These stacks of mushrooms grabbed my attention while hiking up towards Mirror Lake in Yosemite last November. I possibly would have lingered quite a bit longer if my cousin hadn’t charged on ahead. Also, there were a lot of amazing things to see on this trip- many that I regrettably didn’t feel skilled enough to capture well with my camera. Maybe next time. I will be happy to return, hike farther in, and see more of the park.
Mt. Ulriken, Norway | April, 2016
Gerald Young. Yosemite, CA. November, 2016
I remember thinking as a young kid that I didn’t want to lose my sense of wonder. That it was important to me to be as adventurous, curious, and brave as I was as a child. I wanted to hold on to that same person inside of me that would run out without fear towards the farthest boulder in the ocean, or climb as high as I could go. I try to remind myself of that person as much as I can. I have these small moments of felling like I desperately miss that girl who would leap without looking- I’m worried that something in me has fundamentally changed and now I step more carefully on to those sharp rocks, and maybe only climb as far as I can reach where someone else might also be able to reach me. At the same time, I do know that I am still that girl. I do still take big risks and trust (or just flat out hope) that I will land true. Sure there are more synapses developed in the part of my brain that tell me that I should probably look before I jump. I’m a little more cautious with my safety than I was as a reckless, fearless child. What I am leaping towards isn’t necessarily as straightforwards as the next big rock, the next highest branch. But ultimately, I often still jump. Sometimes with what feels like both hands tied behind my back. I leap even when it’s towards a lot of uncertainty, new places in my life both physically and metaphorically. I think one of the biggest differences in how I leap is that I am afraid more often. I am not fearless. It may look like it from the outside in, but I try to not be reckless. Yes I jump, but I think about it a lot before I do. A big part of that is that I am more aware of how my actions affect others. I am more considerate of the people who may worry for my safety. Who may end up coming after me. I think that over the years I have developed a fierce sense of gratitude for those people in my life. Who let me run on the rocks, but were behind me (probably freaking out because they had at least a bit of sense where I did not), and willing to jump after me if I needed. I am so grateful. Dear Dad, thank you for 31 years of letting me jump. 31 years of climbing after me. Happy 61st Birthday. I love you.
Doubling up on the photos today, since I missed yesterday due to several technical difficulties. We’re staying on the same trip as the last photo I posted. I had just arrived back to California, and I picked up my cousin from the airport. We drove the nutty mountain roads in the dark to Murphys, California, and then later to Yosemite with our families. An unexpected and lovely trip to welcome me back to my home state. I got to see half dome in person for the first time!
Angie Yribe. Yosemite, Ca. November, 2016
There are too many things to say about this woman. She is truly the person who I love the most in my life. She has taught me about unconditional love in the best way, by showing it to all who enter her world. I was so happy to enter Yosemite Valley for the first time in my life with her by my side. More love, every day. Thank you Nana.
Sam Yribe. Mirror Lake, CA. November 2016
This woman never ceases to amaze me. So brave, wild, wonderful. Born three days apart from me, she is a great love of mine that I am so happy to have in my life. She is crazy courageous, strong, and kind. She makes me smile, laugh, pushes my limits, often injures me (okay, only sometimes). I want to be as truly loving and full of life as she is. Now that we’re back in the same time zone, I look forward to more adventures with my cousin Sam. We shall continue to make our parents cringe in fear for our safety and our families shake their heads at our antics. Thank you, my partner in crime, for 31 years of love and genuine exploration of the world we live to explore and make a better place. I love you.
Okay, I’m still considering this Day 2- even though it’s after midnight. Only because I just got home from work and to me it’s still the same day. Today’s image I may have posted a version of before. I have edited it again now with different software. Even after editing it again- each time I see it, I want very much to improve my photography skills. So that if I ever get an opportunity like this again, I can capture it in a way that is closer to what I saw and wanted to convey.
Aurora Borealis Bergen, Norway March 6, 2016
After service one evening, a handful of us walked outside to see the Nothern Lights over the lake. AMAZING! Right? I didn’t think I would get the chance to see them this trip. I was too far south in Bergen. It was truly an unusual phenomenon, to have the Aurora hit the atmosphere at such a low longitude. The best part was that I had two friends with me who were even more photo nerds than I, willing to geek out together and sit on the frozen ground for what I think was at least a half an hour- trying to get a good shot. Having the company there taking those photos with me-made it more than just an amazing sight, it made it a very special memory. I would say that Justin’s photo from that night is still my favorite. In any case, this one is mine.
Remember that quote?
“Dream big. Start small. But most of all, start.” – Simon Sinek
I haven’t given myself time to forget it yet. I’ve decided to give myself small goals. One at a time. So here we go.
First small goal- to edit and share photos from my last year of traveling and exploring- at least one photo a day. Just to make it seems less intimidating, I’m going to start with just one a day for a week. I will try to share a little something with each photo. Even if all it is, is a caption.
USF Verftet, May 2016
I went to Bergen as a starting point, before I went to Eid. This was where I would have a week in a restaurant where I’d only heard of the Chef through our mutual friends. Then something amazing happened. I fell in love with a community of people. I became a part of something that sucked me in and made me do everything I could to stay. Bergen, and the community I found there, became home base for the 6 months that I spent in Denmark and Norway. I tried to stay longer. I wasn’t successful, and I still find myself a little sad thinking about these amazing people and how much I miss them. A little bit before I flew back to New York, I had the opportunity to spend an afternoon with Irmelin and Anne Kim, a girls night. And just so much fun. I do want to visit Bergen again. But the thing that pulled me in the most was the people. We’re all a bit scattered around now, as is what happens in the restaurant industry. Maybe in this case – to a little bit more of an extreme with such an international community. I like to think that it only furthers my desire to continue my travels. If only to spend more time with each of them.
I’m not kidding. Really. But I’ll get to that in a moment.
Leon has this way of explaining things last minute. I imagine that running a business while working as a Chef at a local hotel means that there isn’t a lot of room for extraneous details. I arrive in Måløy by ferry late one night, left Bergen on one of the rare sunny days of my stay. Leon picked me up and we drove the 40 minutes to Eid, catching up, chatting. There’s a lot of “Oh, and did I mention…” . He tells me that we’re doing an interview with a local paper the next day. He tells me that there’s a party the following Saturday (in three days) for the Bakery, and I have something nice to wear, right? [I didn’t.] Oh by the way, did I tell you… etc. It’s pretty amazing, and great. Kept me surprised, that’s for sure.
Now back to the Viking King. We’re driving into Eid, and pass a big construction site on the fjord edge. Leon tells me in his by the way fashion that there’s a viking king buried in a mound behind the bakery. Buried with his ship as is tradition. The town is putting more earth into the fjord. Building out into it for more space as they have done in the past. And the structure that they are working on is going to be a museum for the Viking finds in Eid. I’m not sure what I was expecting to see, but literally a mound of dirt in parking lot behind the bakery wasn’t it. 
Leon said that Khang didn’t believe him. I laughed, but honestly I couldn’t blame him. It looks like some of the mounds my dad used to create with his tractor so we could ride motorcycles on new trails every year or so. No markings, no pomp and circumstance. It’s just there. It’s just so Norwegian. By the way there’s this huge archeological find, but we just know it’s there and live our lives around it.
I even hesitate to post this on the off chance that Leon was just screwing with me. Still, the point is that there’s a difference in the way that people think in Norway compared to the states. I’m no expert, so I could be completely wrong. But there are a lot of things that hold value in the U.S. that simply don’t in a country where religion hasn’t really held value in a long time. There are things that don’t hold value in a society that isn’t based on capitalism. Of course there are more influences than those two things, and it’s much more complex than a few sentences in a quick blog can express. My point is there are a lot of little differences in the way that our societies look at the world. And it’s fascinating to me. I have been spending a fair amount of time noticing the way that people in different places are still very much the same, how people are people with the same emotions and general wants and needs. Still, the ways in which we diverge are also something I have been contemplating. In social expectations, in mindsets about how the world should be. Ideas of how to behave and react. It’s an education for myself. Makes me question my own ideas of how I think. Or if not question, then to be able to reexamine them. It’s not a bad thing, opening up your mind to possibilities. To different views. Suddenly the world is bigger and smaller and a whole lot more and less complex, all at the same time. I plan to keep my eyes and ears open, understand a little more before I can tell you what I’ve learned.
I hope that you might have the chance to experience that there is a world that someone else lives in and sees. The same world that you currently occupy. That there is more than one way to live in it, to value it. I hope that you might have the chance to open your eyes and live side by side with that world. Maybe, merge a bit of yours should you desire.
Because there is a Viking King buried in the parking lot, and we’re going to live in that world that he once occupied. I love the idea that I could live in my world with respect for his. I love the idea that really, it’s all one and the same.
I had a list. A list of items I was coming up to Eid (Norfjoreid, Norway) to make that I thought was fairly ambitious. Over the last few months when Leon and I messaged back and forth the list grew. Still, I thought that I could make it work. Well, I hoped. It has grown, this list, even more since I got here. We’ve made a few things I wasn’t expecting to get to at all, and left a few things that I was excited about behind. I’ve loved the process, and I wish I had more time, more of me to make more of these fun things. It’s in this last week that we’re stuck trying to play catch up to a demand we weren’t expecting that I’m having to pare back down to what feel like the essentials. Or the “best sellers we’ve had so far”. Slowing down a bit on new things. Ramping up on everything we (and that we is mostly me) make, getting ready for Christmas shoppers.
The Hot Cocoa Pops that Chef Leon asked me to make have been the sneaky guys on the shelf, getting sold when I least expect. Almond brittle far outsells them, but I like them just the same. I intend to make time to keep some on the shelves of Minibakeriet for stocking stuffers. They are pretty tasty. Also very simple to make. And I promised I would post a recipe, so that my mom and my cousins (and anyone who wanted, of course) could make them at home.
I want to mention that I have adjusted a recipe I found from The Giver’s Log to suit my personal tastes and the bakery’s needs. I have always loved chocolate that is spicy and rich, and the darker the better. If it was me, I would double the amount of chocolate on one pop, or use two for one 8oz glass of milk, top it off with more spices- stir it with a cinnamon stick even. A good thick sipping chocolate. But I wasn’t just making this for me. So we’ll go with the version I made for the bakery. Something that appeals to even the kiddos, and still evokes in me memories of the Ibarra chocolate I love and have no chance of finding here in Norway. (Mom, mail me Ibarra!)
Spiced Hot Chocolate Pops
Ingredients:
You will also need: Wooden spoons or popsicle sticks, a silicon mold- a silicon Ice cube tray will work great, and a piping bag.
Method for pops:
A note on Chocolate: In the bakery I use Valrhona or Callebaut. High quality chocolate is best, not “melting chips” or chocolate with a lot of added oil. Valrhona’s 72% is one of my favorites. It may also be harder to get, and a little pricey. Guittard, Scharffenberger, Cacao Barry are all good options. Still, my best recommendation is to use something that you like. And if you’re saving a penny or two: the Trader Joe’s Dark chocolate will work just fine.
A note on Spices: The freshest spices will have the best flavors. This is especially true of ground spices. The ideal is to use a smaller amount of fresh spices, rather than worry about the overall mixture becoming gritty. Cinnamon, cayenne or whatever chile mix that might be available are all good options, adjust to fit personal tastes.
To Make Hot Chocolate:
Heat 1 cup/8oz/2.4 dL of Whole Milk just to a simmer. (I really love using a dash of Heavy Cream with my milk). Stir in chocolate pop until melted. Keep spoon around to make sure you get all of that chocolate goodness from the bottom of cup.
Variations:
For Peppermint Chocolate: Omit Cinnamon and Cayenne, finish melted chocolate with a 2-3 small drops of Peppermint Oil before adding in dry ingredients. Coat finished pops with powdered sugar OR sprinkle crushed peppermint candy on top of pops before they set.
For Marshmallow Chocolate: Finish pops with mini mallows before set. Make your own if you can. Fresh Marshmallows are fantastic.
For (ALL OF THE POSSIBILITIES): Add what you like. Keep in mind that a few drops of essential oils, extracts, liquor should be okay. BUT too much liquid makes the chocolate seize and discolor. This is a best as a dry ingredient recipe. Add other flavors in as toppings for best results.
A note to my cousins and my mom and anyone who wants to make these: I’m happy to answer questions. I hope you make them with your monkeys and take photos. And send me the photos. And drink lots of Ibarra for me.
Love,
Amanda
This One is Mine 