How do folks. Just flew in from Alaska, and boy.......are my arms tired!
Actually we came in Monday 4:30 pm EST, but the tired part still stands. We awoke on Sat. morning 12:00pm EST (8:00am Ak. time) did some hiking and visiting and got on our plane at 6:00am EST Sunday. So we were up for about 36 hours and flew and drove for 14 hours or so. When we arrived in Newark, NJ we had to then drive back to Rochester, NY whew...
The trip was wonderful. We did some sightseeing to Portage Glacier, went to the Girdwood Forest Fair, fished on the Kenai and Russian rivers, hiked to Flattop, Hatchers Pass to see the old goldmine and did a lot of visiting.
I did get to go visit my old boss and repair some hard feelings, I got to see an old cook friend that I had wondered about for years and I found out about the untimely demise of the catering company I had co-founded.
Culinarily speaking we didn't do a lot. We ate at home mostly, but it was great to share a kitchen with my sister again! We grilled some pork ribs and burgers. We used an great sauce she got from Costco for the ribs (Apricot tango sauce)
http://jelly.com/products/sauce.htm
We made Halibut tacos with fresh Halibut from Ninilchik and my sister made Burmese Chicken Curry that she learned from her Burmese in-laws.
The weather was fantastic and my son loved the midnight sun! So all in all it was a fantastic trip and I can't wait to do it again!!!
Pictures will follow soon!
I almost forgot
we took a trip to see John Evans in Palmer.
http://www.alaskabountea.com/ He gave us a tour of his garden and we talked for about 2 hours. His giant veggies aren't ready for the State Fair yet, but they are growing. He had Black Currents, Strawberries, giant Zukes, Goliath Tomatoes, Carrots, Rutabagas, Artichokes, Brussel Sprouts, Cabbage, Broccoli, Cauliflower and huge onions! He also had a very entertaining African Grey Parrot that was hysterical He would imitate the phine and his wife answering and calling him. He did such a realistic beep I looked at my video camera and wondered why it was beeoing! I had never heard it beep beofre! My sister saw me looking at my camera with a bewildered look and informed me it was the parrot!
During our conversation I promised to send him NY Ice Wine, my secret Truffle recipe and a cutting of my Chocolate Mint plant. He in turn is going to look into propagating Black Truffles. I told him he owed me a one lb. truffle if it worked! He is a very friendly, entertaining fellow.
I'm back! 
