Reindeer Sausage Soup

Fog in the trees near cataract cove.

More fog. There's a lot of fog.

 Sorry it's been so long since my last post. I don't have internet in my apartment and everything closes really early here. You would think that since the sun is always up places would stay open later, but no such luck.
Life keeps going on in the last frontier. Fourth of July was a blast. Shockingly I didn't take any
photos. Sometimes a gal just needs to take it all in with her own eyes.
Seward is home to the second oldest foot race in North American, the Mount Marathon race. (The Boston Marathon is the oldest foot race in North America). Before the days of radio communication, someone would go up to the top of Mount Marathon, 3022 feet (921 m) above sea level, and look out for ships coming into the harbor. When a ship would come in that person would run down the mountain so people could prepare for the ship. One winter, while drinking in bar, one man said he could run up the mountain and back in under an hour. They decided to wait until the 4th of July and put a hundred dollars on the bet. They ran up and back down in 62 minutes.
 From then on people from all over the world come to Seward for this race. The town that usually has a population of less than 5,000 grew to over 20,000 on the fourth. The streets were packed with tourists and street vendors. The race starts and ends in town and is 3.5 miles round trip. The runners practically climb up this mountain and I'm pretty sure they just fall down it. In fact I saw multiple people face plant and roll. One guy fell at the bottom of the mountain towards the end and dislocated his shoulder then proceeded to pop in back into place and take second in the race. Both he and the man in first place broke the record that had been around for over 30 years. First place ran it in just under 43 minutes. Which is insane.
All in all it was memorable fourth of July.

The glaciers get really blue on cloudy days.

Ice bergs the ship has to break though in order to get close to the glacier.

Seals chilling out in front of Anchor and Ogive glaciers.

Reindeer Sausage Soup

This is a hearty meat-and-vegetable soup. Reindeer sausage can be purchased by mail order through Alaskan meat companies. It is lean and spicy. If you cannot get the reindeer sausage, you can use any lean, spicy sausage in its place.

INGREDIENTS
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, or 1/2 teaspoon dried
1 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 teaspoons hot pepper sauce
1 bay leaf
8 cups homemade or canned beef stock
1 medium-sized green cabbage, coarsely shredded
2 large onions, peeled and thinly sliced
3 large carrots, peeled and sliced 1/2-inch thick
1 cup green beans, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup green peas
3 large potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 celery stalk, sliced 1/2-inch thick
1 pound Alaskan reindeer sausage, sliced 1/2-inch thick
1 cup sourdough bread croutons

Place the thyme, salt, hot pepper sauce, and bay leaf in a large saucepan. Pour in the beef stock. Stir well and place the pan over high heat. Bring the stock to a boil, stirring well.

Add the cabbage, onions, carrots, beans, peas, potatoes, and celery. Bring the soup back to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 40 minutes. Add the sausage and simmer for an additional 15 to 20 minutes.

Remove the soup from the heat, ladle into individual serving bowls or a soup tureen, and garnish with the sourdough croutons.

Makes 6 to 8 servings