Tabasco Pizza and Alaska Apparel

I decided to make pizza the other day as I have these pre-made crusts that I got from Costco.
I wanted to try something new and I wanted to put hot sauce on my pizza, but I didn't have any hot sauce. So I venture over to my principal's house because that's where I go whenever I need anything.  Sure enough, they had some they could give me, and I start my walk back home.

When I get home I realize that the block of mozzarella cheese I bought from the store (YES! THEY HAD IT AT THE STORE!) is still frozen.

Now I will not be making pizza tonight it seems.

So I decide instead that I'll make 'hot' popcorn.  (popcorn with hot sauce on it, it's so good.)  Actually, one of my high schoolers told me about it, and I eat it on a fairly regular basis when I go over to visit my principal.

And I'm thinking, how badly could I mess this up?

Apparently, I'm also incapable of making microwave popcorn.

Luckily, I had another bag and so I tried again, this time with much more success.

[AN APPEAL TO MY READERSHIP.  I AM NOW OUT OF MICROWAVE POPCORN.  SEND TO:

SARAH DENNIS

GENERAL DELIVERY

KOKHANOK SCHOOL

KOKHANOK, AK 99606]

With my microwave popcorn all cooked and tabascoed up, it's time to start

THE GREAT ALASKAN SUIT-UP

here are all the things you need to put on if you're going, well, anywhere.

Start with under armour pants and socks.

Add wool socks.

Then add Kokhanok sweatpants over top.

On top, start with thermal shirt

Add Kokhanok Warlords Hoodie

Then you have to put on boots.  A process which, in and of itself, takes about 5 minutes.

Then coat and scarf.

Gloves

And hat

I had gotten all suited up and went in search of tabasco sauce, and I ran in to some of my students.  They were actually on their way to come find me, because they had a gift for me.  A gift of dried, cured fish!

It is really delicious and I only eat a little bit every day because I want to have it for as long as possible.

Speaking of my students, tomorrow one of them is having a birthday, and I'm invited to the party!  I got my invitation this morning.

It's at the home of one of the most respected elders in the village and I'm super excited.  

Meet Misty!

I was sitting next to her at the junior high basketball game the other night, and she wanted to wear my scarf, so I gave it to her.  She said "Look, I'm Ms. Sarah!"

I'll be attending her birthday party tomorrow at 5, and I couldn't be more excited.

Well, tomorrow's a busy day and I have to get to bed.

Goodnight all!

A Call for Recipes

Today was full of cooking and so I was reminded of how positively inept I am in the kitchen.

Before I started cooking I preheated the oven because my over takes about 20 minutes to heat.

While I'm waiting for that, I decided to have a granola bar, because I was starving.  And I needed to eat before I could cook anything.

Then I decided I could no longer ignore the stack of dishes in the sink, and my oven was still preheating anyway.

Then after doing the dishes I was still hungry so I finished the Dorito's.  Because why shouldn't you keep eating snacks while you're making dinner?

So then it's time for the actual cooking!

Here's a mini-cooking show that I filmed.  I call it:

Making Breadcrumbs

The final result ended up looking like this:

Then I picked out the big pieces

Added some seasoning

And also some pepper

So I put my chicken in the egg mixture and then in the bread crumbs and then put it in a pan to fry.  It was frying in the pan really nicely and then I cut it in half and it was still pink in the middle.  So then I got really nervous and I put it in the oven to finish cooking.  I started to get really nervous though, when it started leaking mysterious chicken goo?  See that white bit that is in the middle of the photo? I have no idea what that is. But after about 30 minutes in the oven it was no longer pink in the middle so I considered it safe to eat.

While the chicken was waiting in the oven, I decided to make more coffee creamer.

This time I got to use sweetened condensed milk (cuz my mom sent me some).  Sweetened condensed milk is essentially milk sludge, but it tastes delicious and I can't wait to use it in my coffee creamer tomorrow.

So I was still left with one chicken breast and I couldn't decide what to do.  I didn't really want to do another fried chicken, and I was really attached to the idea of stir fry.  Well, I don't really know how to make stir fry chicken, but luckily my mom sent me this little packet 

So I cut up the chicken, stir fried it, put in some left over frozen vegetables that I had cooked about a week ago

And I added some rice that I made a few days ago and viola!

And after a meal as delicious as that one, I had to take a little baby nap.

Here's the part, my loyal followers, that I need help with.  I need more ideas about how to eat the food that I have.  Here is what I am equipped with:

• Ground Beef
• Chicken Breasts
• About 2 dozen bagels
• Butter
• Eggs (or egg substitute)
• Rice
• Spaghetti Sauce
• Pasta
• Mac and Cheese
• Ramen Noodles
• Oil
• Flour
• Sugar
• Seasoning
• Instant Mashed Potatoes
• Frozen Veggies
• Frozen Fruit
• Frozen Pizza Crust
• Sliced Processed American Cheese
• Applesauce
• Chicken Gravy 
• About 5 loaves of bread
• Cereal
• Soup

And anything not on this list, I might be able to beg/borrow/buy from somewhere or someone, so you are not totally confined to everything in this list.  

You can send me your recipes however you like, but please include directions about how to cook the items, because I have no idea how to cook even the most basic things (i.e. chicken).

Much love from Alaska!

$10 Cupcakes and Bear Spray

Today was spent doing my cooking for the week (pretty much).  I might to cook a little bit towards the end of the week.  Now, to anyone who's been worried that I don't have enough food, you can relax.  I actually feel like I'm drowning in food.

I even went to the store to spend another $20 gift from my grandpa.  So I bought cake mix, frosting and graham crackers.  Anyone want to guess a total on this one?

Well, since one of my responsibilities is math tutor I will give you a word problem about it.

Sarah's grandpa gave her $20.  After ringing up all her purchases, Sarah hands the cashier her $20 and receives $2.50 as her change.  If the cake mix and frosting cost $10, how much is a box of graham crackers in Kokhanok and what was Sarah's total spent?

So I bring my cake mix home with me and a couple of days later I decide to go through the process of making them.  I don't have any eggs, but my principal does have chickens.  So I head over there in search of eggs.

I also don't have a mixing bowl to mix all this up in so I have to mix it in the only pot that I have in my apartment.

Here's what $10 cupcakes look like:

I have been eating about 2 a day because I don't want them to get stale.  I am certainly not going to waste $10 cupcakes.

See also:

Remember that bag of doritos I bought last time around?  Well they are starting to get stale, so I've been having nachos every night until I polish off those suckers because I am also not about to let an $8 bag of chips go to waste.

Enough about the food, more about the scenery and the walking around out here.  

Yesterday, it was really beautiful out and I had enough time before sunset that I could go out walking around Kokhanok.  So there's this trail behind my house that I have been wanting to explore.  I start walking along and it's really lovely.  

Well I'm walking, and I see these animal prints in the snow.  So, cue me freaking out.  I cannot tell what sort of animal made these and I can only think the worst.  Bear.  Wolf.  Moose.  (Hairyman?) I haven't seen an animal since I've been out here, but I didn't like knowing that one had passed by recently.

Then I came upon these less scary-seeming tracks.

But then I get to this clearing in the path and it's beautiful.

But I'm pretty sure that what I'm standing on is a lake/swamp/body of water.  So I'm feeling nervous again, because I'm mostly sure that the lake is frozen but I really didn't want to take any chances here.  I can't afford to fall through the ice.

So I turn around and start back towards my house but it's just so beautiful out and the sun is setting and it's casting all these beautiful colors in the sky.   I just wasn't ready to be done with my walk yet.

So I start walking in the direction of my principals house, and I have to walk by the only gas pump in Kokhanok.

And I walk down by the lake.  I also start to walk across the lake in order to get the best shot of the beautiful sunset.

With all my adventuring worn out, and the sun nearly set, I make my way back to the school.  As I pass the school I run in to my principal.  And I ask him about the animal tracks that I found.  The big bad animal that I was so afraid of?  Rabbit.  Those are rabbit tracks.  The other tracks?  He said probably mink or ermine.  Have you ever seen an ermine?

Here's a picture of these cute little guys, I only wish I had seen one!

After I asked him about that, I asked him whether or not it was safe for me to go walking around by myself.  He said yes (but what if he'd said no, really too late at that point).  He did say, however, that I should carry bear spray.  So now I have my very own can of highly concentrated, bear un-friendly pepper spray.

Here's kind of what I'm thinking about the bear spray.

But he says that it's actually effective and if I want something else I can always come by and grab his dog, Russel, and we can go out on walks together.

Let me just read you the first warning under the bear spray:

DO NOT SEEK OUT ENCOUNTERS WITH BEARS.

Um...wait...what?  Why on earth would I be seeking out encounters with bears?  And why would I do that armed with only pepper spray?  Seriously.  But you know somebody did and now they have to put the warning on every can.

It's only a shame that I did have my bear spray with me for this.

(Just kidding, this was at Alyeska Resort)

With that,

Alaska woman, signing off!

"Do you perm your hair?"

Here are some additions to

SARAH'S RULES FOR LIVING IN ALASKA:

1. always have food on your person.  always.
2. always have a flashlight
3. always have a book/magazine/entertainment
4. always wear your 'ice creepers'
5. always carry a back-up flashlight

I was walking home from school and I realized that I had left my flashlight in my coat pocket.  I wasn't wearing my coat because it was in the thirties that day, and I could get away with wearing a hoodie.  Lo and behold, I was without flashlight for that walk.  It was alright, but certainly not anything I would like to experience again.  So now I carry my flashlight with me, and I also have another one in my backpack.  I will always have my coat or my backpack with me.

I think Alaska should reconsider their title of "The Last Frontier." It should actually be called "The Land of Hobbies." Out here, you just have time for so many things.  Everybody has at least one hobby, because what else are you going to do when it's -15, oh that's right stay inside and crochet/knit/read/sew/quilt or something like that.  So I was learning to crochet before I came out here and now I have been able to use these skills.  Yesterday was brought to you by the letter C for crochet.

It's actually a headband, you just can't really see the headband part because my hair is covering it.  More crocheted things to come, I promise.

I bet you're wondering who asked me if I perm my hair.  I come in to school today and my kids can NOT get over how curly my hair is.  I don't know why this is so shocking to them, this is pretty much what my hair looks like everyday.  But whatever.  Today, it was just really shocking to them that I have curly hair.  And my students are practically laughing at me because they don't ever see people with curly hair.  All the girls in the village has stick straight (maybe wavy) long black hair.  So to see someone with hair like mine (refer to above pictures) is a little strange to them. They had trouble accepting that my hair is naturally like this and, through their laughter, one of my students asks me really sarcastically, "Did you get a perm?"  And I laughed right back and explained, no, this is really my hair.

Here are more beautiful photos taken this weekend when I was out walking around:

Everyday I think, it's just so beautiful and serene here :)

Buying Doritos and Making Coffee Creamer

Listen.  I didn't plan on buying the doritos.  But I just really, really wanted them.  So I took a walk this weekend to the General Store.

I walked in and bought a bag of Doritos and a Snickers Bar.  (You see, my grandpa sent me twenty dollars in his letter last week, so I wanted to go out and buy myself some treats).

Take a guess how much it costs for a bag of chips and a candy bar...

Any guesses...


It was $10.10.  Honestly, not as bad as I thought and worth every penny.  That first bite into the Doritos was the best thing ever.

I also ran out of coffee creamer this week.  I was so sad to see my Bailey's non-alcoholic French Vanilla coffee creamer go.  But, it had a good life.  So I've been looking into ways to make more.  Here's what I have so far.

Evaporated milk, boxed milk and vanilla extract.

Now, it's not exactly like I had a recipe or anything, and I didn't have measuring cups so it wouldn't have even mattered if I did have a recipe.  So I started with a little of this:

And a little of that:

And you end withhhhh.....:

You just keep adding things to taste.  The end result tastes a bit like melted ice cream or a vanilla milkshake.  Either way, it was very good in my coffee this morning.

To end, here are some food questions that I need answers to:
- My cream cheese has curdled even more.  It's barely spreadable at this point.  It looks more like cottage cheese.  Is there a way to restore it back to his former creamy, delicious state?

And I also took my frozen vegetables and fruits out of the freezer to defrost.  But I forgot them on the counter and when I came back they were kind of goopy.  So I put them back in the freezer, are they going to be okay?  Nothing can happen to frozen fuits/veggies, right?

If I survive the next two months without getting e. coli, I think we should all count ourselves lucky.