Selfies!

Cricket, a-snugglin':


Starbuck-a-Roo, being ssssooooo sssooooffft:


Starbuck-a-Roo after having visited her Friends at the Denali Center:

She was panting! It's very warm in there for her! But she Loves to see her Friends~

Denali Center selfie!

Yay!

A few weeks ago, I was walking across campus on a -40 degree day and came upon this awesome ice bear, and attempted a selfie with him:


But he was too big to capture (or my arms are too short!).

Yesterday, I was walking by again, and the official campus photographer had set up a tripod and was photographing passers-by with the bear! So I finally got my photo with him!

credit: JR Ancheta

Yay!

Miscellaneous photos

Yesterday evening, I got a photo of Cricket in a classic Starbuckeroo pose:


Like this! It's like they have melded minds, like borg!


And here is a photo from a lovely morning at the National Wind Technology Center in Boulder, Colorado:


And again, at dusk:


It's some beautiful country, isn't it?

I heard a funny and mildly disturbing anecdote the other day. A guy who works at the wind test site was told by this fellow that he didn't think wind energy worked, because the "wind farm" (test site) was so strangely designed, with so many types of turbines, facing different directions, and only a few of them are spinning at any given time!

sigh

It made me laugh though. It *does* look like a wind farm designed by a 5-year-old, doesn't it?

New Year Tamales!

Here is my New Year Tamal report.

I used bacon fat in the masa, and roasted a pork loin in foil with salt, pepper, garlic, and onions:


When I chopped up the pork, I let the onions and garlic fall wherever they happened to fall. Some of the tamales ended up with chunks of roasted aromatic goodness:


It goes pretty quickly once you get into a rhythm:


Steamed for two hours:


I made guacamole to have with them the first night, but used salsa from the refrigerated section of the store:


Mmmm!


So pretty, with the colors of the Mexican flag!

Miscellaneous photos

1 p.m. on the ridgeline:


The Beaver Pond:


I call this pose, "Indecision":


"Should I get up, or should I sit here?"


Light in the woods behind our home:


Cricket ponderz:


Roooo is roo-minating:


Roo snuggles with her daddy!


They snuggle together!


Awwww!


On the trail:


Blue light:

Good Eats

Moosey ribs simmered in pho seasoning came out awesome:


We had them over rice with steamed gai lan drizzled with oyster sauce.

I also made the aforementioned guacamole, and added red bell peppers since it was Christmas morning:


And made a scramble with these things:


To have with tortillas and said guac:


For Christmas dinner, I roasted Cornish game hens:


Served with mashed squash, dressing, and green beans:


Everything came out "good", but also rather meh. It turns out I'm not that crazy about roasted chicken, no matter how prettily presented (and well-cooked, if I do say so myself!). I ended up eating only the dark meat, and saving the breasts to make soup the next day. Even DL, with his relatively big appetite, didn't finish his. They made a nice Mexican chicken soup (no photos of that, unfortunately!)

The ladies always supervise me chopping veggies. They lovelovelove veggies, stems especially! (Cricket struggles a bit with leaves. She maws at them and looks confused.)



Here are blueberry pancakes made with Delta Junction barley flour:


I'm sure glad I always make an effort to score blueberries every summer, even if it's raining!

Moose pho!

I decided to try to make pho with moose ribs:


I bought some premixed aromatic packets from amazon:


And browned the ribs in oil and garlic cloves:


While Starbuck was So Kind as to supervise:


Then I transferred it to the wood stove and let it simmer for a whole day.


The next day, I decided we should just use the broth for pho, and eat the rib meat over rice for separate meals later. So I scooped out the ribs and meat and put them into pyrex storage at the back of the fridge. They are falling-off-the-bone tender and flavored with Vietnamese aromatics, so they will be great for a later meal (or more likely two)!


And instead, I bought some nice small, lean (free-range and grass-fed and organic) steaks, partially froze them, and sliced them super-thin:


Add-ins...


... require some substitution in winter in Fairbanks! Bean sprouts and fresh basil are both available only intermittently in winter, so I substituted shredded daicon and this product:

I'd long been told that dried basil tastes entirely differently from fresh, but this was okay. Another diversion is that this is Italian basil. I *know* I can taste the difference between Italian and Southeast Asian basil, but I'm not sure it really matters. As for the daicon, I think I actually prefer it to beansprouts! It holds a nice crunch, and the bitter tang adds a nice counterpoint to the richness of the broth.

The finished product:


It was fantastic, and we had it for two nights in a row! I also have leftovers of lime and jalapeños so duh! I told DL to Obtain some Avocados when he went into town today, so we can have guacamole with our breakfast tomorrow. It's interesting that the same suite of fresh aromatics and flavors (lime, onions, green onions, cilantro, garlic, and jalapeños) go with both Vietnamese and Mexican food, and it reminds me of how these cultures live side by side in both San Francisco and San Jose. Isn't this country great?