Dog Days

Living with Dogs: Collections and Traditions, At Home and Afield ***** by Laurence Sheehan

 

Since yesterday was National Dog Day and we are in the midst of the Dog Days of Summer, I thought it was timely to repost this edible book review~  inspired by Jain at Food for Thought~ a delicious blog for readers with an appetite for the written word.

This is a favorite book of mine, with a prominent place on my coffee table. I stumbled on it for several years ago (it was published in 1999). If you are a dog lover, this one is not to be missed~ full of beautiful photos of homes, dogs, collections, and quite simply, as one reviewer says:  “this book is a celebration of hardcore dog enthusiasm.”

 

In his endearing and hilarious introduction, the author, Larry Shehan, talks about his dogs, one of which, a tricolor Collie named Zorro, who he says was “as slow-witted as he was beautiful”. (I had a cat like that :-)   He and his wife add an Australian shepherd puppy, Addie, to their household who “at that early stage of growth looked more like a California sea otter than a dog.”  As his household adapts to the puppy, he confessed to turning into my own worst nightmare– “a guy who carries a picture of his dog around with him in his wallet.”

A few years later, he finds a two-year-old English Setter, Buster: “His upper lip was hung up on one side of his freckled muzzle and  one ear was flopped, pink side out, giving him a slightly deranged, ready-for-anything aspect.”  He was hooked~ however, he describes his household as becoming dysfunctional with introduction of an exuberant, willful dog deaf to the command of “Come!”. He, his wife, his cat & Addie eventually settle in and adapt slowly:

“The secret of living with dogs is to take the wild with the sweet, and then sit back and wait for the laughs and the love.”

~ Amen :-)

 My canine kitsch~  a collection of vintage chalkware dogs with no special pedigree  :-)

  You can find another book review a dog lover will lap up here~

 A chapter on dog portraiture. . .

 A “portrait” that won’t break the bank~ a canvas from Photofiddle~

“Like children they leave their toys scattered around– a rubber squeaky here or a half-gnawed bone there. These objects, along with the leashes, collars, food bowls, dog beds, and all the other paraphernalia associated with keeping a dog, turn a house into a habitat– and, late at night when the lights are out, a minefield.”

“Dogs settle into a home pretty much the way people do, gravitating to a favorite corner, window, or chair.”

No food references in this book (other than kibble :-) so I thought I’d have some Pup Cake fun, courtesy Hello, Cupcake!

 This is a great cupcake book, with lots of ideas and inspiration for Corn Utopia, Reliable Seeds & Butterfly Wings~

 

 

 

 

“Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.”  ~ Roger Caras

Chloe wishes you sunny skies and that everyone in the path of Hurricane Irene stays safe!

Thank you for your visit, I’m joining:

•  Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday~

• Sweets for a Saturday at Sweet as Sugar Cookies~

• The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sundays~

 

Corn Utopia

 

My palate and my table are in a state of Corn Utopia this week~ a place where these little kernels are bursting with the sweet flavor of summer.

 

 

I borrowed my mother-in-law’s Fitz and Floyd Corn Pitcher, Salt & Pepper Shakers and last but not least, Butter Dish, for summer’s sweetest vegetable~ and the essence of the season~ at its peak of flavor & availability now.

 

 

 

I picked maize-colored placemats with a kernel-like texture at Kohl’s and shucked napkins from the shelves at Beth Bath & Beyond~

 

 

 

 

Corn on the Cob Cupcakes~ directions and video courtesy Hello Cupcake~

 

 

Jelly Belly corn kernels and Laffy Taffy banana-flavored butter pats~ complete with black sparkling sugar masquerading as pepper~

 

 

 

 

 A-maize-ing corn facts~

 

• The average ear of corn has 800 kernels, arranged in 16 rows.

• There is one piece of silk for each kernel~ (I had no idea but I can believe it :-)

• A bushel of corn contains about 27,000 kernels.

• Each tassel on a corn plant releases as many as 5 million grains of pollen.

• Corn is an ingredient in more than 3,000 grocery products.

• One bushel of corn can make 33 pounds of sweetener, 32 pounds of starch, or 2 1/2 gallons of ethanol fuel.

 

 

 

 

 Tomato & Corn Pizza~ courtesy of Mother Nature’s bounty and bumper crop of basil & tomatoes~ and a recipe from Southern Living, you can find here.

 

 

Pesto, fresh corn kernels, tomatoes & mozzarella~

 

 

 

A trio of summer flavors in  served up in every slice~

 

 

 

Corn Utopia Details:

Corn Pitcher, Butter Dish & Salt & Pepper/ Fitz and Floyd- Omnibus- 1990

Plates/ Oneida Westerly Basket

Woven Chargers/World Market

Napkins/ Bed, Bath & Beyond

Napkin Rings/ Pottery Barn

Placemats/ Kohl’s

 

 

Thank you for your visit, I’m joining:

•  StoneGable for On the Menu Monday~

• A Stroll Thru Life for Table Top Tuesday~

•  Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday~

•  Jenny Matlock for Alphabe-Thursday~ this week’s letter is U for Utopia~

•  Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday~

• The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sundays~

Reliable Seeds

A little table top inspiration provided by my vintage Reliable Seeds box. . .

. . .and a crop of vegetables picked from the market~

 

A shopping trip to Target last year, yielded this pair of decorative gardening gloves ~

 

 

 

 

I harvested veggies from my Reliable Seeds, courtesy of Hello, Cupcake!

 

A cupcake garden, with freshly turned chocolate-wafer earth~ and crowd-pleasing summer vegetables~made from fruit chews~

“Edible Pods” are Tootsie Roll Midgees, rolled flat and shaped to hold green M&M’s, masquerading as “Huge Peas”~

 Space Saving Romaine and Little Gem Lettuce~

 

Colorful Blend Radishes~ created by blending Vanilla Midgees & Cherry Starbursts

 

 

 

 

 

 

And Sugarsnax Carrots, everybunny’s favorite~

Freshly picked table top details:

Tablecloth/ Kohl’s

Plates, Goblets, Cake Pedestal/ HomeGoods

Placemats/ Pottery Barn

Bunny Towels/ Williams Sonoma

Goblets/ HomeGoods

Gardener Bunny/ Hobby Lobby

Thank you for your visit, I’m joining:

•  Marty at A Stroll Thru Life for Table Top Tuesday~

• Susan for Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch~

• Jenny Matlock for Alphabe-Thursday~ this week’s letter is H, for a Harvest of veggies from Hello Cupcake!

•  Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday~

• Debra at Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Friday~

• Courtney at French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday~

• Sweets for a Saturday at Sweet as Sugar Cookies

• The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sundays

• Cupcake Apothecary for A Themed Baker’s Sunday

• Everyday Sisters Sharing Sundays

Butterfly Wings

 

I’m joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday.

Thank you, Susan, for hosting such a fun event & providing dishaholics everywhere with a weekly fix ~

 My tablescape inspiration this week came in the form of a new teapot. . .

 And this book~

 The Butterfly House fascinated me and inspired me to share it in the form of an Edible Review at Food for Thought~  a wonderful & delicious blog for readers with an appetite. . .for the written word and food. Hosted by my talented & lovely friend Jain, every two weeks, you are invited to join by sharing a book review in an edible fashion. It’s a fun place to play and visit~  where you can always find something feed your mind, your senses, and your tummy :-) You can read more about this book and see the complete book review, if you’d like here.

 It also inspired me to play with cupcakes :-)

 And to get to know the butterflies :-)

 . . . published in 1920, with full-color plates of Monarchs, Zebra & Tiger Swallowtails. . .

Butterfly Cupcake instructions can be found in this fun book~

Hello, Cupcake!

Portmeirion Botanic Blue Tea Set/Marshalls

Plates/Lennox Butterfly Meadow/ Home Goods

Tablecloth/Quilt from Bed :-)

For more tabletop eye candy be sure to visit the Porch~

 I’m also joining  Suzanne, The Coloradolady for Vintage Thingie Thursday

and Michael Lee at Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday~ stop by and see what’s being served :-)

Living with Dogs

Living with Dogs: Collections and Traditions, At Home and Afield ***** by Laurence Sheehan

 

I’m joining Jain with my Edible Book Review at Food for Thought, where pages from your book magically mix with the kitchen and your camera.

This is a favorite book of mine, with a prominent place on my coffee table. I stumbled on it for several years ago (it was published in 1999). If you are a dog lover, this one is not to be missed~ full of beautiful photos of homes, dogs, collections, and quite simply, as one reviewer says:  “this book is a celebration of hardcore dog enthusiasm.”

 

 

In his endearing and hilarious introduction, the author, Larry Shehan, talks about his dogs, one of which, a tricolor Collie named Zorro, who he says was “as slow-witted as he was beautiful”. (I had a cat like that :-)   He and his wife add an Australian shepherd puppy, Addie, to their household who “at that early stage of growth looked more like a California sea otter than a dog.”  As his household adapts to the puppy, he confessed to turning into my own worst nightmare– “a guy who carries a picture of his dog around with him in his wallet.” A few years later, he finds a two-year-old English Setter, Buster: “His upper lip was hung up on one side of his freckled muzzle and  one ear was flopped, pink side out, giving him a slightly deranged, ready-for-anything aspect.”  He was hooked~ however, he describes his household as becoming dysfunctional with introduction of an exuberant, willful dog deaf to the command of “Come!”. He, his wife, his cat & Addie eventually settle in and adapt slowly:

“The secret of living with dogs is to take the wild with the sweet, and then sit back and wait for the laughs and the love.”

~ Amen!

Here is some of my own canine kitsch~ my collection of chalkware dogs. . .

There is a chapter on dog portraiture. . . here is an oil of a dog in my powder room ~ he doesn’t look like my dogs, but I loved the expression in his eyes~

I loved this cozy room in the book, with all the dog pillows. I makes me want to curl up on the sofa with my dogs and a good book!

“Dogs settle into a home pretty much the way people do, gravitating to a favorite corner, window, or chair.”

This is a “portrait” of my dogs :-) It’s a canvas from Photofiddle, you can see more about that here.

“Like children they leave their toys scattered around– a rubber squeaky here or a half-gnawed bone there. These objects, along with the leashes, collars, food bowls, dog beds, and all the other paraphernalia associated with keeping a dog, turn a house into a habitat– and, late at night when the lights are out, a minefield.”

No food references in this book (other than kibble :-), so I thought I’d do “Pup Cakes” from Hello, Cupcake!

 This is a fun cupcake book, with lots of ideas and directions!

 

“Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.”  ~ Roger Caras

Be sure to stop by Food for Thought and see what everyone is reading & eating!