Batter-Splattered

Derby-rific

This weekend I'm gonna fish in this silver salmon derby:

http://www.adn.com/2010/08/11/1406248/silver-derby-opens-saturday-in.html

Dudes, I am in it to win it. My name's on one of those $50K tagged fishies and I already promised a couple of friends I'd buy us a round of J.Crew cashmere sweaters if I won at least $10,000.

With every cast I'll be muttering, "Come onnnnn, mama needs a new sweater."

a farmer's market exchange

I hopped on Siri's band wagon and joined her Second Annual Farmer's Market Exchange, and then promptly got matched up with her sister in Minneapolis.

What to send, what to send. Well, we're famous for our humongous cabbages here but there's probably some sort of lame rules and regulations, not to mention weight restrictions, against shipping a 127-pounder so here's what I sent Ingrid instead:

Everyone who visits our state buys an ulu. And if you didn't buy one, you were never really here.

I especially like the 'exotic wood handle' on this one and I think I might have to go back and get one of my own.

Also in the box was a bag of sour cream and onion chips made from locally grown potatoes. Locally roasted coffee -- this kind's charmingly called The Outhouse Blend. And a sticker advertising locally grown agriculture.

I also got her a nice-looking chopping bowl block to go along with her new ulu.

And I think there might have been a chocolate bar in there too?

Ingrid, if those chips show up as a big ball of crumbs, I'll refer you to the Chips 'n Fish recipe on page 25 of my new favorite cookbook. According to the authors, crushed potato chips make an exceptionally crunchy, golden crust for fish.  

dipnet fever

I got to go dipnetting for the first time this past weekend and I now have more salmon than you can shake a stick at. It was crazy fun. Two of us fisherwomen netted about 55 big fat red salmon in a couple of hours, not to mention a king salmon and a flounder.

You can read all the details about dipnetting at the article linked to above and take a look at the slideshow here, but basically you take a gigantic net like this one and wade out into the water chest-deep and hope a salmon swims into your net.

It's something only state residents can do. The head of a household can catch 25 salmon plus 10 extra for every member of your household.

All those little dots in the water in the distance are dipnetters -- it's a circus:

Little fisherwoman (so stylish) checking out her family's catch, at the ready with a club to whack the wigglers:

Fishing from shore is apparently very challenging so it's nice if you luck out at the last minute like me and get to go out on a boat. It's way easier that way. And a bit dangerous what with all the boats zipping around and wakes and waves, which only adds to the crazy fun, of course.

So many boats:

 

You zoom upriver and then float down with your nets in the water.

Our catch:

Those are huge ice chests, by the way, and surveying our plunder led to the question: who the hell is gonna clean all these fish? Hmmmm.

Taking a rest after a successful fishing trip -- notice the fish scales stuck all over me. And fish slime and river water swamp in the bottom of the boat. Awesome.

 

Oh. And who had to clean and filet all those fish? We did. It pretty much sucked.

But two gigantic icechests full of salmon are now sitting in our chest freezers. I cooked up a couple of fresh filets and with the first bite I decided all that filleting was well worth the effort. Maybe. Anyone know a good fish processor?

come with me to cordova

We took the ferry for a long weekend of adventure in a place we'd never been before (gotta visit at least one such spot each year, don't you think?)

Pulling into the terminal, shot through a rainy ferry window.

 

Notice the bouquet of wildflowers?

  

Sweet potato fries grilled over an open fire.

Blueberry crisp:

They're all about salmon here:

 
  

roadtrip / grilled shrimp tacos

This weekend I took a little roadtrip down south to do a little float tube fly fishing. 

 

We stayed in a cute little log cabin on a lake.

The dock looked good enough to leap off the end of but then I'd step outside and the stiff breeze would hit me. It only looks nice and summery. In a month though, that dock will be prime for leaping.

Moose poop on the dock (I wonder if the moose leapt?):

At the lake for fishing -- check out the name and the shape of the lake at that link. I fished on its front toe:

 
 
 
 
For dinner, we had some really good grilled shrimp tacos.

Ready for the grill:

 

Ready to eat:

Highly recommended recipe!

Grilled Shrimp Tacos

Serves 8 as a first course, 4 as a main dish

1/2  cup  sour cream

3  tablespoons  mayonnaise

3  tablespoons  milk

1/2  teaspoon  ground cumin

1 1/2  pounds  large shrimp, peeled

3  tablespoons  butter, melted

2  large garlic cloves, minced

4  limes, cut into quarters

1/2  teaspoon  kosher salt

8  6-inch corn tortillas

2  to 3 cups finely shredded green cabbage

Bottled green tomatillo salsa

Whisk together sour cream, mayonnaise, milk, and cumin. Set aside. Skewer shrimp. If using wood skewers, soak them in water for 10 minutes beforehand. To keep the shrimp from spinning when flipped, thread them on 2 parallel skewers instead of one. In a small bowl, combine butter and garlic. Preheat gas grill to high; adjust to medium after 15 minutes. If cooking over charcoal, allow the coals to burn until they are covered with gray ash. Brush skewered shrimp with garlic butter. Place them on the grill with limes. Cook about 4 minutes on each side or until shrimp are opaque and limes are browned. Remove from grill. Lightly salt shrimp. Grill tortillas for 30 seconds on each side, then place inside paper bag to keep warm. To serve, pull shrimp off skewers and divide evenly among tortillas. Top with cabbage, sour cream sauce, tomatillo salsa, and a spritz of grilled lime.

fiddling through fiddlehead

Check it out -- a brand new blog from right here in the Last Frontier, Fiddling Thru Fiddlehead, written by six women from Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, and Bird Creek. Some of them don't have running water but this summer they're cooking their way through the Fiddlehead Cookbook anyway.

For those who don't know, the Fiddlehead Restaurant and Bakery in Juneau was an institution. I think it's closed now -- correct me if I'm wrong, if you're in the know -- but I had the pleasure of eating there once and lucky for us, they left behind a wonderful cookbook. Sadly, I don't have a copy. How can that be? I'm gonna myself one.