My Sunday was spent as Sundays always should be: doing a whole lotta nothing, a little bit of baking and a good amount of relaxing with Henry, the little heartbeat at my feet. From what I can tell, he’s recovering well from his luxating patella surgery. He takes antibiotic twice a day, and pain medication once a day. He’s eating well and can move around on his bandaged legs. On Thursday, he has an appointment back at the vet to remove his bandages. I’m a bit terrified about that, because of the staples in his legs. I’d rather they just leave the bandages on until he fully recovers, but I know that’s not possible.

I was asked to bake a cake for an office birthday and if you know me, you know that I can never turn down an offer to bake. It took a long time for me to decide on one I liked. Once again, the recipe came from RecipeZaar. I looked at one of my favorite sites, Epicurious first, but they really had nothing I was looking for. The recipes I’ve found there have been disappointing me lately. The recipe, Amazing Solan Family Chocolate Cake, was just what I was looking for. This recipe was particularly unique because it is a Swedish cake recipe that contains no milk or eggs and is low-fat. The recipe did have a warning on it to make bundt pan extra greasy, as it was a sticky cake, and even though I did make sure it was well greased, it was such a delicate cake that a part of it became a bit crumbled.

I put some glaze on top of it and this is how it turned out…

I might garnish it with some strawberries before I take it in. Although I would have liked it to look better, I have a feeling the taste will make up for the looks. This is definitely a recipe I would make again, I’m sure the cake tastes amazing on its own, without the glaze.

After a luxating patella surgery and 2 days in the hospital, Henry the Maltese is back at home! I was given some instructions, medicine and subsequent dates that Henry must be back at the vet for x-rays and bandage removal. After paying the balance of his surgery, they brought him out and as soon as he saw me, his head tilted completely to the side, as if to say, “Where did you go and why did you leave me here.” The next few moments were very bitter sweet, as I felt so relieved to finally have him in my arms, but so upset that he had to experience surgery. As soon as I saw his two little bandaged legs, my heart melted.

He is no longer a Maltese, but a Chinese Crested Dog, as his whole backside was shaved. He’s so fashionable in his turquoise star-studded bandages, don’t you think? The surgery was a success! I saw the x-rays and his patella is in the right place. He also has pins in both legs, but that’s ok. The doctor said that if down the line, he experiences discomfort, the pins can be removed.

This surgery is usually done one leg at a time, but Henry’s were quite bad, so they both had to be done at the same time. He’s on crate rest for many weeks and will be back at the vet next week to remove his bandages. The minute we brought him home, I put him in his crate, where he proceeded to pee for about 2 minutes. When you gotta, go, you gotta go.

I fed him a bit, and must give him some antibiotics later tonight, but now he is resting comfortably with his toys.

Apparently, Henry was such a good dog while he was at the hospital. He ate all the food he was given, was fine with the other dogs, waiting for his breakfast in the mornings and didn’t even need an Elizabethan collar during his stay. I raised him right.

It really surprised me that he ate while he was in their care, because he is a notoriously picky eater, but the vet told me that he suspects he never ate properly because he was in pain from his knees. He said animals have a funny way of showing they’re in pain and that’s usually by not eating, so this entire time, that we’ve thought he is just so picky, was because of the fact that his knees hurt him. As soon as I brought him home, he ate his wet and dry food - amazing!

Yesterday, I got him a couple presents from Three Dog Bakery and the minute he saw that fish toy below, I think his entire life became complete. It was as if he hadn’t had surgery. Henry is a very possessive dog when it comes to his toys. If you even so much as touch the toys he’s scattered all over the living room floor, you’re in trouble. If you clean them up and put them back in his crate, he’ll make sure he scatters them all over the place again. It’s funny, because when I was really young, I was the same way with my toys.

This weekend is going to be full of a lot of resting, helping and loving and I can’t wait until he gets better. So many people kept him in their prayers and thought of him, so I think he definitely got by with a little help from his friends. Thanks to everyone that wished him well, it means more than you know! More updates as he gets better, but for now, some well needed sleep.

As I previously mentioned, Henry was scheduled to have surgery on his knee for a luxating patella, a nasty condition that usually affects small breed dogs and results in dislocation of the knee cap. Well, today was the day that I woke up, got dressed, put him in my lap in the car and drove to the vet to drop him off for his surgery. I looked calm and acted calm, but inside I was so horribly terrified. I still am. After filling out paper work, I had to hand him over to the nurse. I knew that he knew something was going on. How could he not? I left the vet’s office to go to work, but all I wanted to do was go and take him back.

I couldn’t concentrate on work the entire day and when I finally called the vet at 3 p.m., they informed me that they hadn’t even started the surgery because they were waiting for the orthopedic surgeon to arrive. I was told to call back at 5, which I did and I spoke to the surgeon who told me the surgery went well and that he was stable and recovering. He also informed me that both his legs were operated on.

This came as a shock to me, because I was previously told that they would both be done separately, but his condition was so bad that they decided to do both at once. There are pros and cons that come along with that, with the obvious con being that he can’t walk at all and needs more help. However, this means he won’t have to go through another surgery, which is great.

He’s at the hospital right now overnight, however since the hospital does not have a 24-hour staff, he’s there with no people in sight. This is so worrying to me and although they assured me that he would be fine and that they make sure he’s comfortable and stable before they leave, I can’t help but be upset that no one is there with him. I don’t even know how I’m going to go to bed tonight, as Henry sleeps with me either on the edge or under the bed. When he gets uncomfortable or misses me, he comes and plops himself right in my arms, lets out a sigh and then snuggles me to sleep.

Without fail, he will be waiting outside the door every time I step foot in the bathroom, whether it’s to wash my hands or take a shower. He is the perpetual waiter. On hot Summer nights, he lays by the screen door and just looks outside. I don’t know what he’s looking at, since it’s so dark, but he seems to like it, so we let him lounge and let him be.

He’s also fiercely overprotective. This morning while we were sitting at a traffic light, he caught a glimpse of the passenger in the car next to us and proceeded to bark up a storm. So here I am, trying to control a lunging dog while keeping both hands on the wheel, WHILE trying to turn left, all because someone looked at Henry the wrong way.

I am going to pick him up tomorrow and I suspect we’re going to have a long 8 weeks ahead of us for recovery, but it’s ok. I cannot imagine my life without him.

Henry will be having his first knee surgery (for a luxated patella) 2 days from now, on Thursday. It all happened really quickly, as I thought he would be having it a month from now, so I haven’t had a chance to process it fully until today. The surgery is quite costly, about 2 months of rent to some people, but it really doesn’t matter, because he has to get it done and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m really terrified, if I’m being honest. The thoughts that have been running through my head since I found out have been disturbing and I’m thinking of the worst, which is usually what I tend to do. The worst part is that he might have to stay a day at the hospital. It kills me knowing he won’t be near me. The recovery time is about 6 to 8 weeks and I’m just trying to prepare myself mentally to be able to take care of him. All I have to say is, thank God I have my sister and parents who can watch over him when I can’t be there. Thursday is going to be incredibly draining for me, as are the next 2 months, while I watch over him and make sure he’s ok. He’s going to have to repeat it again afterwards for the other knee, unfortunately. It’s funny, before I got him, I researched breeders for about 1 year. I read all about Maltese and went through numerous email exchanges with breeders all over California. I got him from a reputable breeder. And still, despite all of this, he has a problem (that’s very common in Maltese) that needs to be fixed. This just goes to show you that health is never a guarantee, whether it be for animals or humans.

Except for this major upset above, things in life are normal in many ways and weird in others. I’m looking for more freelance writing work and developing a couple website ideas I’ve had. I am thinking more and more about graduate school every day, but I’d like to save some money before I start applying and also get some more freelance writing jobs like I mentioned above.

To be honest with you, I’d love to do what few have attempted successfully: making a comfortable living off of a blog, that would subsequently and eventually lead to some sort of book deal, so I could spend my time at home, baking, knitting and taking care of Henry. Look at me, I sound like an old woman. I don’t really care, if you could be at home, doing all the things you dream about doing while sitting in your cube while making money off a website that more or less runs itself, wouldn’t you? I would in a heartbeat.

What else can I tell you, internet? I wish I had more enticing things to tell you, but I don’t. I’m pretty much going to be a Debbie Downer all week because my 6 lb polar bear needs surgery.

Interviewer: Did you hear t.A.T.u.’s version of “How Soon Is Now?”

Morrissey: Yes, it was magnificent. Absolutely. Again, I don’t know much about them.

Interviewer: They are teenage Russian lesbians.

Morrissey: Well, aren’t we all?

Can I love this man anymore than I already do?

My spinach and tomato plants from almost a month ago have blossomed and grown more than I ever expected them to. I hope to plant more, as this was just a test run to make sure I’m not a plant-killer. I absolutely love the idea of being able to grow my own fruits and vegetables to eat. I’d churn my own butter if I could and sew my own clothes and spin yarn out of alpaca fur. Maybe I was Amish in another life, I’m not sure. I could watch For Richer or Poorer any day of the week.

I talk to him when I’m lonesome like; and I’m sure he understands. When he looks at me so attentively, and gently licks my hands; then he rubs his nose on my tailored clothes, but I never say naught thereat. For the good Lord knows I can buy more clothes, but never a friend like that. ~W. Dayton Wedgefarth

He coils himself asleep next to me and licks my ears every chance he gets. In the mornings and evenings, he patrols the house, like a senior member of an elite canine military, looking for the slightest sound of any disturbance outside. At 6 lbs, with a coat of white polar bear-like fur, he’s more a lover, than a fighter. He’s the first thing I see when I wake up in the morning and the last thing when I go to sleep. I never get bored of snuggling him and he never gets bored of snuggling me.

Though I hate to admit it, Henry is more like my child, than my dog. We spend almost every waking and sleeping moment together and I would not have it any other way. He’s everything I had been waiting for my whole life, as for one reason or another, I was denied a pet by my parents throughout my entire childhood. Looking back, I was upset, but now, I realize that not letting me own a dog was a really good thing. Because now, I don’t have school, social situations or homework distracting me from Henry. The only time we’re apart, is when I’m at work and sometimes that’s even too much to bare. I can’t imagine what my life was like before him. A lot of people scoff at the idea of ‘romanticizing’ a pet like I have just now, but I don’t really care. They are the type of people who either have never owned a pet, don’t like animals or treated their animals like crap, and I don’t associate myself with the latter two types.

Being a Maltese, Henry is not only rambunctious, fiercely loyal and loving, but he’s also very delicate. Like many small dogs, Maltese are susceptable to a problem known was luxating patella (or trick knee) in which the kneecap dislocates or moves out of its normal location. This is a common condition and also happens in humans as well.

When he was almost a year old, Henry begin limping while running. He wouldn’t do it very often, so I didn’t give much though to it immediately and hoped it would go away. Unfortunately, it only got worse. I did some research and suspected a luxating patella, but took him to the vet to make sure, who only confirmed my worries and said there was nothing that could be done until he was about a year and a half. We would have to wait until he was done growing. During the past 6 months, I’ve tried to minimize pressure to his knees by buying pet stairs and supplementing his diet with glucosamine and chondroitin. Well, the time to revisit this case came this weekend. He’s a year and a half now and I thought that the sooner we get this over with, the better it is for all of us, especially him.

After having x-rays done, it was confirmed that he needed surgery on both knees to correct his kneecaps. I had prepared myself for this, but for the first time, I realized what a parent must feel when told their child needs some kind of medical care. It is absolutely heart wrenching. Each leg has a recovery time of 6 weeks, however they’re going to be done separately. So, after 12 weeks of his life being miserable, he’ll be able to have almost 100 percent mobility without any pain. No pain, no gain, as the saying goes.

If you could only see him now. He’s nestled next to me, on his back, with his little white paws in the sky. He has no idea what I know. He has no idea that in about a month’s time, he’ll be back at the vet, in surgery. It breaks my heart thinking that this little 6 lb fluffball of mine is going to be operated on.

I’m praying every day that things go well when the time comes.

Sometimes, it becomes quite evident in my thought process that Henry isn’t going to be around forever. I think of this quite frequently, although I’m not sure why. I mean, everyone’s life is finite, but dogs don’t live very long and I am dreading the day when I’ll have to say goodbye to him. I know it’s unnecessary and a bit morbid to have thoughts like this, but I can’t help it. I don’t how I will ever deal with life after him. I’m just so glad he’s around. I’m so glad he picked me and I’m so glad I picked him and I don’t even want to imagine what his life would be like if someone else had gotten him. They’d probably give him up, knowing they had to pay for his surgery.

I’m trying to be strong and looking at this entire situation as something that has to be done. I’m trying to concentrate on how much his quality of life will improve after the surgery and I’m thanking God that veterinary medicine exists. I’m trying to stay positive, but I know that when he’s in surgery and I have to possibly spend a night away from him, I’ll cry. And he won’t be there to lick my tears away.

A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than you love yourself. - Josh Billings

I had a very tiring and depressing weekend of sorts, with going to the vet and finding out Henry needs surgery very soon and just trying to deal with this perpetual God forsaken heat in Los Angeles. I thought I’d bake, to calm down my nerves and also so that if someone asked me what I did on the weekend, I can say, “I baked!” Instead of, I took my dog that I love more than life itself to the vet, only to find out he needs surgery on both his knees. Before I had gone to Montreal, I bought some oat flour because I had kept hearing good things about it.

Oat flour is basically what you think it is: flour made from ground oats. It doesn’t have any gluten in it, which makes it hard for the dough to hold together well or rise. I had read to not use it alone, but to combine it with other types of flour because of its drawbacks, but considering what I made came out tasting pretty good, using it alone can be done.

I searched high and low for oat flour recipes online and was more or less disappointed with what I found. I knew I wanted to make muffins, but didn’t know what kind. All the recipes I found called for dates or raisins, and I wanted to use apples or banana, so this was quite disheartening. Plus, they were all for only 1/2 dozen muffins. So I decided to create my own recipe and I was pretty happy with my results.

I used a Ginger Gold apple, which is known to be good for pies, sauces and baking.

I also used Arrowhead Mills Organic Oat Flour. It can be mixed with regular white flour, however if you’re following a gluten-free diet, you can mix it with buckwheat flour.

Walnuts, cinnamon and cloves complemented the apple, and a couple tablespoons of molasses and honey gave it a boost of color and sweetness.

Oat Flour Apple Walnut Muffins

2/3 cup milk
2 teaspoons vinegar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons molasses
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups oat flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground clove

1. Combine wet ingredients (milk, vinegar, oil, honey molasses) along with salt and mix until smooth.

2. Add oat flour, baking powder, cinnamon and cloves to wet ingredients. Stir until smooth.

3. Fold in apples and walnuts.

3. Oil muffin cups and divide batter evenly among them. At this point, deciding how much to fill each one is up to you, as oat flour does not rise like normal flour does.

4. Bake at 400° for about 16 minutes, or until lightly browned.

5. Turn over muffin cups on counter or in a towel until muffins dislodge from cups. Dust lightly with confectioner’s sugar and serve!

Yields: 12 muffins

Old Montreal, otherwise known as Vieux Montreal to locals and the French, is a charming little area of the city that carries with it quite a European flare. The cobble stone streets, boutique shops and location next to the St. Lawrence River make it a premiere attraction for any sightseer visiting Montreal. On Rue St. Paul Est sits Version Restaurant and Boutique, a restaurant tucked away from all the hustle and bustle of the main street, where except for the fabulous restaurant, Jardin Nelson, a decent meal is hard to find.

Version Restaurant is the epitome of minimalistic modern style. Their dishes they serve their food in is a testament to that. With white ceramic, geometrically shaped oblong plates, your dining experience will be enhanced by more than just the food. I didn’t know this at the time, but Version Restaurant is also a boutique, where you can buy pretty much everything, from the silverware to the tables, chairs and trinkets.

On that particular night, it was hot so everyone including us decided to sit outside. We ordered sangria first, which our server told us was ‘homemade.’ Alcohol is usually not a part of my food pyramid. I don’t actively seek it out and when I do, it must be a drink in where I can only taste a hint of alcohol. This is why sangria is one of my favorites. It’s just like fruit juice with a hint of wine.

Let me tell you, this sangria is one of the best I’ve had in my life. The little fruit shish kabobs on top were delicious as well. If we had known they were $12 a glass, we probably wouldn’t have ordered them. But were on vacation, in Montreal, so we let it slide.

After drinks, we had a light dinner consisting of a vegetarian tapas platter, with four dishes that looked more like art than food. Unfortunately, their website doesn’t have all their dishes listed and that sangria probably impaired my memory to remember what they were. We also had a really great mixed green salad and my favorite: a cheese, grape and almond platter. In my opinion, there is no better dinner then some cheese, grapes and dry cracked bread. A bit of sangria doesn’t hurt either.

We rarely order dessert, but we thought we would anyway. When you’re on vacation, you’re allowed to do certain things you wouldn’t normally do without feeling guilty, like spending more money than usual while shopping and eating ridiculously overpriced meals. Dessert was eaten without much guilt - what a concept! Of course, I never really feel guilty about eating perhaps my favorite dessert, creme bruleé, probably because I rarely eat it.

Version had the queen of creme bruleés, a dish divided into four kinds of the decadent dish, including a maple version and three others that I again, can’t remember and they don’t have listed anywhere on their site. Take my word for it, it was delish.

By the time we had finished eating, it was almost completely dark. When I looked around, I noticed that there were people there who had been enjoying their meals earlier than us. Version Restaurant has the kind of atmosphere that makes it hard for you to get up and leave. You just want to stay there and pretend that you were served amazing meals with amazing drinks at home. Next time you’re in Vieux Montreal and you’re looking for a place to eat, don’t go for the obvious. Take some left and right turns, because the best treasures are the ones that are hidden, like Version Restaurant.

Version Restaurant
295, East St-Paul St.
Montreal, Canada
H2Y 1H1
(514) 871-9135

In an old house in Paris, that was covered with vines, lived twelve little girls in two straight lines. In two straight lines they broke their bread, and brushed their teeth, and went to bed. They smiled at the good, and frowned at the bad, and sometimes they were very sad. They left the house at half past nine, in two straight lines, in rain or shine … the smallest one was Madeline!