Howdy, Alaska!

Earlier this month Duncan and I relocated to Anchorage, AK!  We don't really like hot weather.  In fact, we really dislike it.  We have talked about moving away from Houston since even before we got there.  We had no idea it would actually happen so fast, though!

The moving process was overall really smooth.  Our packers & loaders were awesome!  I loved their intense organization!

Bye, FJ!  It was waiting for us in AK!

The Alaskan Express!

They were awesome.  The truck was almost empty... we don't have much stuff apparently!

Maddy and D in the airport.  She was glad for a break from the carrier.

Maddy in her carrier.  She didn't like it, but she did awesome!!

Our house sold in a couple weeks, and closing is in just two days.  I didn't realize how sad I would be to leave it.  We put a lot of time and effort into the planning of the house, and we loved it.  But, now we are on the hunt here in AK.  We already put an offer on one house and got out-bid.  We will likely put down an offer on a different house tomorrow.  Wish us luck!

So far, we both love our new jobs and Anchorage!  I think we will be pretty happy here :)

Goose Lake.  The trail to get here is a little sketchy, but it is a nice little walk from our apartment.

Coastal Trail.  The mountain in the background is called the Sleeping Lady.  I can see her from my office.

Maddy on the Coastal Trail.

Beers at Moose's Tooth with mountains in the background.  We love this place!

Goodbye Houston!  Hello Alaska!

Let the Sewing Adventures Begin: These Aren't Cat Toys, People!

I have wanted to learn how to sew for a while now, so last year when Darcy (one of my co-workers) suggested we take a sewing class, I was all in! She gathered up a group of 5 girls. 4 of which are engineers. Not me. I'm a geo lost in a group of engineers. It's a good thing I like spreadsheets.

The first night of class was a bit overwhelming... Let's just say these 5 technically minded females were definitely stepping outside of their comfort zone :) Darcy has a great overview of that first night in her blog.

Lessons Learned so far:
Week One -- fabric types (no plaids allowed), general sewing tools, patterns, thread, etc. And, Darcy loves rolling bags.

Week Two -- Reading patterns is difficult. Wash your fabric (oops).

Week Three -- Pinning sucks.



That brings us to this week. As we were walking to into the classroom building, Darcy informed us that she was nervous about actually sewing on real fabric.... After all, these aren't cat toys, people (of which she had lots of practice)! We quickly decided that should be the class motto.

Our teacher, Becky, showing Leigh Ann and Meredith how to use the machine.

Leah already finished her first project!!

Darcy's skirt is already looking like a skirt!

My first project is PJ pants! So far, so good! Hopefully next week I'll have whole legs and maybe some hems!




In other sewing news, patterns are more expensive than most of the shirts I buy. That may have something to do with the fact that I shop mostly at Target for my clothes. Even so, they are expensive. So, when patterns go on sale at Joanns for $1, you stock up! And then you save $156! Yay!

Quick Breads -- Daring Bakers' Feb 2012 Challenge

After skipping 2 challenges, I'm back!  It has been a busy first two months of 2012!

This month's challenge was quick bread -- a personal favorite.  In fact, my first Short Stack post included a lemon loaf that Duncan still requests!  For this challenge I made the DB recipe for green onion, cheddar & asiago beer batter bread, but I substituted jalapeños for the green onions.  We like it hot!  I also made the DB lemon loaf, which turned out denser than my recipe, but was very tasty.

I love bread!  Get these great recipes here!

Blog-checking lines: The Daring Bakers’ February 2012 host was – Lis! Lis stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavor profiles. 

Maddy wanted some bread!

Daring Cooks' January 2012 Challenge -- Tamales!

This blog is almost a full week late... shame, shame!  Sorry for the delay -- Duncan and I were gone on vacation, and I just never got to it!  (Yay for vacation!)

What a fun challenge!  Normally I am not a big fan of tamales, but these were really great!  

Blog-checking lines: Maranda of Jolts & Jollies was our January 2012 Daring Cooks hostess with the mostess! Maranda challenged us to make traditional Mexican Tamales as our first challenge of the year!

I made the green chile chicken tamales and Pioneer Woman's Restaurant Style Salsa.  Both were yummy!

I will definitely make these tamales again!  Check out the recipe here!

Daring Bakers' December Challenge -- Sourdough Bread

There is only one word to describe this challenge.  And, oh how I wish it was: amazing.  Or, delicious.  Scrumptious.  Awesome.  Incredible.  Yeah, it isn't any of those.

Failure.

Complete failure.

That is my word.  Failure.

After reading post after post after post on the DK forum of great successes, I can only assume the reason for the failure was me.  Or the flours I used.  Or the fact that I proofed one loaf for almost 2 days.  Or because we keep our house too cold.  Probably me, though.

The starters never 'bubbled' as much as they were supposed to, and the final loaves were just gross.

I love bread.  In fact, I'm not sure I've ever met a bread I didn't love, so I know I didn't think they were gross because I'm not a bread fan.

I tried to make the rye and french country loaves.  Both = gross.

Duncan got me a new cookbook (On Baking... thanks for the recommendation, Jen!) for Christmas, and it has several sections on bread.  I'm going to attempt one of those recipes.

Just when I thought I was finally getting good at doughs/breads... What a slap in the face!

Oh well!!  Here's to hoping for better luck on the next challenge!

You should check out the recipes -- many other Daring Bakers had great luck with it!!


Blog-checking lines: Our Daring Bakers Host for December 2011 was Jessica of My Recipe Project and she showed us how fun it is to create Sour Dough bread in our own kitchens!  She provided us with Dour Dough recipes from Bread Matters by Andrew Whitley as well as delicious recipes to use our Sour Dough bread in from Tonia George's Things on Toast and Canteen's Great British Food!

French Country Bread.  Looks like a flat football.  Tasted like one, too.

Rye Bread.  Looks hard, doesn't it?  It was.  I had to saw through it.

Funny enough, it was really soft on the inside.  Dense, but soft.  So, mom and I tried it.  Decent taste at first, horrific aftertaste.  Failure. 

Daring Cooks' December 2011 Challenge -- Cha Sui & Cha Sui Bao

This post is very, very tardy.  I initially decided to complete it late because I wanted Duncan to be home for the meal.  And I did complete it...a week and a half ago.  I just never posted it.  Oops!

Cha Sui Bao = Cantonese BBQ pork buns.

This was a great challenge!!  I made meat.  I made dough.  And then stuffed the meat into the dough.  Meat-filled buns.  What could be better?! 

We ordered out fried rice and hot & sour soup to go with the buns.  We were stuffed and really impressed by the buns.  Great recipe!  Get it here.

Blog-checking lines: Our Daring Cooks’ December 2012 hostess is Sara from Belly Rumbles! Sara chose awesome Char Sui Bao as our challenge, where we made the buns, Char Sui, and filling from scratch – delicious! 

Daring Bakers' Challenge November 2011 -- Filipino Desserts

This month's challenge was inspired by Filipino desserts!  There were various types of desserts to choose from, and I ended up going with a cake called sans rival, which means 'without rival.'  The recipe can be found here.

Blog-checking lines: Catherine of Munchie Musings was our November Daring Bakers’ host and she challenged us to make a traditional Filipino dessert – the delicious Sans Rival cake! And for those of us who wanted to try an additional Filipino dessert, Catherine also gave us a bonus recipe for Bibingka which comes from her friend Jun of Jun-blog.

The cake is composed of several alternating layers of meringue and French buttercream -- my version was chocolate meringue layers with vanilla buttercream.  My meringue layers weren't overly crunchy, but the final product was still tasty!  The French buttercream was a really great icing -- much different than normal buttercream.  The result of the first step tasted just like marshmallow cream... not that I tasted that much...  just a little...  a cup qualifies as a little, right??

I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving!  We had a good visit with Duncan's mom and brother -- great conversation and food & lots of fun decorating for Christmas!