The 2014 American Birkebeiner ski marathon will forever be known as the Death March (not literally, no one died during it). Eighteen inches of snow Thursday night before Saturday’s race wreaked havoc for organizers, groomers, plowers, travelers, volunteers, and everyone else in the area—even a 4-wheel drive 4Runner struggles with a foot and a half of wet sticky frozen water!  Eighteen inches of snow also created a soft and punishingly slow course (despite the careful grooming), and this meant

  Racing is a curious thing.  To the observer it makes no sense at all—people spend loads of money to travel to a location, sleep on floors (or wherever), rise early after not sleeping well, venture out into often uncomfortable conditions, stress and adrenaline courses through their veins, then they push themselves beyond their limits until weary, cramping, frostbit or nauseous….this has never has looked very fun to me.   But there is something about pushing, something about stretching beyond

  Sunrise at the Sand Point Cabin.      .   Warmth on a sled. .   Corn.  Soaked in the mineral lime.  Dried.  Ground.  Mixed with a sweetener and cinnamon. . Atole is generally made from toasted masa (corn hominy flour soaked in lime) or ground rice grains and mixed with hot water or milk, cinnamon and sugar. It is often served at celebrations like Day of the Dead and Christmas. Pinole comes from the Nahuatl word pinolli for cornmeal.

  A giant snow egg on the Hemlock Trail at ABR.     Snow angels outside of the sauna.     And the awesome wood stove responsible for the snow angels… .  . It’s been a hearty season here in the Upper Peninsula.  Lots of snow and sub zero temperatures—rough as it may be, it feels right when winter is as it should be.  Today it was 16 degrees above 0 and it felt like a heat wave.  And Emerald Ash

  Half pack—not looking so bad.   To make things more interesting, in the wee hours of the morning the day before we left I came down with a stomach/intestinal bug. This made for a very slow day of packing that was not planned to be a slow day…which spilled over into a late departure the next day.  Life and skiing are both about adjusting to stay in balance, so we did, and let go of plans.   The lucky

  This may sound a little like ‘stone soup’ or just a way to use up loads of onions in a pie but it really is scrumptious, summer or winter.   These tangy squares will be our travel food—snacking in the car or popping it in the oven to heat as we unpack the hundreds of pounds of gear and food into the home-base cabin.  It seems fitting to eat this caraway-sour-cream-onion pie in heart of Old Bohemian northern Wisconsin.

  Hot soup in the cold days of January—it’s never a bad idea.       We are knee deep in the process of prepping and amassing supplies for the annual trek north.  Pulling skis out of hibernation for waxing, dragging out sleeping bags and the camping stove, changing oil on the vehicle, finding catsitters, taking inventory of canned and frozen foods so I can make the menu plans for the cabins, and cooking piles of dishes to be frozen

  Recently a friend lent to me the cookbook Fäviken by Magnus Nilsson from Phaidon press.  I thought it was a sweet gesture to pass along this book but I didn’t understand why she thought of me until I began reading it.  Holy mama, it’s a gem after my own heart.   Fäviken Magasinet is a 14-seat restaurant in what had been a small remote agricultural hamlet of northern Sweden, surrounded by thousands of acres of wilderness and bogs.  Run by Magnus Nilsson

    Eat Good Luck for your New Year!   There was an idyllic snow on Christmas eve, and after walking home from a Norwegian Jule dinner on quiet streets in the falling flakes, we awoke to more snow and a perfect day for a beginning-of-season ski on that slippery powder.  As we skied through the woods we watched a gorgeous orange sunset through dark silhouettes of bare trees—but I forgot to take a camera!  So no photos from me,

  Nearly everyone who eats this deep orange treat asks for the recipe, it is yet another dish that will convince even the anti-yam-ites to change sides and join my Orange-Love Camp.  The original recipe was from Scott’s family and has seen adaptations along the way, the most recent alteration being to smoke the yams to give it extra depth.  It is of course delicious without the smoking, but occasionally it’s fun to do something different.       I