Snow Puppies and Snuggle Bunnies

I may have previously mentioned that two dogs are better than one and periodically I am reminded of that thought.  With all the snow lately I've been taking the dogs to romp in the park and it is totally worth it just to watch them.  They are so much more active during the winter it is hard to believe they are the same dogs.  

Until we get home and they turn in to this:

In addition to being adorable in the snow, the dogs are also adorable in the car.  Particularly when they do something like this:

 

This is what I try to keep in mind when Dakota does stuff like reducing plastic bags to shreds or eating whole loaves of bread.

Mallowmars and Pineapple Upsidedown Cake

Today was a baking kind of day. For a get together with some friends I made an old favorite - pineapple upside down cake - from when I was at college armed with my cast iron frying pan and The Joy of Cooking. I acquiesced to the request for a "normal" pineapple upside down cake - one without whole wheat flour and where I remembered to add sugar.  It came out beautifully and disappeared in record time.

Our second and larger project was a reprise of our mallowmar adventure from over the summer.  This time we knew more what to expect and the cooler weather helped too.  Here Todd is with the slightly less stiff marshmallow topping.

This time I was a little tired by the time we got around to dipping the mallowmars in chocolate so mine are the sloppy ones.  We used more cinnamon this time so you could really taste in the graham crackers and that complimented the vanilla and the chocolate really nicely.  

The softer marshmallow was easier to handle, but it spread a little more too.  However the end product was delicious and easier to fit in your mouth. I think that next time slightly less time than the recipe calls for but more than this time would be perfect.