Alaska to Washington - Day 2

Our second day on the road took us from Tok, Alaska across the Canadian border and all the way to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory.

Sights along the way included flowers, a border crossing, bears, a lynx and 2 babies, more mountains, Kluane lake, and remnants of a forest fire from the 1950s.

Moving from Alaska to Washington. Day 1

We got a very late start since we were actually packing up, cleaning, and leaving our house in Alaska.

We left at 6:00pm and arrived in Tok, Alaska at midnight.

Sights along the way, Matanuska glacier, a moose crossing the road, trumpeter swans, crooked black spruce trees and lots of scenery.

A belated happy 4th of July!

Photo Friday

Since I have not posted in so long - and only once this year - this will be an extra long Photo Friday post. Lots of photos. Enjoy!

My Valentine's "bouquet."

Blueberries were on sale this week and they were GIANT!

My sweet doggies just love playing in the new snow.

Neptune & Panda

Snowing again today. Usually in the distance you would see mountains.

More wrestling.

Kind of artsy. Melted snow (water droplets) on the car window - my mom's house in the background.

Another one of the water with a large birch tree in the background.

My mom's cat Willow. I've been visiting her while my mom is on vacation.

Photo Friday

 

Two photos for this chilly Alaskan Friday. 

My dog Panda LOVES the cold weather! Any time it is below 20° she begs to go outside and hang out. She doesn't even mind when it is below zero. Crazy husky girl.

It was -3° at one point today. This morning the sky was bright but there was a big cloud bank moving in. The mountain you see here is nearly 6,400 feet tall.

Photo Friday

My poor neglected blog. I know it's not Friday but I had to go ahead and post this. It has been almost a month since Halloween and I'm just now getting around to sharing these photos. They have actually been in my drafts folder for almost that long and I just completely forgot they were there.

Our vet's office and local newspaper had Halloween pet photo contests, so I entered a couple of photos. I thought this one turned out cute. That is Neptune in the front (a grape) and Panda in the back (a pumpkin but she had already ditched the hat). They are pretty good sports about it all.

Sometime in the last couple of years Neptune started barking and attacking the vacuum, and broom, and mop. He's not picky. Here he is waiting for the vacuum to make its move.

This last one is a little hard to make out, but there is thick heavy frost on all the trees. This was a few weeks back as well. We've had a cold winter so far, but no real snow.

National Dog Day! {belated post}

 

We took Neptune and Panda to the park for National Dog Day and played Frisbee. Well actually Neptune plays Frisbee, Panda just plays "chase Neptune" until she gets tired of running then she wanders off and checks out the grass and flowers at the edge of the cut grass.

Later that evening they had "Frosty Paws" ice cream treats.

Two Bentos, a Dog, and a Mountain

Pretty February Sky

Backyard looks like a glacier

 The last few weeks we've had some interesting weather. One day -25°F. Four days later +40°F. We have a ton of snow on the ground. Some of the snow has been blown into drifts by the fierce winds we frequently have (gusts 50-80 mph are not uncommon). Last night we had freezing rain. Our front yard is buried in 3' of snow and the top is perfectly glassy smooth like ganache from the rain and then freezing again. One plus from this weather was a happy day for Panda earlier this week. She realized if she stood on top of the snow drift in the back yard she could see over the 6' privacy fence. A whole new world...

I found time to make a couple of bentos this week too!

Carrot, raisin & cream cheese roll-ups, fruit, string cheese & crackers for me. Dave's has chocolate animal crackers.

Another bento just for me. I love this box. Happy marching! Avocado & fruit in the bottom with a penguin pick to watch over the marching band, and the top filled with meat and cheese & crackers left over from the Super Bowl party.

Photo Friday: Can you say "Water Dog?"

Scenery Sunday

Thought I would share a couple of pics from today's drive. We took the dogs and drove about 12 miles to Hatcher Pass. The dogs got out and ran like crazies in the snow and I enjoyed getting out in the daylight for a few minutes. It was about 20° and we had nice sunny clear skies pretty much all day.

Neptune, closely followed by Panda.

Panda coming to get me.

Sky as we were driving back down, headed home.

Suggestions for Cookie Exchange?

I'm going to a cookie exchange at our local quilt shop next Monday night and I'm looking for the perfect recipe. Who's got the best cookie exchange recipe? We're only exchanging half dozens, rather than dozens, so I don't need a ton. I'd like something easy-ish and maybe not the norm. You know, I don't want to get there and see that everyone has made spritz cookies.

Lounging Around

A couple of weeks ago Neptune and I were lounging around watching tv (he's the black dog), when Panda decided she desperately needed to be on the couch with us. She leaped into the air over Neptune and landed here. Looks comfy, right?!

My Panda is a STAR!

A few weeks back, maybe a month, I got a fun package in the mail. Two copies of the 2011 Dog Fancy Calendar with the letter announcing my dog PANDA has made the cut and is featured on Feb. 26, 2011!

At one time or another I've entered all the dogs in the calendar and they've all made the cut. What can I say, we have adorable pups. :)

Where's the rest of my post?

The previous "scenery" post is lacking another photo and the written part describing what was going on.
We took the dogs for a walk by the Matanuska river today. The mountain in the background is Pioneer Peak. Neptune loves to chase sticks and play in the water but we have to keep to the side chutes of the river because the water is so fast moving & the whole river comes from a melting glacier 60+ miles upstream.

Recipe Review: Salmon Sweet Potato Cakes

Just the other day I was thinking of Salmon Cakes. I've never made them, and since I was raised in and currently live in Alaska, I thought it was high time I give it a go. Neptune (our 95 lb black mutt) was watching 30 Minute Meals with me and we saw this recipe and thought it looked delicious. Actually, he does watch TV with me, but his ears really perk up when the 30 Minute Meals intro starts because he loves seeing animals on TV and Rachael's dog is in the opening credits. I'm sure he wouldn't mind being a taste-tester too, but we really don't give the dogs table scraps (only fresh veggies & fruit if I'm cutting them up).

**As with all recipes, I made a few changes to suit our tastes and work with the ingredients I had on hand. Cracker crumbs were subbed with panko, wine was subbed with water, Old Bay seasoning was cut back a little, hot sauce and thyme were omitted. Fresh dill was replaced with Pampered Chef Dill seasoning. The original recipe also had a sweet and sour type relish over top that didn't really appeal to me.

I enjoyed these salmon cakes and D did too, once I told him they had sweet potato in them. They had more of a creamy texture from the sweet potato, but I may have mixed in too much of that. I cut the recipe down to make enough for the two of us and may have had some of the amounts a tad off. I will definitely make this again.

Salmon & Sweet Potato Cakes
Original recipe: Rachael Ray 

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into small chunks
Salt
3 (6-ounce) pieces salmon fillet
1 cup white wine
1 bay leaf
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon Old Bay seafood seasoning,
1 1/2 cups cracker crumbs, like Saltines
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon finely chopped thyme leaves
1 tablespoon hot sauce
2 scallions, finely chopped
3 to 4 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Cook the potatoes. Drain, then mash.
Meanwhile, put the salmon fillets in a skillet with the wine, bay leaf, and enough water to come up to the top of the fillets, but do not cover. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce heat to a simmer and poach until opaque about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the skin and transfer the salmon to a bowl. Flake the fish with a fork and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Add the mashed sweet potatoes to the bowl along with the seafood seasoning, half of the cracker crumbs, the egg, thyme, hot sauce, scallions, and dill. Mix to combine. The fish cake mixture needs to be just firm enough to mold into cakes. If its too wet, add a few more crumbs.

Form the salmon mixture into patties (4 large patties for dinner portions, or several smaller patties for bento or appetizer portions), coat in the remaining crumbs, and then add them to the pan. Cook the fish cakes until light golden, about 2 to 3 minutes on each side.

Panda loves flowers

While I was out running errands the other day this happened.

I've got a flower basket on our back fence that was safe last year. This year Panda is tall enough to reach it and help herself. I thought she might be getting close to tall enough so I decided not to put any trailing flowers in it. Good thing, she would have eaten all of them. I guess she got this flower down and ran all over the yard with it but in the end decided not to eat it. D took this pic while I was gone so there would be proof of what went down. Kinda nice to have a photo to accompany the story. :)

My supervisor

This was my Sunday evening reading material and my "supervisor"
Neptune. He must really want me to make them some treats. I found this
dog cookbook the other day at Barnes on the bargain table. It has a
TON of yummy (even for people) sounding recipes. I'm definitely going
to have to make some soon. Watch for the post.

Panda

Well, this is how sleepy my Panda is when she gets back from the kennel. They were only there 2 1/2 days while we went to Seward. She has this routine to pull a fleece blanket of hers out of the dryer when I open the door. This time that was followed by running straight to the bed with it and crashing out for a nap. I love the little pile of feet.

Photo Friday - Happy New Year!

We made it to 2010! I did more baking over the holidays than I have done in the past. It was a lot of fun. My favorite new recipe is for Gingerbread Biscotti. I must have made five batches - some to give and some to EAT! The usual kitchen "helpers" were around to supervise and scout for crumbs. Neptune usually waits at a reasonable distance. Panda on the other hand likes to be close by.