I have a best friend, his name is Brody.  Brody just happens to be a Chocolate Labrador Retriever.  The coolest Lab I’ve ever known, and he’s my pal.  I got him as a birthday gift from my Sister when he was 6 weeks old.  He is going to be the big 4 this June 3rd. We’ve had our ups and downs – destroying furniture, digging into sheetrock on walls, house training, spaz training, leash training but he’s finally doing pretty awesome.  One of the funny things I trained him was, “Excuse me”.  Really, if I say “Excuse me” around him, he moves out of...

I love to bake, but you guys already know that.  What you don’t know is that I love potatoes.  Forrest Gump’s shrimp love “ain’t got shit” on my potato love.  Potato chips, potatoes au gratin, raw potatoes (yes, I’ll even take a few bites when I’m cutting or peeling them for cooking), french fries, tator tots, tator crowns, hash browns, mashed potatoes, potato salad, roasted potatoes, baked potatoes (twice and fully loaded).  Trust me, I could keep going.  Mashed are my absolute favorite, with a tiny bit of sweet cream butter and 2% milk.  I only like...

A friend of mine is having a birthday party for her son, he’ll be the big 1!  He’ll be needing cowboy cookies for his cowboy pals so I came up with these Deputy Badges.  Sugar cookie stars frosted with royal icing, Kopykakes writing, gold dragees and dusted with edible gold dust.  They were a bit of hard work but definitely worth the effort, completely. I haven’t ever worked with royal icing before.  In fact, I looked up the recipe on cooks.com and watched a video on youtube on how to make and apply the stuff.  Amazingly, I got it on my first try.  Look out world, Heathers got...

Damn, she strikes again.  I tried not to do it.  I decided not to bake anything today, not to join in the drinking and debauchery in the local pubs.  Alas, I failed. I caved.  I baked some wonderously delicious Chocolate Guinness Stout cupcakes, filled with red raspberry and topped with vanilla buttercreme – green, of course. INGREDIENTS (recipe found on www.chow.com) 1 (12-ounce) bottle Guinness stout 1/2 cup milk 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract 3 large eggs 3/4 cup sour cream 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa 2 cups sugar 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/2 teaspoons...

(Kiss me, I’m Irish) It’s that time of year again, Lasses and Lads, St. Patrick’s Day.  Although that is “La Fheile Padraig” to those that actually know how to speak Gaelic (myself not included, thanks Dad).  Irish-American immigrants brought Saint Patrick’s Day to the United States. The first civic and public celebration of Saint Patrick’s Day in the 13 colonies took place in Boston, Massachusetts in 1737. The first celebration of Saint Patrick’s Day in New York City was held at the Crown and Thistle Tavern in 1756. In 1780, General George Washington,...