He's going to WHAT!?!

Ryan is going to jump out of a helicopter.  I did not mention this yesterday, but during our stay in Jackson Hole, Ryan will spend one day heliskiing, but since he's a snowboarder, I guess it would be heliboarding.  Basically, this means, he will board a helicopter, they will fly him to various areas, and he will exit, and snowboard to the bottom.  The helicopter will then pick him up, and the process continues.  No need, to worry he will be with an instructor.  And, to answer your question, in case you were even thinking, NO, I will not be joining him.  Both my feet will be safely on the ground as I take part in a snowshoeing tour.

It would work best if I was a snowboarder, and participating, because it would make the weight restrictions must less restrictive.  The company gives weight restrictions for each person, they cannot weigh over a certain amount.  Ryan is close to the weight restriction, which I think is absolutely crazy, he's not a big guy, but then again, I have never been on a helicopter, so I don't know how it works.  But, I do know, Ryan wishes I would be joining him, because then he would have plenty of extra weight room since I am well under the weight restriction.  Needless to say, he has been watching his weight, and wants to have plenty of weight wiggle room.

Since our return from New Years, much to my delight we have been (mostly) vegetarian.  Yay!  For some time, I have been doing one vegetarian meal a week, but the past few weeks, we have been doing only one meat meal a week.  This was a multi-week culinary challenge.  It has gone very well, and as a result, I think we will continue.

It's not easy to be vegetarian in Novorossiysk, and still get adequate amounts of protein, and not gorge on carbs.  Below, you will see some of our favorite meals:

Ryan's new, signature dish.  Honey, apple, and cheese appetizer. 

Butternut Squash Soup with Quinoa, Spinach, and Goat Cheese Stuffed Peppers. 

Eggplant Parmesan with Spinach stuffed Mushrooms 

I reworked my Chicken Curry soup to Tofu Mushroom Curry Soup. 

A breakfast scramble with spinach, carrots, and ham.  Meat day.

Spinach and bell pepper enchiladas. 

No flour pancakes!
A great no carb breakfast of banana pancakes with peanut butter ricotta topping.

Ryan made this one.
He called it barbecue tofu flatbreads.
Do you see the message?  He's so sweet. 

Crab cakes with cilantro lime sauce. Meat day. 

I can't remember if I ever shared this, but the one thing I have never been able to make is (was) homemade pudding.  I have imported boxes, and boxes of Jello pudding.
The other day, I told Ryan I was going to make pudding for dessert.  His response, "Isn't that the one thing you can't make?"  I gave him the look, and said, "the JELLO kind!"
Well, I decided to give it another try.  With flashbacks to the previous failed attempts, I decided to add some whip cream and toffee pieces to hopefully cover the unfortunate pudding.  No need to, it was actually good!  Yay, I have finally conquered homemade pudding.  

Our bags are packed.  Ryan has all his snowboard gear ready to go.  I have pulled together as much warm clothing as possible. We are ready to go.  I am so excited for Ryan, he is finally going to complete his dream of heliskiing (heliboarding?)!!

When opposites attract...

Yesterday, I expressed my extreme dislike for cold, winter weather.  So this next sentence may come as a shock to you, this time next week we will be vacationing in a location that currently has a weather advisory that starts with the phrase, "a bitterly cold arctic airmass."  My husband greatly enjoys snowboarding, and if you want to snowboard, you must go where there's snow.  No, we will not be venturing to Sochi, (insert joke here about the Winter Olympics being held in tropical Sochi), we will be in Jackson Hole, Wyoming!

Usually I am the one doing happy dances all over the apartment before a vacation, checking the weather ten days in advance, making sure all plans are pulled together.  But this time, Ryan is the one acting like a kid a Christmas.  He goes to Jackson Hole's website daily to see how much snow they received in the last 24 hours, is frequently checking the weather, and making sure all his snowboarding excursions are set and finalized.  Do not misinterpret my last sentences, I am excited for this vacation, but my underlying fear of the cold seems to be putting a chill on my excitement.  In all honesty, I am very excited.  Everyone I have talked to, that has been to Jackson Hole simply loves it, and tells me it is a truly beautiful place.

Most days, Ryan will be off snowboarding, while I will be touring the National Parks inside heated Snow Coaches.  On our days together, we will be indulging in our adventurous sides with a day of dogsledding and a separate day of snowmobiling (Ryan driving, me holding on for dear life).  Ryan channeled his inner romantic and decided to begin and end our time in Jackson with a nice romantic experience.  Our first evening we have a sleigh ride scheduled, and our last evening, Valentine's Day, Ryan has made us reservations for a romantic dinner.  Speaking of romantic, I recently came across this article: America's Most Romantic Winter Destinations.  We are not staying at the suggested Rusty Parrot Lodge, but instead The Four Seasons Resort Jackson Hole.  That is one thing we are not opposite about, after our amazing stay in the Maldives, we both agree that The Four Seasons is the place to stay.

To end this post, when opposites attract:

A typical day in our home, Ryan "I'm hot!" Virginia "I'm cold!"

Ryan's favorite foods: meat and cheese.  Virginia's favorite foods: rabbit food (Ryan's term)

Virginia's OCD tendencies to have everything neat and organized.  Ryan's funny ways to cause Virginia to "have the shakes"

Who does this?!?!
Only someone with my same tendencies would understand why this gives me the shakes. 

Who does this?!?!
The other night we played Rumicub.  Each turn I took, I made sure to lay my tiles organized with groups in one area, and runs in another.  During one particular turn, Ryan decided to do this.  I was not paying attention to what he was doing, but then I noticed his grin, and he asked "are you shaking yet?" fortunately I was able to continue with the game, but I was not able to look at that particular area of the table.  

 In our case, when opposites attract, you get an amazing couple, a fantastic marriage, and the perfect balance.  I would not ask for anyone else to be my adventure partner, even if our next adventure takes us to a bitterly cold arctic airmass.

An addition to yesterday's post.  About halfway through the post I mentioned that I did not even think Ryan would read the entire post. I stand corrected, he did read all the way through.

When he got home from work and realized I blogged, he sat down to read it.  I warned him it was a long one, with no pictures.  After a couple seconds, he scrolled down to see how long it actually was.  To which he then shouted, "This is a novel, hold on, I have to take out my contacts, change into pajama pants, and get comfortable."  

A suggestion...

It's February!  I wonder if others have the same feelings about February as I do.  It's no longer the "holiday season," everyone has had their fill of winter, and it seems, to me, February is the month that we must endure, in order to make it to March, and the start of Spring!  If you have the same feelings as I do in regards to February, then you most likely are as little of a fan of winter as I am.

A bit off topic with that introduction, but it ultimately leads to my suggestion.  I find myself stuck indoors a lot during the winter months.  Anyone else? I greatly enjoy being outside, but my dislike for cold weather means I forego pretty much all outdoor activities.  A favorite indoor activity year round that takes a front row seat during the winter is reading.  I have never been much of a television fan, and with our life in Russia, it is so much easier to pick up a book, or Kindle, and get lost in a book, then to battle with multiple devices, and the internet to watch our Sling Box.  Recently, I have devoured a few books that I felt the need to share, for my fellow readers, or winter haters that find themselves stuck indoors.

I signed up for daily Kindle deals on Amazon.  It was a long time ago, but it is relative to the books I mention below.  If you own a Kindle, and have not signed up, I highly recommend it.  Most days the deals are not worth the $1.99, but on occasion a book comes along that is either on my wish list, or sounds interesting enough to buy with the risk of losing a couple dollars to a boring book.  I have yet to purchase a book I did not like.  And, when you go through books as quickly as I do, the cost is well worth it.  All the books I am about to recommend were Kindle Daily Deals.  I have not checked recently, but their price may still be quite cheap.

I will not continue to ramble on, if you have made it this far in the post then you must be an avid reader and may take my suggestions.  But, for others that are slowly losing their patience with me (I am sure Ryan has not even made it this far in the post) I will not give a long summary of each book.  You can choose to go on Amazon and browse for yourself.  So, at last, my reading suggestion:

Two books by Jojo Moyes:
Me Before You.  I had this book on my Wish list for some time, and when it came up as a daily deal, I knew it was meant to be purchased.  Definitely not a happy, go lucky story (I believed I cried a some points), but I devoured it.  I could not put it down.
The Girl You Left Behind. After devouring the previous book, when this when came up as a daily deal, I quickly purchased.  Another great book.

Two books by Sarah Lark:
In the Land of the Long White Cloud.  One of my first purchases after signing up for the daily deals.  I remember it taking a while to warm up, but once it did, I could not put the book down.  This went on for some time considering the 700+ pages in the book.  But, when you think of the book length, hours of entertainment while reading, I definitely got my money's worth.
Song of the Spirits.  One of my most recent purchases.  When I saw this come up, and read it was the continuation of In the Land of the Long White Cloud I quickly clicked on the "buy now" button.  Once again, a long book, but worth every single page.  I actually just finished it today, and I went to see if she has a third book in the saga, but sadly I did not find one.

My three main sources of entertainment during the day are reading, working out, and cooking.  Basically, the last two cancel each other out in terms of calories, now if only reading burned more calories…..In all seriousness, I love to read, and would love to hear any book suggestions you may have.  A wish I have for our next work assignment is a larger expat community, and a book club.  Yeah, that was a definite nerdy statement…...