Juneau Livin

So I am back and has been a LONG time since I have blogged, too long really, and I must purge and update.

I am working for the Department of Revenue in the PFD division. For those of you who don't know, residents of Alaska get money from the oil funds, and I am in the phone center answering any questions people may. This includes questions about the statues and regulations written in 84 pages of technical writing. I have good and bad days. People get rude when money is involved. Work is good today and I love the steady paycheck and regular hours. So that is pretty much what I have been doing 40 hours a week since I got back into town. That, and a lot of socializing.

For the first two weeks I stayed with my sister, which was fun, but cramped. I moved into an amazing place on 5th Street with my excellent friend Claire, her boyfriend, Dave, and a friend of Dave's from California, April and we are all getting along famously. I really love their company and our chemistry as roommates and it doesn't hurt that the place is f-ing gorgeous.

I got a gym membership and have been going a few times a week, I love all the classes, but have not been successful in loosing any of the weight I gained on my trip. However, someone still thinks I'm sexy and that someone's name is Aaron. I have a new sweety who I am surprisingly crazy about. It's fun. Really fun.

And Juneau is beautiful and full of good people and fun times and it seems like I know all of those good people and get to have all those fun times. Lucky me. Life is good.

Patience Is A Virtue

Well, Christmas turned out wonderfully. Two of my three uncles came (the third is in Ketchican with his wife and new baby), my Uncle Chris's wife, Brenda (really awesome lady), and their year old daughter, Josie, all met at my Grandma's house to exchange gifts and have dinner. I mentioned that we have been snowed in, and because of this we all had to walk up the snowy hill, like we really were going over the hill to grandma's house, and I got to carry the baby! The gifts were great, Josie has been sick but she was still really darn cute and in good spirits, and I'm just happy it all went off without any family fights ;)

My grandma and I, all couped up together, have not been in the highest spirits (especially with each other) and makes me keep realizing how big of a generation gap there is. I keep wanting to get along with her, spend quality time, but she keeps hurting my feelings. ha. I know, how could a little 79 year old woman who can't help but fart when she walks hurt my feelings? It's easy: be subtly judgement and critical. But I still love her and I know it is not intentional, it's just the way she survived as a woman since 1929. Crazy!

To help pass the massive amounts of time I have on my hands I have been cooking a lot. I find it soothing. Right now I am making Rice Pudding (it is simmering). I have made it once before (with modifications, of course) and it is really good. Here is the recipe:

RICE PUDDING

Ingredients:
3 cups water
1 cup soy milk (or skim milk)
1 cup brown rice
2-3 cinnamon sticks
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of nutmeg
2 apples, diced
ground cinnamon

Directions:
- in sauce pan bring water, milk, rice, cinnamon sticks and salt to a simmer. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about an hour.
- Add sugar, vanilla, and nutmeg. Blend over low heat for about 15 minutes.
- Remove cinnamon sticks and add apples.
- eat.

I love this recipe because it has whole grains, little sugar, a high water content, and it tastes so delish!! Try it!

Original Recipe
4 cups skim milk (no water). 1/4 cup brown sugar. 1/4 vanilla yogurt stirred in with fruit. 1 pear diced and added to the top of the rice pudding with 1 cup of apples.

Here we go!

Sometimes I really enjoy reading other people's blogs, and I have tried multiple times to find the motivation to make my own, and here we go.

I plan to blog about a few different things... right now baking because I have been doing a lot of that. That, and complaining about being snowed into my Grandma's house, so I think that is what you will be currently observing. I would love feedback, so feel free to leave comments.

I am going to try my darndest to get this set up and get it connected to some other people's blogs in the next few days. It's Christmas Eve, and I am wishing like hell I was in Juneau. C'est la vie.

You should know this about me as a baker:

1. I make modifications all the damn time. I like to use applesauce or yogurt instead of butter and oil, so feel free to switch it back.
2. I always use whole wheat flour, it's the only way I can justify eating it.
3. I try to sneak in more grains/fibers with oatmeal and bran.
4. I have a major sweet tooth, but I don't like things TOO sweet, so I often use way less sugar than called for. I like the sweetness from fruit.
5. I like it spicy. I don't care what it is, I want flavor. I tend to add cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and sometimes ginger to all things that I bake, unless the dish is supposed to be savory, then I like garlic and lots of peppers.
6. and in general, I'm not the best at sticking to recipies.

I hope that is all alright.

I have started compiling recipies that I thought I might give as a booklet to some of my family and friends, so I will post one of those recipies right now.

SQUASH APPLE SURPRISE
Why is it a surprise? Because it tastes so damn good.

You can choose the size of your squash and how many apples you want to use depending on how much of this you want to make. If your squash is pretty big, I would use 3 or even 4 apples. I always think: the more the better. You can eat it as dessert, or with a meal, or as I like to eat it: as a meal. I made some last night and it is almost gone and it's not because my grandma pigged out on it. This stuff just disappears.

Ingredients:
1 winter squash (acorn or butternut)
2 or 3 apples - cored and dice (I like to leave skin on)
1 T butter
2 T brown sugar
1 to 4 T chopped walnuts (to your taste)
lots of ground cinnamon
some nutmeg, ground cloves, ground ginger

Directions:
- Put winter squash in pot of boiling water for 15 minutes. Pull squash out boiling pot. Sterilize apples in boiling water by dipping them into it for 10 sec. each (optional). Pour out boiling water and replace squash into pot covering with cold water, let sit 5 min.
- Peel squash (carrot peeler works). Put apples in large baking dish, about 8x12 or whatever. Cut squash in half and seed. Cube into bite size pieces and add to apples, mix them together.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Liberally sprinkle cinnamon over entire dish (I like to drown mine). Lightly sprinkle nutmeg, cloves and ginger over entire dish
- Chop walnuts and sprinkle evenly over dish
- Evenly spread sugar and butter over dish (if you have time you can cut them together which makes it more even)
- Cook for 50 minutes or so and voila!

Original Recipe:Don’t add any spices except for cinnamon. Microwave with in a bowl covered in plastic wrap with a few holes popped in the top for 7.5 min. Remove plastic and micro another 7.5.