fault really, I gave her a piece of cake with the frosting on top and she womped it and then got the cake stuck to the roof of her mouth,  like how peanut butter does that to your mouth? So she was trying to get the stuff off by licking and was making these really hysterical lopping noises. Gotta love that. 

I am excited to try out some new colors for Fall. I really really want to change the B day cake writing to something a little more natural for the fall, like brown? orange? Yellow would be great but it does not show up on camera and most dog owners like to photograph the dog with their birthday cake. 

I gotta go finish some changes to the website. Ugh...I hate these crazy details but my treat menu will be changing for the Fall season. I am again trying to put that pumpkin treat out there and also I'm thinking of doing some other new flavors but apple pie, pearlicious and pumpkin pie are my top 3. Oh, and everything nice, my gingerbread treat is going to be featured at some upcoming events so keep your eyes out for them!

The top sellers of recent fame are beef snaps, ruffy road, and well of course, cake. Every dog loves the cake. I'd post the recipe but I really don't know if anyone would want to make it at home. It's really so much easier for me to do it. You tell me.

I'm on a break coming Labor Day weekend so nobody better be asking for any treats. Katie is in charge...no, NOT really. She would definitely eat all the profits. She's such a lurker. She lurks outside the bakery area, she stalks me when I'm putting cakes together and she's really very belligerent whenever I give away a cake to the customer. She's NOT a good PR dog. Only when we are at parties, she's social to some extent but really, no...she's JUST the taste tester. 

But that cinnamon cream cheese frosting is amazing. I am NOT changing that.

I AM adding a cake flavor soon. More to come...

Guess the new flavor?

Strange coincidences

I was just looking at New York Magazine's website and I noticed that both of my bosses have been listed in New York Magazine as being the best at something. My previous boss, Saud A. Sadiq, M.D., specialist in neuroimmunologic diseases and specifically Multiple Sclerosis and my current internship mentor/boss is Pastry Chef at Jean-Georges, chef Johnny Iuzzini. It's interesting to note the parallels between the two fields and being aware of the fact that though it seems they are not similar at all, they have many similarities...art, science...treating people with medical care versus treating people with an experience like none other in a dessert. Both extremely rigorous, physically demanding, mentally challenging, not for the faint of heart type careers. Both professions are extremely taxing on the mind and body. Both require creative and intelligent individuals to push their minds to the limits and create a solution to a problem or solve a puzzle really, whether it is with flavors or finding a treatment pathway. 

I loved my career before and I love my current profession. It's not easy but I do it because I have to because I cannot see myself doing anything else but this. 

A humbling experience

I realize that the hierarchy of the kitchen exists and I've been through this militaristic peckdown order from my medical career. I don't condone it, I just live through it because it is necessary. I don't believe in being disrespectful to people who have much more experience in the field BUT I do believe that everyone should be allowed to voice their opinion at the appropriate time. I also believe that everyone should be allowed to defend their position if it is not a time crunching situation. I don't believe in face to face combat but I do believe that a healthy argument, voicing each person's concerns is the right way to address a problem or conflict. I also believe that American Gladiator is an excellent way to let out one's aggressions and I strongly believe that if everyone were allowed to take their company retreat to a hand to hand combat situation like paintball or an American Gladiator arena or even a padded boxing ring, well...we might all get all of our aggressions and harbored resentments out in a much healthier or health promoting manner. 

Katie's cake

She loves it. She has been getting a slice every day after dinner. I'm so happy that she loves it. I also love my new decorations for the birthday cakes. It's adorable!

It's getting hot in here

This morning I discovered that my new carob ganache recipe was not going to work out. It actually took me 3 hours to keep working with this stuff. It's definitely not chocolate. It melts in a strange way and it smells better when it is warm than when it is just in the container. Personally, I like chocolate a lot better than carob but since dogs cannot eat chocolate, I'm stuck with this to work with and it is not fun. It's a little bit cleaner than chocolate and the color is a gorgeous almost black brown color. I love that. I hate that I couldn't make a carob ganache this morning. I was really hoping to make a carob ganache cake for Katie so I could add it to the menu. I guess I have to hit the books and figure it out. 

Back in the saddle again

I baked a gorgeous Barkday cake for a little dog named Cujo. So excited. I loved it. It came out great! I had help today for the very first time. My family pitched in because I had worked late last night. It was one of the best cakes I've made. I think that my pastry education is really paying off because I did something a little different from the past cakes in terms of the recipe procedure and this cake came out NICE. I mean really really nice. Yah! Katie is staring at the counter where the other cakes are cooling. I actually made three since the batter was so...nice. I have to make some baking notes but the cake was perfect. More perfect than before, it had a nice texture, dense and heavy but dry inside. The carrots were perfectly throughout, and the peanut butter was really creamed in good. Yup. I'm really happy with this cake. I hope the pawty goes well! I also did my usual barkday presents because I just like throwing in stuff as comps. I am such a sucker for pawties. Presents are my favorite part about celebrating barkdays for dogs. 

Playtime 

I am really trying to find a nice organic toy line to go with my treats so I can really push it up a notch. But, I have to fix my website first and then I have to graduate from pastry school and I have my other life-stuffs going on...whew. I went to the doggie fashion week convention last year and found a great stuffed toy line made with organic cotton. So...soft and so...nice. I loved it. I think that they are selling those in the maternity stores and for babies. It's really a cute line of fluffy lambs and it's a great all natural color, not bleached white but closer to the natural color of wool. I liked it a lot. Now, it's just a matter of finding that company...filing system needs updating...check.

Coloring

I decided to try to change up my decorating techniques and discovered that I make a cute bone. My little squirt bottle works great for brief stints of writing. I love it. But it's a really hard bottle to fill because the opening is so...narrow. Now that I know how to make cornets, it makes life so...much easier BUT I need to get parchment. Get parchment...check.

Uh oh...Katie's barking again...gotta go;)

Plus I gotta make the cake for her that I promised. Such a spoiled little dog:))

It's been a while but here goes nuthin'

No, not really nothing. I've been really busy with my education lately so I've been really delinquent. I will apologize to all the customers who have been calling for cakes and I've been turning them down. I just cannot do it all. I will be restarting birthday and barkday cakes really soon. I promise that. I just cannot do it and do my studying at the same time. I am NOT a superhero. Yeah right! Seriously though, I did some major baking yesterday to make up for all the weeks that have gone by without touching the bakery worklist. I'm the best and the worst boss ever. 

Yeah, I exist but see...

I don't actually have a bakery. Oh no! The truth comes out! I don't actually have a storefront is what I mean. People are still calling to ask me where I am located and well, I'm everywhere and nowhere at the same time. How oddly true is that? I can send treats anywhere via fed ex or priority or overnight mail and even by local delivery or pick-up but I don't have a storefront so you really cannot stop by and browse. You can browse my menu online and see what is available and have the treats specially made for your dogs but they aren't lying around waiting to be purchased. It's a whole freshness thing for me. I like baking on order even though it is difficult, it gives me a little peace of mind and it's what Honeybark is really all about. I like to know that I am baking the right treat for your dog's size, preferences and something that they will really enjoy. 

Just a reminder, if your dog has allergies, please tell me about them. I might have a treat that I can create for you using gluten free flours or corn-free or egg-free. Just ask me.

What have I been doing?! 

Anyhow, so yesterday was a bigtime Ruffy Road kind of treat day. I baked over 12 dozen original sized treats and about 3 lbs of the mini treats. Plus, I did some special heart shaped treats for a friend of mine. They were super cute! I might add that shape to the Ruffy Road shape. I really wanted to do the sweet potato treats but I didn't. I was too tired. I am really glad that I got those extra sheet pans though. What a time saver THAT was. Thanks to Paul, my buddy in business school who brought that bright light to the tunnel. Silly things but whenever someone makes a suggestion to me, I'm all over listening because objective viewpoints really bring something to the table sometimes. Yes, yes, I know...a while back I got pretty mad that everyone and their brother wanted to tell me something that I should do with my business and I wanted to tell THEM what to do with THEIR business...yeppers, I was pretty arrogant at that time. But now I realize that for the most part, people do mean well and want to be helpful. That's sweet...especially since a lot of these people have not started a business of their own, nor have they ever gone to business school. Whatever...I'm all ears now. So if you have an idea...BRING IT!

I have a few new treat ideas that are picketing my brain to be brought out into the spotlight. I'm really psyched to try them but have about zero free time to do any of my usual experimental baking. Poo. I wish I had more time in the day to do some fun stuff but now is not the time I guess.

Katie updates

Katie has decided that she is taking her sheepdog responsibilities very seriously lately and has gotten into a really bad habit of getting very much underfoot. Ook. I mean, she trips me every chance she can get when I am leaving for school in the AM. It's getting a little scary because I usually have so...much stuff that I bring for school that I am like a mini caravan, baglady...you get the picture...and I just teeter here and there trying to get out the door before she runs over and barks at my insolence of trying to actually leave home. I can't wait for her to get over this little overachiever phase in her life. 

I love her though. She is still the best dog ever. And she really liked the ciabatta bread I baked today:)

Her treat jar overfloweth with Ruffy Road now. She's set for some time now:)

Let's be safe together

Last but not least, summer is here and we need to review the safety tips:

http://www.nsalamerica.org/articles/healthtips/dog-days-of-summer.html

Yay, keep it comin'!

This is the fourth cake I'm doing in the past two weeks and it's getting really crazy. I work all day then I get home and frost and decorate each cake. It's a good kind of crazy but crazy nonetheless.

For example, today I came home, broke out the peanut butter and banana recipe and BOOM, done. Nice, eh? Thank you Dad for getting me that super high powered hand mixer that can make the creamiest fluffiest frosting ever. Wowzers. This hand mixer can go really fast so I hold on tight and let it rip. I mean, this baby has POWER. Whew. I was tired and almost let it go flying out of my hand. I mean that's how powerful this thing is. Vroom a zoom zoom, y'know?

So the frosting, the peanut butter and banana is with a cream cheese base and other secret but wholesome goodness is in there that makes it amazingly good. I'm not bragging, it's just true. It's some tasty treat. Ask Katie. The deal with Katie is that since she is the official taste tester, she gets whatever gets cranked outta my little kitchen. Katie knows this and so she waits for me on schedule for any cake, treats, whatever...it's all about Katie.

Everyday is Katie's Birthday!

Katie is getting confused. She thinks that every day is her birthday because every day I do a cake, she gets a little cupcake with frosting on it. Luckily for her, everything is healthy and really lowfat so she isn't getting a pooch. (Ha ha? Sheesh, I must be tired, laughing at my own doggy humor.)  Anyhoo, so Katie just got a little heart shaped cupcake with some of that creamy peanut butter and banana frosting and then she proceeded to follow me all over the house to get some more. That's some goood stuff.

This is cute.

http://www.break.com/index/cute-dog-plays-fetch-with-himself.html

It's a clip of a dog whose owner created a catapult that allows the dog to play all day long with tennis balls. It's adorable. I want one for Katie but I don't have a long hallway like his.

I'm really happy for all the cake orders we've been getting. 

Katie is really happy too.

Just a reminder for dog's birthday cakes, I need at least a day or two because the cake prep takes time. This is not Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker, this is homemade from scratch with real homemade frosting as well. This is better than the stuff we make for people!

It's all completely human-grade ingredients and you can definitely have a piece of cake if you want to share in your dog's birthday. 

New Cakes

I've created mini bundt cakes and heart shaped cakes as well so if you want mini cakes, just call me to special order it.

Got Milk?

I have to talk about milk and dairy products because unfortunately there is a condition called lactose intolerance that affects both humans and dogs. This conditions subjects the unfortunate creature to a horrible bout of loose stools, gas and malaise after ingesting dairy products including milk, butter, cheese and any products containing the aforementioned items. 

Why am I getting into this unspeakable condition? I make a delicious creamy cheese cinnamon vanilla frosting for The Honeybark Bakery Birthday Cakes. I now know that there is one very important ingredient that helps to prevent any nasty reactions from occurring. It's acidophilus. 

Yes, a simple cup of yogurt will help to alleviate or prevent any loose stools.

So, if you have noticed that your pet is intolerant to cheese, you could try to include some organic yogurt with live active cultures in their diet. By doing so, you may be able to allow your dog to enjoy some of the same things that you are eating. 

Happy treating!

Happy New Year 2008!

Whew. It's been a great year. Lots of work putting together our little business. It's not really a business. It's the beginning of a possible business. We've made it through with a few regular customers and a lots of wonderful donations to homeless dogs and shelter dogs. It's really been the most wonderful and rewarding experience I've ever had with animal welfare. I'm really glad to have started The Honeybark Bakery.

What's new?

Well, the new treats this year are all about Honeybears. The decision has been made to add little bears or big bears to the bag because this is our new treat. Big bears for the original sized treats and mini bears in the mini treat bags. I'm not steady on giving up on my little heart and flower shaped treats because it makes my job more interesting and fun. The treats that have been added to our selections included the Yammy Bears and the Cranbeary Bears or Berry Beary Good! Still not sure about that name...Plus, they were a bit too purple for my liking, gotta tone down those little purple bears a little bit. I just didn't like the coloring. Nothing was added to the treats, it was the real cranberry but it was just a bit overloaded. So I'm working on that recipe. The pumpkin treats were really pretty. Love those. Plus, I'm trying very hard to go greener with my packaging, like using the brown bags and also using recycled packing material and maybe using recycled paper more often. Plus recycling ink cartridges and lots of other things to try and save our environment. It's not easy being green but we're getting there. Each day is one more step to save the environment. Little things to help.

The website needs fixing so it might be down for a few days to try to add in some great photos, change some things, make it a little bit easier to use and show the world our treats in a new light:)

Katie's sleeping on the floor on my feet while I type on my laptop. She's being very snuggley today, perhaps because I left her for a bit yesterday and missed her nighttime ritual. She's really such a little bioclock for me. At 5-6AM, she's awake and barking at the neighbors or me leaving for work. Not always, just most days. At 7AM, she barks at the garbage men, according to reports. At 11AM, she runs around outside and chases the birds and squirrels and waits to sneak up on the letter carrier. At noon she has lunch. From 1PM-3PM she wanders aimlessly or sleeps soundly. At 4PM she goes out again to run around. At 5PM she wants her pre-dinner snack and then at 6PM she eats, 7PM she plays, 8PM she poos. It's very regular. I could set my watch to her. Her calendar is fuller than mine. Nice.

Alright, I've resolved this year to finish more books and so I must keep to my resolution and go read for an hour. Wish me luck.

Happy new treat year!
2008...whoa...

Sick Day

Well, Honeybark is closed today because I am couped up in bed. Blech. Getting sick is really not for me. Although, the perks of it is that I actually lie in bed with my laptop and shop online for totally unnecessary items and with the power of the credit card, poof! It's at my doorstep in no time at all! Right, so just a word to the wise, hide your wallet when you are under the influence of a cold remedy. Yup.

Here's something cute that I found at Hallmark.com though. It's adorable and highly recommended for treats.

http://www.hallmark.com/wcsstore/HallmarkStore/images/products/gifts/dptwopleasetreatjar_xxl.jpg

The cutest little treat jar ever!

By the way, the treat of the month for December is going to be Cran-Beary Bears! Cute little bear shaped cranberry treats for your dog.

Poo

It's a subject that I have to bring up because it's something that is around day in and day out. For dog owners, it's an issue that needs to be addressed three times a day sometimes. Luckily, not for me and Katie, it's only twice a day for her. Anyhow, I wanted to discuss the options out there for discarding this task of dreaded doodoo. I was picking up after Katie this morning and thought about how these baggies accumulate and perhaps there might be a better option, something biodegradable because the contents are basically fertilizer anyhow. How fantastic would it be to be able to discard your poochie poop so that you could allow it to be used/recycled as fertilizer?

Then the poop mobile would come in. This would be the vehicle to transport the poop to wherever it was needed. Once deposited, there would have to be poop packers or poop plotter who would put the poop on the property where it was needed. Yikes. I sound like a Dr. Seuss book. The poop packages plotted on the property of propagation? Yowza.

So I came across this site that actually sells biodegradable poop bags.

http://www.poopbags.com/index.html

Yup. That's where you can get the 'green' bags.

Not to be outdone, this is unbelieveable. There is actually a website created to discuss #2.

http://www.poopreport.com/

No way...

Enough!

Yes, enough on that topic. I shall move on to another warm mushy topic. Sweet Potato!

Yes, I have created the Yammy Bears:) These are my new mini treat and they are fantastic! Katie loved them. It's pure yammy goodness with golden honey. Not much because the taters are sweet on their own.

November's Treat of the Month is yummy Yammy Bears!

16 oz of Yammy Bears for $12.00.

It's not posted on the website yet because it's THAT new. Right. The recipe is hot outta the oven and it's the best way to celebrate Thanksgiving and all that warm fuzzy stuff with your dog.

Get some of this treat now.

Yamtastic!

Oh boy. I've been dreaming about Thanksgiving since...oh well, perhaps LAST Thanksgiving?! I love this holiday. It speaks of delicious food, warm hearts, being with family and creating a precious moment of blissful satiety. It's delicious. Yes, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of all.

Well, in honor of Thanksgiving and all this meal provideth us...November's Treat of the Month is Yammy Bears! It's a sumptuous sweet potato-licious treat. Made from organic whole wheat flour, yummy yams, golden honey, canola oil and ha, that's it! What a great treat. Katie loved hers. They are adorable little bear shaped Yammy cookies. I gotta show you how cute and golden they are.

I baked a bunch of birthday cakes for dogs this Fall. It's been busy here at The HB. I'm working on new recipes, as promised. The Apple peanut butter treat is yet to come to fruition but I am working on December's Treat of the Month which is Cranberry Bears. My new favorite cookie cutters are my mini and big bear shaped cutters. So you will be seeing a lot of the bears before they go into hibernation! Haha:)

Ok, I gotta get up early so I am off to bed now. Any special requests for doggy treats, send them to me at geri@honeybark.com

Hugs and very special treats to all your furry friends!

G

Delivery Options

I'm exploring further delivery possibilities because Honeybark is reaching all parts of the U.S. and my cakes are not getting there. Sad. True. Recently I've gotten requests for cake as far as CA! How is this possible? Where are these people coming from or how did they find me? I have no idea. But I must solve this problem because our cakes are so great and dogs love them.

Natural colors

Finally found some really cool natural food coloring for writing on cakes. But, it's EXPENSIVE! I am now searching for a more cost effective food coloring.

Pretty Pretty

Pampering Katie is becoming a regular thing and just as I was brushing my pretty girl, I realized I am in a dire need of a haircut myself. My lovely little lady looks gorgeous, her hair looks amazing and I am looking like a...well, let's not go there...because Katie, the dog looks fabulous. So I am off to the hairstylist to get fixed up.

Katie the "Watch" dog

I woke up really early yesterday to go to work. 5AM is not a normal time to be up and about in my house. Katie rose sleepily and accompanied me to the kitchen and observed me stepping into a freezing cold puddle of water that was seeping from the bottom of my fridge. Lovely. I screeched. She yawned. I hopped around the kitchen on my dry foot trying to pull that awful freezing cold soaked sock off my nice warm, fresh outta the bed footsie. Yowza. Not to mention I had just put on one of my new EXTRA SOFT SUPER CUSHIONED socks. I have to say, if you ever need to double duty your socks, use your super absorbent socks to soak up kitchen spills. It works wonders. Katie is a great watch dog. She watched the whole event, satisfied that I was not actually leaving the house, turned and went back to sleep on the floor.

My new favorites

Celestial Seasonings Wild Berry Zinger tea makes a great iced tea. No sugar needed. It's yummy!

Pretzel Crisps are so crunchy and satisfying.

Haagen Dazs new Dark Chocolate Pomegranate ice cream bars (NOT FOR DOGS!) only for people. It's delish.

Stila Lipglaze in Cinnamon

L'occitane Lemon Verbena L'eau de toilette

iPhone

Activia vanilla yogurt and Bear Naked Heavenly Chocolate granola

That's all for now.

Enjoy your treats!

Superbaddog!!

Katie had her visit to the vet today. What a doozey of an experience that was. She knew it was coming because I was really buttering her up for it last night. She got a little treat her, a bellyrub, brushed, washed, etc. It was quite the pamperfest. However, this morning she was very wary of all the activity in the house including the gathering of vital documents, records, poop sample collection etc. She knew it was coming along because she was going somewhere and it's been quite some time since Katie has taken a ride in el minivan. Right. So of course I got lost on the way to the vet because it has been a year hasn't it? Longer? I dunno. I tend to block out all those bad experiences and horror flick type moments in my life. Yup.

We finally got to the place and it looked different and not just that, there were cats around and Katie is a fraidy cat of sorts especially around cats so she wanted to leave immediately. This began the horrible wrist wrenching pulling that she so very much loves to do in public. Blah. Especially with the horror-stretch leash she has, I forgot the straight leash this time. Stupid move on my part. She wanted out so we went outside in the drizzling nasty rain and she proceeded to pee on every patch of grass around the vets office. Then she went to investigate other dog's poop. At that point, I put my foot down. Not on the poop, thank goodness but I got her away from that business, or rather some other dog's business, right away. Toot sweet...y'know?

So we get inside and the vet is new. She is one of those super smiley but really not genuinely smiley but kind of psycho, Cunningham Muffins type smiley. This is not boding well at all. Katie wants to get out of the room immediately. The vet proceeds to try to examine Katie and I think that Katie really senses how I'm feeling because I am terribly uneasy with this creepy vet woman who is feeling up my dog. So what does Katie do when she is crabby and wants out? NIP! Yeah, you betcha. She nipped the vet. Ugh. That sucked. The vet then called Katie "a dog with a mind of her OWN huh?" Yeah. She knows she doesn't like you. I guess you might say she knows THAT much huh? Well, then she had to drag Katie out of the room to give her the big old stick in the butt. Yow. I heard her yelp from through the wall. I think they heard her in Kansas. It was loud and frightening. I have not heard Katie yelp like that in a very long time. That made me mad. Then when she came back into the room, she was coughing like she swallowed a giant hairball. I cannot blame the vet but really, Katie never had issues with the other vet.

So what did I do when we got home? I made a cake and I gave Katie a cupcake. Can't show the photos of Katie with the cupcake because she ate that thing so fast it was like her life depended on that little thing. The cake came out great. I will post photos of it soon. The frosting was again delicious and the lettering came out better. I need to practice more though.

Katie is sleeping now. Too much excitement.

Nutrition and Allergies

I've received quite a few requests for allergen-free products. I do have treats that contain ingredients that are somewhat accessible for those poor allergic dogs such as Beggin for Bananas. It's got oats but no corn, no egg.

I'm trying. Really. I have experimented with some treats to try to create a completely gluten/egg/milk-free treat but it turns out to burn badly or not be palatable to Katie. I would show you the photos of those treats but it's simply not something I want to show and honestly wish I hadn't seen them myself! Blech. Katie just wanders in to check out what I'm doing periodically. Sometimes she lays down on the floor and just watches me mixing and rolling dough. She will oftentimes creep very quietly over to the cooling area and lie under the trays of treats while they are cooling. I know she is waiting for the day that one of those trays miraculously falls off and she gets showered with treats. Dogs do dream too.

Cold Cereal

I had the idea to create a cereal for dogs but then I remembered that their dogfood actually does resemble cereal already. Oops.

Pawps

Then I got the idea to create some big treats that could be like a "big cookie." I haven't got the right cutter for that but it's coming.

Birthday Bash!

Wow. I'm getting cramps from doing the writing on these cakes. I like the decorating part but is there no better way to write on a cake? I've explored the different decorator guns that resemble those crazy rayguns that the alien invaders in those crazy sci-fi movies carried. They actually look like a caulking gun. I might regrout my bathroom this weekend so perhaps I will practice some writing with caulk and see how things go.

Sometimes there is more to the happy girl at the office.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMY5fgp_rAE

Happy Birthday! Oops!

Man. I forgot to take a photo of the last cake I did. And, it was probably one of the nicest ones I've done and the writing was in blue. This I wanted to post because it looked really cute. Blah.

The treat bags were a hit. I did a variety of six treats in there and combined large and small sizes with a pretty ribbon and a tag. Cute all around. $3.00 a bag.

Found a nice lady to promote my treats. She is a dog walker and she has so many clients and she is a Long Islander so it's local business as well. Nice.

Treat of the month went out and it was Cinnabark Sweet Blossoms. Adorable.

Working hard at the FT gig. It's taking a bit out of me but no worries. Rainy day today so it looks like I'll be baking instead of going to the driving range and whacking balls into the horizon tonight.

Weird post. Still reading that Starbucks Experience book. I'm seriously 30 pages from done. Fell asleep with it on my head and it fell on the floor which will probably take me back five pages since I forgot what I read last night. Oopsy.

Also enjoyed the hype of Vitamin Water lately. That is my drink of choice to date. Love the XXX and the Focus. Also the Citrus one is yummy as well.

Later!

The icing on the cake

My passion is clearly in the decorating, though I enjoy very much the creation of the cakes. I love making frosting. Now, I've got it down to a little throw of this and a shake of that and it's done. The cinnamon/vanilla/honey frosting is amazing. It's so yummy. I just did a cake for a birthday party tomorrow and it looks great and the frosting is delicious. yummmmmm-o.

=

It's getting HOT in HERE!

Oh my. Baking is not supposed to be about slaving over a hot oven. Oh wait, it is. Isn't it? Yes, indeed it has been super hot here out on Long Island. It's hot sweaty humid heat and it ain't fun to work in this type of condition. But there is one wonderful side of it all, my little AC unit is blasting full force today and I am on administrative duties right now. No, I'm still baking but I'm doing comp work right now so I happily bask in AC goodness at this moment. ahhhhhh....

I'm putting together little gift baggies for a party this weekend. Packed away a multitude of orders this week and got supremely nauseous because of the heat and the liver treats. Blah. Normally, the liver doesn't bother me but try baking in a hot area. blech...

I gotta go check the cookies. I've been calling them cookies lately. I don't know why.

Later!