I live on an Island??? Ca??

It is true, I live on an island and not the mainland like I thought I did. Sunday I was visiting with an Elder of Stebbins. She was telling me stories of where Stebbins originally was and how it started. She was telling me these stories as she made my qaspeq. ( You will know what that is when I get home.) Anyways, I asked her if the rumors were true that we were on an island. She confirmed the rumor. Apparently, there is a very large river that goes from the ocean by St. Michael to the ocean by Stebbins. The island is called St. Michael Island because St. Michael was here first. I had to take a look so I referred to my trusty friend....MapQuest. Here is what I found.....................
Ok, the star on the left is Stebbins, the black words on the right is St. Michael. If you look closely, straight down from the star is a river. you will notice, it goes directly from the ocean by St. Michael to the ocean by Stebbins. The big cluster of lakes between Stebbins and St. Michael are called Clear Lakes. I have not been to see them but I hear they are beautiful. The island to the left of Stebbins is called Stewart Island and can been seen from the shores of Stebbins. What does everyone think of having Christmas in Alaska next year?

Akutaq

I have learned of yet another interesting treat eaten here in Stebbins. It is called Akutaq, aka Eskimo ice cream. And yes you will all be trying some at Christmas time as I have learned 2 ways to make it. Here is one way, to make it...Sorry Donna and Elaine, I will not be making Akutaq your way to share with my family although it was tasty. You will notice as you read, there are no amounts given....this technique is an "add until it tastes good" technique. Something I have not perfected yet!!
The first step is to put some crisco in a bowl and stir it until it is soft and creamy.
Second, you add a little bit of Wesson oil and stir until it is mixed.
Third, you add milk. As you all know I can't have milk so we added soy milk. This ingredient can also be skipped. You again mix until blended.
Fourth, you add sugar and mix as well.....Taste test the mixture to make sure it is "good." If it is not good, add more sugar until it is good.
Last, you add berries. You want to have more berries than crisco mixture. It tastes better that way. We added a lot of berries.
Finally, when you are done, you stick your tongue out so everyone can see what color it is and laugh at you.
Like I said, this is not the recipe I will be using at Christmas. Desiree' showed me her secret way to make it taste REALLY good and that is the recipe I will use. Since it is her secret way, I did not feel I could post it on my blog but, if you like it, I can give you the recipe at home. I know this may sound weird but is not actually that bad. Who knows, everyone of you may even like it. Moooooove over Kemps, here comes Akutaq!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SpEd Cadre #2, Christmas break & the restaurant

Amy and I went on a journey to Nome, AK for our second special education meeting/conference. Don't worry mom, I was safe!! Several of the teachers got out to explore the town. It is a very rustic, logger town that has ties to its beginning tracing back to Wyatt Erp! How did the western gun slingers make it to bush AK so long ago? I have no idea but it might be worth some research.

Anyway, we of course found this touristy place to take a picture. In the picture are Patty and Lori, from St. Michael, Amy and I from Stebbins, of course, and Morgan from the big island and the small village of Gamble. (Thanks Lori for the picture) We were on a mission to find a restaurant to eat at as we do not generally get that luxury here in the village.

After we ate, I of course had to find a place to play pool!!!! Who would have expected anything less from me?? Well, it turns out I am not the only avid pool player in the village. Can someone "bush order" me a pool table? I will accept any size!!!! Along with playing pool, we did have the opportunity to listen to a band. It was almost like I was back in Duluth or St. Cloud. I say almost because all of you were not there!

NO WORRIES!!!!!!!! I will be stepping off a plane in the great state of MN on December 17th. Sorry Delaneys.....I won't be there in time for the get together. If you are not already planned into my schedule while I am home, you may want to call me NOW to fill in the last few openings I have....There aren't many.

Finally, I had to share with all of you.....There is a restaurant now in Stebbins. A family here has been working, from my understanding, for a few years on opening it up and now it is really open. (Mom, TC & ED wouldn't that have been nice when you were here?) Here are a few pictures of the inside, it was too dark to take pictures of the outside, maybe later. Coffey's Shop's menu includes burgers ($9.75), fries($3.00), pizza($3.00?), egg rolls($???), candy($1.00), pop($1.00), slushies($??) and hot dogs($??). Food fit for a king!! It was so nice to eat curly fries on my birthday!!! Thanks Amy for taking me out for dinner.