already moving...

For the ease of blogging I have decided to move my blog to Wordpress.  It can now be found at Foodlifedogs.wordpress.com

Adventures: Sunday Winerys

This is a dual purpose post. One to attempt to learn my new Nook tablet, the other of course is about Sunday's tip to a few Michigan wineries. So far learning to blog on this tablet is not as easy or as fun as going to the winery!

The winery we went up to was Round Barn in Baroda Michigan. Since Mr. Puppy escaped the door as we left he got to ride along too.

Lucky for Mr. Puppy Round Barn rocks, and thier Baroda location is totally pet friendly! They of course need to be on leash and mannered. Here he is in the tasting room with us.

I have found that my wine tastes really have been changing. I now actually try more types each time I go to a tasting. At first I would only drink really sweet desert wines. I still like sweet wines, but now also drink a few semi dry wines. One constant is that I prefer whites over reds.

Round Barn has a lot of sweet wines, so of course they have become my favorite winery! The best I think has to be the cranberry wine. Don't forget the luqours too! Bourbon, rum, and vodka all made from grapes. I am spoiled by the vodka its all I buy any more.

After a few samples at Round Barn we drove over and checked out thier sister winery Freerun Cellars. Had some pretty good stuff thier too. The Rosso at Freerun is the only red that I actually like. Freerun has an awesome cherry wine made from 100% cherries, no grapes. Its not really a "red," so of course I like it. Beware the Grappa! Yuck doesn't even begin to describe that stuff! Was described to me as a lighter vodka flavor. Nope, not even close!

We had a nice time at the wineries. I even got a little stock pile while up there.u

If you are in Michigan or planing a trip stop by some of those Michigan wineries. You can check these two out online at www.Roundbarnwinery.com
and www.Freeruncellars.com

As far as my tablet post goes, not so well. I refuse to use my computer on this one. I can't get photos to load using the tablet, so I have been using the blog app on my phone. Will add the rest soon! Plus I can't seem to rotate the photos yet either, thus the sideways shots. I'll keep plugging away at this till its right, or very close to right!

Amusement: Dog Swimming

I love taking my dogs for swims.  They also love going for swims!  My largest one Bubbles, the lab mix, is the only one who would prefer to stay home rather than swim.  Unfortunately my little JRT, Cailin, hurt her back this last week besides having to drop fly ball for some time, she also has to stop swimming for a while also.
Today I took just Mr. Puppy (Opus) to the local dog pool.  Yes, I did say DOG POOL.  The dogs just love it, and living in a climate that's freezing half the year its nice to have a fun place to exercise inside!
I also took along my camera.  The dog's have a blast, and it is fun to get some shots of them swimming.

Blogs are always better (IMO) with lots of photos!

Opus has the turtle!

B and her ball!

S has to get all the toys!

Everyone in the pool. 

Opus looking for the penguin.

S jumping on in!

B after another penguin. 

B getting her ball. 

Opus looking like a basset in this one!

S bringing in the Frisbee. 

Opus reminding me quite loudly to throw his toy!

Happy S collecting the toys!

Bis having a great time!

The dogs love swim time.
Thanks to Four Star Wellness!

Adventures in: GRILLING!

Today was another food adventure day.  Last night the local grocery store had bratwursts on sale so we got a "few."  Ya-know like three dozen.

I like beer bratwursts, but I don't have beer at home.  I do however have wine!  So J and I decided to try wine marinated grilled brats.  They turned out delicious.  

So I don't have exact measurements for this, but its a marinade so make it to your tastes.

• About 1 cup of shredded cabbage  (had left overs from my white cabbage rolls)
• 1 chopped onion
• large pinch of chopped fresh parsley
• 1 minced garlic clove
• a dash of vinegar
• and roughly half and half mix of a random Pinot Grigio and a dark red wine I had called Tempranillo 

I placed all the ingredients in a large zip lock bag, added the bratwursts and then filled till covered with the two wines.  Mixed everything well and marinated in the fridge for about 4 hours, flipping every few hours.

Yep they turn pretty purple... 

Pull out the brats, toss them on the grill.  Nice and purple on the grill.  Those non-purple ones and just plain ol' hot Italian brats. 

Next drain the excess wine from the bag.  Put the onion/cabbage mixture in a foil packet and toss that on the grill with those brats! 

And this one is for J, he wanted everyone to see his grill smoke. 

All done, don't they look yum?

Nice purple toppings for the brats. 

And done! 

PANCAKE WEEKENDS!

I love the weekends.  As long as there is an hour in the morning J and I get up and make pancakes at least once a weekend.  Usually I use the cheater baking mix box stuff, but then I experiment with what ever I find in my pantry.

Had to start the morning with basic pancakes.  Need to know where I am starting from, right? 

Next was the closer to failure of pancake morning was the blueberry swirl pancakes.  Had some nice blueberry syrup that I though would make a good pancake.  Tasty? Yes.  Pretty? No. 

The winner of pancake morning?  Chocolate chip cookie pancakes!  Why have just chocolate chip pancakes when they can be chocolate chip cookie! 

These turned out great.  

Pretty simple to throw together.  

I tossed a handful of chocolate chips in my magic bullet and chopped them up a bit.  Last time I put chocolate chips in pancakes they sank to the bottle of the batter bowl. 

Put in a few large pinches of brown sugar. 

A dash of salt. 

And mixed together. 

Finally folded it into the pancake batter.  Remember to not over mix the batter, makes tougher pancakes.  

To top off a great pancake morning, some fresh squeezed orange juice by J.