Sour Cream Cranberry Rye Bread

This turned out pretty yum! We put some of R.'s pluot jam on the bread and ate it with the last of the king crab Bob brought back from Nome in July. The rye-cranberry combo is very similar to a lingonberry bread we found at Ikea this summer. The ground cranberries are subtle and only add a perfumey taste to the rye. The recipe says make two loaves. I made three and let it rise on our soapstone wood stove while we were out skiing.

1 c. warm water
2 pkgs. (2 scant tbsp.) dry yeast
1 c. sour cream
1 tbsp. salt (!!! I used 1 teaspoon)
1/2 c. molasses
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. cloves
2 c. fresh cranberries, ground
3 c. rye flour
4 1/2 to 5 c. unbleached flour

In a large mixer bowl dissolve yeast in warm water. Add sour cream, salt, molasses, sugar, allspice, cloves, cranberries and rye flour. Blend together on low speed, then beat at medium speed for 5 minutes. Add enough bread flour to make a soft dough.

Knead for 5 minutes. Place in greased bowl; cover; let rise until double in bulk. Punch down. Divide into 2 equal parts and let rest, covered, for 10 minutes. Grease 2 (9 x 5 inch) loaf pans. Shape each piece of dough into a loaf and place in pan; cover and let rise until double in size.

Bake at 375 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes until deep golden brown. If loaves become too brown, cover loosely with foil during last 10 minutes of baking. Remove from pans immediately and cool on wire racks. Brush with butter while still warm, if desired. Makes 2 loaves.

Galliformes!

Well this Bonasa umbellus of the Galliformes order came traipsing across our yard today. Bob's first impulse was to shoot her, as he went hunting unsuccessfully for these little birds earlier this fall. I did a split second calculation about not wanting to figure out how to clean it and decided to shoot it with my Nikon instead. These grouse are related to ptarmigan and prairie chickens. Big, low flying, and slow.

For future reference I found (of course) an Alaskan website on grouse cleaning. This is NFV (not for vegans) but shows some good AK color.

Lady Chainsaws

Me and some girls from work had a ladies' night out a couple of weeks ago. This was pretty fun. The cast of characters included A. from Mexico via Chicago and California notable for her *licensed* Noguchi lamp collection, O. from Hawaii/Nebraska who spent her teen years living in her parents RV and now rides a badass motorcycle, M. who is also a former Nebraskan and the alternate state climatologist (there is a longtime debate about the official one living in Anchorage and some kind of illegitimate usurpation of that crown), and O. who is a German linguist who studies dying Athabaskan languages on the upper Tanana River. Great bunch of gals.

You really know you are in Alaska when the topic turns to chopping fallen trees for firewood and your lady friends offer you their lady chainsaws. Uhhh, I had no idea there was such a thing as a lady chainsaw. When one searches the internet for "women's chainsaw" one finds the following convo:

From: Brushcuttingirl

"Hi all. Does anyone have any suggestions for a good chainsaw for a woman to use? We have several different makes and models and I can run the smaller to medium ones but my biggest problem is getting them started! I just can't seem to yank hard enough. I've been thinking about buying an electric but have heard that they don't have that much power. I read the discussion on electrics on board and it only reinforced my decision to go electric. Mostly what I'll be using it for would be to clean up the woods around the house. Not the back 40 mind you, just around the yard!

Thanks in advance for any advice (appreciated) and comments."

Response from: Phorester

"Sounds like you will be using the saw well away from an electrical outlet, and don't want to drag around a couple hundred feet of extension cord?

On the high end gas saws you can get one with a decompression switch. This reduces the amount of strength needed to pull the starter cord by quite a lot. Your local dealer will know about this.

Also, how are you attempting to start the saw? Setting it on the ground and putting your foot through the back handle while holding down on the front handle with your other hand should anchor it pretty well to pull the cord.

But my wife had the same problem. We could only solve it by letting me use the saw, she used the splitting maul."

Uhhh. Yeah.

P.S. Here's Jill's solution to the problem.

Anchorage Underworld

Well, this post is coming to you from Alaska's seedy center, Anchorage USA. Since I seem to only have time for reading on airplanes, let me tell you about this gem I found at the airport. Kim Rich wrote this memoir about her rearing by a gangster and a stripper in high-flying 1960s Anchorage. Pretty sordid stories, but it's a really captivating book that breaks out of the Alaska literary mold. That's Jello not fungi.

These days the underworld pretty much mingles with the overworld. One need only to stand at the central bus station for a few minutes to witness this. Last year Bob and I watched a station attendant roll a sleeping man over long enough to wipe up the small pool of blood under him, then he just rolled the guy back. Downtown is a regular lineup of cheap ivory shops, drunks, and hookers. And a stolid 6-foot tall blond woman selling reindeer sausage out of her minivan.

I had breakfast at the adorable Snow City Cafe. A real bright spot on the downtown landscape. As some of you know, most of downtown Anchorage was destroyed in the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake, the largest recorded in North American History at 9.2 on the Moment scale. My impression from Rich's book of Anchorage before the earthquake is a mix of northern slum and glitzy nightlife. Well it was rebuilt so that every building looks like the Mutual of Omaha headquarters, which is to say not pretty. Tragic considering the gorgeous ocean inlet and neighboring snow-covered mountains. Now a canyon of brown tinted glass and stained stucco.

Of course, Anchorage people don't see it that way and they have plenty of criticism for Fairbanks. Though I'm spending most of the week with oil barons, I did get to meet up with R., with whom I went to college. She hosts one of my favorite Alaska-based radio shows. And she lived in Iowa City and is hitched to a Nebraskan. So we've lived in many of the same places, just in a different order. R. brought along a friend, H. who is a pilot for a well-known aerial photography company and has seen many corners of the state. We all had a fun time comparing our AK experiences. After a beer under a deafening broadcast of Law and Order, we paused in the hotel lobby to soak up an 50 person strong ukulele jam-and-sing. There is a convention for Hawaiian diaspora here this week and the consensus is that folks in the 49th state could learn a lot from those in the 50th. These people were having a blast.

Enjoying the Last Gasp of Sunshine

Our tomatoes are really turning out scrumptious. Considering we started them in March, that's 7 months in the making for these little babies. Think cherry- and strawberry-sized. But they taste pretty darn good. Certainly better than what rolls off the truck at the grocery store this time of year.

The carrots were unbelievably sweet. Also, only about two inches long, but these we planted directly in the garden, so they only represent 5 months of work.

Bob and I have also been experimenting with Greek cuisine. The Greek restaurant in Fairbanks burned down a couple of years ago, but recently we noticed a replacement has risen like a Phoenix in the ashes downtown. It's just not open yet. So for the time being, here's a giant spanikopita I made from the last of the garden's kale and collards. I boiled the winter greens for a couple of minutes, then mixed them with diced zucchini, feta, dill, olives, and onion. Mmm. Then put everything into this filo duvet. Deeee-lish.

Winter is here

Well, it seemed to happen pretty fast. Despite what the normal climatology says--snow is likely as early as mid-September--I wasn't mentally prepared. One day it got chilly. Then, there was a clear night and heat simply radiated away. The next day it was cooler. It snowed. It was clear again that night. More heat radiated away. And now the white surface reflects the incoming sun rays. That's it. Autumn is toast. Here Bob is busy putting on our snow tires and breaking the jack.



I realize that some of you still have your AC cranked high...strange weather all over the lower 48 this fall. Meanwhile the snow may be covering our canoe, but we have plans for a little tropical paradise come January. I'm not sure we'll survive otherwise. Here are the climate normals from Weather Underground.

Top of the World

Bob and I both headed north to Barrow last week for separate fieldwork projects. Barrow is the northern-most point in Alaska and serves as a hub for several of the North Slope coastal villages, as well as a whole host of science research.

We've just passed the equinox, so there are still almost 12 hours of light, even up in Barrow. However, the angle of the light is low and the amount of incoming solar radiation is dropping fast.

What used to be the Navy Arctic Research Lab, established in 1947, is now the Barrow Arctic Science Consortium. The naval architecture remains in the quonset huts and other utilitarian buildings.

I'm not sure what these giant radio dishes are for...they litter the coastal skyline. Bowhead whale skulls are also prominent fixtures; these juvenile skulls are mounted next to the community college.

Bob and his Swedish colleague Anna were installing soil moisture and temperature probes in a permafrost polygon. It was great to see some familiar faces up there. Even if those faces were burned by the steady 40 mph wind. It snowed the last couple of days I was there, but little accumulation.

Other nature highlights included seabirds, snowy owls, and this feisty fox.

A few days after we left, the autumn whaling season was set to begin. I don't know if this little boat is used for whaling, but it seemed as ready as any of the others I saw lying around. Which is to say rotten and hardly seaworthy. But that is in the spirit of these arctic towns.

The biggest story around town these days is the new football field for the Barrow Whalers. This is a bright blue and yellow astroturf field on a little sand spit on the north side of town. If you want a real field good story, check out the ESPN coverage. I'm guessing there will be a PG film in the near future. It's easy to see how it captured the imagination of the media: pretty positive story in a town where there aren't many.

Fall Sets In

Well, it's the time in Fairbanks when the sun starts to drop a little lower in the sky, shadows get long and the aspen and birch leaves turn yellow. It's started freezing at night and puddles form little ice caps. Almost time to fire up our soapstone fireplace here. Matilda and the other pups have taken on a bit of melancholy, as our days of camping and canoeing draw to a close.













Still, there's plenty to celebrate. Bob had his 31st birthday and I baked him our traditional family "toothpaste" cake. This is a peppermint chiffon cake from the 1950s that my grandmother used to bake for my mother when she was a kid and I consequently learned to appreciate at a young age.

This recipe looks pretty close, though our family uses an egg-white/sugar/peppermint/cream of tartar frosting, made in a double-broiler. Bob suggests doubling the frosting load.




















While our tomatoes never ripened outdoors, we pulled them out of the soil and Bob hung them in the house, upside down. We were skeptical, but about three weeks later, the toms have started to turn red. They are incomparable to the Nebraska tomatoes I grew up with, but they are homegrown and taste pretty good. A heck-of-a lot of work for these little red nuggets, though.

Despite the onset of fall, the mushrooms seem to be going strong. In addition to the beauts growing all over the yard, we recently noticed some very large dried mushrooms that the squirrels have been stashing in the space where the walls meet the roof of the house. According to a researcher at UAF, these are likely to be hallucinogenic mushrooms which Alaska squirrels reportedly cache for the long winter. Hmmmm. Makes a lot of sense. Hunker down for winter in a nest of our roof insulation with a good stash of Shrooms.

September on the Seward Peninsula

In mid-September, Bob and I headed out to the Seward Peninsula in northwestern Alaska. The SP makes up the US side of the Bering Strait and you can see a map here. It's totally out there. There are not a lot of photos of us doing field work because we were too exhausted. Our four-wheeler broke down and we ended up walking to all of our sites...over 25 miles on tussock tundra! It sure was beautiful, though. The photos can't adequately capture the colors.

In addition to working on the sites in the Kougarok area, we headed out the Council road, along the beach, past the fishing huts of Soloman, and finally inland to the community of Council. Just as we pulled up, the last handful of folks had pulled their boats out of the river there; a big Bering Sea storm was on its way. These storm surges can and do completely eliminate the road, situated delicately on a sand bar. If someone gets stuck on the other side they can be there for a long long time...until it snows (creating skidoo access) or the road gets rebuilt. It's a tough life out here. We weren't able to hitch a ride across the river, unfortunately, so we didn't get to one of our sites.

The arctic light was beautiful as we came back to Nome from Council. Lots of twisted driftwood from the Yukon River ends up in this lagoon area. Huge old trees from the boreal forests.

Some old railroad junk from the gold rush days rots away on the sand. In the background an old gold dredge stands waiting in the marsh. These things are the size of buildings.

Finally, this old collapsed water tank reminded me of Serra's Torqued Ellipses.

Summer of Love

Like many folks in their 30s, Bob and I had the opportunity to share several ceremonies of unity this summer. Or whatever they're called. It was a lot of fun. Alaska weddings tend to be pretty relaxed. Our friends Margaret and Hagen started the blitzkrieg in May before moving South and South-er for work.

Then came Mary and John and while we didn't make it to San Antonio, we celebrated in spirit. Emily and Luke provided not only stunning views and whitewater canoeing, but also fresh caught fish and blueberries. Bob brought fresh crab from Nome and it was a sentimental feast.

In August, we headed down to Seattle to celebrate the wedding of my sister in law's sister and her partner. We met up with my brother and his wife, caught up with Margaret down there, and only shutdown metro traffic once with our hobo-mobile. See previous posts on hobos. Same as usual.

At the end of August, I headed to Atlanta for the traditional Southern Spanish-American-British Physics wedding of Cristina and Andrew. Mmm mmm. Pretty fun. Erik, I'm completely heartbroken that I will miss your and Solana's nuptials in the NYC Zipper Factory. I hope you forgive me someday. If the Concorde still flew and they had flights from AK, I swear I would be there. I miss you all!

Peter and Anya giggling during Robin and Dani's ceremony.

Emily, Luke, Jeff the officiant, and a beautiful ridge. Check out that hat hair Luke is sporting!

Jessie and Todd get down and boogie at the physics wedding.

Bob and Hagen await arrival of the lovely bride, Margaret, in front of the Chena River in downtown Fairbanks.

Preserving the bounty

I tried my hand at canning for the first time this summer. We had raspberries and blueberries coming out our ears, so it seemed like a reasonable solution. It took me a couple of tries to get it right, but I had some help from a couple of awesome websites:

Paul Noll's World of Canning

USDA Canning Guide

Getting out and about

We decided to head for the Chena Dome Trail on Labor Day weekend. We were taking a chance on not finding water on the trail. This time of year, smaller streams and ponds tend to dry up in the AK interior. We were optimistic for the 29 mile hike, though, packing a full loaf of sandwiches and 9 liters of water. Unfortunately, it was dry as a bone and we didn't make it very far. Still had a great time. The views were beautiful, the company good, and the blueberries fat and heavy.

Summer Harvest

Gardening was a big part of our short summer here in the 'banks. We started seeds indoors in early March and Bob nursed them along until early June transplant time. We had some mixed success. The greenhouse proved to be more or less useless, or at least not helpful with tomatoes. We did well with lettuce, carrots, cabbage, winter greens, and some herbs. Everything else never quite graduated from kinderkare. The leeks still look like grasslings and the squashes produced a hundred blossoms and no fruit. I mean, who can't grow zuccini? Pretty bad. Well, we don't get much light in our garden and there's not much we can do about that.

Girls of Summer

The cuteness herein needs no explanation.