Saturday, January 08, 2011
HIKE! Eassyyy...WHOA!
Eeassyyy....
WHOAAA!!
Those my friend, are the three key words to know when a musher is driving a dogsled.
While we were in Canada over the new year, one of our planned activities was dogsledding outside of Banff. It was incredible. And incredibly cold. I seriously thought I was getting frost bite in my toes at one point. But despite the frigid cold this was an amazing experience.
When we finally got to the sledding site, we got a quick lesson on how to drive the sled and control the dogs. Yessir, we were going to be the ones driving the sled. I would have though that in order to drive your own dogsled you would need more than a 20 minute crash course, but apparently I was wrong.
After the instructions were given we went to our sled and got settled in. Gavin had actually driven a dog sled before, so he was going to drive our sled during the first half of the trip, while Brian and I got to relax in the sled.
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| Two of the dogs on our sled - Megatron and Optimus Prime |
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| And we're off! |
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| Huskies are feisty and full of energy, they would fight with each other while running |
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| Bears!! |
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| Taking a quick break |
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| Passing another sled |
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| Taking a break - the half way point of our trip |
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| Good boy! |
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| Such pretty eyes |
After we took a break at the half way point, it was my and Brians turn to drive the sled. Big mistake. First, we barely fit on the back of the sled at the same time. Whenever we had to lean into a turn, one of us felt like we were going to fall off. During a slight up hill part, I offered to hop off and run next to the sled, as you are supposed to in order to help the dogs. Second big mistake. I'm not sure what I was thinking as I haven't gone running in at least 6 months (ok, ok, more like 9 mos) and those dogs were going a lot faster than I thought. I ran 10 steps and promptly tripped over the sled and fell on my face.
Dogsled fail.
So, I hoped back in the sled, and enjoyed the ride while Brian did the driving.
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| Heading back to the lake where we started |
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| Dogsledding on the frozen lake! |
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| home stretch |
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| Check out the steam coming off of the dogs! |
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| Good boys! |
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| One blue and one brown eye |
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| Heading to the fire for some cookies and hot cider |
Once we got back to Banff, we rewarded ourselves and warmed up with some truffle macaroni and cheese. Yummmm
Here are the links to all of our holiday photos!
Christmas in Italy
Canada trip - edited
Canada trip - full range of photos
Enjoy!
Friendly Neighbor to the North
Brian has been working out of the Calgary office since the end of November. He was lucky to get a few days off for Christmas (gee, thanks guys) so we could make our trip to Italy. He had to be back right after the trip though, so off we were to Canada for New Years!
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| Oh goody, more snow! |
New project for 2011
I hope you all had a great New Year. I'm working on my posts from my trip to Calgary (we celebrated the new year is -20*C weather) and hope to have those up by the end of the weekend. We had a ton of fun and I can't wait to share the photos! I have to admit, my experience with traveling to Canada has been very limited - a drive across the Alexandria Bay bridge, crossing over the border at Niagara Falls and a couple of trips to Toronto are about all I've seen of the country (shameful, I know). I was blown away by how beautiful the Canadian Rockies are. As usual we were in the mountains (I think I might be turning in to a mountain goat) but (as usual) they were amazing. I can't wait to go back during the summer when you can actually be outside for longer than 10 minutes without worrying that one of your appendages is going to freeze off.
But, I digress. You'll hear all about Canada in the recaps. This post is to share with you a new project that I have taken on for 2011. Anyone out there make a new years resolution? I'm not very good at those (making them - yes. keeping them - no) but still try to sneak one or two in every year. A couple of years back I decided to stop buying celebrity gossip magazines. That was (I think...) three years ago and I'm still holding strong. Now, I'm not saying that I won't read one if its laying around in the doctors office, or while I'm in the airport scanning the newstand...but, I'm still not paying money for it which is what fuels them in the first place. So I still like to think of it as a victory.
This year I have two resolutions. Ok, maybe three.
Resolution #1 - cut out artificial sugar from my diet.
I have actually gotten much better about this over the last few of years. A couple years back I was Splenda happy and putting it on/using it whenever I could. I was all over sugar free candy and cookies, if its sugar free it must be better for you, right?? Well, we all know that is false. And really, all you're doing is putting more chemicals in to your body. I'm not going to get on a soapbox and preach to you about eating all natural/organic/local foods, but personally I am trying to take more steps in my life to cut out the crap (and by crap I mean fake stuff, not desserts, good god that could never happen). Buy local/organic when I can (and can afford it). Use natural household cleaners when possible (as much fun as getting high off shower cleaner is when cleaning the bathroom, that can't be good for you). And cut out artificial sweeteners as much as I can. I figure hey, the less chemicals that go in my body the better...right?
Resolution #2 - work on my photography skills.
As you might notice from the blog, I love to take photos. Since the wedding when we were generously gifted a DSLR camera, we have taken 2 cameras on our trips. While I can't take credit for all of the photos that are posted (Brian has an incredible eye for photography as well) I am pretty pleased with most of the photos that I take. That being said, I know that they are extremely amateur. And thats ok. But, my resolution for 2011 is to really learn how to use my camera, and on the manual settings not just auto. I have been looking for and plan on taking a photography course at night or on the weekends. And I joined this new project - Project 52. There will be a new theme each week, that you can decide to follow or not, and at the end of the week you submit your best photo to the group flikr account to share with everyone. Its mostly a way to find new inspiration and challenge yourself - along with see what other folks are doing (which in turn provides more inspiration). I along with posting my photos to the group each week, I am going to post my photo here on the blog and on facebook. Hopefully that will hold me more accountable to actually completing the assignment. So feel free to harass me if you don't see any Project 52 posts on the blog!
Resolution #3 - be one with yoga.
This is kind of a half resolution, mostly because I secretly started this last year. I was doing really well actually, going to yoga 2-3 times a week. I saw a big improvement in my flexibility and back/neck problems, and I really enjoyed taking the time for myself to refocus and gain a bit of balance. That was all good and well for about 3-4 months, and I failed big time. I haven't been to a yoga class in *gulp* 8 months. EEK. I have noticed that my back and neck hurt again (doesn't help with all this cold weather), and I struggle to touch my toes. This should not be happening - I'm not even 30 yet!! So, back to yoga I go. Well...hopefully. The goal is this weekend to make it to one class. Hey, I've got to start somewhere right?? I recently quit my gym, so I will be going to only yoga studios. I'm hoping the quality of the yoga class will be a step up from the gym. I'm also looking forward to getting back in to Bikram Yoga - a series of 26 poses in a 40*C room. It is hot and sweaty and super uncomfortable. And I love it. I used to go to hot yoga when I lived in NYC, and can't wait to start again!
WHEW!
So thats it, those are my resolutions for 2011.
Did you make any resolutions this year? Share with the group!
I hope you all have a happy and healthy 2011!
Friday, December 31, 2010
Happy (belated) Christmas!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
Whew - thats better.
And yes, I do realize that I'm 6 days late. My bad.
Wine tasting in Montalcino
The last part of our trip was wine tasting in Tuscany. We decided to stay in Montalcino, which is about an hour and a half south of Florence. We took the scenic route from Florence and saw some amazing landscape. First the route takes you through the Chianti region through to Sienna. After we passed through Sienna we drove south through Montalcino to our agriturismo, Piombaia.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Taking in the views...
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| beautiful fall foliage |
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| is it just me or does this look fake? |
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| playing around with the manual setting on the DSLR camera |
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| over exposure...looks like a watercolor painting to me |
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| the glow of the setting sun |
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| over looking my favorite city with my favorite guy |
Monday, December 13, 2010
A better way to see Firenze...
After our lesson in cheese making we decided to head down to Florence a day early. We found a charming hotel in Fiesole, in the hills surrounding Florence. The views of the city were magical...
Sunday, November 28, 2010
How to make Parmesan Cheese
After we left Castelrotto we drove east towards Cortina and spent the next day or so exploring the eastern and southern Dolomites. We had an extra day before we were due in Florence and didn't really know where to go. A quick google search and tripadvisor consultation and we decided that we would go to Parma. Thats right, land of parmesan cheese and parma ham. *cue angels singing*
We ended up at the highly recommended Agriturismo Leoni, a working dairy farm that gives tours of the parmesan cheese coop that it is a part of. Best. Decision. Ever. We ended up being the only two people in the tour the next day (bonus points for traveling off-peak) and it was definitely in our Top Three Italy experiences.
Without further ado...how to make parmigiano reggiano cheese:
1. Milk the cows. Not just any cows - these cows can only be a very specific type of cow, they cannot roam the fields, they must stay inside and eat a very specific diet of grains and grasses.
2. Take the milk to the cheese factory and dispense into large metal vats.
3. Let the milk sit for 8 hours and then skim off the fat that has risen to the top (the fat is taken away to be churned into butter). Add more milk and drain into the copper vat.
4. Add whey and rennet and crank up the heat to cook the mixture.
5. Once the soft cheese curds collect at the bottom of the vat the cheese is scooped up into muslin and hung to drain.
6. After draining (the left over whey liquid is drained, mixed with cereal grains and fed to the pigs that are later used to make parma ham) the cheese is cut into two, each weighing approximately 45 kilos (thats 100lbs for you folks in the US).
*at this point the cheese has very little taste - it is basically semi-skimmed cheese curds, believe me - I tasted it*
7. The cheese wheels are then put into a round mould and shortly after moved to a metal mould that has an adjustable buckle (to be tightened as the water dries out) for 24-48 hours.
8. At this point the cheese is wrapped in a plastic belt with the iconic parmigiano reggiano name stamped into it, along with the plant number and date the cheese was produced, and sits for another 24 hours.
9. Finally the cheese is removed from the moulds and immersed in a salt water bath (60% salt content) and left to cure for 20-25 days.
10. After brining for 3 weeks the cheese is removed and brought to the aging room (aka heaven on earth) and aged for a minimum of 1 year and a maximum of 3 years.
11. After 12 months of aging an employee of the Consorzio inspects every.single.cheese. They tap it with a hammer and depending on the sound that the cheese makes the Consorzio decides if it passes or not. If it passes then the wheel of cheese is branded with the Consorzios logo and immediately worth hundreds and hundreds of euros.
If it doesn't pass it gets an X or line across the outside and is sold as lesser quality cheese. Considering it takes a minimum of 13 months (1 month to make the cheese, 12 months to age it) before the producers even have a chance at making any money from the cheese, you better hope that every single one of your cheeses passes the inspection.
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