Grilled Molasses-Marinated Flank Steak

Caitie and Sean went back to school last week.  It was wonderful to have everyone under one roof, if only for a month.

Boy, do I miss them when they aren't here.

 It was nice that they were able to spend significant time with Clyde while he is still a puppy.  I mean, it would be almost cruel for us to have a new puppy if they didn't get a chance to enjoy his puppyhood.  Is that even a word?  Puppyness.  Puppydom.  Hmmm.  I think you know the point I'm trying to make.

His puppy-ish-ness is fading fast.  He's 40 pounds and TODAY he finally decided he can walk down stairs by himself.

Yes, that's right, I've been carrying him.  Downstairs every morning.  I consider myself quite strong and capable, but as I'm approaching the end of my fifth decade I'd be lying if I said my bones aren't a little creaky when I wake up in the morning.  

One of the few good things I can say about the freezing temperatures today is that I am certain that all of my neighbors had their windows closed because of the cold, so they couldn't hear me enthusiastically praising him as he ran down the steps of our deck each time I took him out today.  "Yay!  Look at you! Good boy, going down the stairs all by yourself! Way to go!"  Of course, if they happened to be looking out of their windows, they might have been wondering why I was clapping and raising my arms in triumph.

Anyhow......I got the inspiration for today's recipe as I was making a batch of  Snow-Capped Molasses Cookies last week.  As I was pouring the molasses I was thinking to myself that it would make a nice marinade.  So I decided to give it a try, and it's a keeper!

Raspberry-Vanilla Champagne Cocktails.....or Raspberry Vanilla Ice Cream Soda with Champagne?

Caitie suggested making champagne cocktails with raspberries and vanilla ice cream.  She said the champagne brings out the sweetness in the raspberries.

And then I remembered that scene in the movie Pretty Woman, the scene where Richard Gere tells Julia Roberts that eating a strawberry will bring out the flavor of champagne.  

I really don't know whether strawberries really do bring out the flavor of champagne, or if champagne really does bring out the sweetness of the raspberries or if it was just our imagination.

I do know that this drink was so good that I decided to turn it into a sort of ice cream soda (with champagne in place of the soda) instead!

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Are you as obsessed with Buffalo chicken as we are in this house?

This spicy dip is sure to warm you up after your next romp in the snow.

You do spend time romping in the snow, don't you?

(Gratuitous photo of Clyde.  He's getting huge! 14 weeks old and just over 30 pounds.)

2012 Blog Review

I just compared the numbers on my dashboard to last year's stats and I'm totally astounded by how much this li'l old blog has grown!

Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that there would be over 43,000 page views, a more than four-fold increase over last year.  I do imagine there are a lot of people having a good laugh over my horrible photography skills.

Most Page Views

Crock Pot Boneless Country-Style Ribs

With over 12,000 page views (!!!) this was by far the most popular post.  The next most-viewed post, Prosciutto & Mozzarella Asparagus Wraps was a very distant second, with just over 600 page views.

Audience

Just like last year, the majority of page views are from the U.S.  But unlike last year--when the second greatest amount of page views came from Russia--the country with the second-most page views this year was

France.  Ooh-la-la!

My Personal Favorite Post

This was an easy choice for me.  Hands-down, my favorite post was

Dogs: Past, Present and Future .  If my kids were younger, they would be a great source of inspiration for my blog posts; since they are of an age where they would be mortified if I told the world any details of their lives, however, I have to settle for writing about my next-favorite subject:  my dogs.  Lucky for me that they don't object!

Happy 2013!!!