Early May PWS Trip 1

We're back from a wonderful weekend in Prince William Sound. We had too many chores to enable a Friday evening departure, so after a 5:30 am wake-up call on Saturday it was time to load up the boat and start the 45 minute drive to Whittier. The drive was picturesque - blue skies, just a few clouds.

Waiting to enter the mile-long Whittier Tunnel. This bird was hopping around the car - there must have been food on the ground.

I've never been able to take a good photo inside the tunnel. It's so dark and my flash does weird things to the picture.

After emerging from the tunnel on the other side, we were reminded of the unofficial town motto when it comes to weather, "There's nothing sh*#ier than Whittier." It was rainy, cold and windy.

The town is doing some work on the East Ramp of the boat harbor and that means the remaining boat launch was BUSY on Saturday morning. It'll only get worse as summer approaches and I'm not looking forward to the stress of a busy harbor.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this guy coming in as I was waiting for D to park the truck and boat trailer. How the heck do you shrimp while on a jet-ski? I have so many questions - how does he pull the pots without an electric pot-puller? What does he do when a big boat goes by and creates a wake? Where do the shrimp go?

Insane, right?

Slowly motoring out of the harbor.

Town of Whittier.

The Fast Ferry heading to Whittier. The wake created by this ship is crazy. D had to make sure our boat wasn't beached because of the waves created by the ferry.

I love the look of driftwood - so smooth and elegant in some places, knobby and gnarled in others. It's all over the place in Prince William Sound. Miles and miles of beaches littered with driftwood big and small.

Our camp was set up where the beach meets the woods. It's a place we have camped many times in the past couple years and feels like home. Although there is a cove on the northern portion of Culross that holds a special place in my heart - it's the first place D and I camped together when he took me out in his old Lund the summer after we met.

More photos to come!

Celebrating moms

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!  I wish all the mommas out there a beautiful, blessed day - you have the hardest job of all. 

And special hugs and kisses to my wonderful mother and the bestest mother-in-law a girl could ask for.

Love you!

We're planning on taking the boat out to Prince William Sound this weekend to stock up on shrimp and set out bear baits. May be back late Sunday evening so we'll try to make calls on Monday!

Turnagain Arm

On the way home from Girdwood last weekend I stopped at one of the main pull-outs alongside the road. These areas are the perfect spot for photos. I was also looking for Dall Sheep and Mountain Goats on the mountainside but wasn't lucky enough to see any.

The mudflats are more visible as the tide rolls out but very dangerous. It's like quicksand. A few people are rescued every year from the flats around Anchorage and Girdwood.

Organic living

My ice cream maker post the other day got me thinking about why I purchased the thing in the first place. D just shakes his head when he catches me bringing something else into the house (i.e. more clutter) but this was something I think will be good for us in the long run. 

Ice cream, sorbet and sherbet purchased at the store have preservatives and other additives. Isn't that crazy? When you make it yourself the ingredients are milk, sugar, fruit, lemon juice or vanilla, etc. No partially hydrogenated this or monosodium that.

Over the years I've become more aware of the need for a healthful lifestyle. I'm not perfect and still buy unhealthy things ALL THE TIME (Doritos for Girls Weekend? Sadly, yes.) But at home D and I are slowly shifting to more organic products. Our main sources of meat are bear, caribou and from those we make steaks, sausage, ground meat, etc. Our chicken is still store-bought in bulk from Costco but I'm am in the proecess of sourcing out local natural chicken farmers. The majority of our produce is organic, from our bi-monthly Full Circle Farm boxes and the stuff we buy from the small organic section at the store.We're also planning on resurrecting our vegetable garden this year - last year was too rainy and hectic with wedding events.

We're committed to composting our organic materials and recycling paper, plastic & cardboard, which means our garbage output is way down (especially compared to our neighbors). Buying in bulk is good because your packaging is limited, in most cases. I hope I'm not coming off holier-than-thou here because we definitely aren't close to living off the grid or anything, but little changes undertaken one at a time can make a big difference.

Just desserts

For the last few months I've been researching ice cream/sorbet makers - going back and forth between a couple manufacturers and waiting for good deals to pop up. Well, I finally decided on one (a Cuisinart from Amazon.com - free shipping!) but lo and behold on my trip to Costco last Friday I found the same model for $18 less! So instead of paying $50 I took home a very nice machine for $32. 

What finally sold me on this model and brand was the great reviews - thank you Amazon - and the fact that no ice or rock salt is necessary. This particular ice cream maker has a bowl with a liquid core. Just place the bowl in the freezer for at least 8 hours. So easy!

Ok, so this machine holds 1.5 quarts - perfect amount for me and D. I began by cleaning all the components (was dusty coming out of the box) and freezing the bowl portion for 24 hours in one of the garage chest freezers. Yesterday after work I started by making a simple syrup, which is equal parts sugar and water heated on the stove until dissolved and then cooled in the fridge.

Next step is to defrost 1 quart of bagged frozen strawberries and puree in food processor with 4 TBS of lemon juice.

Wheeeeee! My little KitchenAid food processor is tiny but MIGHTY! I like the compact size but it took 4 batches to make the strawberry puree.

Next up: mixing the simple syrup with the strawberry & lemon juice mixture.

Mix, mix, mix.

Time to pull the bowl from the freezer and put the components together. 

Slowly pour the sorbet mixture into the opening at the top of the machine.

Let the magic begin.

The actual sorbet-making inside the machine took a little over 20 minutes. At one point I thought the mixture would come out the top since it sort of grew and multiplied but disaster was averted. The consistency was like soft-serve but after sitting in the fridge overnight it turned into the hard-pack texture. 

I didn't strain the strawberry seeds like the recipe suggested because I don't mind them, but it's an option if you like a smoother texture. In the end I think it was a success - even D liked it! I love sweet stuff and have a major sweet tooth, but this was pretty sugary so I think I'll decrease the simple syrup next time. My next recipes will be vanilla ice cream and Framboise sorbet! YUM.

Photo credit: Lottie + Doof

Wedding memory

This image from our wedding was printed up in the last Adorama order. It is sitting in a sweet little cherry-colored frame in our living room.



Our parents look so amazing! Gorgeous and handsome, each one.  

 I love looking at this photo and seeing all of the big smiles. Our friends and family so happy for me and D, surrounding us with love and encouragement.

Girls Weekend 2011

My boss very sweetly allowed me to take Friday off to prepare for Girls Weekend, and the extra prep time was definitely necessary. I drove over to my favorite auto shop early in the a.m. and had them do an oil change/air filter cleaning. Then it was off to Carrs for a few groceries and Costco for the rest. There were at least 10 people waiting for Costco to open at 10 a.m. when I arrived and the warehouse quickly filled up with pre-weekend shoppers. I honestly wonder if there is ever a time that the store isn't crowded.

With all the goodies crossed off my list, I headed home to cut fruit, gather all my items together and pack up the car. I worried about leaving town on time when I had to leave the house on an emergency errand for a friend, but managed to pick up my two passengers and head to Girdwood just before 4 p.m.

The house was just as we remembered it and the owner was glad to have us girls back for the second year in a row. The weekend went by so fast! It was filled with lots of movies (3 Meryl Streep films back-to-back, I kid you not: Devil Wears Prada, Mama Mia and It's Complicated), evenings in the hot tub, wine/framboise/pudding shots, and a ton of games. I even learned how to play cribbage again!

The weather was rainy and wet and cold for most of Friday and Saturday, so we took our long walk to the hotel from our cabin on Sunday, when the sun finally made an appearance. These photos are all from my iPhone since I forgot my camera back at the cabin.



The snowmachiners were back again this year for a sno-cross event.

Moguls up and down the mountain.

A gorgeous metalwork firepit outside of the Alyeska Hotel lobby.

Backside of the resort.

Driving back on Sunday.

We're already looking forward to 2012, especially since the owner offered us a discount if we come back for a 3rd year in a row. I'm trying to convince the girls to travel to Seattle next year and have our weekend there! A few are totally game for that - especially if we can shop IKEA and then ship our bigger items back to Anchorage on the barge.

Drying out

One of the gifts D and I received for our wedding was a food deydrator, purchased for us by a friend of mine at work. I LOVE this thing! Mostly I dehydrate fruit (from our organic food boxes that I pick up from the drop site at my workplace every 2 weeks) but I've also made fruit leather/rollups. The machine also makes jerky but I haven't tackled that one yet.

Price-wise, it's way cheaper to dry your own fruit and vegetables than to buy them at the store. It's not even that time consuming. I cut the fruit into uniform slices (use an apple corer to remove the center portion) and then place them in a single layer on 1 of 4 trays in the dehydrator. They dry for about 5-6 hours - depending on the type of fruit (kiwis are more watery so they take longer) - at 135 degrees F. We like the finished product more chewy than crispy.

Afterwards the fruit is packaged using the vacuum sealer for future use (perfect for the boat and hiking/camping trips!) Drying fruit is usually a weekend task since I don't feel comfortable leaving the dehydrator on when we're away at work. It's nice to be able to check on the progress periodically throughout the day.

The annual Girls Weekend trip I take with my friends is scheduled for THIS weekend so I am packing my bags and cleaning out my car in anticipation. As the organizer I am heading up to Girdwood a little early on Friday (I got the day off!), along with a couple other girls, so we can make sure the cabin is ready. I'll have recaps and photos next week. You can read about last year's Girls Weekend here.

Crafty bird mobile

First saw this uber-adorable bird mobile on Design*Sponge, and then downloaded the pattern from Spool Sewing.


Photo credit: Spool Sewing

 It's so easy that a novice at sewing (i.e. me!) can handle the project. I made 8 little birdies this weekend, working on and off in-between errands and doing housework. The fabric is all from old projects and scraps. The green solid print fabric is from the material my wedding dress sash was made of. The polkadots are remnants I bought from Joanne's a couple years ago and the white fabric is old cotton curtains. I used poly-fil from Wal-Mart - it didn't take much to fill out the little bodies. And the branch is from the backyard. They are attached with thin wire that I threaded through the belly of each bird and spooled around the branch.

Birthday wishes and recipes

Happy birthday to my cousin Stacy today!



Isn't he...um, interesting?

 In other news, I have been trying to make an effort and become a better home cook, which means trying new recipes. Last night I made a dish called "cheesy chicken rollups" that I got from another blogger's website. It wasn't until we sat down to eat that I realized our meal was really a play off of chicken cordon bleu. Duh. D and I both liked it so the recipe will stay in rotation. While I cooked D made his banana bread - I haven't had a chance to try it yet but will cut a big slice when I get home tonight!

Cheesy Chicken Roll-Ups
4 chicken breasts (pounded to 1/4")
4 slices thin ham
crumbled feta cheese
1/3 c. milk
1/2 c. seasoned bread crumbs
10 T. garlic and herb (or veggie) cream cheese
1/2 c. light cream or half-n-half

Preheat oven to 350.  Place 1 ham slice on each piece of pounded chicken, top with feta cheese.  Roll chicken to enclose filling.  Fold ends under and secure with toothpicks.  Dip chicken rolls into milk, then breadcrumbs to coat.  Place rolls on greased baking sheet.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Bring cream to simmer in saucepan over medium heat.  Add cream cheese; blend well.  Pour sauce over cooked chicken rolls. 
AND, if you are not pulling recipes from Ree Drummond's website (The Pioneer Woman Cooks) you need to get over there ASAP and start browsing her archives. The cinnamon rolls are probably her most famous dish, but I made her chicken parmigiana earlier this month and it was delish! Happy cooking!

My new addiction

What a nice weekend! Lots of sunshine and the days are getting longer. D went snowmachining and hunting up north while I stayed home to do housework, errands and take the dog on a nice long walk. The streets are all clear but the trails still have snow and are fairly muddy in some places. I wore my xtra-tuffs and they were a mess by the time we got home - Drift was too, so he slept in the garage.

The quality of these photos isn't the best - they were taken with my iPhone...

Taking the shortcut.

You can see the difference between springtime and winter in these two photos. Same area - even the dog is in a similar position! Unfortunately the tree couldn't handle the weight of the snow and broke off.

The snow melts in mysterious ways. It's like a snow Stonehenge.

I usually bring my phone with me on hikes, just in case - and also like to listen to my iPod on my phone. For part of the trek we were back in the woods and the bears are starting to wake up. I ended up removing one earbud and turning the music down so I could hear any unusual forest sounds - like a charging black bear or angry moose. It's ideal to make noise and not sneak up on wildlife so singing out loud to Katy Perry seemed like a good idea.

I got Drift to run at a gallop down this long stretch of road near the Campbell Creek Science Center. We were both pooped afterwards. Need more exercise (the both of us).

Pretty blue skies - no clouds! This was around 8 p.m. Pretty glorious to have the sunshine back.

So, I have recently seen the light and joined the ranks of scores of Alaskan women who swear by their Danskos! Friends and coworkers have sung the praises of these clog-like shoes but I always thought they were a little ugly - still do actually. :-) But some styles are less awful and I have been needing really comfy shoes for those days that I am on my feet all day at work (e.g. health fairs).

REI had a sale last month and I used the 20% coupon plus a gift card and merchandise credit to get the brown pair below (the Marah mary jane's) for $16...they're normally $115! Even the checkout person was impressed. And then last week a Dansko vendor was in my workplace lobby and I purchased a black patent-leather Professional pair. They are SO COMFY. The height and clunky-ness take a little getting used to (they're clogs, after all) but now my other work shoes feel so uncomfortable after wearing these. I've heard that Danskos and Xtra-Tuffs are some of the most popular shoes sold in Alaska today.