- Western Aerial - Ride to the Top
- Ashbury - Your Move
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Double Musky Pie
Preheat oven to 350°F.
First Layer
- 3 egg whites
- 1/4 pinch salt
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 36 saltine crackers, broken into 1/2 inch pieces
- 1 cup pecans, roughly chopped
Beat egg whites until airy and frothy. While still beating, add salt. Continue to beat and add sugar slowly and cream of tartar. Continue beating until meringue forms stiff and glossy peaks. In the kitchen, we test for this point by drawing a finger through the meringue, if it leaves a canal, it's ready.
Mix meringue, crackers nuts and vanilla completely together. Make sure that each crumb is touched by the meringue.
Spread carefully into a buttered 9 inch pie pan, smooth out to a depth of one inch. Bake at 350°F for 12 minutes. Meringue will be slightly brown around the edges and have a very light crust to touch. Let cool slightly.
Second Layer
- 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
- 1/4 pound butter
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
In double boiler, melt chocolate and butter slowly. Add eggs, half the flour and sugar and mix less that 1/2 minute. Then add remaining flour and sugar, continue to stir. Don't over mix or it will be brittle. It should be slightly granular.
Pour chocolate mixture in a circle from the rim into the center. Bake 35 minutes at 350°F.
When done, pie will be slightly crusty on top. A toothpick inserted into edge will not come out clean; the center, however, will be moist and will continue cooking after it's removed from the oven.
Third Layer
- Cool Whip
Spread topping on pie, the refrigerate until ready to serve.
Recipe courtesy of the Double Musky InnThings I Miss About Living in Alaska
The first time that I visited Anchorage, I remember the plane coming down out of the clouds and skimming over the mountain tops. It was slightly scary (thoughts of Alive filled my head) but incredibly gorgeous and awe-inspiring. The sense of wonder they filled me with only increased after Marc explained just how far the mountains were in the distance and how big they had to be to be seen at that size from the city. I miss looking out into the horizon and seeing the mountains in the distance.
One night we visited the Village Inn on a mission to secure a White Chocolate Cherry Dream Pie. After parking, I noticed that many of the people in the lot weren't making their way inside but were instead gazing into the sky. Upon looking up, I was treated to my first viewing of the Northern Lights. I don't think there's anything in the world that can quite prepare you for the spectacle of the bands of colour weaving and pulsing through the night sky.
Growing up, I had never lived in a place that it really snowed. It wasn't until I was in my late teens, in Ohio, that I really experienced it. And it was in Ohio that I also learned to hate it. Alaska, however, gave me back my love of the frozen white stuff. Maybe it was the scenery that made it seem more magical, or maybe it was the sheer amount of it. Whatever it was, my love for it has stayed with me.
Marc loved to drive. One of the places he showed me, and I ended up falling in love with, was the Seward Highway. It stretches up from Anchorage, through Girdwood, alongside the Portage Glacier and into Seward. Some of my favourite times were when we'd drive along the Turnagain Arm and visits to Girdwood (and the Double Musky Inn).
There are downsides to it being light almost all day, but there's nothing like not needing your headlights at 10pm. The trade off of having so much darkness in the winter wasn't so bad either, although that is when I became a big fan of SAD lights!
Friday, January 29, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
How to Help Haiti
• The Red Cross: You can give $10 to the Red Cross’s International Response Fund by texting HAITI to 90999. 100 percent of your donation benefits the Red Cross, and you can print a receipt through mGive, a foundation that helps non-profits take advantage of mobile technology.
• UNICEF, the United Nations Fund focusing on children, has worked on the ground in Haiti since 1949, so has the expertise to make a difference. You can donate here.
• Doctors Without Borders is also present in-country. One senior staff member reports, “The situation is chaotic. I visited five medical centers, including a major hospital, and most of them were not functioning.” Donate to support public health efforts here.
• MADRE, the international women’s rights NGO, partners with the Zanmi Lasante Clinic, founded by Partners in Health, on the ground in Haiti. “The most urgent needs right now are bandages, broad-spectrum antibiotics and other medical supplies, as well as water tablets to prevent cholera outbreaks,” MADRE reports. Donate here.
• Action Against Hunger has had a team in Haiti since 1985, and is ready to fly planeloads of emergency supplies from Paris to Port-au-Prince. Food is one necessity, but so is sanitation; in some Haitian towns, 70 percent of homes do not have plumbing. Donate here.
• Mercy Corps has a history of deploying aid to regions affected by catastrophic earthquakes, such as Peru in 2007, China and Pakistan in 2008, and Indonesia last year. They are deploying a team to Haiti, and you can support their efforts here.
• Partners in Health is the NGO founded in Haiti in 1987 by Dr. Paul Farmer, the celebrated physician and anthropologist who focuses on international social justice. The group’s emergency response focuses on delivering medical supplies and staff. Louise Ivers, PIH’s clinical director in the country, sent the message, “Port-au-Prince is devastated, lot of deaths. SOS. SOS.” Donate here.
• The United Nations Foundation Central Emergency Response Fund will support relief efforts in Haiti, but also in diaster regions across the globe, including those receiving far less media attention. Donate here.
• The International Rescue Committee, which in the past has resettled Haitian refugees in the United States, is deploying an Emergency Response Team to assist overwhelmed local aid groups. It will focus on critical medical, water, and sanitation assistance. Donate here.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
Panama Canal in 60 Seconds
Holland America put this together to give people an idea of what it's like to go through the canal. In actuality it takes about 2-3 hours to get through the Gatun Locks. The ships then continue through the Gatun Lake into the next set of locks to enter the Pacific Ocean. In our case, since we weren't doing the full transit, we cleared the locks and then turned around in the lake (which takes over an hour on its own) and went back through the locks into the Atlantic.
Moving Bridge in Willemstad, Curacao
If you watch closely you'll notice the bridge is moving. It moves, on pontoons, from its place across the harbor to come to rest along one side of the docks. This is to allow ships to enter the harbor.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Friday, January 1, 2010
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