Yassy's Bow Wow K9 News

Save more on Deer Antlers

yassy — Fri, 25 May 2012 04:33:55 GMT

From May 24th through 31st, you can save more on Deer Antlers.

** 4 days only (25th,26th,27th, and 28th) Memorial day week special offer **

Place an order between May 25th Friday through 28th Monday and receive 12% off on your order with coupon code MD12

Offer starts from May 25th and ends on 28th at 11:59pm Est US time clock.

Without the coupon code,store system would not recognize the special treatment for you.

The coupon box to type in the code will appear on the payment page after typing in the shipping information.

If your dogs love Antlers to chew on, this is the great time for you to stock up with big saving.

Due to postal holiday on 28th Monday (Memorial day), next shipping date is 29th Tuesday.

*****************************************************

**Deer Antlers

Gnaw-worthy100% natural Deer Antler. Available in 5 sizes; XS, M, L, XL, XXL. 100%Natural Deer Antlers are harvested in US.

Antlers lasts lot longer than bully sticks. These are great as long lasting chew.

Let's watch how much Palette enjoys Deer Antlers. If you are a blog subscriber, please click here to watch the video clip.
Palette and Deer Antlers

To read more/watch Palette's taste test video on Deer Antlers, please click here.

To read more on long lasting chews,please click here.

XS(recommend for dog up to 15lb) approx 2"-4"

Normally,it is $4.59,but with sales price,it is $4.18

M(recommend for dog 15lb-45lb) approx 4"-7"

Normally,it is $8.83,but with sales price,it is $8.05

L (recommend for dog 30-80lb)approx 5"-10"

Normally,it is $13.39,but with sales price,it is $12.20

XL (recommend for dogs 45lb and up) approx 6"-10"

Out of stock

XXL (recommend for dogs 60lb and up) approx 6"-12"

Normally,it is $25.96,but with sales price,it is $24.33

***Antler size is determined by weight of the Antler,not length.

** Natural Deer Antlers with some velvet on

We will offer this only when we can offer

Palette enjoy her Deer Antlers with some velvet on.

100% Natural Deer Antlers with some velvet left on, harvested in US.

Deer Antler with some velvet on has some fuzzy stuff on it. That fuzz is called velvet, and good for joint health.

Amount of velvet left on Antler is varied,so is width. This Deer Antler is NOT fully covered with velvet but rather,some velvet residue is left on.The Antler length is about 4"-5" or so.

You may not get shape variety as you can get with regular Antlers with this Antler, but since this is softer Antler,it is great as starter chew.

To read more/watch Palette's taste test video on Deer Antlers with some velvet left on,please click here.

Normally,it is $8.05,but with sales price,it is $7.25

Please enjoy treat hunt for your furry friends!!

** Selected Dog toys on sale. To visit the Dog toy page,please click here.

** You can get Free shipping with order over $100 (No coupon code required)

** Orders will be shipped on every Monday,Tuesday, every other Wednesday.

** If you order on Saturdays, you can get free GDK treats. For more information on Snack Saturday offer,please click here .

** You can now sniff out Grooming supplies, Dog toys,Dental care , Training Aids as well.

**You can get FREE one count of Buffalo trachea strip (Buffalo version of Moo-tubes sliced into strip) with every order!

** Watch how much Palette enjoy her Buffalo Trachea strip below.If you are a blog subscriber,please click here to watch the video.

Palette and Buffalo Trachea strip

** We accept only US order,no international order please.

**If you become a fan of our Facebook page,you can get "Fan only" offer,and discounts. Please find "Yassy's Gourmet Dog Kitchen" on Facebook.

To visit our store,please click here or paste and copy the link below into your browser.

http://yassysgdk.com/main.sc

Palette's note:Himalayan Dog Chew (Hard cheese chew) Part II

yassy — Tue, 22 May 2012 19:17:31 GMT

In the previous Palette's note series entry titled "Palette's note:Grass-fed Angus beef bully sticks",I wrote that I love bully sticks to give Palette as jackpot chew,but as a long lasting chew, I personally prefer the Deer Antlers (See in the previous entry titled " Long lasting chews/recreational bones for dogs").

Then, in the previous entry titled "Palette's note;Deer Antlers", I talked about her L size Antler lasted more than 1 year despite the fact that she chewed on it daily about 15 minutes or so each time.

If you were looking for long lasting chew, I would recommend Deer Antlers.

With our Corgi "Palette"- moderate chewer, with L size Deer Antler, it is with her for more than one year with the same Antler. She religiously spend about 15-20 min 2 sessions per day but still gnawing the same one.

When you think about it, Antlers cost more per chew,but they are much more economical than bully sticks overall considering how long one Antler will last.

The Antler lasts much longer. Since she now got 5 kinds of Antlers:Regular Antlers, Antler with some velvet left on, and Antler bottom, plus Caribou Antler,and Moose Antlers, the time she spend on each Antler is less than before (she seems to gnaw one by one alternating among those variety of Antlers) , but she enjoys her gnawing time.

Of course,how long each Antler will last will be depending on the time they spend on the Antlers and jaw strength but, no matter how long/thick the bully sticks is, one bully stick will be gone much faster than the Deer Antler would.

In the previous entry titled "Palette's note; Free Range Moo! Supreme bully stick",I wrote that for medium chewer "Palette", one supreme bully stick 6" lasted about 3 days,while average bully stick usually be gone within 20 minutes.

For a bully sticks with the same length, that bully sticks was long lasting bully sticks for her.

With Palette, her staple chews are Antlers and she also had Himalayan Dog Chew (Hard Cheese Stick Chew),which I gave her back everyday and I can tell you now that the L size Himalayan Dog Chew lasted 38 days for her.

Since I opened up each size of Himalayan Dog Chew for product photos for our website, she has got Small size Himalayan Dog Chew now to chew, and I can tell you that compared to the L size Himalayan Dog Chew, she could chew through the cheese stick much faster.

Since small size Himalayan Dog Chew is thinner and shorter than L size Himalayan Dog Chew, cheese stick bits she could chew off was much larger particles.

If you see your dogs chew through Himalayan Dog Chew at very fast speed,and you find the cheese bits they chewed off was larger bits as opposed to smaller bits,I would recommend to purchase one size or two size up.

When the L size Himalayan Dog Chew got to about 1.5" long chunk,I have decided to follow maker's suggestion and try and see if Palette would like it that way,and also wanted to show you what it would look like.

This entry is the follow up entry to the previous entry titled "Palette's note: Himalayan Dog Chew".

The verdict is in!

Palette loved the puffed Cheese cracker ball (a.k.a. microwaved puffed Himalayan Dog Chew.I have microwaved about 50-60 seconds with this L size leftover Himalayan Dog Chew. It started puffing up from.. at about 40 seconds.).

You can tell if you see her picture

First, the leftover L size Himalayan Dog Chew end piece looked like this.

Himalayan Dog Chew L size end piece..

Then, I have microwaved it about 50-60 seconds,and it looked like this. I think with leftover L size cheese stick, 50 seconds,60 seconds microwaving time is probably the good timing to pull out.

Puffed Himalayan Dog Chew a.k.a. Puffed cheese cracker ball..

Palette came out from nowhere and started woofing at me because she knew I have got something yummy in my hand.

So,I let her sniff at it.

Ohhhhh! Smell so good!! I want one!NOW!

Drool bubbles on my tongue,see?

I gonna lick it and see if I can take it away from mom

I called it "Puffed cheese cracker ball" to Palette because it really was like a cracker texture. Very crunchy-the way she likes.

Lets watch Palette in action with Puffed cheese cracker ball taste test.If you are a blog subscriber,please click here to watch the video part 1, and click here for video Part 2. You can tell she really liked it!

Palette and Puffed cheese cracker ball Part 1..

Palette and Puffed cheese cracker ball Part 2..

Since she liked it so much that I made puffed cheese cracker ball with S size 1" leftover Himalayan Dog Chew as well.

Leftover S size 1" Himalayan Dog Chew looked like this.

Then,after 30 seconds microwave later..

** Since S size is thinner, I think time to be microwaved should be less than thick,larger Himalayan Dog Chew.

** Keep an eye on the progress of the leftover cheese stick in the microwave so you can pulled out at the right time.

Leftover 1" S size Himalayan Dog Chew got puffed up..

Then, you would hear excited woof from behind, and find stubby Palette right in front of you....

Hey!! I love the cheesy cracker ball!

I want one!!

Palette enjoyed puffed cheese cracker ball very much. Below pictures is the picture Palette is enjoying the puffed cheese cracker ball made from L size leftover Himalayan Dog Chew.

Hmmmm! Soo good!

Look at the bubble puddle on the puffed cheese cracker ball!

Nom,nom,nom....

Love the crunchy snack!

I hear the strange sound outside..

Should I go there to woof to the world or stay here..?

Well,I will stay here with Mr puffed cheese cracker ball!

Oops. It's mine! Palette's name all over it!

To read full taste testing entry on Himalayan Dog Chew with taste testing videos,please click here.

I am very happy to see Palette really enjoyed chewing the Himalayan Dog Chew and puffed cheese cracker ball. I like the fact that she can consume all the chew with two ways with different texture.

One other thing you can do with the leftover cheese stick is to grate them and use as topper for their meal. You can grate them fresh with microplane grater over their meal and give them the fresh topper each time.

I love microplane grater for our own cooking.It grates cheese,garlic,ginger,zest from citrus fruits etc.. very well. That is what I used for grating experiment for Palette and,it was easy to grate and Palette loved it.

Now she got her own microplanegrater

To visit our store,please click here or paste and copy the link below into your browser.

http://yassysgdk.com/main.sc

Let's speak Japanese

yassy — Sun, 20 May 2012 16:58:40 GMT

Learning foreign language is fun and, it will help enrich and broad your view of things. Also, knowing the foreign language will come in handy especially when you go traveling to the country.

When I was a kid, kids started learning English from Junior high school,which is 7th grade. It was fun and I liked learning English and enjoyed talking to the Assistant English Teacher who visited class with English teacher now and then.

I then after all ended up getting teaching license for English at both Junior high school and high school. I enjoyed 2 weeks long student teacher time at the high school I graduated from.

When winter/summer vacation, I enjoyed traveling around the countries visiting my friends overseas, and learning all kinds of cultural things in English and I had so much fun back then.

Knowing local language really makes difference in your travel experience and,I thought I would continue Japanese language entries for a little bit longer here.

When I was still in Japan, government has decided to teach much younger children English in school curriculum and,I believe by the time I left Japan,it was elementary school where kids would start learning English. Elementary school starts from 7 years old and it is 1st grade.

My niece (sister's kid) just started going to kindergarten and I already heard that she will be going to cram school for English conversation 3-4 times per month. She is only 4 years old. It would be interesting if my 4 year old niece became interpreter for my parents to tell them what my husband is saying.

He is learning Japanese word little by little but, not reaching to the level my parents would hope for to carry conversation in Japanese. I think practice is the key and, I may one day decide to talk to him only in Japanese

Here is some of mini Japanese lesson for you.

Today's lesson #1 is greeting to people whom you met for the first time.

When meeting Japanese people for the first time, shaking hands and bowing at the same time is very common. Bowing with eye down about 45 degree angle.

You can see how store clerks bow at customers in the previous entry titled "Greeting,Bowing in Japan" here.

Introducing yourself in Japanese

Nice to meet you; Hajime mashite (Ha-ji-me ma-shi-te)

My name is xxxx; Watashi no namae wa xxxx desu

(Wa-ta-shi no na-ma-e wa xxxx de-su)

** Wa-ta-shi means "My"

** Na-ma-e means "Name"

What is your name?; Anata no onamae wa nan desuka?

(A-na-ta no o-na-ma-e wa na-n de-su-ka?)

**A-na-ta means "You"

Lesson #2 is when you greet someone you have already met before.

Greetings in Japanese..

Good morning; Ohayo Gozaimasu (O-ha-yo-u go-za-i-ma-su)

How are you?; Ogenki desuka? (O-ge-n-ki de-suka?)

Hello.Good afternoon; Konnichiwa (Ko-n ni-chi- wa)

Good evening; Konbanwa (Kon-ban wa)

Good night; Oyasuminasai (O-ya-su-mi-na-sa-i)

Good bye.Bye bye; Syounara (Sa-yo-u-na-ra)

Lesson #3 is useful phrases you would use often.

Useful everyday phrases in Japanese..

Thank you; Arigatou gozaimasu (A-ri-ga-to u go-za-i-ma-su)

Thank you very much; Doumo arigatou gozaimasu

(Do-u-mo a-ri-ga-to u go-za-i-ma-su)

I am sorry; Gomennasai (Go-me-n-na-sa-i)

Excuse me; sumimasen (Su-mi-ma-se-n)

Please; Douzo (do-u-zo)

** This is used when you tell someone to "please go ahead","please come in", also used when you hand something to the person as a gift in a sense of " I have brought you something to give to you".

Please; kudasai (ku-da-sa-i)

** This is used when you tell someone in a sense of "Please do xxx".

For example, "please eat";tabete kudasai (ta-be-te ku-da-sa-i) or you can use this "please" to ask someone for favor such as "Please give me a cup of water"; mizu ippai wo kudasai (mi-zu ippai wo ku-da-sa-i.)

** ta-be-ru means "eat"

** mi-zu means "water

I; watashi (wa-ta-shi)

Other easy phrases useful to know..

Yes; Ha i.

No;I i e.

I do not understand; Wakarimasen. (Wa-ka-ri ma-se-n)

When you learn any foreign languages, reading only would not improve your skill and,you need to read it loud and practice and memorize them.

I hope mini Japanese lesson will give you some fun in your family

Firebirds Wood Fired Grill menu: Seared Ahi Tuna Yassy's version Part I

yassy — Fri, 18 May 2012 19:33:40 GMT

As you have noticed, I love to go to restaurants, and when we find tasty dishes, I love to re-create the dishes at home.

Recently, I noticed that herbed seared Ahi Tuna dishes are popping up at many restaurants.

I have to say that coming from "Sashimi country; Japan", seared Ahi Tuna is Americanized Japanese dish and, I would prefer to have raw Ahi Tuna without spice mix coating with simple soy dipping sauce, but I think it is interesting tasty American/Japanese dish.

Among many restaurants that offer seared Ahi Tuna, I think best I have eaten is at Outback's seared Ahi Tuna appetizer. The taste of Tuna is most close to how I remember back home in Japan, and their spice mix coating is not overpowering the natural Tuna taste and for me, they are #1 place for seared Ahi Tuna.

One of the restaurants we go to called "Firebirds Wood Fired Grill" offers herbed seared Ahi Tuna appetizer as well,and their Ahi Tuna is most flavorful, and I like the herb mix they use.

My husband is not a big fan of fish,but he loves seared Ahi Tuna, and when we go to restaurants that offer seared Ahi Tuna, we order them as appetizer and I enjoy watching him eating the fish with big smile.

Before re-creating the herb mix from Firebirds Wood Fired Grill's seared Ahi Tuna, I have tested out the herb mix with shrimp and, it came out very flavorful herbed shrimp and, I thought I would share it with you. I think you can use the same herb mix to chicken or seafood such as scallops, fish too.

So, how do you make "Herbed shrimp"? Here is how.

Herbed shrimp,Honey butter roasted fingering potatoes,scrambled eggs, and seasoned green bean with herbed rice..

<Honey butter roasted Fingering potatoes>

1. Preheat oven at 425F

2. Line the sheet pan with non stick foil

3. Cut fingering potatoes to bite size pieces,and mix it with Extra Virgin Olive oil with pinch of Kosher salt in the bowl

4. Place the potatoes in single layer in the sheet pan and bake for 20-25 minutes

5. Mix 2 tbs butter melted, and 1 tbs honey in a measuring cup and lightly drizzle it over the potato and mix well

6. Put the potato back into the oven and broil them till it gets brown edges

<Seasoned Green bean>

1. In a sauce pan, pour drained canned green bean

2. Pour beef broth enough to cover the green bean

3. Sprinkle Molton's Natures Seasons over the green bean in the sauce pan and stir

4. Bring it to boil and set the heat to simmer and cover with lid for about 20 minutes or so

<Scrambled Egg>

1. To a measuring cup,crack 3 Large eggs and add 2 oz of heavy cream,sprinkle Molton's Natures Seasons with blue cap,and beat the egg mixture in the measuring cup until everything in the egg mixture mix well

** You should not see egg white, egg york separated. Egg york,egg white, and heavy cream etc should be mixed well, and beaten egg mixture should have even color.

** Mixing until everything mixed well ensure that the air would get in into the beaten egg and you can get fluffy scrambled egg

** When my mother has taught me how to make scrambled egg, she taught me to use the chopsticks and tilt the measuring cup or container that has egg in it a bit to your side and beat the egg with chopstick with motion from right hand corner to left side corner, moving chopsticks out from the egg and back in to right corner side to left side corner with rather fast speed.

By doing so, you can get a lot of air inside the beaten egg and you can make yummy scrambled egg. But you should not over-beat the egg.

2. Put the 9"-10" skillet on stove with medium high heat and add about 1/2tbs butter and let it melt

3. When butter is melted, tilt the skillet side,forward, etc and make sure the surface is buttered.

4. Pour all the beaten egg-heavy cream mixture onto the skillet and,using the wooden spoon, stir it circular way and push the egg toward center and repeat for about a couple of times with rather slow speed.

** Pushing the egg toward center ensure that the runny egg can settle faster.

5. By 2nd or 3rd circular stir with pushing egg toward center, you would see the egg start to set better

6. When almost all eggs are set, you can then break the egg into larger pieces and when you think all cooked through, set it aside

<Herbed shrimp>

1. Mix 1 sprig of fresh rosemary (about 5" long) chopped fine,3 sprig of fresh thyme chopped fine, pinch of garlic powder, pinch of ground sage, and pinch of Kosher salt in the small bowl and mix well

** How to use the fresh herb**

When you see fresh rosemary,fresh thyme, fresh oregano etc.. listed in the ingredients list, leaves are the part you will be using for the cooking.

Removing the leaves off from the stem is easy. Just hold tip of the sprig and slide the finger down and leaves can get removed very easy.

Then, pile the leaves up and chop them fine for cooking.

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2. Taste the herb mix and adjust the flavor if needed

3. Place peeled,vein removed shrimp in the small container and add sherry enough to cover the shrimp and add pinch of table salt and mix well

4. Soak the shrimp for about 20 minutes

5. Reserve the herb mixture about 1 tsp and set it aside and,put the drained shrimp into rest of herb mix and coat the shrimp well

6. Cook in the skillet with extra virgin olive oil till shrimp gets curled up to form the letter "C", and change its color to pink

<Herbed Rice>

1. To the sauce pan, add 1C uncooked Uncle Ben's Enriched Parboiled Long grain rice, 2 1/3C chicken broth and bring it to boil and cover the pan with lid and lower the heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes and set the heat to simmer and cook 10 minutes more

2. When liquid is well absorbed and rice is cooked, mix 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp of herb mixture made for shrimp and reserved in to rice and stir well

3. Plate everything up and enjoy!

Firebirds Wood Fired Grill menu: Seared Ahi Tuna Part II

yassy — Fri, 18 May 2012 19:29:21 GMT

In the previous entry titled "Firebirds Wood Fired Grill menu:Seared Ahi Tuna Yassy's version Part I", I wrote that I love visiting restaurants and re-create the dish I like and also I like to put a twist to the dish.

Firebirds Wood Fired Grill restaurant's Seared Ahi Tuna (Appetizer), is very flavorful and it is not necessary be authentic Japanese Sashimi dish, but it is very tasty.

My husband is not a big fan of fish, but he loves ordering the dish and munches them away. Tuna is actually one of oily fish along with Mackerel,Sardine,and Salmon that provides healthy omega 3 fatty acids (Anti- inflammatory) and I like the fact he eats the fish that is high in Omega 3 fatty acids.

At some restaurants, they drizzle spicy Thai version of hot sauce called "Sriracha" over the sesame crusted seared Ahi Tuna with soy dipping sauce.

I can see that they are trying to make the plate as Asian as possible but Sriracha is very very salty if you taste it straight, and Tuna with Sriracha sauce dipped into soy sauce had weird taste to it.

At some restaurant, their seared Ahi Tuna comes with creamy ginger soy sauce, wasabi vinegarette. Their Tuna is the best and most close to how I remember "Sashimi" from home (Japan). Their dipping sauce are good, but I would prefer simple dipping sauce;Tamari (a little thicker than soy sauce) with bit of wasabi mixed in.

Quality meats/fish really don't need much complicated spices or sauce to let the star ingredients to shine. Sometimes, simpler the better to spotlight on the quality meats/fish.

One thing, I am very picky about is soy sauce.

If you have read previous entry titled "Japanese cooking:Sushi and soy sauce", you would have read that soy sauce here in the states taste a little different even the one via company I like (Kikkoman) compared to the kikkoman soy sauce imported from Japan due to different ingredients for the soy sauce.

Soy sauce imported from Japan has 4 ingredients;water,soybean,wheat,and salt. Soy sauce I have seen here in the states, often times,has more than 4 ingredients. Some bottles have caramel coloring, and some have preservatives. So, look up the label and pick the ones with above 4 ingredients without any fillers or preservatives.

Because of this, I go to Asian stores to buy a few bottles of soy sauce imported from Japan. If you live near the Asian stores, look for "Extra Fancy Whole bean soy sauce" by kikkoman Japan. This is what I use and like.

The other day, we have purchased nice looking Tuna steak, and I thought I would give it a try at home and see how it comes out.

It came out great, and as always, my husband ate quite lot of it. So, I thought I would share the Seared Ahi Tuna recipe with you.

I liked Firebirds Wood Grill's seasoning but I wanted to keep it to be authentic for the dipping sauce for our plate, so dipping sauce is more authentic in this case.

So, how do you make seared herb Ahi Tuna? Here is how.

Seared herb Ahi Tuna, Crispy rosemary potato, sesame green beans with black bean sauce with garlic,and long grain rice

<Cooking long grain rice>

Ingredients;

1C Uncle Ben's long grain rice       2C plus 3 oz (fl) chicken broth
1.5 tbs butter

1. Add 1C of Uncle Ben's original enriched parboiled long grain rice, 2C plus 3 oz (fl) of chicken broth, 1.5 tbs butter into a sauce pan and bring it to boil

2.When it came to boil,lower the heat to medium low and cook 10 minutes, and lower the heat to simmer and cook for another 10 minutes,and fluff it up with wooden spoon

** 1C of Uncle Ben's original enriched parboiled long grain rice will yield about 4 servings.

<Crispy Rosemary potatoes>

Ingredients;

10 oz fingering potatoes and red small potatoes
1 tsp fresh rosemary
Kosher salt
Extra virgin olive oil

1. preheat the oven at 425F

2. Cut fingering potatoes and small red potatoes total 10 oz (wt) to bite size pieces.

3. Put the mixture of potato into a bowl and add about 1 tsp of chopped fresh rosemary, pinch of kosher salt, and drizzle of EVOO into the bowl and mix well.

** EVOO= Extra Virgin Olive Oil

** I used one sprig of 5" or so length of fresh rosemary

4. Put the seasoned potatoes onto non stick foil lined baking sheet (single layer), and bake them about 25-35 minutes till crispy.

** Yield about 3 servings

<Sesame green beans with black bean sauce with garlic>

Ingredients;

sesame oil                           2 cloves of garlic
5 oz fresh Green beans     1 tbs black bean sauce
1/2 tbs sake                        2 tsp white sugar
sesame seed

1. Set the skillet at medium high heat and drizzle sesame oil in the skillet.Then, grate 2 cloves of garlic over the skillet and cook until fragrant to your nose

2. Add 5 oz of fresh green beans to the skillet and cook till a little tender.

3. Add 1/4C water to the skillet and,when all water was almost evaporated, add mixture of 1 tbs of black bean sauce, 1/2 tbs sake, and 2 tsp sugar to the skillet and cook through

4. When plate them up, grate sesame seed over the green beans

** Yield about 2 servings

<Seared herb Ahi Tuna>

Ingredients for Tuna;

8 oz      Yellowfin Tuna        2.5 tsp fresh rosemary
2.5 tsp fresh thyme                 1/2 tsp ground sage
1/4 tsp garlic powder               kosher salt
ground black pepper                2 tbs butter

Ingredients for the dipping sauce;

3 tbs Tamari            1/8 tsp wasabi paste

1. Pat the Tuna dry with paper towel

** 8 oz of Yellowfin Tuna steak will be enough for about 2-3 servings as sides

** Slice from yellowfin tuna is called "Ahi Tuna" and "Ahi Tuna" and "Yellowfin Tuna" are the same thing. If you look at case where you find pre-packaged sushi, chances are, you will find the package that contains log of Yellowfin Tuna and they are labeled and sold as "Ahi Tuna".

** Also, you can get sushi grade log of Yellowfin Tuna (Ahi Tuna) at Asian stores as well.

** Choose the deeper red in color. It is better tasting.

2. To the small bowl, add chopped fresh rosemary (2.5 tsp;I used 2 sprig of rosemary), chopped fresh thyme (2.5 tsp; I used 7 sprig of fresh thyme), 1/2 tsp ground sage, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, and pinch of Kosher salt,pinch of ground black pepper and mix well

** Taste the seasoning and see if you need adjustment before coating Tuna steak with the seasoning

3. Coat the Tuna steak with seasoning you made at step 2, and let it come to room temperature

4. To the skillet, add 2 tbs of butter and let it melt with medium high heat

5. When melted, put one Tuna steak at a time (if you cook numbers of 8 oz Tuna steaks for larger servings) and sear all sides

** Sear about 20-30 seconds at each sides

6.Let it rest for about 5-10 min and slice at about 1/4" thickness

7. To the another small container, add Tamari 3 tbs, 1/8 tsp of wasabi paste and mix well. This will be the dipping sauce for the Tuna.

Tamari is darker, touch thicker soy sauce if you will. We do not use Tamari for cooking,but rather used as table dipping sauce. Taste of Tamari is slightly different from regular soy sauce.

You can find them at Asian stores or International aisle at local grocery stores. But if you buy at local grocery stores, check the label.

Enjoy!

Palette's spring treats diary;May 17th,2012

yassy — Thu, 17 May 2012 17:45:06 GMT

It has been hot these days, and I feel like early summer is already here. It is May and I saw 80F in our local newspaper as highest temperature before. I am wondering how much hotter it would become when the real summer time comes.

Sometimes, days start with lightening and shower, and Palette starts whining and it wakes us up at very early times.

Some weeks ago, when we were watching TV downstairs, I heard Palette making chew music with leftover bully sticks upstairs. We heard her "chomp,chomp,chomp" from upstairs, and she was working very hard on her leftover bully sticks.

However, a little bit later,she came running to downstairs and went straight under my desk and curled up.

I said " Maybe, we will have thunder soon."

Sure enough, after about 15 minutes or so later, we started hearing rumbling sound,and gradually the sound became louder and louder and we started hearing the rain.

She often times fall asleep by putting her chin on my foot under my desk,and by the time she wakes up, the thunder is gone or far away from here.

Since we were watching TV, she went under my desk but decided to curls up with us on the couch,and she was soon looked very ready to start chasing squirrels in her dream.

If the weather was good,we start going for walkie much earlier in the morning because it gets hot as time passes by and we enjoys the early morning breeze together.

What Palette enjoys most is the chance to meet new/familiar people on our walkie. Her ears go flat,head low,butt up and moving left to right busily.. enjoying endless petting from people she meets on the walkie.

Last month, only once, we had shortest walkie ever in our history; 4 minutes walk.

It is not that we decided to turn around because we found a roaming dog or found the temperature was too hot/cold, but we had unexpected incident involving a tree.

We were walking nicely as usual and, Palette sniffed out the daily doggy news on the way and decided to make a stop for potty.

While she was squatting, we heard very big boom!

Palette was very scared. I am not sure if she finished doing her business to satisfaction,but she quickly walked around me, and took me back to home with unbelievable pulling power..

I am surprised to know that she has got so much pulling power in such a smallish body.

Turned out that the sound was from a little further down the street,and someone was working on cutting down the tree, and what we heard was the sound when tree fell to the ground.

She was not as scary as she was when August (2011) earthquake happened,but it was scary enough for her to turn around and take me back to home.

When earthquake hit back in August,2011, Palette was very very scary and she was shaking very badly for good 30 minutes.

Even though we had the shortest walkie ever, and she was a little scared with the big boom, she still had something else on her mind she would look forward to after walkie.

It is cool down treats she gets after each walkie.

Every single time, when we back from our walkie, she first stays on the bottom of the stairs moving her little nub left,right,left right with her huge grin and, as soon as she knows her leash is off, she trots to the kitchen where she gets her favorite cool down treats, and starts woofing as if to say "Cool down treats,cool down treats!".

If I did not come sooner, she comes back to me and woof twice and moves a couple of steps,turns around making sure I am following her and woof twice again and lead me to the kitchen to deliver her important message of the day.

My cool down treats usually is ice cube size, and it is around 15 kcal to 20 kcal depending on what I will be using but, they are much low calorie cool down treats, and they do not contains added sugar or high calorie ingredients such as peanut butter.

Many dogs love peanut butter and,there are so many treats made with them, but did you know that 1 tbs of peanut butter contains 90 kcal?? That is a lot of calories in one bite.

Therefore,it would be much healthier alternative for your dogs' cool down treats compared to store bought/commercially made cool down treats.

If you prefer,you can fill the kong with the recipe,and freeze it.

If you were not familiar with kong, it is a non toxic dish wash safe rubber chew toy that you can fill the hole in the center with food.

Dogs are to chew/lick the Kong toy to get to the treats inside the hole and, it is popular classic interactive toy.

Now, I will pass a pen to Palette to write her diary here.

May 17th,2012

Last month was more like an early summer. It gets hotter as time passes, and I find myself being melted under da angry sun every time I go for potty.

I just went out for potty but,wow.. it was so hot that I had to come right back in to drink some cool water, and then hug my favorite canine cooler bed!

I maybe should tell my mom that we should spend spring to summer in Australia because they have fall-winter and I might get more chance to bunny hopping in da snow. I like snow better than angry sun

I like spring in general, if not this hot because flower starts blooming and I get to have more to sniff at.

I enjoy going for walkie everyday with mom. I bring her leash and poop bag and we are ready to go!

The other day's walkie was shortest walkie ever!

That was because of unexpected event happened: tree fell to da ground and heard big boom! I just had to bring my mom to home as quickly as possible to stay safe.

She should have extra 2 legs to keep up with me,but we managed to back home safely in the short time.

Now she wears tweats bag around her waist for walkie, now and then a guy in our neighborhood asks mom if I am a good girl. I respond to da question by short butt wagging greeting.

Mom usually gives me some tweats on da way back, and we come back playing game such as "good walkie game" (no pull walkie game). I like that.

I got to walk with da same pace to mom, and she changes speed of her walkie and I really have to pay attention to her.

I then sometime look at her with huge grin and mom says "Good" and keep giving me da yummies.

Good girl gets something nice I figured it out quickly.

I sometimes voluntarily starts my other game "Stop for da car" game,which mom taught me when I was a little.

It is very easy game. Simply step to side ditch when you hear/see cars coming and stay still until they passes or see them turn.

I then gets extra points and, I really enjoy walkie time.

Have you played those games? You should teach your mom/dad how to play them ,and train them to give you yummy stuff on your walkie.

You know you are pretty good at training human,aren't you? We are good observer and, it helps us well.

Sometimes, overexcited but well meaning stuff you do for your mom brings laughter. Did you know that?

I close door after mom and I am a good door dog but, once I was very excited for the yummy she gives me, I "accidentally" closed door while mom was still in da laundry room.

I had to tell mom "Sorry,mom.You did not tell me how to open da door,and I cannot help you."

I now learned to start moving away from laundry room after I hear the dryer door shut. I then learned to go behind da door "after" making sure mom is out with da laundry basket.

Therefore, I don't lock my mom out in da laundry room anymore, but I still can if I wanted to, or dad and I play "Lock mom out in da laundry room" game.

I said we furriends are very good observer and, picks up small things mom/dad do and associate with something particular events, for example.

The other day, mom and dad was laughing out loud after me helping mom laundry (close da laundry room door). Why? Because I already know where to claim my tweats and,I left mom behind and waited for her to come at the place where I get tweats all da time.

Then, as soon as I see mom's hand touches da drawer... You know what happens.. I am sorry,I just cannot help it but drooling endlessly because I already know how tasty tweats I get. I start imagining da taste in da mouth!!

So, my point is, I know well what happens next.

If it were walkie, after walkie, I herd mom to da kitchen and it will be my favorite cool down tweats time! I really like them and, I am glad that mom has decided to give me cool down treats after walkie. I am very appreciated.

This time, mom made "Frozen Cherimoya Turnip yogurt treats".

Frozen Cherimoya Turnip yogurt treats..

On and off, grocery store has very unique ingredients and when she finds one, she wants to try out and, she shares it with me.

The other day, mom brought back grape size NZ kiwi. The skin was like grape skin and thin and not fuzzy like regular kiwi your mom see them at grocery store. I liked them, so did my mom. It was very cute kiwi fruits with more kiwi flavor in the fruits.

We ate them all,and did not have much to make cool down treats,and she decided to make one with other unique fruits called "Cherimoya".

If you are not familiar with Cherimoya fruits, it is a fruits sometimes called "Custared Apple" in UK, and it is somewhat heart-shaped fruits.

Cherimoya..

Cherimoya cut into half..

The texture of the Cherimoya is mushy and it has very fragrant smell of vanilla. Taste-wise, I say it is like mushy pineapple with hint of vanilla. Palette does not like pineapple but she liked Cherimoya itself and, I have decided to use it for her cool down treats.

Here is how you make the frozen cherimoya turnip yogurt treats.

1. To the mixer, add 1 cherimoya,peeled,removed seed and chopped 10 oz,and 1 turnips chopped and steamed 5.5 oz and add 6 oz of Stoneyfield organic plain yogurt and puree them..

5. Pour those onto ice cube tray and freeze them

yield; 14 block of frozen treats

** Frozen cherimoya turnip yogurt treats whole amount is roughly about 367 kcal (you can see more detail at nutritiondata.com website here ).So, each ice cube given is about 26 kcal.

**Mom wanted rough kcal to be as close to real one, and she used Nutrition fact food label on the back of yogurt she used. She typed in the information provided in the nutrition label on the yogurt.

Woof!Woof!Woof!!

Ahh.. Here is MY tweats! Hurry!

I am trying to climb up to da tweats..

See,how excited I am?

Wet nose alert!

Yeah! I like this!

Nom,nom,nom..

Yeah,this is what I am talking about!

I give you 5 paws points

I really really really really liked da tweats!

You should ask your mom to make one for you!

Panera bread's menu:Steak and White cheddar Panini Yassy's version

yassy — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:25:48 GMT

What kinds of sandwich do you like best?

I am not a big fan of cold cut meat sandwich,but I like the sandwich made with fresh ingredients such as real grilled beef or real chicken breast etc .. along with vegetables of choice.

Sandwich is very quick,easy, and simple dish and just like Pizza, they are very versatile dish and you can be creative about the fillings or sauce and,you can create your own signature sandwich.

When it comes to sandwich, I like Panera bread. Their bread is made fresh, and they have sandwich made without cold cut meat and, they are tasty.

At this moment, I like their steak sandwich called "Steak and White cheddar" sandwich.

They put thinly sliced sirloin steak,caramelized onion,and Vermont white cheddar on top of baguette, and it comes with horseradish spread.

It is a good sandwich, and tasty but there are two problems with the sandwich.

First,the sandwich comes with baguette and it is very tough and chewy to bite through.

I personally think that baguette is better used for crostini (Italian appetizer dish that is served with thinly sliced toasted / grilled bread with toppings) or for dinner rolls to be eaten on its own along side the main dish.

Because of the problems,I always make sure to tell them to make it with Ciabatta bread,which is much softer texture Italian bread and better suited for the sandwich.

Second,their horseradish spread is way too strong and make my eyes watery,and make my nose runny. I like the sandwich with a bit of zing to it but spread got too much horseradish in it. Or simply they put too much spread on the sandwich.

Other than that, the sandwich is my favorite one to get there.

As you already know,I like making re-create meal with some twists from restaurants or eatery places that I visit.

It is fun to brainstorming what is in the sauce or soup.

This time,I like to show you my version of Panera bread's "steak and white cheddar sandwich".

Grilled steak sandwich with Horseradish sauce made with Italian bread..

Grilled steak sandwich with horseradish sauce made with onion burger bun..

So, how do you make "Grilled steak sandwich with horseradish sauce"? Here is how.

I usually use hoagie roll/Italian bread you can find at bakery store. However,if you had burger buns at home, you can make the sandwich with those as well.

Grilled steak sandwich with horseradish sauce starts from making horseradish sauce. You can make it first,chill in the fridge and let the flavor come together.

Horseradish sauce..

Ingredients for horseradish sauce;

1/4C sour cream
1/2 tbs red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1.5 tbs mayonnaise
3 tbs and 1/2tsp prepared horseradish
pinch of red cayenne pepper
pinch of ground black pepper
2tsp chopped garlic chives

Ingredients for Grilled flank steak;

1 lb Flank steak
McCormick grill mate steak seasoning
Extra virgin olive oil

Ingredients for the toppings;

extra virgin olive oil
1/8 tsp grated garlic
1/2 Hungarian pepper thinly sliced
1/8 red pepper thinly sliced
1/8 green pepper thinly sliced
Morton's Natures Seasons
1/8 red onion very thinly sliced
Shredded Monterey jack cheese (about 1/4 C per sandwich)

<Horseradish sauce>

1. In the small bowl,mix 1/4C sour cream,1/2 tbs red wine vinegar, 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard, 1.5 tbs mayonnaise, 3 tbs and 1/2tsp prepared horseradish and pinch of red cayenne pepper,pinch of ground black pepper well

2. Add 2 tsp chopped garlic chives and stir

** Garlic chives,also called "Chinese chives" are unlike regular chive, they are flat and it has distinct garlic flavor to it

** You can use chopped chives plus 1/16tsp garlic powder plus 2 cloves of garlic grated to substitute the garlic chive.

3. taste it and adjust the seasoning

4. Pour it into air tight container and keep it in the fridge

Makes: 1/2C horseradish sauce

<Grilled flank steak>

Grilled Flank steak..

For the steak,I like to use flank steak. 1 lb of flank steak makes good amount of grilled thinly sliced steak.

1. Take out the flank steak package 1 hour before the cooking time.

** For the good seared steak,you need to have room temperature steak,not the steak right out from the fridge

2. On the big plate, place one paper towel,1 lb flank steak and cover it with another piece of paper towel and press to take moisture out from the meat

** Wet steak does not make nice sear on the outside

3. Take off the top paper towel,and sprinkle McCormick Grill steak seasoning and press and,take bottom paper towel out,flip the meat over and sprinkle more steak seasoning on them and press around

4. Put the skillet on medium high heat and drizzle extra virgin olive oil,and wait till you see the smoke coming out

** For the nice sear,you need screaming hot pan

5. Place the steak onto the skillet,and cook 4 minutes one side, flip over and cook about 3-4 minutes more

6. Take the temperature and when meat thermometer read 125F (medium rare),take the steak off from the skillet,and put it on the plate,cover it with foil and let it rest for 15 minutes

** For medium,take the steak out when meat thermometer reads about 130F-135F. After taking off the meat from the skillet,the temperature will rise still about 5F-10F.

7. Slice the meat very thin with 45 degree angle against the grain

8. Put the steak into a bowl,pour steak juice back in and mix with kitchen tongs and set it aside

<Vegetables for the pepper toppings>

1. Put the skillet at medium high temperature and drizzle extra virgin olive oil and add 1/8 tsp grated garlic and stir

2.When it gets fragrant, add 1/2 Hungarian pepper thinly sliced,1/8 red pepper thinly sliced,and 1/8 green pepper thinly sliced and sprinkle Morton's Natures Seasons and stir

** Hungarian pepper is long (4"-6" long) light yellowish green color pepper.This Hungarian pepper has some kick to it but not very spicy,and rather mild spiciness.

3. When cook through,set it aside

4. In the small container, add 1/8 red onion very thinly sliced and pour water to submerge the onions and massage onion and pour the water out.Then pour water over them again to submerge the onion slice and keep it in the fridge

** Thinly sliced raw onion submerged in the water and chilled does not make your eyes watery and nose runny

<Assembling the sandwich>

1. Toast half sliced Italian bread

2. Line the cookie sheet with non stick foil

3. Smear bottom of the bread with horseradish sauce

4. Put sliced grilled steak, put bit of pepper mix, bit of raw red onion slices and sprinkle shredded Monterey jack cheese,and place them under the broiler on HI until cheese melted and bubbly

5. Put the top back on,and serve

6. Enjoy!

Makes; about 4 sandwiches

Peggy with Rough Coat Collie "Haddie"; May 13th,2012

yassy — Sun, 13 May 2012 17:01:19 GMT

Happy mother's day!

Today,I would like to introduce the Rough Coat Collie "Haddie".

Recently, we have received feedback from Rough Coat Collie furriends Haddie's mom "Peggy" from OR, along with a beautiful picture of Haddie.

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We have a beautiful rough coat collie who absolutely loves your items! We really appreciate the way you package everything, thank you so much!

Haddie with great Rough Coat Collie smile

W are so enthusiastic about their health properties because Haddie was the victim of a vet who against our specified objections and behind our back, vaccinated her with live vaccines and she became the victim of vaccinosis.

Since that time we have battled to bring back her health, as she almost died as a result of this assault.

She is doing much better now, as we have her on grass fed raw beef as her primary food source, as well as many nutritional supplements, with now include your products. And yes, she loves the baguette biscuits!

Peggy,OR

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***Feedback and picture are used with permission***

We always enjoy reading feedback from furry friends and their mom & dad/seeing pictures/watching videos of furry friends enjoying our treats/chews

Hearing about Haddie's event resulted with vaccinoisis, we are honored to be part of her recovery and, we hope Haddie will get better soon.

In the previous entry titled " Titer test for dogs", I wrote about titer test,over vaccination, Rabie Challenge found,which is the project that Dr Schultz, who is a professor and chair of pathobiological sciences at school of veterinary medicine, and his team would try to get the evidence to show that the Rabies vaccine can last longer than 3 years, possibly 5 years, 7 years, and avoid unnecessary re-vaccination to cause adverse reaction from the vaccine.

I also wrote about my experience with the the previous vet who asked about re-vaccination for Bordetella, and something else on Palette's annual checkup day.

Since I believe that vaccination is not going to be given without risk, and I do not see the point giving those vaccinations to Palette for the disease , for example, Bordetella, she would be less likely exposed to (She does not go to dog parks, she does not go doggy day care or any other places where many dogs are ). So, I said "No,thank you" for the re-vaccination such as Bordetella.

Looking back now, before I know better, Palette was given great amount of shots by a previous vet.

He gave her following shot:Bordetella,Corona virus,DHLPP LA,Giardia,and Lyme disease,Distemper Parvo HA,Leptospirosis 4 ways,plus Rabies.

Looking through the shot records, Palette has received a couple of vaccines on the same day. Some of the shots were 4 ways,some of the shots given against was disease commonly found only on young puppies or in particular situation like boarding etc..and, expiration date noted on the medical sheet for the vaccination types had yearly expiration on every single one of them.

If we stayed with previous vet,Palette would have had all of these lengthy list of shots every year even though she is now 6 years old.

I think it should not have been like that and, we should consider risk vs benefit and choose the minimal vaccine for our furriends to live healthy,happy,long life.

Some of you may not know what "Vaccinosis"is,and what "live vaccines" is,so I will explain those below.

What is "Vaccinosis"?

Vaccinosis is the term to describe adverse reaction from vaccines/over-vaccination.

What is "Live vaccine"?

For vaccines,there are two types of vaccines.

One of which is "killed vaccine", and they are the vaccines that contains inactive virus/bacteria with adjuvants.

The other is called "Modified live vaccine", and it contains weakened live virus/bacteria and, they are injected into the dogs and, in a theory, the virus/bacteria gets reproduced in dogs' body and stimulate dog's immune system by mimicking the disease the vaccines were given against.

In the past, when Palette was a puppy and younger, I assumed that everything what vet says is what we should do for the health for Palette, but then, after switching her diet to the raw diet and started paying more attention to overall health matter, I learned a lot more.

Learning about over-vaccination was one of them, and I hope more and more people would pay attention to what they are giving via vaccination and, I hope many more people would stop and think for a moment whether the vaccination in the question are necessary or not.

It is a conclusion of me weighing risk vs benefit.I prefer not over-vaccinate Palette.

Be the voice for your furriends and, help them live happy,healthy and long life with you...

People food for thought Part XXV;Color of vegetables/fruits and health benefit

yassy — Tue, 08 May 2012 17:34:35 GMT

Back home in Japan,our dinner always started by us kids setting up the table and mother plating up 3-4 different kinds of side dish and we kids go get bowls filled with steamy hot rice for everyone to set them up on the table.

When I was a little, I did not get just a small bowl of rice in front of us so I can reach for side dishes mother prepared, but we small kids had kids' plate and mother has plated up little bit of everything with bowl of rice so she can make sure we eat everything at least small bites.

When I was a kid,I had dislikes and likes and, I whined I do not want to eat it,but our mother is strong and she said "One bite" or she says "eat number of your age,at least".

If we go to my grandparents' house,there was no kids' plate,but I find stuff delivered over my bowl of rice by my grandmother.

She goes "Oh, Nori (seaweed) makes your hair rich in color and make them healthy.", then she brings another stuff to my plate and says "Oh, carrots are good for your eyes.You have to eat it.".

Then, here comes small fish piece and she goes " It is good calcium and good for bones, and you have to eat it.".

It was kind of privilege to be seated right next to her

When we go to grocery store, my mother explained that darker leafy vegetable are very good for health etc.. and, told us kids what is good for what for health wise and, I think our food plate was very colorful as opposed to the plate dominated by color "brown".

We also had fresh fruits to go with meal everyday, and we had fresh salad as well.

Overall, meal there was very colorful and good amount of fresh/raw produce with some meat. Meat was never be the star of the plate.

Recently, I came across a news article about filling up your plate with variety of colors and its health benefit.

When I read that, it reminded me of our family back home in Japan. I thought it was interesting article to share with you.

Health benefit of filling your plate with rainbow color..

According to the article written by Mary Squillace, registered dietitian Vandana Sheth for academy of nutrition and dietetics has mentioned that we get different nutrients from different foods and eating variety of foods in different colors is easiest ways to ensure we are getting full range of nutrients.

I think it is true that each food provides different set of nutrients with different level of nutrient.So, it makes sense that eating variety of foods can boost your health, and especially with vegetables, since vegetable's color can be determined by specific nutrient in them, it makes sense to eat variety of color of vegetables.

For example, Carrots' orange skin color is from beta carotene with some alpha carotene,which converts to Vitamin A (good for skin and vision in dim light) in the body.

Then, purple carrots, red cabbage, red wine, purple color of the purple potato and blueberry are caused by presence of antioxidants (anthocyanin).

Registered dietitian Vandana Sheth explains 10 colors of vegetable and health benefit in Mary's article.

Red

According to Vandana, crimson tint indicate that the fruits or vegetables are good for heart,boosting vision and immunity plus cutting down on cancer risks.

For example, beets hue comes from betacyanins,a substance linked to fighting cancer, and nitrate in beets may lower your blood pressure and can halt dementia by improving blood flow to the brain.

Cherry is another good food. According to USDA study, Ruby sphere in bing cherry is packful of antioxidant and good for lowering arthritis risk,heart disease and cancer by fighting with inflammation.

Interesting thing in the article is that it says that 2010 study in London found that drinking cherry juice helps you sleep better due to high melatonin content,and it also helps to reduce muscle damage in athletes.

Tomatoes rosey components is from lycopene,a phytochemicals that helps protect against prostate cancer.

One thing that is unique about tomato is that, cooking increase their lycopene content,and cooking is actually better for tomatoes.

Orange/Yellows..

Orange skin on vegetables comes from beta carotene in the vegetable/fruits. Beta carotene is powerful antioxidant that is converted into Vitamin A in our bodies.
It is also good for vision.

Sweet potato contains very high amount of beta carotene (Vitamin A ), and they are blood pressure friendly,and contains potassium, good amount of Vitamin C to boost immune system,and fiber.

Yellow color fruits like pineapple is rich in Vitamin C,and it delivers enzyme called "bromelain" to help you with indigestion and it also reduce inflammation and may prevent heart disease.

Green..

According to research done in 2011 published in Cell, Emerald color in the vegetables such as broccoli,bok choy (cruciferous family vegetables) will help you support immune system.

Protein in those vegetables helps immune cells that line and protect the gut and the skin function properly.

With green color vegetables, darker the color is, the better nutrient you will get.

Kale,spinach,collard green etc are good choice.

Blue/Purple..

Blue/purple color food contains anthocyanins (phytonutrient known to be a super food).

Blue/purple color vegetables/fruits help you to decrease the risk of macular degeneration and prevent certain cancer and strokes.

2012 study published in the American Journal of clinical nutrition,purple/blue foods such as blueberries are also good for reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes.

White..

According to Dutch study, fruits with white fresh such as banana,apples,pears, cauliflowers may prevent strokes.

Banana has high concentration of B6 and potassium,and help you to boost your mood and good for heart.

You can read full article written by Mary Squillace at Life extension daily news website here.

What color do you see on your food plate today?

What do you look for in a good vet for your furriends?

yassy — Sun, 06 May 2012 16:45:56 GMT

In the previous entry titled "Why dogs hate vet visit?" ,I wrote if your dogs ride the car only to vet office, then, they would become allergic to the car ride and they would try hard not to get on the car, or they could already become nervous and drooling/vomiting in the car on the way to the vet office.

For Palette, car ride is not just to go to vet office. She sometimes comes to post office, pet supply stores, in laws-family's house etc.. and she gets very excited.

If I am not careful, she comes through between my legs from behind and,hops on to the car as if to say "Hey,Mom.I am ready.Lets go!".

If she goes to places like pet supply stores, she gets so excited to see the store and she quickly position herself in my arms and ready to get out from the car to go sniff around.

Once out from the car,she starts heading to her favorite automatic door to the pet supply store, and go see kitty first and then, go sniff kitty kibble aisle and she gets her tongue hanging out and brisk walk in the store.

She was too excited to see where she is going sometimes and she has bumped her head onto "oops" sign ash she walks in with so much excitement

Therefore, car ride is not necessary means "vet clinic" for her. She enjoys her car ride to wherever we go.

When we arrive at the vet clinic, you would think that she might try so hard not get into the vet clinic building because she knows what to except, but for her, vet clinic office is very exciting place to go in and, she literally takes us into the building with so much excitement.

First step in, and she hears vet's office receptionist say "Hi!", and her ears hold back and her butt starts wiggling.

Then she goes on to sniff around and, I take her to sink so I can give her water. After that, she will look around to see which room to go in and cannot wait to go in and I need to tell her "Not that room." and then soon,we go in to the designated room and wait for our vet tech to appear and greet her.

Vet tech greet her with happy voice "Hi,Palette" and it makes Palette more excited. Her little nub moving right to left,right to left, and she goes to her and asks for the petting. After the short petting time, she is happy to go to the weight check etc.. with huge smile on her face.

After a while, her favorite lady vet appears. She knows what to expect next so, she keeps staring at the door the lady vet would come walk in. As soon as she sees her coming in with happy greeting to her, she runs to her, leaving us behind and she enjoys being pet by her.

Palette looves her current lady vet a lot. Our lady vet never starts her routine check ups right away and always start with petting.

Often times, she either sits on the floor or squat so she can be at Palette's eye level and greet her and pet her while we are telling her what brought us to the office etc.. After a while, she starts what she needed to do. She asks us to put her onto the table in the room, and gently examine Palette while she talks to her with gentle voice with some praise etc..

She basically spends some time with just interaction with Palette physically and verbally , so I think that helps Palette to calm down a little, and not feeling so fearful about whole situation around her.

Palette's very first local vet we used to go to was the one Palette did not wanted to come closer at all, like the vet we saw one time when our regular lady vet was off.

He is the founder of the new vet clinic. He yanked leash to "correct" Palette and forced her to position how he wants her to be and, Palette was not looking like his patient but we human was to his eyes.

Old vet and that particular guy vet at our new clinic place we go to seemed not taking time to warm up with Palette the patient via petting or calling her name with happy voice etc.

In fact,I do not think I heard her name coming out from their mouth at all,and no interaction with Palette ever except the stern toned "No!" with one pointed finger near her face.

Rather, they are sort of like the ones who come in, do talk to us but not talk to Palette and without any words spoken to her,quietly shape her the way he wants and if she did not like it and gives him warning, he yanks her leash "No!" with stern voice.

No positive interaction with Palette physically or verbally whatsoever and, that physical correction does not help either.

Imagine you are the patient and doctor comes in, but does not look at you. He does look at your family and talk for a brief moment. Then, without any warning, he starts shaping you the way he wants so he can work on you and do whatever he needed to do to diagnose. No talk other than stern "No"...

I do not think you will feel comfortable with him and you would not feel that he is approachable. You would probably want to be as far away as possible.

Especially,if you were a dog, you do not understand what he is saying to your family and you must be very scared wondering what would happen next.

When we happened to see the guy vet, Palette was literally very ready to get out from the room, out the building. She was pawing at the room door with some "I really want to go NOW" look,which she never does with the lady vet.She was that much stressful and was not comfortable around him.

Each of you would have points to look for in your dog's vet but personally, very first thing to look for in a vet is level of interaction with Palette.

We come in and bring her to the clinic but she is the patient,not us. I would like our vet to take time to get to know Palette,at least try to communicate with her. Then,I like to choose whom she feels most comfortable with.

Also, I prefer the vet who does not use correction with quick yanking the leash like the other vet Palette saw the other day.

I like to choose vet by looking at their dog handling skill.

I think it will be nice if there were programs for those who handle dogs on the job;groomers,vets,doggy day care etc where they can learn how to handle dogs properly in the positive way with the help of positive dog trainer.

I would like the vet office experience as positive as possible.

Even at the same vet office, each vet approach to your dogs differently.Therefore, try choose the vet whom your dogs feel most comfortable with, and also the one that you feel comfortable with his/her handling skill etc...

I think we are fortunate to get to know our lady vet who handle Palette very well and she loves her a lot. Palette does great job being handled with her as well.

I now make sure we get to see the lady vet who Palette likes when we go there.

I also like our vet to be a good listener. I like that the fact our lady vet listen to us and our dogs very well.

We take Palette for annual exam once a year,and I prefer to be with our dog. I do not like the place where we have to go early and drop her off and come pick her up later in the day.

I think it is convenient for people probably if you were working, but it will be very stressful for dogs,and I do not see the point of drop off/pick up when I know all the exam can be done within 30 minutes at longest,plus stress the experience would put on dogs.

When we go for annual exam at our lady vet, it finishes within 20 min or so.

I think everyone has their own guideline when it comes to choosing the vet for your dogs.

What do you look for in the good vet?