Sorry but this is the third post in a row...

I have to show you our afternoon snackies.

Here is Thistle eating some aaaaaaaapple:

And Cricket eating some aaaaaAAAAAaaapple:

They are just so stinkin cute!

Hmmmm, not much else to report. Here are some more food photos!

One uh-may-zing thing about having dumplings in the freezer is that you can have them with meals, instead of as meals because they are so quick you can make more than one thing for supper! Look: My home-made jiao-zes, with pot stickers from the freezer section at the store, with steamed veggies!

My latest cooking adventure was inspired by this, except that instead of chicken I used a big moose bone, which I seared until the fat and gristle made some nice Maillard reaction goodness:

Mmmm, look at that marrow!

Also instead of that looooong list of spices, I used a pre-fab spice mix that is intended for pho. Kinda the same, right? There is star anise, cinnamon, and whole peppercorns. Anyway, I put it all into a muslin bag and let it simmer in there for about an hour, then removed it. Then I added boiled, peeled eggs, tofu skin, tofu that had been frozen and thawed, so it's like little sponges, napa cabbage, and carrots! I had not had soy sauce eggs since I was a kid, I don't think.

Oh Miss Thistle!

Miss Thistle loveslovesloves bell peppers!

Unfortunately, the sound of slicing jalapeños is very similar to the sound of slicing bell peppers. She doesn't understand why I won't share with her. Then she wonders Why I Don't Love Her Any More.

Awwww, poor Miss Thistle. I have to restore our relationship using CHEESE!

Miss Cricket also likes CHEESE!!

Miss Thistle has developed a strange habit of pawing bits of wood chips out from near where we make kindling, and eating them. Why? She gets plenty of fiber--pumpkin and carrots and kale stems, and apples and the aforementioned bell peppers.

Well Happy Equinox to all 14 of my loyal readers!

A Landmark Photographic Study

This is called, The Daily Consumption of the Apple, Quarantine Study #6.

1. First, I pick up the apple. Both their heads pop up from a sound sleep.

2. Thistle arrives first. She loveslovesLOVES apples.

3. Then Cricket arrives. Her enthusiasm winds up in the half second she is behind Thistle.

4. It's got fangs!

5. And nasty, pointy teeth!

Today's Profound Thought

All winter long, I buy these sad, plasticky tomatoes and I laugh because they are terrible. But I buy them anyway because a sad tomato is still a tomato, and I love tomatoes, and anyway it's such an incredible privilege to be able to buy fresh produce at all in Alaska in wintertime.

So here it is: Sometimes the worst version of a good thing is still a good thing. That's why on your worst days, you are still loved!

In other news, yesterday was pi day, so here are photos of my blueberry-rhubarb pie:

And here is a photo of Princess Cricket cleaning her fangs:

And here is a photo of Queen Thistle cleaning her fangs:

Alaska vaccine eligibility is now wide-open

Any adult who lives or works in Alaska is now eligible for the vaccine.

Sign up here.

Or through the Alaska Native health care system.
(All Indigenous Alaska Natives of any age, or non-natives 45 and older.)

Quarantine Tiny Pleasures

1) When you think you are out of lemons, and so you cut your last lemon into more and smaller wedges, but then you find a bag of lemons at the back of the fridge, so you take TWO of those little wedges.

2) Very Good working lunches. Here, kimchi fried rice (at least twice a week).

3) Here, grilled cheese (at least once a week). It actually makes my gleeful day when there is a hole in my slice of bread (where I guess a particle of yeast exhales), and the cheese oozes through and makes a crunchy cheesy bit. It is SO GOOD.

4) Hanging out with Miss Thistle.

5) Hanging out with Miss Cricket.

So! Exciting!

Well! I think Alaska has done a very nice job making decisions about vaccine eligibility. After health care workers, elders first and rural Alaskans and Alaska Natives. Then essential workers, including grocery store workers and power plant operators. Then K-12 teachers. And today the third tier of "essential"!

MEEEEEE! (And again, I'm very impressed by the priorities. Of course, keeping us alive and warm is #1. Then K12 education. Higher ed is really less important, and I'm okay with that.)

So I got an appointment for Tuesday!

YAY!

Good eats

OK before we get to food photos, here are Very Important Dog photos. Look, boneless dogs!

Do you know what Cricket loves?

Cricket. Freaking. LOOOOOOVES GREE'BEANS!!!!!

Miss Thistle, on the other hand, takes her snackies like a regal queen, which she is. She does not care for green beans, but we share my apple every afternoon.

OK here are my food photos! First up: Rockfish and veggie chow mein with black bean sauce. My own invention. It came out pretty good!

Rockfish baked with buttered breadcrumbs. Roast veggies and Alaskan barley on the side:

Having frozen jiao-zis from New Year's is handy. You can eat them as part of a meal instead of the whole meal, and feel like you are in a restaurant! Here we had 'em with fried rice and rockfish with black bean sauce and bok choy.

I splurged on king crab legs in my last seafood order from the Alaskan seafood co-op. They were very tasty, but a lot of work and very spiny:

We only ate the legs, but I steamed the body parts, too. I pulled out the meat and made crab cakes the next day:

They came out pretty good! Since DL had shoveled all day and I had skijored half the day, I indulged in mac n cheese, also. SO GOOD!

For lunch today, I had radish kimchi egg chow mein. Fermented veggies count as veggies, right? I mean, 50 million Koreans can't be wrong.

Here is a photo of Cricket being cute. I have a hypothesis that deep in her hound ancestry (which is obviously different from her wolf ancestry, because she's different from the other huskies), there was a time and place where animals were stationary and plants were mobile. That's why she takes meat gently but needs to pounce on her veggies.

We got about 8 inches of fresh snow last week, and over the weekend, we were the first to make tracks!

The light was gentle and eerie during that overcast day: