Bears and Beards

Because Ross's week was more interesting than my week on the slope, I'm featuring some of the pictures from the "Sheep'N'Bear 2011" hunt.

I came home to a bearded mountain man, that I barely even recognized. Look how cute...

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Minus 2

Well, the Alaska sheep count is one less than it was a couple days ago...

Erik-- Look at that FULL curl!

The same goes for the bear count...

I have a new rug in the works. I've always wanted a bear rug- the friendly kind with the mouth closed. DONE! Very exciting.

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Milne Point Camp

I feel like I've been out in the wilderness for the past 8 days and I kind of have. I've been filling in as an Optimization Engineer at the Milne Point camp (Milne is the same field I've been working, just normally from a comfy desk in Anchorage). Anyhow, it is finally (FINALLY) my last day and it's time to head home. I'm soooo ready. There's a couple amenities I'm really missing.



Here's my top 10 list of things I'm NOT going to miss...



1. Going into the shared bathroom (jack and jill style) and constantly wondering if someone else will come through the opposite door at the exact same time. Embarrassing?!

2. The toilet seat is in the up position every time I use the restroom. Not ok.

3. Waking up and hitting my head on the low hanging shelf above my bed

4. Dropping my underwear in the hallway as I make my way to the laundry room down the hall

5. Waking up at 4:30 in the morning

6. Having to prepare for a 5:30 meeting

7. Working 12+ hours a day

8. Extremely limited internet AND cell phone reception

9. Having to eat whatever the chef makes that day. Burger Friday? Chinese Wed?

10. Putting on plastic gloves to go through the food line, getting a drink, etc.

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Dorie's Toffee Bars

I have a sweet tooth. I think we've probably established that. But moreover, I LOVE to bake. It's therapeutic for me. Like one of those stress balls they used to give us at work. Oh, and licking the bowl is my favorite :) Don't get me wrong, massages and pedicures are nice too, but they get expensive.



Anyway, I now have 2 ovens instead of 1. Which means I can a) bake twice as much or b) bake faster. I'm still working on getting the hang of the convection oven but practice makes perfect eh!?!



So in the name of practice, here are Dorie's Carmel Crunch Bars. It was late, so the picture lighting is pretty much horrendous, but it will still taste good I promise! Cinnamony, dark chocolately, toffee crunch deliciousness. Behold...

Caramel Crunch Bars

From Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

For the base: 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. instant espresso powder or finely ground instant coffee
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
2 sticks (8oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup light brown sugar
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 oz. bittersweet or premium milk chocolate, finely chopped

For the topping:
6 oz. bittersweet or premium milk chocolate, finely chopped
¾ cup Heath toffee bits

Getting
Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Lightly butter a 9x13 inch baking pan, line the pan with foil and
butter the foil. Put the pan on a baking sheet.

To make the base: Whisk together the flour, coffee, salt and cinnamon.
Working
with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or a
hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter at medium speed until
smooth, about 3 minutes. Add the sugars and beat for another three
minutes or until the mixture is light and creamy. Beat in the vanilla
and turn off the mixer. Add all the dry ingredients, cover the stand
mixer with a kitchen towel (so you and your kitchen don’t get showered
in flour) and pulse the mixer on and off at low speed about 5 times- at
which point a peek at the bowl should reveal that it’s safe to turn the
mixer to low and mix, uncovered, just until the dry ingredients are
almost incorporated. Add the chopped chocolate and mix only until the
dry ingredients disappear. If the chocolate isn’t evenly mixed, finish
the job by hand with a spatula. You’ll have a very heavy, very sticky
dough. Scrape the dough into the buttered pan and, with the spatula and
your fingertips, cajole it into a thin, even layer.

Bake for 20
to 22 minutes, or until the base is bubbly – so bubbly that you can
almost hear it percolating – and puckery. It will look as though it is
struggling to pull away from the side of the pan. Transfer the pan to a
rack and turn off the oven.

To make the topping: Scatter the
chocolate evenly over the top of the hot base and pop the pan back into
the oven for 2 to 3 minutes, until the chocolate is soft.. Remove from
oven and immediately spread chocolate over bars, using offset spatula or
the back of a spoon. Sprinkle the toffee bits over the chocolate and
press them down lightly with your fingertips. Place the baking pan on a
rack to cool to room temperature.

If, by the time the bars are cool, the chocolate has not set, refrigerate them briefly to firm the chocolate.
Carefully
lift out of the pan, using foil edges as handles, and transfer to a
cutting board. Trim the edges if they seem a bit thick. Cut about 54
bars, each about 2 inches by 1 inch, taking care not to cut through the
foil.

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Guess who turns 4??!

Happy Birthday Miss Roma!!!

Yep, Roma turns 4 years old today. Hard to believe she's so grown up! I would say she's gotten older AND wiser, but she grabbed something off the counter while she was home alone the other day. Not a good pestie. But we love her <3

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Orange Blueberry Muffins

Made these Dorie muffins for Ross and they're definitely worth a try! Most of the ingredients are pantry items, making it an easy recipe to throw together on the weekend...

New DOUBLE ovens :)

CONVECTION!

Just right.

The granulated sugar adds the right amount of crunch.

The orange citrus flavor works surprisingly well with the blueberries. I used frozen blueberries because that's all I had, but I imagine fresh berries would make these even more delectable.



Here's a copy of the recipe"



Orange Berry Muffins (From Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home To Yours)Makes 12 regular muffins or 24 mini muffins
Grated zest and juice of 1 orange

about 3/4 cup of buttermilk (you will combine orange juice and buttermilk to make 1 cup of liquid)

2 large eggs

3 tablespoons honey

1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1/3 cup sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup blueberries - fresh or frozen, not thawed



Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare muffin pan with either spray or paper liners.



Pour orange juice into glass measuring cup or a bowl and pour in enough buttermilk to mjake 1 cup. Whisk in the eggs, honey and melted butter.



In a large bowl, rub the sugar and orange zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of orange is strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry mixture and a whisk or spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. The matter may be lumpy and bubbly and that is the way it should be. Stir in blueberries. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.



Bake for 22-25 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

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iPhone pictures

Have you ever been at the office till 9pm? Well, now I can put a check in that box.



Moving on...



I just recently uploaded pictures from my iPhone, which I rarely do. Here are a couple of my favorites:

Roma watches TV with Dad. Look at how she's sitting!

Miss Hailey gave me a knuckle sandwich to the left cheek.

A HOMEMADE get well card from my buddy...

Quilt scene of Denali, at Denali.

 

I would say, Roma appears to be the most popular iPhone subject by far...

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Skinny Raven Half Marathon

I FINISHED!!



I don't know why, but I decided to do another half marathon and on a whim I signed up for it a couple months ago. BUT, because Alaska summers are so much fun I didn't do much training, instead I was fishing and hiking. Right up until the week before the race, I really wasn't sure if I was going to do it. But I did. And I'm so glad I did because the weather was gorgeous. I ran the whole thing, and that was my main goal. On another note, I'm going to need to have a word with the race planners because there was a steep hill at the very end, with about .2 miles left. Who does that? Cruelty.



I finished the 13.1 miles in 1:52, which is about the same as I finished the Houston half. The "official" times are posted here and race photos should be posted this week.

 Here's a look at the route:





Now some R&R. Wait, I have to work tomorrow...

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Kitchen Update

So, our kitchen is mostly done. I say mostly because we ran into a snafu and aren't able to grout our backspash. The Formica counter was installed in 2 pieces and the "dye lot" between them is slightly different, so at the seam one side looks lighter than the other. And, a Formica representative must come out to assess before new counters can be ordered. Lovely. So we are going to have an "almost done" kitchen for quite awhile, which is a bummer, but it's only a backspash...

 

Doesn't the new vent hood and glass tile look good? Ross (and Dad Huebel) did an excellent job!

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Texas 4000 Pt 2

I wanted to share some additional pictures of the Texas 4000 event.

Grill Master Ross, cooking up lots of salmon!

 

The All-important Dessert table. I contributed the oatmeal raisin, PB bars, M&M cookies, Marble Cheesecake, and the Toffee bars. 

Bon Apetite!

Texas Exes Engineers

Texas Exes Alaska Chapter + Riders

Texas Ex "BPers"  and riders.

Riders only

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Thai Beef Salad v2.0

I had the page for Thai Beef Salad in Cooks Illustrated earmarked for a couple weeks, so it was high time we tried it out once we got our stove top installed. It turned out to be really good :) The salad includes some spice from serrano chiles, coolness from fresh mint/cilantro, citrus from lime juice, bite from sliced shallots... all served over crisp cucumber slices.

I wish I had the recipe to share with you all, but Cooks Illustrated is really strict about online distribution of recipes and I can't find it online without a subscription. If you don't have Cooks Illustrated already and you like to cook, I would definitely recommend getting the magazine or online subscription! (This was not a paid advertisement :) )

On another note, I got 4 cavities filled today... I was dreading this dentist trip a full 24 hours in advance. The novicane puffed up my cheeks for a couple hours at least. It made dinner with friends all the more exciting.

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Texas 4000

Would you believe it if I said that there's a group of UT students that bike from Austin, TX to Anchorage, AK during their summer break to raise cancer awareness??



It's true... AUSTIN TO ANCHORAGE!!!! The event is called the Texas 4000. You can read more about it HERE.



When the riders finish in Anchorage, they are greeted by their friends and family and the Texas Exes Alaska Chapter hosts a cook-out to honor them.

Family & Friends. Each rider had a poster.

Texas Exes Alaska Chapter

Family/Friends await the riders.

The riders were led in by a Firetruck.

We MADE IT!

These kids could EAT!

Ross and I.

I recognized my Organic Chemistry teacher, Professor Iverson! He came up to Anchorage to support his daughter, Alanna, at the finish line.

Catherine and I.

There were a lot of people who did so so much work to put this event together. Ross and I tried to pitch in where they needed help, which included the baking department AND the grill. We've got some expertise in those areas and no, I was not the grill master...

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