Thank You, Merv!

Some of you know exactly what kind of deliciousness I have pictured here!!  Yes!  It's Zwieback drizzled with just enough homemade jam!  This post will take me forever to write as I am having to stop every sentence and take another mouthful of bready goodness!  And no, these are not gluten free, so I will be eating every last crumb even if it creates excessive curves for my cruise!

Growing up in a large extended family of German heritage, we often gathered for large holiday meals.  My Grandma was usually seen with an apron on in the kitchen or outside in the garden (though I learned later that she didn't care for gardening anything other than flowers!).  Of all the different traditional foods that filled the kitchen, one of the "given" items that was often very fresh was her Zwieback!  I remember watching Grandma as she would knead and punch the dough with fervor and when it was ready, she would effortlessly pick out the perfect handful of dough, twist off the ball on top only to put it back on  and give it all a thumb-prick to stick!  Oh, the smell of freshly baked rolls was mouthwatering.  Then to pull off the top ball and fill the depression left in the bigger roll with her homemade jam was simple perfection.  And you know, everything at Grandma's tastes better - even spinach with cheese sauce, but that's another story.

Just recently, I observed my college roommate advertising these deliciously buttery rolls on her facebook page, and I had to ask her if she would ship them to me!  As you can see, I have the best roommate ever!  I also have to state that as different as we have always been, I love her like a sister and wish we could hang out more!  Especially with these mad baking skills (did I mention how different we are?)!  Someday I'll have to share more about this fabulous friend of mine, but until then, Thank you, Merv!

To all our peeps:

We knew you wanted to see some puppy pictures! I admit, it's been a bit more rough for me for lack of sleep, but we should be arriving on easier times very soon. We seem to have a suspiciously large yellow male pup. We think he keeps eating other puppies. Seriously, he's huge. We, as in Bella, also has a "size impaired" yellow male pup. He's a cutie and seems to do just fine, but is about half the size of "Brutus." Yes, that's what I call the ginormous one. The rest seem to be within the realm of average and are squealing a lot, trying to bark, and generally eating as often as their momma will hang out in their den.
Elmer Fudd has arrived this winter. Fortunately, Rowdy has befriended him and has proven himself invaluable in retrieving the "harey" beast. It's a good thing Elmer is wearing his camo. He doesn't stand out at all, huh?!
Tonight we relived Thanksgiving Dinner by cooking up our turkey that Pat won at the men's turkey shoot, and all the fixin's! I did have to call my sister and get my niece, Sydney's recipe for her berry pie. Its secret ingredient that I will reveal to you all, is the white chips put on top when the pie comes out of the oven! YUMMY! Thank you Sydney! Pat loved it!

Denali Camping

Once upon a time, a girl took her dad to the mountains to camp! They found a lovely site, though only after taking a drive through every spot possible. She was planning ahead and though the weather was lovely, she advised that they erect a tarp over the table, just in case (which turned out to be a wise decision).


As was typical in their growing up years, this campsite also was near water, sort-of. It was a small hike down to the creek, but on the way back, the discovery of blueberries made it fabulous!
Breakfast had always been a specialty of Dad's, so it was still given to him to fix.

We saw the road we would be traveling the next day on the 3-D map at the Visitor's Center. I was glad I took the photo since I referred back to it often on the trip! The trip had quick results on the wildlife viewing. The bus driver's told us that our command to stop and look was a simple "STOP!" It happened quickly, and it was a sign of things to come.

Did I mention we were in a fairly typical school bus? The seats were much nicer and the ride was pretty smooth, but still...we drove on this road in a bus. Oh, and there were other buses going the opposite direction that required one bus to stop while the other passed. Yeah, no guardrails, steep grade down to the abyss. In a bus.
Back to the wildlife! We saw so many bears. There were sows with cubs several times, and a really pretty Toklat (blonde) boar. I took many buffalo pictures, but refrained from sharing. If you don't know what buffalo pictures are, ask me or any of my family!
My eyes, as usual, were glued to the binoculars. Dad followed suit, especially when we tried to see the Dall Sheep. I tried to take a picture, and though you can see the white blur, it just didn't do it for me. We did see many sheep on several occasions, and we had some close encounters with the caribou. A couple of them chose to walk the road in front of us. This one paused for a nice photo op. I think he was posing.

Wow! What a sight! Never mind the slight crease to the left of the mountain.

O.K. Seriously, the clouds were pretty heavy, so despite all the wildlife sighting, there was no mountain sighting. The picture below is what we actually saw. I was standing where my height dictated to see the mountain where it was outlined on the window. Can you see the slight outline of the peaks? The picture below this one is what we were supposed to see on a clear day. Oh well.
We capped our Denali trip off with a moose steak dinner cooked on charcoals. As much as this may amaze y'all, this was my first time cooking on charcoal. I did have a bit of help, and it turned out perfectly. My mouth is watering again. Apparently it is supper time again...

The weekend was deemed a success, as it didn't rain until the last night. Fortunately, the tarp kept the table dry for our breakfast. The trip finished with a visit to the kennels and then back home.

Gluten Free Blog!

Hey, just for all of you whom we may visit, I've started a blog that will have "normal" recipes that are naturally gluten-free. I'm hoping to include most of our regular meals, and then those that I experiment with. Most of these are likely to be relatively simple since I don't like to cook! I've found lots of other blogs with really fancy recipes, but I have a real lack of ingredients up here! I know that there are friends of yours out there that also struggle with Celiac or may just have a wheat allergy. Feel free to pass along the blog site. If you have recipes that you'd like me to include, I'm up for that as well. I have a link on my blog roll. Thanks!

The Biscuit Man!

Pat's teaching Tony the in's and out's of fabulous buscuit making!

YUMMMMM!

After the Feast, more Food!

This is our interim Pastor, Keith Randall displaying all the fabulous left-over pies! A bunch of us got together Friday night after the Kenai Electric Lights Parade and Fireworks at the Randalls house to unload the pie left-overs and enjoy more fellowship!
Justice is a cutie-patootie! He is the oldest son of our friends Aaron and Stacy, and their youngest boy, Keagan, is passed around often and below is being held by Maureen! It's all fun! This is more of the Alaska-family that has helped us while we miss our Outside-families!

YUMMY!

My Sister-in-law, Lesli, posted a recipe for these FABULOUS "Tostadas Ode to Carlita" and we tried them this weekend! If you haven't tried them, you need to! She's created a new staple for our menu! Go to "Lesli's Blog" on the right and scroll down to get her recipe - its very yummy! Thanks, Les for passing it on!

He is Smokin'!!

Monday night I came home to the smell of something sizzling! Pat made this smoker at work over the spring and brought it home the other day. (He unloaded it himself and consequently, the 1/4" steel plate box was bent slightly as it was the piece that hit the ground first out of the truck!) Let me tell you that it cooks/smokes just fine! This chicken was absolutely mouth watering! He thought it wasn't as good because of the charcoal and not wood fire. I thought it was great! Where the charcoal is sitting is also where the grill function can be utilized! You didn't think that we'd go without a smoker/grill here did you?!! Oh, yeah, in the background you can see our new canoe hanging over our car!! It's an Old Town Penobscot 16, for you canoe enthusiasts! It's 22 lbs. lighter than our Coleman! We'll take better pictures when it's out on some water! Should be soon! I hope to get our pics of the last trip soon, but we'll be out on another back-country trip this weekend! A little more back than the last time! We'll be breaking in the net!