News flash: Julia Child, international spy

Julia Child = world renown chef, author, TV personality and WWII SPY?

Sure, she makes a mean Lobster Thermidor, but it’s the Tommy Gun under her apron you’ve really got to watch out for.

Crazy, but true. Read it on CNN.com today.

Julia Child, along with Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg and Chicago White Sox catcher Moe Berg, served in an international spy ring under the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), an early version of the CIA created during WWII by President Roosevelt.

This week the U.S. government is releasing the names of almost 24,000 spies who were part of the first centralized intelligence effort.

“They were soldiers, actors, historians, lawyers, athletes, professors, reporters. But for several years during World War II, they were known simply as the OSS. They studied military plans, created propaganda, infiltrated enemy ranks and stirred resistance among foreign troops.”

Best quote of the story:

"I was told to keep my mouth shut," said 93-year-old Walter Mess, who handled covert OSS operations in Poland and North Africa.

Mess kept the secret for over 50 years, but is now finally able to tell his wife of 62 years everything he’s been up to all this time.

Sweet potato burrito recipe: Another good one

Those crazy vegetarians, what will they come up with next?

I found this recipe for “Addictive Sweet Potato Burritos” on AllRecipes (my favorite recipe site) and made a batch last night. They were a total hit - filling, tasty, and easy to make. Plus, they make great leftovers.


Addictive Sweet Potato Burritos

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 cups canned kidney beans, drained (or black beans)
• 2 cups water
• 3 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 4 teaspoons prepared mustard
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 4 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes
• 12 (10 inch) flour tortillas, warmed
• 8 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).


2. Heat oil in a medium skillet, and saute onion and garlic until soft. Stir in beans, and mash. (Note: Mashing before adding to skillet is easier) Gradually stir in water, and heat until warm. Remove from heat, and stir in the chili powder, cumin, mustard, cayenne pepper and soy sauce.


3. Divide bean mixture and mashed sweet potatoes evenly between the warm flour tortillas. Top with cheese. Fold up tortillas burrito style, and place on a baking sheet.


4. Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven, and serve.

Super, super awesome and other than the physical labor involved in mashing, they’re super easy. If you think they sound incomplete without meat, go ahead and add some, they’d probably taste even better.

The recipe is for 12 servings, so I had to cut it down a bit for Andrew and I. Don’t be afraid to make too much, they’re great the next day and can be frozen.

I took the advice of some of the commenters on the recipe and used black beans instead of kidney beans, only because that’s what I had and forgot to put kidney beans on my shopping list.

Another piece of advice - mash beans before putting them in the skillet, makes life much easier. I also left the potatoes just a little under cooked after reading a negative comment about how “mushy” they were. Turned out to be great, gave the filling more texture than mush.

Added bonus - they’re really good the next day. I heated one up for breakfast this morning, with a little side of eggs. As Rachael Ray would say: “Yum-o!”

Personal lesson learned - Mashed sweet potatoes are easier to clean off the wall than I thought. Just kidding, but I need to get myself a potato masher. I managed to do pretty good with a hand mixer (thanks Martha!), but I think I may like the old fashioned hand masher better. We’ll see next time.

Termination dust? Is someone dying?

Termination dust ... excuse me, what? ... Is someone dying?

To me it sounds like the plot of a new horror film - "...vicious death fairy sprinkles 'termination dust' on unsuspecting citizens of remote farming village..."

But don’t worry, there isn't another bad scary movie coming out and nobody’s dying. It’s just an exaggerated way to describe the first signs of snow on the mountains, signaling the last days of summer.

Kind of like Punxsutawney Phil seeing his shadow, but unfortunately in our case it's the beginning of the winter, not the end. The verdict isn't out yet as to whether anyone has seen termination dust yet, or the official rules determining who can call it and where (apparently a touchy subject).

So, despite the fact that it’s 55 degrees outside ... I’ll keep telling myself it’s summer.

In the words of another terminator: "Hasta la vista, baby." :P

Fish quiche?!?!?!

So, last night we made a big piece of salmon and had a lot of leftovers which I decided to make a quiche with the following night.

I know quiche may sound like a random meal to put together on a whim, but strangely enough it’s one of my favorite things to eat. And, I recently saw a recipe on AllRecipes that gave me the idea for including salmon.

Back to the other night ... Upon telling Andrew my plans for the next night’s dinner, I got a reaction any wife would love to hear -

“FISH QUICHE!?!?! Uggghhh, that sounds absolutely disgusting!”

In the face of adversity, I made the quiche using mom’s basic 2-2-2 recipe (2 cups meat, 2 cups veggies, 2 cups cheese, 3 eggs and a cup of milk), with a little bit of goat cheese on top.

And guess what? Andrew had seconds.



Leave a comment or send me an email if you want the full recipe. You can have everyone at your house yelling “FISH QUICHE” too.

Another successful Alaskan adventure

Sadly, we just said goodbye to Martha on Sunday after her week-long Alaskan adventure. The three of us had tons of fun exploring all that Southcentral Alaska has to offer.

First we went down to Homer, a cute little fishing/artsy retirement village about four hours south of Anchorage. Then we headed up to Seward and jumped on a wildlife and glacier cruise. We got to see some humpback whales, puffin, seals and other crazy Alaskan critters. Check out Andrew’s pictures for a complete tour.

After Seward, we made our way back to Anchorage. Andrew brought Martha up Flattop Mountain and explored our little downtown area. We all spent another day out in Girdwood, where we discovered Virgin Falls, a very cool waterfall you’ll have to check out in the pictures below.

In all, it was a wonderful visit and we were sad to see her go. Gladly, Andrew and I only have a few months left until the holidays and an escape from the arctic to enjoy some much needed Florida heat, family, fun and (of course) shopping.

P.S. I'm having issues with Picassa taking FOREVER to upload images. So, if you don't see all 192, either write a really nasty letter to Google or just check back later ...

Martha's Alaskan Adventure

For the love of customer service

The Thing on the Thing with the Thing

Employee: “Thank you for calling ***. How can I direct your call?”

Customer: “Do you have any of those things you can put on tables?”

Employee: “Like a table cloth?”

Customer: “No. They’re those things you can put on tables.”

Employee: “Ma’am, you can put a lot of things on tables.”

Customer: “Well I don’t know what they’re called! You’re the one who should know!”

Employee: *face on desk*


For anyone who has ever been in customer service - The Customer is Not Always Right.

You’re welcome.

Officially the gloomiest summer in history

So, all the talk I was hearing when I first got up here about how Alaskan summers are "absolutely wonderful" sounds like one big joke right about now. Apparently, this summer is going down in the books as the gloomiest summer in recorded history.

Not kidding, read the article - Gloomy summer set for infamy, Anchorage Daily News

We had two wonderful days where the temperature made it above 70, two. During a usual Alaskan summer, we should get about 15 hot (at least, hot for Alaska) days.

What's all this talk about global warming? No signs of it up here ... So far, we've only had seven days where the temperature reached 65. 65?!?! Up here people are walking around in tank tops, shorts and some flip flops, back in Florida you could find people breaking out the mittens.

The sad part is there's no hope. Forecasters say it will stay cool and cloudy for the rest of the month and into August.

So, everyone keep your fingers crossed that the clouds open up long enough for Martha's visit. She arrives tomorrow and is staying a little over a week, I'm hoping some warm Florida weather follows her up.

Well, that's enough complaining about the weather from me. Hope everyone in the "lower 48" (as they like to say up here) is having a hot, hot summer!

Just one more thing ... will someone please go outside today and get a sunburn for me?