Cover each pan with a tea towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 45 minutes to an hour. If your kitchen is really warm you’ll want to rotate some of your pans into a cooler spot to control the rise. I like to let them rise in the refrigerator overnight to bake for breakfast. An overnight rise also works well for frozen dough; take the rolls out of the freezer before bed and let them thaw and rise on your counter.
About 15 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 350°F and add cup flour to the mixture reserved for the streusel topping. Work it together with your fingers and then top each roll with a - to 1-teaspoon-sized knob, depending on the size of the rolls. Some topping will ooze off the sides as the buns bake. Ideally you want to keep most of it mounded on top.
Bake in the centre of the oven until golden brown, 25–30 minutes.
Makes 5 dozen cinnamon buns.
Scaled-back ingredients to yield 2 dozen cinnamon buns:
For the dough
2 cups water // 1 cup large-flake rolled oats // cup skim milk powder // 2 tablespoons butter // 1 teaspoons salt // cup honey // 5 to 6 cups all-purpose flour // cup warm water // teaspoon sugar // 1 tablespoon active dry yeast //
For the filling and topping
pound butter at room temperature // 2 cups packed brown sugar // 2 tablespoons cinnamon // 2 tablespoons poppy seeds (optional) // 1 cup large flake rolled oats // cup all-purpose flour
FRUIT NUT RINGS
Fruit Nut Rings
My Cinnamon Buns dressed up with fruit and nuts then baked in the shape of a wreath. This recipe yields two rings so I like to play around with the way I decorate the tops. Our Christmas morning wreath in Canada House and the one we shared with the rest of the camp were both decorated with dough cut-outs representing each of the volunteers, the VIEW team and the Russians. A simpler version is to score the ring with decorative slashes and sprinkle it with coarse sugar. A spectacular variation worth trying is a Fruit Nut Twist.
1 batch Honey Oatmeal Bread dough made through the first rising // pound butter at room temperature // 2 cups packed brown sugar // 2 tablespoons cinnamon // 1 teaspoon nutmeg // 1 teaspoon vanilla // cup currants // 1 small orange // 1 cup dried apricots // cup walnut pieces // cup large-flake rolled oats // 2 tablespoons poppy seeds // 1 egg // 1 teaspoon water // 2 teaspoons coarse sugar
Cream the butter and brown sugar in a large bowl then stir in the cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. Put the currants in a small bowl, cover with warm water and set them aside to plump. Measure and prepare all the other ingredients: juice and zest the orange; chop the apricots; drain the currants. Add them to the butter and sugar, mix well, then stir in the walnuts, oats and poppy seeds. Set the filling aside until the dough has doubled in size.
When the dough has completed its first rise turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, punch it down and divide it into two equal portions. Knead each piece a few turns, shape into uniform balls and set aside to rest, covered, while you grease your pans. A 10-inch springform, a Bundt pan or an angel food cake pan all work nicely.
To form your rings, roll out a ball of dough into a large rectangle, about 20 by 11 inches, on a floured surface. If you are planning to decorate the top with cut-outs you should start with a larger rectangle and set aside the scraps of dough to use later. Spread half of the filling (around 2 cups) over the dough, pressing it in as you go.
Starting on the long side, roll up the dough like a jelly roll. Pinch the seam to seal together and gently roll the dough to make it more uniform. Place seam side down in a prepared pan and pinch the ends together to seal. Cover with a tea towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 45 minutes to an hour.
I like to make the second ring right away. If your kitchen is warm and you find the second ring is rising too quickly, put it into the fridge and take it out just as the first ring is going into the oven.
Fruit Nut Twist
To decorate the ring with cut-outs, roll out the scraps you’ve reserved about 20 minutes before baking. Cut into desired shapes using a knife or cookie cutters. Moisten the back of each cut-out with a little water and gently press onto the ring.
About 15 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 350°F and whisk 1 egg with 1 tablespoon of water to make a glaze. Gently brush it over the rings.
For decorative slashes use a very sharp blade to score the ring just before baking. Sprinkle with coarse sugar after you have brushed on the glaze.
Bake until golden brown, 55–65 minutes. If the cut-outs are browning too quickly cover with a bit of foil. Run a knife around the edge of the pans as the rings cool on racks.
Makes two rings, each yielding about 16 slices.
To make a Fruit Nut Twist
Place the roll seam side down on your work surface and cut it in half lengthwise. Keeping the cut sides up, twist the two strands of dough together and place into the prepared pan. Pinch the ends together to seal. Cover with a clean tea towel and set aside to rise. Follow the baking instruction as above.
A radiant turret lit by the midnight midsummer sun, Frank Hurley. 1911–1914
{A radiant turret lit by the midsummer midnight sun / Call no. PXD 15836}
“Many sweet memories crowd on me as I lay in my bag meditating the last day of the year. Home & faces and places & of our present position that one cannot altogether regard as sweet. Drifting about on an ice floe & 18.9 miles from nearest known land. Still, to apply our old sledging motto, “It might be much worse.” We have plenty of good grub & with the coming warm season & subsequent dissipation of the ice are enabled to greet with cheery aspects the New Year 1916.”
—Frank Hurley, December 31, 1915
CLEANING A CONTINENT
Carol
If you want to inspire young people to preserve Antarctica thirty years from now, you’ve got to have a great story to show that you’ve already been doing that.
—Sir Robert Swan, 2012
By 1995 everyone knew earth had a garbage problem. In Antarctica waste doesn’t decompose. The Antarctic Treaty devoted the continent to peace and science. It also banned nuclear testing and radioactive material dumping. The Treaty’s additional Madrid Protocol (entered into force in 1998) set standards for human activity, instructing nations to manage waste, protect the environment and conserve flora and fauna.
Lena, our Russian liaison officer at Bellingshausen had previously worked at a cleanup at Novolazarevskaya station in Queen Maud Land.
We had no idea another cleanup was going to happen or if it was already being planned when I visited the Russians in St. Petersburg to plan the VIEW Foundation project. However several months after we departed Bellingshausen, polar explorer Sir Robert Swan took 35 young volunteers from 25 nations to start what became a long-term cleanup of Bellingshausen with the Russians.
Swan returned with youth groups from 1996 until 2000 to clean and in 2002 removed 1,500 tons of solid waste and rubbish for recycling in Uruguay. This was the largest Antarctic cleanup ever. Swan also helped develop a waste management plan and a renewable-energy-powered education facility and continues collaborative cleanup efforts today.
The 30 or so countries with Antarctic bases report their environmental activities including remediation, debris removal and water and waste management. Independent groups and international inspection teams monitor compliance with the Antarctic Treaty, including that of tourist operations. Despite progress and innovations, some countries still must do more to comply.
Russia highlighted their cleanup efforts at the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting in 2002. “The first experience of cooperation with non-government organization was acquired in 1995–96 summer season when the Canadian ecological View Foundation worked at Bellingshausen . . . As a result 20 fuel drums of small waste and 500 meters of old fuel hoses were removed out of Antarctica.”
Resource extraction in Antarctica might be difficult logistically and politically but it’s not unthinkable that countries, including Russia, might try. Hopefully by 2
041 sustainable technologies will replace dependency on hydrocarbons and we will have long realized the urgency to change our destructive footprint on the planet. During our time with our Russian colleagues and the volunteers, it was crystal clear that human relations were invaluable when trying to turn words into action.
SIXTEEN GRANDFATHERS
JANUARY 2–15, 1996
{Sandy Nicholson}
Tonight the east wind is blowing up a winter-like summer storm.
JANUARY 2, 1996
WTCamp 3. Only two volunteers this time and as they say, less is more. I really like these two, but poor Lena, Sean and John are struggling to keep them motivated in this constant wind and drizzle. It’s hard to build a team when staff outnumbers the volunteers.
Highlights: Much excitement leading up to New Year’s. Running errands anywhere in camp an occupational hazard as holiday rations have been distributed. Coaxed—no pulled—in for “chut” “chut” (a wee bit of) vodka, chocolate and fruit with the camp elders as I passed by Sergey’s office, and then again at Diesel. Yummy Diesel room fish—Notothenia (rock cod).
New Year’s Eve potluck with the Russians. I brought Mexican and served mai tais with glass tubes Dima found in the lab to use as straws. Enduring images of the guys sipping from fresh pineapples and struggling to construct their fajitas as I coached them. I’m becoming even more attached to these men. Feel so fortunate to be part of it all. Raucous singing throughout the night almost as if they’d forgotten Lena and I were there. John and I guess Sean think otherwise. I feel like I’m holding my own so I don’t know what to make of the suggestion that the two of them take turns sleeping in Canada House to ward off “predators.” What is this, The Bodyguard? Ah well—it comes from the right place I guess.
Delivered hot drinks and fondue to the team at Stoney today. It takes some planning, but it’s great to get out of Canada House and go for a hike. After lunch John and I took turns with the hip waders to gather kelp floating in the bay. Made Sea Cabbage Salad for dinner—we agree we wouldn’t want to live on it.
The smell of frying greeted us on awakening this morning, and at breakfast each of us had two of our nutty little Notothenia fish after a bowl of porridge. These little fish have an extraordinarily sweet taste—bread and butter and marmalade finished the meal.
—Robert Falcon Scott, Scott’s Last Expedition, 1911
JANUARY 3 , 1996
Changeover day. Two new volunteers.
Speedo-clad scientist emerging from Maxwell Bay between the Zodiacs pulled up on the beach: “You and me sauna next Saturday?”
Me (loud enough to get a laugh from one of the outgoing volunteers): “In your dreams.”
Camp 3 Debris Collection (Dec. 30–Jan. 3)
Stoney Bay Areas 5–7: mixed waste
JANUARY 6, 1996
Sasha finally got a call through to P for me. Not like P to hold out on a “ti amo” sign off, but maybe the radiophone threw him off. Smarts a bit.
Got through to the VIEW office as well. Don’t know how Sasha is doing it without Inmarsat satellite hook-up, but relieved I didn’t have to pay $7/minute for the calls. Carol says the 80-year-old woman who walks with a cane has cancelled. And the uncertainty over where the garbage will go has been resolved. It makes sense that it goes back to Russia, but it would be simpler if it could go to Ushuaia. I wonder how much the garbage disposal fine is.
Great hike with John for a picnic near Flat Top this afternoon. His love for this place and the Russians is palpable. Poor guy—heading back to Georgia tomorrow.
Camp 4 Debris Collection (Jan. 3–7)
Stoney Bay Area 8
Bellingshausen Areas 1 and 2: 2 barrels mixed waste
Experiencing daily life on the windy continent makes for a better conception of the rigors of living in a harsh climate. The best part of the trip was the first hand look at the effects of time on man-made materials—picking up trash totally unchanged i.e. the plastics and cloth, copper covered wire, ionized metals.
—Volunteer Carolyn, Washington
JANUARY 9, 1996
11:50 p.m. Tonight the east wind is blowing up a winter-like summer storm and we are experiencing the first real accumulation of snow. Canada House is snow-packed and the whole place rather magic. Lying in bed listening to the wind howl. End to the perfect day.
Breakfast in bed. 9:45 a.m. meeting at Diesel to go fishing with Volodya Driver. Warnings from all the guys assembled for the send-off: wear a warmer hat; take sunglasses; wear mittens—and so on and so on. Life with sixteen grandmothers.
Sergey, Vadim and Doc Sasha in Sergey’s office, Bellingshausen, 1995
{Wendy Trusler}
Canada House and storage shed in background, Bellingshausen, 1995
Drive to Stoney Bay. Volodya is gallantly determined to lift me over a trickle of water and up a small rise on our way to the fishing hole. It’s a harmless dance, so I let him. Dropped our lines between the crags and pulled in six in no time. Trusler two, Volodya four and then off to the shelter to warm up. I love those sheds, especially the wooden one, but he’s rigged the mini Quonset with gas. Once inside he takes my socks from me to squeeze out the water and hold them up to the flame. So intimate I had to look away and try hard not to spoil the perfectness of the place with the please-don’t-think-this-is-a-date soundtrack ringing in my head.
Back to Diesel for tea with the guys on duty. Volodya tells everyone assembled I caught all six fish. I’d love to draw or photograph this room, but how to capture the mood without spoiling it, changing everything? Lunch arrives. Encouraged to eat to fatten up and keep warm. Meat patties and raw onions on Cook’s Bread with an orange for dessert while my socks dry. Again with the socks.
Conversation with Volodya afterwards which I understand as follows: he loves to do things for me, he’s separated from his wife since 1988, he has no home to go to, and then something about fifteen years, which I think is our age difference. Now that and his invitation to go fishing again, I think I should leave alone. That and the comment about my eyes being the colour of tea.
Quiet dinner with Lena and Sean. Our first with only the three of us. Very civilized with candles, fish, fried rice and wine. Tolya is definitely grandmaster of the fish fry. I must learn from him. Down to the mess after dinner. Guys out for a smoke on the stoop. Couldn’t resist staggering, swinging the vodka bottle as I approached. Had them going for a minute. “Problema Vendi?” They laughed when they saw the bottle was full of pepper for Volodya Cook. Then videos with the radio hut guys—a lot of shuffling and throat clearing during the love scenes.
And now to sleep.
JANUARY 11, 1996
Dreams to achieve:
•letters
•review old menu, make new extended menu
•journal
•language
•sort food in shed
•helicopter excursion with Uruguayans
JANUARY 14, 1996
•White Bean and Roasted Garlic Pâté with Focaccia
•Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding and Gravy
•Roasted Carrots
•Baked Stuffed Onions
•Custard with Fruit Compote
Tourist from the Aurora Australis icebreaker next to wedge iceberg, Antarctic Peninsula, 1995
{Sandy Nicholson}
JANUARY 15, 1996
A bit of a disaster this camp—and a thorn in our sides, but one to learn from. We’ve been upfront about our limitations and make do when the program falls short of trip literature promises but how to win over those who don’t see value in the contribution we are trying to make. People are funny. Struggle to overcome this, especially for Sean and Lena. Hope I didn’t offend when I shut down the volunteers grumbling about missing tossed salads.
Camp 6 Debris Collection (Jan. 11–15)
Stoney Bay Area 9: mixed waste
Bellingshausen Area 3: 1 barrel mixed
Every project needs a naysayer—To be fair, I think everyone went through it
to some degree. After ten days sailing pristine Antarctic waters, no travel brochure could ever prepare you for Bellingshausen beach and its squalor. Often I’d read disappointment on faces as early as dinner the first night. Or it might come out at breakfast, after a bad sleep on a lumpy cot or after experiencing a foul communal WC when accustomed to ensuites. By lunch people might be talking it through with good humour or silently stewing. A chance to live and work in Antarctica—a trip of a lifetime—wasn’t meeting expectations or adding up to the $4,000 price tag.
We sailed through the first part of the project. Even if volunteers weren’t directly involved with the heavy work, removing defunct pipe and hoses from the fuel depot at Stoney was universally satisfying. We made visible progress every day. A Uruguayan pilot buoyed spirits further when he told us he’d noticed a difference from when he was last stationed on King George Island in 1994.
But in January as snow melted and exposed new sites, the focus of the cleanup shifted to include more tedious work around camp and an old dump. Squatting for hours on end, filling a kitchen bucket piece by piece with small bits of glass, metal and wood wasn’t as tangible and certainly not as pleasant as the teamwork at Stoney Bay.
Factor into the equation a projector that didn’t survive the Drake Passage, no VCR for the advertised “formal lectures”, no motor for the Zodiac for “sunset tours around icebergs,” no sunsets in December that far south and you could understand why patience might dwindle. Well, yes and no.
The Antarctic Book of Cooking and Cleaning: A Polar Journey Page 8