not just cooking anymore

Sorry for the absence of new posts here. What with moving, buying furniture, new jobs, and particularly not having internet access at home, I've been bad about keeping this going. At last we have DSL hooked up after almost two months of not having any internet access at home. It's good to be back online. I'm surprised and slightly ashamed by how much I missed it. It's a little sad to realize now that internet access has become a basic utility that I expect to have in a home, like hot water and heat. I mean, I obviously lived without it, but because I keep up with so many people through email, blogs and websites, it was hard to be restricted from using it.
The title of this post refers to something I've been contemplating for awhile, and with the encouragement of a few friends, I've decided to do it. This blog will not just be about me cooking anymore. Now that we are in Alaska, far from many of our friends and family, I think I'll be posting more about daily life up here, including cooking, outdoor recreation, our jobs, etc. How does that sound? Also, my cooking has deteriorated somewhat due to working later hours and wanting to eat quickly before we rush out to run errands and buy things for the apartment. I have to admit we've been eating ramen noodles and Annie's mac and cheese more than I would like. Once life settles into more of a routine and we don't have to furniture shop constantly, I hope to return to my previous standards of excellence. :) I just heard recently that the Anchorage Farmer's Market starts on May 5th, so I'm excited to start going to that and getting inspired by what I can find there.
To begin this new chapter in the life of this blog, here's a picture Krestia took while we were cross-country skiing two weeks ago in Eagle River, a town about 15 minutes outside of Anchorage. We continue to be amazed by all the opportunities in the great outdoors here, and by how few people there are whenever we go to a park or trail. Anchorage is the same size as Rochester, but unlike Rochester, there's no suburbs (the city of Rochester plus the suburbs adds up to almost a million people), and the population in Anchorage is half of the total population of Alaska. Much fewer people in a much bigger state with much better mountains and parks and trails equals great outdoor fun! Here's the picture, hopefully not a letdown after all that explanation:
The walkway at the bottom of the picture is for viewing the stream during the summer time. We skied for about an hour and a half in this gorgeous valley between mountain ridges, then returned home for a delicious simple supper. We had grilled cheddar cheese and apple sandwiches on sourdough bread, a sandwich that Krestia invented which I think was a stroke of genius. Try it sometime. First, saute some nice crisp thin apple slices in butter until soft. Then, use sourdough bread, some extra-sharp white cheddar (up here, we've discovered Tillamook vintage white is delicious--Tillamook is a Oregon dairy company) and good butter to make grilled cheese sandwiches, but add a layer of the apple slices in between the cheese. Yum. We should mention this sandwich was inspired by our friends Ken and Carrie who lived in Vermont for awhile and told us of the tradition of eating apple pie with cheddar cheese. Good idea. Anyway, along with the sandwiches we had a cold avocado soup from a new soup cookbook my sister Janna bought me for Christmas this year. The cookbook is called "A Beautiful Bowl of Soup," by Paulette Mitchell, and it's all vegetarian soup recipes. This soup was so easy and delicious with an unexpected combination of flavors. Here's the recipe(for 2 servings):

Blend in a food processor or blender:
1 ripe avocado, peeled, pitted and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup vegetable stock (I used water)
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 T fresh cilantro leaves (sadly, I left these out, but will be sure to include them when spring arrives up here and I can hopefully find some fresh local cilantro)
2 T finely chopped red onion (I used white)
2 teaspoons thin strips orange zest (I left this out--I figured the orange juice was enough orange flavor, but also we were out of oranges. I'm sure it would be yummy)
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
pinch of red pepper flakes, or to taste
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Pour into bowls and serve! The author says to chill this for three hours before serving, but of course I don't plan ahead enough to do that. We ate it right away and it was delicious. She also says to serve it with an orange marmalade chutney on top, which sounds yummy but who keeps orange marmalade in the fridge? She also says, "serve in small portions as a first course rather than as a main course," which is good advice, because the flavor combination is unusual and good but not necessarily one you want to eat a big bowl of.