This morning dawned blustery–a true March day with snowflakes swirling about and a bitter wind blowing.  But no matter.  I know spring is on its way.  Yesterday was the vernal equinox.  We have a good amount of light.  The sun is warm.  And the nights, oh my, how the aurora has captivated us!  This is a special time of year to live in Fairbanks and take in the surroundings, observing movement in all its forms.

One of the unique offerings inside the store brings a smile to my face. This funky fish is actually a handmade felted birdhouse.  Imagine chickadees taking up residence in a fish to raise young this spring in your yard or woodlot.  The whimsy and color fascinate me, so I want to bring these products to your attention.  The birdhouses, birds, and wool purses are all handmade by artisans in Nepal of all natural products.  The felt is made from sheep’s wool and dyed with environmentally friendly dyes.  The result, responsible products brought to you by a member of the Fair Trade Federation.  The birds can bring you cheer inside the home and the birdhouses provide a burst of color and fun outside.  All are great items to think about for spreading cheer at this time of year.

Join us Friday February 1st for a showcase of custom and one-of-a-kind handcrafted jewelry pieces from several of our favorite artists.  New are Alaskan moose antler bangle bracelets from Ivory Jacks and custom necklaces by Meg Jones of By Special Request to name a few.  Fabulous choices for Valentine’s Day await you at this event.  We look forward to seeing you.

Join us First Friday as we welcome guest artist Amy Noon with giclees and cards.  We will also feature the work of artist Pauline Lian with one of a kind and limited edition pressed botanicals.   We’ll also be launching the winter collection of Vera Bradley fabrics on November 2nd, so there will be lots new in the store for this event.  We’ll be serving some samples from our 2012 Specialty Foods Collection and we’ll have a doorprize drawing.

Join us First Friday as we feature guest artist Connie Stricks with her handcrafted greeting cards.  Hand painted, handcrafted, and one of a kind, these cards provide you with original art at reasonable prices.  Connie’s cards are beautiful framed or for their intended use in correspondence.  Come by and talk with her about what inspires her and choose from a wide selection.  We’ll serve refreshments and have a door prize drawing.

12 December 2011   First of all, what’s great about Dave is that he’s a wild and crazy guy with a passion for heat and outstanding flavor.  He founded Dave’s Gourmet several years ago after debuting his Ultimate Insanity Hot Sauce.  Yikes, is it ever hot!  (And yes, we have it).  From there, he went on to develop award winning pasta sauces.  The secret to his success:  fresh specialty ingredients, unique flavors, and a slightly insane perspective.  Most of his products are organic, all are natural, gluten free, and contain no preservatives.  You won’t find anything at the grocery that compares with these sauces.

 Masala, award winner last year, is an innovative pasta sauce which pairs the western flavors of a classic marinara with the spices (masala), lime, and coconut flavors of the South Asian world.  The result is a superb sauce that wows everyone who tastes it.   Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce is made with squash ripened in Oregon’s Willamette Valley.  Paired with fresh garlic, onions, and roasted red pepper, the natural sweetness and delicate flavor of the butternut squash is enhanced.  Spicy Heirloom Marinara will warm you on a cold Fairbanks night.  This organic sauce combines spicy red peppers and vine ripened heirloom tomatoes for a fine flavor and some bite.  It adds balance to pasta, pizza, chicken or fish.  Wild Mushroom Pasta Sauce is a mushroom lover’s dream!  It’s mostly mushrooms-wild porcini, buttery shiitake, and crimini with tomato sauce added. Extra hints of garlic, sage and sherry make for a perfect well-rounded flavor.  Awesome!

Gift Idea Number Twelve:  Pair a pasta sauce with any one of our pastas or pair the Spicy Marinara with our pizza drizzle for the pizza lover in your life.  Want some real zing? Pair the Dave’s Spicy Marinara with our Pasta di Campofilone Chili Pepper Fettuccine. Delish!

 11 December 2011   Victoria Taylor turned to her passion over ten years ago and founded Victoria’s Gourmet after a career in the corporate world.  She spent almost a year testing products and recipes in her own kitchen and adjusting the flavors to perfection.  Victoria has a penchant for creating marvelous recipes that are manageable with our busy schedules.  Use her spices, seasonings and recipes and turn your kitchen into a little gourmet paradise!  Our Specialty Food Collection boasts many of her spices and seasonings both singly in small and large containers and trio packs which provide for a variety of tastes.  A favorite of mine is the meat and fish trio which provides a Ginger Citrus seasoning great for chicken, fish and pasta.  Its ingredients include onion, garlic, orange peel, bell pepper, and paprika to name a few.  I use it as a rub on chicken and then bake-quick, easy, and oh, so tasty!  The Seafood seasoning, great for salmon or halibut, provides you with just the right blend of Victoria’s proprietary herbs and spices with garlic, onion, lemon peel and bell pepper included for extra good tastes.  The third part of the trio is Toasted Sesame Ginger, fabulous in stir fry and also good on tuna or salmon.  It boasts a terrific sesame flavor coupled with the ginger.  The European trio will take you to Italy and France in a flash!  The Mediterranean seasoning is has a traditional base of oregano and garlic.  Use it on focaccia bread and in potato dishes.  The Tuscan seasoning combines rosemary with toasted sesame, bell pepper, and garlic– perfect for pasta dishes and also great on pork, chicken, and veal.  Its aromas of cool rosemary and nutty toasted sesame add punch to pasta dishes.  And finally Herbes de Provence is a combination of 7 dried herbs with lemon, lavender and a hit of garlic.  Close your eyes and you’ll be transported to the lavender fields of Provence!  All natural, all with very low salt or no salt, all goodness.

Gift Idea Number Eleven:  Purchase a trio of seasonings and Victoria Taylor’s recipe book.  This gift is fabulous for the kitchen initiate as well as the seasoned home chef.  Or pair Victoria’s Gourmet seasonings with our pastas or salts. 

Spend $20.00 or more on Victoria’s Gourmet products and we’ll provide you with a complimentary recipe book, valued at $17.95.  Because Flavor is Everything is written by Victoria herself.   It’s our gift to you, if you mention you saw this offer on our website!

 You are cordially invited to attend our annual First Friday event with guest artist, Pauline Lian.  Pauline will bring a number of one-of-a-kind and special editions, both matted and framed with her.  She’ll also have her flower presses and tools  and will talk with you about her process.  We’ll be serving food samples from our Specialty Food Collection for 2011, plus there’ll be the usual door prize drawing.

25 March 2011 Because the days are warming, the sun is higher in the sky, and the last of our November ice is beginning to melt away, I reckon that’s the excuse I   give for having such a wild Maple dream the other night.  I dreamed I was upcountry in Vermont, in the Town of Cabot to be exact, when I come upon this powerful amount of steam pouring from atop a sugar house.  I pulled up to take a look.  The sign at the road read Goodrich Sugar House.  I moseyed on in to find a monster of an evaporator.  A fire-eating dragon, glinting stainless steel, with windows to view the sap as it made its way through the boiling process to become pure Vermont Maple Syrup.  That monster consumed 45 gallons of fossil fuel and produced 100 gallons of Maple Syrup in an hour’s time.  Add one more piece of information to the equation, it takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup.  The Goodriches had 43,000 taps on a vacuum system to feed that hungry beast of an evaporator.  Anything of this magnitude has to be a wild dream, kinda like the Trans-Alaska Pipeline was a wild dream awhile back.  Anyway, I just kept right on dreaming.  Suddenly, I  was standing beside Burr Morse at the Morse Farm in East Montpelier.  He was keeping a close eye on his evaporator.  A much smaller operation, his evaporator was fueled by wood chips handily delivered to his shed.  3,000 taps supply his vacuum system.  On the other side of town at the Bragg Farm, the brothers were tromping through the woods hanging buckets and tapping the last of the Maples.  Their Sugar House was filled with split wood, their evaporator ready for action.  These men do it the old time way, waiting for Mother Nature to deliver the recipe for sugaring off.  No sir, they aren’t vacuuming sap out of their trees, nor are they using fossil fuel to fire an evaporator.  There’s not a sweeter smell on earth than when sap is boiled down into the ambers that top waffles and pancakes and provide the sweetness for a great  pot of baked beans.  Flash up to Cummings Road in East Montpelier where Burr’s brother has the sweetest little backyard sugaring operation you ever set your eyes on.  An arch fabricated just so, and a stainless steel evaporator the likes of which I’ve never seen.  Under the bright afternoon sun he was making liquid gold out there in his backyard.  Finally, I woke up and was back on Cushman Street where I belong.  I don’t think I need Freud or anyone else to help me analyze this dream; all I know is that at this time of year, everyone ought to get themselves some pure Vermont Maple Syrup and taste a little gold.  Spring is coming, you better believe it!

 Come by Friday to review the work of a dozen or more Alaskan artists and see new and exciting work.  We will introduce Meriam Linder’s Converging Traditions which features antler, bone and bead.  There are new images by Catherine Joan Peterson as well.  Refeshments and door prize drawing.

 Join us as Pauline shares the secrets of her pressed botanical art.  She will have her flower presses with her and will be bringing several one of a kind and limited edition  pieces for this show.  We will have a full selection of her smaller framed and matted pieces available as well.  Come by to chat with Pauline, sample some selections from our 2010 Speciality Foods Collection and enter the drawing for a door prize.