Molly.

i love my dog Molly more than most things in the world. more than crunch bars/coffee/splenda/john steinbeck/not wearing a bra/miller lites.
that might come as a surprise to some of you, considering how much i absofuckinlutely love the aforementioned.
but it's true.
she is a german shepard/lab mix mutt of perfection and this past August she turned 14 year old!!
that's incredible. the night we got molly was a cold and rainy evening. with shmoops, brother bear and i in tow we made the trip to Kerhonksen, to get one of those "free to a good home" pups we had heard oh so much about. we drove up a long and winding driveway, to what looked like a castle. (disclaimer:the story gets a bit more dramatic the more i tell it) there were no people in sight, just the howling of werewolves and the screeching of owls. an old lady, with a hunchback obviously, stumbled out of the castle, and presented us with a challenge. pointing a crooked finger to a dog house in the far corner of the yard she mused "if you dare enter that dog house and pull out a pup, without being eaten alive by the mother, you may keep the pup. many have entered, few have returned."
frightened, i look up to my mother and my older brother. i get the "there's no way in hell i'm going in there! we'll get a gerbil" look from them both. but not tonight. there will be no more damn gerbils in our house. and i can't even stand the sight of cats by this time.
i man up. at 9 years old, i muster up all my courage, and make my way to the dog house.
i crawl in....it is so dark, and the only thing i could hear was the panting of pups and the only thing i could smell was fear. and dog shit. anyway.
i picked molly. i don't even remember seeing her until we got in the car, it really was dark! i sometimes wonder about the other puppies, her brothers and sisters. perhaps they wouldn't run away from the house and only come back after hours of chasing her around the neighborhood with cheese and hot dogs, screaming her name and abandoning all dignity. perhaps one of her brothers or sisters wouldn't have eaten all the arms and legs off of EVERY barbie doll i ever had.
perhaps.
but i don't care, and i wouldn't trade her for any dog in the whole entire world, and i mean that truly.
so! for her birthday party i made her Pupcakes. it's basically blueberries muffins with food processed kibble substituting the flour. i got the recipe (if you can call it that) from one of my favorite dog treat cookbooks, "The Ultimate Dog Recipe Cookbook".

heap o' cakeZZZ!
guts

fancy dog cannoli from a vendor in New Paltz.
this is actually where the whole baking obsession life change came from. i wanted to make dog pastries. and move to germany. so yet another thing i can thank molly for, giving my life meaning through baking.
needless to say, she loved them. she loves eveything, she loves me and my family, kraft singles, long walks, hot dogs and laying in bed. we're so similar it's scary.

molly and kristen at her party.

molly and i on a romantic long walk.
molly eating ice cream i made for her.
the dog, the myth, the legend MOLLY!