Introducing the newest project: A food and wine blog

Joshua and I are co-authoring a blog called New Castle of the Pope -- the English translation for Châteauneuf-du-Pape, one of Joshua's favorite wines. He is a certified wine sommelier from his restaurateur-ing days. Every time we're out at a wine bar, wine store or fine restaurant the conversation turns to the history of this wine or the special way the grapes are fermented in that one. 

He ends of giving servers history lessons that help them sell and people at neighboring tables help deciphering the wine list.

Joshua seems to have journalistic-like instincts for taking a subject that is often overcomplicated and elitist, and making it simple, digestible. With his breakdowns, I, the girl who used to answer what kind of wine I liked with "mostly whites," feel I can hold my own on the topic.


So the idea is kind of "Wines 101." A primer for those who want to enjoy wine and feel like they know what they're ordering -- and a fun read for those already will versed on the subject.

We're also going to write occasionally about food, because the two are really inseparable. Look for a wine of the week, wine terms, restaurant reviews, pairing ideas, and more. Please check it out and let us know what you think.


Find it here: http://newcastleofthepope.blogspot.com/

Thanks! 


Oh, and don't worry. This blog won't change -- I'll still be writing about my Alaska adventures here.

Camping on the Kenai

Thanks to all the of the thoughtful people who gave us Target gift cards for our wedding, most of them went to camping equipment. Joshua and I packed up the Subaru for an adventure Friday night. We had no idea what we were getting into.

We drove just past Cooper Landing and bought a regional map marking area campsites. First we checked Russian River Campground: 44 sites. All full. So was the next stop. And the next. All the campgrounds for the next hour and back. We know, because we checked.

So we drove back to Cooper Landing crossing our fingers for good luck at the Quartz Creek Campground just before Cooper, that we blew past two hours earlier thinking, oh, let's go further to somewhere we've never been. Now we were humbled. We would be happy for any campsite at all.

They were full. We stopped and asked locals locals where to camp. They suggested all the places we had already checked. At past 11 p.m. we were losing hope and trying to think of any way not to drive home.

Josh kept driving down the road off Quartz Creek near beautiful Kenai Lake and randomly turned down a bumpy deserted powerline road.

There, in the middle of nowhere, were two vacant campsites with firepits. No amenities, but at nearly midnight and losing daylight, it was perfection. And it was. Soon our brand new tent was up without too much trouble for the first time set-up and the fire was blazing.

The rest of the weekend was smooth sailing with bike rides, walks, tending to the fire and lots of mosquito swatting. It was refreshing to get out of the city and iPhone range for a couple days.

The Kenai River looks bright turquoise from glacial melt.

 Alaska's fireweed was in bloom everywhere.

Another two-wheeled adventure

We took another long bike trip last Monday. This time we took Chester Creek Trail the opposite direction. I've seen this creek before, but the greenbelt leads all the way to a community pool and a Chinese restaurant we like, so we are scheming future weeknight rides here.

New bikes!

 

My wonderful husband treated himself and I to new bikes recently. The day we bought them we rode several miles from our apartment, to Westchester Lagoon, along the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail, to downtown Anchorage. We stopped for lunch at a park and later in downtown to browse the Saturday Market. Then we looped back home up Cordova. Davin was a trooper, his first real long bike ride since he's previously had to stick to our neighborhood.

Fireworks, food and friends

Happy Fourth of July! We celebrated with barbecue chicken (well, a portobello for me), lots of homemade salads including my first mayo-free potato salad (it was delicious), sweets and our friends Tony and Alisa. We watched a movie and played Apples to Apples while waiting for the fireworks at midnight -- which lucky for us, happen to be set off from the ball fields across the street. We get to sit on the balcony and snicker at the hundreds trying to park and camp out on blankets to watch the show. Just don't plan on running out for anything when the America's birthday party is happening across street.

The Fourth is also a special day for Joshua and I because it marks the day we met. I can't believe how the years have flown by, but I also can't image life without my boys. It's also apropos we celebrate with Tony and Alisa since they are to blame for our meeting that Fourth of July in Boise.

Miss Rowe's wedding

Davin's teacher, Miss Rowe got married this summer, and our family was one of a handful from her class honored with an invitation. She moved to Alaska from California to teach at the beginning of the past school year and she's moving from fourth to fifth grade with her class in the fall. She met her husband at a speed dating event last fall, after nearly chickening out to go shopping at the last minute. She's glad she decided to go, because they've spent nearly every day together since. He's an engineer and she has her masters in teaching. They are a sweet couple and had a lovely event.

They had an anniversary dance there they got all the married couples on the dance floor. Then the deejay said, "If you've been married (X amount of time), please leave the dance floor." It's usually done in increments of years. Instead he announced "less than three and a half hours" for the couple and next up "35 days." Someone must have done the math to send us off with a laugh.

Oreo milkshakes and warm summer nights

Davin and his neighbor friends, brothers Richard and Philip, take a break from bikes and squirt guns for a homemade treat Friday night.