Kitty Deschanel | Food, Wine, and Travel Adventures Across the USA

Summer has officially arrived, marked by 100+ degree weather here in New Mexico, a haircut for Biscuit (she looks so tiny now!), and homemade burgers on our patio. I arrived home from work recently to find a buffet of topping options on our kitchen island, courtesy of Sexy Nerd, and we quickly got to work building the perfect burgers. I can never resist a unique sauce/dressing/topping/condiment/anything food whatsoever when it's on clearance, so we've accumulated quite a few unique burger topping options. Mango Habanero Ketchup? Check. Parsley Garlic Sauce? Of course. Mojo Picon? Obviously. Truffle Oil? You know it. Wasabi Sauce? Duh. Tabouli? Burger-topping extraordinaire. Cranberry Horseradish Mustard? It actually tastes identical to everyday brown mustard. I may have been scammed on this one. Pickled Beets? Is it even a burger without this? Olive Paste? Olive you, olive paste. The list goes on, and I had to find a way to include ...

"You whippersnappers turn off that racket. In my day, pups respected their elders. Back then, we didn't have a bed in a sunbeam. We didn't even have a sunbeam. We had to make do with the reflection of the sun off the moon for warmth and you didn't hear us complaining." Dogs are known to greet their owner with excitement and a wagging tail. Biscuit is here to tell you that is foolish nonsense. When Kitty Deschanel returns home from work, Biscuit does not bother to get out of bed, where she has lounged the entire day. Pit bulls, Olive and Bernadette, stay clear of the alpha of their pack, lest they be attacked by 4 pounds of chihuahua/yorkie (probably mixed with some sort of rodent) fury. Her 5 remaining teeth will get you. You may see Kitty Deschanel carrying Biscuit down the street, her having refused to budge after insisting on taking a walk. Dinnertime requires patience. Biscuit demands to guard her bowl, letting out her version of a bark - a ferocious "ME...

Gather 'round, my bloggy friends, and I shall tell you a funny tale of social anxiety, a new job, and pickles. I have a bad habit of licking my lips when nervous. If you follow me on Facebook  and my other social media accounts, you know that I recently left my pediatric dentistry job of 16 years in order to work closer to home. (You also know many more of my embarrassing stories.) Starting in a new workplace for the first time in my adult life (seriously, I was only 20 when hired at my previous office), I've been understandably nervous. So, I've been licking my lips excessively. Thanks to COVID-19 and a mandatory mask, no one is the wiser. Actually, I'm sure everyone knows. In the brief maskless moments when I'm sipping water or eating lunch, you can see that my lips are chapped as heck. Stop licking them! Oh, if only I could. I don't even know I'm doing it. Which brings me to my embarrassing story. After work yesterday, SN and I were chatting in our kitche...

I am a cheap thrifty person.  Okay, maybe it would be accurate to say that I'm right up along the very border of cheap. I'm not crossing the line though. Only my toes are over the line.  I have a story to share from my college years. I was 18 and working as a Pizza Hut manager and there was a time when trying to save a few dollars put me in a dangerous situation. Okay, there were several times, but we're just going to focus on one for this blog post. I had a coupon for a free car wash. The regular price was $4.99, so without the coupon there was no way I would ever be getting my car cleaned. My Alero wasn't that dirty and I didn't want to waste the coupon, so I put off the car wash until the day before my coupon expired.  After leaving work at nearly midnight, I took my Alero through the automatic car wash. After the thorough washing, I decided to drive next door to do a little grocery shopping before going home. It was the middle of January, so I bun...

Every autumn, SN and I enjoy a visit to the mountains in New Mexico. This photo was taken during a walk around Monte Verde Lake in Angel Fire, scarves billowing behind us and with mugs of cardamom-infused coffee warming our hands. The leaves were golden and the fragrance of pinon firewood hung pleasantly in the air.  The lake cast an irresistible spell on us, with proof provided in the nearby property we purchased shortly after. That was a surprise even to us!  Our little Olive , who is not quite so little these days, has joined us on small drives, but never on a wondrous road trip. She stays behind to mind the house and keep Bernadette and Biscuit company.  Oh, except there was that one time back when she was a young pup; the time Olive set out on her own, seeking a grand adventure. She's our little biker babe. In honor of National Pit Bull Awareness Month, join Olive on a virtual autumn road trip across the USA. There are plenty of wildflowers, fire-hued leaves, and sel...

Stealing a Clawfoot Tub (Or So They Thought) We recently built our dream home and were able to save money by supplying many of the fixtures ourselves. We had an acrylic clawfoot tub shipped to our current house and brought it to the construction site the Saturday that it was supposed to be installed. There was a delay though (if you know anything at all about construction, you surely just read that and thought OF COURSE there was a delay, as that's Construction 101), so the plumber was not going to be able to get to our tub installation until Monday.  We left the tub and my husband returned to the construction site on Sunday to work on the landscaping. To his surprise, two men from the construction crew showed up around the same time. No one worked on the house on Sundays.  The men seemed startled when they saw him. Flustered, they announced they were just there to install baseboards. After about 30 minutes, they left.  They drove from town to our home in the mountains o...

I shared photos from our trip to Iceland , but none from Denmark. Copenhagen deserves better than that! We had a great time walking the cobblestone streets, visiting castles, and enjoying the Christmas markets that seemed to be everywhere .  Seriously, they were even inside some of the castles. Visit Copenhagen   Timed perfectly to enjoy the dazzling holiday lights, mulled wine, and ebelskivers at Tivoli Gardens, SN and I were in Copenhagen from November 25-30th. (Photos post 1 of 2...because 80 photos seemed like waaay too many for one blog post.)  Ever since our trip to Australia, Sexy Nerd insists I pose like this whenever we come across a cannon. It happens more often than you might expect. The Worker's Museum in Copenhagen. We didn't get it. That look you get when your cactus-obsessed husband has spent too much time in the desert section of the greenhouse. This las...