Goodbye Breakfast

This morning we went to the road house cafe in Belchertown, MA. I have been wanting to go to this place for awhile, but its about 1/2 hr away. It was totally worth the scenic drive. This place looks like it hasn't changed in decades and the ingredients used definitely reflect this. They use fresh, local eggs, make their own bread and pastries, and of course use local maple syrup. The pancakes were the best I have ever had and I can't wait to try the fresh loaf of bread I brought home.




Here is video from the flyball tournament this past weekend. I would love some input on her box turn from any flyball experts out there. Joy?

Fun weekend with Ben and Ma and Pa Shryock

Sorry, this is going to be a long one...


Ben arrived on Thursday afternoon and we headed right to downtown Northampton. Ben got a burrito at Bueno y Sano - a typical college town burrito shop with lots of vegetarian options.
We took it easy for the rest of the day - and finished the night off with the VP debate. We were going to play the drinking game, but after reading it closely we realized that we would have gotten too drunk. The game included drinking after Palin said, " maverick, hockey mom, Joe six pack, Bush doctrine. For Joe Biden it was, " washington insiders, green, alternative energy, working class, Delaware, Scranton.
I won't go into my opinion of the whole thing at this point, but lets just say I'm hoping Tina Fey won't be seen on SNL for the next four years!

Anyway, on Friday Ben came with me to a herding lesson. Indigo is finally making some progress. I am learning that unfortunately some of my obedience training has been counterproductive to herding training. I could not figure out why she would stop moving as soon as I stood still. She circles around the sheep very nicely as long as I am right there at her hip, but as soon as I stop moving...she freezes.

In obedience I taught her to stop at my side when I stop walking. This is extremely useful when walking downtown. The practical thing to do would be keep up with obedience, but I'm not really very practical when it comes to my dogs. Getting her trained to work sheep is very important to me, so I'm going to have to start avoiding training her to focus on me so intently. Hopefully it doesnt' get to the point that my best option is moving to a farm and getting some sheep, but....you never know! Border collies have been know to be manipulative enough to get themselves a farm of their own.




After herding we met up with our friend Matt that we met in Costa Rica. We had a nice greasy dinner at the Amherst Brewing Company and then Ben and I went to see the new movie Religulous. We love Bill Mahr and his sense of humor and thoroughly enjoyed this hillarious movie. I would not recommend it to anyone who is very religious, as it could be extremely offensive to any God loving person. Oh and it was directed by Larry Charles, who produced and directed some of my favorites (Seinfeld, Curb your Enthusiasm, Entourage, Borat)

Bright and early on Saturday morning we met up with the Shryocks and drove to Essex, CT for a Fall foliage tour. The tour started out with a steam train ride and ended with a river boat ride on the Connecticut River. The scenery was somewhat lacking, but riding on the historic train was fun and of course spending quality time with family is always nice.









On the way home we went to New Haven, CT, the birthplace of American pizza. The pizza is called "apizza" and is traditionally cooked in a brick oven. We were so focused on finding a good pizza place, that we forgot to check out the Yale campus. Maybe next time...

We got back to my house, walked Indigo and then went out to Tabella in Amherst for dinner. We enjoyed a "slow food" style dinner with lots of different dishes and one of each dessert they offered. It was one of those places I love - with all local meats, dairy and produce. One of the few times I enjoy meat at a restaurant. I have no complaints about my beet salad with greens and goat cheese, followed by pork loin with an apple cider reduction and mashed potatoes. Everything was cooked perfectly.

The next morning Ben and I had to get up at 6 am to get to a flyball tournament in Greenfield, MA hosted by the New England Trailblazers. The people from Canine Mutiny were very welcoming, helping me adjust to the nuonces of racing in this region. Indigo raced very well. She make no mistakes, happily taking start dog position all day and running consistent 4.0-4.1 all day. Our open team consisted of a red border jack, a blue merle border collie and an 11 year old black and white border collie. Everyone got along very well and enjoyed racing together. We got 2nd place in our division and won some cool prizes!

The Shryocks stayed at the historic Deerfield Inn

Random Thoughts

First of all, I have to write about the creepiest thing ever that happened right next door to our house in Seattle. When Ben got home from a friends house last Thursday night there were cop cars and helicopters surrounding our house.

He got up to the front door and saw a business card with a request for him to call the child abuse and sexual assault division of the SPD. Of course Larry (our King of the Hill neighbor) was outside trying to help, but was drunk as usual and probably not that helpful.

After Ben and I speculated on what could have happened, he finally got a call back from the detective. It turns out that our neighbor (an 11 year old girl) was outside doing a star gazing project by herself in the front yard. A man came up to her and put a knife to her stomach and forced her into the backyard. From this point we are not really sure what happened, and probably don't really want to know, but we do know that he made her take off her clothes and they have DNA evidence. Creepy and sad and sick. I feel terrible for this little girl who is (was) very sweet and trusting of strangers. Ben feels terrible and wishes him and Ari were home to scare the guy away. Ari would have kicked that sorry guy's ass.

There are some things in the articles that don't match up in the story. They say that the guy broke into the house and then attacked the girl on the way out. Why would he break into the house, not take anything, and then rape a little girl on his way out? And where was her mom? Sleeping?

http://www.kirotv.com/news/17593062/detail.html
http://www.q13fox.com/pages/news_story_landing_page/?North-Seattle-Child-Assaulted-At-Knifepo=1&blockID=73453&feedID=144

In unrelated and not nearly as important news.....

Indy will now again be going to Montreal for a Thanksgiving tournament instead of being boarded. We got a 100% sure confirmation this time.

Ben is coming to visit tomorrow and we have a fun weekend planned, including meeting up with his parents on Saturday and Sunday. I'm very excited!

I had many fun times during high school and college driving long distances to see Phish and even flew from Seattle to Vermont to see what we though was their last show ever in 2004. I was pretty much over the whole drugged out, burrito and grilled cheese eating, dirty, dreadlocked scene. Until today when Janel told me they are BACK! I now feel compelled to go to Virginia in March and see them once again. I still don't have much money, but I won't be selling food to pay my way. I guess I'm not over the good part- the music. Now I'm going to be one of those weird older people enjoying Phish amongst a new generation of dirty hippies. I can't wait!

success with thai & the perfect dog park

I made Phad Thai yesterday and I didn't even need to use ketchup. In the past, it usually didnt come out that good and then I would just add some ketchup to make it edible. I figured it had vinegar, sugar and tomato paste anyway, so why not?
Well I decided to find a new recipe that doesnt have tomatoes in any form and I used fish sauce for the first time. I adapted this recipe from one I found on foodnetwork.com

Ingredients

8 oz flat rice noodles
2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon fish sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1/4 cup peanut oil
1 or 2 large eggs, beaten with a pinch of salt
12 ounces peeled and deveined shrimp or pieces of chicken or cubed tofu
3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Kosher salt
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 shallots, thinly sliced
3 scallions cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 chopped1 1/4 cups mung bean sprouts
1/3 cup salted roasted peanuts, chopped, plus additional for garnish
For serving: Lime wedges, Sri Racha sauce (Thai hot chili sauce)

Directions

Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and set aside. Whisk the sugar with the fish sauce and vinegar in a small bowl.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat until hot and add 1 tablespoon of the peanut oil. Pour in the eggs. Cook until just set, about 45 seconds. Cut into 1/2-inch pieces. Set aside.

Add another 1 tablespoon of the peanut oil to the same skillet and heat over high heat. Add the shrimp, 1/2 teaspoon of the pepper flakes, and salt, to taste. Stir-fry until the shrimp are pink and just cooked through, about 1 1/2 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons peanut oil over high heat. Add the garlic, shallots, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes and stir-fry until lightly browned, about 1 minute. Add the noodles and cook, tossing, until lightly coated with the garlic mixture, about 1 minute. Add the fish sauce mixture and large scallion pieces and heat through. Stir in the cooked egg and shrimp, 1 cup of the sprouts, and the 1/3 cup peanuts and toss until hot. Divide the Phad Thai among plates and top with the remaining sprouts and additional peanuts. Serve immediately with the lime wedges and Sri Racha.

I was too lazy to take photos of the finished product, but this is pretty much what it looked like.

http://praveenc.wordpress.com

I know I mentioned the dog park in Northampton before, but that was before I knew how perfect it really is. It is miles of hiking trails, grassy fields, and river for romping. There is a loop that I have done a few times that is 2 miles. Its great for me to get exercise and enjoy being outside AND Indy gets to meets lots of new canine buddies. We are going to start trying to go everyday....soon it will be all ice and snow. Ahhh!

Since we found out that the people that were going to take Indy to Montreal for a Thanksgiving tournament backed out; I had to find a place for her to go when I go to Seattle. I found a place called Bed and Bowl that is soooo cool. They pick the dogs up in Northampton for day care and bring them home in the evening for no extra charge. The facility is someones house that is also set up to accomodate many dogs. For boarding, it is considered a dog "bed and breakfast". The dogs lounge around all day in the yard or in the house (or in Indys case act like a crazy border collie) and then they sleep anywhere they want at night - on a dog bed, on the king size bed for dogs, or with the people that run the place!

I am so excited to have a place to leave her when I go to visit Ben, so I won't have to ask my parents all the time

Bedandbowl.com - Cageless Dog Boarding. Yeah!

Internship Update, Shryocks New England Vist, More Flyball, Country Vet

Update on my Internship - I only have one month left of my community rotation! I met with my internship director and preceptor on Wednesday for my mid-rotation review. I am on track with achieving my competencies, but I still have a lot of work to do.

I am teaching a cardiac rehab class on Monday, giving a presentation on nutrition and menopause, designing a WIC phone survey, hopefully teaching diabetes cooking classes and planning some classes for the Kids Kitchen. I also have some other smaller projects that I'm working on.

Of everything I'm working on, the Kids Kitchen is the hardest, by far. I have no idea how to interact with 2-5 year olds. Give me elderly people over kids any day. Little kids are like aliens to me. My concept of what they already know is severely lacking. I actually do like kids, but at this point they make me uncomfortable. Let's just say I probably won't be specializing in pediatrics when I'm dietitian. Any ideas for recipes for a kids cooking class?

On Thursday after suffering through my kids cooking class, I spent the day with my Shryock parents. We went to Sylvesters in Northampton for lunch. This place is known for its homemade soups, breads and dessert. Its very cute and comfortable, maybe not the best clam chowder I have ever had. But I would like to go back for their famous brunch. I have to appreciate their effort to make so much of their food from scratch.
Then we headed to Montague, MA to pick up Indigo from the vet. She was there all day getting her hips and back x-ray ed. She has to be knocked out so she wouldn't wiggle during the imaging process. $200 later I found out that she is looking good, so its time to start her on higher jumps in flyball. I think we are going to stop disc dog competing because I have been hearing horror stories of dogs injuring their backs and its often because of those spinning jumps that look cool, but are terrible for them.

Anyway, I love this vet that I found here. She is holistic and practices out of a beautiful location on a farm. She also has a border collie and does agility, so she understands the needs of a performance dog. I felt much better when she cleared up my confusion about what to do about Heart worm and Lyme disease prevention.

The Vet's Office

Indy after finding out she does not have hip dysplasia

Only in New England would a drive to the vet be this charming.....

She sucked it up and posed with Flat Stanley

Frances bought me one of these beautiful pumpkins for my front porch

To prepare for the flyball tournament next weekend on Indigos first "open team" we joined Canine Mutiny flyball team for their Friday night practice. Its very interesting to see how different teams practice and what training methods they use, especially on new puppies. I really enjoyed practicing with them and got some good tips. Plus they have really cool Boston accents!

They are becoming competitive in this region because of their new speedy designer flyball dogs. They have 2 borderjacks (border collie X Jack Russell terrier) and just got a mini aussie X staffordshire terrier (the first non border collie flyball mix I have seen). They also had a breed called Hungarian Mudi, a herding breed that is supposedly just as smart as a border collie and maybe even faster at learning new things. She sure was speedy during the puppy training I saw.

A Hungarian Mudi

I got plenty of practice time with Indy passing her teammate for next week and we even got to participate in a drill called "power jumping" . This only works if you have a lot of space!

The Hungarian Mudi in action





Indy power jumping (8 jumps in a row)





Remember when I said that we MIGHT be getting another border collie at some point? Well that might be happening soon.I am not lying when I say that Ben is the one that really wants this puppy, but I do understand how boring it would be to go to herding lessons and just watch and poor Indy has no one to play with at home. Ben doesn't have a preference for color or sex, so our chances are pretty good. The female is a red merle and the sire is blue tri - the puppies can be pretty much any color. I think Ben is hoping for a black tri. I am hoping for a blue merle.

In case you were wondering what Black Tri looks like

thedailypuppy.com

A beautiful blue merle

hazardgeographer.com

New England In September

Its so beautiful here right now. The leaves are starting to change, the days are sunny and mild and the nights are cold. It smells like fall. The farms are harvesting the last of the produce, there are fields that look dead except for bright orange pumpkins. Amherst and Northampton are packed with college students and professors. The fall foliage tourist season is starting...

Heres what Ive been up to....

working hard at my internship planning programs and classes for people with diabetes, herding lessons and flyball practice, finding out that I definitely have Chondromalacia Patella (Patellofemoral Syndrome), hanging out with my parents, roasting my first chicken.

When Ben was here we went to this place called Atkins Country Market that used to just be a farm stand that sold apples and cider, but now its pretty much on steroids. Its massive with lots of fun gourmet, locally made foods. Ben and I had to try the cider donuts that this area is famous for. They were almost as good as mighty-o donuts!

I had another herding lesson with Indy. She is making progress slowly. I know she has potential because she was better 6 months ago than she is now. Hopefully Diane will have some advice for me when we get back to Seattle! I was very entertained by the rough collie getting a lesson after me in duck herding. I love ducks. They had to bring them down to the round pen. I guess the ducks are cool with being held like that.

My parents came to visit this weekend and I dragged them to watch my first sheepdog trial. It was the Northeast Border Collie Association NOVICE FINALS. I couldnt believe it was novice, it seemed really complicated. Most of the dogs were having difficulty getting the sheep to do what they wanted.



Then we drove through the Berskshires and stopped in Stockbridge, MA a cute little town with extremely wealthy looking people strolling around. Its a vacation spot for New Yorkers.



I have been doing some cooking...I roasted a whole chicken. I just added salt and pepper, whole garlic cloves under the skin, and some olive oil. I roasted it at 375 for about 40 minutes, flipping it 1/2 way through cooking. It was super easy and fed me for most of the week.

I though it would be a good idea to make sweet potato bread with chocolate chips. This probably doesnt sound that appetizing, but it was actually really good. Everything tastes good with chocolate chips!

Sweet Potato Bread with Pecans Recipe courtesy Bill Kelly

2 1/3 cups sugar 2/3 cups water 2/3 cup oil 4 eggs 2 cups mashed sweet potatoes 3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine sugar, water, oil, eggs, and sweet potatoes and mix thoroughly. Add dry ingredients and mix to combine. Add pecans and mix well. Divide between 2 greased loaf pans and bake for 50 minutes. Cool in pan to room temperature.

This is how Nasdog teaches new dogs a box turn





Flyball Practice with my Massachusetts team and Indy sounding like a hyena in the background




My patella hurts....I need stronger quad muscles. Yeah physical therapy!