Morel recipes, silks, and dancing!

With our 38 morels, Tess and I were able to make two whole dinner recipes!

On night #1, we tackled some morel cream sauce on fettucine.

The taste was great, but the sauce was almost soup. Whether it was a recipe issue or a not-enough-time-to-simmer issue, it just wasn't exactly what we hoped. So we stuck it in the fridge overnight, and since Tess had the following day off, she doctored it up by pouring off a little sauce and thickening the rest with flour, and brought it to Michael and me for lunch in the middle of the day! What a freaking champ!

The next day, we busted out the frozen puff pastry (I would love to try making puff pastry someday, and I have several recipes, but it's gonna be a project, and I really don't have the counter space here for extensive rolling), blanched some asparagus and sauteed it up in butter with the remaining morels and a bit of garlic, squished it into the pastries, topped it off with a bit of parmesan, stuck it back in the oven for a couple minutes, and voila!

Tess has a couple pics, but hasn't sent them to me yet. I'll post them when she does!

I can't even tell you how incredible it was. The earthy morels with the creamy, tender asparagus and buttery, flaky pastry melted into heaven in my mouth.

Let's just say it was a good time.

On Wednesday, we all trouped over to the rec center to take Renee's silks class! Renee is our Monday Belle and has lived in Skagway for nine years, although she still travels to do shows elsewhere sometimes. Before Skagway, she worked several seasons for Tokyo Disney, which is where she learned silks (also called ribbons or aerial tissue). For rec center members, her classes are only $15 for drop-ins or $100 for a ten-class card. We thought we'd give one class a try before deciding to buy a ten-class card, although we were pretty sure already that we would totally love it.

We were super right! Renee starts the class with partnered stretching and Thai massage, followed by strength training for arms, shoulders, and core, finally followed by actual ribbon work. We learned the basic hand lock, an “egg” hang (lock your hands in the ribbons and then pull your knees to your chest!), how to tip over upside down in the egg position and then extend our feet straight up (and then do crunch-type exercises that way by lowering and raising our feet along the ribbons!), how to climb the ribbon, and how to do a basic foot lock! It was so cool I can't even handle it. Ten-class card, here we go!

And then Thursday was dance night at the Gold Rush Brewery! Our new friend Gregory, who is the manager there, is teaching a weekly blues dancing class. Meridith has a bum foot right now, and Steph was feeling like a night in, but Tess and I went out – and had a great time. The class was easy but not too terribly slow, since people were picking stuff up well, and then the actual dancing was awesome. By the last hour or so, Tess, Gregory, Gregory's friend Brian, and I were the only ones left, so we got to partner up with each other pretty continuously and have some pretty rockin' dances. Yay, dance night!

Since then I've pretty much just been working! I've knocked down seven days out of thirteen in a row, and I'm still going strong! We went out to the BrewCo tonight just to hang around, have dinner/drinks/fooseball, enjoy each other's company. What was cool was that it was a bunch of our Skagway friends, not all of whom even knew each other. Greg and Brian were there, plus the '98 show crowd, including Allison/Jon/Tegan, plus some friends of Jon and Tegan, plus Mike from the Brewery, plus some friends Tess made on her day off today, including a guy Steph and I had met at Bonanza a week ago. Cool to see all at once how many people we know and like here!

And now off to bed for me! It's Sunday night, and I'll post this in the morning, I hope – or tomorrow late night, if there are too many cruise ships in already in the morning (highly likely).

In which I turn out to have had a way more eventful week than I thought I had!

I keep thinking it's going to be ok to post only twice a week or so, because who needs to post every day, and then we do tons of things and I'm suddenly way behind! So this is another biggish post – get ready ;)

On Thursday, I taught piano lessons! I agreed to teach half hour lessons to the three kids in one family. I'm pretty excited about it. These first lessons, they didn't have books yet and I was just meeting the kids and getting know where there piano skills were and what they were interested in, so each lesson was only twenty minutes, and I was in and out in an hour. I'm eager to get into lessons, to get to know the kids better, to exercise some pedagogical skills, and to be a little more in touch with the year-round Skagway locals. The other gals in the cast are getting their fingers on the local pulse at least a bit by trying out different churches every Sunday. Since I'm not interested in church, I'm hoping that teaching lessons will do that for me a little bit! There are apparently other families hoping for lessons, since the local piano teacher is out of town for the summer, so in the next couple days I'll post on the Skagway Swap facebook group to let people know that I have some limited availability to teach.

After I got back from teaching and the gals got back from dinner at Starfire, we headed out to meet up with our friends Chris, Adam, and Gabby – the ones we met at the lodge in Dyea. They'd invited us up to the RV Park where they're staying for forshpayz and wine at the picnic table outside their (rented) RV. The seven of us hung out for a while and chatted at first, munching on leftover popcorn Steph and I had grabbed from the theatre and fresh-toasted bruschetta the Oregon gang had whipped up. It was great to start getting to know them a little better! They're a bit nerdy, which I really appreciate.

After not too long, other people stopped by. Mike, the brewery owner and the Oregon gang's boss; Gregory, the manager and dance teacher at the brewery (he used to play violin in pits, and then for some years he made violins, and then he found that too lonely, quit, and has since done other work plus also in the last four years gotten way into social dancing, particularly blues); and a few other people who live in the RV park, including a mom (Jess?) and her kid Logan. We hung around for a couple hours, eating and drinking and frisbeeing and talking, until it started to get cold and buggy, and which point Mike invited us all over to his place for a campfire. So we spent the rest of the night around a crackly fire, chatting and listening to music and, well, just being in Alaska! Finally it was (mostly) dark (around midnight) and we headed home for the night.

On Friday, we were supposed to have three shows, but because one of the two cruise ships scheduled to port in town that day canceled and the other had fewer than a thousand passengers, we sold no tickets to the first two shows and therefore did not perform them. Of course, we had to be in full makeup and costume until five minutes before each show was scheduled to start, just in case we got a sudden influx and could go on! Apparently this used to happen much more frequently both early and late in the season; this year the theatre has been doing extremely well. Allison and Jon were thrilled that we had lasted this long without a cancellation.

Anyway, instead of doing those first two shows, the gals and I rested a bit at home; got ice cream at the Kone Kompany (I really do hate arbitrary Ks, by the way), where I said hi to McKenna (whose name is not Michaela) and John; and I spent my usual hour or so on my bench in the sun. (Well, there are two benches, really: The bench on the post office side of the street is my morning bench, and the bench on the Bites side of the street is my afternoon bench. I appear to be becoming a town fixture.)

The evening show was the town show. Locals can see the show for free at any time, but the town show is the specific night dedicated to them, when everyone comes. And I mean the place was packed. Every seat was full, all extra folding chairs were full, and what little standing room space exists at the gills was full. It was great! I must have been pretty excited at the top, because as soon as I started my little intro rag I realized I was top-speed-ing it! But I made it through at said top speed with no bumps, and the show got underway safe and sound. There is really nothing like performing for a completely full house of somewhat intoxicated people determined to have a great time. And everyone was super sweet on the way out, including McKenna, who gave me a hug! I think that means we're friends :p

Plus, Niles and Skipper had brought up a whole tray of homemade pastries/cake in honor of the town show, so that was great too! And Jon bought us all a drink and some snacks afterward at the Aerie – the Eagles' Lodge, which is in the same building as the theatre. I felt like I was in on something quite mysterious and fraternal, although it was really just a room with some people and a bar.

On Saturday we did two shows, got tacos at the once-every-second-Saturday craft mart (so. good. and so desperately needed. Tacoooooooos), chilled out at home for a bit, and then needed to get out of the house. Plus Sunday was our day off, so we could properly go out! We hit up the Station – the only of the three bars in town none of us had been to yet – for a quiet drink, and then moved on to Bonanza. Bonanza started out as a pretty quiet drink also, but it was dance night, so before too long it was pretty crazy in there. The gals and I had some fun dancing, seeing old (by which I mean new-ish) friends (Greg, who is always, awesomely, corralling people to dance; Mike; the redhead who works at the jewelry store next door) and meeting new ones (Trevor, who is from Phoenix and in town for the summer, and his friend Kale, who is from Oklahoma and in Juneau for the summer). Tess and I met one woman in the bathroom, when she started talking to us from the other stall about how her sister had just called her to let her know that she's seven months pregnant and got married last week! Once we burned out a little on Bonanza – I would have been happy to keep dancing, but it was just so loud – we headed to a house party down the street that we'd been invited to the day before by Nick and Jess, whom we'd met on the street! Jess is a portrait artist, although he spends most of his day working on the Fast Ferry, and actually he'd taken a photo of the cast after the town show so he can draw us! The party was pretty calm by the time we got there, but we stayed long enough to determine that Nick and Jess are pretty normal, chill guys, and that their house is awesome, so hopefully we'll hang out with them again!

On our way home, we saw a few very pale streaks in the sky – first glimpse of the Northern Lights! We're hoping to catch them for real in September, when it gets darker again.

It was almost two by the time we got home – by far the latest I'd stayed up since I left New York! We all crashed, and had a slow Sunday morning. But by the middle of the day, Tess and I were antsy, so we went morel hunting. It took us several tries to get to our actual destination, since I had been there with Michael but wasn't totally sure where it was (it turned out to be slightly outside of town; hence the confusion), but once we got there and really got hunting, we hit the jackpot!

Thirty-eight morels!!!!!

It was super awesome to find some for the first time and also awesome to get some quality time with Tess and with the Alaskan outdoors. Now we gotta look up some recipes!

And now I'd better go to bed – three shows tomorrow, and the start of a thirteen day, thirty-nine show work week! See y'all on the flip side :p

In which s'mores are delicious and foraging is unsuccessful

The last few days have been packed with awesome!

On Friday morning, Meridith got a call from Bill, who was down at the helipad, that there were seals out. So we walked down to the canal and lo and behold! Seals! Playing out in the water! Adorbs.

On Friday evening, we went to Trivia Night at the Red Onion, which used to be a brothel and still gives brothel tours. The place ended up pretty packed by the time trivia started! Michaela and Lenny were there and joined our team. We scored pretty squarely in the middle – no real literary or nerdy questions for me! – but had a few drinks and a lot of fun.

Saturday was locals-get-to-do-tourist-things day (we got a flier about it). Sugar Mama's was selling cupcakes for a dollar – Tess picked up a red velvet one with cream cheese frosting to share – and after the show but before rehearsal we stopped by Glacial Smoothie for one dollar cookies. They were out of cookies, since it was almost closing time, but we grabbed coffee/smoothies to give us a little boost for rehearsal, and we also discovered an adjacent little boutique with cute clothes and nice shower gel and stuff. There's no other store like that in Skagway! The gal running the place – I forget her name, because I didn't note it down! – says that that's exactly why she started it.

And after rehearsal, we went to the corner outside of the Red Onion, where the flier had informed us we could catch the shuttle up to Dyea for s'mores and a campfire. Sure enough, the shuttle came around – but we were the only people who boarded! Oh well, we thought. We can have fun with just us :) The shuttle driver is named Floyd, and was pretty friendly. The drive to Dyea is beautiful and takes you past Smuggler's Cove, one of the places I want to take the short hike to. When we got to the ChilkootTrail Outpost, there actually were a few other people there, and as we trailed in, Cathy, the owner seemed just thrilled to see us. “I've never gotten so many people!” she said. She debriefed us on the history of Dyea, which was a booming gold rush town before Skagway was, since it's near the entrance to the Chilkoot Trail, which was the only way through the mountains before the railway was built. She showed us around the lodge, which is just beautiful, and even let us take a look at her super gorgeous, open living space. She also fed us to-die-for smoked salmon on crackers, and taught us the best way to make a s'more (you put the whole s'more between the prongs of a two-pronged utensil, and slowly turn it over the coals).

The other people at the lodge were also here for their first summer, and had actually just arrived that day! Their names are Chris, Adam, and Gabby; they're in their mid-twenties; they're originally from upstate New York but lived in Salem most recently; they've left Salem theoretically permanently but don't know what they plan to do after this summer; and they work at the Gold Dredge Brewery just outside of town. Also there was Gregory, whom I didn't get to know quite as well, but who also looks to be in the vicinity of my age and who is a dance instructor who'll be teaching social dance at the Brewery every Thursday. I can't wait to go! Anyway, we all hit it off pretty well, and I got Gabby's number so our two groups can meet up to hang out. Yay new friends!

Once we'd toured the lodge, we walked down the hill a bit to where Michael and friends of his were gathered around a campfire. With the supplies Cathy had leant us, we tried the new s'mores technique – and whoa if that wasn't the best s'more I've ever eaten in my life. I caught mine on fire about eighty million times, but it turned out perfect anyway, with toasty graham and gooey crunchy marshmallow and chocolate that actually melted. Yum! Now I want one of those tools!

Floyd drove us back down to Skagway, stopping for us to get out at a viewpoint on the way, and dropped us off at home. We changed out of our smoky clothing and went out for a quick dinner at the BrewCo, which was offering appetizers half-off. We turned in for the evening, shared out Tess's red velvet cupcake, and passed out!

Sunday was our day off. It was the first rainy day since I've been here, and it was actually pretty nice to have an excuse for a day in. My day in didn't last too long, though, since around noon – while the other gals were at church – Michael came home and asked if I wanted to go hunting for morels! We took off and drove to a trail off the road to Dyea, where we scoured the woods for mushrooms. We met with no success – Michael had said it might be a day too early, but he wanted to get the jump on it just in case – but traversing the loam and enjoying the woods was pretty great all by itself. (Although, infuriatingly, we found out later that Tegan had found forty in almost the same places. Apparently she is just about the queen of foraging.) It drizzled pleasantly the whole time, and we ended up down at Smuggler's Cove – not the same route by which I would hike to it from town – which is just breathtaking. On our way back up the hill, we saw a couple of red-headed sapsuckers, which are fun to see because their heads are so brilliant! On the drive home, we stopped at the organic market, which was fun to explore (vanilla beans! hickory smoked salt! spices!), and then drove past the dock, where we saw arctic terns. Talk about a lovely bird. They're snowy white, with elegant forked tales. As Michael puts it, they'll just break your heart.

Michael, by the way, has lived in Mexico with a girlfriend; owned an antique shop on Telegraph Avenue; owned a Mexican restaurant in Baltimore; hung out with jazz musicians in New Orleans; lived in New York City (not necessarily all in that order); lived on a boat off the coast of Miami, where he had a job with a fancy name I can't remember, involving analyzing core samples from the ocean; and has now retired to Skagway, where he spends his winters listening to Great Courses and his summers playing for the show and foraging in the woods. He is just about the coolest person ever.

On Sunday night, Douglas the British librarian/tour guide/radio DJ had us all (Jon and Tegan, Allison, the five of us over Bites, and his own two roommates) over for dinner, which was lovely! Roast chicken, stuffing, gravy, sweet potatoes, parsnips, and totally killer potatoes. Plus I brought brownies, which were a hit. Plus the company was delightful. We had a lot of fun.

People of Skagway, II

Aysha works in some or other gift shop round about 4^th St. and Broadway. Curly dirty blonde hair, here for the summer with her girlfriend! She is the one who pointed us to the spare furniture on the curb on on 12th St. the other day.

Andre is the manager in the Gold Rush Jewelry store, where Nikki (our flatmate) works. He gave us forget-me-not earrings! Other workers there are Eddie and Alex, and Ali the guy who sets the jewels.

Delaney and Michaela are twins (Michaela has the bigger forehead-freckle) and work in the Kone Kompany with Ashley and John.

Cathy owns the jewelry store closest to the theatre and has the best dog in the world, a fluffy spaniel-type something or other named Louie. Adam also works there and is friends with Mike, who owns a dog named Barley and also a brewery uptown. Other workers there - Mary (older and tan and blonde) and Megan, and a few others whose names I didn't catch.

Katie works at the popcorn store!

Bud and Eve were hanging out in Bites on Broadway; Eve owns the dog camp in Dyea.

Charles owns the glass shop adjacent to Bites!

Will is the border crossing guy. We actually met him briefly when we stopped at the rec center during our day 1 tour, but we re-met him today in Bites.

Jean owns the Russian Christmas and Yarn store adjacent to Broadway Bites. She has shoulder-length, wavy gray hair and a son who lived in Brooklyn for a long time but just bought a house near Westchester. She encouraged me to learn to knit.

Joanie owns the art and gift shop across the street, where her nephew Steve also works.

Douglas works at the library and recommended some history books. He is also a DJ for the Skagway radio station, and a guide on the Streetcar Tours. We're headed to his place for a cookout tonight!

Josh works at the hardware store and has lived here for a year, although his buddy started telling him to move here 7 years ago. He said he shoulda listened.

Miss Bee used to be a can-can dancer decades ago. We met her in Bites, and she said we should peer into her cabin up near Carcross. We also met her daughter at a campfire in Dyea last night!

Cathy runs the lodge up in Dyea and is determined that Dyea be given its due as the original gold rush town in the area. She was so welcoming to us. But you'll get more about that later! She and Michael are old friends.

Grandma Jenny is beloved by all and knits things for everyone in the winter. She's in Michael's group advocating for a new senior center, and Michael says he gets her to do the presenting to the Skagway City Council when he needs something to get done, because no one can say no to her!

And I know there are more, but they're escaping my mind right now! Some of these people will appear again in stories from the last few days (there's a lot to tell, actually, and I'm excited to get it down :)); some of them may never appear again on this blog. But I've been enjoying meeting them and taking notes!

In which I catch y'all up on many Alaskan adventures

I have so much to catch up on! Watch out folks, this might be a long one.

First off, here's a picture of all the gals at Yakutania Point; it was on Steph's phone so I couldn't post it earlier!

Stephanie, Meridith, me, and Tess

Anyway, back to the story, on Saturday morning, we went to the Skagway Community Sale, which happens at the beginning and end of every summer season. Everyone brings their stuff to the rec center the night before, and the rec center sells it off – almost everything for a dollar – to raise money for programming. Meridith took a picture of the line outside, and I wish I had done the same, because it was ridic! Lined up for the 10 am opening were probably more people than I had seen yet in all my week in Skagway added together. And when we went in, it was pretty havoc! A little stressful, actually. Although there was plenty of stuff to go around! The clothes were like mountains along the tables! The shoes took up a whole wall! There were tables of books and tables of junky kitchen stuff!

Tegan – Jon's wife – had come with us, and because she's a better shopper than I am, she helped me find a couple clothing items: A warm, windbreaker-y jacket; a little black hoodie with birds and “love Alaska” on it; a cream, wide-knit top; a beat-up olive tank top dotted with holes (on purpose). I would never have found most of this stuff on my own – or I would have fled, intimidated by the volume and the havoc! – so it was nice that Tegan was keeping an eye out for me. I also picked up some extra clothes hangers, three books, a pair of heeled boots, and, best of all, a cheap but working electric hand mixer. I desperately miss my Cuisinart hand mixer, but this will for sure do the trick while I'm here!

Anyway, we had a couple shows, and then the afternoon off, and Sunday off as well. So Saturday night Jon and Tegan invited everyone over for dinner. They whipped up some totally fab bean dip and lasagna, and we all hung out for a few hours. It was great to actually have some time to socialize with the whole company, especially our choreographer Julie, who doesn't stay the whole summer.

On Sunday, we geared up and left the house for a hike by 10 am. We took an eastern trail out of town...

...up to Lower Dewey Lake (about 1.5 miles)...

...and then on to Sturgil's Landing (another 2 miles). Get ready for more pictures of mountains, because the beauty around here is out of control.

Passing through the mossy vales was like passing through an enchanted glade. 

Everything was so green – and I bet it gets greener later in the season.

The ground is soft, almost spongy; the Tongass Forest National Park is actually rainforest. After a steep and rocky descent for the last half mile, we emerged at Sturgil's Landing, a little promontory overlooking the canal. You know, I keep thinking the views can't get any more incredible here – and then they do.

Anyway, below the promontory was a little water-level, tide-pool-y, rocky beach, which we picked our way down to and explored. Mussels and strange balloonish seaweed abounded.

We ate a little lunch in the sun – the weather was perfect – sat quietly for a while, and then headed back!

The walk back was a little quicker than the walk there – not so much uphill, and not so many stops for pictures! My knee started bugging me on the last half-mile descent, but other than that it felt great to have trekked 7 miles by 3 pm! We spent the rest of the day chillin' out, doing a winter-themed puzzle that Tess had found at the Community Sale, and eating leftover lasagna for dinner.

So that was Sunday!

We had another show on Monday and a couple more Tuesday, plus post-show put-in rehearsals, as once we really get going the roles will rotate regularly. Also on Monday we had family taco night, which was delicious. Tess has a great taco night photo up on her awesome blog. We all look very beautiful in it.

Tacos

=

Lifeblood.

And on Wednesday, we took a company trip to Whitehorse! Julie needed to get dropped off at the airport, since she's leaving us for a contract in Vancouver, and we all thought we'd come along, for the adventure and for the Walmart (ugh, but necessary). So the company rented an 8-seat van and we all piled in. The drive out there – on the only road out of Skagway – is breathtaking (duh). I forgot my camera, but I'll again refer you to Tess's blog if you want pics. We passed through Carcross (permanent population: 12), and within about three hours arrived triumphantly in Whitehorse. We dropped Julie at the airport (goodbye, Julie! We'll miss you!) and headed into town. We grabbed sushi for lunch, since it's not an option in the Skags, and we were truly, utterly satisfied by it. A little pricey – I'm used to purchasing sushi only during the many times it's half price, haha – but soooooo good. We had a few minutes to walk around the few blocks that exist of downtown Whitehorse (it's not actually that much bigger than Skagway), grabbed some Starbucks (!!! water in the desert !!!), and then headed out to the Walmart, where I spent more than I hoped but less than I feared on such items as mascara, a trash can, Clif bars, heat protection hair spray, sunscreen, a baking sheet, a mixing bowl, a silicone spatula, measuring cups, measuring spoons, a 9x13 baking dish, and a 9x9 baking dish (haha, can you tell what I care about?).

Home again, home again, jiggety jig, spotted a black bear by the side of the road on the way (!!!), passed uneventfully through customs, and rolled back into Skagway before 6 pm. We stopped on the outskirts of Skagway to check out the Gold Rush Cemetery, which is the home of Jefferson Randolph “Soapy” Smith's grave, as well as the grave of Frank Reid, town hero. As you'll find out if you come see The Days of '98 Show, they killed each other in a gunfight on the dock! Above the cemetery is a short path to Lower Reid Falls. I didn't have the right clothes on to explore on the rocks (plus also my knee hurt), but we'll definitely return later in the summer when we're dressed right and the water is lower, and climb around on the falls and cross the creek into the cave on the opposite side, which Jon recommends.

Tess got pretty good pics of each of us by the falls!

At any rate, a perfect day-off excursion!

And that's all for now, folks! I miss everyone!

In which Friday is utterly lovely

Friday was just the loveliest day! It's been getting warmer and sunnier every day, and Friday was darn close to my ideal summer day. I could use another five degrees, of course, because I like that oven feeling, but really it was just about perfect.

First of all, we opened the show! The house was small – about 20 people – for the 10:30 show, but they were loving it. Meridith and Tess, who are currently playing the whores “Molly Phewclothes” and “Squirreltooth Alice,” get to pull an older guy up on stage every show and do a couple numbers with him. I've made myself a little game where I try to predict whom they'll pick, and so far I'm three for three! The 10:30 guy just stood there and grinned himself silly the whole time; it was super cute. The guy at the second show was a little chattier but still well-behaved and having a good time. And both of their families were psyched! Show #1 we pretty much nailed; show #2, at 2:30, was a little sloppier despite our best efforts, but the audience (30-something for that one!) still had a great time.

Second of all, in between shows, Meridith and I couldn't pass up the totally beautiful, warm sunshine, so we took a walk down to the dock after lunch and sat by the water with our books, reading a bit and chatting a bit and looking at the canal and the Carnival ship docked there. (The ferry dock is not the same as the cruise ship dock, if you're wondering how it's possible for the ships to be coming in!) So that was delightful – plus, on our walk to the dock, we stopped in the jewelry store where our flatmate Nikki works. While we were chatting with her, she called over her manager, Andre, who got to know us a little bit... and then gave us each a pair of forget-me-not earrings! We were totally shocked. I mean, I'm sure they're not a big deal in the scheme of a giant store full of $10,000 rings, and I'm sure he hopes we'll walk around town telling everyone we got these cute earrings from that store. But it was still really sweet, and now we have lovely earrings for free! With the Alaska state flower! That makes two free pairs of cute earrings in two days, actually - Allison bought us all earrings color-coordinated with our costumes, so we can wear them during the show.

Third of all, after the shows, Meridith and Tess and Stephanie and I took another walk around town. We picked up a bunch of postcards – I sent twelve, so lots of you should expect them soon! – and got ice cream cones from the Kone Kompany, which we ate in the sun on a bench in front of Bites on Broadway. We stopped in a few stores in between, getting to know assorted locals and summer-locals. They'll show up in a People of Skagway post!

Fourth of all, after we went home and ate some dinner – I made grilled cheese with a few bacon strips that Michael donated to me!, and fried it in bacon! – we went out to the BrewCo for a couple beers. At the BrewCo, we ran into our pilot, Chris! He stopped to chat with Tess and me, since he remembered us (mostly her, but a little bit me) from sitting co-pilot with him. After a few minutes, he offered to take us flying for free anytime he has an extra seat or an off-shift! He said he would take us to Juneau or around the glaciers! Tess got his number so we can get in touch. But then she looked for it this morning and she had forgotten to save it! Fortunately, he came to the show today, as he said he would, and she got it again :)

Fifth of all, after the BrewCo, we remembered that one of the women we met in the shops had mentioned that the house she and the other workers in the shop were staying in had been overfull of stuff, and they had put a bunch of it outside on the lawn for anyone to take. So we headed up to 12^th St. and found the house with a bunch of stuff on the lawn... and grabbed some of it to take home! We'd been wanting a few more pieces of furniture, since there aren't enough chairs in the kitchen for all of us, and there's no living room or anything for us to hang out in, so we were thinking about putting a couch or something in my room, which is the biggest. So Meridith and Stephanie grabbed a chair, Tess grabbed another chair, I picked up an ottoman, and Bill carried a little table/shelving unit for Meridith's room, which had no surfaces in it!

And that was the whole day! Next up - People of Skagway, restaurants I've been trying, and our very first day off!

In which we hike to Yakutania Point

The hike to Yakutania Point was fun and beautiful! 

First, on our way out, we saw this cool multi-story birdhouse flagpole.

Anyway, the hike to Yakutania Point can really only barely be described as a hike, since it was probably about a quarter of a mile and very easy. But we crossed over a bridge...

...and found ourselves on a dirt trail instead of pavement, and surrounded by trees! 

We could occasionally peer through for a glimpse of the Lynn Canal.

We've been meeting lovely dogs all over town, and the trail was no exception. One older man with glasses and a cane – he looks like an interesting guy – came down the trail with his chocolate brown dog George. And when we got to the Point, there was a family hanging around finishing up a picnic, with two friendly dogs, Bailey and I forget the other one's name. Most of the dogs around here are big but super friendly and well-trained – the best kind! We stood around for a while making conversation, petting the dogs, and looking out at the water, but then the mosquitoes were coming out, so we headed home. 

Yakutania Point

It was the first time we'd really gotten to explore at all – and the first time I got much exercise of any kind, since the other gals can-can themselves silly but I just sit on my ass at the piano for hours – so it was really nice.

Anyway, I've typed up a bunch more stories to post here, but this seems like the natural finish for this point, so I'll close here and save the rest for another day! Although I may get behind in the storytelling here, since tonight we'll be going over to Jon and Teegan's for dinner, tomorrow we're going on a hike, and Wednesday we're going to Whitehorse! Oh, well. I'm sure I'll catch up someday :) Plus, now that I've figured out that I can use my iPad as a personal wifi hotspot for my computer, I should be able to post more often again. Ttyl!

People of Skagway

I've been chit-chatting up a storm! Every time I go into a shop or meet someone on the street, it just feels right to exchange names and get a bit of their story - it's that kind of town.

It'll be interesting to see it when the streets are flooded with tourists, though. Apparently you get to know or at least recognize everyone who's here the whole time, as you see the same faces amid the thousands and thousands of cruise ship passengers cramming the streets. Right now it's totally weird but awesome here. It looks like a movie set, because the buildings are so period, the backdrop is so beautiful, and the streets are so utterly empty.

Anyway, I've been taking notes on the people I've met, because they have interesting stories and also because I want to actually remember their names!

John grew up here and now lives in – if I remember correctly – Seattle, or possibly somewhere else in Washington State. He works in the ice cream shop and has been back every summer since he left, but might not return next summer!

Steve is from Indiana right outside of Chicago. It's his first summer up here, and he's working in his aunt's (I think!) gift shop art gallery.

Ashley is also working in the ice cream shop, and is up from Idaho for her second summer – some of her college friends had come up her before and it sounded good to her!

We also met a couple in the street yesterday – Michaela and Lenny. Michaela came up a few years ago to work in a jewelry store – her first day was the same as Skipper's and Niles' first day! They quit working in the jewelry store pretty early – apparently it was awful – but Michaela stuck it out the whole summer before returning home to San Diego. After she and Lenny got married, he wanted to try coming back up here, but she was determined not to work at the jewelry store anymore. So now they're tour drivers! She drives a street car around town on a historical tour, and he drives a bus up and a bit out of town, apparently. They're super excited to come see the show again!

Also, I was chatting with Michael again, and he told me that he goes foraging for wild mushrooms, and said that he was willing to teach me how! He says it's very easy to recognize different varieties and avoid the poisonous kind.

More pics soon, probably! I want to show y'all my room and my view and the town!

Tiny Plane Flight

I stopped by Radio Shack yesterday and picked up a cord to connect my camera to my computer - so I can now narrate the flight from Juneau to Skagway! Here goes :)

This was our plane! It seats ten people, including the pilot.

The dashboard is so cool!

I was sitting right behind the pilot for the first and longest leg of the flight, from Juneau to Haines.

 The view out my window as we took off from the Juneau airport.

What is this tiny island? Who lives on it??

And then we headed out, up the Inside Passage, into the mountains (the Chilkats on the right, the Chilkoots on the left).

I can't even, with these mountains.

I don't know how to caption them.

I've never seen anything so beautiful.

Look how clear the water is!!

I actually took 130 pictures. I've winnowed them down to about 40, and I'll post all 40 in a facebook album.

Here, I'm restraining myself. I'm just narrating. They're just helping.

Just a few pictures!

This coastline looked like fractals to me.

IT'S A GLACIER!

I HAVE NOW SEEN A GLACIER!!!

I don't know what glacier it is, though.

 The shadow of our tiny plane, as we descend into Haines.

Our intrepid pilot, Chris!

 I traded with Tess to sit co-pilot on our second leg, from Haines to Skagway!

I AM SO COOL, YOU GUYS!!!

The view as we left Haines

We're coming to the end of the Inside Passage...

...and it's our first glimpse of Skagway!

 Remember how the dock sank?

Uh, yeah, there it is.

The dock sank.

We had to take a very steep turn past the town

in order to descend onto the runway,

because the valley is so tiny!

It was fun.

 Hello, Skagway!

In Which I Try a New Kind of Meat

I don't have a heckuva lot to say about yesterday, and I haven't been to the Radio Shack yet to facilitate the posting of pictures, so this will be a short one!

We had a long but productive rehearsal. The show goes up on Friday, so we have a lot to do, but everyone's working hard and rocking it out!

I realized at lunch that I had like ¾ of the ingredients for anything I might want to make – but not all of the ingredients for anything. So I box mac 'n' cheesed it, and I'll make a quick grocery run on my lunch break today.

And for dinner, none of us wanted to feed ourselves but neither did we really communicate, so Meridith and Tess ended up at the Brewery and Stephanie and I wandered around until we found the BBQ Shack, where we ate...

...caribou sandwiches! This guy (Bob – he's lived all over Alaska, including on the Aleutian islands, and used to give tours in Skagway before he settled here and opened the restaurant) has all kind of wild meat on his menu, actually – caribou, elk, salmon, buffalo – and he says that as the season gets going he starts having a wild meat buffet, which sounds tremendously exciting. Meanwhile, the caribou had been sort of pounded into these smooth rectangular patties and put on just a regular sandwich with bbq sauce and lettuce and stuff, and it was delicious! Very savory. Stephanie and I had been on the hunt for hot dogs, and weirdly enough this sort of hit the same spot, although it was tastier/less processed.

And that's about it! Hung around the house in the evening, chatted with Michael, who's been teaching himself finger picking through the winter, who used to frequent a bar in New Orleans where all the musicians came after 2 am and jammed together, who started directing the show up here in 1984 and did so for four summers before he quit to run his Mexican restaurant in Baltimore, and then who came back up here in 1998 and stayed! What a cool cat.

And now – to rehearsal!

Haha I forgot about this picture from Juneau.

ALASKA

Here I am in Juneau! I'm going to try to post properly for the next five months, since I'll (hopefully!) be going on adventures and meeting cool people and doing fun things and having interesting thoughts as I live and work in Skagway.

Here's the debrief for today:

Got up at 4:45 am! Caught at cab at 5:30 am! Got to the airport, only to find that while my ticket said Alaska Airlines from JFK, there is no Alaska Airlines at JFK, and it took 15 minutes and 4 airport workers to figure out that it was run through Delta! Also found amid all that that I had left my cell phone in the cab! A nice security guard let me borrow his phone to call Alex to get the cab company number (because I only had it programmed in my phone...) so I could call the cab company and ask them to look for my phone. Which they told me they couldn't find. So I gave them Alex's number for if they found it, and gave up and went through security, since I had only five minutes left to check in. (They put me through the expedited security lane, which was awesome, btw! Didn't have to take off shoes or jacket or accessories! Didn't have to take out my computer!) And then as soon as I called Alex (on a coworker's borrowed phone), when I got to the gate, he reported that they had found it and called him but now the cab was too far from the airport to bring it back (plus we were boarding in like five minutes), so he had to go to the cab depot, and hopefully it is now on its way to me via the mail! Augh.

So, you know, one of those mornings. But flying is lovely, and here I am in Juneau! The day is beautiful! I AM IN ALASKA WHAT

The thing about flying into Juneau is that you are for hours just flying over snowcapped mountains, and it's like, where are we going to land? We are just in the mountains? Where is Juneau? And then boom all of a sudden you have landed in Juneau. Which is tiny. But not as tiny as Skagway! Anyway, I don't know that I realized that THERE ARE NO ROADS THAT GO TO JUNEAU. I guess that's a thing that everyone knows, but I didn't. I've been joking that going to this job is like going to Siberia or something, but it's not that far from the truth in terms of how hilariously isolated and far from everything these parts of Alaska are. Weird. But cool!

BTW, flying into SEA-TAC for our brief layover was also freaking gorgeous. I don't remember ever really seeing Seattle from overhead like that - maybe it's always been overcast when I flew in, or maybe I was never on a window seat. But - wow. And the airport itself is lovely, too! Props, Seattle.

I'm wearing out a bit on telling the story of my day, since I'm exhausted (but trying to stay up until 8pm at least, though I got up at 4am Eastern and now it feels like midnight to me, since ya gotta fight the jetlag immediately yo) and have been telling various parts of it to various people. But in brief, it is beautiful and sunny (although the locals were raving about how it was an unusually nice day, which is a bit alarming, and kept telling us how windy Skagway is, which is also alarming); I got to know a couple of my coworkers and they are great; Juneau is just gearing up for the season, so many of the shops are not open but some are, and the owners are just hanging around being friendly; you can walk around the whole downtown in two hours, which is ridic to me for a state capital but neat; and we learned from some locals that yes, those giant crows were actually ravens, and also they are bringers of light in Tlingit stories.

Also, this happened...

http://www.adn.com/2014/04/24/3439788/skagway-ferry-dock-sinks.html?sp=/99/100/&ihp=1

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ALASKA

So we'll not, obviously, be taking the ferry to Skagway as planned tomorrow. We will be taking a 6-person propellor plane, over glaciers and evergreens and fjords. I am freaking psyched. Updates ASAP! :) :) :)

OMG I AM IN ALASKA

AND LOOK AT IT

FREAKING LOOK AT IT

WHAT

Miscellaneous Mundanity

Just made a bad batch of macarons - they're purple, which makes me happy, but I was in a hurry and not paying attention and undercooked them a bit, so when I tried to take them off the parchment paper, the shells popped right off of the middles. Now I have a bunch of thin purple macaron shells, and I'll try to do something creative with them - fill them with lovely and delicious things between football games today. Pictures upcoming if I meet with success! I also have a couple zucchinis and should make zucchini bread with them today, and I still have egg whites to use up, which means more macs or some other kind of meringue cookies.

Semi-reading Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand - just finished The Bitter Kingdom (<3 a="" and="" baby="" babysit="" basil="" bit="" excess="" for="" get="" hang="" i="" know="" morning.="" my="" next="" of="" one="" out="" p="" pots.="" poured="" rain="" saturday="" then="" to="" today="" water="" with="" you="">
On my list: Record some more, apply for financial assistance at the Long Island City YMCA so I can keep gong to Zumba, get confirmation about some work dates and then book my ticket to the CSJO board meeting in November, read, read, read.

It's really a lovely day out today - gotta go for a walk before football starts!

I actually did have an idea of something interesting to write in this post, but I forgot it amid all the pleasant mundanity.

Oh, and in case you're wondering where else I am online - http://www.pinterest.com/shoshaname/boards/ - http://aclimaxofhope.tumblr.com/
there you go :) A. DDICTED. to tumbling.

Your poem for the day is verse 36 of the Tao:

"That which will be shrunk
Must first be stretched.
That which will be weakened
Must first be strengthened.
That which will be torn down
Must first be raised up.
That which will be taken
Must first be given.

This is called "subtle illumination."

The gentle and soft overcomes the hard and aggressive.

A fish cannot leave the water.

The country's potent weapons
Should not be shown to its people."

Sometime's Lao Tzu's subject changes are a little perplexing to me, but I still enjoy them!

Mostly, Food

I have been on a cooking spree!

Well, first, I have been on a checking-cookbooks-out-from-the-library spree, actually. Cook This Now, The Sweet Life in Paris, Simply Satisfying, and Around My French Table.

Which has caused me to be on a cooking spree!

Walnut cake with mocha whipped cream frosting: Tasty, mildly nutty, light. The frosting is the star of this show - hot cream poured over coffee and bittersweet chocolate, chilled, and whipped stiff. Also I am proud of the chocolate curls on top.

Quickbread with chives, walnuts, and cheddar. Sounds so awesome; turned out kind of boring and a hair dry. However, it's great toasted and spread with...

...cheesy creme brulee! Which, as you can see, was almost a disaster. Certainly the recipe didn't work for me at all; it asked for 40-50 minutes at 200 degrees F, at which point the brulees were still 100% liquid. I turned it up and left them in for another 45 minutes or so, took them out, sprinkled cheese on top, torched them, and then despite my skepticism around the concept of savory creme brulee...

...discovered that they were INCREDIBLE DELICIOUS, reminiscent of super rich mac and cheese, and SO WORTH all the hassle. Great on chips, great on toasted cheese quickbread, great with a spoon.

There was also an entire quart of leftover charoses from Pesach, which Alex and I have been struggling to eat before it goes bad. I mean, it's delicious, and you can eat it by the spoonful, but a quart is still a lot of charoses. So what to do with leftover charoses?

Charoses pie/crisp! Graham cracker crust, mound of charoses, crisp topping with oats and spices, 350 for half an hour. Delish!

And the final project of the two-day period: Milk and honey brioche. Which takes two days. Which requires 3/4 lb of butter and ten egg yolks. Which also requires a mixer with a paddle attachment, which I don't have, so I used my hands, realizing too late that Stella suggests in the comments trying it in a food processor. Which for a long time seemed like an utter disaster, with the texture of extremely sticky cookie dough and an apparent inability to rise at all.

When I at last put it in the oven, trembling for its fate, it did puff up but it also was a very ugly shape and blackened on the outside immediately rather than turning golden. Then I took a bite...

...and it was basically the best thing I've ever eaten. It's flaky, light, rich, sweet, crispy on the outside, buttery, and GLORIOUS. I legit wish I could make it every week. Too bad I can't afford that much butter! (Egg yolks I often do have, given frequent macaronnage. Although ten is still, um, excessive.)

Anyway, that's it so far for this week! Although I have a batch of macarons to make, commissioned on behalf of Paul's cast (for money!! although I'm definitely price gouging the competition). Probably mint or espresso with chocolate ganache.

In the meantime, here are more things I made in the last month, which I haven't posted about yet!

                                     

Clam chowder!

AMAZING chocolate torte. Basically, it's a ton of unsweetened chocolate and a ton of meringue, which was confusing and ugly, but incredible and now in my rotation, although unsweetened chocolate is also too expensive to use that much of very often.

Also, only part of this is homemade - the baguette - but I'm posting it because it was pretty much the best lunch ever. That's some kind of blue-veiny expensive cheese from the grocery store, and mind-blowing smoked salmon dip from Trader Joe's.

I also had a ton of leftover black eyed peas from making Hoppin' John (see: Sundays at Moosewood), and was tired of eating black eyed peas. Some dollops of cream cheese, cheddar, parmesan, garlic, and leftover green sauce from Mama's Empanadas, and bean dip it was!

Last but not least, in other news, Alex and I bought an expensive coffee table and I love it!!!! Well, expensive for us. Pretty normal priced for a regular coffee table that is fairly sturdy and pretty and not from IKEA. From now on: coasters and place mats, no exception!

Also, Andy Ball is here! And we have a great new subletter named Lara! And Alex's brother Ben came to visit! And I have a music director master class in programming keyboards with Mainstage coming up on Thursday! It's a cool week. :)