F Street Bar - Downtown Anchorage

Just off the corner of F street and 4th Avenue is a little bar and grill where the locals hang out. It's a great place to catch up with friends and on the weekends is often standing room only.

We love to go on a weeknight when the crowd is lighter thus the bar less smoky. They have the best and I do mean the Best....salmon caesar I have ever tasted. The salmon is seasoned and grilled to perfection. The caesar dressing is layered in garlic so if your sensitive to garlic this may not be the dish for you.

Halibut Chowder

This is such a wonderful chowder although it is definitely not heart healthy. I got this recipe from a dear friend of mine MJ. She's a fabulous cook. She moved to California from Anchorage several years ago. I don't see her as often as I would like. This recipe is so easy even a lazy cook like I can make it.

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Halibut Chowder

3 cans cream of potato soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
4 cups of milk
1 1/2 - 2 Bricks (8oz) of cream cheese
3 potatoes chopped fine - microwave until done
3 large carrots sliced into coins - microwave until done
1 can corn
4-5 Cups of Halibut
8-9 green onions - chopped
3 cloves of garlic pressed
1/2 Cup Margarine or butter
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Saute in the halibut, onions and garlic in the margarine.
Warm the milk in a pot to steaming but not boiling (or your soup will curdle)
Add the cheese and mix in completely
Add all the soups and simmer 10 minutes
Add all the vegetables
Add all the sauted items plus a bit of black pepper and dill weed to taste.
Mix and simmer 10 minutes

Makes 5 Quarts

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Lake Hood

We live on Lake Hood. It's the busiest float plane base in the world. People ask if the airplanes bother me. They can be noisy at times but I grew up a mile west of O'Hare airport. I like airplane noise. It's not as bothersome as where we used to live. Our last house had a neighbor who let her dog out in the early morning. The dog would proceed to bark, and bark, and bark..... It would wake you up and was very annoying as you never knew when it would end. With the airplanes they may wake you up momentarily but it soon passes and you can go back to sleep.

We have so much daylight in the summers that the planes start taking off about 5-6am on the weekends.

The baby ducks are following their mothers about. It is very relaxing to just sit outside and watch the planes and ducks. We even have a pair of otters that occasionally swim by for a visit.

It's about a 4 mile bike ride/walk around the lake. I will ride my bike unless it's windy then I will walk part way and back.

How to Begin?

I've been living in Alaska since 1990. It will be 29 years on Labor Day...amazing that so much time has gone by. The kids were 1 1/2, 5 and 6 1/2 when we drove up via the Alaskan Highway. They are grown now. Amazing!