The Palmerite

Alaska; a dissertation...

2010-12-09T15:25:00.000-08:00

Alaska.

I was reminiscing with an Antarctic friend of mine this week about how amazed we are that people mix up Alaska and Antarctica. Is it because they both start with A? Is it because they are both cold? Because they are both rather far away? Alaska is up. Antarctica is down. Ant, anti, a latin prefix with negative (southern, downward) connotations. To me, the differences are immense and very clear. But I have lived in both places. I have never been to Ghana. Or Uzbekistan. Or Norway. But I can point to them on a map. So why, why, why, is it so hard to differentiate between the two?

Keith: "I work in Antarctica."
Other: "Wow. Must be cold up there."

What?!

Perhaps I expect too much. Who knows. Anyway, I am currently in ALASKA taking much needed time off from my job in ANTARCTICA. Alaska in itself, is a wild place. It has always drawn a certain kind of person, whether that person is trying to run and hide from something, or trying to experience a different kind of place. Personally, I came here for the first time in May of 2002. I graduated NYU's film department. Graduation was at Rockafeller Center on 69th St. Less than 24 hours later I was standing in the middle of Anchorage waiting for a shuttle to bring me up to the park. My then kitchen manager, Eric Peterson, ushered me to my new home and I almost shit myself...

I had just come from a nice top floor apartment in Greenpoint Brooklyn, and now I was expected to live in a trailer? I'm pretty sure I stood in the middle of the trailer for a while (I stay stood when what I actually mean is lean because it is not big enough for me to stand up in) and all I could think of was, "What the f*%k have I gotten myself into?"

This is me in 2008 sporting my inner redneck look. Gross.

Anyway, Alaska is a strange state. The 49th state. A red state, almost always. At it's heart, this place is God and guns filled with plenty of people who think a good time is strapping guns to the back of their ATV's or shooting wolves from helicopters. However, I have never met a greater concentration of intelligent people who care greatly for the environment and their communities. The hearts of the people that I have met up here are huge. So happy, so inviting, so welcoming. If I didn't have aspirations for international travel and world domination, I would already have my own property and my own house up here. The bartenders in the few bars know you by name and drink, the people you see at the fire pit on Friday night are the same people you buy gas from, or order beers from, and if you see someone hitchhiking on the side of the highway, you more than likely know them, or at least have a mutual friend.

I digress, again.

This past weekend, Tootie and I took off to Talkeetna to meet up with our friend Dave and to spend some time in a place with open stores and bars with kegs. I wish I had some pictures of our drive down there but I don't. We took off a the tale end of a snow storm. The Denali State Park (about 50 miles south of us and a 100 mile drive) got dumped on and all the news reports recommended that we stay indoors. We ignored them. Fortunately the visibility was great. If it wasn't we would have turned back.

We arrived to Talkeetna a little late in the day. It was Bachelor's Weekend which is a yearly event put on by a society of men. There is a Wilderness Women competition during the day and a Bachelor auction at night where the men of Talkeetna are auctioned off. It's all pretty fun. The Wilderness Women competition includes hauling water, snowshoeing, climbing ladders, shooting balloons with a beebee gun, fishing with a tennis ball for velcro fish and 'shooting moose,' as seen below. They also have a sandwich competition where the women have to make a sandwich and serve it to their man with a beer.

On Saturday night the auction takes place. Only women are allowed and the men strut their stuff on the stage. Now, before all you hippie dirtbag femi-nazis get your panties in a bunch (as if any of those actually read this stuff) all the proceeds go to local organizations put in place to help battered women and their children. So it may seem a little sexist, but it's fun and the money goes to help people. So shut your stupid mouths.

After watching a Steeler's game, and fixing a broken Volvo, a day and a half later we made our way back to Denali. On the way north we were treated to some awesome views of the mountain.

This is Denali. The big mountain on the right. Denali in Athabaskan means "The High One," or "The Great One." It is the tallest peak in the America's and, the mountain with the most vertical rise. Meaning that, while Mt Everest and others are taller mountains (their peaks are farther away from sea level) Denali is the highest climb in the world. You must ascend many thousands more feet to reach the summit of Denali than you do Everest.

There's a story I heard once (I do not vouch for its truth) that President McKinley came up here long ago. When he saw Denali, he pointed at it and said, "That's Mt. McKinley." I have also heard that it was named for McKinley to support him in his presidential campaign in the late 1800's. Who knows. Up here, however, it's Denali. There's no debate.

Here is another view of Denali from the road. Yes, that "road" you see is the George Parks Highway. One of three northbound highways in the Alaskan interior. And this is good! Like I said, I wish I had a photo of the road several days before. It was nothing but snow. Thank goodness for winter tires! This is the south face of the mountain. Quite amazing. It is very rare to see Denali with this much clarity. People spend thousands of dollars and wait their entire lives to come up to Alaska to see the mountain and sometimes, it never shows its face. So we soak it in while we can.

I'll leave you with my favorite picture of Denali. This is one that I took years ago while on a trip out into Denali National Park...

Done.

Thanksgiving Cantwell-style!

2010-12-02T12:34:00.000-08:00

So when people talk about Thanksgiving and feelings surrounding it, three pretty strong view points peak out there heads..

1. Thanksgiving is a religious holiday meant to give thanks to (insert deity here) for the years blessings.
2. Thanksgiving is a sham in which we are celebrating the persecution and virtual annihilation of a native people.
3. Thanksgiving is a day when said persecution stopped and, just for a moment in time, there was sharing between hosts and travelers.

Now, I don't know much about any of this. I understand the anglo participants in the first thanksgiving brought their God and religion with them and felt the existing residents of 'the new world' needed to hear about it. I can buy that, perhaps, even after a bad harvest year and tensions among the English and the Americans, there was a sit down and a momentary peace and respect. But what I do know for a fact is that, Thanksgiving should be everyday. If you are blessed enough to have peace, love and happiness in your life and good friends to share it with, being thankful for what you have should happen everyday. Not on some stupid holiday. I have grand memories of Thanksgivings during my youth. The whole family went to Grandpa and Grandma Reimink's house and stayed the night. We woke up to a huge pancake breakfast at their church, then went home to have Melty Meat. I think it was pot roast but we called it Melty Meat because we didn't know what pot roast was back then. And bacon bits. I remember salad with bacon bits.

Anywho, below is a list of things Keith is thankful for...

-four limbs
-a sane mind that makes sane decisions
-things that he does not understand but respects (the guitar, foreign languages)
-the FREEDOM to do what I want (also the FREEDOM to NOT do things I don't want, ie voting if I feel it's unjust)
-being as far away from the states as much as I can
-the tendency to not be duped
-whiskey

Blahblahblah. Here are some pics of Thanksgiving Cantwell-style!!!

We went down to the village of Cantwell, about 30 miles south of where Tootie and I live. We have a bunch of friends that live in the Jack River Nation and we were graciously invited to share a meal with them.

We prepared some things for the feast. I made my infamous (self proclaimed infamy) Bleu Cheese Coleslaw, and we made a Sweet Potato Pecan dish.

Cleaned and cut sweet potatoes tossed with....

...toasted pecans and brown sugar.

But the highlight of the night was inarguably Jilly's Pork stuffed Pork! Jill and her sister Lynn are known between Talkeetna and Fairbanks as some of the best cooks on the market. And they never disappoint. This is Jill searing the pork.

And the pork as it sits on the roasting rack.

While we waited on the pork to slow roast to perfect awesomeness, we helped Tardy patch his down coat.

And Carl played with Kitty.

When the food was done we loaded up a van and the sled and took off to the end of the Nation and had a great meal. This was our transportation to Thanksgiving dinner. Yup, that's Tootie on the back of a dog sled.

But we didn't have dogs. We had Carl and Jill's snowmachine. Awesome.

The spread was amazing!!! And the company was just as good. Got to meet some great people that I hope we can hang out with again very soon.

Check out the three different forms of cheesecake!!! Damn!

And in a retraction from last week, the airfield which I said "nobody uses in the winter," is actually a place some people with ski planes can land. It doesn't happen often but it is why the trail is on the side of the airstrip. Grooves in the snow can harm the plane and/or the pilot when landing. So any skiing at the airstrip must be done in designated places.

Stay tuned...

The Palmerite...Off-ICE

2010-11-23T17:22:00.000-08:00

Hey, it's me! Back for more.

So I wasn't great at posting on this thing while I was working. And, honestly, I probably won't be much better at posting on it while not working. But I might as well try it. I have some more time on my hands now, so let's see what happens. I haven't given much thought to what this might be if it's not an Antarctica blog.

I'm living peacefully in Denali Park Alaska now. Going from winter to winter hasn't been that bad. I had two weeks of sunny weather when I stopped off in Michigan and that was enough to recharge my batteries. We are kind of sitting here waiting to get slammed by an ice storm that has Fairbanks and the surrounding area shut down. Apparently it is raining in Healy, only about 30 miles north of us. But here, perched on little Karma Ridge, it is a gorgeous +35 degree day.

I am renting a house here with my girlfriend Blair. It is my first attempt at domesticity since leaving New York City back in 2002. And even that wasn't very domestic. A three bedroom apartment in Washington Heights with two college friends, a couple cats, a bunch of cigarette butts, and a shitty job. This is different. I'm living with a girl for the first time. At 32 years old, one would think this might not be a big deal. But it's new! And exciting. This was a decision Blair and I made last year after only seeing each other on various weekends when one of us could get a car or hop a train. Kind of a stupid way to build a relationship. So were moving it into high gear and seeing how we deal with each other. It's been a leap for sure. From biweekly phone calls to living together. But things are great! We put plastic on our windows yesterday, we make good food, we drive to Fairbanks when we need groceries, and we sit and read while drinking red wine.

Almost too sophisticated.

So, like I mentioned earlier, I don't know what this is going to be. Perhaps just a place for me to post pictures of Alaska. Don't know if people are interested in that or not. I'm sure I won't keep a routine or a schedule with this thing. I'll probably just write some shit when I feel like it. Maybe this could be a vehicle for my opinions like everyone else out there. Isn't what these things are used for? To write pretentious crap that nobody really wants to hear? Well, I have opinion too! And perhaps I'll unload a few of them on ya.

Anywho, here are some Alaska pics!

This is our little house hanging out in the middle of nowhere. Pretty cool. Actually renting it from a friend who is down on the ICE right now. Timing works out great.

Tootie (Blair) standing in our living room. We call her Tootie because of "The Facts of Life." I've never seen this show. But I guess it has something to do with there being a Blair on the show. So when my Blair showed up here in AK back in 2006, we decided to call her Tootie, because Tootie was the non-annoying one on the show. Whatever. It stuck and she's still Tootie.

Part of the driveway on which we live. The road itself is probably a mile.5 winding up the hill. Houses are scattered everywhere, some populated, some not. This hill is pretty fun to ski down.

Tootie skis with Lefty. We dog sat the other day because Lefty needed some chaperoning. She just had surgery but she was ready to get out and ski with us. I do alot of skiing on the airstrip. Obviously it's not used during the winter, so it's a great flat strip of land a couple hundred yards long. Perfect.

The Alaskan sunrise from our kitchen window...

...from our living room window. Pretty sweet.

So that's it for now. We're going to an awesome dinner on Thursday so I'm sure I'll have something to say about that.

Done.

Snowboarding in Antarctica!!!!

2010-09-13T13:25:00.000-07:00

Yes, Keith is lazy in life. That's ok. I'm motivated in work! HA! So it has been a while since I've posted anything. For no reason other than it takes tons of time and I don't want to do anything that takes tons of time on my day off. It is precious to me...

So a lots been happening I guess. Certain things are mundane. We are in the last week of winter. By this time next week I will be chopping up fresh green salads and real onions. Not to mention fruit, crispy red peppers. Yum. Don't take that shit for granted! I'm learning to appreciate the good stuff. So below is a smattering of pics that perhaps might best describe the last month or so between postings.

Gorgeous sunsets and sunrises are the norm here at Palmer. When it is clear enough to see the sun. I would say that it is about 50/50 good weather and bad weather. But I don't understand the advice I received when I arrive. "Take advantage of the good weather cause there won't be alot of it." Liars. There was just as much awesome weather as bad. Don't be fooled.

This photo doesn't capture it but this was one of the windiest days I have experienced. I was standing at a 45degree angle to take this photo...

...this one is through my UV glasses.

Mountain creeping up over the glacier.

Took another boat ride. We got checked out by a leopard seal. Pretty cool.

One of the many freestanding icebergs that have calved off the glacier behind us. We can hear them calving all the time but I have yet to see a chunk fall off. That would be sweet.

Looking back at my tracks as I truck up the glacier...

These are some awesome nacreous clouds that greeted me upon walking out of my building one morning. Super cool.

I made some chocolate biscotti...

..and a Turkey Pot Pie with a hidden message. Can you guess what it is?

This was probably the coolest day I've had in a while. Snowboarding in Antarctica. I have heard tales but have never done it. We drove the snowmachine about half way up the glacier and strapped the boards on...

...again through the UV goggles.

Before my first run on the glacier. I have to brag, I'm sure we have the best hill in the world to snowboard. On a glacier, overlooking the ocean. Suck it Colorado!

Captn Dave Bardun gets ready for a run. Dave's from Colorado so he certainly has an edge over me.

So I still can't figure out which foot to put forward. I guess it's a toss up. Whatever you feel comfortable with. I went down three times with my non-dominant foot forward. Then a fourth time reversing that. Didn't seem much difference. I have snowboarded before in Michigan and once at Vail and am not very good. I don't like to go fast. I don't have health insurance and my job demands that I stand up. I'd be screwed if my leg got busted. So I take it easy.

But I think that if I was given the chance, like a week on a snowboard, it would be something I could pick up pretty easily.

Dave, of course, makes it down the hill every time. Bastard.

That's it for now! Hopefully not forever. I'm sure there will be some stuff to talk about when the boat gets here. Handing over to another cook, saying good by to friends. I'll be here till October 18th and the departure of the second boat of summer. Later!

Mid Winter Dinner!!! (A month late...)

2010-07-21T07:19:00.000-07:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mid Winter was a month ago. But it's still cool! And the food is something I'm really proud of. So the first pic is our Mid Winter Greeting. This is something that all the stations around the continent participate in. We get together, take a photo, write a poem or some simple words of good wishes, and send it out all over the continent. It's pretty cool to know your not alone out there. Captn Dave Bardun took this photo of us in front of the Cape Renard and the Graham Coast area. Yes, that is the mainland. The actual continent.

Below is the Mid Winter Menu. I know that most have seen this already or at least knew what was on it. But it was fun to create! Most Mid Winter menus I've seen and worked with are very flashy. Lots of fancy designs with telescopes and Poles and fish and blahblahblah. We made this one simple. Dave stained it with tea water and baked them for about ten minutes. It turned out smelling great and crispy! But not tough enough to roll. We tied a bow to each of them and had them on all the place settings when people arrived.

This is the Palmer dining room and the way the tables were set up for service. It was a great idea by all the people that helped out. We were all able to sit and eat in the round as a big family. It gave the meal a real fancy feel with out being snooty or pretentious. Thanks to all who helped set it up.

This is me getting things ready. Everything went out in courses. L. Trot, or Lisa our Station Manager, volunteered to help out by serving. So I would plate all the courses and she would deliver them to the tables. So that the others on station could relax and have food served to them. Always a treat down here. This is the first and only time I have/will worn/wear the Palmer Chef coat. I like my tee shirts better.

This is just one of the hors d'oeuvres that we had out. The bacon wrapped scallops were a hit. Along with the Roasted Tomato and Goat Cheese Canapes. I was able to save some baby tomatoes and freeze them for two months so we could thaw them and have them for Mid Winter. We were well out of freshies at this point so the appearance of tomatoes was great!

Apparently I forgot to turn the hood fan on whilest frying up the bacon. And, since we have a very sensitive fire system, L. Trot was able to spring into action and cover the detector. We don't want a fire alarm in the middle of our festivities. Especially once caused by the cook. Yikes.

Here, Sean and Dave are ordering from the menu. People could pick whatever they wanted and it was prepared for them. Just like in a fancy restaurant. As you can see, Lisa underwent several garment changes throughout the evening...

Cory likes the soup! I think? I don't know what the hell this face means...

Here I am preparing the soup. Ok, these pictures are out of order. But I hate computers and don't care enough to waste my time fiddling with them. Cream of Pumpkin and Garam Masala. Awesome soup! Thanks to James Brown for the suggestion! Yeah dawg!

Neal and Drew like the tossed salad! HA! Iceberg lettuce tossed with the last remaining fresh vegetables and a roasted garlic vinaigrette. The lettuce tasted a bit bitter but I don't think anyone cared. It had been a month since we had fresh salad greens.

Lisa dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow delivering the entrees.

Finished Pumpkin Soup. Garnished with Roasted Pumpkin Seed, Creme Fraiche and Fresh Mint.

Finished Meat Plate! Stuffed Tenderloin wrapped in bacon stuffed with spinach, bleu cheese and roasted red peppers. Served with roasted root veg medley, spinach orzo and garnished with tomatoes.

Apple Dumpling Dessert!

Lisa's final serving outfit. I believe the conversation went as follows...
Keith: Who's that cow running around the dining room?
Lisa: That's the only time you can call me a cow and get away with it!

Touche!

Sorry this was so late. I'll try to do better at keeping up with this. But the reality is...I probably won't.

Band Blog!!

2010-07-07T12:52:00.000-07:00

Band blog Band blog, Ya Ya Ya!

Yes, there is even music during a Palmer Station winter. A surprisingly huge turnout actually. There are 18 of us here for the winter and 7 of them show up every Tuesday in TerraLab for band practice. That's almost half the station! Sweet.

Some of us played a little open mic in the bar before the last boat left, but now that we have months ahead of us we can really sit and practice some songs. There are people of all different skill levels so it's nice to learn new things and teach some things as well.

This is Johnny on the right and Cory on the left. Johnny was actually at Pole with me last winter. He didn't play there so it was awesome to see what he can do. And he rocks! Singing and playing!

This is Sean our Electrician. He just picked up the mandolin when we got here in April and hasn't put it down. It sounds great with all the songs we picked, especially the bluegrass tune!

This is Steve Sweet in the front and Buttercup in the back. I know Buttercup (Andrew) from my summer at Pole. Both Steve and Drew make up the acoustic section of the band. And I included Steve's last name because one band name in the running is "Steve Sweet and the Sweet Steve's." Can't get much more apropos than that!!

This here's Cory our one resident scientist. I guess this makes him the chief scientist. He's here studying fish. He's actually mating them! NOT mating with them. Let's make that clear. There are no Troy McLure's down here...

Cory is our shredder guitarist. Not much more to say. Slash, eat your heart out!

I find these next two pictures awesome! This is the Palmer Station drum kit. Perfect for the little space that we have. But it is literally a Playskool or Fisher Price first drum kit. Note the empty buckets used as toms. Classic ICE.

And this is Capt. Dave Bardun. Some of you may know him. He is of April the Leukemic Cat fame. This is the guy that goes home and plays awesome music in his basement on a huge drum kit. He is clearly not a Fisher Price guy. But he makes do. He's also singing on a couple songs.

Look at that friggin bass! Awesome! We dub it "Satan's Bass" because it was most certainly forged by the Dark Lord himself in the 7th circle of hell. I mean, LOOK at it! Sweet.

Now I'm not one to TOOT my own horn, but I've started learning this and I think I'm catching on. I've never been much of a guitarist. I can read tab but not notes. I've never done the percussion side of things before and it is a change. But I'm catching on and really liking it.

Johnny, Cory and myself are putting together a lengthy acoustic Metallica medley with all our favorite parts of various songs. We can't really loud here like we could at Pole, we we can definitely wail on acoustic guitars/basses. And Satan's Bass.

So far our set list is...
Island in the Sun-Weezer
Used to Call Me Baby-Split Lip Rayfield
Creep-Radiohead
Out Loud-Dispatch

And we have a couple more to practice as time goes on.

Stay tuned for Mid Winter Photos...

Keith-san Sushi Chef!!!

2010-06-27T11:33:00.000-07:00

So I skipped another week. Big deal. I'm tired. And sometimes when your hung ove...er, tired, on your day off, the last thing you want to do is sit at a computer for an hour.

And yes, last weekend was the Mid Winter Dinner feast. It went really well. I'm currently gathering some pictures together to show that off. Everybody pitched in from setting the tables to prepping to washing dishes. Great feast. I'll post that soon.

In the meantime, I played Sushi chef this week with a sushi dinner in the bar. I learned how to do this from Diane, the woman who worked here this past summer and trained me before she left on the last boat. Let's take a look...

First you need a sushi board. I don't know the technical term. Bamboo sushi wrap thing. Make sure you wrap it in cellophane to keep it clean. You don't have to but it cuts down on cleaning up and cross contamination if your making more than on kind of sushi.

Fold the corners in.

Sushi rice is different than regular rice. More starchy. Cook with a 1:1 ratio rather than 2:1. Meaning 1 cup of rice to 1 cup of water. Leave it covered on the stove over low heat for about 40 minutes. Crunchy rice sucks. This batch didn't work out the best and was a little al dente. But no matter. It's sushi in Antarctica! And cooking rice here is a bitch anyway. It was easier with the elevation and dryness of Pole to cook rice. I don't know what it is. Anyway, add one cup of rice vinegar and one cup of sugar...

...fan the rice with a plate or something to help it cool...

...make sure all your ingredients are laid out in front of you for easy access. This process can be a pain so you want it to go quick.

Lay the seaweed out on the sushi-bamboo-wrap-thing...

...moisten it with water so when you roll it, it sticks to itself...

...put a glob of rice on half the seaweed and press it down...

...so it lays nice and flat on the seaweed.

Put your desired filling on top of the rice. In this case it's smoked salmon and cream cheese...

...begin rolling...

...tightening as you go until...

...you have a perfectly rolled sushi roll.

Next we take it up to the bar...

...where we cut it and plate it on a fancy little sushi table.

There are four kinds of sushi here, even a tofu carrot avocado sushi for the vegetarians. It gets put in the middle of the table...

...so everybody can gather around and move around to get what they want.

Bede, Chris and Sean wait their turn while SteveO goes for a piece off camera.

I made 90 total rolls of sushi and there was some left at the end of the night. But everyone did a pretty good job of destroying what was put in front of them. Rumor has it that the great Neal Scheibe had a total of 50 pieces!!! How he is such a skinny bastard, I'll never know!

When the service is over I get to unwind with my new glasses.

Sushi night was fun and we'll probably do it one more time before the boat comes back. Stay tuned for more food fun this week. I'll get a MidWinter blog together. Later!

Stuffed Pork Loin and Homemade Falafel...

2010-06-13T17:08:00.000-07:00

Megan!!! This first one's for you. My dear friend Megan gave me this fantastic self compiled cookbook whilst I was in Denver in April. It has some of her favorite tasty recipes. I was happy to try the Falafel as I have never made it from scratch before.

This is the book! Awesome!

We don't have all the ingredients, like shallots for example, but I substituted red onion and it worked just fine.

Mix all the ingredients together in a big bowl. Mashed chick peas, egg, spices, bread crumbs, whatever freshies are on hand...

Form into little cakes. You can make these as big as you want. You need the proper mix of bread crumbs and egg so it can all bind together...

When they are seared, put them in the oven and bake till hot.

I garnished this one with a lime tomato salsa with cilantro and fresh Tzatziki, a yogurt cucumber dish with garlic, lemon juice and dill.

Even Clair likes it. She'll eat anything!!! SeeFood!

Next is apricot stuffed pork loin. Kind of an involved process. Let's begin...

Take your loins of pork...

...cut it as much in half as you can but not all the way. You don't want to cut through it...

...and pound it gently with a meat tenderizer. You want to pound the inside in order to keep the skin intact so your finished product will look good. Be gentle because tenderloins of any kind are just that. Tender. Too thin and you lose the integrity of the meat.

Finished tenderizing.

These are the ingredients I stuffed the loin with. Fresh red peppers, julianne yellow onion, dried apricots and slivers of garlic.

Saute it all together adding whatever spices you see fit.

When it has cooled, place some filling into each of the open tenderloins...

...then carefully begin to roll it back up.

Tie a knot with butcher's twine at the top of the loin...

...wrap the other end around the pork and pull the tied end through. It's very difficult to explain in type.

You continue this down the entire loin tying it off at the bottom. This obviously keeps all the filling in.

When you are ready to cook it, lightly dredge it in flour mixed with sea or kosher salt and black pepper. Always good to season the flour...

...sear on all four sides so the whole thing is toasty brown, then bake till its cooked!

Then you have a wonderful Stuffed Pork Tenderloin. (The green one in the picture is fresh spinach and bleu cheese. Also fantastic.

Stay tuned! Next week is Mid Winter Dinner. Awesome celebrations all over the continent. We'll have a great dinner here. Dave is working on designing the menu. I'll post that to. Very exciting...

The Last Week of Summer.....

2010-06-06T12:11:00.000-07:00

So there was plenty of excitement this week as the last of Palmer's summer population prepared to leave. I think we all got to know each other very well over the past six weeks but it was definitely time to get the winter started. The summer friends will be missed. But not too badly. HA! :-)

It started off as a windy week as you can see. 44 knots with gusts in the high 50's.

This picture sucks cause it was taken through a window and with my zoom. But it's a huge wave crashing against an island.

They had to take the boats out of the water and store them. One of black buoys that we use on the pier to brace the ship even got blown out to sea. We got it back though. Crazy wind.

We even had a visit from a little penguin friend.

The boat was set to leave on Friday so on Thursday night we had a Crosstown Dinner. This is where we invite the folks from the boat over for dinner. It was a big feast with Beef Wellington, a baked potato bar, and the chefs on the boat prepared some things as well. Including a fresh salad and Pulpo! As you can see above, Lisa, our Winter Station Manager enjoys the Pulpo, or octopus. It is a tasty treat and if you've never had it I highly recommend it. The scientists pulled up a bunch of these little guys in their nets on the last fishing trip. They were SO good!!!

Laura Rip tried one. She's one of our full time engineers back in Denver. It was such a good time that I decided to unleash the dragodile hat. It was a gift back in Denver during OSAR training and I had been waiting for the perfect moment. This was it. I say dragodile because we can't figure out if it's a dragon or a crocodile.

That night Dave organized a great open mic. I played guitar for three songs in a band. There were five or six of us? It was great fun. Some really talented people here. Below our boating coordinator is actually yodeling. Yodeling!!!! And it was so awesome! Not the stupid pretending to yodel. The real thing. He took a class during high school I guess.

This is just one of the mixtures of people that performed. Half-Assed Blue Grass they called themselves. And they sang Gin and Juice.

Some people don't like goodbyes. I don't really care one way or another. I'll probably see all these people again anyways. We gathered to bid farewell in the galley in the morning.

Friday morning the line handlers get ready to cast off the ship for the last time this summer. We won't see the LMG again until September.

I think this picture turned out great. Don't know why. I just like it.

The summer folks on the boat wave goodbye to us. Some of them have been here for the better part of 8 months. I think they are as ready for something new as we are.

Then they leave, motoring into the Antarctic sunrise.

Then begins the crazy Palmer tradition of jumping into the ice cold water as the boat motors away. Crazy!! I'm sure the water is below freezing.

Sean, Chris and Cory jump in these photos. I've done it before. Not here. But before. So I needn't impress myself. I'd rather stand back and take the photos. But good thing there is a hot tub to warm everyone up!!

So we look forward to hunkering down for the quick winter with a small population. I have never cooked for this few people before so we'll see what happens. I have a feeling the paperwork, reports, and menu planning will take up the majority of my time. I am looking forward to midwinter dinner in two weeks. There will for sure be a blog about that. Keep yer eyes open...

Boating II... AND Live Webcam!!!

2010-05-30T09:25:00.000-07:00

As I have said before, Zodiac boats are the main method of transportation around here. Lots of science happens on the outlying islands around Palmer and we get there by boat. In order to drive the boats, which we can all do, we have to take two classes run by Ryan Wallace our current Boating Coordinator. The first class is nothing more than an hour long session reviewing the safety of being on the water. The second class is actually on the water.

This is Ryan above, telling us about the GPS units we have on station. We use a combination of the GPS's and a lamented map to figure out where we are. I have only been out three or four times so I don't know some of the islands yet, but I suppose if you do this everyday as some do, it would be pretty easy to remember.

This is Malcolm Arnold driving the boat. He is the doctor for the winter. We all take turns driving and learning how to steer and deal with the outboard motor. Depending on how windy it is, it could be very difficult to handle this thing.

Every landing site on every island is clearly marked. Before these are marked people go out and determine the best place to land the boats so as to not damage anything on the island and not interrupt wildlife. These two painted red dots are where we land.

As you can see from this picture, some of the landings can be rather rocky and difficult to land on. I'm glad we didn't try to get out on this island.

In this picture, Ryan is teaching us about tying the boat up. It is a good idea to leave some slack in the line so that the boat is not sitting on the rocks if the tide goes out. There is also an anchor involved.

Every landing site also has a little metal anchor bolted into a rock. You can kind of see it in the close up picture. We have to tie the boat off when we land so that it doesn't blow away. Obviously. Here Ryan is tying a fancy knot. One that I cannot do and cannot pronounce.

As we cast off the island, Ryan pulls up the stern anchor.

These pictures are pretty cool. The last part of the class involved rescuing a man overboard. It is a very frightening thought, to be overboard in the frozen Antarctic waters. But a quick bump or a sharp turn can easily do it. So Jack, bless his heart, volunteered to get in the water. I actually think he was the only one that could because the immersion suit we grabbed was a size small. Thank goodness I'm a fat guy!

It's actually almost too small for Jack to fit into. But he squeezes in.

I really like these two pictures. Just hanging out in Hero Inlet in an immersion suit in Antarctica. Great. Who else gets to do this shit!? It's awesome!! My buddy Capt'n Dave Bardun says that the immersion suit is actually rather comfortable. Yes, we did rescue Jack. I don't have any photos of it cause there were only three of us in the class and I had to do my fair share of pulling Jack out of the water. Ryan had him play unconscious so we would get the feel of a worst-case-scenario scenario. Pulling an unconscious victim out of the water. It's not fun! Even the smaller people are heavy when wet!

And just for fun, here's some candid shots of me that Jack took. The suit I have on is mandatory for water travel. We call them float coats. They are not immersion suits meaning if we fell in the water they would not keep us alive very long. The suit that Jack has on above is an immersion suit. These suits are designed to keep you afloat and alive for an extended period of time if you were to fall in the water or if your boat was to sink. The float coat I have on is insulated so it works great in the environment we are in. It's not a life support system.

So this is a cool thing. We have webcam now! That means the world can look in and see Palmer Station. The link is below. There is a 15 second refresh but you are looking at Palmer live! Check it out! It's pretty cool.

http://www.usap.gov/videoclipsandmaps/palwebcam.cfm

Stay tuned next week (or earlier)for another food blog!!!

Week Off...

2010-05-26T15:45:00.000-07:00

Hi. Obviously I dropped the ball last week on the blog. Busy, busy. So here is a link to a science blog. Ruth McDowell is one of the divers here and she wrote this on the kitchen staff. Perhaps you will find in interesting....

http://antarctica.uab.edu/blog/77508/

More from me this weekend...

Ceviche & Stuffed Salmon....

2010-05-16T11:32:00.001-07:00

Yay! My first Food Blog. The idea for this entire blog was to have it be about Palmer, my experience here as well as the food I am cooking. I don't have any pictures of my food so I'm starting to compile some for portfolio purposes. Just in case I can use them for interviews someday.

So today we have a step by step process on how to make Ceviche and how to stuff a Salmon. We still have fresh ingredients from when the last boat arrived. We also get some weird Chilean stuff. Like the side of Salmon you'll see in the second half of this post.

Ceviche is a seafood dish that originated in South America. Peru and Ecuador more specifically. And if you didn't already know, acidity cooks fish. I didn't know this for a while but it is a great tool. So the shrimp, scallops, whatever you put in lime or lemon juice will actually be cooked without the use of heat. Fascinating.

You take raw shrimp...

onions...

and fresh cilantro...

and mix it all together.

I like to add fresh cherry tomatoes, avocado, and fresh limes.

With all the ingredients mixed together, sprinkle kosher salt and cracked black pepper over it...

pour in copious amounts of lemon juice, lime juice and white wine...

and let it sit covered overnight.

Then the next day, uncover it and serve it with a kick ass Cinco de Mayo feast! We made a bunch of nachos, enchiladas, the fixins for a taco bar. And Captn Dave Bardun made his famous fresh tortilla chips. Fun all around.

Also keep in mind that this is just my recipe. There are millions of different ways to make ceviche using a million different kinds of sea treats. I love using scallops as well. They taste like candy. But white fish works best. I'm sure you can use salmon or tuna if you want but I would prefer to make a gravlax for bagels or smoke it.

Speaking of Salmon, Crawfish Stuffed Salmon is next on our list. In terms of food, we get some stuff from the states. We also have a Chilean resupply for the perishable items, freshies, cheeses, etc. The last time they brought some salmon and I was really excited to use fresh fish rather than frozen. But when I saw it I was confused. Because it was a gutted fish, not fillets like I'm used to. I mean this thing still had the little flippers on it man. Weird. But good! Diane suggested either cutting into salmon steaks or stuffing it. It was not big enough to cut into steaks so I stuffed it instead.

First I made the crawfish stuffing. It's a mixture of crawfish, yellow and green onions, egg, bread crumbs, mayonnaise, various seasonings, and lime juice...

put the mixture between the two fillets...

season the entire thing with olive oil, butter, salt, pepper, parsley, chunks of lemon...

wrap the whole sheet pan making sure not to let any air out. The wrapping of the fish keeps the moisture in so it steams and cooks in its own juices.

About 2.5 hours later, you have a stuffed salmon!

Hope you enjoyed this! Next week, Boating II! Or Birding. I haven't decided yet.

The Adventures of Ellsworth...

2010-05-10T13:41:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know, I have a son. Now that my parents and grandmother have had heartattacks, I don't really have a son. But I am the surrogate father to a little green being. His name is Ellsworth.

Ellsworth belongs to my dear friend Amy whom I worked with at Pole and who is now wintering at McMurdo. I promised her a blog to prove that Ellsworth is ok. He has been in my care for over a year now. During our winter at the South Pole Erin and I, shown here with Ellsworth, promised Aim-eye that we would take good care of him.

Over the South Pole winter, Erin and I had joint custody of Ellsworth and traded parental duties every six weeks. I ended up bringing him home with me in hopes to reunite him with his real mother. Unfortunately it didn't happen this time. Perhaps soon.

Ellsworth always puts in a busy day down here at Palmer Station. First he helps me bake dessert. Here he is carefully watching over the Pate au Choix; the pastry we use to make eclairs and cream puffs.

He checks out the pastry before it is baked, makes sure I am filling the eclair correctly, then tries to be sneaky and take the first bite. I scold him for trying to ruin his appetite.

After he finishes supervising my eclair making, he goes outside to see if he can help Dave drive the SkyTrek or help with line handling when the boat comes in.

Unfortunately he is too young and very small for his age. He is also not properly trained and cannot operate such equipment without proper instruction. So rather than help, he was happy watching the boat come in. This is the last boat we will see for a while. It will be here for a month fishing but then it will depart on June 4th and will not return until September. So Ellsworth is happy to enjoy the view.

Next, Ellsworth returns to the kitchen to see if there is anything else he can help with. Because it is Saturday night and we have hors d'oeuvres with steak dinner, Ellsworth wants to help Diane with preparing the roasted tomato, goat cheese and garlic hors d'oeuvres. But Diane works super fast and doesn't need Ellsworth's help.
So not knowing what to do he wanders out into the galley where Robin is making a cocktail to have with her dinner.
Ellsworth attempts to join her inbibing in a tasty beverage, but Robin knows better. Ellsworth is only about two years old. He is the youngest person on station and he should not be drinking adult beverages. Robin scolds him which he doesn't like very much.

After his scolding, Ellsworth went outside to pout on the back porch. But his mood instantly brightened when he saw he had company. Because Palmer Station is located right on the water, sometimes we get fur seal visitors. They have been hanging out a lot lately so Ellsworth was very happy to get his picture taken with two of them.
He really wanted to get closer and play with them but because the Antarctic treaty is very specific about how humans are to deal with wildlife, he understood that he could go no further. Ellsworth knew that if a human being or a sponge horse is altering the behavior of an animal in it's own enviroment then he is too close and must observe from a distance. So Ellsworth was very happy for the invention of the digital zoom!

Well, Ellsworth has had a long day of work and recreational activities. At the end of a day like this he likes to kick back and relax with his surrogate father. Ellsworth agrees that it is a nice thing to put your feet up, play some acoustic tunes and unwind after a great day on Palmer Station. I hope Amy and Erin can now rest assured that their son is in good hands. He misses them but I think he's having fun on his little peninsula excursion.

Recreational Boating...

2010-05-02T12:00:00.000-07:00

So this is obviously exactly how it sounds. If there are boats available, we have time off, and we have been properly trained, one of the activities we can do it Rec Boating. We can just drive around and see cool shit. I have been on one of these trips already and have seen more wildlife/backyard Antarctica than I have in all my other seasons combined. I understand that this is a priviledge and an honor and hopefully you can see why.

Our driver for the day, John takes us on a grand tour of Arthur Harbor and beyond. Arthur Harbor is the bay where the station is located and Hero Inlet is right off the shore from us. It is just that. A little inlet. However, that weird current thing you see in the first picture, the thing that looks like a wake or a wave in the middle of the water? That's the upside down hull of a sunken ship. In 1989, right around the time the Exxon Valdez ran aground, the Bahia Paraiso an Argentine resupply vessel hit land and sunk less than two miles from station. I don't know much about it. Apparently you can see much more of it when the tide is out. But this is a cool link with a great photo of it. http://antarcticmarc.com/bahia.html

As the winter goes on, I'll do my best to head back out there and get some better pictures.

We continued on to Torgersen Island, the nearest island to the station. Here we saw an amazing site.

Tons of Adelie penguins just hanging out on the backside of Torgersen island. And they were all around us 'porposing.' I assume called that because they jump in and out of the water like porpoises. We also got to check out some elephant seals squaring off. They were probably fighting over women or land. I mean, what else to mammels fight over eh?

These next three photos are pretty cool. There are about seven huge icebergs floating around Arthur Harbor. Not state sized like that chunk that broke off of the ice shelf several years ago, but big enough to make our resupply ship wary of coming into the harbor. The rule of thumb for dealing with icebergs is that we have to stay three times their height away from them. Simply put, if an iceberg is 10 feet tall, we have to manuevuer the boat around it 30 feet away.

The berg you see in the photo is not that big at all so we are at a minimum safe distance. The other two photos are two of the more interesting ones. All the ice you see floating around in these pics is called brash ice. I don't know what it means but it comes from the caving of the glacier. We'll be sitting in the galley or walking between buildings and we'll here what sounds exactly like thunder. But it's not. It's the ice from the glacier moving. It's hundreds of thousands if not millions of years old and we are listening to it move. Breathtaking. But little bits of it will fall off and float around in the harbor. The white snow drift looking things in the water is freshly fallen snow on pieces of fallen glacier. So awesome.

And the first pic you see up there, the one that looks like a bunch of jellyfish or grease in the water, is called just that: Grease Ice. The water is cold and still enough to where it begins to freeze. If left alone and undisrupted long enough, this is the first stage of a frozen ocean. But wind or higher temps or boats moving the water will break it up.

These last three pics are my Palmer money shots thus far. Awesome. Thank goodness for cheap Fuji cameras with incredible digital zoom!! This is the first leopard seal I have seen. I love the picture of him chillin on the berg with the glacier and Mt. William in the background. Awesome. And the orangish pic was taken with my little point and shoot camera pointing through my ECW goggles. It turned out to be a good filter. That's a good representation of an larger berg that we have to move around. They can be dangerous and move or cave at any time so we have to be as safe as we can.

That's all for now. Stay tuned for pics from Boating II, the band room, Crosstown Pizza, and the last boat leaving for the winter! Some crazy things happen when the boats leave...

THESE VIEWS AND OPINIONS ARE MINE AND MINE ALONE. I AM NOT AUTHORIZED TO BE A SPOKESMAN FOR ANY COMPANY OR ORGANIZATION. THIS BLOG IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH ANY COMPANY PRIVATE OR PUBLIC AND IS MEANT AS ENTERTAINMENT ONLY

Palmer Station...

2010-04-26T09:21:00.000-07:00

Hello Hello.

Palmer Station. The it is the second base built here. The first station, dubbed Old Palmer is no longer around, but the site rests on another part of the island about a mile or so away. And yes, an island. We are located on Anvers Island. So if anyone is keeping track or cares to get technical, McMurdo is on Ross Island 70 miles from the Antarctic continent, South Pole sits atop a two mile thick glacial ice field, and Palmer Station is on Anvers Island some 20 or 30 miles from the continent. So, realistically speaking after years of working in Antarctica, I have yet to touch the continent itself. Odd.

These first pics you see are of the BIO building. This could be called one of the two hubs of activity on base. There are only about four buildings here and this is one of the big ones.

Inside the BIO building we have the dining area which comes equipt with its own little fireplace. This was taken on the morning of a day off so its nice and peacful. Even with only 32 people on station at the moment it can get pretty hectic in here.
The orange coats you see are Float Coats. They, along with ECW gear, are required for any and all boating trips that are taken on the water. They double as floatation devices and can be seen if a recuse is needed in the dark.

The other pic is of one of the science labs on the first floor. We have everything from fishermen and Antarctic divers to someone who is trying to grown 4.5 million liver cells. Pretty cool stuff.

The next part is obviously my favorite. Although I am biased. These are pics of the galley. It is suprisingly bigger than I thought, however still can be cramped when there are three of us working like there has been this entire last week. It's basically broken into three parts. The service area where people get their food, the back room where all the pots and pans, stoves, and breadracks are, and the baking area. I secretly (not anymore I guess) hate those ovens. They are not convection ovens so they don't cook very evenly and I have a hard time getting bread to brown in them.
The light also does not shut off so you think you might be putting something in a hot oven when in fact, it has been off for hours and don't know it till dinner time but by then it's too late. Damn.

That little wooden table by the slicer is my favorite. Diane plays NPR in the morning and its a nice way to begin the day. Prepping some veggies, looking over menus and recipies. It's a very homey kitchen. Diane likes to make bagels and pastries for our Sunday mornings off. You can see Allen enjoying a bagel.

In the same building, just down the hall I have an office. I actually have an office! I've always hated the idea of having an office, but here I am. It's pretty neat considering I have my own computer and phone and view looking out at the glacier.

I also live in this BIO building for now. I requested to move once winter actually starts because I want a "commute" to work and I don't want my home to be in the same building as my work. One of the reasons I like cooking so much is that I don't take it home with me. If I'm in the building at night I'm tempted to do things after hours. Pull meat that I forgot, look up menu items, etc. It's better to be away.

These pics are of my room. As you can see it's incredibly small. Especially for two people. But I live with my good friend and April the Leukemic Cat partner in crime Dave Barud. But, and I'm sure he will agree, it will be nice to have our own space once winter kicks in. But this next pic is a view from my room. We look directly out into Arthur Harbor. Awesome views. If we are lucky we can hear the glacier crack and cave in our room.

I'll move up to this building. GWR. I have no idea what it means, but it is the other hub of activity on station. The red walkways you see are how we get around behind the buildings.
Here you can see our bar. It is a great place to hang out. Bring your own, of course. Jack, one of our FEMC workers is making his Sunday morning cup of coffee. The bar is littered with trinkets of Palmer history. Boating flags, photos of whales and other wildlife. A nice spot to unwind after a day of work.

There are also berthing units in this building and an awesome TV area for us to watch the many movies that line the walls. It's also a good place to relax. Here Phillip is taking some time to mend his jacket. He told me not to emmasculate him by taking a picture of his sewing. But I did. You are hereby emmasculated, Phillip.

This is our little gym. There's not much, but you don't need much. If anybody wonders how I stay so ruggedly handsome, this is it. HA! And ruggedly humble. :-)

Well, there you have it. I could do more but I'm tired of being on the computer and it's a nice day so I'm going to hike on the glacier.

The Drake Passage...

2010-04-22T14:25:00.000-07:00

For years prior to boarding the R/V LAURANCE M. GOULD, I have heard tales. Tales of the sea. The Drake Passage is infamous for high seas. Seen as how it is where the Atlantic and Pacific ocean meet, there are numerous currents jostling around for superiority. The apprehension of boarding the boat and what was to come was huge and very unnerving.

We left around midnight on a Friday. Which was unfortunate because we missed the spectacular Straits of Magellan. They are supposed to be wonderful. Perhaps I will see them on the way back. Many of us gathered on the top deck as they pulled the gangway away.

We got one last amazing view of Punta Arenas lit up at night. It was nice to see the quiet city that way. We won't see it again for another six months.

When we woke in the morning, we were treated to a vast ocean of nothing. We are looking South in these photos and there is nothing between us and Antarctica but empty, cold ocean. And I know what your thinking. "Keith, it doesn't look that bad out. You have boating experience. What are you so afraid? Why does it seem your doom is at hand?"

I don't know if this is legible or not, or if the ramifications can be understood. If you read closly, the posting says, "The outlook is not a good one. 20-25 foot seas!!"

Holy shit!

That's the size of a two story building, yall.

These photos do no justice, but for the better part of five days, we were rocking back and forth in the Gould. Laying in the bunk beds or watching a movie in the lounge was about the only respite one had for this turmoil. And even then it wasn't enough. I nearly fell out of my BOTTOM bunk several times.

What seemed like a lifetime later, we finally get to see our first sighting of the Palmer Peninsula and what will be our home for the next six months.

Stay tuned shortly for pics from my first Rec Boating trip. They are wicked awesome...

THE AFOREMENTIONED VIEWS AND OPINIONS ARE MINE AND MINE ALONE. I AM NOT ENDORSED BY OR AUTHORIZED TO SPEAK AS A REPRESENTATIVE OR SPOKESPERSON FOR ANY COMPANY OR ORGANIZATION.

Punta Arenas, Chile...

2010-04-19T08:08:00.000-07:00

Hello faithful readers!

It has been a while since a post. For good reason. The last couple weeks have been spent traversing from Denver CO to Palmer Station Antarctica! And it is good to be here. I can finally start nesting! I think in a strange way I'm kind of a homebody. My homes just happen to be in ridiculous places.

I'll take you through a step by step process of getting to Palmer. It will take several blog entries so stay tuned over the next couple days!

This is a pic of what I can only assume are the Andes. We flew from Santiago Chile to Punta Arenas and sights like these were below us the entire time. And yes, there were visible signs of the earthquake even at the airport. Lots of construction and newly refurbished walls. It looks like they are getting back on their feet. Hooray Chile!

These shots are from my hotel room. PA is a great city and I'll be excited to spend more time there. Beautiful sunsets as well.

When United States Antarctic Program (forevermore USAP) particpants travel through Chile, they are supported by AGUNSA. The pics are of the AGUNSA building on the pier where we are issued our ECW gear. Very small operation compared to the CDC in Christchurch. But of course, they are supporting less people. Sebastian was one of our contacts. He was super helpful with everything from where to buy groceries, giving us larger pairs of pants, and even a Spanish lesson here and there. It is now a goal of mine to learn Spanish while I am down here. Or at least study it so as to not be a complete moron.

Here's the boat! The big red one. The R/V LAURENCE M. GOULD. She was to be our home for the next several days as we crossed the Drake Passage. (Anybody out there know why boats are "shes?") But more on the boat later.

In the town square of Punta Arenas, there sits a huge statue of Magellan. Obviously an homage to Ferdinand Magellan, the explorer famous for sailing from the Atlantic to the Pacific, as well as the first to cross the Pacific Ocean. We will navigate through the Straits of Magellan our first night on the boat. Unfortunately in the dark.

Anywho, it is tradition to view the statue and kiss the toe of said statue for good luck on your voyage. I understand the tradition but will be damned if I kiss any toe. I suppose its kinda like the Blarney Stone. Locals piss all over it and then laugh at the jackass tourists that kiss their potty place. Morons. So I just rubbed the toe instead. Then washed my hands.

That's all for now! Stay tuned tomorrow for "Crossing the Drake Passage..."

THE AFOREMENTIONED VIEWS AND OPINIONS ARE MINE AND MINE ALONE. I AM NOT ENDORSED BY OR AUTHORIZED TO SPEAK AS A REPRESENTATIVE OR SPOKESPERSON FOR ANY COMPANY OR ORGANIZATION.

Denver Shenanagan's....

2010-04-04T10:03:00.000-07:00

So the week of fun and irresponsibility has come and gone. As of tomorrow, Tuesday and Wednesday I am back at work. I'll take a MAPCON class on Monday afternoon. MAPCON is the name of the computer program we use for ordering and keeping track of parts and things in Antarctica. It is also how we keep track of the food on station. Tuesday and Wednesday we go through the standard Human Resources orientation session. Wednesday afternoon we are whisked away to the airport. We'll go from Denver to Dallas to Santiago Chile to Punta Arenas where we will boat the boat. If everything goes as planned, we'll get on the boat on April 10th for a four day journey across the Drake Passage to the Palmer Peninsula.

This will be the last post before getting to Palmer. At that point I'm sure I'll have some great pics and stories from the boat ride. There are many tales from people past who have done this trip. Some say the water is like glass. Others say there are waves ranging from 20-50 feet. Characteristically, it is the worst water in the world. It is the meeting point of two great oceans, the Pacific and Atlantic. The passage is about 800 km and will take the better part of 4 days to traverse.

But for now I bid the Northern Hemisphere adieu. I'm sure it will be the same when I get back. My special thanks to the friends I have seen and have housed me over the past week. Kevin, Spud, Dave, Marc, Megan. I wish I had more time. For now I leave you with the best hangover omelet ever, messing around with Spud's cat Stetson, and our Wii characters. Funny, we haven't cured anything since Polio but we can create digital likenesses of ourselves.

Also, new best band ever award goes to Baroness. A perfect mix of Mastadon and The Sword. Two albums, The Blue Record and The Red Record. It is super awesome. Buy them now.

The Beginning...

2010-04-01T10:45:00.000-07:00

So my glorious return to the ICE happens much sooner than I expected. After 13 months at Amundsen Scott South Pole station, one would think Keith would like to experience real life for a while. Alas, you are mistaken. As of 2009, I have spent a full 2 years, 24 months living in Antarctica. These 24 months have both been spent between summers and winters at the South Pole and McMurdo Stations. But now things change a bit.

As of April 14ish, I will be the Winter Food Supervisor at Palmer Research Station located on the Palmer Peninsula. Geographically speaking, it is on the opposite side of the continent from McMurdo. Rather than taking a C-17 from Christchurch New Zealand, we will be taking a four day boat trip from Punta Arenas through the Drake Passage.

I have never been to this station and, from what I hear it is certainly a treat. This particular winter contract starts in April, ends in October, and for the majority of the time I will be the only cook cooking for 18 people. I have actually never cooked for this few people. To quote an old supervisor of mine, "I may have difficulty making less than five gallons of anything." I will be responsible for a hot lunch, hot dinner, and two breaks throughout each day.

I decided to do this blog thing again for a couple reasons. The first one I attempted at the South Pole was cut short due to extenuating circumstances beyond my control. My big mouth coupled with petty people deciding to draw attention to things they shouldn't care about kept me from doing a good job. Hopefully this one is different. Also, because of the ridiculous amount of questions I get regarding this place and this job, I feel it is a great tool for teaching. Because this is not the South Pole, there will be a variety of temperatures and wildlife. So yes, I will answer temp and wildlife questions.

Also, I have never really taken pictures of the food I make. So I'm hoping that this is as much a Keith-Food-Blog as it is a Palmer blog. Over the years, I have worked with some awesome people and learned some awesome things. So I'm going to take this public forum opportunity to tell everyone how awesome I am. Because I am awesome. That's what these self-indulgent sites are all about right? Showcasing how awesome you are to the uncaring world?

I'm not in Antarctica yet. I'm in Denver taking a break in between Fire/OSAR Training and Orientation. I've included some pictures from our Fire Training two weeks ago. Being isolated for the winter at an Antarctic station means everyone participates in emergency response teams. We must have certain skills at our disposal in case bad things happen. 10 of us went through a five day Fire Training with the Arvada Fire Station staff in Arvada CO. Pretty sweet. If you can get over the claustrophobia...