I have two special new releases for you today, but first - we'd noticed Archie loves moving all his toys to his little house, but we didn't realize phase two was moving himself into his toy box. I guess this is what happens when hoarders fill out their real home...

Isn't it gorgeous? I took the old "stuffed crust" pizza one notch up and made my whole crust out of cheese!  I've been Keto-ish for about a year and a half now so finding solutions for bread is a big deal for me, so this keto pizza really solved some problems. The best part about it, before you roll your eyes at the word Keto, is that Mike is NOT Keto and he made himself a normal pizza when I made this one... and he liked mine a lot better! Ha! Score one for Keto!

Poor Archie was attacked by his bed last week. He barely survived...

My mother loves chocolate cake, but that dessert is an endangered species. Nowadays every "chocolate cake" on a restaurant menu is that dense, flourless "death by chocolate" stuff, and she likes classic chocolate cake. So, I make her one for her birthday, because I'm a tremendous, award-winning daughter.

Our boy is here! We were TOLD he's a Bordoodle, but we're pretty sure he's a BorShoodle (Border Collie/Baby Shark/Standard Poodle) and while he looks big in this photo, he's only twelve pounds and nine weeks old and an evil genius sent from another planet to taunt us.

If you don't think he could be part baby shark, I'd like to bring your attention to exhibit #1:

I really wanted donuts this morning, but I couldn't talk anyone into going and buying them for me. Bastards. So I made a pie. It made sense to me at the time. I had 8-9 peaches that were getting ready to go around the bend, so it was a good way to save them, too.

The Sugar Peach Pie is like a sweet custard with peaches in it, sitting in a crust. There is no top crust. It is fairly easy to make and was a big favorite of mine as a kid because it is pretty sweet. I mean, it's not a donut, but it works in a pinch.

I have a secret about Charleston Restaurants.

It's pretty shocking, so you should get yourself some smelling salts. You'll have to travel to a 1940s screwball comedy or maybe a BBC Victoria drama to find some, but go ahead, I'll wait.

Ready?

So until I have more puppy photos for you, I can fill in some wildlife. We have four raccoons we call "the brothers" who always travel together.

The best thing about marrying into a Polish family is the sudden appearance of pierogies: doughy dumplings stuffed with potatoes, cheese, meat, fruit or other deliciousness and then sautéed in butter. I mean, my husband, Mike, is nice, too, but he gets cranky if I try to sautée him in butter.

Spoil-sport.

2021 seems MUCH better, eh?

Well, for what it is worth, I've made some New Year changes. I'm not approaching work with a AAAAH GET IT DONE FOR THE DAY!!! attitude -- allowing myself to get up from my desk and putter around a bit here and there instead of trying to get all my work done by lunch (I get up at 4 am). I'm one of those people who usually like to eat all the cake first so I can enjoy the icing at the end, but my "save the best (all my leisure time) for last" attitude was causing me stress. Plus, my hips apparently don't like sitting for eight hours straight the way they used to...

Hopefully, the neighbors don't mind smelling like hot dogs for six hours.

We waited a year and for the black Friday sale, but we finally bought a grill. (Now that we're in Florida, it's a law. We have to get a tiki bar soon or it's three years hard labor.) We're terrified of combustible tanks and don't like the toxic nature of charcoal, so we went with a Traeger smoker.

For Halloween, I went full Dr. Frankenstein and created a monster cinnamon bun. I'm not sure my hand on it here (with the tip already gnawed off --- of the bun, not my hand) really drives home how large this thing was. It begged me to eat it and put it out of its misery. What could I do?