A Haunting We Will Go

Before I get to the meat and potatoes of this post, I thought I'd share something with you... Remember when I told you how to make Dolmades? Something you may not know about me is that I tend to tinker with recipes until it's juuuuuuust right.

For even better dolmades, add a small handful of sultanas (raisins) to the stuffing mix while you are frying it up. Also add a tspn of fish sauce to the chicken (or veggie) stock you are going to cook the dolmades in.

Your taste bud will love me!


On with the show! Cus the show must go on!

I haven't posted for a few days, but it's not like I don't have anything to tell you or that I've run outta cool food stuff or that I've run out of stories. Never fear, none of those three things will ever happen. This also won't turn into an abandoned blog, no matter how low my viewership is (is it in negative numbers yet????) Besides, in a hundred years from now historians will want to know my mind in these early years so who am I to disappoint my future billion readers.

I've been hiding in the woods. Not overnight camping, but a lot of hiking around. This spring we are having beautiful weather and I don't wanna waste it at a keyboard. Actually, our spring is way too sunny and warm for this time of year and we are in for one of the worst droughts in history, sigh...

Nothing special has been happening, this weeks cress is sprouting, my coriander (cilantro) thicket is going well, just planted a bunch more herb seeds... blah blah blah, yadda, yadda, yadda.

CUT THE CRAP DAVE, GET TO THE FUNNY STORY FROM ALASKA!!!! Yes, I heard you say that.

Story time with unkie dave:

We are going to jump ahead to high school --don't worry, I'll be getting back to my youth. I was on the x-country running team and the x-country skiing team. Never was I any of the top blokes or blokettes, but I had fun.

One weekend very early in the running season, me and another bloke went for a run. At night, in the dark, in the forest, on some weedy overgrown trails in Old Kincaid (yes, I grew up in Los Anchorage --shut up). Now, back then in the stone age, kincaid park was NOT what it's like nowadays. It was so much Cooler! Did I mention it was creepy and dark at night? My superpower of being able to see in the dark had already kicked in at this point in my life, but that just meant I could see much much more movement in the dark shadowy underbrush.

Did I mention it was a totally clear night with a full moon? No, I hadn't? Well I have now.

I'm keeping you in suspense here, so I'll just tell you what happened: We ran to the back entrance (about 2 miles), ran for an hour through the trails, then ran home.

Oh, wait! We saw Something really cool and then heard (and saw, I swear!) another Something that wasn't so cool.

Something really cool: The aurora came out while we were in the woods. I've seen em lots of times before and since, but this time stuck in my mind. Red, Greens, and Blues all radiating from a central point directly overhead. Colors cascading and shimmering over the entire sky! No city lights for miles and no sound for miles. It was VERY cool.

We stopped and stood rooted to the spot on the trail watching the dancing lights overhead. After 10 mins or so... we HEARD something. I saw some underbrush move about 50 feet away from us. Keith heard the underbrush rustle but couldn't see it move. Yeah, we know there are lynx and black bears and a host of other critters there, but the trails were just begging to be trode upon by us that night.

Two streaks of humanity shot out of that clearing so fast I'm sure we broke every world record for speed there ever was. As we were hauling some serious ass I glanced back for a moment and I SWEAR I saw a pair of yellow glowing eyes in the underbrush RIGHT WHERE THE MOVEMENT WAS! If our coach coulda seen us sprinting the last three miles needed to get outta the park, then our ticket to the olympics would've been punched right then and there. We even picked up our speed when I told Keith I saw glowing eyes.

The next day several people who live around the park area reported hearing thunder during the Aurora show, but it was just the sonic boom from two very very fast and frightened kids.

Aww, heck. It was probably just my imagination. Ummmm, when's the next full moon.... (insert twilight zone music).


Food time!


Veggie time: green beans with extra goodies.

This actually has meat in it, but for you vegetabletarians, just don't use the bacon and cook it all up with a tbsp or two of olive oil (you'll probably want a bit of salt though).


What you need:

Half a kilo (one pound) of FRESH, RAW green beans, tips removed
One red capsicum (red bell pepper), seeded and sliced
Handful (metric handful) of peanuts or cashews.
Two strips of bacon
A tbsp or two of peanut butter


What you do:

Cook the bacon in a wok or a good fry pan till it's just done, but not quite crispy. Remove and let cool. Toss the green beans and bell pepper strips into the bacon fat and cook em (fry) for a few mins --moving them constantly, don't let them burn!. Toss in the peanuts or cashews and the peanut butter. Cook it all up till the veggies are cooked but not soggy --stirring and moving them constantly. Crumple up the bacon and toss the bacon bits in at the end.

Serve hot!

It really only takes 5 mins for the cooking, and the prep work can be done while the main dish is cooking. This is a big hit with the clan down here. Even my bro-in-law who doesn't like most veggie dishes loves this.

You're welcome.