Signs of spring

 It's still below freezing every night and there was snow on the ground this morning, but even though winter is still rearing it's ugly head, there are sure signs of summer around town.  I found a couple of them at my friend Sadie's house a few nights ago.  Steaks and asparagus on the grill...yum!

Do you think it would be possible to cook dinner every night on the grill this summer?  I just might try!!!

Manic Monday Radio

A friend of mine posted a FB status update today that said something about it being a manic monday.  When I read it I thought, "That's be a fun pandora station to work out to."  So that's what I did...worked out to manic monday radio.  It did make my workout just a little better :)

Brand name boots

In Bethel, people dont wear designer clothes.  Nobody notices what kind of jeans you have on or what brand of tennis shoes you're wearing.  The types of brand names talked about around here are the brand names for gear...winter gear, rain gear, hunting gear, fishing gear, flying gear, etc.

In Bethel, we only have two seasons.  There's snow boot season and mud boot season. Above is a picture of the boots that I've collected over the years here in Bethel.  I've had other boots, but they havent been as good as these.  The boots on the right have been my winter boots for awhile.  They are boots that we originally bought for Avery when we first moved out here when he was in 6th grade.  When Avery grew out of them the following year, I claimed them as my own.  They are from Cabella's and supposedly rated to -60.  I was originally very unhappy with these boots because my feet were always cold in them, but I put a different liner in them from another pair of boots and they are much better now.  They are rubber on the bottom for any watery situations which is good for this area because we do get periodic melting throughout the winter.  These are the boots I wear when I'm snowmachining or out walking in the snow.  These are my winter boots.  Since then I've learned that I dont really like Cabella's gear.  Just not very good quality.  I also have a pair of Ugg type boots that I wear in the winter when I'm just doing my day to day stuff that mostly involves going from a building to the car and back.

The boots in the middle are just standard issue gardening mud boots from Target.  I wear these when I need to slide on a pair of mud boots quickly to go from the house to the car and from the car into work or some other quick place.  These are convenient, but dont have any insulation so they are cold.  They also dont have any support so I cant wear them if I'm going to walk for any amount of distance.

The boots on the left are the mud boots that I got a few years ago when I was planning on staying in Bethel for the summer.  They are the "real deal" mud boots.  They are LaCrosse boots with 800gm of Thinsulate for warmth.  I love these boots.  These are the boots that I wear whenever I go out fishing or berrypicking.  They are very warm so I can be safe and warm even on cold, rainy days. They also have a good amount of support, so I am comfortable wearing them if I'm going for a walk in the mud or on the tundra.  They are also knee high so they provide waterproof coverage even in the deep boggy parts on the tundra.  They fit snug on my calves and high a tightening strap across the top so that even if I were to get water above my boot, it wouldnt be able to get in.  I bought these boots from the Army Navy supply store in downtown Anchorage.  That place has definitely become my favorite place to buy gear in the last few years.

Tundra Skiing

While I was in Anchorage for spring break this year, I stopped by play it again sports to check out their skis. It just so happens that all their skis where 50% off that week. So, I purchased by first pair of cross country skis. In the last month, I've used them about 5 times. We had another 2 week's of -30 in April so I didnt get out much then, but since it's gotten a bit warmer, I've tried to ski pretty regularly. The picture above shows Sadie and I skiing on a day that was so warm, we ended up peeling off many of out layers. We didnt even have coats on and we were still sweating. It was about 30 degrees that day, but the sun was beating down pretty nicely and there was no wind so we felt really hot. There was sweat literally dripping off of my knees.

Thankfully many of my friends also have skis so there are lots of people to ski with. While my friend Erin was in town visiting, we went skiing on a day that was pretty cold and windy. It ended up being about-20 that day and I had on all my new ski gear for the first time. I ended up being pretty cold and Ryder ended up with a little frost bite on his pink little belly.

Poor guy was so cold that day. I really need to find a nice winter sweater for him that will cover the bare skin around his little peepee. His had icicles hanging down from his poor little penis. I ended up being a little colder than I would have liked, but not dangerously so. We skied a 5 mile loop that day and it was great to get out with Erin and Chris, especially since they were the ones that originally taught me how to ski.

Sourdough creations

It's been nearly two years now since I've bought a loaf of bread from the store. In addition to baking bread, I have now branched out to other things as well. It took a couple of tries, but I've gotten bagel making down now too. I made cheese onion bagels last month that were amazing. It took a couple tries to get bagels that were really good. The recipe I was following did not call for a rising period after rolling them out, but after the first batch turned out super dense, I decided that they have to rise for awhile and my next batch turned out wonderful.

I also finally put to use the dog bone shaped cookie cutter that my friend, Crystal, gave me about 10 years ago (literally). I made peanut butter bones and beef cheddar bones also from sourdough. I made a HUGE patch and ended up giving most of them away to my dog loving friends.

I have also spent some time perfecting my cinnamon roll skills. These are sooooooo easy and taste soooooo good. I baked up a whole bunch and shared them with the staff at school. I have been working to create a frosting recipe that tastes great too. In the past, every time I've made homemade frosting, it always kind of ends up tasting like liquid powered sugar, but NOT ANY MORE. My friend Erin gave me homemade vanilla extract for my birthday and WOW...it is good. I've been using that to work on make really good frosting and I think I'm almost there.

Skinning Wabbits

This year, for the first time, I got to try my hand at skinning and cooking a rabbit. Well, technically it's an Arctic Hare, not a rabbit. Chris has a snare line that he usually sets out at the beginning of the season. I've gone with him a few times to check the snare line and he always gets a couple. He let me help with skinning them and then I got to keep the meat. The plate below shows how much meat comes off of one Arctic Hare.

I seasoned it up real good with various herbs, then baked it in the oven. Apparently it was really good because Avery ate it all and I didnt even get to try it!

My Bethel Cohort

I have this really amazing group of friends here in Bethel. The four of us all started teaching here during the same year. Hard to believe we're all still here 5 years later and that we all just signed a contract for one more year as well. I think the fact that we've had a tight little group of friends throughout these years here is one of the reasons why we're all still here.

Bethel (and Alaska in general) is a pretty difficult place to live. There are many hardships to endure including the cold, the long hours of darkness in the winter, the extreme weather, living within a new culture, high cost of living, some subpar housing/utility standards, and a loss of basic life amenities that you grow use to when living in the lower 48. But more bothersome than all of those things is the remoteness of life in bush Alaska...the disconnect...from friends and family, from quality grocery and other resources, from sources of entertainment and a social scene.

Life in Bethel, however, is also wonderful. There are many great qualities to life in bush Alaska including the long hours of daylight in the summer, hundreds of miles of open uninhabited land, wild fish/game to eat, beautiful colors of the changing tundra in the spring/fall, the pay scale, ability to travel, the interconnectedness of the community, living within one of the strongest native cultures in the world, and the resourcefulness that a person develops when living here. But more important than any of those things are the friends that take this journey with you....the friends...that lift you up when things are tough, that celebrate your successes, that make you laugh, that let you cry, that experience new adventures with you, that motivate you to workout and become a better person, who remind you to write on your blog:), that stand with you and shake their heads and say, "Only in Alaska...".

Most of the people that I've seen come here and dislike it have been people who did not take opportunities to establish a solid foundation of friends. Thankfully, I've found an amazing group of people here in Bethel that I love and care for....my Bethel family. Some of them have been here from the beginning, we came together in the same year and (I have a feeling) many of us will leave together in the same year. It's nice to have a group of people who have been there with you through it all, but some of them came to Bethel in the years after that and still became part of our solid group of friends. I know for a fact that there is NO WAY I would have lasted this long in Bethel without an amazing group of people by my side. One of the BEST things about living in Bethel is that it forces you to slow down and focus on the things that are REALLY important...people!

Number 26: Get a professional facial

While I was in Anchorage over spring break, I finally decided to cross this off of my LONGoverdue list. I've been giving myself facials at home for quite sometime, but I wanted to see if my idea of a facial was the same as a real facial. Turns out...

IT IS!!! Wash, exfoliate, wash again, hydrate, mask, rinse, wash again, hydrate again. The only thing that was different was that there was a massage included in there somewhere that obviously I wouldnt be able to do on my own. She massaged my arms and hands while my mask was setting then massaged my face and scalp while hydrating, but pretty much everything else was the same as what I do at home.

I LOVED my facial, but it's good to know that I can do at home what I payed $100 for in a salon.

Number 25: Try a new fruit and a new vegetable

Chayote Squash

Alternate names: Cho-cho, christophene, mango squash, mirliton, pear squash, vegetable pear, choko, pepinella, pepinello, xuxu, xoxo
Characteristics: Pronounced "chai-YO-teh," this lime-green gourd vegetable looks like a tight fist and is about as big as an apple. Although the flavor is nondescript (a cross between a potato and a cucumber), its taste is quite versatile. Look for chayotes that are firm and without wrinkles or blemishes. Treat the vegetable like a squash: Eat it raw in salads or cook it however you'd like. In southern Louisiana, chayotes are called mirlitons and are usually served stuffed with a seasoned beef mixture.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com:80/articlesguides/seasonalcooking/farmtotable/visualguidelatinamericanproduce#ixzz1nYx7ERmM

The pomelo (Citrus maxima or Citrus grandis) is a crisp citrus fruit native to Southeast Asia. It is usually pale green to yellow when ripe, with sweet white (or, more rarely, pink or red) flesh and very thick albedo (rind pith). It is the largest citrus fruit, 15–25 centimetres (5.9–9.8 in) in diameter,^[1] and usually weighing 1–2 kilograms (2.2–4.4 lb). (from wikipedia)

The pomelo tastes like a sweet, mild grapefruit (which is itself a hybrid of the pomelo and the orange), though the typical pomelo is much larger in size than the grapefruit. It has very little, or none, of the common grapefruit's bitterness, but the enveloping membranous material around the segments is bitter, considered inedible, and thus usually is discarded. The peel is sometimes used to make marmalade, or is candied and sometimes dipped in chocolate. The peel of the pomelo The Chandler is a California variety of pomelo, with a smoother skin than many other varieties. An individual Chandler fruit can reach the weight of one kilogram. Pomelos are usually grafted onto other citrus rootstocks, but can be grown from seed, provided the seeds are not allowed to dry out before planting. The seedlings take approximately 8 years to start blooming and yielding fruit.

The tangelo is a hybrid between the pomelo and the tangerine. It has a thicker skin than a tangerine and is less sweet. (from Wikipedia) Interesting, eh?

I really enjoyed both of these new things. I wish I lived in a place where I could get fresh fruits and vegetables on a regular basis. I might try to just eat as much as possible from as many local farmers markets as possible in all the places that I might find myself this summer. So, if I'm headed your way this summer, plan on consuming as many fresh fruits and veggies as possible :)

Roller Derby

A few brave ladies here in Bethel have decided to start up a Women's Flat Track Roller Derby league. We have been having practices now for a couple months. It started out as some women skating around on school skates and looking pretty shaky. Most of us are geared up now in full safety gear and new skates. I was amazed at the last practice at how far we've come. Everyone is looking very confident on their skates now and have a pretty intimidating appearance with all their gear on.

I have my old skates and new gear. My skates are 20 years old. They were the first thing that I ever bought with my own money with my first job when I was 12. It's great to have my skates on my feet again. They are a little tight fitting, but they'll work ok for now. I'm hoping to buy some new skates while I'm in the lower 48 this summer. I love skating. I feel a little freer on my skates. I feel a little more like myself on my skates. And now we get to combine that with knocking people over, falling down, and developing an alter ego? Yes, please!!! I chose 'Nuclear Weapon' for my roller derby name and my number will be U235.

Anybody want to go see a roller derby bout with my while I'm in the lower 48 this summer?