There's Nothing Quite Like Winter in Alaska

We've been having a really good time here the last month or so.  Now that the daylight is back in full force winter is so much fun.  Here's what's new with us:

• The icicles along our roof have been getting awfully long lately.  We love them and we were kind of bummed when the missionaries came over to eat the other day and promptly opened our window and snapped the biggest one off.  You can always rely on 19 year old boys to destroy anything. :)  We have been happy to have the missionaries over more often though.  It's neat to be the member family feeding the missionaries after so many people fed us on our missions.
• Our stake had a road show night this past weekend.  Our branch did at little skit based on the book, "You Are Special."  I wrote the script and Drew played the main character. Everyone put lots of dots on him to mark him as bad because nobody thought he was special.  By the end of the play he had learned that what others think doesn't matter, he just needs to remember that he is a child of God and that makes him special.  All his little dots started to fall off, one by one.  We did really well and it was kind of fun to get together in a huge stake.  We haven't been actively involved in an family centered LDS group that large since before Italy- really since high school.  It was kind of fun to be a part of such a big group...once in a while at least. :)

• The moose are loving the streets of Anchorage more than ever as the snow is so deep now.  Often we come around a corner in our neighborhood and find the moose have climbed up on snow piles to reach the branches.  Unfortunately sometimes they end up climbing up on cars, and one baby moose even climbed up the snow mounds to get on someone's roof the other day.  I keep thinking I might have a close encounter with one while I'm walking to and from work, but so far I can usually see them from far enough away that I can take a detour to avoid them.  
• Finally saw Mt. McKinley the other day.  Even when we were in Denali National Park it was too cloudy to see it.  Sometimes on clear days while driving into Anchorage I have looked for it.  I would always wonder if maybe I saw it.  I finally did see it from the summit of Flattop when we hiked it the other day.  It was just peeking through the clouds but it was so drastically bigger than any other mountain, it's funny I ever questioned if I had seen it or not.  You will definitely know it when you see it.

• Drew is still skiing as much as he can.  This past week we had a sunny, warm day at Alyeska and even I went along.  We are lucky enough to have some hook-ups, so the entire excursion was free.  I remembered a lot from the few other times I have been skiing and I think I am doing a lot better than I did before.  Hopefully we'll go again together sometime next week.

• The absolute highlight of this last month was finally getting to see the aurora borealis in real life.  I have been trying to catch it ever since we moved to Alaska.  Apparently March is a great time to see the aurora, and this March has been one of the best in a long time.  (Record breaking snowfall?  Best Aurora viewing in years?  How lucky are we to be up here this winter?!)  Not only does a good solar storm have to be going, but it has to be a clear enough night to be able to see it, and the moon can't be to bright.  Then Drew and I both have to not be working so we can get a little ways out of the city to enjoy it.  Everything came together the other night though, and we were treated to a spectacular show.  We pulled off the Old Glenn Highway north of Anchorage with several other people, bundled up, and watched for as long as we could stand the cold.  I don't even know how to describe it.  When you first catch a little bit of it you just think, "Is that it? Am I really seeing it?"  But then it just grows brighter and bigger and it starts moving just like you've seen on tv sometime.  It just comes out of nowhere and goes absolutely crazy, then vanishes as fast as it appeared.  Right when you think, "Ok that was cool, but I'm freezing.  Better get in the car and go home,"  that's when it just starts going absolutely ballistic again.  I had seen pictures and video of the lines sweeping back and forth over the sky, but I had never known that the entire sky can be filled with the aurora, and you can actually look straight up into the eye of it.  It's like beautiful colored light is just raining down on you.  There is just no real way to describe it.  You just have to be lucky enough to see it yourself.  The pictures below are not ours.  We definitely don't have a nice enough camera to get decent pictures of the northern lights.  These are pictures other more talented people have taken in the last month or so around the state.  I tried to choose ones that looked similar to what we saw.  The neat thing about seeing the northern lights is that even jaded old timers here still go crazy when the northern lights come out.  Wildlife? The Iditarod?  Fur Rondy?  They don't care.  But everyone loves the aurora.  

•  The ice is melting on the Turnagain Arm.  I've decided my favorite view of this road is when the ice is just a thin rocky layer broken up with pools of glass-like water, reflecting the sun as it rises over the mountains.  Snapped this one on the way to church:

 What can we say?  We love living in such a beautiful place.

Iditarod Ceremonial Start

 Just as Fur Rondy is wrapping up, the Iditarod gets started.  We bundled up and headed right to the starting line on 4th Avenue for the ceremonial start.  It was snowing...of course...but we managed to get pretty close to the starting line and watched a few of the first teams take off.

 Later we headed farther down to watch them go around a corner.  While we were walking we stopped while a dog team crossed the street and got to be right up near them.  The ceremonial start is a lot of fun.  The mushers are waving and the dogs are so excited to get started they weigh them down more by adding a second sled and letting a person ride in the basket.  The next day they do the restart a little farther outside of Anchorage and that's when the real race gets started.

 I've been reading a lot about the Iditarod and I found out that when they round the corners of downtown streets in Anchorage a lot of times the dogs are going too fast and at least one of the sleds turns over.  We were lucky enough to get to see one flip.  They got going again soon enough.

It was fun to see everyone treating the Iditarod like a football game.  There were lots of people tailgating in the snow.  Some of the mushers even stopped and fed their dogs hot-dogs people were cooking.  It was a lot of fun.  We followed the Iditarod in the newspaper and it was exciting to see that the winner was Dallas Seavey, the youngest musher to ever win the Iditarod.  He's 25 years old and both his dad and his granddad competed this year as well.  His dad is a former winner and his grandfather competed in the very first Iditarod.  It's such an intense race...we felt lucky to actually see it start.  It really is the last great race on earth.

We're expecting...

...but it's not your usual pregnancy!

Both Drew and I actually went pregnant for the race we were in during Fur Rondy.  Drew's baby bump garnered a lot of attention.  I feel like he makes a pretty convincing pregnant waddle, especially with his hands on his stomach and back.

We braved the cold with friends from my work and showed up for the running of the reindeer race.  It's really not much of a race as it consists of running/walking/trudging through a ton of snow for about 2 city blocks.  But it's for charity and you get to run in a costume of your choice.  Everybody is being a little silly, more than a few people are a little drunk, and after you start running they set the reindeer off after you.  For about 10 seconds it's the coolest thing ever.  For the rest of it it's just lots of fun with friends.  

These people thought like us and wore something at least a little warm.  Others were in speedos, fur bikinis, and gladiator outfits.  I don't know how they stayed warm for so long waiting to run the race.  There were also plenty of large animal costumes, sumo wrestlers, and other themed groups.  We saw a head to toe Star Wars group, a bunch of red solo cups, guys encased in nothing but a bail of hay each.  Being as everyone in our group works in or is related to someone who works in Labor and Delivery, we went with pregnant bellies and scrubs.  When it finally came our turn to run, I turned on the video.  I can't say I tried really hard to worry about the recording though.  I was having a little too much fun.  So sorry, but you might get a bit of an idea of what it's like:

We waited at the back of the pack to run with the reindeer.  At first everyone starts running really slow, looking back casually, waiting for the reindeer.  But then they count down from 10 to release the reindeer and you start wondering if this was a good idea. Then all of a sudden you're screaming and booking it as antlers brush by you on their way through the crowd.   

This guy was pretty calm,
but some of the reindeer were really bucking to get after us!

They claimed they were an ice worm,
but I don't think anyone believed them.

It seemed only appropriate to pose for an ironic picture together:
the condom and the pregnant group.

A little reindeer love...

On the way home...

So now that we've run with the reindeer and got the T-shirt, we'd love to watch other people do it live.  This is the 5th time they have done it and they had a record breaking 2,300 people sign up to run it.  It's only a matter of time until someone gets their eye poked out by an antler or worse, but for now we are glad we got to be a part of it!

Fur Rondy: World Championship Sled Dog Race

One of the fun parts of fur rondy is the world championship sled dog races.  They are held in Anchorage proper.  The go through downtown, through local parks, cross on pedestrian overpasses, and loop back to downtown.  We went out and cheered the teams on near our house one day.  We live by one of the pedestrian overpasses they crossed.  It was fun to see the sleds come racing by, especially when they were really close to each other and trying to pass.  We tried to cheer them on without distracting the dogs too much.  Here's some pictures from the race:

We are starting to get sucked into the dog culture of Alaska.  Part of us really wants a dog and then part of us realizes how incredibly limiting having a dog would be to our somewhat transient lifestyle.  It's tough to just get up and go on a road trip or longer when you have a dog.  Oh well, one day!

Fur Rondy 2012

This can only mean one thing:

It must be time for the Fur Rondevous!  I have been looking forward to Fur Rondy since we moved up here and I first started looking into cool things to do in Alaska.  Fur Rondy is born out of the old Alaskan tradition of fur and hide trading that would happen near the end of winter every year.  It is still cold and snowy, but by February it is light out during the day again.  Naturally, as people gathered from all over the state after a lonely winter in the wilderness, they not only wanted to trade animal skins but also have a good time!  Fur Rondy is the continuation of that tradition.  There are still hide and fur auctions, native crafts, the beard contest, and the Miner and Trapper's Ball  (a fancy ball where everyone wears funny costumes.)  Newer traditions have become really popular too.  There is a snowshoe softball tournament, a snow sculpture contest, a race where people put outhouses on skis and push them down the street.   There's a full on carnival with rides and everything downtown, even though it's freezing outside.   We got to check out a lot the fun and browse all the shops and stands.  I was tempted but did not buy any fur...it's crazy expensive.  We stayed in our car to watch the fireworks, but we did venture out some of the time.  Here's a few pictures from our wanderings during Fur Rondy:

Tools for the snow sculptures.  A few of our favorites are below.

Alaskan Natives used the blanket toss to alert villagers of a successful hunt.
At fur rondy, kids just get to be tossed up in the air for fun.

More posts from our time at Fur Rondy to come...

My brother is getting married!

My brother proposed to his girlfriend!  Looks like we'll all be having another wedding...date is tentatively set for May 25, 2013.  They seem really happy and I can't wait to meet the newest member of our family!

Dinner by Jennifer, or A Brief Explanation of Food in the Harlos Family

Hope everybody had a good Valentine's Day.  We don't normally really do anything for Valentine's Day, but when I woke up that morning I found these on the table along with my favorite candy (I had already eaten it by the time we took a picture):

Super pretty and very unexpected.  Drew's not usually one to get flowers.  So I figured I'd better do something more than just make brownies or something so he could have chocolate.  (He regularly complains he never gets to have anything chocolate because I don't like it.)  So I decided that I would make dinner.  Most of you know that I can count the number of times that I have cooked dinner since we were married on one hand.  And I never cook anything too exciting.  Usually Drew eats it after turning up his nose at the fact that I love to use rice or peppers or some other ingredient he never uses.  When we first got married I tried to sometimes make an effort to cook something...but then I realized I had had the good fortune of marrying a man who loves to cook.  A man who puts up menus like these on our fridge:

It didn't take long for me to get very used to Drew cooking every night.  My dependency on him for food is pretty sad.  When he got really sick last winter and didn't get out of bed for like three days it was most apparent.  One day all I ate was an entire box of Corn Pops.  Another night I went for a midnight run to a taco drive thru.  Drew and I have gotten fast food together like twice in the entire time we've known each other.  Drew woke up out of his stupor to find me chowing down on refried beans out of a Styrofoam container with empty cereal bowls strewn about.  That was a low point.

Anyways, the point is, I don't really cook.  If we are having a party I will cook something from a recipe and get kind of into it, but I don't cook as a daily chore at all.  Almost always this is just fine.  Drew loves tweaking recipes and figuring out what side will perfectly complement the marinade he used on the steak.  But every once in awhile, he just doesn't feel like carving the time out of his day to make dinner.  So I decided since he had worked the night before and was working again that night, I would make dinner.  And make something he liked.  So definitely a chocolate dessert...but what for dinner?  

I figured that Drew cooks what he likes.  The trouble is that what Drew likes is pretty specific, and pretty fancy.  You see, before I knew Drew and before he went to Italy, Drew was a very picky eater.  He ate like, ice cream, milkshakes, bread, cereal, pizza if he scraped most the sauce off first.  Definitely not vegetables.  The only Drew I have known is one that loves to cook, and got very into learning to cook from Italians.  By the time I actually met him on the mission he was known for being the go to missionary for cooking stuff.  I remember even deciding to invite him and his companion to a dinner a bunch of us were having after a baptism, under the condition that they would do the cooking.  

After we started dating, I did realize that this must not have been the way Drew always was.  He would timidly bite into a piece of fruit or a vegetable and tell me this was the first time he was actually trying it.  The first time we went to a Mexican restaurant he just stared at the menu and was like, "I don't know what any of this is.  I don't know what to order."  So I ordered him a chimichanga.  He ate it, but he felt like everything on the menu was just the same few ingredients slapped together in a different form.  

That's when Drew really started to become a food snob. For a long time all Drew really knew how to cook or liked to cook was what he ate in Italy.  Obviously he was getting great food.  As time has gone on Drew has expanded his tastes beyond pasta, seafood, fried meats, and artisan bread.  But only to what he believes is the more refined food.  Mexican is not refined.  Chinese is not refined.  American casseroles are not refined.  30-Minutes-Or-Less meals out of Family Circle are definitely not refined.  Most Italian food made by Americans is just revolting.  He really is a food snob.  The only cuisines that make the cut are Italian, French, Indian, and super traditional Southern cooking.  Since we came to Alaska and went to a cooking demonstration with a famous chef in the area his expectations have become even higher.  Our grocery bill is insane, but hey, I am getting a gourmet meal that I didn't have to prepare every night, right?

So I went with a very Drew dinner:  steak with sauteed mushrooms with some type of reduction, baked asparagus with a balsamic glaze, and mashed potatoes.  Lava cake in individual ramekins for dessert.  (I don't judge you at all if you have to Google what the heck a ramekin is.)  I should have known I was getting way too over my head.  The amazing thing is, it all ended up being pretty edible!  The steak was definitely dry, but not terribly so.  I tweaked the reduction recipe but that didn't turn out to be a huge mistake.  The asparagus was good and so were the mashed potatoes.    I will admit that all I really did for the mashed potatoes was cut and boil the potatoes.  Drew took over from there because I was running out of time before I had to go to work.  But it turned out pretty tasty.  Dessert was probably the worst.  I tried to make lava cake but it wasn't lava-y at all.  I cooked it too long.  But he ate both of them so they couldn't have been that bad!

Drew and his lava cake

I was hoping to have it mostly done by the time Drew woke up, but he woke up early and heard something very strange...was that me, in the kitchen??  (I admit it was like two weeks into living in this apartment before I ventured past the fridge into the rest of the kitchen.  I felt so eerily out of place.)  So Drew hardly knew what to do with himself and ended up relaxing on the couch.  I gave him the chocolate covered bowls and beaters to lick.  It was at this point that Drew said, "Ahh, finally!  This is what I always dreamed that marriage would be like!"  I'm glad I fulfilled his fantasy for at least one brief moment.  :)

I'm not really into Valentine's Day, but I'm glad that this year it made me stretch and try something new.  And I'm glad I've got a husband who is always whipping up a new concoction or bringing home a new cookbook from the library.  I have so many memories with Drew and food: Swinging in a hammock while Drew kept bringing out plate after plate of waffles.  Cooking Pasta alla Norma at his parent's house before embarking on our now infamous road trip.  The pork skin we brought my best friend, Annie, in Alabama when we stopped to visit her.  Her now husband was the only person at the party willing to try and eat it.  The Moab Diner where we had our first date.  Polishing off a pan of lasagna just between the two of us.  Backpacking with a bag of frozen chicken and some barbecue sauce strung up in a tree away from bears, just so Drew could attempt a gourmet meal in the wilderness.  Deciding maybe I would give him another chance after getting into a huge jello fight with him outside his apartment in the Riviera.  Drew cooking for my parents the day he first met them.  The fish Drew brought on the plane with him from Alaska when we reunited after my return to Italy and his first stint in Alaska.  Choosing our Italian themed menu for our wedding reception.  Having friends over to our first apartment more nights than not, and always making lots of food to share over good conversation.  Getting dressed up and going to a fancy restaurant in the middle of a camping trip.  Starving all day long while we travel because we are too cheap to eat out and then going from restaurant to restaurant ordering the local fare all night long.  Savoring the best steak of my life atop a mountain on our anniversary. Celebrating getting my dream job or Drew graduating by eating out at a fancy restaurant by candlelight, chatting and laughing for hours about what the future might hold for us.  Food has so often been a part of our fun together, I'm glad I got to add to our memories with my own little adventure in the kitchen.