Glaicier Brewhouse, Anchorage, Alaska

When in Anchorage, do not forget to visit the Glacier Brewhouse. The best restaurant in city. Expect a long wait to get in and that's always a good sign. This is where we headed on a Saturday right after our visit to the Saturday market. 

This is what I ordered - Spicy fish, salsa and rice. 

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Pies Galore

We are huge fans of NPR that we get our inspiration for Thanksgiving dinner menu from the news channel. My husband heard the story of a chef learning to make his Nana's sweet potato pie. The setting is somewhere in Georgia. We need no additional convincing. Guess what made it to our list of pies this year.

We made the Sweet potato pie and a chocolate-apple-pecan pie.

The intent was to make a chocolate pie and then I realized the contents filled only half way through the pie. So filled the rest with green apples, pecans and shaved chocolate.

The pies are now cooling off as the turkey goes into the oven for 4 hours.

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Spicy Potato Wedges

Somethings sweet and some savory. We cook and eat all day long on Thanksgiving day. Each dish is phased so we not running on empty stomach. Of course we save some exclusively for the sit down dinner.

Recipe for the Spicy Potato Wedges

Grind the following in a spice grinder -
2 tsp Cumin seeds
2 tsp Pepper seeds
4 Dried Chilies
1 tsp Jeera
1 tsp Corriander seeds
1 tsp Hing
2 tsp salt

Method

1. Heat oven to 400F.
2. Wash and cut 8-10 small sized potatoes into wedges. Coat the potatoes with ground spice. 
3. Add 1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro leaves to the potatoes
4. Space it evenly on a oven-proof sheet and drizzle olive oil on top of the potatoes.
5. Roast in the oven for 40-45 minutes.
6. Squeeze lemon juice before serving.

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Happy Thanksgiving

My latest obsession is Trader Joe. I'm there every week and have possibly tried all their products. This Thanksgiving, most of my menu is from there. Round 1 is melted brie, toasted sourdough bread, cheese with lavender and cranberry sauce.

As my finals are fast approaching, I took a few short cuts this time. Store bought cranberry sauce. Well, not any store, it's Trader Joe's Cranberry sauce. I got this recipe from a fellow shopper while I was trying chose the cheese for the Thanksgiving dinner.

Step 1. I prepped olive oil by mixing it with crushed garlic cloves and red chilies. Left it overnight for the favors to blend in.
Step 2. Melted the Brie in the oven for a few minutes
Step 3. Drizzled some flavored olive oil on top of the sourdough bread and toasted it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 7 - 8 minutes.
Step 4. Dip the bread in the melted cheese, or spread it with the cranberry sauce or orange marmalade. The choices are plenty.

You can always replace Sourdough with French. My family prefers sourdough over any other kind of bread. Stay tuned for the rest of the recipes.

A Very Happy Thanksgiving From My Family to Yours!!!

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Almond Biscotti

Looking for a recipe for a baked goods sale at school for kids? My sister-in-law suggested biscotti and to my surprise, I did find it terribly simple to make. Here is the recipe I used.

I would have used my sister-in-law's recipe, but the measurements in her recipe were in the metrics system and it would have probably taken me for ever to convert it.

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Anchorage, Alaska

Alaska is an RV state. If there's one place you want to try RV'ing for the first time, I would do it in Alaska. We flew into Anchorage and used the opportunity to explore the city. we literally walked up and down the streets. 

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San Francisco, California

Driving down crooked street is always a huge thrill !!!! We did a day trip here from Sunnyvale. We did not do much other than see the bridge and crooked street.

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Saturday Market, Anchorage, Alaska

The Saturday market in Anchorage is a must visit for those who love fairs and markets with local products. Well, not exactly, they had berries from California, that I simply could not comprehend.

We brought home some of these jams and simply loved it. It did not last a long time, well, that's another story.

We certainly brought home some sauces, coffee, Ulu knives and other goodies. 

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Flora in Alaska

These trees were killed by salt water when the ground sank 10 feet  in the 1964 earthquake. Today they are a dominant part of the landscape.

... and pictures of flowers ... some shot in their natural habitat, some artificially grown.

The ones below were from our walk in the park, right in the middle of the city,Anchorage.

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Dog Sled, Alaska

You can take a flight to Mt McKinney and do a real dog sledge down the slopes. For those who can't the rangers in Denali will walk you through a dog sledge. If you as the kids, they will tell you this was one of their favorite things to do.

I was amazed to see the dogs exited and were begging the rangers to pick them for the ride. That was one misconception I always had. The dogs love it and are really not forced into it.

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Prince William Sound, Whittier Alaska

The finale of our Alaskan trip was the blue ice glacier. A delight to the eyes. We took a day cruise to Prince William Sound. 

These glaciers are melting away as we speak and do not know for how many more years they will last. I am 

not a glaciologist, do enjoy while these lasts. Some more pictures from our cruise.

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Denali National Park, Alaska

For those of you connected to me via Linkedin, know what I up to. I started my exec MBA with UT Austin. A lot of studying moved blogging to the bottom my priorities. Well, it's nice to track simple pleasures on this blog. You are bound to see many post from me to today and again I'll go on a hiatus until my finals. 

We were in Alaska when I found out I got into UT Austin. Memorable place!!! 

A 6 million sqft national park !!! we camped in the camp grounds in an RV. You so have to reserve a spot way ahead of time. If you plan to hike here, beware the mosquitoes in Summer. Cover yourself head to toe.

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Fish and Chips

Be it fly fishing or the old fashioned fishing, Alaska is a haven for fishermen, one and all. On a cruise, you are bound to see fishing boats reeling in fish in abundance. We roamed around in an RV, which meant that we cooked most of our meals during the trip. But when in Alaska, savoring some local fresh fish is a must do, if you are a meat/fish eater.

Fish & Chips

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Kincaid Park, Anchorage, Alaska

We had an evening to kill in Anchorage and chose Kincaid park to cook dinner in the RV and if "mosquito free" head for a gentle walk. The Kincaid park was the chosen location for Winter Olympics. You can see the ski slopes in the park and in the Winter, the entire park turns into a Winter Sports Arena. We saw a couple of moose in the park. The younger one had absolutely no inhibitions of the human presence and was sitting close to the trail on the grass.

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Portage Pass, Alaska

The hike to the Portage pass takes you up to the snow in the mountains. A great hike and the view from the pass was fabulous. Not sure if its appealing factor increased immensely due to all the effort we put in to get high up in the mountain. This was one of the hikes we did without the kids. After our hike we took the kids to the starting point of where the snow/ice began so they could play with the snow for a bit.

A great view of Whittney, Alaska, a popular port destination for cruises.

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Ulu Factory, Anchorage, Alaska

I highly doubt if anybody comes out of Alaska with out an Ulu knife. It looks something like your cilantro/parsley chopper but can be used to cut anything that you would other wise use a regular knife for. We bought a couple of those ... yet to put it to use.

You can buy the knife anywhere in Alaska for $8 in Walmart to $17 in a National Park gift shop to one with the chopping board, knife et al from the Ulu factory for close to $50. We went to the Ulu factory, where you get to see how the knife is made.

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Crow Creek Mine, Gridwood Alaska

Our first destination on this vacation was Anchorage, Alaska. On the way to Whittney, we stopped in Gridwood to peek inside the old mine. Panning for teeny-tiny pieces of gold is still a popular past time in Alaska. You can see quite a bit of gold panning type reality shows on T.V too. We used the RV rest area in the Crow Creek Mine. A whole another post is waiting on RV, so I will leave the details on this.

We woke the following day and walked down the trail to the creek, where people were panning for gold. To go on a hike in Alaska, you do not have to look too far and it does not matter where you are. Another hike and we were out of Gridwood.

The mine is family owned and have retained the houses and some part of the mine to how it was very many years ago.

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Paris Baguette, Palo Alto, California

My dad is turning 70 this year, so the entire family met to celebrate his birthday a tad bit earlier. His cake was from Paris Baguette. Located at Palo Alto, downtown, this baked goods chain offers not-too-sweet-cakes. We stopped over here after our trip to Stanford. 

Nothing too fancy, but the coffee bun & coffee were my favorites !!!

Me and my sister-in-laws sneaked out on our own while the men and the kids were happy to browse through the Apple store near by. No points for guessing what we did - window shopping !!!

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Stanford, California

This place needs no write up. Every time we visit California, we usually visit a university or two. We went to Berkeley on our previous visit. Don't you sometimes wish people slowed down and took the time to built architecturally appealing and intricate designs as these.

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Ox Bow Public Market, Napa Valley

Looking for a nice farmers-market-type eatery with lots of good choices? Ox Bow Public Market in Napa Valley is a good place to get something to eat after all the wine tasting. You can find anything ranging from cheeses, wines, olive oils to spices, tea and some good coffee.

The "Poor House", certainly caught my attention. Vintage style home furnishings with lots of character and I hear most of the products sold there are designed by the lady who owns the store.

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Yosemite, California

Three hikes in a day were all worth it. The easiest hike was to the Mirror Lake. I was expecting a huge lake, but surprisingly it's a small lake with little water, but the water is so clear with absolutely no disturbances that it reflects everything around it. We saw a deer near the Mirror lake. Also this trail is paved, good for folks with strollers and such. Below is the equestrian trail that we took on our way to the lake. This trail could be smelly for obvious reasons, the paved trail is better way to reach the Mirror lake.

Vernal Falls hike was a good one, a moderate to slightly strenuous hike. You hike up to the waterfalls to get a good view of it. The kids hiked with us, no points for guessing the one who not panting or huffing was my daughter and my brother. Below is a picture of the falls. 

We also saw a beautiful blue bird near the falls.

I do not do hikes well, if you have to go down first and then climb back up. This hike down the mountains led us to these giant sequoia.

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