Rose Tint My World

No, this post has nothing to do with Rocky Horror (ahhh, those were the days...) but knowing me it could easily degenerate into something along those lines.

Where was I??? Ah, right! The roses out front are blooming already, very cool. Blood red ones, white ones, pink ones, light red ones, yellow ones. All looking nice and purdy and aphid-free. I did prune them late this winter (HA! you call that winter!) but, well hell, everything grows down here.

Panther update: The black-furred, fanged, horned, winged, beastie is now all better. We were woken up at 1:30 am this morning for the Dawn Patrol to commence --he's got a couple of days to make up. Had to get one last pill shoved down his throat this morning, but the blood loss wasn't too bad this thyme (gee, why am I so light-headed today?)

I've noticed that my last few recipes haven't been "CookBook" type. So today, for those of you still learning your way around the kitchen, I'll be putting in an actual real recipe with amounts and ingredients lists. And... It'll be a dessert! And it'll be bloody well EASY.

But until I get to the recipe section, you get to put up with some totally non-connected crapola from me.

I was thinking of writing down (typing in) a list of all the wild critters I've seen both in Alaska and Australia, but then I realized (realised) I'd better take a few days over that list cus it's going to be f*cking huge! Ever seen a Lynx in the wild? They are very very pretty. Wolverines are very pretty too. Oh, moose tastes good, so does roo. Ever seen a huge male Orca come up behind your little boat and do the open-mouthed Jaws thing? Wee-Hoo, what fun.

So, then like, WHAT the hell am I going to type so that this doesn't turn into a gardening and food blog...? Aha (said Martin Gardener), I'll tell all you big city folk stories about growing up and living in Alaska.

Story time with Unkie Dave!

How to breed a better moose

A good friend of mine used to live in his cabin in the outskirts of Salcha. A moment about Salcha: if you were (or are) a city bloke and drove past it you wouldn't even know it's there (except for the Knotty Shop). So being on the outskirts of it means: in the middle of fucking nowhere.

He also hunted (he also fenced, but not as good as me) and fished and trapped and all that Alaskany goodness. He would bring over moose meat or salmon fillets and I'd cook it and eat it. Worked great.

One day during moose season, he saw a moose that would feed him for the winter. He was a ways away and his rifle was new (but he had sighted it in). First shot kicks up the dirt in front of the moose; moose continues doing NOTHING. Second shot missed but was closer; moose looks up, looks around, then continues doing NOTHING. Now, Andrew is a good shot so I'm guessing the sighting was off. Third shot, miss, but closer. The moose has done NOTHING! Three loud rifle shots...

So the fourth shot did a HUGE FAVOR TO THE MOOSE GENE POOL in the Tanana Valley. Oh, and it tasted good too.

I know, the story wasn't really about me, but I still chuckle about that dumb moose. I have many many wildlife encounter stories involving me and huge furry things that don't like people. Oh, and no more of them involve guns cus I've never carried one in the wilds of Alaska (I'd definitely want one in a big city in the lower 48 though.)

Coming up next on storytime: dave's first bicycle encounter --or-- Why dave's face looks like it does and why he's used to blood loss and why he know's exactly how hard pavement is (you can learn a lot when you are five years old).

Food time:

This is a dessert. See! I remembered that I promised you a dessert! There's still a couple of brain cells left to rub together up in the ole noggin.

Butternut pumpkin and ice cream

What you need:

one butternut pumpkin
some vanilla ice cream (homemade is best)
some type of grill

What you do:

Slice the raw butternut into inch thick slabs leaving the skin on --save the seeds, great for roasting. Put the slabs on the grill over a good bed of coals, NO FLAME. They'll take about 20-30 mins each side. You'll know they are done when each slab is very soft and nicely browned on each side (that's just the sugar in the pumpkin --very tasty).

Place each slice in a bowl and remove the skin. Oh, the skin helps it hold together as it gets softer and softer while grilling. Top each slab with a generous amount of vanilla ice cream (chocolate or other flavours don't taste as good) and then consume immediately while the pumpkin is still hot and the ice cream hasn't fully melted.

That recipe is a dave original, feel free to share it, no worries. It's damned good tucka.

Unkie dave signing off