Anticipation

I love Christmas.  I love every bit of it.  Shopping, wrapping, decorating, lights, music, warm fuzzy feelings, the Advent.  It’s all great.

So, today was the day after Thanksgiving, and in my eager anticipation for the season to begin, my morning declaration to Brian was that I either needed to start decorating or buy something.  He did not want to decorate, so I got to go shopping.  Yipee!

I didn’t go crazy.  In fact, I didn’t buy much, but I did make a trip to our friendly Fred Meyer and picked up Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaur and a cute plaid Christmas dress for Sarah.  Made me feel much better.

I am still feeling the need to start decorating.  I wonder how long Brian’ll make me hold off…

Published in:  on November 27, 2009 at 10:56 pm Comments (4)
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Things that bug me

Wet/snowy shoes on the carpet.

Food left in bowls and on plates on the counter.

My kitchen radio station changed.

Obnoxious kids whose parents don’t realize they are obnoxious.

Repetitive jazz music.

Texting while speaking face to face with another person.

 

 

 

Published in:  on November 11, 2009 at 8:30 pm Comments (1)

Salmon

One of the many, many reasons we are so fortunate to live in Alaska is access to wild Alaskan salmon.  In Fort Yukon and Circle, we were very spoiled with fresh Yukon River Kings.  Now that we’re in Fairbanks, we have been getting our fish from the Copper River.  Brian has gone to Chitina for the past two years to dip net for Reds (Sockeye).  Not as much flavor (oil & fat) as the kings, but still amazingly better than anything you’ll get in the store.  So, throughout the year, we have a ready supply of fish for meals.  I really don’t know what we would do to replace that in our diet if we were to move out of Alaska because we eat it literally once a week.

I made some broiled salmon last night and decided to make some Salmon Chowder with the leftovers.  I was looking online for a recipe for Garlic Cheese Biscuits to go with it, and while online I found that a friend had posted on her Facebook a comment about G.C. Biscuits.  How timely!  We had a quick exchange and I said that I would type up my chowder recipe for her.

Before I post it here, let me throw out a few disclaimers.  1.  I do not follow recipes well… I cook by pretty much throwing things together and adjusting as I go along.  That makes it hard to write down what I did when someone asks.  2.  This is no gourmet meal… I am a budget cook who uses what I have in my pantry and freezer.  If you happen to make it and have some ideas for me, let me know!

That being said:

Stephanie’s Salmon Chowder

3 Tbls Butter
1/2 onion diced
1 carrot diced
1 Tbls minced garlic
2 cups chicken broth
2-3 cups potato diced (usually 3 medium potatoes)
10 oz corn (one small frozen bag)
2 -3 cups leftover salmon
2 cups milk
1 tsp. oregano
salt and pepper to taste
thicken with flour & water mixture.

Saute the onions, carrot, and garlic in butter until the onion is transparent.
Pour in chicken broth and add potatoes and corn.  Bring to boil and then cook for 10 minutes.  Add salmon, milk, and seasonings, bring back to boil and then add flour mixture to thicken.  Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

You could use a can of creamed corn instead of frozen corn.  I just always have corn in the freezer, so it’s on-hand.  You could also use canned salmon, but it won’t taste as good (unless maybe you’re using your own jarred salmon from this year’s catch).

Published in:  on November 8, 2009 at 8:55 pm Comments (2)
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Colored pasta

The boys have been wanting to use glue a lot lately when we’re doing artwork.  I have been reluctant, but finally made some colorful pasta for them to use.  It’ll be a gluey mess, but they’ll love it.  I used the pasta that we had in our pantry – spirals, bowties, and some penne, but pretty much any kind could be dyed and used.

To make colored pasta for artwork:

Put a small amount of rubbing alcohol in a gallon size bag – about 1-2 tablespoons.  Drop in about 10-12 drops of food coloring.  Throw in some pasta and shake it up.  Dump it out onto newspaper and let dry.  Add NO water – this will make your pasta sticky and it’ll be a mess.  It’ll dry pretty fast.

Published in:  on November 7, 2009 at 9:07 pm Comments (1)

Just say no?

As I was sitting here reading Brian’s blog today, I watched my next door neighbor walk into his special spot – his pot smoking spot.

My sister and I have laughed about how much Nancy Reagan’s Just Say No campaign and the warning that you could DIE the first time you tried drugs impacted us as teens.  Neither of us have ever tried them.  Until I moved up to Alaska, I still had it in my head that if you did drugs you were a “druggie,” and your life was headed for disaster.  Now, that is probably true in most cases, but I do recognize that marijuana is surprisingly accepted and used recreationally – especially up here where full legalization of marijuana hits the ballots every few years.

We have not been big television watchers, but have enjoyed Netflix over the past few years.  We have enjoyed several of the HBO series, but after seeing all that we wanted to see, we were looking for something new.  I read briefly about Weeds and thought that it sounded interesting.  I watched a season or two, but have since stopped.  It was just way too morally corrupt – but somehow the Sopranos passed my bar… hmmm… I digress.  So anyway, it has had me thinking about marijuana.

I visited the parent of one of my daughter’s friends recently and saw tacked on the wall their medical marijuana license.  I was pretty surprised.  When I asked my daughter if she knew about she said that she did and that the parent smokes in a special room in the house.  Wow.

And then there’s my neighbor.  It was mid-winter last year when I walked out and smelled it for the first time.  I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from, but smelled it on several occasions.  There is a rental house near ours with college students in it, so I just assumed that it was coming from there.  But then my daughter was outside one day and found him lighting up on his back porch.  Since then, it’s become a regular occurrence.  During the summer, he sat outside in a screen room, now he goes into a shed.  He even mentioned to me that he drinks less because he smokes more, which he thinks is healthier.  I don’t know if that’s true, but it’s interesting to me that he can speak so freely about it without knowing my thoughts on the issue.

So, you may be wondering, what is my point here?  Why am I writing this?  I’m not sure.  Just thinking about it.

Published in:  on November 5, 2009 at 4:14 pm Comments (4)
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Oops

Well, I missed my first day in NaBloPoMo. Bummer. I intended to do it last night, but I got distracted moving into my new MacBook. After several hours of transferring data, I all of my info is now on the new computer, and I’m lovin’ it.
Sorry NaBlo… I’ll post twice today.

Published in:  on at 11:14 am Comments (2)

The man

For any new readers that may stumble across my blog on the NaBloPoMo randomizer let me say that being a stay at home mom means that the majority of my posts will have to do with motherhood.  I do believe that there is much more to me than that, but day in and day out, I am neck deep in kids – from preschoolers/toddlers upon waking and a teen who is only in bed minutes before me.

That being said, here’s my mom story for the day…

For MONTHS we’ve been working on getting the boys to say their whole name.  They are both really good at their first and middle names, but they seem to always leave off the last name.  I’ve told them that it’s important to know in case they ever get lost or can’t find me in a store.  So, today, while outside building a snowcave, Tobias says (completely out of the blue), Mommy, if I ever get lost, I’m gonna tell the man, “My name is Tobias J.”    The man, I wonder where he got that and what made him think of it while we were shoveling snow…

Published in:  on November 3, 2009 at 10:50 pm Leave a Comment

Ermine

When we were living in Circle, we had an ermine that made its way into the house and visited on a number of occasions.  Jacob does not have a memory of it, but has seen pictures which he does remember.  This Halloween, the Museum of the North at UAF had had an event in which they opened their labs for tours.  The mammal lab had some dried ermine on display.  I pointed these out and reminded Jacob of the one that was in our house. He was only mildly intersted since there were large whale bones looming behind the measly little weasel.

Jacob, though, stores things away and amazes us on a regular basis making connections that surprise and impress us.  This morning, he asked to see the photos of the “ermine that lived under the stove”. I pulled out the computer and showed him.  He asked a couple of questions and then went back to playing.  When I found him later, he had built a “house” in his closet with a stove that had an ermine living in it.  Out front of his house was his garden with flowers that the ermine was eating.  He described the scene with incredible enthusiasm and detail.

While Tobias is the hilarious one-liner who gets all the glory on Facebook status updates,  Jacob is thoughtful, creative, and often intense.  It’s so fun to listen to him create and explore – just harder to share in short spurts or quotes.  So, if you’re a blog reader, you’re likely to read more about Jacob here and think that he’s my favorite.  If you’re a Facebook reader, it would probably seem Toby is the charmed favorite.  Rest assured, we love all three immensely and try hard not to play favorites.

Published in:  on November 2, 2009 at 12:05 pm Leave a Comment

NaBloPoMo ‘09

I should commit.  I don’t know that I have the creative energy this year though.

Published in:  on November 1, 2009 at 12:06 pm Comments (1)