FIRST KAYAK RACE!

Two of my colleagues and myself are officially registered for the Great Race that takes place in Auburn. A three-person Triathlon! One will be starting out the race by running 10K, then hand off to the biker 19.5 mi, then finally I will kayak 4 miles to the finish line.

I hope to do some training at camp next week. This will be my first race since Elementary School. 

Recently purchased a kayak skirt and kayak life vest. Will have to try out the new gear as well! 

BIKE TLC!

This evening I had the urge to do a little maintenance on my new bike (bought used) and my old mountain bike. The new bike needed some wiping down and buffing, chain lubing, and foot pedal exchange. Everything but the foot pedal exchange was done because I still have to figure out how to do it.

The mountain bike simply needed a little more lube on the chain. That was quick and easy. 

Both bikes are almost ready for a trip up to the ADK for some camping, kayaking, road cycling, mountain biking, and of course hiking! At times a catch myself day dreaming about being up there already. The Adirondack Park is simply an awesome place to be! This is the first trip up to ADK this year and hopefully not the last. 

CHICKEN SLAUGHTER!!

This year my wife and I decided to raise some organic chickens. It wasn't a difficult task because my parents have 30-50 of their own birds, so what was an additional 12. We bought 15 chicks 3 months ago and we lost 3 in the natural order of life due to one or another illness.

Three months later these meat birds were ready to be slaughtered or butchered whatever is the nicer word for killing chickens. It turned out to be a great cool day in July, high 60's/low 70's and cloudy. My father and I started nice and early butchering 4 at time. Then plucking the feathers by hand, then gutting them and eventually I cut up and packaged the meat. I though since I had only 12 chickens that it would only take a total of 3-4 hrs for process. But I was in for a surprise. It turned out to be an 8 hr ordeal. The cutting up and packaging process did take up more time because it was my first time doing it.

Overall the it was a good experience. We will have to see how long it will take to eat all the meat for a family of 4. And we will also have to wait and see if this is something that we will do again in the future.

Overall expenses were about $3-5 per chicken, chicken food for 3 months (unless you grow your own; my parents have their own corn), and time to feed them then butcher.

I am excited that I have plenty of organic meat to smoke and enjoy eating in the months to come.

AMAZING GOURMET BURGER!

Recently after watching The Chew show, I wanted to try out the grilled onion burger by Michael Symon. I really enjoyed making it because it was simple and delicious.

This was a new style of making burger for me, on the grill pan. I purchased my grill pan at Home Goods. I made sure it was big enough to fit a few burgers just in case we had company over sometime. 

The ground beef required only salt and pepper for seasoning and then made into balls to fit the palm of the hand. Set those aside. Caramelize some onions on the grill pan and separate out into small piles. Place the burger meat on the onions and flat them with a spatula. They can be thinner or thicker depending on the size of your bun. Cook the meat for 2 min or so and then flip. After you flip them the onions will be on top and you can place a slice of cheese if you wish.

Spread a thin layer of mayo on the bun and grill them directly with low heat. By the time the buns are done, the meat will finish cooking. Remove the buns and then take the burger and place into the bun. I like to have some pickles and ketchup on mine. Eat immediately and you will probably ask for more! 

ADK 46ER-TO-BE

A few years ago I was inspired to conquer the 46 ADK high peaks and I had made a goal to, Lord willing, do all 46 by age 46. On one of the trips to Lake Placid, my wife and I discovered patches of the all of the high peaks. So I decided to purchase a few of the ones that I have hiked. Originally I had planned to purchase the patches as I hike the peaks. Later I came across the patches sold in bulk, so I decided to get them all at once. Then it occurred to me that these patches are just going to sit in my desk and only be displayed when I have hiked the mountains.

After some thinking, planning, and some more planning, I decided to design a display canvas to hold all of the patches. It was fun but it took longer than anticipated. However, I really like the end result  and its hanging in my office. So now its even more inspiring because I see it everyday, several times a day.

I keep track of the peaks that I hiked at peakery.com. The link to my page is on the right column under websites.

MORE PADDLING OPPORTUNITIES

After reading the July/August issue of the Adirondack Explorer, it was a exciting to see the great push for more water activities--whitewater rafting! Quite honestly I have never gone whitewater rafting and both times we had scheduled a trip we cancelled for different reasons. But with a more positive spine on water activities also means potential opportunities for kayaking. 

Recently New York State purchased the Finch/ Pruyn Lands which includes 21,200 acres of prime land and water. This property also includes the Essex Chain Lakes that will be great for kayaking/ canoeing, etc. The big debate going on higher up is how much of the motorized vehicles/ boats should be allowed in the area. We will find out in the coming months on the decisions made. 

Had great photos this issue! 

ON MARCY FOR THE FIRST TIME!

In the summer of 2003, I was part of a church youth group that ventured out into the wild outdoors. We camped out at the lean-to's in Marcy Dam. The dam really made a nice place to hang out, but since then things have changed drastically. Food had to be rigged and hung over the dam so that bears wouldn't get to them. Now there are bear canisters for storage, which makes it all that easier for hikers and impossible complex for bears.

Looking back at my first hike in the ADK, I marvel at how things didn't go wrong. The 4 of us that hiked Marcy had 5% knowledge of the idea of hiking. We didn't have the proper footwear and clothing to start with. We didn't anticipate the temperature to drastically change from Marcy Dam to Marcy Summit. We didn't travel with a map to our name either. Thank God for the DEC Trail Markers!! We didn't have enough water for the complete trip. After eating salty beef jerky and trail mixes, the thirst level sky rockets. We didn't have the slightest idea what we do in case of an emergency. Come to think of it we didn't even record our names in the log book.

But some how, we made it to the summit without any tribulation. The hike to the summit was new and exciting but the weather at top was far from it. Nearing the summit we realized that we were in clouds and it started to drizzle. The wind was picking up with every foot, so we decided to take out our flimsy panchos that we purchased in Walmart for $3. We located the plaque acknowledging that we were at the highest point in New York State. Took summit photos and decided to try a new route for the descent. I recall 2 of us looking at a ranger's map the day before and seeing that there is another trail on the opposite end of the summit. We didn't recognize that it was also that much longer.

On the descent, the clouds thinned out and we are dry again. Parts of the exposed rock were extremely slippery and one of the guys took a nice slide for a few yards, giving all of us an adrenaline rush. We appreciated the interesting trail system more and more as we hiked down the mountain. We made a right between 2 mountains, later to learn that we hiked through Avalanche Pass. It was amazing to see the amount of timber that lay at the base of the mountain. We made it to camp before dinner and felt a great sense of accomplishment.

Total time: 8 hrs. 5 hr ascent; 3 hr descent.

Later after doing some research I learned that we had ascended via the VonHoevenberg Trail and descended via the trail to Lake Colden and through Avalanche Pass.

TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY!

This summer 2013, has been 10 years since I had ventured out into the ADK. The interesting part is that I would have probably never enjoyed the mountains so early in my life if it wasn't for my adventurous friends at the church youth group.

In the summer of 2003, 4 curious individuals in the youth did some research about the high peaks and decided to drive out there and see if for themselves. My younger sister, Oksana, was among the group of 3 guys Vitaly, Ruslan, and Roman. Well adventure they did find when they attempted their first hike in the middle of a rain storm. To this day we still can't figure out which trail they were on or what peak they had attempted to climb. To make the long story short, the trail that they were on crossed a rushing mountain river several times. They crossed it several times going up the trail but realized that it was becoming more and more difficult to cross it because of the persistent rain. Later I found out that my sister was almost swept away if one of the guys didn't grab her hand in time. 

Since that time, the church youth group camped at Marcy Dam and on that trip I climbed the first peak in the ADK--MT. Marcy. Why not start with the highest? Since then I have hiked 14 more peaks and  became inspired to hike the remaining 31. 

I live a lovely 4 hrs away from the peaks and can't hike as often as I would like but I try to get up there at least 2 times a year and hike a few at a time. 

My adventure buddies have been: Andrey M, Ruslan P, Andrey T, Vitaly B.

Ever since I got married 6 years ago, my favorite traveling companion has been my wife, Lesya. She is equally as adventurous as myself and has become even more so since we got married. She is a great leader in the hike, and I just follow her to the summit. She has hiked 8 peaks with me over the past few years.

HAPPY JULY 4th from THE PEAKS!

A few years ago, when I was hiking Mt. Algonquin we came across this flag at the summit. It was a perfect set up for a great picture.

COOKING CHICKEN IN CUPCAKE FORMS!

So on first thought, whats so hard about placing chicken into cupcake forms? Myron describes using shears to remove the knuckle on each end of the chicken thighs in order to make it the perfect size for the form. However, I paid a visit to the local grocery store which had Organic Chicken thighs already cut to the perfect size. This way I didn't have to waste any chicken and saved some time. Trim any access skin so that only a nice sized up pieced of skin covers the top.

CUPCAKE MOLDS (FORMS): I bought 2 molds that hold 6 each. Then I used a drill to make holes in the bottom for the grease and juices to drain.

Heat a smoker to 300 degrees F.

I made my own chicken rub which included powdered sugar, kosher salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and smoked paprika. I simply placed the thighs into the rub and covered both sides. Then the thighs were placed into the molds SKIN SIDE down.

A drizzle of chicken broth was poured into the molds as well. Try not to pour it directly onto the chicken so the rub doesn't get washed off.

I used Peach wood chips for the smoke. Cook uncovered for 1.5 hrs.

Removed from smoker and flip each piece, this time with the skin up and return back to smoker for 45 min. The pieces are small and they cook relatively fast. Smoked chicken will be more moist then grilled or fried chicken.

The night before I had made a Hickory Sauce to use as a glaze. It was my first time making a bbq sauce and it was enjoyable. The sauce includes the following ingredients: onion powder, garlic powder, ketchup, smoked paprika, cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, honey, maple syrup, kosher salt, black pepper. All this was mixed and heated in a sauce pan until hot but not boiled. It has a sweet and tangy taste. My guest loved it a lot!! I had made some extras and will use it with other meals.

Remove the chicken again from the smoker and glaze the thighs with the hickory sauce and place back into the smoker for 30 min. so that the sauce can caramelize to the skin.

Finally remove the chicken and serve immediately. Great recipe Myron Mixon!!

I had some extra rub left over, an empty shelf in the smoker, and more people coming to the party so I decided to make some smoked chicken thighs but this time whole pieces. Also turn out really tasty.