Anna Sultana’s Creamy Baked Chicken for Thanksgiving

This year, thanks to Covid-19, has definitely not been anything like anyone planned.
And now we’re facing the holidays.
A time filled with traditions and customs.
A time for gathering with our nearest and dearest.

Please, not this year.

Zoom, Skype, telephone, email, conference call… do anything but put your family and friends at risk.
As they said on the introduction to ‘The Six Million Dollar Man’, a television show that was popular in the 1970s, “We have the technology.”
The best way to show your love is to follow health guidelines - no cheating.

Since this isn’t the year for gathering the family around a big turkey or roast with all the fixings, why not try something new?

Ma’s Creamy Baked Chicken is easy to make, yet something a little different.
You don’t have to do much, so you’ll be free to check if everyone can hear you on Zoom.
No cranberry sauce or gravy is needed.
Just some favourite vegetables, with rice or pasta, and a nice dessert.
It’s been a hard year. Why not relax this Thanksgiving?


The Full Moon will be its brightest at 4:30 A.M. EST on November 30.
Nice to know some things haven’t changed.


Hints:

Depending on your preferences, you can use two servings each of breasts and legs or thighs, or four of the same.
The recipe is easy to expand if you have a larger household.
It’s also easy to reduce if you’re a couple or alone.
The leftovers are good for a few days, too.

Instead of Mozzarella you can use Swiss or Monterey Jack cheese.
Use whatever you prefer or have on hand.
You can also use a bit more or less, depending how creamy you like your chicken.

You can also place a slice of ham on each of the chicken portions before you add the cheese.


                        Creamy Baked Chicken

Grease an 8 inch square or 9x13 inch pan

Combine in a small bowl
4 Tablespoons mayonnaise 

4 Tablespoons sour cream
1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Preheat oven to 375º F

Place in prepared pan
4 servings of chicken
Layer on top of the chicken pieces

4 slices Mozzarella cheese
Spread the mayonnaise mixture over the chicken.

Sprinkle over the chicken
4 to 8 Tablespoons grated Parmesan Cheese



Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour.
Serve over rice or noodles.


About the holidays…
Back in 2002 I wrote an essay for the CKUW radio show ‘2000 & Counting' about getting Christmas gifts.
It was a meant as a light piece, filled with hints. Many of our listeners were seniors or college students, folks known for having to stretch their dollars. It’s always something…

Okay… listen up! There are about five weeks left until Christmas. That means gifts. I know, I know, it's more blessed to give than to receive. But, unless you have ways of shopping that you'd like to keep secret, giving gifts means money.

It's a little late to start a Christmas gift account at your bank and the utility companies really lose that Ho Ho Ho spirit if you try to skip paying their bills.

If the charge cards are already maxed out - or you just want to keep your nearest and dearest on a cash and carry basis - gift getting is going to take a little effort.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. As we're all stuck with holidays - oh, lucky us - I'll tell you some of my desperate measures.

Live off your hump. You know what I mean. Things like the 18 cans of tuna you have left from the time you bought 20 cans so you could get 50 bonus airmiles. Now's the time to crack those babies open. I know the family hates tuna. That's why there are 18 little cans of fishies swimming around your pantry. Well, the family would hate a Giftless Christmas even more. Think about it. Lousy dinners happen to everybody. But the family Grinch who comes up giftless at Christmas gets blabbed about throughout the neighbourhood and the generations. You don't want to be remembered by your great great grandchildren as Granny Grinchie.

Try creative cooking. Pretend you're on the TV show Iron Chef. You've just been given a tube of ground beef, a bag of marshmallows, a jar of salsa, a bottle of raspberry vinegar, a carton of frozen spinach, a jar of maraschino cherries and a box of rice-a-roni. Think only a nut throws odd things together? How do you think raspberry vinegar was invented? If the family gets snarky, tell them you found the recipe in a magazine - Drop names. Martha is always good - and if they can't appreciate all the effort you put into making dinner interesting… Well! You know the speech. Remember, guilt, when the other person has it, is a good thing.

Go ethnic. Granny's recipes don't have to be saved for Folklorama. God bless ancestors. Go to an ethnic restaurant and get a load of the prices they charge for a plate of pasta fagioli (that's noodles and beans). Grandma would die laughing if she saw those prices. Starch and beans got millions of people through tough times. Go thou and eat likewise.

Beans aren't good enough? Go past the recognizable cuts and shop the mystery meats. Put enough spices on them and the family won't know what hit them. I once made spaghetti and meatballs using animal organs only a mother could love. Guess what? Hubby had invited a friend. Well, the buddy was getting a free meal, so I followed the Cook’s Golden Rule: Don't apologize and don't explain. The buddy said it was delicious, like the meatballs they serve at the Bay. Hmmm… I notice the Bay is still in business. There's more than one way to skin a cat.

Shop your house. No kidding. Grab a bag and stroll through your house. Look for things somebody foisted… uh… gave to you. Well, why should you be stuck with it until you're six feet under? Unless it was made by your preschooler - don't even think it, they DO remember - you're free to pass it on to someone else. Just don't give it to the person who gave it to you.

Pack your own. Ever notice the little overpriced goodies the stores stuff into baskets and bowls? One current gift item is a box of pasta, a tin of sauce, some cheese and some wooden spoons nestled within a large bowl. Are you too stupid to do the same thing? I didn’t think so. It's one way to get rid of some of those extra airmiles purchases. Let somebody else eat the tuna.

Still thinking about the folks in the flyers looking wildly happy over a toaster?
Toss the flyers. Those models were paid big bucks. Stores want you to buy. A stress free family holiday is not their goal. If they had their way you'd replace everything and pay 50% interest.

Remember how the best presents were things that showed that someone cared? Maybe somebody hunted down an out-of-print book by your favourite author.
The gadgets that looked amazing seem strange on December 26.

While you're shopping, get yourself some treats.
I have a friend who picks up a bag of pfeffernusse cookies every year. When she feels like all she's doing is giving, giving, giving, she pops a pfeffernusse and gives herself an old time Christmas. It doesn't take much.

God bless us, everyone.

Safeway Chocolate Date Nut Squares and the Full Hunter’s Moon, by Margaret Ullrich

Wishing my Canadian readers a very Happy Thanksgiving, a Happy Columbus Day to readers in the United States, and a nice week to everyone else!

Yes, I'm preparing Ma's bacon covered turkey, Maltese style.

Would you really expect me to cook a Thanksgiving turkey any other way?

Today would have been my Ma’s 94th birthday. Ma died about a week after her birthday in 2009. It was an answer to her prayers. My parents had married in 1948 and immigrated to America in 1950. Pop died in January, 2009. Pop's last years hadn't been good, what with heart and kidney problems, arthritis and diabetes. Their days had become an endless round of doctors' visits. Ma also hated the winter weather in New York and always said she'd dreaded facing them. 

During one of my parents' visits, Vince Leah and his wife died within hours of each other. Since Paul had worked with Vince at The Free Press, he had gone to the funeral. I remember Ma saying how lucky Mrs. Leah was, and that she would want to go the same way, too.

I started this blog a few days after Ma died. During her later years she had gotten interested in cooking, and we sent each other recipes, both old favourites and new finds. This blog became a way to keep up that tradition.

Instead of receiving clippings from Ma, I now get emails from readers. My last post was for ‘Our Favourite Chocolate Chip Cookies’. Among the hints I mentioned that if you don’t like walnuts, leave them out. Well, The email I received was about the flip side of the nut coin. Did I have another cookie recipe that uses walnuts?

Yes, I do, thanks to the recipe that was on the back of the 1 Kg bags of walnuts, which I used to be able to find at Safeway’s. Yes, it was another staple that Sobeys, in its infinite wisdom, decided to discontinue. It was described as a delightful dessert with chocolate and nuts in every bite.

Sobeys doesn’t carry the large bags of nuts anymore.

And yet Sobeys stays in business…

Hints:

Once a package of walnuts is open, refrigerate or freeze the nuts to retain freshness.

If you’re curious, 1 Kg of walnut pieces equals approximately 8 1/2 Cups.

Toasting nuts intensifies their flavour. To toast the nuts, place them on a rimmed baking sheet and bake at 350º F for 8 to 12 minutes, stirring once. Watch carefully, as they can burn quickly.

If you want another date recipe, you could also bake a batch of 

• Date and Walnut Bar Cookies
• Date Squares / Matrimonial Cake

As you can see, it’s also easy to go through dates and walnuts during the holidays!

                        Chocolate Date Nut Squares

Makes 54 squares

Grease a 9 x 13 inch cake pan    

FOR THE BASE

In a bowl combine

1 Cup pitted dates, chopped

1 teaspoon baking soda

Pour over the dates

1 1/2 Cups boiling water

Stir and set aside to cool.

Sift together

1 1/2 Cups flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon baking soda 

In a large mixer bowl beat

2 large eggs

Add

1/2 Cup butter or margarine, softened

1 Cup sugar

Beat until well blended.

Stir in the cooled dates and liquid.

Stir in the flour mixture.

The batter will be thin and rummy.

Pour the batter into the greased pan.

Preheat oven to 350º F

  

FOR THE TOPPING

Combine in a small bowl

1/2 Cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1/2 Cup chopped walnuts

1 Cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Sprinkle the topping evenly over the batter.

Bake for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in cake comes out clean.

Remove from oven, cool and cut into squares.

About the sky this week, thanks to the folks at The Farmers' Almanac…

Just as darkness falls, look for the Draconid Meteor shower, also known as the Giacobinids. Look to the northwest, near Polaris, the North Star, to find the constellation Draco, the Dragon, which is the radiant of this shower. Normally meteor showers are best viewed after midnight, but not in this case — head outside in the early evening!

October 9 — First Quarter Moon, 12:33 a.m. 

October 12 — Fall is a great time to view Sirius, the Dog Star, part of the Constellation Canis Major. Look to the southeastern sky where it rises after midnight, or find it in the southern sky before dawn. An easy way to find Sirius is to locate Orion’s belt and follow it in a straight line down to Sirius.

October 16 —  Full Hunter’s Moon, astronomically full at 12:23 a.m. 

Watch this short video on how the Hunter’s Moon got its name! The full Hunter’s Moon is at perigee, meaning its closest point to Earth for the month.

Anna Sultana’s Lost Bread & Berry Compote and Other Lost Things (French Toast)

Monday is Thanksgiving Day here in Canada.

Ladies, I fell your pain.

Today I went to the grocery store and we housewives had that “Here we go again…” look.

The woman in the bakery section said she had scheduled her vacation to start next week.

Smart woman.

In the United States it will be Columbus Day.

All you have to do for that is shop the bargains.

Much better.

Autumn can be a bittersweet time.

The leaves are falling and the days are getting shorter.

Here in Canada the geese are leaving.

The big plans we had… all those things we planned to do this year… 

Well, we’re now facing the holidays and all that they involve.

Reality and responsibilities have trumped plans.

There isn’t time to do everything we’d like to do.

Well, sometimes loss is a good thing.

It makes us grateful for what we have accomplished.

And, if we’re honest, grateful that not all of our plans worked out.

Sometimes the surprises were better than the original plans.

There’s a recipe that’s a salute to the good that can be found in something that once was thought to be lost.

French toast.

It is also known as eggy bread, German toast, gypsy toast, and Spanish toast.

Yes, everyone has had to cope with things that haven’t quite worked out as wished.

Or were past their prime.

The earliest known reference to lost bread is in the Apicius, a collection of Latin recipes dating to the fourth or fifth century.

A fourteenth century German recipe called it Arme Ritter (poor knights). 

Also, at about that time, Taillevent had a recipe for tostées dorées.

There are fifteenth century English recipes for pain perdu (French for lost bread).

Trying to avoid carbs?

Frittata is an Italian dish similar to an omelette or crustless quiche.

And it’s nice for a dessert or a brunch, too.

Hint:

Day old bread is better because the stale bread will soak up more egg mixture.

Stale or fresh - do not let the bread sit in the milk / egg mixture too long or the bread will get soggy and start to fall apart.

If you’d like it a bit sweeter, add a teaspoon or two of vanilla.

French toast can also be served with jam, honey or maple syrup; or, if you're serving it as a light lunch, with ketchup or another sauce.

Don’t have time - or berries - to make compote?

No problem.

Melt in a nonstick skillet over medium heat

2 Tablespoons butter

Add

1/4 Cup dark brown sugar

1 can of peach slices, drained

Stir the peaches until they are warmed through and the sugar has melted.

Serve on the French Toast.

Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar (optional).

Both the quickie and regular compote recipes would work with thinly sliced fresh apples, peaches or pears - or a mixture of the three.

Compote is also good on waffles, pancakes or chicken.

                        Berry Compote

Melt in a nonstick skillet over medium heat

3 Tablespoons butter

Add

1/4 Cup light brown sugar

2 Tablespoons lemon juice

Stir until the sugar has melted.

Add

3 Cups berries (blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries or all of one)

Toss gently and cook for 3 minutes, until the berries are warm. 

Serve on the toast.

                        French Toast

Place in medium bowl and mix together

2 large eggs

1/2 Cup sugar

2 to 3 Tablespoons cinnamon (optional)

Stir in 

2 Cups milk

Beat until blended. 

Melt in a skillet or griddle over medium high heat 

3 to 4 Tablespoons butter

Do not burn the butter.

Dip in milk and egg mixture

8 slices bread- dip 2 or 3 at a time

Place slices on hot skillet.  

Cook bread 3 or 4 minutes on each side, until golden brown. 

Serve warm with your favourite toppings or Berry Compote.

Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar (optional).

A dollop of whipped cream would also be nice.

About the sky this week…

According to the Farmers Almanac:

Starting on October 11and for the next two weeks, you can view the Zodiacal Light, or “False Dawn.” Look to the east.

On October 11before Dawn: you can see the tiny crescent Moon in the east very close to Mercury low in the horizon.

On October 12 there will be a New Moon. You can’t see it, so I hope you are enjoying the “False Dawn.”

On October 13 after midnight you’ll see a multicolored star in the southeastern sky.  It’s Sirius, sometimes called the Dog Star, in the constellation Canis Major. 

On October 15 after sunset look to the western horizon to see the tiny waxing crescent Moon, Saturn and the star Antares!

On October 16 – The gang’s all together!! In the sky before dawn, look for Venus, Jupiter, Mars and Mercury (Mercury will be closest to the horizon).

Anna Sultana’s Banana Pound Cake With Caramel Glaze

Our grocery store recently had a pretty good sale on bananas.

So I got way more than we could finish before they started turning brown.

Which was just fine by me.

They’re perfect for making a cake.

Canadian Thanksgiving is next week.

Squash, carrots and/or yams are usually served with the turkey.

Now that’s quite a bit of orange coloured food for one meal.

Pumpkin pie - yes pumpkin is another squash - always seemed like just too much of a good thing to serve at the same meal.

Ma’s Banana Pound Cake With Caramel Glaze looks very festive.

And it uses four overripe bananas. 

Now would be a perfect time to make it.

Still have a few more overripe bananas?

Why not make a few loaves of Ma’s Banana Bread?

Hints:

Have a fluted tube pan or bundt pan?

Now’s a great time to use it.

If you’d like a stronger caramel flavour in your glaze you could use only brown sugar.

Don’t like caramel? Use only regular sugar.

Don’t want to make a glaze?

After the cake has complete cooled, place it on a pretty platter and then dust it with confectioners’ sugar.

Hey, you worked hard enough making the turkey dinner!

                        Banana Pound Cake

Heavily grease and flour an angel food cake pan

Sift together

3 Cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt 

Set aside

Peel and place in a large bowl

4 large very ripe bananas

Mash well.

Preheat oven to 325º

Combine in a large mixer bowl

1 Cup butter
1/2 Cup vegetable shortening
2 Cups brown sugar
1 Cup sugar

Beat until light and fluffy.

Add the mashed bananas.

Add, one at a time, beating well after each addition

5 large eggs

Beat in

2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

Add the sifted dry ingredients alternately with

1/2 Cup milk

(3 liquid, 2 dry additions)

Stir just enough to blend.

Stir in

1 Cup chopped pecans 

Stir just enough to evenly blend in the nuts.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes.

A toothpick inserted into the centre should come out clean.

Cool cake in the pan for 10 minutes before removing.
Run a knife around, between the cake and the cake pan, to loosen the cake.

Carefully remove the cake and cool it on a wire rack.

Place the cake on a pretty serving platter.

While the cake is baking, prepare the glaze:

                        Caramel Glaze

Combine in a small bowl

1/4 Cup brown sugar 

1/4 Cup sugar 

1 Tablespoon cornstarch 

Place in a medium saucepan

1/2 Cup butter 

Heat over medium heat until the butter is melted.

Stir in

the sugar / cornstarch mixture

Stir continuously over medium heat until it is thickened. 

Stir in

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1/4 Cup heavy cream

Simmer for 1 minute.

Cool for 20 minutes.

Pour over the cooled cake.  

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Anna Sultana's Turkey Roasted with Bacon - A Maltese Thanksgiving by Margaret Ullrich

On Thursday we enjoyed the U.S. Thanksgiving experience.

The Macy Parade, followed by the dog show, followed by the Miracle on 34th Street movie, in black and white.

And, of course, a turkey dinner with all the trimmings.

We had a lovely time.

And the dinner was excellent.

If I do say so myself.

And I do.

During the parade, Macy announced that this was their 85th parade.

And that night they had a special to show a few highlights from past decades.

It was fun reliving Thanksgivings through the years.

One of my facebook friends lives in Malta.

He likes to post about Maltese recipes.

He recently posted that he had enjoyed a Maltese favorite: roasted pork with bacon.

He also included a picture.

Which reminded me of Thanksgiving, 1961.

Holidays are a funny thing.

It's almost like time traveling.

I mean, you know you're in the present, but your mind wanders to other holidays.

No, Ma didn't cook roasted pork with bacon for Thanksgiving, 1961.

She cooked a turkey dinner.

But it had a Maltese twist to it.

Turkey is not a regular holiday treat in Malta.

The first few turkeys Ma had cooked came out kind of dry and tasteless.

At least that was what Pop had said.

But Ma had been told we had to eat turkey for the holidays.

And Ma wanted to follow the rules.

We three were still filing Alien Registration cards every year.

If we didn't, we'd be booted back to Malta.

So, Ma went back to an old Maltese tradition to fix the new American tradition.

She placed a few slices of bacon on the turkey.

Pop said the turkey was just fine with the bacon. 

The turkey was more juicy and the meat had a familiar tang.

We enjoyed our bacon turkey holiday dinners for the next seven years.

Our holiday dinners were just fine until 1961.

That year Ma's brother Charlie got engaged to an American, Liz.

Ma wanted to make a good impression on her soon to be new sister-in-law.

She spared no expense, or bacon, to make our dinner a feast.

Instead of laying 4 slices of bacon over the top of the bird, she used a dozen.

They were layered like roofing tiles over the turkey.

As an extra touch, Ma gift wrapped the legs in extra bacon slices.

If Liz liked bacon, she was going to be able to eat all she wanted.

There was more than enough for everybody.

Well, Liz was an American. 

And she expected to see - and eat - an American turkey.

A non-baconed turkey.

Liz just stared at the gift-wrapped bird while we drooled.

Ma offered Liz her choice: breast, leg, thigh, wing?

Liz just stared.

Ma asked if Liz would like a bit of each.

Oh, and how much bacon would she like?

Liz gulped and asked for a slice of skinless breast.

No bacon.

She then explained how Americans cooked turkeys.

As an afterthought, Liz asked where the cranberry sauce was.

No bacon?

Cranberry sauce?

We ate that meal in silence.

Ma was wondering what else she was doing wrong.

She'd never heard of cranberry sauce.

She'd gotten her menu from a second-generation American in-law. 

Aunt Betty had been born in New York.

No Alien Registration cards for her.

Aunt Betty was secure enough to leave out the cranberry sauce.

Ma wasn't so secure.

That Christmas Ma cooked a baconless turkey.

She also opened a tin of cranberry sauce.

After Charlie and Liz had left, Pop said he was glad he'd planned ahead.

I'd been born in Malta.

He hadn't paid the extra $10 to have me made an American citizen.

I was still a British subject.

I was his ticket back to Malta.

Pop had always had a few doubts about New York.

He didn't want to be trapped there.

A roast without bacon?

What else did Americans expect him to give up?

Happy Thanksgiving

Okay...  I said I'd include more recipes.

Happy  Thanksgiving!!! 

May your stuffing be tasty 

May your turkey be plump, 

May your potatoes and gravy 

Have never a lump. 

  

May your yams be delicious 

And your pies take the prize, 

And may your Thanksgiving dinner 

Stay off your thighs!   

Happy Thanksgiving!!! 

Thanksgiving, Then and Now by Margaret Ullrich

Yes, Thanksgiving was a day for gratitude.


We went for a walk after breakfast. On our walk back home we've been enjoying free coffee at our neighborhood McDonald's. Before, when we had dogs, we always had to sit outside. Now, we can get in out of the cold.

Our local McDonald's has its own regulars - retired folks such as ourselves who drop in to socialize over a cup. We've been sitting and chatting with people we know from church. It's a whole new world for us.


On Thanksgiving, we got home in time to watch the Macy's parade and the dog show. Dinner was easy since it was leftover turkey with homemade cranberry sauce, vegetables and pumpkin pie. Same as we've been having for 37 years.


I couldn't understand why I felt so relaxed. I remembered other American Thanksgivings we had observed. By the end of the day I was wiped out. Was it just because I was more experienced? What was different?


Of course... I didn't have to phone home.


Every holiday of every year I had called my parents. As the years went by, it became a three-day operation - a day to prepare, the day of the call, a day to wind down. The calls had become more stressful as my parents became more elderly, ill and disappointed.


The latest disappointment was my mother's and brother's upcoming move from my parents' duplex to a one-family house my brother had recently bought.

When Ma first mentioned George had bought a house she said, "I'm moving from a big house to a doll house." She always liked big houses. When they visited and we walked around here, she would point out the newer larger houses.


I hope she had finally gotten used to the idea of moving to a smaller house. On our last call, when I mentioned we were having Bathfitters do our bathroom, she talked about all the upgrades George was doing before their move. She seemed pleased.


But, with Ma it was always something.

U.S. Thanksgiving Day by Margaret Ullrich

We had saved a portion of our Canadian Thanksgiving turkey to enjoy today.


We've been doing that since we moved to Canada. We usually watched the parade and the dog show, ate dinner, gave our dog(s) some turkey, then called our folks.


Thanksgiving is a little different now.


We're grateful that, while her death was sudden and a shock, Ma didn't suffer.


We're also grateful that BoBo was able to enjoy his last Thanksgiving. Bobo had a good last week. He enjoyed the turkey and doing his usual stuff. He had this game he liked to play with me. I usually sit in the right corner of the couch, near the table and lamp. Whenever I got up, BoBo liked to steal that spot, then give me a "Who me?" look when I returned.


He played that game a few times that last week.


My friend sent another forward.


Happy Thanksgiving!!!


May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey be plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
Have never a lump.
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize,
And may your Thanksgiving dinner


Stay off your thighs!


Happy Thanksgiving .

Just one week ago... by Margaret Ullrich

Could it really only have been seven days?

We'd had a nice Thanksgiving. We were particularly grateful because our 8-year-old bichon frise, BoBo, was still with us. Paul walked him while I was preparing the turkey dinner. Paul thought Bobo would only be able to do a short walk, so he meandered in the neighborhood instead of heading north or west. BoBo knows the neighborhood so well that, when he sees that he's being headed home, he pulls in the opposite direction.

BoBo wolfed down a generous portion of turkey. We decided to feed him whatever he wanted. He hated the special diet the vet had us giving him since April, when he was first diagnosed with having liver problems. BoBo wouldn't touch anything higher than 1 part medical food to 1 1/2 parts Beneful.

It was hard to believe he had cancer.

The previous Wednesday BoBo had suddenly had a seizure. My husband called the vet for an appointment. The next day he took BoBo to the vet for some blood work and was told to return the next day.

The next morning Bobo had another fit. Paul took him to the vet for x rays. We'd never had a dog have a serious medical problem at such a young age, so we still hoped the vet would find the right medicine for him.

The news wasn't good. BoBo had liver cancer. Paul saw the x ray - BoBo's enlarged liver was pressing on his other organs. The vet gave us pills and a liquid (squirted by syringe into BoBo's mouth 3 times a day) to control the seizures and keep him comfortable. BoBo seemed okay.

We took BoBo for a walk and talked about how life was going to change. For 37 years we'd had at least one dog with all that entails: does a motel accept dogs, going to see a tourist sight solo while the other stayed out with the dogs, not leaving them alone for more than 4 hours, somebody there to take a walk at regular intervals no matter the weather, getting up at night to let a dog out to pee, cleaning up after them.

Then, on Friday evening, BoBo had terrible seizures that lasted while Paul was out and during most of the night. We gave BoBo the medicine to control the seizures, but we were afraid to leave him alone in case he had another. What about going to church, the dentist, etc.?

By Saturday BoBo couldn't walk far. What shocked us was how suddenly this all happened. On Friday we had taken him for an hour long walk, now he just very slowly walked a little in the yard. Other than that, he seemed comfortable.

On Sunday we drove to Portage la Prairie to see the deer and walk in the park surrounded by the lake. At first BoBo seemed sleepy, so we thought it would just be a 5 minute look around and that we would have to carry him. Then BoBo suddenly perked up and wanted to explore. We walked around the arboretum, the water slide park and the pond. He even wanted to approach the kids we saw. He was on the go for over an hour.

Then we went to our traditional spot - Dairy Queen. BoBo still had an appetite for their fries and burger, with a few spoonfuls of pumpkin pie blizzard for dessert. After that he wanted another walk. He had a good night and peed and pooped twice.

Last Tuesday, the day after Thanksgiving, the Bathfitter came to do our bathroom. Bobo insisted on an hour and a half walk and saw many of his friends. After lunch BoBo wanted another hour and a half walk. He also barked at the Bathfitter man, who laughed and said he'd also had a bichon who thought he was bigger than he actually was.

We thought BoBo would be with us for a while. Our other bichon frise, Popcorn, had also been diagnosed with liver cancer. We remembered how we had been nervous for a few months. We'd gone to Riding Mountain for a week and brought 3 large garbage bags in case Popcorn died during our stay. He'd survived about 6 months after his diagnosis.

So, we decided to take it one day at a time.