Journeys With GG

Mom, if You´re Reading This, How´s My Dog?

So, my dog Ella is staying with my parents while I´m in Costa Rica.  I miss my silly little pup a lot and am a bit disturbed that my email as to her health and well being has gone unanswered.  Could it be my email went into mom´s spam folder?  I sure hope so!

If anyone reading this knows how my little puppy monster is, please post here or send an email to my hotmail.  Woof woof!

Sit Ubu Sit! Good Dog!

Ella had her second puppy class last night and did a great job - again!  At first she was totally distracted by the other pups and I couldn't get her to sit or do anything to save my life.  Finally she settled down and was able to focus.  Last night we learned two new commands and hand signals.  The first was "stand" to get her up on all fours from sitting or lying down.  The second was "don't touch."  I love don't touch, and she learned it like a charm.  To the point this morning when she had one of my Crocs in her mouth and said, "Don't touch!" and she dropped it immediately.

Jason from Red Rover, we might as well just call him "Uncle Jason" also took her for a doggy hike yesterday with a few other days.  She came back pretty scruffy, but I know she had a blast.  I was brave enough to let her go off leash at Point Isabell last weekend and she did pretty well with both people and dogs.

I Love Martha

If you haven't seen it yet, Martha Stewart's new afternoon show on NBC is one of my new favorite things.  I caught it a couple of times before and thought it was good, but this woman is beyond clever.  One has to admire a woman that has made not only a career, but a fortune by doing the fun stuff she really loves, and making it look so ultra simple.

On Friday's show she was wrapping up a week in review of the 30 things everyone should know how to do, and one featured for the day was making the perfect Margarita.  I love Margarita's but have a hard time with all the sugar in the pre-made mixes and Martha of course made hers from scratch.  I couldn't get them off of my mind, so yesterday I bought the fixings and last night after our 99 degree day in Oakland, whipped up a batch Martha style.  I even squeezed all the lime juice myself. 

For a complimentary dinner I made a salsa type salad with fresh tomatoes, onion, red bell pepper, roasted corn and ham, topping it off with some olive oil, lime juice and jalapeno sauce.    Very tasty.

Asian Tapas

This weekend my sister and I tried out a new Asian Tapas restaurant that is less than a mile from the house.  While not technically in Dogtown, it's worth noting because it's a great example of how my neighborhood and the surrounding areas are changing (you know - gettin' gentrified).

The ambiance and decor of the restaurant is what impressed me the most.  It's very tiny, snugly seating only 24-26 people max, but it's beautiful inside - almost completely candle-lit with beautiful vintage posters of Asian women.

The menu is changed on a monthly basis, horomone-free meats and organic and fresh-from-local market ingredients are used in the fare.  We ordered the crab eggroll with sweet chili sauce, the daily greens (green beans), sashimi, honey ribs with thai basil and curly mustard, and the porkloin and orange stir fry.  After spending a day in wine country my sis decided not to drink, but while not ususally a white wine fan, I've become very fond of New Zealand Sauvingon Blancs and since they had one on the menu I couldn't resist.

The best items by far were the crab eggroll (the sauce is what made it) and the honey ribs.  The greenbeans had great flavor and were ultra fresh, but for my own taste could have been cooked a little more.  On the flip side, for sashimi one is better off going to Mijori on Grand Avenue in Oakland (the best Sushi I've had anywhere - including Nobu and Sensei in Maui), and honestly, the pork orange stirfy just really lacked something - I've made better ones at home.

That said, I'm eager to check Furenzu out on a monthly basis to see how the menu changes and if they fall into a patter of adding more hits - like those honey ribs- to the menu long term so they have the stability of some specialties and favorites.  The cost was very resonable as well.  The five plates and two glasses of wine came to only $40 - a great cost savings over other small plate establishments in the area, such as A Cote.

To note, because Furenzu's space is so small, if you really want to go call to make a reservation if possible, or get there before 7:00 p.m. or you'll be facing a 25-30 minute wait at least.

Check it out at http://restaurantfurenzu.com/home.html

A Dogtown Morning

For those of you who don't know it, the random area of West Oakland I live in, that is so close to Emeryville we're in the same zip code, is called Dogtown.  I guess during the WW II era a lot of strays used to run in a pack together.  Sometimes you still see a few dogs traipsing down the street together.

I'm dogsitting for my sister right now.  Her dog is an adorable small poodle that looks like a mini standard (not one of those foofey little prissy poodles) and he's totally smart.  He knows all of his toys by name and will bring the right one if you ask, and he also knows that if you say the letters W-A-L-K that it means fun time for him.  Because his reaction to those letters is so funny, I even made up a song with them in them just for him.

This morning I'm waking up and he's all eager.  I sat up in bed and he dashed out of the room.  Where do I find him but sitting next to his leash, wagging his tail with anticipation. 

Now, you have to understand.  A walk for Cole doesn't happen every day.  I have a yard and he does his business there - we don't walk him twice a day to do it.  When Cole goes on a walk, the little guy is up for a four mile trek.  So off we went.   Stopping to sniff and potentially pee on every telephone pole, fire hydrant and bush that looked appealing; happily chasing pigeons; getting over excited by "big dogs" that he really wanted to play with. 

The cool thing is in Dogtown, the old Mandela Parkway is now part of the Bay Trail that's being put in.  It's really nicely landscaped, has the old fashioned green and white street lights, and makes for a really pleasant walk through an industrial area and what used to be a really sketchy neighborhood.  I have to stay, the area can still be sketch at time, but the trail makes a huge difference, and it's great to see others out biking, running and walking their dogs.  It brings a great feeling to the neighborhood.

So, that was how I spent the first hour or so of my morning, walking a dog around Dogtown. :-)