Wingin' It

What a way to end the weekend!! Matt drove me to Point Woronzof at the Anchorage International Airport to spend the last bit of the evening watching the jumbo jets fly right over our heads. What a COOL sight!

Chase loved the roar of the airplanes and waved his little arms off, trying to say Hello to the pilots. He decided that he should be an "Airplane Worker" because people would think he was great and kids would watch him fly!

My poor little feet and hands were freezing as I stood outside and battled the wind. I was getting that tar knocked out of me and getting whipped around pretty good, can't imagine how the pilots felt. With a super long lens on the camera I was getting a little crabby with the wind....It's hard ENOUGH to hold that lens still without the wind's help. Must invest in a tripod!

I must have made an amazing site....Big baggy sweatshirt, plaid pajama pants, and sandals! But I had my camera and I was having a blast! It's funny, no matter how old I get I realize that I'm still much like my son...I still want to stand on a hill, jump up and down and wave at the pilots. There's just something fun about watching airplanes.

All in all it was a perfect way to end a perfect weekend. I'm ready for another week and looking forward to heading to Soldotna this coming weekend. Have a great week!

Way to Flay

We spent our weekend in our most favorite way....COOKING! Last week I found a book at the library that brought an instant smile to my face. Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill recipe book. YUP, all the recipes from his world famous Mesa Grill restaurants. We decided we were going to tackle a few of the recipes Saturday night and have some great Southwestern food. After my parents accepted the invitation to dinner, we had ourselves a party to plan for. In true "Brittany Fashion", a couple of recipes turned into 10...literally. We had Blue Corn Crab Cakes, Cotija Crusted Ancho Quesadillas with Charred Corn Relish, Chicken and Tomatillo Enchiladas, Spicy Grilled Shrimp with Smoked Chile Butter, and many side dishes and dips. We spent Saturday morning at Pier 1 (LOVE) and found some neat serving items.

My father took this picture of the quesadillas we made. With squirt bottles loaded with homemade Smoked Red Pepper Sauce, Cilantro Oil, and Guajillo Chile Oil, I had a blast just decorating the plates with color. I'm still laughing at the thought of my poor mother grating what seemed like an endless supply of cheese for us. I'm pretty sure I will send her cheese sometime soon, just for a giggle! It was great to have everyone together and always a great time when we get to cook for people! I'm buying this book for sure...everything was phenomenal! I've included a link to the website selling the cookbook in case anyone is interested! http://www.amazon.com/Bobby-Flays-Grill-Cookbook-ebook/dp/B004477UGM

Salmon Supper

Matt and I made a fabulous dinner.......

It was a roasted salmon and potato hash with carmelized bell pepper and onion. On top was a poached egg and drizzled with homemade hollandaise. YUMMM!!!

Weekend Festivities

After spending Friday night and most of Saturday morning in fetal position from an out of nowhere stomach bug, I was up and ready to finally start the weekend! Chase asked to go to the library's Reading Rendezvous so I armed myself with my camera and away we went! I had heard of it, but nothing prepared me for what was ACTUALLY there! They had jugglers and games, food and lots of fun.

We met back up with Matt, Drew, and Austen and we all went to the Saturday Market. Ohhhhhh FUNNEL CAKES how I love thee!!! I couldn't help but laugh as we coughed up the powdered sugar and saw it blow into the air...it was worth every bite! As we walked up and down the aisles we saw jams and jellies, jerky and wooden carvings, shirts that touted Alaska's size compared to Texas...(we are a proud lot are we not), and of course the FOOD ROW! I swear I could live right there in that row. Stuffed bananas, Korean food, Mexican food, pizza, burgers, but the neatest one was a small booth operated by a very polite Russian family. I never have heard of Piroshki before but one look at the old woman shaping the dough behind the counter convinced me that it had to be good.

The dough was out of this world....buttery and crisp, yet sweet and soft on the inside, filled with meat and cheese. Worth all 3,000 calories HA! We left the market and decided to toodle around the Ship Creek area for a bit. It was a nice day for pictures but darn if the sun wasn't beating right down into the camera! I'm sure I will learn all about that soon, but as for that day....I did my best.



For whatever reason, the old train tracks caught my interest and I had my kids wondering..."Why is mom laying on the ground by the tracks?"

In the middle of all of this fun, when we picked up Austen from Jiu Jitsu...I looked out my car window and saw our vehicles reflection in a Harley Davidson tire....yes the photog in me said PICTURE PLEASE!

We had a full day on Saturday and capped off the day with a trip to a local restaurant called Ginger....Not sure I ever want to go anywhere else again. This place was a ten all the way. We had ahi tuna towers and seared tuna over wasabi and micro greens, oyster shooters with a spicy tomato water and these killer espresso drinks that were like a dessert in a cup. The people working there invited me and my camera to come back and take as many pictures as I want....WOO HOOOO! I will post them soon as I'm sure we'll be going back. They had a Sunday brunch menu that was out of this world!





L'Aroma of Dinner

Found my way to the library today and it blew my socks off!!  This place is HUGE....four stories to be exact. I stopped and stared at the neat fountains outside before walking inside to get my new library card. The kids dropped their jaws upon walking in the doors, staring around and beginning to realize just HOW big this place was. The man inside gave us a quick tour of the place before letting us explore. They had dvd movies, music cds, audio books and anything else you could possibly want, including food and drink. There were cozy leather sitting rooms all over the place and a self scan check out system. We were told that we could check out a maximum of FIFTY items.....FIFTY!! We found a few items each and headed off to finish the rest of our errands. One quick stop into L'Aroma bakery and I found myself in a place near heaven. Sooo many delicious breads to choose from...I ended up selecting a kalamata olive boule, a double stacked loaf of honey wheat, and Parmesan Herb loaf. I already had some stewed chicken thigh meat that I had slathered with the best BBQ sauce in the world and immediately knew what direction dinner was heading.

I hollowed out the loaf of Parmesan Herb bread, stuffed it with the shredded BBQ meat, grated bergenost cheese over the top, replaced the bread lid on top and baked it....With five minutes of baking time left, the big bread beauty received shredded lettuce on top.

For a last minute throw together, it sure was a family pleaser!

Tomorrow I think I will take my camera back to the library for some fun photography time. I heard they are having a kids rendezvous there on Saturday with food booths, jugglers, and live entertainment. Definitely on the must do list!

In the Dog House

Been a rather busy day...and night for that matter! Couldn't pass up posting this picture though, as it makes me laugh...This dog literally has the world on a silver platter and she chooses to sleep in a grocer's produce box.

Time to Plow

What a great trip to Soldotna... Unfortunately no pictures, but I learned so much! Spent some great time with the family, capped off with great homemade pizzas courtesy of my father. Went to church with my family and it was a GREAT service. Back home now and excited to begin taking pictures. I was allowed to borrow (with the understanding that I will lose digits if it is not properly treated) some AMAZING camera equipment from my Dad, so now I get to learn all about strobes and lighting and elevate my photos greatly.

And so it begins.....LIGHTS CAMERA ACTION!

Cheesecake makes it better!

After my crazy adventures on the road tonight, I finished assembling my cheesecake and OH MAN!!!!

A picture is worth a thousand words....Enough said right???

Driving Nervosa

My high anxiety in regards to big city driving reared its ugly head this evening. I went to pick Austen up at the gym, a trip I make almost daily, and instead of turning back onto my road the way I ALWAYS do (ya know the easy way)....I got caught up in talking to my son and turned out of the gym a NEW and unwelcoming way!! Quickly after realizing my mistake, two vehicles pull up behind me, sealing my fate. I am now forced to turn RIGHT, even though I know if I could just go LEFT, my house is right there and accessible. HOW FRUSTRATING!! Darn one way roads..... Getting back to my dilemma, I turn right with a huge sigh of frustration and maybe a few mumbled curses. The first exit I see is Huffman, a name I know, but realistically I know that once I veer onto THAT exit I will be even more up crap creek than I already am!

I pass the exit for the only reasonable course of action I can think of...Hit the New Seward Brittany and head out of town...there's lots of places to turn around (forgot how far down the road they were)! As I get onto the New Seward, I breathe a sigh of relief until I look down and see that the car I'm driving is on EMPTY! Of course, nobody expected me to turn a five minute trip into a 45 minute venture. This still would not be a HUGE problem except for the fact that I left my wallet at home....why would I need to take it on a short trek to the gym??

After driving all the way to the boardwalks over Potter's Marsh I finally found a turn around, watching the needle on the gas gauge dip yet lower. I drove back in silence and went up the staircase to our house, frustrated and yet happy just to be off those darn confustergating (only word that express ALL my frustration) roads!

Settled down quickly and began dinner....Boneless Buffalo Chicken Burgers

Everyday is definitely an adventure.... I WILL conquer both these roads and my somewhat irrational fear of them! Until then...................

Berries!

While at walmart this morning I found a great sale on berries of all kinds. After coming home, I decided to make a Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake for dessert....YUM!

Lemon Blueberry compote waiting to adorn the top of the cooling cheesecake.......

Perfectly colorless and cooling......

Making a trip to Soldotna tomorrow to celebrate Mother's Day with the family and attend my favorite Church....hope to get some good pictures along the way!

Finally heading to bed....my tour of the city proved quite fun tonight. Got a few good shots, and several that made me laugh. P.S. people look at you funny when you start taking pictures in Bed, Bath, and Beyond with a rather large looking camera!! It was good for a laugh.

Taking pics of the homeless and panhandlers proved more tricky then I would have thought....as one came walking towards the car we had to drive to a different location...I think he spotted me!

Began snapping pictures at what the locals refer to as "Inebriation Park" and as I had my upper body hanging out the window, camera in hand, doing my style of a "drive by shooting" (hahah I crack myself up) we heard a loud BANG! Still not sure what it was, however got a few nice shots.

Expanding!

So first......a moment of honesty! I am so excited to start driving around with my camera and finding the little nooks and crannies of this big new town, however I'm a scared and a nervous little chicken! In my life, lots of traffics has been "rush hour" in a maximum of four lanes of traffic (2 each way). Quite different here.....cars zooming seemingly everywhere, sometimes even overhead.

In the past few weeks I have found reasons to stay in my "safe zone", equal to about a mile from home each way, until my husband gets home and we venture out together. "Ohhh I'm just going to clean today, I don't really need to go out", I tell him in the morning. He must question by now how I can be in the car with him, driving the same route through town, and have no idea where we are AGAIN when asked. I do so enjoy the drive when in the passenger seat!!

I go to the gym during the day, a straight drive less than a mile down the road, and peek down the side roads wondering what's down each. SOMEDAY.....

A moment of pride today though, as I stepped into a new shop I found in a small plaza near the gym! FROMAGGIO'S artisan cheese shop is to die for! The nice man working the counter let us sample as many cheeses as we wanted and I walked out happy with a small bag of goodies.

Later this evening I (my husband really) drove through the town and took some pictures of things that caught my eye. My goal is to explore this new town of mine and photograph the glamorous and the downtrodden, the ritzy and the dilapidated, the 9 to 5'ers and the night lifers.

Hope you enjoy the blog!