Parties, Paella, & Planting

A few days ago we celebrated Bry's birthday with tacos and cake. We've realized Ever loves a party and, likewise, loves a good cake :) Thanks to everyone that sent cards for him, you're so thoughtful ...

Last night Johana, Rowan, and I attended the Copper River Watershed Project's annual potluck event. People were asked to bring dishes made with wild game (moose, caribou, fish, duck, etc.) or wild berries. Jo made Mom's porcupine meatball recipe with ground moose and a lovely cranberry-apple-blueberry bread. I made a paella recipe from Barefoot Contessa's cookbook with many substitutions. I have to share because Stacey always gets a kick out of how we "make do" out here in the boonies ... most of the time it works out okay though.

Easy Lobster Paella (the need for substitution should already be evident)
1/4 cup olive oil got that
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onions ooh - 2 in a row!
2 red bell peppers, cored and sliced picked these up in Glennallen
2 tablespoons minced garlic yep
2 cups white basmatic rice used Jasmine, seemed similar enough
5 cups good chicken stock yep, homemade even :)
1/2 teaspoon saffron threads, crushed ummm, no
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes got those, they look about 15 years old, but still seem to pack a punch
1 tablespoon kosher salt is morton kosher?
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper lets just cut out the freshly
1/3 cup Pernod is white wine close enough? Has anyone but Ina Garten heard of Pernod?
1 1/2 pounds cooked lobster meat umm, no. But next time I'm definitely going to try halibut for this.
1 pound kielbasa moose sausages seem to substitute well for this
10 ounce package of frozen peas yep, got those, Ever loves them.
1 tablespoon minced fresh flat-leaf parsley old and dried up seemed to do the trick
2 lemons, cut into wedges plain old lemon juice will have to do, my only lemon was moldy :(

Sorry for the hit-and-miss punctuation here, but you get the idea. It turned out pretty good though, we got a goodie bag for being voted the best "walking" dish (as opposed to flying or swimming in regards to wild game). I think Jo's would have beat us had some people not thought the meatballs were made out of porcupine :)

And lastly, Ever and I spent a little time planting a few seeds yesterday. We planted seeds for sunflowers, moonflowers, and hollyhocks as well as some bulbs for gladiolas and crocuses. We'll see if anything sprouts up! I've got a lot of thinking to do on what I'd like to try and grow this summer - it gets a little tricky without having a well to water with. I'm definitely hoping to build a greenhouse though. We'll keep you posted ... xoxo.