Happy and Thankful

Hello friends!
I hope you all had a very happy Thanksgiving day! I am sorry I write this a day late but I suspect something weird is happening at home. You see, ever since we found out that a new puppy was on the way to be part of our family (I still don't understand why such puppy would take nine months to arrive though...), mom has been acting weird. She sleeps all day - except while at work, I hope - she eats all day, her belly is growing big and round and yesterday she even dared to stay stinky and didn't take a bath! Isn't she puggier than ever?




I know most of my friends enjoyed turkey for Thanksgiving. I didn't. Our fridge has been broken most of the month, since it worked only for a few days after mom got it fixed. And she can only make appointments for Saturday because mom and dad have to work and I can't open the door for the tech to come in - and of course I don't want to pay him with my puggycard. So, mom and dad didn't have anything to eat for Thanksgiving! They woke up early to go to the supermarket and for their surprise, it didn't open yesterday. Of the few things still left on the fridge, we had 3 sweet potatoes and 1 onion. So they went to a place called "El Palacio de los Jugos" which is a cuban market that magically transports you to a third world country, a few blocks away from mom's office, and probably one of the few stores opened on Thanksgiving day. Mom loves the place, it reminds her of home. They sell fresh fruits and veggies, natural fresh juices and smooties, breakfasts and prepared cuban food. Mom bought cuban bread, baked pork for dinner, lemon, cilantro (which costs 1/6 of the price at the supermarket and looks much fresher!) and carrots the size of yuccas. HUGE CARROTS for ME!

So this is what our Thanksgiving table looked like:


Not that bad considering the circumstances!



Me: "Where's my pork?"
Mom: "Coco, you can't have pork. You are on a diet 24/7, 365 days of the year".
Dad: "It is Thanksgiving for him, too".
Mom: "It is too greasy. He only eats healthy organic stuff".

Dad gave me some pieces of baked sweet potato. When mom turned away, dad put some pork on my plate. I love dad, he puts delicious things on my plate everyday. But shhhhh!! Don't tell mom, please!

You can tell I was a happy pug after dinner! I went to sleep and dreamt of all the things I have to be thankful for. A nice loving family, a great vet, a warm place to call home, kibble, veggies and daddy's "extras" on my plate.

And I am specially thankful for having such great pug-people and puggy friends! *kisses to all!*

The Importance of Celebrating Daddy's Day

Hello Friends!
First of all, Happy Father's Day to all of your daddies, grandfathers and... well, is any of you puggies a father?
Now, I want to relate how this father's day was celebrated at home. Mom and Dad watched food network yesterday morning. The program 5 Ingretients Fix featured French Bistro at Home recipes. Mom and Dad love french food and since most restaurants are packed for father's day, mom decided to prepare the dishes featured on the program for dad on sunday. Around midday mom and dad went to get a haircut. It is the first time mom gets a haircut since we moved to this neighbourhood but daddy already knew where to go. Mom survived miraculously during the haircut because she couldn't breathe with all the chemicals in the air. During the short conversation she had with the hair stylist, the hair stylist remarked: "Where are you going to find duck?"
Well, I saved the day for mom. Since I had my pug meetup very far away, and mom planned to pick up a package waiting for her at a hotel - a friend of grandma brought my pills from Peru, it's cheaper over there - which was further away, mom was able to find duck in a Fresh Market in that area. There was only one duck breast in the store, though.
Anyway, today in the morning, after the corresponding greetings and kisses for father's day mom went to the supermarket to buy all the other ingredients. She came back, cooked - daddy helped a little, organized the bedroom, washed the laundry, washed the bedding and the pillows, organized the desks, put away the dishes and filled the dishwasher twice... all of this so daddy could sit and relax, otherwise it is him who would do most of this stuff. So around 4 p.m. while mom was putting the clean sheets on the bed daddy sneaked at her and shouted: "Are you still working? This is scary!"
I do hope daddy understands that all of this effort was to celebrate his day. On my part, I really had to do very little. While mom and dad were enjoying their french home made dishes daddy expressed a very important discovery. He said:
"Coco has improved so much lately. A few minutes ago, while I was serving the potatoes he sat by the oven and whined. I had to give him a little piece of potato". Way to go, daddy! You are the best!

Pay it Forward

Hello pugs, cats, cute little animals and people!

Look what the mailman (or woman, I don't really know since they don't come to the door) brought for me on Saturday!

At first I was suspicious that it was a package for mom and not for me. I wanted to stay in the kitchen "requesting" someone to please open the fridge, but mom kept calling me.

The package was from aunty Rachel! And all items on it were for me!

There was a recipe of puggy cookies, signed and approved by Clemmie and Winston themselves!

There was an apron for mom to use while she prepares the puggy cookies for me.

Look at the cute detail in the apron! It matches with our home colors!

And just to make sure mom gets it right, she sent some cookies in a cookie jar! I didn't have a cookie jar before. I think it was a great idea to give mom the "suggestion"...

This video is my "thank you" note for Rachel, Clemmie and Winston:

Now, here are the rules of the game:

"The exchange focuses on doing an act of kindness without expecting anything in return other than that the recipient will, in their turn, pass the kindness along and 'pay it forward' in their own way. This is how it works...I am going to send something to the first 3 blog owners who wants to take part. In turn you will then post about this on your blog, link to me, then send something to the first three people who sign up to play along through your blog.There are no cost restraints, BUT don't go crazy! The little something you send can be something you made, bought, were given or found.No biggie, just a gift that will make the person smile.Maybe something unique from where you live?And, remember that kindness does not have to involve money; there are untold ways to help others every single day, everywhere you go - just look around."

Please post a comment letting us know that you want to play! Mom is looking forward to send some cute stuff your way!

Cool Award!

Hello friends!
I hope you all had a great weekend! We had a great surprise to start our week happy, we got the Kreativ Blogger Award four times! Our sweet friends Salinger, The Pug Posse (all 7 of them!), Napoleon and Rukia, and Clemmie and Winston sent it to us. We are very honored because mom and I both love to be creative.


Rules:
List 6 things that make you happy. Pass the award on to 6 bloggers for Kreativ. Link to the blogger who gave you the award. Link to the blogs receiving the award. Notify the recipients.









1. Mom loves to read the stories on our friends' blogs and I am happy to be a part of their bloggy world. We are happy to have met wonderful people and doggies through here. Mom also enjoys trying to be creative everytime she writes on the blog. The comments on our blog makes us happy, too.

2. Mom loves to travel, but she is not very good at planning. Aunty likes to plan things for other people and thanks to her, mom and dad have travelled a lot. Mom is specially happy when she goes to Perú. I like to travel, too. I am very adventurous! Mom wishes she could go to more places with me but sometimes it is not possible. Our local pug meetup makes me happy, too and since it is a little far away, for me it counts as travelling!

3. Cooking makes mom happy, specially if other people eat and like her food. I am happy eating.

4. Mom is happy when she is able to decorate the house. She likes to play with the furniture and paintings and stuff until she gets the perfect layout.

5. Dancing makes mom happy. Unfortunately, dad doesn't dance and I am too small to dance with mom. She likes salsa, merengue, rock, trans... at this point, anything would be OK for her. When it is time for my meals or treats I am happy and I dance.

6. My mom is happy when she sees her family. I am happy when my family visit, too because I feel that I am loved by a huge crowd!

We would like to pass this award to:

Suki and Mojo, Nan & Aine, Clover, MeiMei & Miko, Jasper, and The Three Pugskateers.

Now, do you see this picture?

You'll be surprised to see what this paw was able to do. Tune in for the next chapter of "Working with the Snuggle Puggle"!

Our New Diet & Foodie Friday Results

One of my goals for this year is to loose weight. I don't use the common ways for that. I don't diet and I don't use a scale. I just eat smaller portions and become selective of what I eat on a daily basis. If there's something I like and it is not very healthy or has lots of calories I will just eat a little bit. I am not good giving up on what I like!

This week I prepared Melissa's quinoa recipe. It was very easy and tasted very good. I added some peruvian pepper and more lime juice because I like to eat spicy. It is a very healthy and light meal so we both ate almost everyhing that night because I served it as the main dish, when it is supossed to be a side dish.



I also prepared Laura's brownies. It had been a while since the last time I had brownies. I don't like them very much because the ones I have tried (prepared by me, homemade by others or store brought) taste like cooking oil to me. Laura's recipe is very easy, there is little mess in the kitchen (unlike when I prepare other desserts), and the results are AMAZING! I liked the flavor a lot, but I have to confess I cheated a little bit. I don't like splenda or sugar substitutes so I added plain sugar. I also added butter instead of butter extract, but the same amount as in the recipe. I also used 3 eggs because I don't have egg beaters.

All in all, I think the results were pretty much the same as the original recipe. I don't have a small pan so I baked it on a big one (9"x13") and the brownies came out very thin. I planned to bring some to work because my coworkers wanted to try them (I told them the ingredients) but my husband and I have almost finished the whole pan! I will prepare them everytime I crave for brownies.




I also took pictures of other meals I have eaten this week. According to me, this is healthy eating.





Coco spent most of the week crying under the dinning table because my meals smell so good. He complains all he gets is water!

Healthy Weekend

Hello buddies!
You won't believe what my mom did to me this past weekend. We spent two days in the house daddy is going to put for rent. I lived there when I was a puppy but have not been there for a long time. There are lots of boxes all over the place now and some furniture is missing. With all of this going on, you would think I could bump into things or get lost. I didn't!

All I brought with me was my bed, my rawhide and my bone. I don't use the bed at home but in this house I need it because it has cold tiled floor.

The weekend was passing by, like any other weekend. I had lots of carrots and green beans.

The kids where at home with us and dad cooked breakfast for the whole family. It smelled so good!

What are you cooking dad?

Daddy had the great idea of preparing some of the breakfast thingy for me. I was so excited!

Then mom got mad. She said that he was going to kill me. That I couldn't eat that much grease. That I was on a diet. Then he said that how come mom ate like 5 pieces of this and she didn't die. That she was on a diet also and she still had some. That I was going to get old some day, and die without even trying a little piece of this. That I deserved to have some fun in life.

In the meantime, I was waiting under the cheap old temporary dining table for daddy to finish the discussion with something like: because I said so.



But no. Mom sacrificed herself eating MY portion of bacon and gave me only a tiny bit the size of a bean. I was so mad!

We went to the vet later and all the employees came outside to greet me. One of them gave me a cookie.

Then the vet gave me another cookie, right after my cortisone injection. Then another cookie right after she took some blood for my exams. Then another cookie after I let her trim my nails.

Mom, isn't the calorie and fat content of 4 cookies the same as in 1 piece of bacon?

The Chili Cook-off

After a long period of meditation, including a call to my mother just to verify, I concluded that I had never eaten Chili in Perú and had only tried a little bit from Wendy's, maybe 4 years ago. I didn't like it - it was fast food!. So I decided to choose one from all the fabulous recipes our blogger buddies have been sharing... but then decided to look for a similar dish so I can post something different!


"What are we cooking today?"

"Aguadito de lentejas"

I got this recipe from a book my mom brought from Perú. The recipe is in spanish and is at home so I will just write what I remember. The ingredients are lentils, swiss chard, chicken broth (or veggie broth), cilantro, yellow chili (spicy!), onion, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper and cumin.

"Do I smell something here?"

The peruvian yellow chilis are spicy and tasty.

"Why did you put my veggies in here? To my plate, NOW!"

The lentils have to be cooked previously. First, I cook the onions in the olive oil until brown, add garlic and a paste made with cilantro and chili.

Season with salt, pepper and cumin.

"What? Are you cooking my veggies?"

Add the chicken broth and the swiss chard, bring to boil for a few minutes.

Add the cooked lentils and chopped cilantro and cook for some more minutes.




"Yummy!"