Happy Year of the Rabbit!

Last Sunday was the Lunar New Year. I'm still not ready to start doing big gatherings--although both DL and I got our bivalent boosters--but I wanted a Lunar New Year party so I had it... just stretching out the absurd amount of food over a week.

Oh, before I post food photos, here is one of the sunrise behind the power plant. It is said that UAF's coal plant will be the last coal-fired power plant to be built in the United States. No, not because of renewables, which are still not capable of providing 100% of power without large amounts of storage. But because of relatively inexpensive natural gas. But Fairbanks does not have access to large amounts of natural gas. Although we do buy a lot of natural gas-derived electricity from the Anchorage region via an intertie, the intertie can only bring us electricity, not heat. Coal can bring us heat, and it is locally available from Usibelli Mine, which is nearby, accessible by rail, locally owned by a family vested in the community, and whose coal is naturally ultra-low sulfur. (This last bit is due to a lucky accident of nature.)

So... while coal is far from ideal, if we have to have a coal plant, this is about the "cleanest" and must justifiable one.

OK New Year always starts with a giant bunch of jiu-cai!

For jiao-zi, of course! See here for ingredients.

Nian-gao is a homonym for "higher year", so it is typically eaten on Lunar New Year, although the more typical for factor is a sticky dessert cake. I like these stir-fry slices better!

For Day 3 (which would be Course 3 had we had a big gathering), we had noodles, for longevity!

Noodle mise en place:

"Hello! Are you chopping veggies? We like veggies!"

Miss Thistle likes BOKCHOYSTEMZZZZ!

Princess Cricket, too, likes BOKCHOYSTEMERZ!

And of course there is fishy! The Chinese word for "fish" is the a homonym for "plenty", so it is part of Lunar New Year, too!

I pan-fried these pieces in Hawaiian barbecue sauce.

We still have leftover salmon! Which is the goal. Leftover fish mean a year where you will always have plenty of plenty! I believe I'll make fish patties tonight.

Happy Year of the Rabbit! It is supposed to be a gentle, peaceful year, since rabbits are such gentle, peaceful creatures.

OK maybe not Mr. B! But Miss Millie was very sweet! Happy Lunar New Year to all 14 of my loyal readers!

Notes from here and there

Good morning on the full moon! And what is it, Mary Oliver asks, that you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

Do you think they are comfy? I sure hope they are comfy.

And! They get BROCCYSTEMZ!

It's difficult to get as funny photos of Cricket, as she's so fast!

Here is another rescue. Her name is Pepper. She is very houndy-sprinty, with an extremely sweet temperament. I got to know her first by her reputation! ReRun Kennel gets almost all of their dogs from the shelter or from local rescue groups, and in addition to that, they also take dogs from the shelter for home visits. On these home visits, they test their temperaments, test their home behavior, take them mushing, etc, and report back to increase their odds of finding good homes! Look at this adorable video they made of Pepper!

Pepper is now at Sirius.

Lucy is another very sprinty hound, with an equally sweet temperament. ReRun Kennel also took her home for a few days, and here is the video they made of Lucy!

Lucy is now also at Sirius.

Pepper and Lucy both like to cuddle, and I'm sure would love to live on a couch!

And last weekend I met Koda! He is a malamute, and he let me squeeze him!

I also took him for a walk. It was a very pretty afternoon/evening.

Handsome boy!

He sticks his tongue out sometimes! So funny!

He walks like a pet and not a sled dog. Doesn't pull, just moseys along and enjoys himself. Sniffs things, sometimes tangles his leash in his back legs. It is a very different experience from my years of marching around with sled dogs.

He also passed the squat and pee test! He did not yank me over, nor attempt a proctology exam. He just sat reeeeeally close and stared into my face.

Pretty sunset! You'll have to imagine him here. He would not cooperate to take a photo here!

And guess whom I saw yesterday? Timber! I am so happy to see Timby boy in the best home for him with active humans who love him and give him lots of snugglin'!

And he still likes to be squozen!

Miss Thistle does not care to be squozen, so out of Respect for Her Royal Majesty, I restrict myself to about 6 squeezes a day. Or maybe 7. Or sometimes 8. No more than 10!!

And Princess Cricket loves snuggling like thing else, although she has a preference for her daaaaaaaddy.

Happy 12th Day of Christmas

Season's Greetings!

A friend got me a foamer for my last birthday. I now use it to make fancy Mexican hot chocolate. This mug was sent by a different friend, over 10 years ago now. She had read an article that chocolate apparently tastest better against orange. :)

Do you think Princess Cricket is comfy? I sure hope she is comfy.

Although she sure prefers to snuggle with Daaaaaaaddy.

Sometimes Thistle will join them, but she's not much of a snuggler.

She does, however, have a classic husky smile.

For our Christmas dinner, I found a free-range organic ham. I also made collard greens, mac n cheese, mashed potatoes, and roasted corn kernels. Three kinds of carbs with butter! Yay!

Merry Buttermas!

After a few days, the leftovers devolved into things like ham stir-fries and grilled ham and cheese sandwiches, but the very next day, we attempted to keep things fancy and heated up ham slices with leftovers.

Mmmmmm BOKYCHOYSTEMZ!!!

Them love BOKYCHOYSTEMZ!!!

Do you think they are comfy? I sure hope they are comfy.

Thistle looks comfy.

Cricket appears to be comfy.

These pretty winter days!

After we mince across this overflow, the trail are all ours!

"Hey girls, wanna stand against the sunrise and look at me for a photo?" "No."

Pretty sunrise though.