Night at the Museum

We went to the Anchorage Museum on Saturday night for a "Journey to the Stars" at the planetarium.  It made me think about how I wanted to be an astronaut when I was younger. I LOVED looking at the stars and knew quite a few constellations (courtesy of Mr. Stu Edmonds).  I had an "Astronaut Troll" in my collection. It had hot pink hair coming out of it's space suit. Pretty funny. (Found it online!!)

The planetarium was nerdy fun and then we went out for dinner/drinks with the Honas posse.

Roar. Did I mention that I have a bear skin rug arriving in a couple months?

I'm still trying to learn how to use my new camera. It's way way more complicated than my last one. Good thing I have a camera lesson tomorrow!

Here's some more backyard pics.

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Huebel House Trivia

So my household hasn't been running on all cylinders today. Here's a trivia question for you...

Which of the following Huebel's is sick and which one is injured?

a) Roma

b) Ross

If you guessed that Roma was on the injured list and that Ross is sick. You guessed it correctly!

Get better little family!!

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You know it's cold when...

According to THIS article, the Anchorage average January temperature has been 2.7 degrees F so far. WHAAAA!! At a closer inspection of our backyard, there are definitely signs of the kinda winter it has been.

You know it's been a harsh winter when:


A tree looks like this.

The fence blows down multiple times...

There's an icicle farm on your roof.

The pup doesn't want to go out to potty OR put her paws on in the snow.

Only 60 more days of winter! 60 is a very small number... right?

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Snowy Bliss

Here's some "snowy bliss" pictures captured from our back deck. Sunlight is finally coming back!

And, on another note. here's what we did tonight and why I'm very tired right now! ...

Ross's team had a late "Invite your spouse" holiday dinner.  The food was better than either Ross or I expected,  abeit a bit cold.

Sea Scallops

My steak was cooked medium rare, just how I like it.

Yes, that is a chocolate spoon sporking the flourless chocolate cake.

So much beer at this "tasting", I was having trouble keeping up! The stout oatmeal finisher was my favorite!

Sleep. E. Time

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Cashew Chicken

Quick weeknight meal alert!

So this meal wasn't the best Indian dish ever, HOWEVER this recipe is so much healthier!  We hadn't made Indian food in awhile, so it was a much welcomed change-- we really enjoyed the textures and flavors. The raisins and nuts give the sauce a nice crunch, while the brown rice on the bottom helped soak up the sauce. If we make again, I do want to find a way to bring up the spice level a bit :)

Kickin’ Cashew Chicken

(Recipe Curtsey of THIS blog)

Author: Pinch of Yum

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Total time: 25 mins

Serves: 4 

 

Ingredients

• 2 medium onions
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1/2 cup cashews
• 1 tablespoon garam masala
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon plain yogurt
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 lb. cubed raw chicken breasts
• 1/4 cup golden raisins
• 1/2 cup fresh chopped cilantro
• 1 1/4 cup water

Instructions

1. Peel and quarter the onions. In a food processor, process the onion pieces for about 1 minute or until a smooth puree forms. Add the next 8 ingredients (through oil) to the onion mixture and process for another 1-2 minutes.
2. In a heavy pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Pour the spice mixture from the food processor into the pan and fry for 2 minutes. The lightly cooked spices will start to give off a nice aroma.
3. Add the cubed chicken breast, half of the cilantro, and the golden raisins. Stir-fry for another 1 minute.
4. Add the water and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook over low heat for about 10 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Serve over rice and garnish with remaining cilantro or cashew pieces.

Notes

I like the sauce to have some texture so I don’t process it all the way (check out the texture in the pictures).
I love cilantro and spices, and these amounts reflect my preferences. If you’re hesitant, reduce the amounts. (And actually, the sauce is not all that spicy. There are lots of flavorful spices, but it’s not firey-hot-get-me-a-glass-of-water spicy.)
For a more veggie friendly dish, add broccoli, peppers, potatoes, or peas!

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Center Piece

Can you tell me what's out of place in the following pictures?

Did you find it?

Could you tell it was a boy party?

Ross hosted a Poker night last weekend for some of his co-workers. I made lots of sweets, including oatmeal raisin cookies, triple chocolate chip cookies, pecan pie cake bars, and white chocolate covered pretzels. (The grey one kept eyeing the goodies). I'm guessing the pretzels were a hit because they were almost gone when I got home :) Ross diligently smoked ribs out on the smoker even though it was -something outside. Now that's dedication folks. 

But that's not the picture I was referring too. 

Did you see the table decoration? Right next to the chips and salsa? 

BEAR SKULL???!

Ross got the bear skull back from the bear he shot last hunting season. What do you do with a bear skull? Why, use it as a center piece of course!!!

Oh my, oh my.

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Beer and Barley Wine Festival 2012

On Friday night we went to the 2012 Great Alaskan Beer and Barley Wine Festival. Charles made us some pretty awesome pretzel necklaces for the event-- they were a big hit.

Kelley, Jordan, Liz

Kirsty.

Vintage Kirsty.

Kirsty Going in for a pretzel!

 

So silly.

Kelley

Ross, doing some taste testing for his next brew.

Ok, so Reed and Catherine in the background make this picture even better.

Lifesize "Kelley and Liz" beer. 

Picture? Say What?!

Team building.

Lot'o'Fun.

By the way, it snowed all day, but it's warming up... Time to get the snowboards ready!

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Movie Review

Ross and I subscribe to Netflix and probably watch 1-2 movies a week. It's fun to watch a movie in the middle of the week, just because you can. We used to have the live streaming AND the dvd rental... But the internet is slow at our house and Netflix really messed up a couple months ago (remember the Quickster/price hike annoucement from the CEO?) so we quit the streaming service.

Here's a list of movies I've seen lately and my overall score.

Moneyball
Starring Brad Pitt. Story based on Oakland A's coach Billy Bean and his novel approach to recruiting with a limited budget. Ross and I both really enjoyed this one.
Score: A

The Ides of March
Starring George Clooney and Ryan Gosling. Story about the unseen side of working for a politician- good, bad, and the ugly. It doesn't make you wanna get involved in politics that's for sure.
Score: A-

Crazy Stupid Love
Starring Steve Carrel and Ryan Gosling. It's a romantic comedy with a half original storyline. However, I got quite a few laughs during this one. I watched it on the airplane and actually laughed out loud a couple times.
Score: B

Hangover 2
Starring Brad Cooper and the rest of the gang. I loved Hangover 1, but I really didn't like this one all that much at all. It seemed to be lacking the originality of the first.
Score: C

Water for Elephants
Starring Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson. The book was amazing; there's just no way for the movie to fill those kind of shoes. I just didn't buy the onscreen chemistry between the two main characters and it was palpable in the book. MUST read the book!!
Score: B

The Help
Now I know the main character has won some awards for her role, but I (again) didn't like the movie near as much as the book. Quite a few details to the story were just left out. Apparently I'm the only one who didn't the acting was superb.
Score: B+

Larry Crowne
Starring Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. Can you say quirky chick flick? This is a feel good movie about finding happiness in the recession.
Score: B-

Captain America
Don't bother!!
Score: D

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Taste the Rainbow

I'm really trying to get my 7+ hours of sleep tonight.

ZZZZzzz :)

In the meantime, here's some cold landscape shots for your enjoyment!

so long!

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Cold Cabin

Big take-away from our weekend: when it's below -20 you can't stay outside for very long which means that you end up playing a LOT of card games :)

Here's some pictures from our 30 minute trip outside. That doesn't include the many trips to the outhouse (or nature's house if you prefer). Potty is especially fun in the middle of the night. Oh, it conjures up fond memories of Girl Scouts...

Can you find me?

In the middle of the lake we came upon this scene. It looked like a truck was plowing a road on the lake and the front end fell through the ice some time ago. There was evidence the owners tried pretty hard to pull it out, to no avail.

The Boeger's.

Fun in the sun'n'snow!

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