Stormy Evening

Tonight is one of my favorite types of evenings. There is an icy wind blowing hard enough to whine around the windows of the house and it is raining. The Passage waves are whipped into whitecaps and I get to be cozy and warm inside and just watch. I think soup and bread are the greatest inventions for just such an evening.

One of my favorite memories with my daughter and husband was back in Columbia, Missouri. Sam and I  were in graduate school and my daughter was in high school. A big snowstorm was predicted so we stocked up on soup and bread ingredients and rented every Alfred Hitchcock movie we could find. The the three of us snuggled in and spent the entire weekend hanging out together, eating soup and watching great movies. Our 3 story condo backed up to beautiful woods and hills. The snow did in fact arrive and came down in huge fluffy puffs that swirled into heavy drifts. Every branch of the naked winter trees became dressed in thick frosting and brilliant red cardinals hopped about on our deck to peck at the sunflower seeds we had scattered. Perfection.

I have been inspired by Sherri's wonderful soup she serves daily at The Point. Wednesday features a music jam with local players and you can enjoy a little concert while you have lunch. See the picture of the yummy roasted red pepper soup of the day! One of my favorites is African Peanut Soup. I looked for a recipe online and ended up combining two recipes and sort of throwing in a couple items that needed to be used up. Fabulous and delicious!

I have also recently discovered the most delicious store bought bread I have ever had. It is called Dave's  Killer Bread.  Go to Dave'sKillerBread.com to learn about Dave and his inspiring story. I can vouch for the fact that Dave's bread is well named. It is especially delicious toasted with coconut manna spread on it which I found at the health food store downtown. If you are interested and cannot find Dave's bread in your store you can order directly from him on his website....WORTH IT!

Here is my version of the African Peanut Soup. If you are vegetarian, there are recipes you can use online or you can adapt as it makes sense to you. I think it is a rather flexible and forgiving recipe so you can add or delete items to your taste.

6 cups reduced sodium chicken stock
Medium red onion chopped
2 T fresh ginger minced
4 cloves garlic minced
simmer together then add
28 oz can of crushed tomatoes (diced probably just as good)
2 large sweet potatoes peeled diced into bite sized pieces
large bunch of collard greens and/or kale - strip the leaves and chop
mix in and simmer until potatoes done
I baked chicken breasts and then chopped into bite size pieces but you could shred or use ground turkey
I used 3 breasts
Curry and cumin to your taste
3 T Sriracha hot chili sauce
When potatoes are done skim about a cup of the broth out and whisk together with 3/4 c crunchy peanut butter - pour back into soup and mix well. Heat and Voila!

My neighbor lent me some great books about Pacific ocean life and tides. After 12 years in the desert, the ocean is fascinating to me. This morning the tide was out so far that the deep water rocks were uncovered. It makes for a much longer morning doggie walk as it extends the length of the beach significantly. Lucy likes to poke around in the little tide pools that house sea urchins and in the crevices where orange and purple starfish live. At noon I came home and the water was nearly up to the house. I think if I had to do things over I would have moved to the ocean at a much younger age and studied whales and dolphins.

One of the important things you must do when you move is find a great hairdresser. Thank goodness I have with Claire at Serendipity Salon. There are such interesting people in Ketchikan and she is one of them. She has lived in Guam and Japan and spent time in Hawaii and several other states. Claire is a very talented hairdresser as well as a fully trained instructor. She works absolute miracles on my hair! Claire was a contender at the recent A-Pork-a-Lypse and won 2nd Place.

Do keep checking Ketchikanstories.com - there are new stories on The Timber Years and Bush Pilots added. The stories are so well done and give you a real taste of life in Ketchikan. I added some pictures below of skunk cabbage, an aerial view of Alaska Marine Highway Ferry the Taku in dry dock, the Ketchikan High School commons (note the native canoe sculpture hanging from the ceiling) and a terrific mural about the subject of "Kings" by local artist Ray Troll. The high school's mascot is the King Salmon!

Be Well and Do Good!