Recipe and agility dogs
I've gotten very behind on my flist, Twitter, and 
wrisomifu, but I'm going to go ahead and post this stuff before I forget it. Apologies, and I'll be catching up as I can. ♥
From here, where there are pretty step-by-step photos....
PUMPKIN COFFEE CAKE
* ⅓ cups Water
* 1 can Pureed Pumpkin (15 Oz)
* 2 whole Eggs
* 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
* 2 teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice
* 1 box Yellow Cake Mix (18 Ounce Box)
* 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
* 1 cup Brown Sugar, Divided
* ½ cups Flour
* ⅓ cups Walnuts, Chopped
* 4 Tablespoons Butter, Melted
* ¼ cups Granulated Sugar
* 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
* ¼ cups Heavy Whipping Cream
Preheat the oven to 350F.
In a large bowl mix together the water, pumpkin, eggs, 1 Tablespoon of vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice until well combined. Add the cake mix and baking soda and mix until just combined.
Grease a 9×13 pan with butter and pour batter into pan.
In a small bowl mix together 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1/2 cup flour, walnuts, and melted butter. Use fingers to sprinkle over the top of the cake. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
For the glaze, combine the other 1/2 cup brown sugar, granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and heavy cream in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and stir until all sugar is dissolved.
When cake is finished baking, poke holes in the top with a toothpick. Pour glaze over the cake, making sure to cover all surfaces. Serve cake warm or at room temperature.
I only had a 16oz white cake mix, not an 18oz yellow one, but I just added a handful of flour to the batter and it worked fine. And of course you can make your own "cake mix," it's called making a cake. Heh. I substituted almonds for the walnuts (allergy) and it was fine. Another note, when I added the cake mix to the pumpkin mixture, the whole thing frothed up like there had been some cool chemical reaction. It was a bit disconcerting, but once I put it in the cake pan it all settled down in time to have the crumble sprinkled on top.
It was really delicious. The glaze is basically caramel by the time it finishes cooking, so when it soaks into the cake and gets crusty on top of the crumble, yum.
And here's a description of my brief experience at the agility trial...
My agility class teacher had encouraged us to go watch, but with Memphis I wasn't sure how it would work. I was able to find the place--it was literally right next to the interstate, and even though the access roads were a disorganized mess, I made it over. The weather was fairly cool, so it wasn't dangerous to just leave Memphis in the car for a little while with the window down. I had brought his crate and as it turned out I could have just crated him on site, but it ended up being okay with him just in the car. I only stayed for about half an hour, and I checked on him and walked him in the middle of that.
The event happening while I was there was a hurdle-and-weave pole course, and I watched probably ten or twelve teams take it. There were Australian shepherds, border collies, a slow and rather confused Wheaten terrier, a husky, ponderous yellow Lab, what I think was a Canaan dog, and even a Pharaoh hound. I could watch agility trials on YouTube, but it was really nice to experience the atmosphere of the event and see what happens outside of the ring: where the people go when they're not competing, where the teams wait to go in the ring, what other distractions are around. This was in the open show barn in a fairgrounds, and in another barn they had spaces (stalls from the livestock show actually) for people to keep their dogs and wait in between events. It was really a lot like what I've seen at county and state fairs; people know they're going to be there all weekend, so they bring lots of things to make themselves and their animals comfortable. Some had rugs spread out, blankets to cover their dogs' crates, comfy stadium chairs, big coolers. Outside there was also an encampment of RVs. I guess if you can do it that way, it would be cheaper than staying in a hotel for two or three nights, and easier than finding a hotel that takes dogs. Around the competition ring, there were also tons of tables set up. None of them seemed to be attended, and they were piled with food. I don't know if it's like a pot luck, or what. One person had set out a tray of sandwiches in individual baggies, labeled in Sharpie, "PBJ."
Charmingly, there was also a Food & Craft Sale being run by a local group of old ladies. I went in because I thought i could find a snack for the trip home. Ah ha ha. It was like going into a polling place in Rural Rustyland on voting day. You walk in and there are at least six very sweet senior citizens volunteers sitting around, and nobody else in there. They're all very eager to help you because other than the puzzles they're doing and the gossipy conversations they have, the most interesting thing that happens all day is the twenty or thirty times someone comes in to vote. This was like that, but with tables piled with cookies, banana bread and knitted and crocheted baby clothes and dish cloths. I bought three dollars' worth of cookies: at least seven big, homemade cookies, I think.
This entry was also posted at http://rustydog.dreamwidth.org/1064724.html. You may comment at either place.
wrisomifu, but I'm going to go ahead and post this stuff before I forget it. Apologies, and I'll be catching up as I can. ♥
From here, where there are pretty step-by-step photos....
PUMPKIN COFFEE CAKE
* ⅓ cups Water
* 1 can Pureed Pumpkin (15 Oz)
* 2 whole Eggs
* 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
* 2 teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice
* 1 box Yellow Cake Mix (18 Ounce Box)
* 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
* 1 cup Brown Sugar, Divided
* ½ cups Flour
* ⅓ cups Walnuts, Chopped
* 4 Tablespoons Butter, Melted
* ¼ cups Granulated Sugar
* 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
* ¼ cups Heavy Whipping Cream
Preheat the oven to 350F.
In a large bowl mix together the water, pumpkin, eggs, 1 Tablespoon of vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice until well combined. Add the cake mix and baking soda and mix until just combined.
Grease a 9×13 pan with butter and pour batter into pan.
In a small bowl mix together 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1/2 cup flour, walnuts, and melted butter. Use fingers to sprinkle over the top of the cake. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
For the glaze, combine the other 1/2 cup brown sugar, granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and heavy cream in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and stir until all sugar is dissolved.
When cake is finished baking, poke holes in the top with a toothpick. Pour glaze over the cake, making sure to cover all surfaces. Serve cake warm or at room temperature.
I only had a 16oz white cake mix, not an 18oz yellow one, but I just added a handful of flour to the batter and it worked fine. And of course you can make your own "cake mix," it's called making a cake. Heh. I substituted almonds for the walnuts (allergy) and it was fine. Another note, when I added the cake mix to the pumpkin mixture, the whole thing frothed up like there had been some cool chemical reaction. It was a bit disconcerting, but once I put it in the cake pan it all settled down in time to have the crumble sprinkled on top.
It was really delicious. The glaze is basically caramel by the time it finishes cooking, so when it soaks into the cake and gets crusty on top of the crumble, yum.
And here's a description of my brief experience at the agility trial...
My agility class teacher had encouraged us to go watch, but with Memphis I wasn't sure how it would work. I was able to find the place--it was literally right next to the interstate, and even though the access roads were a disorganized mess, I made it over. The weather was fairly cool, so it wasn't dangerous to just leave Memphis in the car for a little while with the window down. I had brought his crate and as it turned out I could have just crated him on site, but it ended up being okay with him just in the car. I only stayed for about half an hour, and I checked on him and walked him in the middle of that.
The event happening while I was there was a hurdle-and-weave pole course, and I watched probably ten or twelve teams take it. There were Australian shepherds, border collies, a slow and rather confused Wheaten terrier, a husky, ponderous yellow Lab, what I think was a Canaan dog, and even a Pharaoh hound. I could watch agility trials on YouTube, but it was really nice to experience the atmosphere of the event and see what happens outside of the ring: where the people go when they're not competing, where the teams wait to go in the ring, what other distractions are around. This was in the open show barn in a fairgrounds, and in another barn they had spaces (stalls from the livestock show actually) for people to keep their dogs and wait in between events. It was really a lot like what I've seen at county and state fairs; people know they're going to be there all weekend, so they bring lots of things to make themselves and their animals comfortable. Some had rugs spread out, blankets to cover their dogs' crates, comfy stadium chairs, big coolers. Outside there was also an encampment of RVs. I guess if you can do it that way, it would be cheaper than staying in a hotel for two or three nights, and easier than finding a hotel that takes dogs. Around the competition ring, there were also tons of tables set up. None of them seemed to be attended, and they were piled with food. I don't know if it's like a pot luck, or what. One person had set out a tray of sandwiches in individual baggies, labeled in Sharpie, "PBJ."
Charmingly, there was also a Food & Craft Sale being run by a local group of old ladies. I went in because I thought i could find a snack for the trip home. Ah ha ha. It was like going into a polling place in Rural Rustyland on voting day. You walk in and there are at least six very sweet senior citizens volunteers sitting around, and nobody else in there. They're all very eager to help you because other than the puzzles they're doing and the gossipy conversations they have, the most interesting thing that happens all day is the twenty or thirty times someone comes in to vote. This was like that, but with tables piled with cookies, banana bread and knitted and crocheted baby clothes and dish cloths. I bought three dollars' worth of cookies: at least seven big, homemade cookies, I think.
This entry was also posted at http://rustydog.dreamwidth.org/1064724.html. You may comment at either place.