Hot pot

I hope everyone enjoyed a lovely fourth! Poor Gilly hated every second of it, but I got to hang out with friends and enjoy hot pot for the very first time. Here is an excellent introduction to hot pot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxyyrrf06ik

We each had our own individual pots, but the rest of the ingredients were communal. We had the vegetable platter, the mushroom platter, and the tofu platter. We also had some taro and rice cakes. For our meats, we ordered beef brisket, lamb shoulder, lamb leg, and chicken.

I was bad at the actual cooking. I overcooked everything, but it was still delicious. I especially enjoyed the rice cakes, which I also had not had before. They had a lovely texture.

There was a bar where you could make your own dipping sauces. There were two long rows full of different ingredients and I found it very intimidating. Our server was Thai, and she offered to make us her own special sauce. It was a spicy peanut sauce that I thought was delicious, so I just ate that for my whole meal.

I would very much like to go again. I feel like I would time my cooking better. I might also feel brave enough to make my own sauce. Any dipping sauce recommendations?

Dog Camping

I took Gilly on her first camping trip at Gramby lake. She did pretty good, except for her refusal to eat, pee, or poop in an unfamiliar place. But that's her response to any new place. Hopefully, if we travel more she'll become more comfortable in new settings.

Unfortunately, there were storms and the lake was cold and choppy. But we went on some great hikes and enjoyed spending time around the fire with good friends and good food.

There were two deer just down the road. We gave them a wide berth.

Beautiful, but cold

Gilly of the Valley

There was an osprey really close to our camp!

Wild Columbine! So pretty!

What I'm reading

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree is a cozy fantasy. I don't know if that's a real genre, but it should be. It has all the elements of a cozy mystery. A small business owner specializing is some type of food is trying to realize the American dream when a body shows up and threatens everything.

In this story, an orc retires from adventuring to pursue her dream of owning a coffee shop. She's a small business owner, specializing in coffee, trying to realize her dreams without killing anybody. Cozy.

This book will make you crave a cinnamon roll. Thimble the ratkin baker is my favorite character. Next time I play D&D I might have to run a character based on him. I haven't finished it yet, but so far I give it 4 out of 5 cinnamon rolls.