Forgive me, readers, for I have sinned...I can't believe I haven't updated in so long!  I haven't been just terribly busy, so I suppose I can only blame pure laziness.

I won't attempt to play catch-up...but to simply share the glory of pizza with you.

Behold...Pioneer Woman's BBQ Pizza.

I...I...I don't even like barbeque.  Yes, I said it.  I'm a 23-year-old Mississippi girl and I do not like BBQ.  But this pizza made me want to reconsider my position on the matter.  The crust was quite chewy, but the bottom was crispy and wonderful.  I bought Corky's Original Recipe BBQ sauce for coating the chicken and for spreading on the crust (I licked the spoon, too.  Shhh.)  The onions and cilantro gave the pizza a light and fresh taste despite the strong flavor of the BBQ sauce.  And the melted gouda cheese...oh, my.  That's all I can say about that.  By the way, the gouda is the only thing I changed about the recipe (PW uses mozzarella).  PW says this recipe was inspired by California Pizza Kitchen's BBQ Chicken Pizza, and I have yet to visit a CPK.  I've always wanted to go...maybe soon.  But if you're like me and are woefully located a great distance from one of these establishments, make this pizza and dream of city life.

Oh, and I can't go one more blog entry without introducing you to my Puggle...Apollo.



Here he is...he of the pitiful underbite.  King of begging for food.  Famous for causing mischief in my life.  He just turned four last month, and I've had him since he was eight weeks old.  He has certainly made my life interesting (and sometimes difficult), but I love him so very much and I couldn't imagine my life without him.  Once he ran away for four days (and was struck by a car, mind you), and I didn't know what to do with myself.  I was free to go where I wanted, whenever I wanted...and it was awful.  I missed worrying about him and taking care of him.  If you haven't gotten the point yet, I love my dog.

He was quite sick last night.  His ears were swollen and red, his skin was red, and his throat was swollen so badly it looked and felt like he had swallowed a balloon.  Of course, I called the vet and they told me that he was most likely having an allergic reaction to something and to give him one Benedryl.  I did, and while I watched him like a hawk, I did some researching...and I found out that some rawhide toys that aren't US-made are treated with really nasty chemicals that can make dogs sick.  I checked out the VALUE-HIDE rawhides that I had randomly picked up the other day (from Fred's, no less), and saw that they were made in Colombia.  So...always make sure that your pets are playing with quality toys.  And the Benedryl worked, by the way.

Back to GRE studying for now, though.  Or maybe thinking about studying for the GRE while I watch "No Reservations"...we'll see.