Willow Thursday May 15: After rain there will be sun

Even though swallows, red robins and lots of other birds, that we don’t know the names of, have arrived it still doesn’t feel like spring. Yesterday morning temperature had dropped to almost freezing. I felt so sad for all the swallows, must be extremely cold for such tiny little birds. They sat on the roof of their birdhouses and just looked miserable. I guess this cold weather doesn’t produce too much mosquitoes either, witch is kind of pleasant for us but not as good for tiny birds that need lots and lots of food. It did not warm up much either as the day went along and today it’s raining off and on and still not warmer. Egil and I try to get out on our bikes every other day and yesterday we had to dress almost the same as when we are out on our dog sleds. I am a much slower biker then Egil, he takes off and leaves me behind. I try to start out ahead of him, but he always catches me. Today we had to make an emergency call to our veterinarian in Big Lake. One-year-old Goldie had a huge abscess on her neck and a high fever. Luckily we could bring Goldie in just an hour after we called. While Goldie had her abscess drained we drove to Wasilla to pick up some groceries, supplies and steer manure. Yes, after rain comes sunshine and I am going to start digging in my garden. This rain will warm up the soil and I will start salad, kale, dill, Swiss chard, arugula and spinach. All this makes me hungry; today I am only drinking Isagenix and eating a few hard-boiled eggs. It is actually not so bad, it works out ok and the best with fasting one day is that I really appreciate a nice dinner tomorrow. Click “read more” for more photos.

I made this Italian bread yesterday, first try and it came out real tasty.

I also made these fried scrimp cakes, perfect as appetizer or as tapas.

Right now I am into preparing food inspired from Italy and Spain. Here Kefta, spicy meat balls, salad, scrimp cakes and different dipping sause.

We picked up a new burn barrel today in Wasilla. Tony and Tikko checked out a guard dog who stared back at them.

This little tiny geranium is overloaded with the prettiest pink flowers. Can't wait until I can bring all my flowers outside.

Willow Tuesday May 12: After rain there will be sun

Even though swallows, red robins and lots of other birds, that we don’t know the names of, have arrived it still doesn’t feel like spring. Yesterday morning temperature had dropped to almost freezing. I felt so sad for all the swallows, must be extremely cold for such tiny little birds. They sat on the roof of their birdhouses and just looked miserable. I guess this cold weather doesn’t produce too much mosquitoes either, witch is kind of pleasant for us but not as good for tiny birds that need lots and lots of food. It did not warm up much either as the day went along and today it’s raining off and on and still not warmer. Egil and I try to get out on our bikes every other day and yesterday we had to dress almost the same as when we are out on our dog sleds. I am a much slower biker then Egil, he takes off and leaves me behind. I try to start out ahead of him, but he always catches me. Today we had to make an emergency call to our veterinarian in Big Lake. One-year-old Goldie had a huge abscess on her neck and a high fever. Luckily we could bring Goldie in just an hour after we called. While Goldie had her abscess drained we drove to Wasilla to pick up some groceries, supplies and steer manure. Yes, after rain comes sunshine and I am going to start digging in my garden. This rain will warm up the soil and I will start salad, kale, dill, Swiss chard, arugula and spinach. All this makes me hungry; today I am only drinking Isagenix and eating a few hard-boiled eggs. It is actually not so bad, it works out ok and the best with fasting one day is that I really appreciate a nice dinner tomorrow.

 Click “read more” for more photos.

I made this Italian bread yesterday, first try and it came out real tasty.

I also made these fried scrimp cakes, perfect as appetizer or as tapas.

Right now I am into preparing food inspired from Italy and Spain. Here Kefta, spicy meat balls, salad, scrimp cakes and different dipping sause.

We picked up a new burn barrel today in Wasilla. Tony and Tikko checked out a guard dog who stared back at them.

This little tiny geranium is overloaded with the prettiest pink flowers. Can't wait until I can bring all my flowers outside.

Willow Tuesday May 12: Enjoy life, eat good food.

As mushers we work all day with our dogs, always there for them, to care, feed and look out for them. With long days of chores we always sit down and have a nice dinner every night. I love to prepare a variety of different dishes; life is too short not to enjoy all fantastic food there is. The high pressure that gave us sunshine and summer warm temperatures this weekend has left and instead we have high winds and overcast. Last night the wind blew hard, our house was almost shaking. It calmed down during the night but picked up again this morning. It starts to get real dry out in the woods so with winds like this a wild fire would be a disaster. I just pray that everyone will be cautious and not play with open fire. Wildfires in Alaska is a scary part of our life here and just before the trees grow their leafs it’s the time of year when fires can travel real fast. Back to the food. Tonight I prepared shrimp tempura and salmon wraps with Nuoc cham, a very tasty Vietnamese dipping sauce. After dinner we had a slice of refreshing honey melon. Bon Appetite! Click “read more” for more photos.

This is how I thaw shrimp. On a layer of old, read newspaper I lay out shrimp and after just a few hours you have perfectly dry shrimp ready to prepare for dinner.	While I prepare dinner Emmilou rests at her favorite spot.	I prepare the filling for my salmon wraps. In olive oil I saute zucchini and onion for five minutes. Then I add 1 table spoon of curry. Remove from heat and add half a pound of salmon. Season with salt.	I place around 2 tablespoons of filling on each wrap.	Fold wraps like this.
Place wraps on a baking sheet and heat oven to 400F (225C). Brush each wrap with olive oil and bake for 6 to 8 minutes. If you like, sprinkle sesame seeds on each wrap.	Ready to eat!

Willow Saturday May 10: First swallows are here and we had our bike premiere.

Perfect timing, yesterday Egil cleaned all our birdhouses and early this morning, we heard the first swallows chatter outside our bedroom window. What a happy sound, it feels like old friends coming back again. First thing we did when we moved in here was to build a lot of birdhouses and place them all around our house. It so entertaining to have swallows living close by and also important, they consume a lot of mosquitoes every day. But even though we have provided our bird friends with excellent apartments the most wanted facility is a vent just above our bedroom window!?! Every spring same thing happens, it looks like the birds are fighting over just this high placed spot to nest in. Another popular place is an old abandoned woodpecker nest. Two years ago an aggressive woodpecker and his wife carved out a home in a birch, just outside my garden, but they left the narrow one room living just after one summer and now tiny swallows have moved in. I got so excited to tell you about the swallows that I almost forgot to mention that today was the first day it actually felt like summer. After a cold morning, just above freezing, it warmed up to 80F (plus 26C) by midday in the sun. A little breeze made it real nice, all dogs were relaxing and just enjoying the warm temperatures. After feeding dogs tonight, Egil and I took our mountinbikes for the first ride this spring. Just a short trip, we will go longer tomorrow. When we came back I prepared Souvlakia Hirina, wine marinated pork kebabs, served with aioli, salad and pita bread and a refreshing glass of organic red wine. Bon Appetite! Click “read more” for more photos.

Egil built birdhouses were he can removed the roof and clean out old bedding.	He uses dry grass for new bedding in each birdhouse.	The bedding gives the swallows something to start with when they arrive.	Roof comes back on after the new bedding is in place.	Egil fastens the birdhouse with a wire not to make any damage to the tree.
Our mountain bikes get a well needed spring cleaning and check up before we head out for our premier trip.	I have moved some of my geraniums outside to harden.	Plants are on the move, out from my greenhouse.	This is one of my favorite geraniums, look how pretty she is in the yellow clay pot.	Egil started to cut our fire wood, next step will be splitting. But that will have to wait until next week.

Willow Thursday May 8: I am spring cleaning my body.

I started Monday with a spring-cleaning of my body, or actually it’s a body cleanse. The dog yard is clean; I have the house to do but first time to get rid of some extra pounds and toxins in my body. I use a product called Isagenix and it works fantastic. But it takes moral not to quit when the hunger starts to hit you. The program I am on now is two days of limited intake of calories and one day of only liquid Isagenix, plus lots and lots of water and maybe the hardest to do without, coffee, not a single coffee bean until I am done with the cleans. Every day you are allowed some snacks like almonds, walnuts or a hard-boiled egg. I tell you, that tastes super. The first days I get a slight head ace, usually I almost never have head ace. Must be the lack of caffeine, since I usually consume several cups of coffee every day. Well, I am looking forward to tomorrow’s soup for breakfast and a hard-boiled egg for lunch. Weather has not changed the last few days, overcast and temperatures around 60F. Holly, our first female to give birth starts to look real pregnant. Today all dogs ran around free and now it’s dusty again. It is just amazing how quick it dries up. After we have had all the dogs free Egil took the drag over the yard and flattened it out. No food photos today, maybe tomorrow. Tonight I won’t be preparing any dinner only a glass of Isagenix for me. Egil will have to eat leftovers. Click “read more” for more photos.

Egil built the drag he uses for our dog yard. When he is done, the yard is like a floor! Makes chores much easier and it's very easy to keep clean.

Here it is, the "stuff" I'm living on now.

Our snow machine gets a service before stored away for the summer.

I found this little tiny blue scilla in my garden today.

My garden owl has kept an eye or two on my garden all winter.