Before I left Tioga County yesterday, A and I visited our friends Kell & Lori who happen to have two of Nisha's siblings (not littermates), Cooper and Buster Brown. Everyone needs more poodles.




Nisha and Buster Brown very similar in coloring (he's a couple shades lighter), size and shape.



Buster Brown and Nisha



Buster Brown, Cooper and Nisha



(Nisha needs a haircut bad!)

(Just so it's clear that I do things other than take pix of my pets... )

A's new band had a gig New Years Eve. It was the first time I had heard them play out and I was tickled by what they've accomplished since I left in August.




A and his sister



Mike the drummer, Kell (poodle owner referenced above), and Adrian.







I'm back in Buffalo for a while... *phew* having two places that are "home" can be rough!

I went to the roller derby last night, too! I had to ask my phone what the heck was going on

I'm sure (e:dragonlady7) had no idea who I was when I got this shot:


Love the Suicidal Saucies' socks!





Part of the Nickel City Knockout team



If I want to take good pix of the derby, I'll have to spring for the front row seats.



The will-call line is pretty long, ya might wanna get tix at one of the retail locations.

Nisha & Mataya were playing at my office today :-)

To celebrate the end of my first semester in law school, I invited A and Nisha up from Tioga County and (e:TinyPliny) over from the Mayflower and we made cookies and cholay! It was certainly a cross-cultural experience - (e:TinyPliny) got to lick the beaters for the first time ever and we got to saute cumin seeds in peanut oil! ((e:heidi) is a dork!)


Cholay and pulao - mmmmm now I understand how to make a proper garam masala. My apartment smells like an Indian restaurant! :-)



We made my great-grandmother's molasses cookie recipe and made oodles of tiny cookies, perfect little bites of yummy goodness. A and (e:tinypliny) rolled out the dough and cut out the cookies.




(e:tinypliny,47194) was horrified by the amount of butter and sugar involved in making cookies - this recipe calls for 1 cup butter, 1 cup white sugar, 1 cup brown sugar AND 1 cup molasses, then sprinkle sugar on top before baking. She requested that some cookies be left naked (see cows below).



We also made molasses crinkle cookies, someone else's great-grandmother's recipe, which uses very similar ingredients but has a very different result - a sharper cookie, less cakey. They get rolled into little balls of dough, then dipped in sugar before baking. Here (e:tinypliny) becomes enthusiastic about butter and sugar :-) I've spent a little bit of time trying to figure out how to make these ones without butter and sugar - honey & applesauce seem like the best substitutes for the white sugar and butter - does anyone have any other suggestions?



(Nisha was pretty good and stayed on her turtle most of the time. (e:heidi,45816))

Here's China Cat checking us out from her temporary basement home (basement kitteh!)





Nisha considers any available lap an appropriate place to perch.