Spring time stuff

Spring time in coastal Alaska means fresh seal oil and fresh oogruk (bearded seal). This girl was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to help make both. I also ended up with three seal skins to stretch and turn into sewing material. This is my friend Chara and her family. She gave me the spotted seal skin that they're taking the blubber off of in this picture. Since I was being given the hide, I helped. Chara's Uncle stopped by and asked who the blonde was trying to cut seal (yes I dyed my hair blonde), this caused some laughter until he realized it was me.

My cousin Velma spoiled me with her eskimo salad. I ate the whole jar in one day. Not ashamed of that at all.

Fat Ab gave me some beluga tail.

And an oogruk rib cage and back bone. I cleaned off all of the meat and and hung t up to dry. Now I have enough black meat to share! (Normally I have just enough to hoard.)

I took last years silver salmon out of the freezer and smoked a bunch of it. Just trim off a little of the freezer burn and twelve hours later you have your self a delicious tasty treat. Some of it will be made into a smoked salmon cheesecake for my friend Jay.

Here's a picture of my oogruk drying into black meat. I love this stuff. When I was younger I used to write on the bag that it was mine and for no one else to eat it. Yeah, I was that kid.

Sashimi spring rolls

One of my favorite places to get sushi in anchorage is this place. I love the atmosphere and the food is phenomenal. My friend Shauntel and I go whenever we're not stuffing our face at Crush. True story. It's one of our places in Anchorage. Anyways, on the menu they have sashimi spring rolls. And I freaking love them. This was my attempt to make them at home.

Chop, chop. Slice, slice.

Plop, plop.

Mix, mix. Yes that's a snoopy spoon.

Yum.

Skinning like a champ.

Deboning

Final step? Devour. I made some with fresh king crab too, but didn't take any pictures of those because I was starving and wanted to eat already. I shared with my Momma too.

This was tasty

I found some reindeer sausage in my freezer. I also had a lot of veggies that needed to get cooked. So I attempted to make something delicious. It worked!

I fried the reindeer sausage up in a pan all by it's lonesome. While it was sizzling and popping I started steaming veggies. Veggies always seem better when you steam them separate from each other. That way I'm able to get the perfect do on 'em each time.

First was the broccoli. I may or may not have nibble on a few little trees while I was slicing and dicing the mushrooms. I added some sunflower seeds for good measure.

After the mushies, I steamed up some cauliflower and tossed in sun dried tomatoes. I didn't have any fresh tomatoes. They're usually pretty bruised up by the time they get to the vill and don't last very long. I wanted some noodles or rice or something to toss everything with so I ended up boiling some Orzo. I added that to my bowl along with some salmon berry vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, and some other stuff I can't remember.

Yep I ate that whole plate. And there was enough for lunch the next day and some veggies for dinner the next night. Sometimes cooking for one really works out nicely.

Bunneh stew

This is how I do bunny stew. Well, one of the ways. It always starts with bunny that has been cleaned and then brined at least 12 hours in the refrigerator. The salt in the brine draws blood out of the meat and tenderizes it. A must.

Next step is to get the crock pot out. I love my crock pot, except for the fact it's old school and you can't take the pot part out to clean it. It's bolted or welded in there, which is obnoxious. I dump a can of chicken broth and a can of cream of celery (or mushroom) soup in the pot and mix em together. The first time I tried this I put all my ingredients in the crock pot before the liquid and then dumped the soup and broth on top and tried to mix it all together. Fail.
I have a bunch of canned tomatoes from the Jacob's crew that I've been trying to use up so I poured a can of stewed tomatoes in once I got my brother and soup mixed together. The first stuff to go in the pot are onions and/or garlic. I didn't have any garlic so I made do with onions.

Next up, the rinsed off bunny meat. I layer it on the onions. I push it down a little and give it a stir.

I add whatever vegetables and such that I can find on top of the meat. In this case: celery, carrots, and corn. I ran out of mushrooms, which made me sad because I love me some mushrooms in my crock pot. I generally dumb the juice from the corn or mushrooms in with everything else, more flavor right?

My liquid wasn't covering everything so I added a can of V8 juice. Wallah. I turn it on and give it a stir every 4 to 6 hours. I cook it until I can pick up a bunny bone and the meat just falls off. Everything is warm and tender and done. If I feel like gravy I'll scoop out some broth and add flour. If I feel like soup I'll leave it. If I feel like stew I'll add a few noodles towards the end of the cooking to absorb some of the broth. Yum.

I should have taken a picture when it was done....

Pan fried trout

Chop the head and tail off, gut it, wash it, stick it in a pan and eat it. Delicious. One of my favorite things about living up here is the food. My ancestors knew what they were doing when they settled down at Unalakleet. Okay so maybe my ancestors were from other places around the Norton Sound but I relate most with Unalakleet because that's where I've spent the bulk of my growin' up.

A little olive oil and a bunch of garlic is how I roll

This was just a baby. Booba brought some fresh trout to my mom the other day and I snagged a few of them. I'm an abysmal fisherman, let alone ice fisherman, so I happily accepts the gifts given to my mom. I like trout more than her anyways. Fresh fish in the winter always makes me smile. When I was little I used to think that the fish in the river froze solid and then thawed and started swimming again in the spring time.

Something new

I think most individuals would find me strange for cooking this meat. I thought it would made a tasty stir fry. I was not wrong.  But indeed it was a little strange, even if it was just in my head (the strangeness). First step brine. This takes some of the blood out of the meat and tenderizes it.

Slicing and dicing

The container for the brine.  I salted it a little on the bottom first.

The next day I continued on my cooking adventure.  I sauteed some garlic and shallots and then put the meat in the skillet.  I cooked it a good long time because I wanted the meat thoroughly cooked.  I cooked it in it's juices and then turned up the heat simmering them off to brown the meat.

Simmering and browning

Lastly I chopped up some broccoli, cabbage, and opened a can of baby corn.  I seasoned the meat up when I was browning it.  After the veggies I poured Yoshida's, soy sauce, and Worcestershire sauce over everything. I simmered it even longer, covering it with foil. Then when the veggies were cooked I thickened up my sauce with some corn starch.

Done!

Any guesses as to what the meat was?

Pure class

One of my Thanksgiving tasks is the pie.  Considering my Momma does everything else, I get off lucky.  Yet another thing to be thankful for.  Bwah!  Okay, moving on.  This year is the first year that I was at my own place for Thanksgiving.  Kind of strange.  I was a very privileged kid in the fact that I went home almost every year for Thanksgiving and every year for Christmas.  Even when I was in Colorado.  So normally I was staying with my Mom while I was visiting home.  Last year I was living with her.  This year, I have my own little 16' x 20' house.  With no rolling pin.  It's a good thing I'm a wine-o.

There shall be pie.  No matter what.

This is really just going to be how I go about getting the crust ready for a pumpkin pie.  Visually of course.  Because who wants to read about it?  Not me.  And I certainly don't want to write about it.

Flat.

Fold.

Unfold.

Pat.

Crimp.

Cut.

I love making pie crusts.  More than I think I like eating pie.  I've never been a huge fan of dessert.  It's nice once and a while but given the choice I'd rather eat a fantastic steak or a hunk of bread.

Steak. Done right.

After the photo shoot on Tuesday I needed some mad sustenance.  So after my brother dropped me off I bundled up and headed off on a mission.  I ate a dozen oysters (have I mentioned that I'm a glutton?) but that just wasn't enough to satisfy my little hunger monster.  So I went to crush and ordered their rib eye on special and a glass of wine.  Naturally one glass of wine lead to two and then to celebrate me finishing my glorious delicious steak of course I had to have a glass of champagne (told you, glutton).  It was decadent.

Pretty blue lights in the city park on the way to Crush.

Crush is losing Johnny to San Francisco.  So tragic.  He's such a staple at Crush.  He always knows what kind of sparkling yumminess to give me and he tells me about books to read.  It's very sad to see him go.  Tuesday was the last night that I will ever get to see him there.  I asked for something sparkling and he told me to read English Passengers written by Kneale.

Yes.  I say yes to you.

Sunbutter, banana, bacon

Oh the glory that was this sandwich.  I want another one.  Recently, I was introduced to sunbutter (sunflower seed butter, a fantastic alternative to peanut butter).  I've been addicted to it after the first taste.  After eating about a pound of sunbutter on crackers, I felt it was time to expand my horizons.  Thus the sunbutter, bacon, banana sandwich:

Toast the bread.  Because toasted sandwiches are amazing.

Sunbutter on both sides, because one side just isn't enough.

Peel one side of the banana, because it's easier to slice when it's peel is holding it together.

Put the banana on one side of the toast.

Eat the banana that you didn't use.  Om nom nom.

Add the bacon.  Glorious bacon.

Another view of the gloriousness.

Make it a sandwich and consume it with gusto.

I want another one.