Stanford vs. Oregon game

I decided that since things are getting pretty routine with Hinckerz these days, I'm going to try to spice things up with some thoughts on food. Besides, Hinckerz often hangs out with me in the kitchen while I'm cooking...so...consider this "Puppy & Kitchen chronicles" until further notice.

This weekend was the big Stanford vs. Oregon game - #9 vs. #4! We had Adders over to watch (Sal was out of town) and I put myself in charge of making snacks.

Mom & Dad sent me some delicious-looking potatoes from mum's garden a few weeks back and I had been looking for a special occasion to merit cooking them. This was it. Per dad's suggestion, I simply roasted them with some olive oil, salt & pepper.

Though I knew they'd be ridiculously good on their own, Tyler and I were feeling ambitious and decided to make a dipping sauce, like the kind you get when you have Patatas Bravas at a Tapas bar. We used Bobby Flay's recipe and let me tell you, it was awesome. Only drawback is that now I have a whole lot of it left over but no idea what to use it on since I'm out of potatoes now. Sigh!

Here's the goods:

• 1 tomato
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup homemade mayonnaise
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 teaspoons smokey paprika
• 2 teaspoons whole chipotle in adobo sauce

I basically roasted the tomato alongside the potatoes for awhile, then put all of the ingredients into my Magic Bullet blender and pureed. Tyler made the mayonnaise from scratch after my first attempt failed. Note: use the Cuisinart for that part.
We also enjoyed some Kale chips (bake kale seasoned with olive oil & salt for 20 minutes at about three hundo) and later, steak tacos.
Sadly, Oregon ended up trouncing us in the second half. Hinck was pretty upset about it. Or that may have been because we put him in his pumpkin costume from last year. Only the hat still fits.

Adventures in Florida

Tyler and I just got back from a great trip to Florida that started in Naples, continued in Clearwater, and ended unexpectedly in Atlanta.

We were in town for his cousin Ellen's wedding and after a fabulous day and a half in Naples where we celebrated his dad's birthday, we drove up to Tampa. The wedding was held at the Sandpearl Resort in Clearwater, which was beautiful. It was great because after the rehearsal dinner on Friday, there wasn't another event until Saturday evening, so we were able to hang out by the pool and beach all day. Here's the view from the beach.

The wedding started at six and was held outdoors. Everyone was very worried about rain but luckily it held off!


The reception was also at the same resort, which was a lot of fun. This was our salad course which I thought was quite beautiful - and I got extra cucumber since TLK is allergic.We meant to come home Sunday night, but when we got to the Tampa airport we learned that there were thunderstorms in Atlanta and our incoming flight was delayed, meaning that we were delayed. After at least an hour and a half of ridiculous plane antics, we took off only to arrive to Atlanta ten minutes after our flight to SFO had left. I have to say, Delta was not very helpful on this one. But we got through to someone on the phone and booked ourselves on the next available flight...Monday at 5pm.

To make the best of things, we explored a bit of downtown Atlanta on Monday, visiting the Olympic park and the Coke Museum. It really did turn out to be a fun detour.



Hinckerz meanwhile was being looked after by Sally and Adam (thank you!!!) who graciously rose to the challenge when we told them we were delayed an extra day. He told me he had tons of fun visiting IDEO (he says he can't tell me what he did there since it was confidential,) running around the park in Potrero Hill, and playing with the blue squash ball Adam found. He's been sleeping it off since. Gotta love a sleepy puppy!

Swimming Progress

The last few weekends have been HOT and Tyler and I have been trying our hardest to make them into swimming opportunities for Hinckley. This weekend he had his first ever 2 second long doggie paddle, but it has been a long road to get there.

The recap:

Step 1: Drop puppy off dock
You may recall that when Hinck was only a few months old, we took him on a warm October day up to Treasure Island and tried to teach him to love the ocean like we do. We did this by getting him a life preserver and dropping him off a dock. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but unfortunately, I think it really just ended up freaking him out. Whoops.


Step 2: Try out the beach
At Fort Funston, We carried the puppy into ocean waves. Again, this maybe wasn't the best idea for a 'medium warm' day in November. Tyler braved the icy water and tried to lead by example, but Hinckley was really having none of it.


Step 3: Bribe with Peanut Butter
Fast forward to just a few weekends ago in May. Tyler looked up a nearby 'beach' in Foster City that allows dogs, but only on leash. We took off in the late afternoon and brought with us plenty of treats and a jar of peanut butter. While the treats did nothing, spoonfuls of peanut butter did seem to have a pretty strong pull. We led Hinck into the water inch by inch until he got up to his belly, stopped licking peanuttiness off his chops long enough to realize where he was, and bolted.


Step 4: Combine hot weather with lots of dogs and one big stick
To the beach again. We brought Hinck back to one of his favorite spots, Fort Funston, and let him loose on the beach. He had a blast chasing dogs of all sizes and occasionally found himself knee deep, having been distracted by pursuit of another pup. It was hot enough that he repeatedly took to the shallow water (and unfortunately, drank half the ocean and was barfing all afternoon) but the waves were definitely intimidating him. Tyler tried to tempt him with a big ol' chunk of wood, but it only worked about half the time.


Step 5: Tone it down with a lake
And finally, this weekend. We chose a super hot day and took Hinck to Water Dog Park in Belmont. There were some nice big sticks to choose from and we had fairly good success tossing sticks out just far enough that he had to lean on his tippy-paws to get the stick before falling off the lake bed. And on one try, he did fall off and gave a few brilliant doggie paddles before jumping out of the water and running around like a maniac. We were very proud.

Unfortunately, that was the only paddle of the day. Especially as other dogs showed up, Hinck let them (and the wind) do the heavy lifting of actually retrieving the sticks, then chased them once they were back on land. We think there is hope though, and with more opportunities and practice (and a place where we can get in the water too) He'll get there!

Here's a video where we hoped he'd repeat his swim...he didn't, but he still looks cute.

Lots of Hinckley Pictures

This is Tyler, here with a guest post. I got a new camera and -- after taking pictures on vacation in Naples -- came back to snap scores of photos of the Hinckapotamus. You can see a few favorites below (with my throw-away comments) or can visit the whole set on flickr.

Hinckley being cute.

He don't eat the meat but he sure like the bone.

Hinck learned how to be a good smiler from Jo.

Hinck likes this blue bone. Unlike most of his toys, he hasn't found a way to destroy it (yet).

Hinck learned this from the "Madsen School of Sticking One's Tongue Out to the Side."

I think it's hilarious how his body looks disconnected from his head.

He's a big tennis ball man these days.

Ok, that's all for pictures -- again, you can visit the rest here. As for real news about Hinck, he's becoming a better fetcher (with the help of new treats from CostCo) and a better walker (thanks to the Easy Walk Harness). A video of him walking properly wouldn't be that interesting, but maybe we can conjure up a video of him fetching this weekend -- it's especially fun when he jumps for a high bounce and flips around in mid-air.

To close, Hinck has a special message for everyone reading this. He says "[snore]."

Great Pictures from Bernal & Happy Mothers Day

Today Hinck, Tyler, Sally, Adam & I all went on a short jaunt to Bernal Heights. Despite feeling a bit ill over the past week and a half, Hinck seems to have returned to his normal self and was running around like a maniac. Sally & Adam took some awesome pictures, which I wanted to share here. Man, I wish I had a camera that could capture Hinck in his true essence like this! (They took some of people too, but this being a blog about Hinck, he's heavily featured.)







Finally, Hinck wanted to share a message for all the moms out there!

Last Weekend and a Sleepy Puppy

Last weekend was a great one - we spent almost the whole weekend in Berkeley at Tyler's place and visited some good spots around the area. One of those was a park right by the bay, Cesar Chavez park, that had great views of the water and also off leash parts that Hinck could play in. Hinck is getting better at going off leash - he'll run ahead but before he gets too far, he turns around to wait for us slow-pokes. He's also better about coming when we call him (especially when there aren't cute girl-dogs around.)





After we came back from the park, we tried to lock Hinckley out just for a joke. He wasn't very happy with us.


On Wednesday, I took Hinck to Water Dog Park in Belmont. Mom, Dad, & Sally took him there back in November, and I had been meaning to try it out but didn't realize just how easy it was to get to! It's about 4 min from the Belmont library, which I like a whole lot. We went there after work and ran into a sweet yellow lab who tried to convince Hinck to go swimming in the lake/pond that's in there. Even with the temptations of a new friend, a ball being tossed, and DUCKS Hinck still would only let his feet get wet. I'm somewhat convinced that this summer the hot weather will change his mind, but until then fingers crossed. He was still plenty wet, though, and stayed in the car to get warm & cozy while I searched for books at the library afterward.


This weekend has been a lot less sunny, so less adventures. Instead, Hinck's been sleeping. He's very cute when he sleeps - evidence below:

It's been awhile...

Hinckerz, Tyler, and I have been having some real adventures, some even involving some guest stars, and so far I've done a pretty terrible job documenting it. Now that I'm done with my crazy project, I'm hoping to make blog posting more regular. For now, here's a look at some of our travels!


Tyler and I had a fun lunch visit a few weeks ago, joined by Hinck. Tyler got the puppy and I got the food, and we met in the park downtown. It really does make a difference in how enjoyable your workday is when you can break it up with a silly puppy and a great boyfriend and a game of frisbee!


Over the March 13-15 weekend, we had to leave Hinck behind when we went to Louisville, KY to play with some college friends. We had a great time and Hinck was also in great hands. He spent two days and two nights at Planet Pooch, an awesome doggie daycare (with sleepover service) in the SF area (its actually where Hinck's classes are taught and he has puppy playgroup) and then another day with Sally and Adam. Needless to say, he was exhausted and dirty when he got home, so I gave him a nice warm bath which he didn't like too much but seemed happy about after the fact.


Over my birthday weekend, the whole family was in town and we had a great time taking Hinck all over the place. That included a trip to Crissy Fields, another beachy off leash area in SF. He had a really good time running around with some new dog friends, even with the eight of us ogling at him and my mum occasionally getting nervous about him or other dogs playing too roughly. It was pretty exciting to see him with a background of sailboats to match his sailboat collar. Too bad he's still afraid of the water :)


Last Sunday we took Hinck to a hilly off leash park called Bernal Heights. He had been before with Sal and Adam, but the rest of us had never been. It was fun to see him run ahead and then turn back to wait for us, with a look that seemed to say "Come on, slowpokes!" At one point he got a little caught up playing with this fast little dog, and he got pretty far away from us. All seven of us were calling "Hinck! Hinck!" but he couldn't hear and just stood there looking sad and confused, until I ran down the hill and caught his attention. He's a dear. We had tons of fun, and fully plan to visit Bernal more in the future.

Another Fun Weekend

Believe it or not, we had so much fun at Fort Funston last weekend that we decided to go again, in the morning of the superbowl. This time we got some companions - Sal and Ads, just returned from their trip to Kenya! We tried once again to get Hinck interested in the water. Tyler tried his famous 'drop Hinck in a wave' tactic (didn't seem to work at all) and the rest of us experimented with throwing sticks at the tidal line. Hinck is still pretty nervous or maybe just cold-pawed but he ran after the stick probably 85%, so it looks like he could yet be a water dog. We're certainly working on it! Some pictures...though there is one out there of a end-of-football-game pigpile that didn't end up on my camera that should also be posted with this set (Hint, Hint)

Best buds.

Tyler and Hinckley brave the icy waves.

Of course Hinck needed a bath - turns out this is WAY easier than getting him in the tub :)