A Dog By Any Other Name

I don't brag about my cooking too often, but I have to admit my Dickey Dogs are doggone good. Dickey Dogs? Well I didn't come up with that name (any of my friends remember who did?). Wiener wraps, pigs in a blanket, whatever you choose, but at my house we call them Dickey Dogs because our last name is Dickey and we like alliteration (ahem, my blog title, my kid's names, my dogs).
Anyway, these babies are great for a crowd and aren't hard to make. I make them in the fall a lot for Halloween and Harvest parties and for big football games.
I remember eating these back in elementary school. I had not had one for ages. One day my friend asked me if I wanted to go eat lunch at her grandmas. Of course, I love grandmas. I went and she served wiener wraps. My mouth watered, I was in heaven. Grandma gave me the recipe and I have been making them ever since. Her dogs are still better, but then again she has had years of practice on me.

Here is the recipe:

1 Package yeast
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/3 Cup warm water (105-120 degrees)
6 Cups flour
4 Tablespoons melted butter
2 Teaspoons salt
1 2/3 Cups Milk

Steps-

1. Place yeast, sugar and water in measuring cup for five minutes to activate.
2. Put flour, butter, salt and milk in KitchenAid (you can use a Cuisinart or other mixer too) with a dough hook and mix.
3. Mix for a few minutes.
4. Let the dough rise for about 90 minutes.
5. Take out a chunk of dough and flatten out.
6. Place a dog in on the dough and wrap that baby up.
7. Bake at 375 for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

This recipe will make about 12 large sized wraps. It all depends on how much dough you use on your dogs AND how much raw dough your kids eat before you finish.

Here are some pictures:

Dough flattened out. Do you see my Demarle (aka Silipat)? I love their products. They do in home sales and I really should sell it, but I'm not into that kind of thing. Maybe I should blog about that one day.

Mmmm. Good.

A final word of dogs. You get what you pay for here. These babies work best when I get the good dogs. I suggest Nathan's, but they aren't cheap. When I know I am going to be making a lot of them I will go to Cash and Carry (our restaurant supply store) and buy a case. If we are feeding a bunch of kids I will go with whatever is on sale, but they really aren't as good as Nathans. I often will make an "adult" batch and a "kids" batch. By the way the dough can also be used for rolls or bread. Here is my Ode to Nathans. We visited there last summer.

Everything and the Kitchen Sink

I have a love hate relationship with Craigslist.

Things I Hate
1. Crazy people who don't follow through (especially annoying when I am giving away stuff for free)
2. When I arrange to buy something, or pick it up, and it is not as it was described.
3. It makes me spend money on things I don't really need.

Things I Love
1. You can pick up some great things...(wait until you see what I got for free)
2. It is a great place to unload stuff you don't want anymore
3. It supports sustainability. Why buy something new when you can get it used?

Alright this list can go on and on. Drum roll please....

Isn't she lovely? I saw her listed on Craigslist Thursday for free. I am always a little hesitant when something looks too good to be true, but I called the number listed and left a message. Friday afternoon I got a call from the man who had it and he said the person seemed a bit sketchy and if I had a truck and could come get it on Saturday morning it was mine. I have learned that with these deals it is always good to ask questions (Does that put me in the category above  I said was annoying?) I asked things like, "Do we need to carry it up stairs? Should I bring a dolly? Will we need to go through doors?". The man was very nice and even started to tell me the history of the sink.
This morning my husband and I loaded up and drove across town to pick it up. The man was there waiting and we were able to back our truck right up next to where the sink was located. He helped my husband take it off the wall and load it up. This baby weighs a TON. It was in the garage which was originally the kitchen of this home. He is remodeling the house and wants to install a laundry room where the sink was so he needed it to go. He was well aware of the value the sink has. He had even checked out how much it would cost to have it re-enameled. The right hand side has some areas that are damaged (he thinks it is from battery acid...yikes). This lovely lady is five feet long and has drainboards on both sides. The actual sink is very shallow, but hey when the entire sink is enamel who cares if it gets wet right?
So now comes the hard part. Decisions. I am going to clean her up and have my brother-in-law, who happens to be a plumber, talk to me about if it would be feasible to install it in my kitchen (One day I will write a post about my slow kitchen remodel process.).
So what it if won't work? Well this is where I have some ideas. I can use it for my future outdoor kitchen (Another post for the future). I can use it for a great outdoor water feature. I also thought about pitching a trade to a local antique salvage company for a smaller sink that may work better. No matter what happens this is a win, win situation. In the meantime I can dream about the possibilities...

Here is what I may end up with...except my drainboard has to be on the left side.

(Pictures from Pintrest)

There you have it the story of my sink, but somehow I think this is only the first chapter.

Gearing Up

After two weeks off I head back to work tomorrow. Crazy thing is I did not complete any projects over the break. I am looking forward to accomplishing a few in the nextcouple of weeks. Here is something I forgot to share. I had planned on selling it, but alas it was a weird shade and I ended up moving lamps around (did you know I have a lamp fetish?). I figured I might as well use it. I have it next to my bed and love it! It looks a little crooked here, but I promise it isn't.

I also hinted at my winter themed decorations. I figured I should share them. This is the front window. I change it often to keep things moving. I kept some of the Christmas decorations out for this reason. I can't bear to put away the glitter deer just yet.

Here is a look at my lovely bird candle holder. I bought it at Kohls last year. My mom has one as well so we can really make a statement with both of them. Maybe I will have a party just to show them off.

This is one of my chalkboards. We love to write little messages on it. I figured it should go in the window to get the snow motivated.

Here is our mantle. I love the WISH banner so much. Can I keep it up all year?

I recently took a framing class in order to prepare to build some things this spring. I have promised my daughter we would build her a playhouse since her brother has one. I never got around to it. Well, in my class we built a four by eight structure. When the class ended I asked the teacher what they would be doing with the it. He told me they would just tear it down. I had wheels turning. I emailed the Rebuild It Center (if you live in Portland you have to know about this place) and asked how much they wanted for it. I was willing to pay up to $100. They told me $20. A few days later my husband, kids and I went to the workshop and took the walls down. It is mainly intact and will be easy to reconstruct. My daughter and I will finish it up this spring! I am so excited. Here is a sneak peak:

Back to the grind tomorrow. Let the fun begin!

Rejuvenation

I'm breathing. The holidays passed in a whirlwind and now I can take a deep breath. Ahhh. The other day as I finished putting away the Christmas decorations my ten-year-old said, "The house looks empty." My feelings exactly. I decorate for fall in mid-September, then Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas and now we are back to "normal". I always have my front bay window decorated seasonally (darn should post a picture), but right now the rest of the house is bare until late January when we deck the halls for Valentine's Day.
I like the clean fresh feel right now.  We can now go into our pseudo hibernation as a family. The social calender is spotty, we only have Y basketball, which is way less of a time commitment than BASEBALL. We tend to hunker down and hang out in the basement next to the fire. I find that this is the time of year I get a lot of my projects done. Last year I tiled part of the bathroom, hung wainscoting, added crown molding etc. I hope to sit down in the next day or so and start plugging away at my 2012 To Do List. I head back to work on Wednesday, but until then I am purging, planning and of course relaxing. Here are a few projects I would like to remember from last year:

This was a dresser/buffet I picked up on Craigslist. I sanded it, painted it and then roughed it up. I traded my friend two round-trip tickets on Southwest Airlines for it. She is a flight attendant so it was a win-win situation. Can't wait to use them! Where should we go? Any suggestions?

Last February when I did the mini-remodel on my daughter's bathroom I created this lady from a straw wreath I had hanging around. I wrapped it in some rope and then glued the shells on it. I believe I found all of the shells on here from various trips to the beach. The best ones are from our trip to Spain.

I had forgotten all about this piece. It is currently packed in a box, but will come back out soon. I may have to post it on Etsy. I can always make more!

I have been searching high and low for wooden spools so I can make more of these. I heart them...wait love them.

I tried to sell this several times this summer to no avail. I really didn't want to sell it, but I didn't have anywhere it would go in my house. My husband finally ended up taking it to his classroom where it currently holds his classroom prizes. The top is a chalkboard!

I am stoked to get moving on 2012 now. Ahhh.