Sunday, October 2, 2011

Fall brings new things too...

Spring isn't the only season that brings fresh new things. This year it brings a new blog on the scene. Will people read it? I have no idea. Will they like it? Not clue one. Am I going to do it anyhow? Of course. If for no other reason than to build an archive of my favorite recipes.

Life in Alaska is pretty hectic in the summer months. With very few hours when the sun is below the horizon, it never really gets dark. The natural reaction is to get outside and play, and play hard. Fall brings a kind of relief. The sun begins to rise and set at a more reasonable time. Sleep comes more readily. One realizes that they've been feeling attenuated, just stretched a little thin. Then the weather changes, the trees blaze gold, the tree trunks darken with rain, frost turns the underbrush red. People begin to pull inside.


Our dogs play outside, reveling in the newly mosquito-free chill morning air. My husband fishes the river angling for the last of the fresh salmon of the year. I cook. It's what I do.

This fall I put up two jellies to celebrate the wild harvest. In early fall I made fireweed jelly, from the blossoms I picked from a high alpine meadow still in bloom. This week, I made rose hip and highland cranberry jelly. It was an experiment born of a scant harvest of each. The result is a surprisingly warm and tantalizing flavor. Seeing their pretty jewel tones shining in jars lined up on the counter inspires me to look forward to other greats of fall cooking.

Next up, pumpkin pie.