Youk!

Well, we did it.  Thanks to Broken Tail Rescue, we have a new addition to our family.  Welcome Youk!

Youk is a Basset Hound/Beagle mix.  He has so far been a great dog and our girls, of course, are thrilled with the new addition.  Our cat, however, isn't a happy camper.  She has chased him around the house a couple of times, trying to swipe at him.  

But other than that, is seems to have been a pretty easy transition so far.  Thanks again Broken Tail for helping us find the perfect dog for us.

Max Brenner, Boston

Last Sunday was Mother's Day, as we are all well aware.  Well, unfortunately I had to work that day, so we had to postpone our Mother's Day celebration until today.  I had told my husband where I wanted to go, and he happily obliged my request.  So this morning we drove up to Boston to partake of lunch at the newly opened Max Brenner restaurant on Boylston Street.  I knew of Max Brenner's restaurant in New York City, and was planning on going there on my next visit to the Big Apple.  But, once I heard that they had opened up a Max Brenner in Boston, I was determined to go as soon as possible.

We (me, Paul, and the girls) arrived just on time for our 11:00 am reservations, and were promptly seated.  We were given the brunch menu, as well as the "Drinks and Sweets" menu as well.  We first perused the Drinks and Sweets menu.  They had a great selection of hot chocolates, milk shakes, as well as chocolate "adult" drinks to choose from.  I ordered an Italian Thick Dark Hot Chocolate, while Paul chose the Eighties Milkshake -- milk chocolate ganache, vanilla bourbon ice cream, and a crunchy chocolate shell.  Ellie ordered a hot milk chocolate with marshmallows, and Maggie got a Peanut Butter and Chocolate Milkshake.  Each of us was very happy with our choice.  My hot chocolate was so smooth and creamy -- a perfect combination of the bite of dark chocolate with the sweetness of cream.  Paul loved his shake.  It was thick and creamy, but not heavy or too filling.  And, since they both finished them off, Ellie and Maggie seemed to enjoy their drink choices as well.

Then it was onto the main courses.  I ordered the  Illegal Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Pancakes -- three large pancakes with 60% dark chocolate truffle cream, pure milk chocolate shavings, spiced pecans, and caramelized bananas.  Can I just say, yum!  I was expecting something very rich and, for lack of a better word, chocolaty, but what I got was a nice balance of sweet and savory.  There was enough chocolate to satisfy that craving, but it still felt like a breakfast dish -- not a dessert, which was my concern.

Illegal Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Pancakes

Paul ordered the Sliced and Diced Steak "Pillow" Panini -- char grilled and thin sliced skirt steak, tossed with diced caramelized onions on a bed of asiago cheese crisps, baby spinach, roasted tomatoes, and red pepper aioli.  He enjoyed the sandwich very much, but wasn't over the moon about it.  But, as he said, people probably aren't coming here for the steak sandwich.  They are coming for the chocolate.

For the girls, Ellie ordered the Two Little Mouth Cheeseburgers - two sliders that came with cocoa dusted waffle fries.  Maggie got the pasta, that came with tomato sauce in a large syringe, allowing her to dispense it onto the pasta herself.  Ellie ate her entire meal, and said she especially liked the "melty cheese" on the burgers.  Maggie, however, did not enjoy her pasta.  Upon my taste, I found it to be a bit underdone, and the sauce was a little spicy for a child's palate.

The service was hit or miss.  There were a couple of times we needed to get something from our server, and could not find her.  Once Paul had to go up to the host table to ask for extra sauce for Maggie's pasta, and it took a good 10 - 15 minutes after we were served before anyone came over to ask if we needed anything.  However all in all, we enjoyed our meal at Max Brenner.  It is now on our list of special occasion destination for a different and chocolaty meal!

The Search Continues

One of the things we promised Ellie and Maggie that we would do when we moved was to get a dog.  Our family has been wanting a dog for a while, but we wanted to make sure we were in the right situation and frame of mind before taking the plunge.  When we were looking for houses here in Massachusetts we specifically looked for houses with fenced in back yards suitable for a dog.  We drilled into the girls that a dog requires a lot of responsibility (much more that our cat, Valerie requires).  That they will have to feed, walk, and pick up in fun surprises!  They agreed, and when spring rolled around, the dog hunt was on.

We have been primarily using Petfinder to look for pooches.  There are a lot of cute contenders, but no winners yet.  This is turning out to be harder than I thought it would be!  It took us less time to find a dining room set!  We have met a couple of dogs that just weren't right for us, and that was disappointing to the girls; to go meet and play with a cute dog whom their father and I decide not to adopt is hard, but they have been champs about it.  Hopefully their patience will pay off soon, and we will be able to welcome the perfect dog into our slightly crazy family.

Stay tuned, and maybe you will here the news of our addition soon!

You Bars (or trail mix, cereal, shakes)

Have you heard of You Bars?  I hadn't until I recently purchased one of those one day coupon deals for their company.  You Bars is an online company where you can make your own custom energy bars, trail mix, cereal, or energy shakes.  Pretty cool concept, and I was excited to try it out.

I am not big on protein shakes, and although I eat cereal almost every morning, I prefer straightforward cereals, so I was left with deciding on making a custom energy bar or trail mix.  I went with the trail mix.

You first decide on the size of your individual bags of trail mix (35, 45, or 55 grams - 13 bags per order).  I went with the 45 gram sized bag, which cost $25.87, or about $1.99 per bag.

It was fun trying to decide what to include in my mix.  The site has a great selection of dried fruits, nuts, grains, and other mix ins so you can get exactly what you want in your mix.  It also tells you the nutritional content of your mix in real time as you add and remove items from your mix.  This is a really great feature, especially if you are looking at specific nutrients or concerned about fat and calories.

After I made my final decisions, I was able to name my mix and submit my order.  About a week later it arrived!  It was pretty cool to see my custom trail mix with my name on it.  The mix was fresh and tasty.  A little more expensive than the typical trail mix you will find in the store, but that is to be expected with any custom food item you may order.

I don't know if I will be ordering from You Bar again, but I think it would make for a good gift idea in the future.  Check it out.