Another Roll Your Own Party!

These are the BEST parties. Basically I invited my foraging friends over for a "Roll Your Own" party, SUSHI that is. I supplied the space, we were 9 adults and 12 children, sushi wrappers, rice (sort of-heh), fresh salmon, and sauce makings. I asked my friends to bring what they like in sushi. We had cucumbers, spicy tuna, scallops, fresh salmon caviar, spicy mustard greens, wasabi, avocado and carrots. We used 20 sheets of nori and when we ran out of it we started making nigari and then rice balls. In the end we mixed a bowl of leftovers in to a salad and had a big plate of leftover veggies to munch on too. It was quite a feast with friends.

The children were a little feral but they usually are around these parts and some pretty great foam sword fights were had before dinner was ready.

After the party I knew I had to buckle down and get the gravlax curing, fresh salmon is only fresh for so long. I made a double batch because I discovered how well it freezes last year. Now I'll have lox ready to eat this winter whenever I want! Now I need to figure out what to do with the rest of the salmon. I'm thinking of smoking half of it and freezing the rest in to dinner size pouches.

I discovered something unfortunate about my camera, I'm afraid to use it sometimes. I took it on our camping trip and left it in the truck the whole time except to take 3 pictures! I missed so many fantastic shots but I was worried it would get wet or dropped in the sand or crushed in some random boy moment.

I did get this shot of our camp set up though. We were attempting to get out of the wind and rain with our tarp city. Have you ever squeezed 11 people in to such a small space? It was kind of humid in there when the smoke wasn't burning your eyes out. Jack, Dan and Stephanie the other 2 pictures can be purchased for a NOMINAL price or they will be published here in one week. Remember the talk of chest waders? Yeah, I thought so. Pay up people! On the other hand if someone WANTS to see those pictures here...name your price. HA!

Peace and Love--

Did you miss me?

Yes it's true we took a vacation, oh wait not a vacation a fishing trip. A down and dirty get in, get out fishing trip. We were gone about 36 hours total and it consumed about 3 days with prep work and clean up. I was so tired tonight when we decided to watch Mary Poppins I fell sound asleep until the credits rolled.

We drove to Kenai and went dipnetting, which is basically standing chest deep in the ocean at the mouth of the Kenai river with a GIANT fishing net. As the fish swim upstream they swim in to the net and you quickly and gracefully exit the water and easily remove the fish. OK that's lie, it's impossible to gracefully waddle out of the surf in neoprene chest waders with your jeans and long underwear on. Add the impossibility of actually walking out of the ocean without it sucking you back in and some well placed sinking mud holes and you soon realize there is just no way to look cool. So while you waddle, pray that your neoprene don't really have a hole and accidentally leave two big muddy hand prints on your ass just realize that everyone else looks about the same.

We caught fish! I think 15 was our final count. Less than last year but we still have fish from last year to use up so 15 feels like a good number. Tonight is our 2nd annual "Roll Your Own Sushi" party and I just can't wait. The fresh salmon in the sushi is going to be spectacular and sharing it with our friends will make it even better.

I am remiss in posting the winner of the beautiful Le Creuset 5 3/4 quart casserole. The winner is Linda who said:

Linda said...
I'm a follower of yours!

July 25, 2010 1:30:00 PM AKDT

I met Linda last year at a blogging conference and she is as sweet as pie. I'm so happy for her! Yeah LINDA!! Send me your address and I'll pass it along.

I have also not been by to visit all the Just Another Meatless Monday posts. I will be by! I just need to freeze some fish, smoke some fish, cure some fish, host a sushi party, wash every piece of clothing that smells like smoke, mow the lawn, weed whip the periphery, clean up after the geese, make yogurt, pick peas, eat mustard greens, harvest broccoli, make compost and NAP. But I will be by I promise.


Peace and Love--

Summer Updates

We've had our fair share of rain this year, I haven't watered a garden in 10 days. This is good and bad. Good because I don't have to water. Bad because we get about 3 months of summer and who wants rain for so much of it? But I choose to look on the bright side, I don't have to worry about dry, stressed plants. And oh my are they going to town.

Dahlias

Fava Beans

Sugar Snaps

Fireweed-amazing color this year, I suppose that's due to the volcano last year all the ash can really amp up the soil

Corn-struggling but hey we're in Alaska, right?

Cerinthe

ZUCCHINI-remember my shame? The shame of being an Alaska Master Gardener who can't grow zucchini? Yeah that's over, we got zucchini. I can't wait to grate some and freeze it for winter use!

The big garden

New geese for Christmas dinner

Fresh carrots

Dill a go-go

 A new flock of turkeys for sausage

Have you ever seen a baby turkey posturing like that? Crazy! They're only 4 weeks old and about the size of a cantaloupe.

Peace and Love--

Just Another Meatless Monday #22 Vegan Ribs

A vegan friend of mine on facebook posted a recipe for Vegan Barbecue Ribs the other day. I was intrigued, could you actually make something vegan and vegetarian that really felt and tasted like meat? I knew what I was making this week for Just Another Meatless Monday, Vegan Ribs. I had to try it!

Honestly my kids didn't know they were vegetarian until I told them. They were good, chewy crunchy in spots and definitely rib-like. And seriously perfect for the days after slaughtering birds when no meat is the best option for me. If you want a bit of adventure in your Meatless Monday give these a whirl, I dare you!


Vegan Barbecue Ribs
2 cups vital wheat gluten flour
1 7/8-2 cups of water
2 TBSP vegan beef broth or vegetable broth
2 TBSP nutritional yeast
1 TBSP tomato paste
2 TBSP tahini
pour the flour in a mixing bowl
add the water, broth, yeast and tomato paste
mix well
remove the dough and knead on the counter until smooth and stretchy
pat out flat and cut in to strips
rub the tahini over the strips and then place on a lightly oiled cookie sheet
bake for 20 minutes at 375˚
flip and bake another 10 or until crispy
brush with barbecue sauce the last 5 minutes or so

Also make sure you swing by and check us out on Meatless Monday, my blog made the front page, right next to Lily Allen, as a blogger on board. And it's all thanks to you, everyone of you who link up and help spread the word each and every week. So let's keep spreading the word and make this the BEST Meatless Monday link on the web! This week instead of posting just one recipe why not post an older recipe too? Or add a link back to my blog so others can join in. Or just simply participate. If you are reading this on facebook hit share and spread the word to your friends that you go Meatless on Monday. Or retweet this on twitter. Or add my turkey button to your sidebar. Lets keep the momentum going and build this bigger and better than ever.

Peace and Love--

Thrifted Sunday-A Second Hand Cat

I found two delicious pans this week at my second favorite thrift store:

And my favorite board game! My Grandmother had this game when I was little, my cousins and I  played it for hours. I have never seen one in a thrift store so I HAD to buy it. Right?

And then on to our second hand cat. He's been lurking for months now. We fed him a while back and he disappeared for 2 weeks. I was worried for those two weeks but knew he could really have been someones cat. Nevertheless I was worried.
Then suddenly Thursday there he was meowing in bluebell field, sunning himself. I ran off to get a can of cat food, fell down and damn near broke my leg trying to get to him before he ran off. I guess I didn't need to worry he hasn't left since that day. We have left him outside for the most part because he really didn't want to come in. He has faithfully stayed here on our porch and in our garage since then.

He watched while we slaughtered the nasty rooster and turkey, interested but not in the way and NOT trying to eat anything. He watched while we reorganized the birds, again interested but not in the way. He swatted the dog a couple times but only to make sure she wasn't going to bite him. Kami, the dog simply wagged her tail and smiled.

Kami is a lovely second hand dog herself and seems to love every animal we have.  Our free ranging turkeys often considered her their mama and followed her faithfully where ever she went. Last year the goose groomed her lovingly and again she smiled. She knows she has it good even when 50 pound boys try to make her pull them in the sled or she has to stay home yet again because we don't want to smell her in the truck.

Yesterday the cat finally came in the house. He'd been lying on the porch, surrounded by curious baby turkeys, studiously ignoring them. I called him in when we came home with supplies for dipnetting. He was cautious and curious. He was also hungry, we didn't realize this of course, then he stole a bag of hot dog buns from a grocery sack. This is the cat who was just moments earlier surrounded by tasty helpless turkey bites and he stole a bag of hot dog buns instead of a bird. Impressive to say the least.

So now we have a cat, named Pangur Bán after the cat from the movie Brendon and the Book of Kells. A second hand cat to hangout with our lovely thrifted dog and all the free range baby turkeys we can stand.
I have one question for anyone who has done this before: how do you train a feral cat to use a litter box? Do you need to? Do you let it in and out like a dog? How often is too often to send him out? Would we start by placing a litter box outside to use? Any advice is definitely helpful at this point.


Peace and Love--

Regime Change

Our bird count now stands at:

19 chickens

8 turkeys

6 geese (one is going home soon)

We have culled our nasty rooster and are planning on eating him soon, say as soon as the salmon meal is worked out of his system. He likes to spur young innocent children, turkeys too big to move and unguarded mamas collecting eggs with their hands too full to run. I'm thinking he will taste extra good to some little boys. It was interesting when we brought our new rooster home, he's 3 years old and mellow. It was funny to remove the original rooster and replace him with Henry, the hens our rooster picked on the most we the first and fiercest to fight the new rooster.

I am certainly not advocating cock fighting, but it was so interesting to watch them fight. Each of the most picked on hens would watch the others challenging the new rooster and when they spotted a weak moment they would jump right in. Henry is so big, he's a cochin, he couldn't quite get off the ground to fight but he would simply lay down on them or step on them until someone else stepped in to pick a fight. I truly could have watched for hours. No one seemed hurt or even really trying to hurt but more putting up a fuss over the regime change.

Then I noticed that the picked on hens became less featherless under Henry's watch. The older girls who ruled the roost don't peck the younger crew. No one is squabbling. No horny rooster was chasing the ladies down trying to get some. I do believe Henry is doing his job but in a nicer way. No one seems scared of him like they were of the other rooster, Elvis. Elvis had a bad habit of snatching at girls who were strolling by and if they didn't submit, he forced them and ripped out all kinds of feathers. For now Elvis is locked out of his old roost and is NOT pleased. Tough.


Chicken and noodles coming soon!


Peace and Love-

Lemon Mint Israeli Couscous

My husband first proposed to me over a couscous salad, to say I have a soft spot for couscous would be putting it mildly. Until recently the only couscous I could find was the small regular size couscous locally. When I was in San Francisco last year I hit Whole Foods, I like Rainbow Grocery better by the way, and bought a bag of Israeli couscous to try out. Quite a souvenir shopper hunh? I'd been wanting to try it and see if I like it as much as regular couscous but just couldn't find it up here.

What I discovered was that I do in fact LOVE Israeli Couscous as much as I love regular couscous. If you aren't familiar with couscous it is actually tiny pasta about the size of millet seed, Israeli couscous is more the size of say minute tapioca. It tastes about the same with the bigger couscous tasting a bit MORE pasta-ish but really the same. I make a killer couscous soup soup, a couple great salads and now have a new salad to add to the mix. And I have a bonus too, I can find it LOCALLY! No more trips to San Francisco just to get couscous, oh and attend blogging conferences.

Lemon Mint Israeli Couscous
2 cups dry Israeli Couscous
water
1 teaspoon salt
2 TBSP olive oil
2 TBSP lemon juice
3 TBSP snipped mint leaves
1tsp lemon zest
1 cup toasted walnuts
salt and pepper to taste

pour couscous in to a large dutch oven
add water to cover it plus one inch, add the salt
bring to a boil and reduce and simmer for 5-8 minutes until the couscous is soft
rinse the couscous under cold water until chilled or drain and refrigerate until ready to use
when ready to assemble add the rest of the ingredients stir well and refrigerate at least one hour to allow the flavor to develop
taste for salt and pepper add as desired
garnish with extra mint if desired

This photo has a spearmint leaf on it because it was close to the back door and it was raining out. I can brave 20 below zero to start the car without a coat but I can't run 30 feet to the garden for a mint leaf in the rain. hmmmm

Don't forget to enter my current Le Creuset giveaway, here. I'll be drawing a winner in one week!


Peace and Love,

Le Creuset Giveaway

I love my readers, I really really do. Why? Because you read, you comment and you inspire. I love you so much I'm going to give away more Le Creuset. I love my readers, I love Le Creuset , I think it's a perfect match. HOW?  How am I giving away more Le Creuset? The fine folks at CSN asked if I wanted to do another giveaway or review a product. I immediately chose to do a giveaway, I really don't need anything except an entire new kitchen, but that's not going to happen until we finish our remodel. HA! CSN has over 200 different stores, you can find anything from Le Creuset (and MANY other brands) to cribs to lamps to bikes. Lots of different products all in one place, awesome!

And about remodels...I pretty much don't enjoy them and we are smack dab in the middle of one. Get this, I spent the day in a small echoing room with a 4 year and 6 year running in and out shrieking and hooting to hear the echo. While I tried to sand, prime and paint my new studio space. Tried was the operative word in that sentence. I tried and it was the best I could do. Then when my husband got home we hung sheet rock, 12 foot pieces of sheet rock, no less, and even worse on the ceiling. Man those suckers are heavy but they are up now and we only have one wall left to sheet rock. Then the fun comes, yes I know, painting the floor!

This time you'll have a chance to win this gorgeous Cherry 5.75 quart casserole dish:

YUMMY!!
If you want to enter here's what you do:
#1)leave a comment telling me what kitchen products you'd get from CSN if you could pick anything you wanted
#2) leave a separate comment for being a follower
#3) another if I'm on your blog roll
#4) if you linked a Just Another Meatless Monday yesterday that earns you an entry
#5) and if you link up next week, that's another one as well

This contest will run through next Tuesday with the winner being announced on Wednesday.

I received no compensation for this giveaway.

Peace and Love-

Just Another Meatless Monday #21

I want how it is possible to have the nicest day of summer butted up against the nastiest day of summer? Two complete opposite ends of the weather spectrum within 12 hours. Perhaps if I watched tv or listened to the radio (don't listen NPR I still love you) I might have an inkling of the weather. Maybe more often than not they are wrong, so why bother? Because I might have seen the weather change coming and had a warm and cozy menu planned instead of cold pasta salad. When 3 o'clock rolled around I decided to skip pasta salad and threw some bread dough together in the kitchenaid. No real plan in mind just warm food was good enough for me.

We are working down stairs creating a studio for me, so easy had to fit in there and quick to make, too. I was washing walls in preparation for fresh paint when I thought of making hand pies, kind of a homemade version of hot pockets only better. Much better! We enjoyed a quick dinner before settling in to watch Darby O'Gill and the Little People, I love those old Disney movies, they are so much better than anything Disney is pumping out now. Somehow a special movie night on a rainy day always seem just right.

Hand Pies-makes six-eight mega hand pies
1 batch of bread dough, enough for 2 loaves
various fillings-tonight's fillings were
spinach and feta
peanut butter and jelly
other ideas include
roasted veggies and cheese
scrambled eggs
various leftovers
pepperoni and cheese
leftover steak,with cheese and peppers
basically the possibilities are endless!

gather your fillings
after the dough is done with it's first rise punch it down
divide the dough in to as many pieces as desired, smaller pieces mean smaller pies
flatten each piece in to a circle
if the dough is hard to work with let it rest for 5 minutes or so it may be easier to work with
on half of each circle layer on your fillings
fold over and crimp or pinch the edges together
when the pies are filled bake in a 375˚ oven for 20-30 minutes depending on size or
until golden brown and cooked through
cool at least 5 minutes before eating

These were a great big hit, easy to eat once cooled and delicious too. I love have something like this in my arsenal because leftovers can easily be wrapped up and made new again. I don't know about you but anyway I can use leftovers works for me.


What vegetarian delights have you been whipping up? New or old posts can be submitted, you never know what might inspire someone to go Meatless on Monday. If you want to join in simply add your link, grab the turkey button and add it back to your post(or simply link back your choice) and leave a comment. Be sure to visit and say hi to everyone participating today, it's a great way to find new to you blogs!


Peace and Love-

Thrifted Sunday

I've actually not been thrifting too much this last week. Something about too much stuff not enough room kept running through my head when I thought of stopping in. Plus we have all the new fuzzy bird babies to play with and cuddle so my time away from home is limited.

The fuzzy baby patrol:

These are a few finds I from the last couple weeks that I didn't post:

Look at this vintage Holly Hobbie fabric-7+ yards of uncut fabric!  It's hanging on the laundry line in the wind in these photos.

I love this old hand made afghan, so beautiful and so much work! It's headed for etsy pretty quick.

Vintage Nursery Kitsch! ::LOVE::

This is a great book by the Swedish Handcraft Society, lots of vintage patterns in here! Already listed on etsy.

I love this Fire Truck Sweater, I bought it for my son but it's too small for him. On to esty it went, again so much work went in to this sweater, sad to see them donated to thrift shops.

1.50 got us a HUGE stack of old fashioned thick construction paper, the new cheap stuff sold at walshmart is flimsy junk. This was possibly the best 1.50 ever spent, so much fun to be had creating things.

We buy almost all our clothes from thrift stores, we donate them back when we are done with them. When we are really really done with them, as in worn completely out, we either cut them in to rags or I make them in to braided rag rugs. This is my first creation and I almost have enough torn strips to make another one this coming winter.

And finally this gorgeous old metal tray, mid fifties I think, Florence Thomas is stamped on the back.

If you love thrifted treasures you should definitely check out:

Peace and Love--