Harvesting Chickens Alaska Style

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There are days when it seems, as Barbra says, like you could put one of your socks on a hook and catch halibut. Two-fish limits are the norm even on slow days. This brace of 20 and 25 pound fish came back-to-back and fell for twister-tails on five-ounce jigs in 80 feet of water near Homer. Halibut this size are referred to as “chicken halibut” and make for fine dining indeed.

We love Alaska, but between the cold and our wanderlust, it’s unlikely we’ll remain here permanently. We dream about sailboats and warm beaches, about driving our camper all over Canada and the U.S., and about one day maybe owning a home on a few acres, complete with a clean, wood burning stove, a large vegetable garden, perhaps some fruit trees and of course a few chickens for eggs and for roasting. The good life comes in many forms!

One thing that has dismayed us as we’ve looked for our next utopia is the state of many of America’s freshwater fisheries. Log onto a few of our states’ department of natural resources pages, look at fish consumption advisories, and a pattern soon emerges. Mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) contaminate most freshwater bodies, and some even contain unhealthy amounts of DDT–a chemical we’d thought was no longer a problem. Warnings and advisories recommending limited consumption of fish are the norm rather than the exception all across America as fallout from coal fired power plants, cement plants and other sources have laced our waters with unhealthy amounts of toxins. In some waters, it is recommended that no fish be eaten. More commonly – in our view shockingly – anglers and their families are advised to limit their consumption to just one meal of walleye, lake trout, bass or other fish per week or even less!

That’s not very many fish dinners.

The good news is that, thanks to increased awareness which has led to increased regulation of industry, levels of contaminants on many waters are tending downwards. Yes, keeping toxins out of our environment is expensive, but when we take into consideration health issues and quality of life, letting polluters pollute is even more costly. We have the means to keep our country clean, and that’s precisely what we should be doing. If industries won’t comply, then, yes, we need our government to intervene.

Meanwhile, we feel very fortunate to live in a place where, with very few exceptions, people can eat as many meals of fish as they desire with the confidence that they are enhancing, not harming, their health. And so, at this point in our life, our “chickens” are of the finned variety. For now, our halibut omelets are made with store-bought eggs and Tillamook cheddar cheese. Maybe one day they’ll be made with eggs from our own chickens and cheese from our own kitchen!

Arctic Grayling Shioyaki with Roe – A Yellowstone Connection

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Arctic grayling are abundant throughout much of Alaska. I was happy to finally have an opportunity to taste them. I skewered these three, cut a few diagonal slashes in their skin, and salted and broiled them in the fashion that Japanese prepare charr, trout and small salmon. Two of the fish had nice sacs of roe with I cured as one would cure salmon roe in making ikura. The grayling themselves were unremarkable, but the roe was quite delicious.

One summer several years ago I tent camped alongside the Madison River in Yellowstone National Park. It was glorious. Recent fires had changed the ecosystem. Not destroyed it. Changed it. Along with Yellowstone’s iconic bison, elk were abundant, the big bulls absolutely magnificent with their velvet-covered racks. We encountered moose, sandhill cranes, several black bears and a grizzly, and listened in awe as a pack of wolves howling across a valley broke the quiet one evening. It was during this stay that Maia took her first-ever fly caught trout, beautifully marked  cutthroats from Cascade Creek. We still talk about how we had to cross that stream a couple of times to avoid basking bison.

One of the highlights of that visit to Yellowstone was a morning spent alone, fishing the Gibbon River from the lip above the 80-foot falls upstream a mile or so. Although I got a late start and the sun was already high in a cloudless sky, brown trout in the eight to 13 inch range were cooperative, most of them falling to a #14 pheasant tail nymph. Mountain flowers seemed to be in bloom everywhere, birds were out in force, and I had the river completely to myself.

And then I came to the hole. Rip-rap on one side, a rock wall on the other and a log jam at the tail pushed the water into a long pool I estimated to be eight to 10 feet deep–the deepest water I’d encountered. With brush growing along the edges and with the depths guarded by drowned snags, tell-tail strands of monofilament suggested this piece of water was fairly hard-fished. So I took a while to contemplate my approach. Wishing to get as deep as possible, the first thing I did was lengthen my leader and switch to a weighted pheasant tail. I then waded to the shallows at the tail of the pool, gauged the light breeze, and executed a cast upstream to allow for a long drift right down the heart of the pool. Stripping in bright green line as it drifted toward me, I imagined my little fly descending ever deeper. Just as the last of the green line floated above a forked log at the deepest part of the pool, it ever so slightly hesitated. I gave the line a quick strip as I lifted my rod and immediately felt the weight of a decent fish. From the manner in which it fought, I knew right away it wasn’t another brown, and it certainly wasn’t a rainbow. Whitefish? I had no idea. Somehow I managed to keep clear of the snags, and a few moments later my jaw dropped as an Arctic grayling coasted into view. I’d never caught one before, and had no idea they were a possibility in any of Yellowstone’s rivers. I led it to the gravelly shallows near my feet, gently cupped it in my hand and spread it’s amazing, sail-like dorsal fin. The dark fin, wet and flecked with iridescent blue, glistened in the sun and I was reminded that this is why one should always carry a camera. Mine, of course, was up in my car. I let the silvery-gray fish slip from my hand and sink back to the depths. Moments later, following the same pattern, a second grayling presented itself to me, this one a fraction of an inch smaller than the first.

Arctic grayling (Thymallus arcticus) are an ancient fish, their ancestors having preceded their charr, trout and salmon brethren in branching off from a common ancestor some 60 million years ago. As the earth has continued to warm since the last Ice Age, grayling have retreated to ever fewer waters in the lower-48. There aren’t many places where they can still be found, and most of these are high altitude lakes in the northern Rockies. Fluvial grayling–river grayling–are fairly rare in the lower-48. In holding those fish, in being in their presence, I felt a connection to a vanished epoch populated by mastodons and mammoths, sabertooth cats, dire wolves and other species long since vanished. Although those fish were only 11 or 12 inches in length, to me, they were trophies–as fined as any fish I’ve ever landed. I’ve long thought that if and when I settle down, I would like to have fiberglas replica mounts, or perhaps a painting, made of those two  grayling, loafing near the submerged snag where I found them in that deep pool on the Gibbon River.

Rosemary Tomato Bread

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A friend here in Point Hope lent me a book called 300 best Bread Machine recipes. Of the 300, I picked out about a dozen to try. The first was a honey wheat oat bread, and it was absolutely terrific. The evening it came out of the bread machine, Jack and I put our other dinner plans on hold and instead stuffed ourselves with warm slices of this bread slathered in butter and honey. After a few days, some breads crumble or dry too much. Not this one.  It was dense and flavorful and help up nicely.

The oat bread recipe was a safe pick. I knew how it was supposed to taste and look. Next it was time for a leap to the recipe that made me borrow the book in the first place – Rosemary Caesar Bread featuring tomato-vegetable juice, sun-dried tomatoes, and rosemary. The beautiful color and aroma of this bread makes it a centerpiece loaf.  Following is my adaptation of the recipe, including a name change. “Caesar” makes me think of anchovies (Caesar dressing), so I think “Rosemary Tomato Bread” is more accurate.

Rosemary Tomato Bread

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cups tomato-vegetable juice
  • 1 tbsp granulated sugar
  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 1/2 cups bread flour
  • 1/3 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
  • 1 tbsp dry rosemary
  • 1/4 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 1/4 tsp bread machine yeast

Measure ingredients into the baking pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select Basic cycle to bake.

Makes 1.5 lb loaf. This is an excellent bread to serve with breakfast eggs or for making egg salad sandwiches.

The Bus in Hyder: The Best Fish & Chips Anywhere

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Barbra and Maia waiting for orders of fried halibut and fried shrimp at The Bus in Hyder, Alaska

We blogged about Hyder before (A Ghost Town and a Grizzly, February 5, 2011). It’s an interesting  town of 87 inhabitants, definitely worth the side trip if you find yourself traveling the Cassiar Highway in northern British Columbia. Go there when the chum salmon are running in late July and August, and you’ll have an excellent opportunity to view grizzlies up close from a deck overlooking Fish Creek.

A hip little shop on main street, Boundary Gallery and Gifts run by Caroline Steward, features dulcimers beautifully crafted from Sitka Spruce as well as some of the best fudge we’ve ever had. There’s a hotel, a post office, a small, sparsely-stocked grocery store, a couple of RV parks and a boat launch on Portland Canal, which isn’t a canal at all but is a narrow, 71-mile long fjord separating Southeastern Alaska from British Columbia. It’s the kind of place that takes you back in time. None of the streets are paved. The residents are friendly and the ones we’ve met have been happy to while a way a piece of the day talking. Maybe the quiet, natural beauty of the place brings out easy-going attitudes. Part of the movie Insomnia (Al Pacino, Robin Williams, Hilary Swank) was filmed here in 2001.

If you do go to Hyder, the one place you shouldn’t miss is The Bus. Diana and Jim Simpson came up with the idea to permanently park a school bus on one of the side streets in town and convert it into a kitchen. Jim’s the fisherman. Diana’s the cook. The catch of the day generally features fresh halibut and Alaska’s incredibly delicious shrimp along with salmon and other shellfish. Traveling from place to place, we’ve come across really good deep fried fish from time to time. Heck, I make pretty good deep fry myself. I don’t know exactly what Diana does, but the fare at The Bus is in a class by itself. It’s been our good fortune to dine there on two separate occasions, two different summers. Both times, our plates of fried halibut, shrimp and French fries disappeared fast and left us talking with amazement for some time afterwards. Diana also keeps icy cold Alaska Amber Ale and Alaska Summer Ale on hand – the perfect compliments to enjoying the food while Rufus Hummingbirds call back and forth from the tops of spruce trees.

Alaska Silver Salmon Pizza

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Wild Alaskan Silver Salmon Pizza: The second of nine salmon recipes

With a fairly large tub of salmon fillets in the freezer and us on the downward slope of the school year, Barbra has challenged me to come up with nine new salmon recipes. The first creation was Salmon Burgers & Caesar Slaw. Here’s the second: Silver Salmon Pizza.

Put a pizza stone on the center rack of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees.

Ingredients

  • pizza crust
  • tomato sauce (see recipe below)
  • shredded mozzarella
  • shredded cheddar (about 1/2 as much as the mozzarella)
  • Kalamata olives, cut in half lengthwise
  • 1/2 pound salmon, grilled or broiled and cut into smaller pieces
  • 2 strips thick bacon, cooked, drained and cut into small pieces
  • 1/3 cup sweet onion, chopped coarse
  • several cloves of garlic, chopped coarse
  • sun-dried tomatoes, chopped coarse
  • 1 sheet of nori (dried seaweed) cut into thin strips

The crust: We usually pre-bake our crusts for about 10 minutes and then freeze them. Later, we thaw the crusts and add the pizza toppings and bake for 8 to 12 minutes. The crust does not have to be completely thawed.

The sauce:

  • 6-ounce can of tomato paste
  • 1/2 tin of anchovies chopped fine (about 1 tablespoon)
  • generous amount of Italian herbs
  • garlic powder (or fresh garlic chopped fine and briefly sautéed)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • a few grinds of black pepper
  • approximately 3 ounces of water–you want the sauce to be thick

Mix these ingredients together with a wooden spoon in a glass bowl and let stand for at least 20 minutes.

The salmon: Grill or broil. I rubbed the salmon for this pizza with a fiery Southwestern rub from Penzeys. For best results, cut or pull apart the salmon with its natural grain.

Other toppings: heat about a tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan over medium high heat. Add the onions and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the olives, garlic and sun-dried tomatoes. Don’t overcook. Onions should be just translucent and still have some crunch.

Spread the tomato sauce on the pizza crust. Add the mozzarella. Add the cheddar. Spoon on the mixture of onion, garlic, olives and sun-dried tomatoes. Sprinkle on the bacon. Top with salmon.

Bake at 400 degrees for 8 to 12 minutes, until crust is golden brown on edges and underneath.

Sprinkle nori strips on the pizza after it is done baking. Set out a bottle of Cholula sauce on the table, and pour out glasses of a good amber ale!

Running North of the Arctic Circle

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7 Mile Road pictured above is one of our Arctic “rave runs.” Our other choice is running along the frozen shore of the Arctic Ocean. Brrr!

Before moving to Alaska, Jack and I took part in about three “destination” half marathons each year. These runs took us to places such as California’s wine country, San Diego and vicinity, and the coastal redwood forests of northern California. But it’s now been two-and-a-half years since our last half marathon–the Salmon Festival Half Marathon in Cordova, Alaska in the summer of 2009. After that first visit to Alaska, our life became consumed with moving up here. Then, when we moved to Shishmaref, we managed to sit on our rear ends for the majority of the school year. We were painfully reminded of our lack of exercise during an embarrassing mile-and-a-half walk from the Nome airport into Nome last spring which was way more taxing than it should have been.

Fast forward to the present.

We both really enjoy the challenge of half marathons, a race just long enough to be physically challenging and mentally rewarding without being so long that the preparation consumes our lives or we’re left feeling overly whipped after the event. Aside from running halfs, our secondary goal has always been to stay fit enough that we are able to run five miles at the drop of a hat, or take off on a reasonably strenuous hike. With those goals in mind, we vowed to make changes in our fitness regimen when we moved to Point Hope.

Prior to the start of the school year, we managed to get in a couple of runs outside. But our options in a town paved in unforgivingly hard concrete and situated on a point of land carpeted in small rocks proved to be quite limited. And then there’s the weather… Luckily our school has a decent weight room equipped with two treadmills and an elliptical trainer.

Jack used his years of running experience to draw up a running schedule for us–one that would get us back in shape quickly without risking injury. I’ve always liked having a goal event to shoot for–a road race of some kind–but our summer schedule is still up in the air, and there aren’t a lot of races up here. The event we’re most likely to take part in is the Mayor’s Marathon and Half Marathon in Anchorage on the summer solstice. Otherwise, we might get out our maps and GPS, measure off our own course, give it a name and reward ourselves with the traditional beers and t-shirts once we’ve run it!

Even with goals set and schedules printed, honestly, running on the treadmill is BORING! We’ve loaded our iPod with podcasts and music, and one of our colleagues positioned the treadmills so people can run side-by-side and talk (just like the old days when Jack and I used to run the trails along the American River in Sacramento!). I also have audio books ready to upload to help combat my new nemesis. The other challenge (and this one is kind of ironic) is that I’ve always hated to run in the heat; our weight room, kept at a constant, breezeless temperature of 70 degrees means minimum running attire and lots of water. Ugh! The tiny fans on the treadmills put out a barely perceptible stream of air.

All that being said, it’s time to pack my workout bag, make sure my iPod has my latest running playlist and get ready to pretend I’m running on a cool morning in Maui!

Polar Numbing Stinging Cold

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It’s cold in Point Hope.

Better words for cold according to the thesaurus –Siberian, algid, arctic, below freezing, below zero, benumbing, biting, bitter, blasting, bleak, boreal, brisk, brumal, chill, chilled, cool, crisp, cutting, frigid, frore, frosty, frozen, gelid, glacial, having goose bumps, hawkish, hiemal, hyperborean, icebox, iced, icy, inclement,intense, keen, nipping, nippy, numbed, numbing, one-dog night, penetrating, piercing, polar, raw, rimy, severe, sharp, shivery, sleety, snappy, snowy, stinging, two-dog night, wintry

We were warned when we left Shishmaref – “It’s cold up there.” We thought a few degrees colder would not make too much of a difference. Hmmmm…. I’ve been comparing Shishmaref to Point Hope. It’s true, it is only a few degrees colder here. But this week the “real feel” temperatures have been hovering around minus 40! When the high says 4 degrees, it’s likely that we may hit the high at 3 o’clock in the morning, not mid-day as you might guess. The sun does peek over the horizon, but not enough to warm anything yet. So, we are relying on wind currents to bring us some warmer air flows.

Last year, Jack bought a wolf ruff for my parka. One of our Shishmaref friends finished it and attached it to my coat. It makes a huge difference in blocking the wind. I have polar fleece pants with a wind-blocker lining. I have thick neoprene “muck” boots. I often wear two hats–one with a face blocker. For me, all these are necessities, even for the relatively short walks to school, the post office, or to the store.  One of my students walked home from the school last Saturday without a hat and got frostbite on her ear!

I can feel every crack in my armor.  If my mitten exposes my wrist, it hurts. The slit between my hat and the face blocker stings with cold.

The words in the thesaurus don’t do justice to the cold up here.

Way-Better-Than-Pecan-Pie Bars

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When I was first introduced to pecan pie, I didn’t like it. I love sweets, but pecan pie was too gloppy. I was disappointed that it had more “goo” than pecans. The idea of pecan pie is a good one, but I’ve always thought it could be improved. Jack says I’ve just never had good pecan pie. I bet he’s right. 😉

Today, I found a blog that had a recipe which seem to do the trick. Amy at Elephant Eats took all the flavors of pecan pie (plus chocolate) and converted it to a cookie bar.

I did make a few changes. First of all, I halved the recipe. Although we have visitors to help us eat our confections, there is no need to have too many sweets around…they are too tempting. I also increased the pecans to avoid the disappointment of “too much goo and not enough pecans.” They came out terrific. And they are way better than pecan pie!

One last piece of advice – no matter how much your husband begs you, don’t cut into these bars until they are cool. They will fall apart!

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup softened unsalted butter
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup dark Caro syrup
  • 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 cups chopped pecans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Grease bottom and sides of a 7 1/2″ x 11″ pyrex glass pan.

3. In bowl, mix flour, 1/4 cup of sugar, butter, and salt until it resembles coarse crumbs. Press into bottom of pan. Bake for 20 minutes.

4. In a pot, using low heat, stir corn syrup and chocolate until it’s melted and well blended. Remove from heat. Stir in the rest of the sugar, eggs, and vanilla until blended. Stir in pecans.

5. Pour filling over hot crust. Bake for 30 minutes or until firm around edges, but slightly soft in center. Cool on wire rack. Cut into bars.

Spicy Chicken Farfalle Soup

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A hot bowl of spicy chicken and bow tie soup is just the thing on a cold January day.

We’re both fans of Southwestern style rubs. Penzey Spices makes a good one, as does Dean & Deluca. I’m sure there are others. I whipped up this wonderfully spicy chicken noodle soup using leftover chicken thighs I’d rubbed and broiled for last night’s dinner. Vary your ingredients according to how much chicken you have on hand and what’s in your pantry. By the way, if you haven’t tried Better Than Bouillon brand, it really is–better than bouillon. Much better. In addition to plain chicken and beef, they make 42 other styles of soup base including a lobster base that is absolutely delicious.

Ingredients:

  • skinless, boneless chicken thighs rubbed with Southwestern-style seasoning and broiled
  • sweet onions, chopped coarse
  • carrots, chopped coarse
  • celery, chopped coarse
  • sweet corn
  • garlic, chopped coarse
  • Kalamata olives, chopped coarse
  • sun-dried tomatoes, chopped coarse
  • mushrooms, chopped coarse
  • fresh bow tie (or other) pasta
  • Cholula sauce
  • Better Than Bouillon, chicken flavor
  • olive oil
  • Italian herbs (fresh or dried)
  • smoked sea salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • (If I had fresh, hot red peppers, I would have used them)

1. Cut chicken into small pieces and set aside.

2. Place enough water in a pot to cover the ingredients. Add bouillon and bring to a boil.

3. Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add chopped vegetables, starting with the carrots and onions as they require more cooking time. Add Italian herbs and stir in well. After two or three minutes, add celery, olives, garlic and mushrooms. Cook until onions are just turning translucent and carrots and celery are just barely crunchy.

4. Add sautéed vegetables to boiling water. Add chicken, Cholula sauce to taste, a few grinds of pepper and the smoked sea salt.

5. Add fresh pasta and continue boiling till just done. (If using store-bought pasta, it is better to add it to the boiling water before adding the other ingredients to cook it to desired tenderness without overcooking the vegetables.)

6. Serve piping hot.

Arctic School Bus

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When I heard that Point Hope had a school bus, my first thought was that a bus seemed extravagant in a village that stretches barely over 1/2 mile  from tip to tip. Not only do we have a school bus, but it’s a shiny, brand-new school bus that just came off the barge this summer. Wow, I thought, our school district is rich!

Once winter set in, my perspective changed. These days, walking the scant 150 feet from the front door of our house to the school is no small enterprise. Bundled up from toe to nose and nearly getting blown off my feet by icy blasts of wind, I totally get the school bus. Within minutes, any skin exposed to this wind begins to hurt! Who would walk to school in those conditions? There are days I wish I could take the school bus.