Changua to make it all better

Maggie's come down with a cold. Coughing, sneezing, runny nose and a not so good tummy to boot. So i fixed her my version of "changua", kind of like Colombian matzah ball soup. Here's the recipe for anyone wanting to give it a try:

Ingredients
1 package of Lipton Chicken Noodle soup
1 egg
1 1/2 cups of milk
1 1/2 cups of water
some diced onion
teaspoon of cilantro

In a medium saucepan heat up the diced onion, cilantro, water and milk till it boils.
While you're waiting crack an egg into a small bowl, make sure the yolk is intact.
Once the liquid has boiled stir in the contents of the dry soup mix, and gently slide the egg into the pan so it can poach.
Reduce the heat to a simmer, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.

Serve in a bowl with a nice piece of crusty bread, you'll [like her] be feeling better in no time!

New years eve

We celebrated new year's eve at my brother's house in White Plains, NY. They put on quite a spread with shrimp, mini steak sandwiches (my favorite), a great lasagna, and lots of other good stuff. Sue's family (my sister in law) was there as well as some friends from the neighborhood. It was lots of fun, we managed to stay up till midnight (quite a feat), and usher in the new year with family.

Maggie and I wish all of you a wonderful new year, here's hoping its a great one for us all.

Bug take two

We had the second ultrasound this morning, everything looked good, the egg sac is about twice as large and you can see the developing fetus in the upper corner of the egg sac. They measured it at about 2cm, which is about as big as a sesame seed at this point (compared to a poppy seed last time).

Maggie's appetite has increased and she's sleeping more, it's hard work building a baby!

First visit to the local dog park

We just got a new dog park in the area, the Middle Island Dog Park. Maggie went to the town clerk to get our hounds legal, and they were all issued a "pooch pass".

With pooch passes in our eager little paws we got to try out the new park this past Tuesday. It was a cold, clear day which kept away all but the hardiest of souls, but we did manage to make friends with a Newfoundland, a couple of German Shepherd mixes, and a couple of smaller dogs.

They split the park into a large/medium sized section and a small dog section. Maggie took our Shih tzu into the smaller dog park and I took the two labs into the other. Of course Sunny, the older lab, spent most of her time by the fence trying to be near Maggie, and Clementine, the Shih
tzu, spent most of her time running along the fence trying to be near me. It was nice meeting the other dog owners and we'll try to get out there on a more regular basis.

The lounge chair gang

Most nights after dinner but before bedtime the entire gang is sleepy, with their bellies full they cuddle up on the lounge chair, here's a typical night...

The napping lovers

Clementine is our shih tzu and Papi is our 8 month old cat, they've grown up together and Clementine simply loves Papi. They sleep and rough house together. Here they are napping together in the lounge chair.

Oh christmas tree, oh christmas tree...

We really owe an apology to thee.... Things have been just too busy to get to our lovely, albeit naked, unadorned christmas tree. One of the best in recent years, i guess we just have to appreciate it in it's natural state