Tundra Golf! Each August, Unalaska Community Broadcasting hosts a crazy golf tournament fundraiser in the hills of Pyramid Valley. As most of you know, there is no *real* golf course here, so we lay one out on the tundra and everyone has a blast trying to play golf as never intended. The weather is unpredictable--the last two years were mostly chilly and rainy and I was semi-miserable working the event for two full days.
This year we were blessed with fabulous sunshine and warm temps on Friday night and all day Saturday. Some of our local firefighters sunbathed during lulls in grilling food for the crowd. You don't see this sight very often in Unalaska!
I was very happy to be out in the sunshine all day!
Fireweed blooming
Sunday was a bit of a different story. The fog was so thick in the morning that no one could see where their golf balls landed. The first team tried to play and decided to come back later. Several more teams came in and made the same decision.
We had our own little "weather hold" for a few hours--it was just as enjoyable sitting and chatting with everyone-- and then the sun came out. The rest of Sunday was gorgeous and we were back on track!
Rich was working but stopped by to say hi after he got off, and brought me some iced tea. Our friend Tammy and her girls also popped in and soaked up some sunshine with us for awhile.
In the "it's a small world" department, some guys came by off a boat and asked if they could play even though they had not registered. I said, "sure!" and found them a tee time. They came back later to play and I was doing my usual promoting of Unalaska by telling them all the things that are going on in town. One guy looked at me and laughingly asked me something about whether I'd been in NJ recently. I was confused, like, how would this person have any idea that I'd been in NJ? I said, "Yeah, actually, I was just in Ocean City in July." He starts laughing and says, "I think you were sitting next to my wife on the plane!" Sure enough, I'd been sitting next to a woman who'd lived out here years ago so we'd been chatting about all things Unalaska and how there's so much going on all the time. She told me that her husband brought his boat out here fishing on a regular basis and maybe she'd come out sometime while he was here. I think I even gave her my card and told her to call me if she did. He was on the same plane but sitting further back and after they got off, she was telling him about our conversation. So he took my picture waving and saying "Hi Robin!" What are the odds?!
It was a very busy, hectic weekend but it went extremely well and I did not even mind all the hours of work because the weather was so fabulous! There are a ton of photos on KUCB's Facebook page (KUCB) if you want to check them out. Or go to KUCB's blog by clicking
here.
We've been getting some really tasty peaches at the grocery store lately. I was browsing Rich's Bon Appetit magazine while having lunch by myself earlier this week, and came across a recipe for peach preserves with Earl Grey tea. As a tea lover and a peach lover, this seemed like the perfect combination to me! We bought five pounds of peaches and got to work after dinner tonight.
First, blanch and peel the peaches.
Cut into slices.
Mix with four cups of sugar (uh-oh, not on the diet!) and two tbsp fresh lemon juice, let sit for 30 minutes. Then bring to a boil with four full tea bags and one extra teabag opened up and sprinkled into peaches. Cook for 15-20 minutes.
Remove teabags, skim foam off the top and put into sterilized jars.
Process in water bath for 10 minutes and voila!
The recipe calls for TWO 1 pint jars. We had enough for a whole lot more than that. Don't know if it was a typo or what. We bought a bunch of little jars recently, with intentions of making salmonberry jam (soon) so we sterilized a couple of those, too. And we have two small storage bowls full that we are going to eat right away. In fact, I already tried some tonight and it is super delicious. I have to admit that I really don't get much of the Earl Grey taste, but that's okay, too. Peachy peachy is just fine with me.
