Julia O'Malley

1 month ago | adn.com | Julia O'Malley

Is it Easter without a freaky-looking homemade cake? Can you have a celebratory post-church brunch and not include a mutant lamb on a bed of green-dyed coconut grass? In my family, we observe a bunny cake tradition. Kids love decorating bunny cake. Easy to make and so cute, right? (Lowers voice: But if you mess up the angle of jelly bean eyes, as happens with kids involved, they also can look a little, I don’t know, devious? Even better, I say.

2 months ago | adn.com | Julia O'Malley

When I do my menu planning on Sundays, I’m usually caffeinated and optimistic basically to the point of delusion on the dinner front. I think I am totally going to make Thai curry on Tuesday and flank steak on Thursday and lasagna for Sunday dinner. It’s as if I’m not trying to work while also being a full-time sports practice taxi in a household where on any given day, the dog is puking, my phone is ringing because my mom needs help with her TV and the Subaru won’t start.

Feb 7, 2025 | adn.com | Julia O'Malley

The first time I dunked a french fry in ranch, I was with my cousin at the East Anchorage Red Robin behind the Northway Mall sometime in the late 1980s. The hot salt/cool tang combo struck teenage me as alchemy, a food of the very cool. I didn’t know at the time, though, how Alaska that mouthful was. Turns out a fry dipped in ranch — a favored combo in Super Bowl spreads this weekend — may be more of this place than you think. And I have a great recipe for both. Hear me out.

Jan 24, 2025 | adn.com | Julia O'Malley

I shuffled across a gritty, icy parking lot to the store on a recent Sunday and found that a shipment must have been late because there were no eggs or milk or ground beef. I sought inspiration in the produce section, but the locusts had come through, leaving behind droopy celeries, spongy cucumbers and roughed-up broccoli. There were, however, lots of oranges — navels, mandarins — still in great shape. And one lonely bulb of winter fennel. Sometimes, in January, fresh grocery vibes get weird here.

Dec 10, 2024 | alaskabeacon.com | Julia O'Malley

5:00 News Story Economy & Environment Yukon River communities fight to maintain their salmon fishing traditions Katie Kangas’ salmon memories live in her body. They are the ache of the knife in her hand after hours of cutting fish in summertime. The heft of a wooden pole loaded with scored fillets. The smell of cottonwood smoldering in her corrugated metal smokehouse. Kangas is a grandmother now.