Homemade Thin Mints!

It’s a travel day! These trips to Alaska, as I’ve found have a tendency to mess with my time-zone clock! ((Don’t I sound like a pro, this is only my second trip to AK!))

As this is posting, I am somewhere between Anchorage and Houston -- I set this ahead to keep you busy! Please have some of these warm and waiting for me at home when I land in Greensboro ;c)

THESE are beyond delicious!! And with the holidays only a few months away, it isn’t too soon to start lining some new things up that you haven’t tried before!

Homemade Thin Mints

Cookies:
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 3/4 stick butter
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoons mint extract

Topping:
1 cup chocolate chips
1 teaspoon mint extract

Directions:

Mix together flour, cocoa, salt, and baking soda.

In a separate bowl cream butter until smooth, add sugar and beat for one minute. Add milk, vanilla and mint and beat an additional minute. Slowly add the dry ingredients while beating.

Once mixture is well combined and resembles small pebbles, use your hands to form into a ball.

Roll the dough into a log and wrap in waxed paper.

Chill for 2 hours.

Slice into thin rounds and place on parchment.

Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

Melt chocolate in a bowl set in simmering water and add mint.

Once cookies have cooled and become crispy coat their tops in chocolate by dipping them or smearing with an icing knife.

Enjoy!

Good Eats!

As I try to break down these days into posts…I’m doing the best I can to keep things kind of “coherent” in little episodes as they happened in the order that they happened. Even though I write this to share, I am also writing this as my own memoir. I don’t want to leave anything out that I will want to remember later. And time passes so fast and things are so quickly forgotten.

However, I will never forget our Wednesday night dinner at Terri’s house..and how the food and friends and fun just kept coming through the door!

Yep, it’s Alaska! And we had more seafood fare than we could make a dent in, but oh did we try!

I felt so welcome as I was introduced to everyone –like we had been old time friends!

What you see in the first pic is the view from Terri’s balcony deck. Can you imagine? Her house is on pilings right over the water, and the tide comes in and goes out and comes in and goes out and it is ever changing.

I started taking pictures of the food as it came in…..as foil was removed we all oooh’d and ahh’d at the wonderful aromas ---

Diane W’s Macadamia nut encrusted halibut!! OH MY! This was served with a buerre blanc sauce on top…delectible!

Julie’s blueberry cheese cake made with local blueberries! YUM!!!

And at this point I got side tracked and gave up taking pictures until we had all laid out in front of us at the table:

Can you see it all? Yes! Diane U brought King crab legs with garlic butter for drizzling…they melted in my mouth! The wonderful tomato goat cheese salad was made by Val, Lila made the SALMON CHEESECAKE! ((Yes, salmon cheese cake…)) and it was served with crackers like an appetizer…You can see the halibut and the pot of buerre blanc, and Sara’s home made yeast rolls. Debra made a delicious pot of home made clam chowder as well…and we stuffed ourselves silly!

As the sun set into the west, this was again the view from Terri’s deck. What a wonderful evening with new wonderful friends. I never laughed so hard in my life at some of the antics that were going on amongst these women who are such good close friends. I love the sense of community.

Quilters are a force to be reckoned with!

And this was only the end of Wednesday.

Note to self --- next time…bring stretchy pants for weight gain…LOL!

On the Dock of the Bay ---

The Cordova Waterfront!

Sara and I took some time to walk along the waterfront and take a look at the boats, and just look out across the water. It hadn’t started back raining yet and we were making good use of the time we had been given!

In the harbor is a statue dedicated as a fisherman’s memorial, a quiet place dominated by artist Joan Bugbee Jackson's sculpture The Southeasterly (1985).

The statue of the fisherman at the wheel took my breath and instantly brings on a reverence thinking of those who made fishing their livelihood –and often lost their lives to it in the process.

I loved looking at the boats –the colors of their paint jobs, the different names on the hulls, some quite funny!

And gosh, I love it when the photos turn out good enough to show the reflections in the stillness of the water!

Someone emailed me yesterday and asked what kind of camera I use. I use my iphone 4. I don’t have a lot of room to travel with big fancy cameras. I’ve killed more than one camera dropping it out on it’s extended little lens ---you know the kind that the battery moves out and in as you turn it on and off ((How is that for a technical description!?)) and this phone takes good enough pictures for the web. I wouldn’t do “portrait” kind of fancy photos with it…but for my every day use it is fine.

Isn’t this so picturesque?

Yes, I’m still having “pinch me!” moments!

Searching through google for info on the Fisherman’s Memorial I found this youtube video! It’s a great one! Seeing it in all seasons is …..WOW to say the least.

We even had time to drive down by the ferry docks and check out the Sea Otters. Oh, they are SO CUTE!!

Yeah, they look like logs in the water…and zooming in is one thing that this phone doesn’t do….pics get grainy if you zoom. But we watched them rolling around out there. Diving down, coming back up. I think my favorite ones were the mamas with the babies on their tummies….

Who can resist that face?!

I even tried my hand at a little youtube video. You still can’t see much, but you can hear our voices discussing the otters…

It’s not real great, remember I’m doing this by phone…but this is as close as I can get to getting you here!

We are filling each day jam packed with little adventures. I love the sense of community here. Just love it!

Lunch Time!

After our hike, Sara drove me into town --- we were hungry by this time! I hadn’t been into “town” proper yet…..and I couldn’t wait to see what life was really like in Cordova.

This was our lunch spot!

Baja Taco!

Let me see if I got the story right, and someone correct me if I’m wrong – Baja Taco started in this little reclaimed school bus and was operated out of the bus “during the season” which runs from about Mid April to the end of September.

We just BARELY made it before the season ended!!

Sara and Amelia ordering our lunches! Everything is still cooked in the bus “kitchen” and the smell was SO delicious! Did I mention how hungry we were?

Here’s a glance at the “surf board” menu board!! FISH TACOS are a must when the sea food is really fresh. Today’s “catch of the day”?? Halibut! OH, Halibut Tacos with black beans and rice, I’m ready for you!

Because the business was so successful, a building was added to the side of the bus – a warm dry place for customers to sit and enjoy their lunches!

It was really cozy inside, I loved the mis-matched chairs and the décor. To the bottom right of the pic is Sara’s smiling face. In this town everyone knows everyone….and everyone stops to say hi or wave!

I can honestly say that these halibut tacos were to die for! I’m also sure that I’ve gained 5 lbs on this trip ----One thing Cordovans know how to do, and do well is cook! ((And EAT!!))

A memorable lunch with new friends! The season is almost over, Baja Taco will close for the winter, but I’m sure everyone in town will be waiting anxiously for “Opening Day” in Spring of 2012!

Out The Road!

I love spending time out doors and I was quite happy when Terri informed me that she had “activities” lined up for me every day of my time here!

Yesterday, it was Sara’s turn to babysit me!

She showed up around 10:30am and off we went in her trusty subaru along with her 13 month old daughter Amelia and her 4 year old St Bernard/Husky mix Coco! Coco is known as the anti-bear dog….and we were glad to have her along with us!

In Cordova, if you are headed to the outskirts of town and beyond, you aren’t just going “Down the Road”…you are going “OUT the road…” and Out the road we went! It had been pounding rain for days, and we knew it would be muddy, but we were ready for it.

Headed “Out The Road!”

I told Sara that I was a picture taking fiend, and she said that she would pull over if there was anything I wanted pics of. The picture you see at the top of the post is of a little roadside spot that just took my breath away! The rain had stopped and we had blue skies…for a while at least, and we had to make good use of it while we could.

We arrived at the end of a gravel road and parked…..and I laughed when Sara said “Your purse will be perfectly okay in the car, but I’ll lock the car if you want me to” OH MY! I could get used to a place like this!

Coco was already one step ahead of us, exploring every nook and cranny and following her nose to wherever it lead!

This spot. I could stand here and just look forever at this spot! That big flat icy spot is the glacier….and you can’t see it in the picture, but the ice is really blue! It reminded me a lot of those blue raspberry snow cones. By this time our blue sky was already disappearing above the clouds that were coming back in.

Hurry, quick! Take my picture in front of the glacier too! Sara was a good sport, doing all of this with her baby in a pack on her back! Amelia was having a great time on her nature hike too.

We made it just a bit farther and…..UHOH! WASH OUT!! ((Sung to the tune of WIPE OUT, don’tcha know?!)) All the rain had created a river flowing through our trail…and it was quite deep. There was no way through it, or around it, unless you were Coco and could just wade on in.

Neither of us had packed hip waders, so at this point we decided to just turn around, double back and walk some of the gravel road areas instead. At least they wouldn’t be muddy or under water, and we could still get some exercise in! Coco agreed whole heartedly!

Rivers were running like crazy….don’t fall in!

The fall colors are really starting to appear here. You know, even if it IS raining. It’s just a whole nuther kind of beautiful. Every season and weather condition can have their moments of WOW.

After our hike we bundled back up in the car and headed for “TOWN” You know, all that nature can bring on a mountainous appetite! I’d love to come back another day when we can hike further in…I’d love to get closer to that glacier. I’m adding this to my bucket list!

Cordova!

Sometimes, the universe just intervenes and throws wonderful “coincidences” in your path. Look hard, you might miss them --- and as some say, there IS no such thing as a coincidence!

I’ve often talked to people, friends, family, and even strangers who say things like “I know this happened for a reason.” And I am left to ponder on that. Being a rather “Free Thinking” person, I’d like to think that it is not the fact that things happen for a reason or not, but what WE choose that reason to be – what WE decide to do with it.

And that is as deep as my thoughts go. I watch in wonder as each day arrives wondering what kind of interesting things are going to unfold – Like turning the pages of a book and being surprised when twists and turns happen that I never saw coming.

This small diatribe might make you think that there was something really BIG going on in my life, but in fact, it was just a small series of events that brought me together with one of the Quiltie Gals here in Cordova, who was making this trip here so possible!

Terri started emailing me and plotting and planning with me over 2 years ago. It has taken this long for me to get here.

Last July, when emailing about details with her….we found out that we were BOTH going to be in Minneapolis at the same time. I was visiting my mom and aunt, she was there with some crazy Alaskan friends on the Minnesota Shop Hop! Small world, no?

Well, I wasn’t able to join them, even if I wanted to. You remember how short my time was? Meeting my Mom, Aunt and family about midnight at the airport on Tuesday for the big surprise, and then spending only Wednesday and Thursday with them and flying home Friday morning. It just wouldn’t fit.

But it made me wonder….could our paths have crossed before? Were we ever in Minnesota at the same time before and didn’t know it? Who knows!

Friday night, as I was going to sleep ((Trying to sleep early but failing miserably due to too much excitement!)) I got a phone call from Terri ---Turns out she was in South Dakota on a family issue, and was returning to Cordova the same day I was flying out! In fact --- We would be on the same flight from Seattle to Anchorage, and the same flight from Anchorage to Cordova!

The universe must have known that I was feeling a little jittery over the small plane flight into Cordova at night ---And suddenly, I had a companion to go with me!

See, it isn’t life altering, not every thing that happens, but I still love to look at life with eyes of wonder on how things just work out.

The pic you see above is out of my window on the small plane as we were leaving Anchorage. Night time was fast approaching, it was almost 7pm. I’d been awake for 20 hours at this point. It was about 11pm North Carolina time, and I'd been up since 3:15am North Carolina time.

This is the small plane! And it was raining….and it was VERY VERY Bumpy! Not just up and down kind of bumpy, but it felt like we were skating sideways at some points. I told myself….as I dealt with the hexagons in my lap ((It was now completely dark out and we were IN the clouds so there was nothing to se out the window!)) “Just keep stitching, just keep stitching!!))

And before I knew it, we were on the ground! We ran for the terminal building because the rain was pounding!

I knew I was in Alaska, and definitely far from home when I was greeted inside the terminal by this HUGE husky dog…..he was soaked with rain and just loved right up on me soaking my jeans clear through. Tried to get a picture, but the dang beast just would NOT hold still, and the picture came out extra blurry, but after 21 hours awake, this was a good indication of just how I felt! LOL!

This guy was MASSIVE!! But I loved the doggie welcome! The bags all made it, and I was whisked off to Val’s house……and straight off to bed.

In the morning…..this was the view from the living room window! OH MY!! Hello, Cordova! You are definitely a well kept secret!

And in usual “Bonnie Travel” fashion…I had to laugh when I opened my suitcase to find yet ANOTHER TSA slip sitting just there on top. I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did..at least there were no DIRTY clothes to paw through, but they did rearrange stuff into some weird order that I did NOT pack it in – and my shampoo leaked all over the bottom so that we had to do laundry to clean it all up again.

And NO, I don’t think THAT happened for a reason either, but it’s a perk to have a nice clean jacket to keep me warm while I’m here!

That Sunroom ---

Is DONE!

((Well Mostly!))

And you will notice that the two most important things have already found their place.

The desk and computer.

And the green putting mat/carpet. LOL!

Boy, has this been a LONG process! We started in MAY--((Yes, it’s really been that long..this is what happens when it’s a mostly do-it-yourself home renovation!))

While I was gone to Kansas, I’d get updates on how the floor installation was going.

It looks SO good! I really like the color we chose too. Not too light, not too dark..it’s a pergo called Yorkshire Oak.

Saturday, after our Denny’s run for breakfast, and our Lowes run for more “STUFF”, it became a trim painting day. My job was to tape off the windows and start painting trim. Boy, this just does NOT look like the same room as it used to!

We turned the music up loud on the 70’s channel…

Here’s a funny little “Instagram” I took with my phone….

There are a couple things left to finish. The windows all need new plantation blinds. So does the door that leads to the storage room. I think in the top pic above you can see that it is an old metal blind that is all bent to heck. Haven’t been in a rush with that. It hides a multitude of junk that is IN that storage room!

Oh, and one thing we did….all the windows used to have that crossed window paning making it look like there were several panes of glass, you know what kind I’m talking about? We removed ALL those dividers and I can’t believe what a difference it made with actually being able to see OUT the window without lines of molding going across my field of vision. I like BIG VIEWS…not staring through small squares all divided, know what I mean?

All the windows and doors in the house used to have that small pane look. NO MORE! Open it up! We are also removing the divider things on the door to the storage room. It also sure makes the windows easier to clean when you don’t have a wipe down a bunch of smaller panes.

I'm even considering removing those divider thingies from the french doors that go from the dining room to the sunroom. Can they still be called french doors if they DON'T have those dividers? Well why not? Again, that would make it so much easier to clean!

Cleaning windows? What am I thinking?! I don’t do that, do I?

Which Airport?!

I spend a lot of time in airports. And they are usually really interesting places!

The picture you see to the left is of the infamous dinosaur skeleton at O’Hare. Usually I take a picture of it straight on, or looking up at its neck..but this time, I actually saw where the TAIL goes as I was walking through ---it extends into the security area! I’ve seen this guy so many times, I’ve almost named him. Does he have a name I don’t know about?

Last Saturday, Connie drove me from Holton to Kansas City, MO, where I would catch a plane to Chicago, and then another plane to Greensboro.

We had stopped back at Quilting on the Square to load up my quilt bags, and distribute the rest of what remained of the books between my bags so I didn't have to MAIL anything home.

Off we went through the morning drizzle over hilly green roads – this corner of Kansas is NOT like the flat lands we had driven through to get to Holton!

Of course as we followed the signs to Leavenworth, I said that I’d love to get a picture to send home…

We joked “What’s the fastest way to Leavenworth Prison?” “Commit a Federal Crime!” Really, the place looks like an old university from the front, or maybe a museum. Until you see the barbed wire and guard stations. CREEPY! But we drove in one entrance, took a quick pic, and got the heck out of Dodge Leavenworth ---

Welcome to Terminal A, Kansas City Airport! What’s weird about this place is that every cluster of gates has its own security check-point. Once you get through the security check-point you are IN the gate area….all the restaurants and book shops etc are on the OUTSIDE of the check-point! So take it from me and do not go through security any earlier than you need to!

((There is also not a single water fountain PAST the check-point so if you want to fill your own water bottle, it’s going to be warm tap-water from the bathroom sink. Of course, you could BUY bottled water inside the gate area, but come on!))

The one thing I DO like about Kansas City’s airport? It’s not carpeted! Which makes it really easy to roll your luggage along. And there are BEAUTIFUL mosaics in the floor. SO many of them remind me of quilt designs. And some, like the one that depicts Northwind blowing, are just amazing works of art. Below are just of a few of my favorites. They are ALL OVER the floor in that terminal!

		Kansas City Airport Art VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

My favorite thing to do? Stay OUT of security, plug in my ipod with the music up loud and just power walk the corridor. Most of it is uninhabited…I figure if I walk for an hour, I can do about 3 1/2 to 4 miles! I give myself just enough time to get through security and get on the plane.

I’m setting this post to go live while I’m on my journey from Greensboro, NC to Cordova Alaska today! I’ll keep my quilters eyes wide open and see if there is anything else inspirational to post. My route? I have a 6am flight from Greensboro to Newark to Seattle to Anchorage to Cordova, finally getting into Cordova at 7:50pm! That’s only 1am North Carolina time ---

Send Quilty thoughts for safe travel please!