It was a little windy, but not too bad. About 20F, which is unusually warm this time of year. Plenty of snow. Lot's of snowboarders and sledders about.
This is my son "catchin' some air" as the kids say. Right now he's eleven and this is about as much air as he can catch - we're saving up for the hospital bills when he's a teenager.
Jumper enjoyed the day, even though I forgot to bring her boots. She gets ice and snow caught between her toes unless she's booted up, but today she didn't seem to have much trouble.
At first glance it looks like the snow was really deep since Becky had her entire left left leg buried to the hip - it's an illusion, she's just really, really short.
Afterward, on the way home, we diverted to Wasilla for Mexican food.
Hope you guys enjoyed the first day of 2008. Well, all of you except Shawn Powers, who as we all know spent the entire day rebuilding his server - which is probably for the best, since the last time he went outside he fell into a river.
But that's okay! Because he has pretty geek toys and five new t-shirts!
ReplyDeleteWell, that's true. He also makes pretty cool videos.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year to all the regulars. I've been reading, but posting has been giving me problems.
ReplyDeleteUber Spouse and I and friends are off to Tolovana Hot Springs in about 12 hours, so we're loading up the gear and getting ready to go.
Thanks to everyone for making my 2007 much more enjoyable than I expected. Here's to an even more raucous 2008!
That post made me laugh a bunch of times. The picture of Becky reminded me of the time, shortly after I'd met my GF in Minnesota. We were tromping through some farmers field with about 3 feet of snow covered in 2 inches of crust. I kept falling through while she "walked on water". About two seconds after telling me I needed to learn to "read the snow", she went completely through up to her thighs. I laughed at her a lot while being absolutely no help at all getting her out.
ReplyDeleteYour neighborhood looks fabulous.
Tania, thanks for the link to Tolovana. We've been thinking about heading up to Chena Hot Springs, we'd really like to see the Ice Hotel - can't afford to stay there, but we'd like to see it. Plus, I always enjoy dinner at the Chena Pump House.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite hot springs by far is Laird Hot Spring in British Columbia - but I haven't been to Tolovana, sounds like I'll have to give that a try.
Your neighborhood looks fabulous.
ReplyDeleteWe're pretty happy with it, that's true.
I do miss sunny Alaskan winter days, I do! The forecast here is for rain, every day, as long as the forecast runs. But I knew that when we moved here. :P
ReplyDeleteGlad you had a great New Year's day! We spent the day taking down our Christmas decorations and catching up on housework. Boring, but necessary.
All the best to you in '08!
In other news: I made clam chowder. :)
ReplyDeleteIt was a bit scary for a while there, right after I put in the flour. It turned sort of brownish right away due to the bacon grease, and then didn't change color after that. Or at least, eventually I got impatient and moved on to the next step. ;) Then the half-n-half part was kind of scary too. I've never done well with recipes that called for milk or ingredients with milk in them, so there I was, doing not one but two things I usually fail at, both in the same recipe...
But it all came out well in the end. Surprisingly, the celery didn't soften as much as I'd expected (and here I was worrying about the potatoes cooking all the way). Other than that though, it tastes great. :)
hehehee - yeah, I'm not allowed to go to nice places. My wife threw away my dress shoes, because the fish smell wouldn't go away after falling in the river. Then, to add insult to injury (those shoes finally were broke in enough to be comfy), she bought me lace up shoes to replace them.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of lace up dress shoes. I'm more of a "grab the heel with your toe, and rip them puppies off" kinda guy. Alas, now I have to untie them. Or wear slippers to work, which is awesome, but cold this time of year.
It looks like you had quite an awesome day. We did go sledding for New Year's eve, and they even talked me into going down the hill once. You do have a wee bit more snow than we do, however. :)
...back to the server room
Very cool. And oh, yes...hospital bills. They are so on their way.
ReplyDeleteYour poochy is a cutey, by the way. Dogs rule.
Sounds like a wonderful way to start the new year.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder about the clam chowder, mwt! I had planned to make it during one of my days home this past week, but turns out I didn't spend much time actually *at* home. I'm putting up a reminder on my computer to do it in the near future.
MWT, glad the chowder came out alright. Just takes a little practice to get the technique to what you personally like and enjoy. Some people like it crunchy, I personally don't.
ReplyDeleteSweat the onions and the celery just a little longer. (Sweat isn't like 'fry' or 'saute,' use low heat and cook until the onions are transparent. Sample until you have what you want. Using the technique in the recipe, the onions and celery will not cook any further once added to the soup, because the soup temperature is kept low.
And I guess I should have mentioned that the flour wouldn't brown all that much, that's ok, that means you did it right.
Again, glad you enjoyed it.
Basically I just went by smelling the pan from time to time, and when it stopped smelling like raw flour I decided it was close enough.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to remember that about the celery next time. Everything else I make, it's usually at least a slow boil - cooking at low temperature is new to me. ;)
I hope it reheats well. I made the entire recipe (so, probably about 3 quarts). Gave some to my boss, because I had to steal a couple coffee filters from him to do the clam juice part (I don't drink coffee).