finally, something just for fin

My sweet Fin-Bear. I know she only wants to help, what with her incessant nudging, pressing her sweet heart-shaped nose into my thigh while I chop, flip, saute, or mix; what else could she possibly be thinking? Certainly she's never thinking only of herself. "Mom, are those steaks for me? Since I've been such a good girl and only chased one big buck today?" "Moooommmmmmm, you're cutting up that carrot just for me, right?" Yes, my dear, sweet Fin. I love her. But more and more, my cooking episodes are peppered with only sometimes-patient exclamations: "Get outta the kitchen, babe. Out, out. OUT!" So after reading this recipe for gourmet dog biscuits on a new favorite blog of mine, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to do something nice for Finley. Because you know that even after the trouble she manages to get in (did I mention the buck???), she certainly deserves more than just store-bought, regardless of how organic her current treats are...they're not homemade. And boy, did Fin know what was going on. Not just because I kept saying, "I'm making you something, Fin! Aren't you excited?", but also because I had to prop the oven open with a wooden spoon. And let me tell you something: this is NOT a posed pic. She snuck her sweet little self into the kitchen to take a peek. I was actually worried that the rigged oven door would snap shut on her. Catastrophe averted.Perhaps the funniest part of this whole afternoon was that earlier in the day, I'd mentioned to Ryan that I wanted to make oatmeal cookies. While I was making a mess of the kitchen, Ryan was napping. He woke up, waltzed in, and grabbed a cookie off the counter. He tilted his head one way, then the other, eyeing the suspiciously flat, dry pastry with its flecks of green. "Are these cookies or dog biscuits?" I took a bite of one. "Try them," I urged. He was reluctant. I suppose I would have been, too, if I'd been hoping for decadent oatmeal cookies and gotten... a dog biscuit.

But Fin? She loved 'em. And so did her best friend Bella.