Too innocent?

Ravings: Either Shadow is on to me or he isn’t the culprit. I'm thinking he might be on to me. He’s smarter than we think. I swear he has a whole life of crime when we’re not home. He just looks way too innocent when you walk in the door. Most dogs are either at the door waiting to pounce or come running to knock everything out of your hands and cover you with slobbery kisses. Not Shadow. He doesn’t even acknowledge me! It’s almost a deliberate snub. Like’s he is still so incredulous that I even left him in the first place. Although I like to believe that the whining and looking pathetically out from his crate translates into “Please don’t go. My heart will break without you!” Jason is probably more correct in his interpretation that he’s saying “Hey, don’t forget to lay out my blanket and give me a treat.” Which leads me to believe that if his utter lack of acknowledgment isn’t a punishment for leaving him, it has to be a ploy to make me think he’s innocent.

But of what?

Where can I buy nanny cam?

This is Shadow after I’d come in the door, put all my stuff down, taken a picture with my phone, gone upstairs to get the ipad because the picture on my phone was too dark, taken a picture with my ipad, moved the lamp closer to the couch for more light, and taken another picture! He moved his head when I sat down on the couch, but still didn’t get up. When I took the blanket off of him, he gave me the “Oh, I didn’t realize you were home” look. He’s definitely up to something!!!

How much is a nanny cam?

Cravings: Last night was “Force Jason to eat fish night!” For these evenings my sole (get the pun!!!) objective is to disguise the taste of the fish. So I did an Asian honey mustard glazed salmon with Chinese 5-spice roasted potatoes and sautéed greens. He tolerated it, although he did ask me if we had tartar sauce after 2 bites! So much for my fish disguise! Although I guess that’s better than refusing to eat it, right?

Glazed Salmon

1-2 pieces of salmon per person (I had 4 steaks)
½ cup brown mustard
¼ cup agave syrup (I didn’t have any honey)
1 Tbsp hoisin sauce ( I had planned to use soy sauce but we were out of that too!)

Mix the mustard, agave/honey, and hoisin in a bowl. When you are ready to cook the salmon, coat it with the mustard mix and put it skin side down in a super hot pan. I still have not perfected crispy skin, which is part of Jason’s issue with fish. He doesn’t like the skin. Let it cook for several minutes (hopefully the skin gets crispy) and then flip it with a spatula. Cook for several more minutes until it’s flaky on the inside.

5-spice roasted potatoes

Potatoes ( I think I used 8-10 medium fingerlings, but I have the vegetarian to feed also)
Chinese 5-spice powder
Sesame oil

Chop the potatoes into bite sized pieces and put them in a roasting pan. Coat with sesame oil and 5-spice (I used about ½ Tbsp). Stir to coat. Broil for about 30-45 minutes, until they are done and some are crispy on the edges.

Sauteed Greens

2 bunches broccoli rabe (If you aren’t familiar, here’s the Wikipedia explanation.)
Several leaves of kale (I had kale on hand, but any dark green will work)
2 Tbsp Olive oil
2 Tbsp butter
4-5 cloves of garlic, crushed

Rough chop the broccoli rabe and the kale. Get a pan hot with the olive oil and half the butter. Saute on medium high the Broccoli rabe first for about 5 mins, then add the kale (it cooks faster). Saute that for another 5 mins or so and add the garlic and the rest of the butter. You can also salt it here if you want. Saute for another couple minutes just to get the raw garlic taste out and melt the butter. Jason likes to salt everything after so I don’t cook with much salt, but this does need some so you can do it while you are cooking or after. Viola!

I'm getting better at the food styling. At least I think I am. Jason said he could do better!