Helpful tips for your dog during hot weather

Dogs do not sweat except through the pads of their feet and their noses. To cool themselves, they pant. It’s important to first recognize when your dog is experiencing heat stress, and how to prevent it during hot weather. Some symptoms are vigorous panting, red gums, and dizziness. Should you find your dog showing some or all of these symptoms, remove her immediately from heat and sunlight. Place cold washcloths on the ears, neck, chest and feet pads. This will slowly assist your pet to an acceptable body temperature. It’s important to always offer fresh, cool water throughout the day. Should they be outdoors for the day, some dogs enjoy a shallow pool or if indoors, especially for older dogs, a cooling bed can offer some comfort.

Please remember to never leave a dog inside a car at anytime during hot weather. All it takes is just a few minutes for the car to reach extreme temperatures. This is life threatening and/or will gravely affect your pets’ health.

Eight weeks ago, the karate studio down the street from my house sent out an email offering the INSANITY workout in a class atmosphere. My initial reaction was, “this is exactly what I need to do”… and I signed up. Prior to the 1st class, I started talking to people about it and kept getting the same response: “That is really hard, you know!” Were they telling me this because it is hard if you are overweight and out of shape or just simply because it is hard for everyone?

You may have seen the infomercials on P90X and INSANITY – the ones with all these fit men and women telling you, “You can look like this!” And you chuckle and say back to the TV, “Sure I can.” It is hard to believe that in 60 days, you can go from couch-potato abs to six-pack abs – or even half a six pack, for that matter. Watching this, I wanted to cancel my enrollment and find something easier. How will I ever do this? I am 40 lbs overweight and haven’t attempted any form of exercise in about 20 years, but if I even want a chance to look close to that, hard is exactly what I need. So off to class I go…

I have one week left of INSANITY and let me tell you, it has lived up to its name for sure! The program offers cardio, plyo-metrics, circuit training, and abdominal & core strengthening and conditioning, all combined to give your body a chance at looking good. The nice thing is that you can go at your own pace and modify certain exercises until you get stronger. When I first started, I couldn’t do a single push up – not even the “girly” one. Now I can do them and other push up-inspired exercises. As for measureable results, I took measurements and weighed myself before the class started; I am, however, waiting until the final class to see my true results. People say they can see a difference, but the true test will be when I get on the scale.

Now that I have done this, I will continue to work hard with the next class offered – or even do this program again.

If you have thought about doing it – DO IT!!! It may be insane, but your body will thank you!

Getting a bite to eat at <a href=”http://www.deepellum-boston.com/#topOfPage”>Deep Ellum</a> in Allston this weekend, I stumbled upon what may be my new favorite food. Moules Frites!!!

To start, I must admit that Deep Ellum’s large selection of Belgium and Farmhouse beers was the original attraction for me but wow, the food turned out to be fantastic and so complimentary to the craft beers. What is a <a href=”http://m.saveur.com/article/Travels/A-National-Obsession-Moules-Frites-Belgium”>Moules Frites</a> you might be asking right about now……it is a big bowl of steaming hot mussels and crisp fries. Evidently in Belgium, steamed mussels and fried potatoes go together as naturally as fish and chips in England, and burgers and fries in the States. The combination was marinating in a broth of shallots, garlic and white wine then drizzled with a lemon garlic aioli sauce. Yum! Mussels and fries are a fantastic food pairings that I never would have imagined. The juicy, sweet mussels play off perfectly with the starchy earthiness of the fries. Want to try something new?? Add Moules Frites to your must sample list!

Beverly has a great hot dog stand located right on Rantoul St. The stand is called The Scotty Dog and I am in love with their Vienna Beef dogs! My personal favorite is the Scotty Chicago Dog which includes toppings of mustard, onion, homemade relish, tomato, sport peppers, pickle spear and celery salt. This hot dog requires two hands to eat! A side of fries goes great with it. The fries here are delicious as well, seasoned with just the right mix of salt and pepper. If you are still hungry after your delicious dog, they serve Richie’s Italian Ice for desert!

When visiting, one can take advantage of the 10 spot car hop or outdoor seating is available. This is a must place visit if you are ever out in Beverly!!
Check out their website at www.thescottydog.com

Are you trying to come up with that “Must Have” recipe for your next BBQ? Would you really like to “Wow” your family and friends with a must have treat? Well my Aunt Celia’s Wicked Good Salad is a Must try! Have fun with the dish, and get creative by adding your own ingredients and creating your “Own Wicked Good Salad”! It’s quick and easy to throw together, and light and refreshing to go with those chicken and burgers! Enjoy!

Aunt Celia’s Wicked Good Salad!

1 1/2 bags of mixed greens
1 large sweet onion chopped
2 Kirby cucumbers sliced, then cut in quarters
1/2 bag of dried cranberries
1/4 cup of walnuts chopped
4 bacon strips crumbled
1 basket of cherry tomatoes cut in half
4 oz. goat cheese
Top it off with chinese noodles

Dressing:

1 bottle of Kraft Italian Dressing

Use the same bottle and add:
1/2 bottle of balsamic dressing
1/2 bottle of olive oil

Tzatziki is one of my all time favorite dips. I love making it because of how quick it is to throw together for any occasion! It is a crowd pleaser because of its healthy refreshing taste. Not to mention it requires very few ingredients making it very inexpensive to make.

Tzatziki Sauce
2 cups plain Greek yogurt
1 cup diced seedless cucumber
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill
Salt and pepper, to taste

1. In a medium bowl, combine Greek yogurt, cucumber, lemon juice, garlic, and dill. Stir until well combined. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Always best to chill before stirring! (I usually do 1-2 days)
Makes about 3 cups
Tzatziki goes beautifully with fresh vegetables, pita bread, crackers, falafel, meat/fish, or gyros. I love pairing the tzatziki with homemade pita chips or tortilla chips. The next time you have a party or cook-out to go to bring this homemade tzatziki with you. It will most definitely be a hit and a cheap one at that!!

Last year, the number of smartphones sold exceeded the number of personal computer’s (PC’s) sold! WOW. Mobile is here to stay. Currently there are two giants in the smartphone sales war – Apple and Android. Which one do you have? Personally I’m an Apple Fangirl. Some of the reasons for mobile’s success is that you can do just about everything on your smartphone that you can do on your PC – and be mobile while doing it!

Smartphone users seem to do everything on their phone from retail shopping, listening to Pandora music, checking in on Facebook as well as playing games. <a href=”http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/draw-something-free/id488628250?mt=8″>Draw Something</a> anyone? This is one of my favorite iPad/iPhone game apps. Speaking of Draw Something and Apple apps, the use of apps continues to grow exponentially. In fact, to put it in context – it took AOL 9 years to get 1 million users, it took Facebook 9 months and it took Draw Something 9 days to reach the 1 millon user mark!!!

Global Internet users will double in the next few years and most will be mobile. There is a mobile revolution. For more interesting statistics on Smartphone use and mobile growth, check out Business Insiders recent presentation on <a href=”http://www.businessinsider.com/the-future-of-mobile-deck-2012-3?op=1″>”The Future of Mobile”</a> Now back to my most recent Draw Something game! 😉

Brownies are my go to dessert. I love them. I always have a box in the house for when a chocolate craving hits and you just need something good. But brownies can be more than just chocolate in a pan. They allow you a lot of creativity and you can dress them up in any number of ways. They are the little black dress of desserts. You can dress it up, or dress it down or wear it to three different weddings, just change the accessories!

Here are some great brownies variations that you can simply add to your basic brownie mix, either in the last 10 minutes of cooking or immediately after you pull them out of the oven, and you have a whole new dessert!

•Andes Mints! Break them up and sprinkle them across the top of the brownies 2-3 minutes, before, or immediately after you pull them out of the oven. They make great swirls and then you have chocolate mint brownies
•Peanut Butter! Add a dollop or eight to the top of your brownies before you throw them in the oven. It cooks right in and tastes fabulous!
•Jam! Pick your favorite flavor – personally, I love raspberry. Again, add spoonfuls to the top of your brownies. If you want it to stand out more, add it later in the cooking process.
•Candy! Add mini marshmallows, or chocolate chips, or M&M’s. Or Rolos, or cherries, or Heath bars or coconut. Sprinkle them on top near the end of the cooking time, press them in to the batter and you will have some fancy looking brownies. Or get really creative and add graham cracker chunks and marshmallows for a brownie S’more!

So remember, get creative and have fun because it is practically impossible to mess up brownies. I hope you enjoy!

This past weekend I was visiting the Big Apple and amongst other things this great city has to offer, I took notice to all of the Graffiti painted every where. As I was taking pictures of all of the grafiti on the side of buildings, subways, street signs I couldnt help but wonder why the city and business owners haven’t painted over any of the grafiti. I always thought of the art form as vandalism, promoting local gangs marking their territory. After talking with some local New Yorkers It opened my eyes to a whole new view of the art of  Grafiti.  It did orginate in the United States back in the 60s as a way for gangs to mark their territory, as young artist started catching on it eventually turned into an art of self expression. Artists started tagging their nicknames around the city, it became an underground battle between writers to become what the graffiti world calls graffiti “masters”. In the early 70s to become known as a master, it was all about quantity which eventually turned in to quality. Ultimaley writers were creating masterpieces of art all over the city. Hugo Martinez, a sociology major at City College, realized the legitimacy that these street artists could achieve. Hugo later founded the UGA, the United Graffiti Artists, which was the first effort to get graffiti into art galleries. Hugo represented some of NYC’s greatest graffiti artists; names like Phase2, Flint 707, and Snake found their way into legit art galleries all over the world. City officials are not so pleased with the art and still to this day have created laws and policies trying to rid graffiti.  There will never be enough policy to completely get rid of graffiti entirely. As cities come up with newer and better ways to combat graffiti, writers are finding ways of getting around it.  After talking with a few store owners in during my trip to New York, I found out that more and more store owners are actually paying graffiti writers to paint their buildings. I can say some of the pieces that I came across while I was visiting were extremly detailed and very expressive. I now recognize graffiti in an art sense rather than an act of vandalism. Although not all New Yorkers condone the graffiti, It gives the city character.

You’ve got to click <a href=”http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/south/12007594149745/boy-gives-family-of-fallen-soldier-a-trip-to-disney-world/”>this</a> link and read about Brendan Haas. It’s not too long and it won’t take up too much of your time. In a world where everyone around you seems to have their face buried in a smartphone and is oblivious to the fact that there are other actual people around them, this story made me smile like a fool – and I think we could all learn a little something from it. We might not all be able to send a family on a dream vacation… but we can do little things for each other. Hold the door. Let the person with one item cut in front of you at the grocery store checkout. Say please – <em>and</em> thank you. There’s so much more, but you get the idea. Brendan Haas started early, but it’s never too late to start putting others before yourself.