Jewel Lake Dog Park

Roma and I had a girl date at the pup park. Rome's ran around like the energetic dog that she is and I played camera. Our relationship works well.

Oh and by the way, Roma is pretty photogenic... I think it's because she's been in front of the lens since a very early age. She's a natural. :)

Ok I lie. There's usually a tennis ball involved. Bribery is bad.

Little snow on the head never hurt anyone.

See the Moose?

Dora the Explorer. 

A frozen lake is a great place for fetch!

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Korean Mandoo

I love trying food from different parts of the world, often times places from places I've never been, but hope to go someday...

Ross and I just found a great little Indian restaurant in Anchorage, based on a recommendation from a co-worker. I have a real soft spot for fresh naan and raita...

Mmmm, Naan...

Oftentimes, recommendations are the way we find our favorite restaurants, new recipes, etc.

When I think of Korean food, I think of Jim. His wife owns a Korean catering business also, I mean come on... :) So when Jim passed along this recipe for Korean Mandu, we knew we had to try it. It was surprisinly easy to make. I think the hardest part was finding wonton wrappers (which were next to the tofu at our store). We made 'em with beef, but I think pork would be divine. We'll try that the next time.

Ross making dumplings.

We made this after a day of snowboarding and it was AWESOME. It's similar to wonton soup, but there's more protein and vegetables. More nutritional value you say? I'll take it! This recipe makes enough to freeze the other half of the dumplings for another meal. Even better. Here's the recipe...

Korean Mandoo (Adapted from Jim)

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes



Ingredients:

1 lb. lean ground beef or pork

1 onion, finely chopped

1 cup finely chopped cabbage (about 1/2 of a small cabbage head), parboiled

1/2 cup tofu (1 cake), chopped

4 oz mung bean or sweet potato noodles, soaked and then chopped

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 Tbsp sesame oil

2 Tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 package circular mandoo wrappers (or Japanese gyoza or Chinese wonton wrappers)

Preparation:

In a large mixing bowl, gently combine meat, onion, cabbage, tofu, and noodles.
In a separate bowl, combine garlic, sesame oil, soy sauce, salt, and pepper
Pour seasoning mixture over meat and vegetables and mix with hands to combine
Place about 1 tablespoon of filling in the center of dumpling wrapper.
Dip your finger in water and wet the outside edge of the top half of the wrapper.
Fold the wrapper up to close and then crimp the edges.
Repeat until the filling is gone
You can steam, boil, fry, or saute the dumplings as you wish.

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Alaska Coupons

I got a coupon book in the mail yesterday. I thought I'd share some of the good ones...

The Tri-Grill Cafe now featuring Italian, Southern, and Chinese Cuisine. A 1 stop shop?!

Free Handgun with installation of a security system.

This real estate agent's slogan is, "Alaska calls me the "Milkman" because I Deliver!"

Mexican buffet in Anchorage?

My favorite is probably the handgun gift with the alarm system. Here's an alarm but just in case that falls through, here's a gun!

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My body hurts

Snowboarding is a tough sport to learn. Let me explain...

There's no graceful fall. It pretty much doesn't exist. When you fall, you WIPE OUT and it's so easy to catch your downhill edge when you're new. Kerr plunk. A couple days after-the-fact and I'm still sore. Ross and I wear the full getup of helmets and wrist guards, but geez I feel like I ran into a brick wall- also known as the ground. Face plant, done. I've had a heating pad on my neck everyday since.  Remind me to never be a football player. EVER.

Why would one partake in such a sport, you may ask...

Oh, because it's so much fun when you do get it right. One taste and you're hooked. Why ski when you can snowboard?

Strapping in. Here we go!

Anchorage city view from Hilltop, which is about 10 min from our house. It always feels steep when you're at the top of a mountain. There's only one way down!

You gotta bundle up when it's 5 degrees BEFORE going down the mountain! Ross told me to turn around and I promptly fell after the picture.

Ross getting strapped in. My camera died right after this picture and I missed his smiling mug shot.

Right after we picked up snowboarding, an acquaintance broke his wrist, so we now wear wrist guards every time.

There's a "trick" course right next to the green run we've been learning on. I'm always afraid I will wander over to the otherside of the fence by accident. Quick, slide off a rail! Wait, here's a jump! And if that's not enough how about a ramp? Thanks, but no. No way. Though you might see Ross over there one day. (He's one of those football player types-- his threshold for pain is slightly higher than mine)

We're still holding out hope we might get Mom on the bunny slope next month...

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Eklutna Lake

We took a drive to the Eklutna Lake State Park over the weekend. It was a last minute diversion, so we didn't have the proper hiking gear and we were only able to do a short walk. (Ross's tennis shoes didn't keep the snow out, I needed snowpants, and miss Roma didn't have a leash) But, we were able to see the lake surrounded by beautiful mountains. We will definitely make another trip in the future, next time with the right gear to explore!

It was such a beautiful day!

We're getting 6 more minutes of sunlight every day here in Anchorage. You better book your trip soon! :)

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Because 6 eyes are Better than 4...

Miss Roma LOVES LOVES car rides. Sometimes it's rather embarrassing because she will try to leave with our houseguests and get into their car. We let a friend borrow our flatscreen TV a couple weeks ago (super bowl party).  As we were loading the TV in the backseat of his car, roma decided she didn't want to be left out and proceeded to jump ON TOP of the flat screen. (Miraculously the TV was unscathed from this incident).

Once in the car, Roma likes to make sure Ross abides by all the proper traffic laws. She often watches the road as if she was driving too...

"Daddy, watch out for ice. Maybe you could go a little slower..."

"Did we just pass the dog park?"

 "Ok, I'm sleepy now"

We took a little car ride to Wasilla, AK and stopped to take a couple pictures, BUT the clouds didn't want to cooperate. Makes for an interesting photo!...

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North Slope

Do you know what the North Slope is?
Hint: I'm not referring to a clothing company...

I'm talking about THE North Slope, the most Northern coast of Alaska. This is a map of the North Slope Oil Fields:

 

Can you see where the map says "Milne Point"? That's where I was for the past week. See where the map says "Prudhoe Bay"? That's where Ross was last week. 

Here's the room I stayed in. 2 rooms are connected to a shared bathroom. I had to share with a guy, but he was a day sleeper so on the opposite schedule. Wasn't too bad.

Another room shot.

Milne Point Operations Center.

Another shot of the facility. The Central Processing Plant is located in the back of the sleeping quarters.

It's so cold that people leave their trucks on all day. For overnights, there's plugs in the front grill to plug in the engine block heaters. See the cords hanging down in front of the trucks?

There is a full-time round the clock crew to keep the roads clear. Some of the huge equipment I've only seen on "Build it Bigger" on TV.  The orange "delineators" are road markers that help keep people on the road during extreme storms.

It was -27 degrees. Coldest weather I've ever been in. It actually hurts your throat to breathe.

All bundled up. Let's go make some oil!

Daytime Moon.

 

Sunset Pipeline.

Caribou feeding on tundra.

Another caribou.

It is so desolate out there! It's such a strange feeling being in such a remote place. At certain times of day you can't tell where the sky meets the horizon because they're the same color. The North Slope is basically just a snowy desert, so the air sucks the moisture from you. Lotion and water are crucial.

It was a great getaway from the office for a couple days, but I'm not going to be trying to make a habit of rotating up there every 2 weeks :)

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Date Night

As always, Ross and I celebrated Valentine's Day, you guessed it,... NOT on V-day. We had an excellent meal at Marx's. The owner was there, serving up delicious tableside ceasar salad. It was (hands down) THE BEST ceasar salad both Ross and I have ever had. At $13.50 per person it also rings in as the most expensive starter salad I've had. Good thing it was amazing...

Happy boy. We both had some intense garlic breath after this one.

 My herb-crusted salmon was flown in earlier that day. So fresh!

Ross went for the red meat, with lamb chops over saffron risotto. 

We usually skip the restaurant desserts and go home for some cookies'n'ice cream. yum.

I love date nights... especially the company :)

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