Rangi's DHART Adventure

As you know, Rangi is a pilot and he loves anything that flies. He has always wanted to go up in helicopter. We were going to go for a helicopter ride on our honeymoon but unfortunately, technical difficulties prevented us from going. Well, he finally got his ride this weekend. The Dartmouth-Hitchcock Advanced Response Team (DHART) has a helicopter and just recently reinstituted the ride along program and Rangi's application was approved. He even got to go up with a buddy fron Civil Air Patrol who is also a paramedic with DHART.

The next time you talk to Rangi you should ask him about his experience. He spent most of the time in the air. The helicopter had to go to Boston twice and went all the way up to Weeks Medical Center. It was an active day for Rangi.

Thanksgiving Follow-up

I just realized that I never gave my pie update. Well, the pie came out great. The crust was really flakey. I could have put more apples in it but the pile looked so high in the dish I was afraid it would fall over. I forgot how much the apples cook down.

My cousin and uncle made home made raviolis which were marvelous. We also had a turkey with all the fixings. The meal ended with about a half dozen different desserts on the table. Rangi wanted to try several of them and ended up eating three peices of pie. Then he complained that he ate to much ;-)

Beware of Shopping Scams on the Web

I have been seeing a disturbing trend on the Web. I recently encountered three different vendors on Amazon and Yahoo Shopping who wanted me to pay for items using Western Union or Moneygram. The Web vendors appeared to be legitimate US businesses but it turns out they wanted the cash payment sent to an international address.

The Amazon Marketplace and Yahoo Shopping do have certain guarantees for consumers but only if you pay using their credit card method.

I know no one reading this would succumb to a scam like this but if you have a friend or relative who isn't Web/ business savvy you might want to remind them to only pay for items using a credit card and make sure the vendor is legit. I also try to make sure I also have a valid business phone number and address before buying an item on the Web. Never send cash, especially to an international address.

Puppy Kindergarten III

This past Tuesday we went to another session of Puppy Kindergarten. We were the second group to arrive. A fellow was already in the room with his Pug puppy. The Pug was at last week’s class and he is a bundle of energy, running around the room and snorting at everything. We let Moxy down so she could sniff around the room. The Pug was also let loose to explore. Moxy was terrified of the little pup even though she was about twice his size. Slowly she became less scared but she still didn’t play.

Then a German Shepherd and two Yellow Labs arrived. Moxy really studied the other dogs while they played and wanted to go up to them but on her terms. For example, she wanted to sniff the other dogs but she didn’t want to be sniffed. Eventually she started to play with one of the Yellow Labs. However, the instructor thought they were getting a bit rough so we separated them and started the class. At one point Moxy started barking at the Yellow Lab because she wanted to play with him. We laughed at first and then quieted her down.

Moxy is great with the sit command and she’s slowly picking up down and stay. She’s still not great at walking on the leash with the other dogs around because the other dogs distract and scare her a bit. The instructor had us individually take our dogs off of the leash to see if each dog would follow his/ her owner. Rangi and I knew Moxy would be great at this because she's always following us on our walks through the woods. She was the top performer in this task.

At the end of the class the instructor had the other puppies leave and Moxy played with Monte, a toy dog. The two are about the same side and had a great time together. We’re thrilled that she’s becoming more social.

Making an Apple Pie for Thanksgiving

In my family I am the designated pie maker. I learned how to make a good piecrust in 4-H when I was 13 years old. My pies have been a staple at every Thanksgiving meal since then.

Piecrust is essentially just flour and fat. There isn’t much flavor in the dough. I think the purpose of a crust is to hold a yummy filling and that’s why it doesn’t have or need flavor. A few years ago Rangi mentioned that the crust was flavorless and asked if there was a way to add flavor to it. I did a bit of research and discovered an apple pie recipe that adds cheese to the crust. I made this for my rellys (Aussie for relatives) and this pie has been requested ever since.

This year I decided to try to make the crust in the Cuisinart. Usually I make the crust manually cutting the Crisco and butter in with two knives. Yesterday I was in a bit of a rush so the Cuisinart method looked like the way to go. Well, I’ll never do that again.

Initially it appeared to be a faster method. The Crisco and butter quickly formed pea shapes in the flour as a pulsed the ingredients together. Then it was time to add the water and cheese. The dough did not mix well at all. It clumped together in the mixing bowl, parts of it were wet and others dry. I quickly transferred the mixture into another bowl to mix it by hand and discovered that it was too sticky and wet. It also felt like I beat the heck out of the gluten. I added more flour to create the proper consistency and decided to let the dough rest overnight in the fridge.

This morning I put together the pie together. The dough was still a bit sticky and I didn’t put enough flour on the granite board so I had to roll out the bottom portion 3 times before I was able to pick it up and put it in the pie plate. Hopefully it has still retained some of its flakiness. The top portion was easier to work with because I used a generous about of flour on the granite surface and diligently floured the top and bottom of the dough.

The pie is now cooking. I had to take it out to apply a glaze and a nice flake came off of the edge so I was able to sample the product. The crust was surprisingly light and flaky. Hopefully the pie will come out nicely. I’ll let you know in my next post.