Friday Flashback: Animal Tracks

A week of light snow in Upstate New York has been really exciting. It set the mood for our snowboarding day we've planned with Bill's sister. I've never snowboarded on the east coast, and it's kind of different, especially because most of the snow was machine made. Bill's sister never skied before, so she took lessons and really made some impressive progress. We all left exhausted, having had the best of times, with bruises to show for it. Afterwards, we had some hot cocoa and eggnog. Dumplings for dinner.

Doesn't this picture make you want a cup of hot cocoa or tea?

The morning of the first snow, I took some pictures around the area and got some interesting duck track pictures. So I thought I could have a round up of animal tracks we've seen and photographed so far. Most of them were in Alaska, as you would imagine.

Matanuska Glacier State Park, Alaska, Winter 2009, Moose Tracks

Denali State Park, Alaska, Summer 2009, Bear Track

Denali State Park, Alaska, Summer 2009, Wolf Track

Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, Summer 2010, Caribou Track

New York State, Winter 2012, Mallard Duck Tracks

Some ducks walked all the way across the pond.

We saw some pretty awesome animals in the wild during our stay in Alaska. If you ever considered taking a trip to Alaska, you should do it.

Maybe we'll get to add a few more to the list in the future. Perhaps a kangaroo or a koala?

Friday Flashback: Pre-Christmas Musk Ox Farm Visit

Back in Alaska, I had the opportunity to volunteer for the most amazing non-profit organization: The Musk Ox Farm of Palmer, Alaska. You can read all about them on their website. Alex Trebek is also a fan! He mentions this farm on Jeopardy from time to time. Bill and I both have "signed" certificates from Alex :)

A couple weeks ago, we got a Christmas card from them. It's so good to see some familiar faces still working there. 

When I first started volunteering, there were seven calves that year, all named after classic rock songs. One unfortunately had a birth defect. Every time "Tiny Dancer" plays on the radio, I tear up a little bit for the tiny musk ox we got to know.

At first, they were so skittish, huddling in the corner. 

That one in the back didn't want to miss anything

After a year of hand feeding, they were much more mild-mannered, and if you have food, they will come right up to you! One time one of the hand-fed yearlings tried to take my glove from me (and you need those gloves in the Alaskan winter!)

Impromptu visit before Christmas

If you have a chance to go to Alaska, you have to check this place out. We made wonderful friends there (human and musk ox), and I'm so happy to hear from them before Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas, who's excited?! I'm excited about an afghan I've almost finished knitting for Bill (don't worry, I've been knitting in plain sight). This is going to be a great Christmas!

Friday Flashback: Snow!

It snowed yesterday! But it mostly melted overnight and iced over. Still, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a white Christmas. 

A quick look at our past years' albums reveals that we didn't cook very much the weeks leading up to Christmas. Instead, we did a lot of snow sports. Needless to say, we got a lot of snow in Alaska. So naturally we spent a lot of time in the snow. The first year Bill got his snowboard, he tried it out in our driveway. 

Thumbs up for not falling

Then he dragged me to the practice hill in Hatcher Pass. Dragged because I was terrified of going fast, but I didn't want my fears to get the best of me. I'm determined to improve, but I will to do it at my own pace, which is very very slowly.

Going so slow, it looks like I'm just standing there

After a couple seasons of learning, I still prefer going back-country snowboarding, despite the effort of walking up and the risk of avalanches. Why? Well, it's much nicer to fall on a bed of soft snow!

Hatcher Pass, Alaska

Actually in between snowboarding and cross-country skiing, we did learn how to make pizzas three years ago a few weeks before Christmas. We were so proud of ourselves. Even though it was misshapen, we devoured it with delight. Now we make pretty good looking (and tasty!) pizzas, but the first one was still special.

Mushroom and Spinach Pizza

Last year, we also visited our friends at the Musk Ox Farm a week before Christmas. Check back if you want to see pictures of some cute musk oxen!

Friday Flashback: Moose!

For the past three years, we didn't always get to have Thanksgiving together because Bill was working in the Arctic. When he was off around a week or two before the holiday, we'd compensate by doing lots of outdoor activities together. Of course, we had to be bundled up in Alaska.

Hatcher Pass, Alaska

See those cabins there? MythBusters apparently tested cabin fever there.

Coincidentally, they also busted a myth about moose in the same episode. Rupert first met this moose a week before Thanksgiving three years ago. This picture is for my mom who hasn't seen Rupert for four months. One more month, mom!

There were three different ones, if you look closely, just hanging out in our yard and grazing. My coworkers and I sometimes joked that they were my cubemates (I telecommute).

Then Rupert met another moose last year. Or maybe one of the little ones had grown up?

Hello Moose!

Sometimes they licked our car for salt, like deer.

And they left tracks like these in the snow. It's amazing how they stay on top of the snow, being such heavy creatures.

Keep your eyes open. Sometimes they would appear on the side of the road.

Beautiful day in June

Unfortunately, I never got to cook moose, so this is not a cooking post. But I hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Friday Flashback: First Alaskan Winter

It's hard to believe we've been married for three years. After the honeymoon, I moved into the Alaskan cabin Bill prepared for us, with my cat Rupert. This dream cabin has a spiral staircase and huge windows.

Rupert misses his spiral staircase

We lived fifteen minutes from the mountain pass. The mountains were already covered with snow by the first of November.

We had just gotten a bright and shiny casserole as a wedding gift and I was eager to use it to make something comforting. I decided to make chicken dumplings. I don't even remember what recipe I used, but it warmed us up.

The first cake I baked in this kitchen was a lemon cake with cream cheese icing. I love cake. I think we finished that in three days.

To work that all off, we went cross-country skiing just fifteen minutes from our cabin. Classic cross-country is pretty easy to pick up. Even I learned how to enjoy it.

Rolling hills were advanced for my level

Perhaps we will find some good cross-country spots this winter. We'll certainly be having lots of dumplings and cake! Next time I'll bookmark the recipes and share it with you. What recipes do you like to make when it's getting cold out?

Chinese dumplings

Friday Flashback: Halloween Fun!

Lately I've been thinking about our time in Alaska a lot. There were a lot of reasons to reminisce, not in the least is that it's the place I started baking with frequency. I was very inspired by the surrounding nature and the Alaskan spirit of living off the land. I started having ideas about raising chickens to harvest eggs--a dream not quite realized. Yet we learned how to pick wild blueberries, fish for salmon and halibut, and attempted in growing a garden. There will be plenty more times to tell the stories of our adventures. For now I will just recall our last Halloween. But I must post a picture of my baby musk oxen first because it snowed yesterday and that reminded me of them.

At The Musk Ox Farm in Palmer, Alaska

Last Halloween was about the fourth time I've made apple pie from scratch. My husband grew up eating pies made from scratch and it was hard to meet the expectations. But I gladly took on the challenge. The filling was kind of runny and the crust still needed better texture and shape. I have much to learn!

However it was fun. I was happy Bill was able to be home from work (he used to work two-three weeks in the arctic tundra every month). We carved a pumpkin together for the first time. My cats were very curious about it.

Introducing Reeses!

This year we're going to a Halloween party that my sister-in-law is throwing in Boston. We're going to bring some Reeses Pieces cookies (the candy, not the cat).

Happy Halloween weekend everyone!