BISCOTTI-OUR SWEET DOG

It is over 3 months since our sweet dog, Biscotti died.  It has taken me this long to sit down and write up my ode to our Biscotti.

I still remember that day in November  2005 when we went to the rescue pound to find the family our first pet.  He was the second puppy brought out and Kate said, "We have to get him, he has a valentine on his forehead."  Sure enough, he had a white heart on the top of his head.  How appropriate!

This next image is one of our first of our newest family member entitled, 'the flying dog'.

The following images are of his first day in Maumelle, AR. I can't believe how young the girls looked!  This would have been 13 1/2 years ago.



Our puppy-Biscotti, like most dogs was very loyal to all family members.  He greeted each and every one of us every day until his last days.  He protected the girls like a sentry with his fierce bark.  No one would get past him.  Maybe that was the part German Shepherd in him. And he was there especially for his Dad waiting to give great hugs when he returned home from work.

Sure, his puppy days were like most.  In Arkansas, he chewed up all 12 bushes in the backyard.  Funny story here.  Mr. Thrifty suggested that I spray the remaining bushes with something that would deter him-castor oil mixture with hot sauce.  I sprayed it on the bushes.  I let him out seeing what he would do.  He licked up that mixture off every bush and felt fine afterwards.

My Mom loved him too.  She was a dog lover.  She would give him scraps from the table.  What can you do?  Nothing.  She too was a family member he adored.

When we moved from Maumelle, AR, Biscotti was Dad's back seat driver.

He loved the walks that Mr. Thrifty would take him on.  If he saw him put on his tennis shoes, he ran for the door.

You couldn't find a cuter face, and he was smart too!

No matter where we were in the house, he lay next to any one who was available.

His kisses were memorable.

And the days when he would hop on the bed to snuggle before bedtime will always be cherished.

And then about 6 Christmases ago, my sister, Aunt Merri sent him a present.  Like most dogs, he devoured his treasure within moments.  But the funny thing was, no matter whose birthday or anniversary or Christmas present he spied from that day on, he thought it belonged to him.  We had to keep them put up high so he wouldn't destroy them.

Christmas was a real challenge.  He must have smelled his dog treats in one of his presents.

Lizzie loved to accessorize Biscotti.  Whether it was a Santa hat or...

wearing glasses....

or wearing socks and glasses.  He was such a good sport!

And then there was Kate's famous 'combover'.

Here is our last family picture taken with our Biscotti.

And...man's best friend!

He didn't beg while we were eating, but he was always there too.

Many days, while the Arsenal would be setting off practice explosives, you would find him huddled between the club chair and the ottoman.  Those noises terrified him. I hated that for him!

Then there was the time that Kate missed him while living in Auburn.  Mom and Biscotti took the 4 hour drive to spend a few days with her. Even Biscotti got a college visit.

In his last months, he was always there to hold a hand,

or just laying there being cute. He did blend in well with the white furniture.

While Mr. Thrifty was painting, he was on guard.

He was loved, so loved.

When the girls got ready for their dances, he would be very interested in their dates as they entered the house.

He was a snuggler.

He would help the girls when they hunted Easter eggs in the back yard.  He would get dog food to find so he wouldn't feel left out.

He loved to go up to the flower bed in the back yard.  So many times, I had to warn him not to get into the bed and trample the flowers.

Biscotti was at every special family event.

He was with me when I would stage the house for my blogs.  This next picture is one of my favorites.

Here he is playing sentry in the back yard waiting for his Dad to come home.

But then as all old dogs do, he became very tired.

And then the time came when he was ready to go.....

I took this picture of him 2 years ago.  He looked so sweet on the bed.

I used the Waterlogue app to create this image for the girls.

Our sweet boy went to rest on May 6, 2019.  Thirteen and a half years and a wonderful companion had completed his task.

We had a beautiful ceremony out back as Kate played Taps while we buried Biscotti in his final resting place-in the flower bed with St. Francis keeping watch.

We will always miss our dear friend and family member but he gave us so many awesome memories.

Rest in Peace Biscotti.  We love you so much!

Epilogue:  A few weeks after we lost Biscotti, my youngest gave me a very special gift for Mother's Day.  It was a beautiful silver sequined pillow.

But when you rub the pillow against the grain, this beautiful image appears.  Biscotti is with us always.

PAINTING THE GUEST BATHROOM 2019

It has been 9 years since moving in the house. When the rooms were painted, they sprayed the lightest coat of tan paint on most of the walls.  In the bathrooms, they were supposed to put an eggshell finish because of the steam. That would have been great except, if they missed a spot, they would patch it with flat paint.  The walls in this room were splotchy at best!

To present day, the excessive showers that my daughter took initially without using the fan caused severe streaking.
So, now on to the process.


As you can see, the mdf baseboard also swelled from water damage.  Mr. Thrifty purchased a new baseboard and will replace it after the painting is completed.

We had multiple dry wall screws come through the paint on the walls.

Basically, he had to dig out the old screws, insert new screws, dry wall over them, sand them, prime them and get them ready for paint.

The baseboard was removed.

The first coat of trimming began.

We ended up painting the trim and walls twice.  The lighting is difficult to photograph the room when it was finished.

We used the same Sherwin Williams Eider White that we used in our bedroom.  It really freshened up the bathroom.

Since I bought 5 gallons of the paint, I was hoping that Mr. Thrifty could paint our two hallways. 

While sitting on the couch, he mentioned that it probably would be a good idea to paint them.  Talk about the power of persuasion.  I do want to say that I taped off all the rooms to make it easier for him to paint.  I also remove all the outlet covers and replace them when the paint is dry.

So, here is the first and second hallway trimmed out.

The hallways are completed.  And our yearly painting projects are complete.



CHEESY RICE CASSEROLE MADE FROM LEFTOVER COOKED RICE

I went to my pantry to find a box of cheesy rice to accompany my grilled pork steaks for dinner.  Unfortunately, there was none.  I checked my freezer and I had 4 cups of frozen rice.  Why not make it from scratch?

I searched for cheesy rice recipes on Pinterest and couldn't find any.  I did however find a Keto Cheesy Cauliflower rice.  I decided to improvise and was please with my results.

INGREDIENTS:

4 c. cooked rice

1 T. butter

1/2 tsp. garlic salt

4 T. cream cheese, softened

2 c. cheddar cheese, grated

1/4 c. milk

1/2 tsp. each salt and pepper

In a large skillet, melt the butter and add the garlic salt, and salt & pepper.  Mix well.

Throw in the thawed cooked rice and heat through thoroughly.

Turn down the heat and add the cream cheese, cheddar cheese and milk.

Place in a greased casserole dish.  Cook for 30 minutes at 350 or microwave.

This dish makes an excellent do ahead casserole.



Not only could I clean out something in the freezer, I made a cheesy rice casserole without going to the store!  Some days, this is a big deal.

SMOKING TEXAS BRISKET AT HOME 2019

I have to warn you, this is a very long posting.  I want to give you all the information that will help you smoke your own brisket--bear with me.


Like we did with smoking our pork butt, we watched numerous videos on smoking beef briskets.  Our favorite video was with Franklin smoking briskets.  I would advise you to watch a few of these which entail trimming, smoking and cutting the brisket after it is smoked.


The brisket escapade really came about because Kroger had a huge sale on them. I have paid about $5.99 a lb. when I cook briskets for our Church. This week, they were $1.99 lb.  I am embarrassed to say, I purchased 2 full sized briskets and then 2 the size of the one pictured below.


The Mr. and I planned our grilling event for the next weekend.  I decided to try our hand on the smaller size brisket first. 

I need to tell all of you that I did have the luxury of having freezer space so there was not a problem with the remaining meat.

Ok, so once we opened the package, I was a bit dismayed.  This brisket had the least amount of fat I have ever seen on a brisket.  In previous times cooking briskets in the oven, it's the rendered fat that makes the brisket so tasty. I was a bit concerned.  We will come back to this later.

This is the lean side.

This is the fattier side.  Trimming is necessary while smoking meat.  If any fat is hanging, it will burn so you need to trim it off.

At this point, I am still very concerned about the lack of having a fatback.

In the next photo, the meat is 'aerodynamic' as the Mr. says.  The smoking will go over the piece of meat evenly.

In cooking a Texas brisket, no rub is necessary. The only spices we will use are salt and pepper.  The videos tell you to premix the salt and pepper.  That way when you coat the meat, it will be even seasoning.

The experts recommend that you season the sides first.

Then, season both sides.

We wrapped the brisket in saran wrap and put it in the fridge overnight.  The salt will help tenderize the meat.

After we smoked the pork butt, we realized that we were missing 2 important tools: a set of bellows and a poker.  I order both and had to laugh when we received them in the mail.  The bellows was smaller than expected.  It did work.

Like we did with the pork butt, spritzing the meat with unconcentrated apple juice.  Don't worry, the juice will not add the flavor of apples, it will just add moisture.

The wireless thermometer  was really a great idea.  With it, you don't need to open the actual smoker so the temperature remains constant.  It's a good thing.  The heat resistant gloves are beneficial in handling the meat when taking it off the grill.

Another thing that really worked for us in making clean up easier was placing a wire rack under the hot coals and wood.

We also placed the water pan under the grill to catch drippings.  The extra wire grate on top made for cleaning the grates easier.

The chimney was stoked and cooking was ready to start.

It seems like with pork butts, you want to get the fire to 250 degrees before cooking.  The same goes with brisket.

When the meat reaches 165-180 degrees, take it off the grill, wrap it in a

double layer of heavy duty foil and return to the smoker and cook until the internal temperature is 203 degrees.

The brisket was removed from the smoker, wrapped in a double layer of heavy duty foil and put back on the fire until the internal temperature reached 203 degrees.

Once the meat was done, we let it rest remaining in the foil for one hour.

Here is the finished brisket after resting.

Once it was cut, the Mr. was thrilled that the smoke ring, something very important to smoking experts, was perfect.  See the pink ring at the top of the meat.  The ring was on all four sides of the brisket.  Sorry that my picture does not show it.

I think if the meat had a more substantial fatback, it would have been juicier.  However, with the amazing tasty juice, the meat was smoked and delicious.  By the way, the glass bubble platter actually was a wedding present from my parents' wedding.

The next time we smoke brisket, I will make sure the piece has enough fat to render while smoking the meat.  The other 2 full briskets have enough fatback, so they will be the next ones to smoke. 

While trimming the larger pieces, I will cut a slab of the fat prior to smoking and place it on the remaining smaller brisket before smoking.

Don't be disheartened about smoking meat.  It was so much easier to smoke meat the second time around.