Midnight Madness, hosted by the Grand Aleutian Hotel, has come and gone. Hopefully, this also means an end to the endless candy madness in the house. In the midst of trying to wrap presents to send off in the mail and making 8 kinds of chocolates, the house was a disaster. The grandson was also “left to entertain himself.”
At any rate, I, for once, was actually early to set up, thanks to Laresa’s help. We had a lovely time together.
And of course if you are going to be eating dark chocolate-y goodness, on the rail behind you is the requisite glass of wine – oops, it was white instead of red, ordered up to go with our delicious Cape Cheerful Ahi Burgers!
We had hand-made, by Alena! (http://therealunalaska.blogspot.com/), wrapping paper and cards…
We were constantly assaulted by the smell of chocolate just wafting up from the table. 
From left to right: Walnut Nocello Truffles, Irish Creme Truffles, Rum Cherry Codials, the bestselling Sea Salt Caramels, Kahlua Truffles, Grand Marnier Truffles, Ginger Truffles, (“to die for”), and oops, an empty spot where the Hazelnut Truffles were to go.
Laresa made some more of her cool and lovely fur seal pins.
My sister Diane Svarny made an Unangan basket from Unalaska Wild Rye grass and silk embroidery thread. Many hours went into weaving the basket, and it is beautiful with the colors she chose for the design, as well as the sheen of the grass. 
And falling off the end of the table, Tugidam Ungii products – oils and salves made from the wonderful local Angelica plant – cures just about everything you can think of. And soap made from Unalaska Sweet Grass. My mother always tells me that if I marketed the angelica on the internet, I would be a millionaire many times over!! 
Alena! took a Rum Cherry Cordial for the road, and SP came back to refill his box of Hazelnut Truffles.
Mom and Dad ended up having a “date” in the Cape Cheerful Lounge, dining on the yummy fish and chips. They came to our display for their dessert, and were the lucky recipients of the last 2 sea salt caramels.
Although it was a little warm in the cafe, probably enhanced by, ahem, hot flashes, we had a great time, especially when watching people eat the chocolate! Thanks to CB ( http://dutchharbordirt.blogspot.com/ ) for keeping my supply of ice water available out of the kindness of his heart!
While I was at church on Sunday, Caleb, SP, and Alena opened up the garden and began to harvest the root veggies. We planted fingerlings and carrots. Fingerling potatoes are small. I knew that, but I think Caleb was expecting more for all the work. He said, as we stared at about 10 plants worth which weighed in at about 4.5 pounds, “How much does a 5 pound bag of potatoes cost?” I said, “It’s not about the cost….these are grown with your own hands, with nothing harmful added to the soil.” (Thank God we didn’t plant the peanut potatoes!)
SP was totally thrilled with the carrots. They didn’t pull them all, so I will be able to pull a couple myself and there are still about 14 potato plants to dig. We have had tons of lettuce all summer. In fact, some of our biggest fights this summer have been over the lettuce. “How can lettuce make you fight?”, you ask. Don’t ask! 
Unalaska From My Point of View 
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