Icewind's Ramblings

It was many years ago since the embarrassing day when a young woman, with a baby in her arms, entered a butcher shop and confronted the butcher with the news that the baby was his and asked what was he going to do about it. Finally, he offered to provide her with free meat until the boy was 16. And she readily agreed. The butcher had been counting the years off on his calendar and one day the teenager who had been collecting the meat each week, came into the shop and said, "I'll be 16 tomorrow." "I know," said the butcher with a smile, "I've been counting too. Tell your mother, when you take this parcel of meat home, that it is the last free meat she'll get and watch the statement on her face." When the boy arrived home he told his mother. The woman nodded and said, "Son, go back to the butcher and tell him I have also had free bread, free milk and free groceries for the last 16 years and watch the statement on his face . . . !"...

During the bathroom remodel as I bored of working on it in what seemed like all of my free time I decided to build an outdoor kitchen area.   My brother-in-law Mike and I had talked about it since last summer when we were always cleaning and processing our fish on coolers in the driveway. At the time he was working out at the end of the world on Shemya Island which is on the far western end of the Aleutian Islands.   His work schedule had him working for three months at a time on the island with two or three weeks time off.   He has worked out the schedule so he could be home for the beginning and end of the fishing season. I needed a break from the bathroom work and headed to Lowe’s to grab some lumber.   Mike had bought a new stainless steel electric smoker over the winter and I wanted to make a place where we could smoke our fish out of the weather as many times it was always raining while we would tend the smoker for 6 to 8 hours. Things I wanted to include...

Tomorrow is Bike to work day and my company is hosting a BBQ for our new interns who come in to work with us during the summer months.  The combination bike day and a welcoming BBQ will make it a fun time and the weather is looking great for the event.  I was volunteered to help cook and people were bringing side dishes and deserts.  I figured I would give everyone a treat with my slightly different baked bean recipe. Baked beans are a favorite side dish in the South.  It's rare to go to a barbecue or to a pot luck dinner and not see a baking dish with baked beans. Some baked beans are a whole lot better than other baked beans . . . it takes some "doctoring up" to make the really yummy baked beans . . . the kind that means you come home with an empty casserole dish or crock pot.  If you’re really lucky someone will take the cornbread and lap up the juice in the bottom of the dish. There are probably as many baked bean secrets in the South as there are South...

Four or five days ago there were some changes coming to the Anchorage area which gave us our first real glimpse of summer.  The clouds parted, the sun continues to give us the sunlight lost during our long winters.  We are up to about 17 hours now with sunrise around 5:30 am and sunset around 10:30 PM so you can still see it light outside to the west after midnight. The city is in that period of time when everyone comes together to walk the roadways picking up trash that has either been dropped or blown around the streets.  Everyone has the opportunity to clean up the debris and limbs that were blown down in your yard.  The City of Anchorage opens up the two landfills for a couple weekends for those that want to clean up and drop off their debris.  For those two weekends the do not charge so the lines are long but it makes a big difference in how the city looks during the summer. With the sun out in force giving a sense of warmth at about 60 degrees it wa...

I need to come clean since I pretended to be asleep last night after “The Incident”. I would like to give you a little back story before I confess.  This past weekend was one of those times where there were multiple things going on and everyone is required to give way from the normal routines and go into that feeding frenzy mode that comes during these times. We had the start of the Olympics with the athletic competition getting underway on Saturday.  Then add to that the happenings in Daytona with auto racing which included Danica Patrick’s debut in the Nationwide Series 300 and the running of the 52 nd annual Daytona 500 NASCAR race and you have the makings of a stomach disaster. To properly watch any of these events you have to prepare for them.  The Super Bowl has its ‘must haves’ to do it up just right.  There is always chili, hot dogs or hamburgers, nachos, and the chips & dip that set the mood for the afternoon.  Mine was no different where you...

Sorry this is not another tasty treat from my Alaska Road Kill Recipe book but one you should really like. Here’s a little holiday recipe to serve your houseguests who drop by.  If you are lucky and no one comes by feel free to enjoy these with your favorite beverage . . . it leaves more for you to enjoy while kicking back on the sofa. Crab Nachos 2 packages Hollandaise sauce (made as directed on the package – with milk, not water) 1 pound lump crab meat 4 tablespoons cilantro, chopped 4 tablespoons green onion, chopped 4 pieces bacon, well cooked & chopped 4 teaspoons pickled jalapenos, chopped (for that little extra bite) 1 package shredded cheddar 1 package shredded Monterrey Jack Tostitos Scoops Prepare Hollandaise sauce according to package directions; reserve. Preheat broiler. Mix crab meat, cilantro, onion, bacon, cheese, and jalapenos in a bowl.  Add hollandaise sauce.  Generously spoon mixture into Tostitos Scoops and place und...

Alaska is a sometimes strange and wonderful place to live. And while coming into winter with five fresh inches of snow for Thanksgiving the down time gives one time to reflect on the summer and have a chance to write a few things down from earlier in the year.  I think with the longer nights there “seems” to be more time as you stop doing some of the outdoor things in the afternoon and early evening as darkness sets in now around four in the afternoon.  Put away now are the fishing gear, boats and personal watercraft as well as most of the hunting gear as much of the subsistence game has been acquired and in the freezers with only some winter trapping still going on in the rural areas. I have many friends who do live a subsistence lifestyle which hunt and fish each year to provide food for their families.  It is a time honored tradition here that both Native and non-native families participate in which makes one appreciate where and sometimes when you get food to ...

Alaska has been sensitive to Oil spills especially after the Exxon Valdez incident over twenty years ago.  I think things have moved past the anger and aggravation dealing with the Exxon now that they finally settled the law suit brought against them . . . it only took twenty years and many people have grown old or have died before Exxon paid a dime.  Lawyers . . . kept playing ping pong within the court system even after being fined postponing having to cough up the money. For many years there were many protests about the environment and how things were going, especially here in Alaska with all of the “tree huggers” and environmental groups going on and on about one cause or another.  Things have calmed down somewhat now and seem to be a little easier to deal with when things go wrong. There recently was a small oil spill in Alaskan waters and you could see in the response that those earlier feelings had mellowed a bit.  People were now saying that a little...

Winter is almost here even though we have had an “Indian Summer” lately, not the same as other places where they get to 70 degrees . . . ours in Alaska is more like 50’s which is not bad at all.  Hunting season is quickly coming to an end for most game and people have filled their freezers with moose, bear, caribou, and other game.  Fishing has for the most part also finished so my gear is stowed away now until next summer or the occasional ice fishing trip.  Fly rods neatly placed in their holders . . . creels and waders hung for the winter. I went on two hunts this year and my moose hunt left much to be desired.  There was all of the preparation . . . going out for the hunt . . . the tracking which is my favorite part of the hunt . . . only to find no legal moose lurching about anywhere.  I came back somewhat dejected not to kill food for my family.  It’s a man thing I guess, wanting to provide.  It dates back centuries and is a way of life in...

Friday afternoon we head out to sea leaving the boat harbor in Homer heading 265˚ while running about 16 knots.  The fishin’ area we wanted was 26 nautical miles from Homer in the direction of Augustine Volcano which we could see in the distance with a plume of steam rising out of the top.   The "Ring of Fire" (map) is an arc stretching from New Zealand , along the eastern edge of Asia, north across the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, and south along the coast of North and South America . The Ring of Fire is composed over 75% of the world's active and dormant volcanoes. This huge ring of volcanic and seismic (earthquake) activity was noticed and described before the invention of the theory of plate tectonics theory. We now know that the Ring of Fire is located at the borders of the Pacific Plate and other major tectonic plates.  Alaska has many active volcanoes ranging across the Cook Inlet from Anchorage winding its way down along the Aleutian chain. ...

I woke up this morning to head out to my Saturday breakfast at Village Inn but before I left the house I took Gus out for his morning nature break and walk. While I was enjoying my first cup of coffee I put more peanuts in the bird feeder when the 4 Jays came swooping down into the tree limbs just off my deck and on the hand rails. They landed within a few feet of me and made their ‘good morning’ noises to greet me. I can tell they really know when I put out the food and nuts as they are looking for me several times a day. I picked up one of the peanuts and held it out toward the limb where one was impatiently waiting to see what was going on. Gus usually barks and makes every attempt to scare the birds. The hand is held out and slowly the one Jay hops up to within a few inches from the nut and quickly grabs it and moves about 4 feet away. I had him take two peanuts before I went to breakfast and several hours later when I returned he took another one. It was pret...