Little wet-nose round-up

In honor of Jenny's birthday, we all went to Tamales Bay for a great BBQ/Oyster fest. The grilled oysters were so good that it reminded Julie of the grilled oysters she had in Miyajima, Japan.

Eric and Julie found Jenny this great apron that says,"beagle hair adds flavor"

Julie also got to reminisce about the joy of having a dog by playing with all the little wet-nosed friends at the party

Costco dinner creation

Ahhh! another lovely Costco dinner creation.

After realizing their love for the Costco polish dog, the economist in Eric wanted to further decrease the cost of our polish dog consumption by buying the gourmet hot dogs in bulk and making them at home.

Well... it was quite difficult to consume 20 gourmet hot dogs without a little creativity.

Here is our first attempt at the regular dog:

And here is our last attempt, pig-in-a-blanket

The best Key lime bar from America's Test kitchen

The beauty of not subscribing to cable is the incidental findings of great TV programs on channels you would otherwise surf by (e.g. PBS). On a great Saturday afternoon, while Eric was working hard on the computer, Julie found this great Key lime bar recipe on America's Test Kitchen.

http://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipe.asp?recipeids=3511&iSeason=7

Makes sixteen 2-inch bars
Crust
5 ounces animal crackers
3 tablespoons packed brown sugar (light or dark)
1 pinch table salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted and cooled slightly
Filling
2 ounces cream cheese , room temperature
1 tablespoon grated lime zest , minced
1 pinch table salt
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup fresh lime juice , either Key lime or regular
Garnish (optional)
3/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut , toasted until golden and crisp

Instructions:

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Cut about 12-inch length extra-wide heavy-duty foil; fold cut edges back to form 7 1/2-inch width. With folded sides facing down, fit foil securely into bottom and up sides of 8-inch-square baking pan, allowing excess to overhang pan sides. Spray foil with nonstick cooking spray.
2. TO MAKE THE CRUST: In workbowl of food processor, pulse animal crackers until broken down, about ten 1-second pulses; process crumbs until evenly fine, about 10 seconds (you should have about 1 1/4 cups crumbs). Add brown sugar and salt; process to combine, ten to twelve 1-second pulses (if large sugar lumps remain, break them apart with fingers). Drizzle butter over crumbs and pulse until crumbs are evenly moistened with butter, about ten 1-second pulses. Press crumbs evenly and firmly into bottom of prepared pan. Bake until deep golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes. Cool on wire rack while making filling. Do not turn off oven.
3. TO MAKE THE FILLING: While crust cools, in medium bowl, stir cream cheese, zest, and salt with rubber spatula until softened, creamy, and thoroughly combined. Add sweetened condensed milk and whisk vigorously until incorporated and no lumps of cream cheese remain; whisk in egg yolk. Add lime juice and whisk gently until incorporated (mixture will thicken slightly).
4. TO ASSEMBLE AND BAKE: Pour filling into crust; spread to corners and smooth surface with rubber spatula. Bake until set and edges begin to pull away slightly from sides, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool on wire rack to room temperature, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Cover with foil and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, at least 2 hours.
5. Loosen edges with paring knife and lift bars from baking pan using foil extensions; cut bars into 16 squares. Sprinkle with toasted coconut, if using, and serve. (Leftovers can be refrigerated up to 2 days; crust will soften slightly. Let bars stand at room temperature about 15 minutes before serving.)

Approved by Eric and Julie ^_^

A new addition to our family: the yeller monster

Eric and Julie finally broke down and bought a sofa. At the store, the two-cushion-couch didn't look too big; however, when we brought it home.... let's just say, it was a near back-breaking experience for Eric (Julie supervised).

It took a while to figure out how to get it through the front door. While in the hallway, we finally met our neighbor across the way - and saw that their view of the marina was pretty nice. Julie says better than the bridge, but Eric thinks the bridge looks better.

We were trying to figure out what to name our couch, the Hulk, the beast, ah~ the yeller monster (it almost didn't fit in the elevator, I guess we could have started a party in the hallway with it).

It was hard for Julie to say good-bye to the old couch, since it took forever for her to finish making the checker pattern cover for it. All good things have to come to an end. Eric decided to have someone come take the couch away while Julie was at work, so there would be no second thoughts.

Raccoons do the darndest things

While staying home alone at Julie's parent's house, Eric heard a bunch of noise coming from the roof, over the kitchen. Walking into the kitchen, Eric saw a raccoon carrying a baby in its mouth, climbing down the side of the house. It noticed me about half-way down, paused, and then continued on its way. When Eric told Julie about the mother raccoon, Julie said "Why didn't you go out to look at it?" Eric said "Are you crazy, raccoons are wild animals. It would've tore me limb from limb!"
Trying to figure out how to deal with this, we've been asking our friends for advice. The most interesting we received was to light a fire and blow the smoke into the hole. All Eric could think about was 1) the angry raccoon jumping out of the hole as I fanned the smoke into it; 2) how I would escape from the roof (without falling down the ladder) if the raccoon jumped out; and 3) lighting a fire on the wood roof seemed like it might "smoke out" the entire building.
So, before we left LA we decided to seal up the hole (holding a board in place with bricks so we could remove it). Luckily the raccoons were gone and we didn't have to open the hole back up while preparing to dodge the angry raccoons jumping out.
BTW, Eric thinks of raccoons as small, vicious, bears.

SEX AND THE CITY

THE GIRLS ARE BACK!!!
It was like they never went off the air. The movie was bigger and better but with the nudity returning with a vengeance... The story plot had so many twist and turns, it kept all the audience cheering for girl power and it didn't feel like a 2+hour movie at all. No bathroom break for anyone.
The gang got together this Saturday with the girls heading off to the movies and the boys staying back for a poker night (no objections there).

(picture of the line for the Sex and the City midnight showing 1 hour before the show taken by Eric as we exited from Indiana Jones on Thursday).

When the girls entered the theater, it was like a scene from Thanksgiving's "Black Friday" - except the shoppers are pushing and shoving to get into the theater for a good seat. The excitement came to a new height when the music of Sex in the City came on. Crowds were cheering and screaming for their favorite characters as they were first introduced in the movie. The only thing Julie can compare this to is her theater experience in STAR WARS IV: A New Hope.

This was not only a great bonding experience for the girls but it was also a great poker night for the boys... so we were all happy customers.

Keeping a secret

So a coworker of Eric's recently got pregnant, and has been going home every day before 9pm for "health reasons." Given that everyone else had been going home at midnight or later, this was causing some resentment since she was in the first trimester and hadn't told the entire team about her good news. Since Eric is so trustworthy (i.e. highly ranked), she did tell Eric ...

One day the team was sitting around eating dinner when the manager on the case saw a printout left by someone else. On it, there was the profile of Cornelius X, an attorney. He remarked that there weren't many white guys named Cornelius, and Eric said "what about [Cornelius] Vanderbilt," to which the reply was that there weren't many white guys named Cornelius these days. This, combined with the pregnancy information gave Eric a great idea.

"I've got a proposition," Eric started as he looked at his unknown-to-everyone-that-she-was-pregnant coworker. Before he could say "she should name her child Cornelius if it's a boy," Eric remembered that she didn't want to tell everyone, and he just kind of paused. Awkward city! Complete silence while Eric scrambled for something to say.

After he regained his faculties, Eric said "I once knew a guy named Corn, but it wasn't short for Cornelius. I think it was Cornelio" And the conversation got rolling again. Whew. The coworker also had a relieved face. Needless to say, this proves that Eric is completely trustworthy. Please feel free to add any and all secrets to the comments section of this blog.