What A Fun Evening . . .

Right after work we headed over to City Hall where all the Fire/EMS folks that responded to the Peking Fire (and that could break away from work) were presented with Unit Citations by the Mayor.

Then we headed over to the Grand Aleutian for a going away party for our dear friend Baby Bear. Baby Bear flies out Thursday to start a great job in the big city of Seattle, and she is going to be sorely missed. She is one of a small handful of true thick-and-thin friends on the island, Chico is devotedly and passionately in love her her dog Kali, and I am still in a bit of denial that she is leaving. She baked and decorated our wedding cake when Goldfish and I had our island wedding, she is always willing to dog-sit if her busy schedule allows, and she is one heckuva cook. She is my island baby sister, and even though we didn't spend a ton of time hanging out, it made my heart smile to know she lived here.

What we did to see her off in style was make sure we got the high bid on the wine tasting/food pairing offered as an auction item in the Channel 8 Auction. The fact we were sucessful in our bidding plans is entirely the work of fellow island baby sister Elaine, who Goldfish enlisted to be a backup bidder. Picture me dialing and redialing furiously in the final minutes of the auction, watching the price on the tasting go up but not able to get a connection to make a bid, totally stunned and dismayed when I finally got an open line just a second too late . . . . then Goldfish pipes in "Elaine got it!" Elaine, I owe you one - again . . . . Above is the menu with the food and wine pairing listed, let me just say right out front that the Executive Chef Rich and Food & Beverage Manager Lisa did an amazing job! I have had special meals in special places all over and would put last night on a short list of favorites, it was simply a blast in every aspect.

This is the group that got together for the event; there was supposed to be 8 of us but Sherri couldn't make it. What a beautiful group of island gals - was I a lucky guy or what?

Let me apologize right up front for the photos, they just don't do the food justice. I should have slapped on a macro lens, I couldn't decide between the white glare of the flash or the odd coloring of no flash and longer exposures, sometimes I was just too distracted by the good conversation and food to take a decent photo. With that said, this was the first course, the Amuse Buche, Sea Scallops with green apple, honey, coriander and mustard oil and Goi Cuon, a shrimp and mango spring roll. The wine pairing was a Zardetto Prosecco Brut NV.

In addition to the food pairings, there was a wonderful cheese, fruit and nut tray set up by our table. Did I mention we had the whole of Margaret Bay Cafe to ourselves??

The second course was a Sesame Seared Sockeye Salmon in a soy, ginger and sake sauce, paired with a Bergstrom Winery De Lancellotti Pinot Noir 2007. Amazing. So amazing all I have for photos are ones of my empty plate. I tried, honest . . . . possibly my favorite dish of the evening among all the stellar candidates.

Steak au Poirve, a USDA prime ribeye in a cabernet-beef reduction and a gratin of potato. Paired with a Les Domaines Barons de Rothchild Reserve Speciale Pauillac 2005, the cabernet sauvignon of the evening. Rich reminded us that only 1 - 2% of all the beef served in the United States achieves the USDA Prime label . . . a truly amazing beef experience, and the only prime beef available anywhere on the island. Okay, I think I liked this one more than the salmon.

The 4th pairing was a Produttori del Barbaresco 2004 with Tagliatelle, hand made pasta with braised pork shank. The real stars for me in this dish were the oven sundried tomatoes and the white truffle oil! The Nebbiolo varietal was new to me, and this ended up being one of my favorite wines of the evening.

This creation Rich calls a China Town Duck Burger; it is a ground duck slider with shitake mushroom ketchup paired with a Cirrus 2003 Syrah from Africa which unexpectedly was Goldfish's favorite of the night. The duck slider was amazing, even better than Rich's Kobe beef sliders I've had in the past.

The 6th course was grilled New Zealand lamb "lollipops" with a pomegranate-orange glaze. These little pieces of heaven were paired with an amazing Quita do Carmo Reserva 2002.

Our last course was a vanilla bean mousse with candied kumquat sauce and toasted hazelnuts. This was paired with a stunning 2006 Inniskillin Ice Wine, the likes of which I had never tasted, mainly because I can't afford the stuff. Thanks Lisa for giving us a glimpse of something heavenly, maybe - maybe - I may one day in a moment of weakness spring for some, even at close to ten bucks an ounce. In the photo below, Rich looks on as Lisa explains why the stuff truly is worth it due to the extremely low yields and the complicated harvesting and manufacturing process.

This evening was much more than the sum of its parts however. To have the Executive Chef and the Food & Beverage Manager (a certified Wine Expert) of the Grand Aleutian devote hours of their time to putting on this dinner and wine tasting was amazing. Rich pulled all the stops on the food, introducing each dish with his laid back style and really working closely with Lisa to pair the courses. Lisa had fact sheets and maps and place mats and was an endless source of information on the wines she was clearly excited to be introducing to us. I've read over the little blurbs by the photos above and they really don't begin to describe how the great food and wines, presented by caring professionals giving their best to benefit a local charity, combined with great friends to become something truly special. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

A Word About the Neighbors . . .

Not the human neighbors (although they are all very nice), the four legged neighbors who leave their tracks along side ours, all throughout the valley (and not the dogs, who are also very nice). I'm talking about the foxes. The valley foxes are not like the "townie" foxes - they don't skulk, beg, or slink. They live on a natural diet of grasses, grains, berries, insects, mice ptarmigan and fish. They don't approach humans for food because they are self-sufficient. And humans (at least the ones in my household) don't feed foxes, because they care for their well-being.

Valley foxes are beautiful and self-assured . . . .

Sharing the land with them is a privilege - granted, they are not the wolf, bear, coyote, moose and caribou that I loved to watch on mainland Alaska for 20 years before moving out here . . .

But they still are a joy to see, and their relative abundance means there are usually at least a couple joyous occasions each and every day . . .

Like seeing one crossing my driveway tonight from my living room window (hard to see, just trust me or click the photo to enlarge). Another reason for joy? This photo was taken at 7 PM, we are actually having a small bit of evening after work!

Alright, my better half has returned from the Vagina Monologue performance at the Grand. I would have gone - I am pro-vagina for the record - but my assigned task was to hang out with Chico, keep one eye on the Olympics, and figure out how to rearrange the front room so we can move the computer desk in, making the dining room a proper, umm, dining room.

Goldfish, by the way, is particularly enchanted with sharing the valley with foxes, and she took half of the fox photos above. Foxes make her smile, and well, anything that makes Goldfish smile is a-okay with me . . . .

View from Work

Anyone who reads this blog regularly probably knows I work a lot. My last day off was January 1st and there is not a day off anywhere on the horizon. I'm a little lucky - I work 11 hour days. Many of my friends and co-workers work 12 hour days. These long days working make the view from the work window even more important . . . I know there are better office window views, but I still see enough from mine to feed my dreams through long days of paperwork. Above, the summit of Mount Newhall is visible above the meal plant, and my mind wanders back to summer days climbing the slopes and the view from the top.

There are almost always eagles visible from my window, often in huge numbers. Sometimes I can see as many as 60 eagles from my desk, and without fail they steal money from the company in lost productivity as I sit for a moment and watch their antics. Sometimes they will fly through the narrow alleys of the plant just 5 or 6 feet off the ground and I am always reminded of that scene from Star Wars where Luke is attacking the Death Star. Okay, that didn't come across quite right, that would make work a Death Star . . . . but you get my drift . . .

This is the view straight out my window where I can see a slice of the East Channel with the Coastal Dock and Strawberry Hill in the background.

And finally, my co-worker and partner in crime Deil who shares the desk next to mine, smiling last week from the sheer joy of the nice weather. These were all taken on the same day so you can see the snow levels vary greatly depending on altitude. It will be many months before the snow is gone completely from the top of Mount Newhall.

Cheers, I'm going to watch a bit of the olympics coverage . . .

Happy Valentine's Day!

Goldfish and I have a iron-bound tradition of going out for Chinese food on Valentine's Day. With our favorite Chinese restaurant out here burned out for the time being, Goldfish cooked up a meal of egg rolls, pot stickers and General Tao's Chicken to keep the tradition alive. A romantic dinner for two (well, three if you count Chico . . . . ) I was busy assembling dining room chairs while she was cooking - five down and one to go by the time the evening as over.

With her birthday and Valentine's less than two weeks apart, I combined the two and gave her a Birthintine's present this year - an Electrolux Wavetouch double oven, otherwise known among the gals as a "Kelly Ripa oven" (seriously, you can Google it).

Goldfish was amazingly thoughtful and gave me everything I need to get started making sushi, something I've wanted to try and get good at for a very long time, especially with all the great fresh seafood out here on the island. There is nothing more loving to give to another person than the tools for them to achieve their goals; thank you sweetheart for a wonderful Valentine's Day!

The Unalaska Island Dancers (EDITED)

NEW INFO ADDED 2/14/10- I DON'T THINK THEY HAVE ENOUGH SHIRTS PRINTED TO FILL ORDERS YET BASED ON WHAT I LEARNED LAST NIGHT AT THE CHOCOLATE EXTRAVAGANZA. FOR THOSE THAT ALREADY SENT MONEY, LET ME KNOW IF YOU ARE COMFORTABLE WAITING. I WAS UNDER THE IMPRESSION THEY HAD SHIRTS READY TO SHIP - MY MISTAKE!

Hey folks, the Unalaska Island Dancers are selling very cool t-shirts to raise money for their on-going regalia making project. You can see video of some of the dancers performing on MLK Day here. The t-shirts are just $20 - for anyone on the island, contact Laresa directly; for anyone off the island who would like one of these t-shirts, available in any size, email me at unalaskasteve@gmail.com with your address and size and I will donate the postage to help out, just send me twenty bucks and I'll priority mail you a shirt. If you are a long time reader or family (you know who you are), I'll priority mail you a shirt and you can mail me a check for $20 when you get the shirt. Lets help this group out, they are amazing!

Pot Cod Ends & Opilio Deliveries Begin

I'm sure a lot of you have seen fishing for pot cod on television - they use crab pots, the fish are in great shape when they come over the rail, they bleed them and keep them cold, it is just a premier fish in all respects, Goldfish and I buy a few boxes every year and try to always have some in the freezer. Lots of crab boats fish for cod in between king crab season and opilio crab season.
Last week there was some severe icing on the fishing grounds and the boats were coming in completely coated. The day I took these photos the temps were in the high 30's and the ice was falling off the boats at the dock, saving a lot of back breaking labor. This is the bow of F/V Sea Storm.

Who can resist taking pictures of eagles? (no matter how many they already have on their hard drive?)

Opilio crab, marketed as "snow crab". This is the tail end of a large 240,000 pound delivery by Aleutian #1.

There has been some crazy weather this week - on Monday, I woke up to a ground blizzard as bad as it gets, with 3 foot drifts in the driveway and 50 knot winds. Six hours later, the winds were calm, the sun was out and everything was melting. Crazy island weather . . . . gotta love it!

Flat Apple Pie

So life has been busy since I last posted, but I kept taking pictures, so I have about a half dozen posts to get out so I can move on with the month! I cooked another recipe for Goldfish out of the Pioneer Woman Cooks cookbook, making her a Flat Apple Pie using the crust in the freezer left over from the chicken pot pie.

It is an interesting way to make an apple pie, you can just cut a slice and eat it out of hand after it cools. Of course we didn't wait for the cooling, opting for a warm slice with a scoop of Haagen Daaz vanilla ice cream on top!

Warm Weather (for awhile) & First Bonfire of the Year

A couple days ago it got up in the high 30's and the roads were clear so I headed over to play on Strawberry Hill. Where this warm weather went, I have no idea . . . everyone at work always blames me for the return of cold weather, claiming it was me riding around the island that ended the warm streak . . .

The ice looked like a giant sheet of stained glass.

Last night Goldfish, Chico and I joined Joe and Max for a bonfire on the beach with hotdogs and marshmallows. Eight or nine years ago on this very spot I was at another bonfire; I had flown out to Unalaska to visit Goldfish and I remember the sea lions bellowing in the darkness, attracted by the flames.

Perfect Pie Crust (that is the name of the recipe, seriously!) and Chicken Pot Pie

I kicked off my Steve & Ree project by cooking chicken pot pie for Goldfish tonight. It was a two day project as I made the crust and froze it yesterday.

I've got an extra pie crust to use for the Flat Apple Pie, the next recipe I'm going to tackle.

Lots of chopping involved . . . after sautéing the veggies, you add the chicken, flour, chicken broth, white wine, heavy cream, and seasonings.

I baked it for about 40 minutes at 400 degrees - she loved it! It was a nice evening, we watched the Grammy Awards together while I cooked and listened to the rain on the metal roof. Both the pie crust recipe and the chicken pot pie recipe are two thumbs up - and two paws up from Chico who sampled at various points in the preparation, as well as licked the bowls afterwards.

F/V Incentive and a Word on the New Year

I took a break from paperwork and went down to the dock and chatted with the guys on the Incentive. The had a good trip and had minimal dead loss; I'm not sure if this is the first season they have delivered to Alyeska or not, I just know they haven't delivered to us in the past 12 years according to one of the crew.

I think all the crew on the boat are from Kodiak - Cookie Dough would know, that is her old stomping grounds. I'm not sure, but they might be on that show, or they were - who knows?

February is almost upon us and you may have noticed that I never mentioned any New Year's resolutions . . . . that's because I'm going to keep it real simple this year, with just a few:

1. Goldfish is a amazing woman. She makes our house a home, she is infinitely supportive and patient with my long hours at work and my volunteer activities in the community, some of which involve me jumping out of bed in the middle of the night, and she always knows how to make me laugh and brighten my day. For all this she asks for very little in return; I think one of the favorite things she likes for me to do is cook for her though, so this year, Julia & Julia style, I am going to cook her all the recipes in The Pioneer Woman Cooks - Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl; there are sixty-something, depending on how you count them, so that seems like a tidy goal for the year. And like Julia & Julia, I'm going to blog about it a bit from time to time, and post the completed recipes on the sidebar under the Steve & Ree project (The author's name is Ree Drummond. The cookbook is fantastic and she also has a blog that has like a bazillion readers, judging from the 500+ comments she typically gets, and she also takes great photos). Tomorrow I'm going to pre-make pie crust so I can make chicken pot pie on Sunday, it will be fun and Goldfish is excited.

2. To grow as a person, I'm going to attend Fire Fighting I school in May to complement my EMT certification.

3. Again, I'm going to try to read 100 books. Why, you ask? Especially since last year I only managed 30 or 31? Because it's fun, and I know I read more when I have a goal. I'll post those on the sidebar as well, like I did in 2009.

4. And finally, I'm just trying to be nicer in ways big and small. I've been writing my family members cards - actual snail mail cards, not emails, in an attempt to stay in touch more. I'm making an effort to keep my co-worker interactions at work on a positive note. I'm trying to practice random acts of kindness in the community, and increase my call percentage on EMS and fire calls. I'm sleeping more and drinking less coffee. I'm smiling even when the sleeping thing isn't working out. And the nicer I am, the better I feel . . . .

F/V Incentive Delivery

We'll be getting our first opilio crab delivery of the season today from the Incentive, I'll try to make it down to the dock and take a couple photos, I always like to watch the unload when a new season kicks off.

Our stretch of nice and gentle winter weather continues with the snow slowly accumulating (almost enough for good snow shoeing!) and occasional appearances by the sun. I took the top photo at lunch the other day, so you can see the sun still isn't getting very high, even at noon.

Prayers to the families of the ACE pilots, that hit home for all of us . . . .

Everyone (especially my family!) get on over to Dan's website and see how to enter to win a free trip out to Unalaska! Dan is a trekker, diver, recovering computer geek, and all round great guy. I respect and admire him from afar as there is persistent island lore that it is bad luck for the two of us to actually be in the same room together . . . . .

Okay, it's 3:30 AM, I'm going to try to get some shuteye, cheers everyone.

So Quiet Lately . . .

After what seemed like weeks of more or less non-stop storms, it has been calm and fairly warm lately. Not quite time to get back on the KLR, but pretty tame for an Aleutian January and I've seen my friends and neighbors out enjoying the break in the weather.

We are getting our first pollock delivery of the new season tomorrow, always an exciting time. So much hard work goes in to getting the boats and plant ready to run, we all breath a sigh of relief when the preparation ends and the processing begins!

What A Day . . . Peking Fire and Magone Blows Up the Crane

The day started early with a 4:35 wake-up call courtesy of the Department of Public Safety - the beloved local Chinese restaurant was on fire and it was time to gear up. I learned a lot, the veterans on the force are almost inhumanly patient and willing to teach better ways to do things. You can check out the story here. I'm sure CB from Dutch Harbor Dirt got an eyeful, the restaurant is right across from his apartment building.

About 4:30 this afternoon the word started spreading around that Magone Marine was gong to blow up the APL crane at 5 - the same crane that blew over in the 175 MPH winds in December. I didn't have a good camera with me at work but I had a little point and shoot so Goldfish and I headed down to the beach by the plant to see if there was any substance to the rumor. Sitting there waiting for over an hour reminded us of when we lived in company housing with a living room window view of the East Channel.

First, the F/V Frontier Mariner went by . . . .

The a Penair flight found a hole between snow squalls and took the opportunity to land . . .

The F/V Pacific Sun headed out towards the Bering Sea . . .

And Alyeska's own F/V Messiah came in and tied up next to the Alaska Rose . . .

And finally there was a pretty impressive explosion, and a portion of the crane swung down 90 degrees, dangling and swinging back and forth . . .

Not sure if that is how Dan Magone planned it, but it was pretty impressive. Lots more work to be done before the salvage job is completed and a new crane can be installed!

We really enjoyed the time watching the channel, the birds, the boats and the ever-changing weather - never a dull moment!

Mother Nature's Paintbrush

I was walking Chico after work tonight in a howling gale and I was amazed how little movement there was; with very little vegetation, all the snow packed into near concrete from the relentless wind, and everything that is light enough to blow already blown away, there were very few visual cues to indicate anything was happening at all. The edges of the mountains are blurred and the sky is the exact same color as the snow, the land seamlessly transitions into the air and under it all is an angry sea.

It hasn't been photography weather, but there is always something to see in life if you watch for it, and as I lie in bed blogging I am watching the two windows pictured above as the wind driven snow changes the scene, cycling the pattern like a cross between an Etch-A-Sketch and a lava lamp. Quite beautiful, actually.

I've been dragging my feet a bit entering the new year - we've been busy enough, with company over every weekend since we've been home, and I managed to get some motorcycle riding in before the weather turned completely nasty. There was training and some ambulance runs and Book Club and finally getting the calendars to the printer and of course lots and lots of work. The mattress that Goldfish picked out on vacation (do you know about the Princess and the Pea? Well I married the Princess!) arrived and she is blissfully snuggled in beside me. The dog is snoring and the wind is howling outside and my heart is full. Cheers and good night.

Soooo, It's Really 2010, Huh?

It has been a bit of a rough start to the year for me, at least mentally. It was a shocking transition from five wonderful weeks of travel and family to back at a desk for 77 hours a week. The island, while beautiful as ever, looks stunned from the big storms of December and darkness clings to it like a greasy film. I literally had not seen the sun until today, when its brief appearance prompted me to race home at lunch and take the bike out of the storage shed so I could take a ride into the pass after work - as you can see, the torrential rains have almost scoured away all the snow, even on the mountains.

2009 was nothing like what I planned, but everything I could have hoped for in many ways. Goldfish flew home for a couple weeks for family time and to get her wisdom teeth pulled (she is still as smart as ever); I flew to Idaho for a couple weeks to have shoulder surgery (it is healing nicely, they did a great job). On a whim, we attended an Open House by one of the members in Book Club, and ended up buying the house (REALLY did not see that coming, but we love it). My brother flew out to the island for a visit, and we went what I called our Second Annual Vacation of a Lifetime - a vacation we had planned well before buying a house and filling it with furniture, but that went pretty perfectly, despite everything.

For last years goals, I came up short on many - only 30 books read, way too few bike miles logged, and still chubby - but what a year! And although family time and seeing the sights was wonderful beyond belief, when our dear friend Elaine picked us up at the Unalaska airport and then pulled over by the lake on the way to our house to take a cell phone call, I sat and watched an adult eagle showing a small immature eagle how to bathe just 25 feet away and my heart smiled, it was good to be home.

So I'm back to blogging, it was a nice two week break (and because I blog to keep in touch with family, I found myself writing note cards and calling more in that two weeks, to fill the gap), but the island beckons and it is a new year, ripe with possibility. And besides - due to technical difficulties that are mostly my fault involving no batteries in the good camera and the wrong setting on the backup camera, I have no pictures worthy of next years calendar, so I need to find something else wonderful for January!

Cheers everyone, I'm looking forward to getting caught up on everyone's blogs. I had to go to comment moderation, unfortunately, due to a large volume of spam over the past couple months, spam I don't have the time to clean off as it is scattered over many older posts. Sorry!