This and That again again

We're still house hunting. We set up a second showing at a house we looked at a year ago that hasn't sold. We arrived at a house a little early and the owners were still there. There isn't a lot of parking at the house so we thought we better wait until they left. We drive down to the end of the road and waited on the side of the road by this little waterfall. I noticed the toy on the rock. What a fun place for a kid to play.



Someone must have been a little bored on a smoke break outside the UAS student service center.


Here's a fun blog post from a design blog talking about working with clients: http://www.designer-daily.com/30-high-quality-free-fonts-for-professional-designs-1999

And here's another one on Collecting Wild Food in Sitka: http://www.sitkanature.org/wordpress/2009/04/29/wild-food-wednesdays-wild-cucumber/

April Sun

It has been particularly spectacular here in Juneau these last few days. Its supposed to get up to 67 today and the sky is blue and the sun is huge.

The snow is evaporating quickly, the streets are getting swept and the winter gravel is being picked up. Everywhere you see fresh shoots of grass, skunk cabbage, crocus and other bulb flowers and the pussywillows are emerging big and fluffy.



Over at Sandy Beach you'll see typical beach activities. Kids in swimsuits playing in the water, sand volleyball, folding chairs and beach towels laid out, sand croquet, and other fun stuff.


And the spring migration of birds is in full swing. These are surf scooters with their bright orange beak and white patch on the back of their head.

SFOS Building Dedication

I went to the dedication of the new UAF School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences building on Lena Point. Its right next to a brand new NOAA facility that opened up last year. Many dignitaries spoke at the ceremony. I had to leave early and missed more than half of the speakers and interested parties in the completion of this project but I did see John Pugh, Chancellor at UAS:



Beth Kertula on behalf of the Legistlature:



And Palin, who spoke on how important the fisheries industry is to the Nation and to Alaskans...also



But what really caught my eye was this impromptu advertisement for North Face:

Blasting for Avalanche

Last week they tried to cause an avalanche at the snow chute on MT Roberts. I watched the first few cannon shots hit the mountain top. You can see the black marks where the mortars hit.



On the second shot I heard a swooshing sound coming from downtown and noticed that one of the other avalanche areas right above basin road and gold creek was letting loose.


Most of what I saw looked like a large waterfall coming down so it must have been a build up of water behind the ice.


After about 12 shots they gave up without any snow coming down. I'm not sure the danger is over with the warming temperatures but there should be very little snow fall accumulating. It was when Robert was visiting in early May last year when we witnessed several small waterfalls/avalanches so I'll be keeping my eyes open for more activity.

Easter Time feast

We didn't use the fancy egg coloring for our easter eggs ( Christian Easter or the Russian Orthodox Easter which was celebrated on April 19) but we did use beet juice and pickles eggs and beets.



I used Brooksie's recipe:

• 2-16 oz can whole beets (I boiled up about 8 beets a bit bigger than a golf ball)
  
• 2 c white vinegar
• 3/4 c sugar
• 2 T pickling spice (I used 1/2 t cinnamon, 1/4 t cloves, couple shakes of not red pepper flakes)
• 1 1/2 t salt
• 12 hard cook eggs

Drain liquid from the beets, reserving 1/4 c liquid*. In 3 quart pan over medium heat the 1/4 c beet juice, vinegar, sugar, pickling spice and salt to boiling. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 10 minutes. In 2 quart jar, layer eggs and beets. Pour vinegar mixture into jar. Cover and let marinate in frig at least 12 hours.

*Since I used fresh beets I washed them real good before boiling them and then reserved some of that juice.

For a salad dressing I added some olive oil to the pickling juice and shook it up with a little fresh minced garlic and black pepper.

Tim thought you should see what our plate looked like. (Rib Steak with Penzey's chicago seasoning, curry sauted zucchini, jasmine rice). Note: the liquid in the wine glass is not beet juice.

Weekend fun

Auke Bay is home to a lot of Harlequin Ducks - here's a group of males looking beautiful in their prime breeding colors.


Look closely - these are not harbor seals or sea lions - these are scuba divers!


We've been using the grill all winter long and one of our favorite Spring items to put on the grill is fresh asparagus. We received asparagus in our weekly food box. The stocks were pretty fat but they looked really fresh. We drizzled them in a little olive oil and added on a sprinkle of sea salt. We've had this prepared for us by Zac in the past but couldn't remember how long he left it on the grill. We decided to shoot for 3-5 minutes since they were so thick. I'd say that the base of these asparagus was about the size of a dime. I meant to get a picture but they were so good that they were snapped up quickly. By the way, the only way to eat grilled asparagus is to pick it up with your fingers and eat it like a breadstick. They just don't taste as good if you use a fork.

Spring is in the Air (and the Sea!)

We went to Sitka this weekend where it truly felt like spring. And there was evidence all over town too:





And then this morning I woke up to the first cruise ship in town for the season. A Fred Olsen Cruise Line ship called Balmoral. Its on a world cruise with final port of call being in England. Regular cruise ship traffic begins at the end of next week.


hmmmp: My grandfather's name was alFRED and I'm an OhLSEN - I wonder if we're related? Long lost cousin fred?

The Legacy of a Taku River Tlingit Clan

Stories told by Elizabeth Nyman and translated from Tlingit by Jeff Leer

Mrs. Nyman was born in 1915
Stories recorded in mid- to late-1980s

In the tradition of oral history this book helped me to understand more about what it might have been like to grow up and live in the Taku river region in the early 1920s. Life was not easy. By reading the words instead of hearing and/or seeing them, you do miss some of the richness that comes from hand movements, face gestures or other body language. But then you also get to stop reading when you want to in order to refer to maps, a family tree, refer back to a previous passage, or just stop and think about the words printed before you. Like most written word, each of us will have a unique interpretation of the material, based on what our life experiences have been.

There is definitely a bond between the people and the land – something that many of us do not have or understand. Even though many do not continue to live a semi-nomadic lifestyle where you follow the food source, I think it is still possible to find this earth-human relationship in some parts of Alaska.

I didn't read the entire book but I instead choose to read the passages where the storyteller talks about her life growing up.

Tea Forté - for cocktails

Kim gave me this great assortment of Tea Forté Infusioners that you use in combination with alcohol to make some very interesting tasting cocktails. Recipes like Lavender Pear Martini made with a Lavender Citrus Infuser, vodka and pear nectar, Chai White Russian made with Silkroad Chai Infuser, white rum, light cream and a simple syrup, or the one I tried, Lemongrass Gin & Tonic. This was made using the Lemongrass Mint Infuser, gin, tonic and a simple syrup. YUM! I loved the citrus flavor the tea mixture gave to the drink.

Place infuser in glass. Pour 2 oz gin over infuser and steep to desired strength. I let mine go for about 3 minutes. Add simple syrup, ice and tonic water. I was able to have two gin & tonics from the infuser and I made three cups of tea using the same infuser. I'm sure after the third cup of tea all the alcohol that had soaked into the tea was gone!

Plus the little pyramid-shaped tea bags are so cute!


I can't wait to try out the Cosmo de Provence with the lavendar citrus infuser!

New Sprint Campaign

Check out the new advertising campaign for Sprint and the one for their wireless internet. Pretty impressive I'd say!

And their new promotional video. It doesn't exactly make me want to call sprint and get an account with them, but it does make me think about the effect that wireless communication has on me and the world around me.

Easy!

These are easy and they are really tasty - especially if you like hearty muffins. They really taste more like granola bars made from oats. I had two old black bananas in the freezer that when mashed up made about 1/2 cup. So I cut the recipe down and made 4 muffins. I mixed it all up in one bowl and only used one spoon. I guessed on the amounts of the cinnamon and baking powder. I think these would take good with craisins or with chocholate or butterscotch chips.

Banana-Oatmeal Muffins
from Simply Vegan
2 cups very ripe bananas, mashed well or pureed
1 cup raisins
3 cups gluten free rolled oats
1 T. cinnamon
1 T. baking powder
½ cup almond or peanut butter

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Put all ingredients into a large bowl and mix well. Pour batter into lightly oiled muffin tins. Bake 25 minutes. Cool muffins completely before removing from tins. Makes about 15 muffins

Monthly COASST survey

I had high hope that this would be the week that we might be able to practice our identification skills on our monthly Boy Scout Beach walk. Friends Kristi and David, who live out near the beach and walk it quite often, had been out the previous weekend and sent us this picture. They thought it might have been an eagle because it was very large. Unfortunately there isn't enough to quality as an appropriate siting for COASST. It has to have a beak and a tarsus or a beak and a wing with primary feathers.

We look very close at the spot where they had found it the week before but of course it wasn't there.



On the "Bird-a-Day" calendar that Tina gave me the birds this weekend was the plover - its a perfect time to be spotting a plover as springtime approaches. But really, we don't really want to find any dead birds. I have to keep reminding myself of that.

We enjoyed watching this lone swan. I took this picture with the camera through the binoculars so they are a bit fuzzy. I think he was a young swam because of the slight discoloration of his neck. He doesn't quite have the mature all-white coloring.


And taking a nap standing up can be quite a challenge!


We also saw these cute little otter footprints. We haven't seen any otters here before. Its hard to tell on the beach though, there are usually so many dog foot prints that we could have missed them.

porcupine love

Walking along the boy scout camp trail this weekend - this tree along the bank of the trail caught my eye. We've had a lot of snow (one of the top 5 snowiest in recorded history) recently and we've seen more wildlife making a closer approach to civilization than normal. We often see deer feeding along the highways and a couple of weeks ago a mountain goat made its way down a snow slide to the road out towards Thane.



On closer inspection I realized that this wasn't really just a sign of a porcupine feeding, but rather a testament to love! It is springtime, ya' know!

Creamy Lasagna

Nothing traditional about this lasagna! First you boil the lasagna noodles with tumeric. The layers between the noodles is a mixture of diced butternut squash and mushrooms and then you layer it with a white-based sauce. This recipe was really good and a nice change from the traditional tomato-based-lasagna. I got the recipe from Vegan Planet and just happened to have a butternut squash on the counter. The recipe called for tofu and wild mushrooms, which I didn't have, but I did have some crimini mushrooms and cottage cheese. I also had a small amount of turkey italian sausage that I boiled up to get the fat off and then crumble up into little pieces. That was one of the layers.

I wasn't sure how the cottage cheese would substitute for the tofu mixture – I had in mind that it would just curdle up. But it didn't and gave the lasagna a creamy taste.

Butternut Squash and Wild Mushroom Lasagna

• 1 T olive oil
• 1 small onion, minced
• 1 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded, coarsely grated (I cut it into cubes)
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 3 cups mixed sliced wild mushrooms, (chanterelle, shiitake, oyster) (I used about 6 med-sized crimini)
• 1 t dried thyme
• salt and pepper
• 12 oz lasagna noodles (I cooked 9 noodles)
  
• 1/2 t tumeric
• 1 16-oz package soft tofu, drained (I used fat-free cottage cheese - maybe 8 oz)
• 1 c soy milk (I left this out)
• 1/2 c chopped pecans, toasted (I left this out)
• 1 c shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 c minced fresh italian parsley

Preheat oven to 375°. Cook noodles and tumeric until al dente. Drain and spread flat on work surface to prevent them from sticking. (I made the noodles the night before and lightly sprayed them with some cooking spray before placing them flat in the pan I was going to use. I knew I wouldn't have time to put it all together for dinner after working the next day and have it ready for dinner, so I thought this would speed things up. It actually worked out pretty well. The noodles did not stick together)

Heat olive oil in pan over med heat. Add onion, squash, and garlic. Cover and cook until softened. Add mushrooms, thyme and salt and pepper and cook until soft. Set aside.

Combine tofu and milk in a food processor and process until smooth. (I just used the cottage cheese and didn't process it or anything)

Spread a thin layer of tofu mixture on bottom of 9 x 13 baking pan. Add layer of noodles, 1/2 the squash mixture. Sprinkle with 1/2 pecans. Repeat tofu, noodles, squash. Sprinkle with remaining pecans and cheese.

My layers were: cottage cheese, noodles, squash, motz cheese, noodles, italian sausage, motz cheese, noodles, cottage cheese, rest of squash, noodles and more motz cheese.)

Bake until hot and bubbly, about 30 minutes. Let rest for 5 minutes. Garnish with parsley and serve.

Serves 8 (mine made about 4 extra large servings)

Bear Man of Admiralty Island

This dude was a real tough dude. Allan Hasselborg was one of those guys who knew what he wanted out of life and went about doing it HIS way. He came to Alaska as a young man looking for adventure and for a place to get away from the crowds. He found his niche helping the many exploration institutions who were coming to Alaska in the early 1900s do natural history exploration (Alexander Alaska Expedition, 1908, 1909, Univ of California Museum, Dr D.H. Merriman). He was a good shot and began shooting bears that these groups wanted for their collections to do further study. He was paid pretty good money doing something that he loved to do and became the "go to" guy for anyone wanting a bear specimen. He became a successful guide on Admiralty Island, a place that he loved, and eventually was given property rights by the National Forest Service to homestead land where he built a cabin and lived for almost 40 years.

He eventually stopped shooting bears himself, but continued to guide and probably became more successful guiding for still and film photography groups. Because he did stop hunting, many thought of him as a conservationist, which was an assumption made in error.

As for the bears, he had never thought much about wildlife conservation unless it affected him personality. During his years as a hunter, when he found areas where bears had been exterminated, he had been annoyed only because other hunters had gotten their first. He complained about poachers only when he thought he wasn't getting his fair share.

Wildlife wasn't sacred to him by any means; it was there to be used. As long as he had enough for his own use, he didn't much care about anyone else.

Bear Man of Admiralty Island, by John R. Howe, is based on the letters written and interviews with Hasselborg's family and clients.

Food Delayed

This is the second week that my Full Circle Produce box has been delayed due to cancellations with Alaska Airlines and the volcano. Its not a problem, I certainly understand that they are doing everything they can do to get the boxes here on time. I'm supposed to get the box on Tuesday and it arrived on Friday. It just changes the menu a bit when it doesn't show up on time. I rarely buy fresh produce at the store anymore because the one box a week usually fulfills our needs but that doesn't mean we can't make a quick trip to the grocery or pull out something frozen or canned.

In fact, I went to Fred's this afternoon to do some grocery shopping, and I realized that they may have been dealing with some of the same shipping issues. You know how they normally have an entire wall or showcase filled with those bags of greens: baby spinach, romaine, garden salad, coleslaw, spring mix, etc. Their entire display was empty. Not a plastic bag full of greenery to be Found.

This really brought home some of the discussion we've been having in the Alaska history class I'm taking – the fact that Alaska has been, and still is, and may never change from being a colony. Our main text is Stephen Haycox's, Alaska: An American Colony. It has a great introduction to the state's history beginning with the Russian occupation (a colony of the Czar and Czarina's) and going through WW2 and then changes direction and talks more about how due to Alaska's abundant natural resources, distance from the lower 48, and inclement weather, Alaska may never be a state that can self-sustain itself. It will always be a place that has to rely in importing goods (and some services) due to many factors.

This empty salad display got me thinking about the Russians – they almost starved to death and one of the reasons they wanted to sell the land to the US is because they were having a hard time trying to get shipments of food stores. They couldn't depend on their own country and they tried Hawaii with no luck and the Spaniards in California with small success but nothing sustainable.

When the goldrush came, once again food stores were hard to come by. Like many settlers in Alaska, some with experience in farming and little experience in panning and mining turned to agriculture and farming.

I just finished a book called, Kendlers: The Story of a Dairy Farm in Alaska by Mathilde Kendler, a charming and fast read about working a dairy farm in the Mendenhall Valley from the mid-1920s to 1965. Just think about all the changes this family saw in that short time – rise and fall of the great mines, long distance phone service from your own house (if you had it) in 1939, pre-war building of the airport in 1941, incoming soldiers during WW2, creamy, fatty milk to pasteurized milk.

It was especially fun to read about where their farm was located in relation to what is there now. They had almost 500 acres and here's a picture of their field right in front of the Mendenhall Glacier.

Reference

Sounds like their pastures and farm buildings have been replaced with a Safeway, a couple of housing subdivisions, a large highway and some other commercial property.

I believe that we now get our milk and milk products imported from washington. In fact, if I recall my trip to Fred Meyers correctly, the dairy isle was as empty as the bags of salad display.

Its "food" for thought.

Summer Weather Predictions

A mention in Dermot Cole's editorial in the Daily News Miner caused me to investigate further into what the summer weather predictions are looking like. I went straight to the NOAA Weather Service site to get the scoop. Many of us were disappointed in the cooler than normal temperatures and it looks like we might have a similar summer, in fact, it might even be a little wetter in the interior. What is most concerning is when you look at the national map of the drought outlook. Many parts of the country will continue to have or will have intensified drought conditions. Too bad you just can''t ship that rainfall down south.

more knitting

Here's a few knitting projects that I've been working on – oh, maybe since last year! Sometimes things get put away or I have to take a break to figure out a problem I've encountered. But I'm always glad to finish them up.

This particular pattern is called floral scallops and reminds me of the pansy. I've used lace to add to pillow cases and towels. I have enough to trim out a set of dark purple-red towels for a gift.


I started this lace project back in June when I needed something to take on the plane to seattle with me. I like projects like this because they are small an easily portable. They really make a 2.5 hour trip fly by.


Here's a sweater I'm making for Jim. I am just now up to the point where I'm starting the raglan sleeve decrease. Its made from fine merino, acrylic micofiber, and cashmere. Its a washable wool!


Its from an old pattern book that my mom had. I kinda liked this pattern but its in French and the online translators I tried weren't taking knit-speak. I might have been able to interpret if I was making it for myself but one arm might have been different from the other!


This is that same pattern that Tisha sent, for the bike helmet earband. I had some left over self-striping yarn and adjusted the pattern for the smaller fiber. I think it came out pretty good. Since the yarn is wool its very warm. Unfortunately, its not a washable wool so that means hand washing and drying when it gets sweaty!


And in case you are wondering, I did have to do some adjustment to get the two ear pieces to match up.

The following changes to the pattern should be made to accommodate the thinner yarn:

Cast on 24 stitches and K1,P1 for 6 rounds.
Increase until you have about 68 stitches then K1, P1 ribbing for 8 rounds. Cast off 34 stitches.
Then on the other side of the earband do the reverse.

This bag was started before christmas and was supposed to be a gift for someone but it never got finished due to some complications. It doesn't look much like the picture on the pattern - I think I might have felted it too much.

Pre-felted:

The top binded seemed to pucker up and have the lettuce-effect. It was all ripply and looked stretched out. So I ran a couple of baste lines with thread, got it wet and then pulled it a bit tighter. After it dried it seemed a little better


I decided to add this ribbon to the top binding so that it would stretch out more. I do like the bag but am disappointed it didn't turn out more like the picture on the pattern. They must have added some type of form (acrylic or plastic) to help keep its shape.

This and That again again

If you like to drink tea from a tea cup this is a great deal. Makes me want to open a tea house or afternoon tea eatery. My mom always talked about doing that. She said that she would make the pies and do the dishes! What a deal!

This group in England has an interesting idea - banning jargon and cliches from their council meetings and publications. But is it realistic? How do you decide what is jargon and what words are accepted with common definitions. Education and especially Technology is the leader in making up words and/or changing common interpretations. Netlingo.com even provides a Jargon Word of the Day!

Information comes at you all the time and one of the hardest parts of graphic design is taking a message and making it meaningful to the audience. Using graphics to tell a story – well that's how communication began, right! Check out this video retelling the story of Little Red Riding Hood.