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Daisy Turns TWO Today!! :D

Yup, today’s Daisy’s second birthday!! WOOHOOOO! :D

She sure has come a long way from that little tiny frightened furball we brought home almost two years ago — 2.6 months old and 2.6 pounds….most of which was hair!

Daisy, 5 months old. Just piles of hair and a sweet little face. :)

She barely moved around that first day. She stayed underneath the coffee table or slept on my foot…that is, when we weren’t cuddling her….who could resist that tiny little face buried in all that crazy hair!! :D

Daisy's first day home. She constantly slept on my foot!

Happy Birthday sweet little Daisy! You bring happiness, love, and laughter to us every single day!

YUM!! Birthday cookies!! (What a little character she is!)

A Birthday in the Daisy Family

Taking a brief break from Daisy Doings to share something yummy with you. :)

Last week was DD’s birthday, so naturally I made one of her favorite dinners – homemade spaghetti and meatballs. And for her birthday cake, she requested my flourless chocolate cake with chocolate ganache.

Happy Gluten-free Birthday DD! :)

I was a culinary maniac for two solid days! ;)

Our little family party was lots of fun, but don’t you just hate it when your birthday falls on a weekday? You still have to work all day and you only have a few hours of party time at night, before you have to start prepping for the next workday. It’s a gyp – I think people should have a paid day off on their birthdays. :)

Unfortunately Daisy didn’t get to partake of any birthday goodies. I make meatballs from ground turkey rather than beef, and we all know what happens to Daisy when she gets foul fowl into her tum….. She did get a couple small bits of unsauced pasta, though, which she scarfed down with gusto. In typical Daisy style. :)

DD follows a gluten-free diet – she’s got a wheat allergy, as I mentioned in a previous post. I gotta say – with all the choices now in gluten-free dining, she doesn’t miss out on much anymore, and she can eat heartily while still staying a size zero! ::grumblegrumblegrumble::

This cake is decadently rich and incredibly sinful, but worth every bite. Depending on how you serve it – with chocolate ganache, a raspberry sauce, a caramel drizzle, or anything else your heart desires – you change it just enough to make it seem new. You can even make it in small, individual sizes for perfect dinner party servings!

Here’s the simple recipe (I halved it, which is the picture you see):

1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup white sugar
18 squares bittersweet chocolate, 1 oz. each (18 oz. total)
1 cup butter, softened
6 eggs
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Grease one 10 inch round cake pan and set aside.
2. In a small saucepan over medium heat combine the water, salt and sugar. Stir until completely dissolved and set aside.
3. Either in the top half of a double boiler or in a microwave oven melt the bittersweet chocolate. Pour the chocolate into the bowl of an electric mixer.
4. Cut the butter into pieces and beat the butter into the chocolate, 1 piece at a time. Beat in the hot sugar-water. Slowly beat in the eggs, one at a time.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Put the cake pan in a larger pan filled with boiling water halfway up the sides of the cake pan.
6. Bake cake in the water bath at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for 45 minutes. The center will still look wet. Chill cake overnight in the pan. To unmold, dip the bottom of the cake pan in hot water for 10 seconds and invert onto a serving plate.

Personally, this method of removing the finished cake from the cake pan never works for me. It pulls away from the edges by itself, so that’s not a problem, but the bottom tends to stick pretty tight. Next time I’m going to bake it like I bake banana bread – with a single layer of wax paper underneath so it’ll pop out easily and I can just peel the wax paper off. Hopefully that’s the key!

Daisy’s Horoscope!

Strolling through the web, I found a doggy horoscope site. Since Daisy just celebrated her one year birthday on Sunday, March 13, I decided to have a little fun and see how her personality compares against these traits. My comments about how Daisy matches up to her astrological sign are in bold caps:

Baby Daisy, 2 months old, all bones underneath that fur!

Pisces
February 20 – March 20

Sensitive, gentle, intuitive and cuddly – TRUE
Weak-willed, easily led and sulky – Definitely NOT TRUE

LIKES:
…being left alone – NOPE
…lazing and doing nothing in particular – WHEN IT SUITS HER
…learning new tricks – YES

DISLIKES:
…being told off for being naughty – YES, SHE HATES THAT!
…loud noises of any kind – YES, OH YES!
…not having somewhere comfy to sleep at night – DON’T KNOW, FORTUNATELY SHE’S ALWAYS HAD A COMFY PLACE TO SLEEP!

Piscean dogs possess a gentle, patient and lovable nature. YES

One year old Daisy, the crazy, silly, toy-destroying, risk-taking, rule-defying nut we love with all our hearts.

They have many generous qualities and are friendly, good natured, sensitive to the feelings of those around them, and respond with constant tail-wagging whenever they are called. ABSOLUTELY YES!

They are deservedly popular with all kinds of people and other dogs, partly because their easygoing, affectionate, submissive natures offer no threat or challenge to neither man or dog. EASYGOING, AFFECTIONATE – YES. SUBMISSIVE – UHHH, NO. DAISY WILL STAND HER GROUND WITH ANYONE, BE IT MAN OR BEAST!

They tend to just drift along from day to day accepting their world around them and the circumstances in which they find themselves and will just patiently wait for what they want rather than taking the initiative to annoy their owners for it. NOT REALLY – DAISY HAS PLENTY OF INITIATIVE AND DOESN’T MIND ANNOYING US AT ALL! LOL OTHERWISE SHE’S VERY ACCEPTING OF NEW PLACES AND NEW PEOPLE.

They long to be recognized and dislike discipline and confinement. DAISY LOVES TINY, CONFINED PLACES – THE SMALLER, THE BETTER – BUT THE OTHER TWO ARE RIGHT ON THE MARK.

As they are also versatile and intuitive, have quick understanding, observe and listen well, they are receptive to anything new. DEFINITELY.

Intensely loyal, these dogs will always remain a faithful and dedicated companion to their owner. LET’S HOPE SO!

Because of their sensitive nature, Piscean dogs tend to suffer from various forms of skin disease, inflammations, foot disorders and lameness. LET’S HOPE NOT!

So some of these are right, others are way off the mark. Pretty standard for horoscopes, I think! What about your dog – does he/she seem to possess the characteristics of his/her astrological sign?

Strolling through the web, I found a doggy horoscope site. Since Daisy just celebrated her one year birthday on Sunday, March 13, I decided to have a little fun and see how her personality compares against these traits. My comments about how Daisy’s personality compares are in bold caps:

Pisces
February 20 – March 20

Sensitive, gentle, intuitive and cuddly – TRUE

Weak-willed, easily led and sulky – Definitely NOT TRUE

LIKES:

being left alone – NOPE
lazing and doing nothing in particular – WHEN IT SUITS HER

learning new tricks – YES

DISLIKES:

being told off for being naughty – YES, SHE HATES THAT!
loud noises of any kind – YES, OH YES!
not having somewhere comfy to sleep at night – Don’t know, she’s always had a comfy place to sleep!

Piscean dogs possess a gentle, patient and lovable nature. YES

They have many generous qualities and are friendly, good natured, sensitive to the feelings of those around them, and respond with constant tail-wagging whenever they are called. ABSOLUTELY YES!

They are deservedly popular with all kinds of people and other dogs, partly because their easygoing, affectionate, submissive natures offer no threat or challenge to neither man or dog.EASYGOING, AFFECTIONATE – YES. SUBMISSIVE – UHHHHH, NO. DAISY WILL STAND HER GROUND WITH ANYONE, BE IT MAN OR BEAST!

They tend to just drift along from day to day accepting their world around them and the circumstances in which they find themselves and will just patiently wait for what they want rather than taking the initiative to annoy their owners for it. NOT REALLY – DAISY HAS PLENTY OF INITIATIVE AND DOESN’T MIND ANNOYING US AT ALL! LOL OTHERWISE SHE’S VERY ACCEPTING OF NEW PLACES AND NEW PEOPLE.

They long to be recognized and dislike discipline and confinement. DAISY LOVES TINY, CONFINED PLACES – THE SMALLER, THE BETTER – BUT THE OTHER TWO ARE RIGHT ON THE MARK.

As they are also versatile and intuitive, have quick understanding, observe and listen well, they are receptive to anything new. DEFINITELY.

Intensely loyal, these dogs will always remain a faithful and dedicated companion to their owner.LET’S HOPE SO!

Because of their sensitive nature, Piscean dogs tend to suffer from various forms of skin disease, inflammations, foot disorders and lameness. LET’S HOPE NOT!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAISY! One Year Old Yesterday!

Yes, our little Daisy crossed the milestone birthday yesterday that propelled her from Puppy Daisy to Doggy Daisy. :) Just look at how much she’s grown and changed – although she still LOVES curling up on our feet!

The first photo we took of Daisy when we brought her home. She immediately curled up on my foot!

What a big girl she is now!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We celebrated by having a spa day at home. One of my friends gave Daisy a soft pink hooded bathrobe for Christmas, which almost matches DD’s robe (minus the hood).

So after a nice long walk, Daisy was treated to a lovely warm bath that gave her that sweet flowery scent we love so much. Then we put her little pink robe on her….and immediately started snapping pictures.

You all know how much Daisy hates hoods – they paralyze her with shame. LOL So what else were we to do but take pictures??!!

Not another hood!

:)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What was of the greatest surprise to us was that once we took the hood off, she wore that robe for hours and never once tried to wrestle it off!

Her birthday was a day of cuddles and cookies; so much cuddling and petting that I guess you could put it into the “massage” category just to round out the spa theme. ;)

Today she’s full of energy and mischief. That’s what we get for all that pampering!

Daisy may have officially reached dog-hood, but she’ll always be a puppy to us.