Double Yay for Spring!

Spring really IS here! We drove home from work today with the top down & the Jeep, it felt so nice. =D It is 61 right now at 8:30 pm. The forecast as far as we can see is sunny & I have to say, we're ready!

Spring is for the birds

Nick & I went out to Creamer's Field tonight to see who was new in town. Creamer's is a bird refuge here in the city that is run by Fish & Game. Back in the early days of Fairbanks it was farmland that supported the one of the larger dairies in the city. Since Fairbanks is on one of the major migration paths for birds headed up to the north slope of Alaska for their breeding. They clear the snow off the field early & put out some feed. Not only does this congregate the birds far from the airport, it gives us Fairbanksians a close & convenient place to check out the birds. The pictures here are Trumpeter Swans, Lesser Canada Geese, Lesser Sandhill Cranes & White Fronted Geese (with the light colored bills). I also included a picture of the sign out at Creamer's & an accidental shot that I turned out liking. =)

Lanara & I during her trip, Nick's parents at the Ice Art Championships during Spring Break, Nick & I dogsledding with his parents (they were in another sled) in Two Rivers, Ak.

the recipe =)

Blue Ribbon French Bread
Servings: 2
Cooking Time: 45 minutes
Rating: 5/5 stars

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Ingredients
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1 package Dry Yeast
2 Tbs. Nonfat Dry Milk
1 Tbs. Sugar
1 Tbs. Salt
4-5 c. All-pourpose Flower
2 c. Hot Water (120-130)
1 Tbs. Butter, Room Temperature

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Instructions
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In a mixer bowl stir together the yeast, dry milk, sugar, salt, and 2
cups of flower.  Pour in hot water and add the butter.  Blend for two
minutes with the flat beater of the mixer.
Add the balance of the flower 1/2 cup at a time.  The dough will be a
soggy mess but should clean the sides of the bowl.  If the dough is
still moist sprinkle with flower.
Let dough rest for 10 minutes.
Using the dough hook kneed for 10 minutes.
Place dough in greased bowl and cover with a damp towl.  Let rise
until it doubles in size.
Punch down the dough and turn out onto lightly flowered surface.
Knead for 30 seconds to press out all the bubbles.  Cut dough in half
or in quarters and form into a ball or rectangle.  Place on greased
baking sheet and cover with a damp towl.  Let rise until dough has
doubled in size.
Preheat oven to 400.  Cut diagonal slashes in the top of the loaves.
Brush with water and place in the oven.
After 20 minutes turn baking sheet.
Bake for 40-45 minutes or until loaf makes hollow sound when thumped
on the bottom.

Okay, I really mean it this time!

They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions & I have definitely contributed a few pavers on this blog! I used to send out email updates to friends & family (the princess diaries) but my life has changed & I didn't have these big road adventures anymore. Since most of our family is living a considerable distance away I have gotten comments that people miss knowing any new stuff going on. So, this will be my attempt at letting people know what is going on with us. Okay, here we go! Let me start with some catch up... Nick is almost done with school for this semester, he is still on the Dean's list & only has one more year until graduation (May 2010). He is going to be working for Northern Alaska Tour Co. this year. It will be a night mechanic position, like what he did at Princess, but they have smaller vehicles. The maintenance will be on a few mini-buses & a fleet of full size vans. NATC is a locally owned company & only has tours going north of Fairbanks, so all the vehicles will be beat up a bit by the Dalton Hwy. Being on different schedules in the summer is never exactly fun, but it is short term. I am still working at the university, right now I am being lent to UAF Printing Services. I'm not sure how long it will last, but the people are really nice & it is cool to do something a little different than your norm. We'll see, it could be a new opportunity. Nick's parents came up for Nick's spring break & we had a really nice time. We spent a day & night at the World Ice Art Championships & saw tons of great carvings. I had to work most of the days, but we got together each night & Nick had a good time showing them around. They had sled dogs teams heading south from the Yukon Quest staying at the same hotel, so they got to see tons of sled dogs. One of the coolest activities was a dogsledding tour up in Two Rivers on Chena Hot Springs Rd. Tom & Debbie & Nick & I each sat in the bucket of a sled & raced around in the snow, it was really fun. =) My Mom will be coming up in May for a bit & we are looking forward to that. I am having a small operation & she is going to "Mom" me while I recuperate which will be very appreciated, especially with Nick on night shifts. Hopefully it won't be 90 degrees like it was during her last visit or flooding like it was last summer. Hopefully Pop & Jasmine can survive a little bit without her. =) A lot of our friends still in the tourism industry find their way up to Fairbanks in the spring & summer. So far we have gotten to see Bryce, Will & Lanara. Bryce will be up fairly regularly with tours (Premier Alaska Tours) his summer & Will has to come up for his job at the Princess corporate office. He is in charge of health & safety for some of lodges so we get to kidnap him when he comes up. Lanara had an arctic leg which brought her to Fairbanks straight from Hawaii & I am still enjoying the beautiful lei she brought me. The weather was nice enough on Saturday that once we got our errands all done we put the top down on the Jeep & took a drive. Our friends Steve & Tamara are working on their dry cabin so we headed up to Chena Ridge to see the completed kitchen & it looked really great. We definitely want to stay in Fairbanks if we can. We like it here & have some good friends (we owe Vanessa & Tony [who introduced us to each other], it's our turn to cook!). I sometimes miss the hustle & bustle of Anchorage, there are so many good restaurants & shops there, but it always feels right when we come home to Fairbanks. Nick has turned into a true Alaskan & actually finds Anchorage too busy now & thinks Fairbanks is just right. What we would really like is to just be able to visit places more frequently than we do now, but his school schedule is pretty restrictive. Ooh! So Nick found a bread book in the bargain bin section at Gulliver's Books. The recipe is SO VERY YUMMY so I wanted to share it. While I (of course) think Nick has special baking powers, this bread is something everyone should & could try! If you do, let me know how it turns out. =) I figure this huge missive is enough for now, but I'll add more as it happens.