New member at the Dunlap ranch

Right now, I'm feeling the pain of new puppy ownership. I can feel it in my toes, the big one on the right foot, in particular. Our newest member of the Dunlap ranch, Scrappy (above), bit down on my toes while I was relaxing. I was barefoot.

It is a small price to pay for a big joy, though. We love to watch him play and yip and chew on his rope bone. He has really big paws, too. When he runs around the house on his short, stumpy legs, he looks like he's wearing boots or oversized shoes. He looks part Bassett hound, part labrador. Our two adult dogs are adjusting, but they aren't keen on the unbridled energy of the puppy. 

You could call him an owner surrender. We knew his owners didn't have time for him, so we offered to take him and they said yes.  The past week has been rough with our altered sleep schedules, but he seems to like our little home.

Oh my -- there's roast pork in the oven.

The smell of roast pork fills my house. Karen put the pork in the oven this morning, and it will take about six hours to cook. Tomorrow, she'll do the same thing again as she makes a second batch.

Lazy Sunday for the Dunlaps

Darren is a little under the weather today, so instead of going to the Knoxville Botanical Garden for Rhythm 'n' Blooms, we're camped out at the dining room table with our computers. I'm catching up on months of articles from my Google Reader and Darren is working on his web design class homework. 

I found a great video of J.J. Abrams discussing creativity and mystery in a TED talk. If you love his work or love to write, this is a great inspiration.

Spaghetti carbonara with leeks and bacon

Darren posted about our dinner last night. I adore Naples' spaghetti carbonara and I love making my own version at home with bits of chopped bacon and leeks. The recipe I use is from Cooking Light magazine's January 2008 issue. The recipe calls for pancetta but that can be difficult to find in grocery stores in our area. I use 3 pieces of bacon, chopped and cooked until it's cooked through but not crispy. I also use one whole egg, not just the egg white. This is an easy recipe to play around with and make your own. I am very generous with the black pepper for the sauce; I think it makes a big difference in the flavor. I also omit the parsley because there is plenty of flavor without it, and dealing with leeks is plenty of work for me!

Karen's crazy good carbonara

Karen's carbonara is the ultimate comfort food. She served up two heaping portions last night. We also bought some fresh bread from The Market in Maryville and toasted it. I'll see if I can get her to share her secret for this dish in the next post.

Met Maryville's Nathan Nicholson of UK band The Boxer Rebellion

UK band The Boxer Rebellion has a Maryville front man: Nathan Nicholson. Longtime friend and entertainment writer Steve Wildsmith introduced us last night before the group performed at the Square Room in the Rhythm n' Blooms festival in Knoxville. Nathan's a really nice guy and the band is great. The song "Evacuate" is one of my favorite's by The Boxer Rebellion. 

Enjoy the video or read Wildsmith's excellent feature about Nicholson.

Build your raised vegetable bed now

I highly recommend The Pioneer Woman guide for building raised vegetable beds. I built this one last year using the instructions on Ree Drummond's popular website. I followed Drummond's explanation better than the videos and web guides provided by some of the big box stores like Home Depot.

Next week, I plan to build two more of these raised beds. The one in the picture is 4 feet by 6 feet. I bought these materials for the first bed: 

• Four 10-feet long 2" x 6" boards
• One box of wood stakes, 2 feet long and about an inch wide.
• One box of wood screws, 2 inches long. 
• A lot of organic soil to fill the bed, about 5-6 bags. 

I've forgotten the cost. I built it on my birthday last year. I'll save the receipts from the next one and share them. The biggest advantage is that I didn't have to weed nearly as much with the raised bed, and it looks good.Try it. I think you'll like it.