Birthday Adventure at Kodiak’s Rocket Launch

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Posted on February 26, 2012 by Ann

“Doesn’t the (sewage) treatment plant have a lot of flies?” Simon asked. Clearly, his choice for this year’s birthday adventure with Grandpa and Grammy was Kodiak’s Rocket Launch.

Three years ago, we enjoyed a birthday tour of Kodiak’s US Coast Guard base where Simon sat in the pilot seat of a rescue helicopter, walked the inside length of a C-130 with a flashlight, and peaked into the bowels of the good ship Monroe. Another year, we went behind the ‘staff only’ doors at the Fish Technology Center to see how growing king crabs were affected by the acidification of the sea.

This year as he turned 9, Grandpa and I drove with Simon along an icy road for about an hour, through sea side tundra and a herd of buffalo in order to reach Kodiak’s Space Launch Facility.

This rocket launch was not Cape Canaveral but Narrow Cape, playfully called the other cape built in 1999 to launch both commercial and military satellites.

We were greeted by Paul, Joe, and Carol who told us our tour had turned into a private one because the group we were to tag behind canceled because of icy roads.

In the office, Carol created a badge for Simon then Paul and Joe started showing us around. At once we were transported to see miracles of technology and science. Mission control included 64 workstations and looked just like Houston. On the huge screen, we viewed a film of the last rocket launch which shot into space in September of 2011. All together, this facility has had 18 launches for 41 satellites with 100 percent success rate.

We were vacuumed before entering the sparkling clean room where satellites were prepared for launch. Simon’s whole foot almost disappeared in the unique foot vacuum.  And the ride up 17 stories in the caged elevator to the very top of the enclosed rocket launch tower made my hands sweat. Only Kodiak would have needed a fence around the cement fire shaft to keep buffalo away from the heat exiting the rocket as it lifts from earth.

We finished with a big thank you, grateful for a memorable tour in our adventures where we learn about Kodiak Island.

Simon's journal

 

It will be hard to top this but we plan the sewage plant tour next year. Perhaps, we could add a trip to the recycle center. And what is a waste theme without a trip to the dump. I heard people say that Kodiak brown bears were often seen wandering around out there. This might make another one of those, ‘Only in Kodiak’ adventures.

 

 

 

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Kodiak Bear Intestine Parka

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Posted on February 17, 2012 by Ann

 

Alaskan Native, Coral Chernoff is giving workshops at the Alutiiq Museum here in Kodiak on Saturdays from 12-2 the month of February.

The long strips of Kodiak bear intestine felt crinkly, snapping gently in my fingers like stiff tissue paper. It seemed extremely tough, hard to tear and impossible to poke even though it was semi transparent.

“I read where these were worn next to the skin.” said Coral Chernoff, the attractive woman who was presenting workshops on sewing bear intestines at the Alutiiq Museum in Kodiak this month.

She poured a cup of water in a tube of intestine. No leaks. The outside surface, although damp, was waterproof and felt velvety. Moisture had changed the texture and I saw how a parka made from bear intestines could be comfortable next to the skin, in addition to being rain, and windproof.

Abby and her mother, Sara, feel the water filled intestine.

Over the last several years Ms. Chernoff has taught herself how to cure intestines, and to tan hides of deer, seal, rabbit, and squirrel. She found uses for parts of animals that the rest of us might discard like making a small sack out of  the skin surrounding a deer heart and seeing how the tip of a squirrel’s tail swirled to a perfect point for use as a watercolor brush. In her dedication to her cultural heritage, she illustrated to us how early people utilized nature to answer their needs. On our windy and rainy island a material like animal intestines to protect against the elements must have commanded a premium.

In order to make a traditional parka for her son, Coral harvested guts from 3 bears taken legally by hunters. One intestine was about 100 feet long, another 75, and she salvaged pieces from a third.

Prepared Kodiak bear intestines.

In order to create a basketful of intestines, her process went as follows:

After squeezing out the contents, she rinsed the whole intestine. Then she scraped off the outside muscle with the edge of a spoon while she held the intestine, right side out, against a rock shaped with a small mounded rise.  Turning the intestine inside out and she then scraped away the insides of the intestine, which, she said, looked like refried beans. After this outside and inside scraping, she rinsed again and again before blowing it up like a big sausage shaped ballon to dry. Once dry, Coral flattened the long tube and cut along the outer curving edge, rolling the material into a cylinder tied with a leather thong.

Believe it or not, the time consuming work of creating a parka was just beginning.

Sinew came from the silverskin on deer or bear backstrap. This was dried and strands pulled apart for 12 inch lengths. Using a bit of water, Coral twisted them together into longer strands strong enough to use for sewing. Added lengths were staggered but if the threads were joined haphazardly, the strand broke. For sewing, Coral searched for a sharp needle with an eye large enough for her sinew thread.

Small deer heart bag with prepared sinew

Coral held the the softly gathered outer edge of intestine together with clothes pins for her sewing. She sharpened the needle point with sand paper and used a skin thimble to help push the needle through the tough, slightly dampened intestine. If the intestine became too wet, it stretched instead of puncturing even with the sharpest needle. She sewed the edges together with a tight tearless seam that she taught herself by observing and studying other parkas. It was a long process. The last 6 inches took her 80 minutes, first to twist the sinew and then sew the seam. She estimates that she used about 35 hours to twist sinew plus 35 hours to seam, while joining together the two rounds of the parka she showed us.

Now, she creates a utilitarian seam. In the future, she wants learn about and sew the decorative edges common on historical gut parkas.

In Coral’s illustrations of the smart way early peoples utilized nature to solve their needs,  I wondered how to explain this huge time commitment of hers to reviving almost forgotten techniques and skills. I knew her aim  wasn’t to create products to sell as no part of a Kodiak bear may be sold or used for profit.

Coral Chernoff

But I was thinking about the time and dedication when she startled me by saying,

“I love guts”. After watching her work and hearing her careful explanations, none could deny the love. I was watching it in the smile on her face and the care she took with her craft. For it’s own sake, for her people, for all of us to see, to know, and to remember.

 

Categories: Kodiak Brown Bear | 4 Comments

From Kodiak, 4 Ingredient Gourmet Sweet!

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Posted on February 12, 2012 by Ann

 This gourmet white chocolate bark hits all the pleasure centers. It is sweet of course, but also a bit tart with dried cherries and crunchy with toasted pecans. A hit of salt accents the sweetness.

And it is simple to make.  First, I break apart by hand pecans into 1/4 inch pieces (less crumbs than chopping with a knife). Toast nuts in a 250 degree oven for about 8 minutes. Watch carefully and remove when the nuts start to change color. While the nuts are toasting, chop up 1/2 cup of dried cherries into one pile and 1 pound of white chocolate (4 packages, 4 ounces each, good quality white chocolate bars) in another. Have on hand about a teaspoon of sea salt, the kind with big granules.

Have the pecans and cherries ready before you melt the chocolate.

Place half of the chopped white chocolate in the microwave for 2 minutes, stir and microwave minute by minute until all melted. Maybe 5 total. When this half is melted, remove from microwave and add the remaining half. Stir until all melts together. Do not put back in the microwave the chocolate with the second half added as this destroys the tempering. Let the first half melt the second. Spread melted white chocolate out on a parchment lined jelly roll pan.

Sprinkle the top with salt. Use your judgement, but I use a scant teaspoon of sea salt. Sprinkle the cherries and pecans evenly over the top and press down slightly into the soft chocolate.

Let cool. Break into chunks. Package the candy, the fancier the better. This will rival the best gourmet chocolates you can buy.

With this recipe, inspired by an article in Splendid Table by Lynne Rosetto Kasper, I won first prize at a Chocolate Lovers event held here in Kodiak a couple years ago.

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Kodiak’s Russian Christmas and the Angel on the Tree

Julias hands 2
Posted on January 6, 2012 by Ann

Kodiak is lucky enough to have two Christmas celebrations!   January 7th is Russian Christmas because the Russian Orthodox in Kodiak and in some other countries observe the old Julian Calendar which places their Christmas celebration 13 days after the one celebrated by our more common Gregorian calendar. This celebration is centered upon the Holy Resurrection Russian Orthodox Church in downtown Kodiak.

The blue onion shaped domes of this church, a mission established in 1794, are the most recognizable element of Kodiak’s Russian period. (The church looks more bare than this photo I took before the large tree in front was taken down.)

Photo by Mike Baird bairdphotos.com

This started when Russian fur traders were drawn to Kodiak in the mid 1700′s by the incredible dense fur of wild sea otters. Seeking the wealth that the furs would provide, they sailed East out of Russian and hunted sea otters throughout the Aleutian chain. At Kodiak, they built a colony and  priests came to minister to the hunters and to teach and to convert the Natives to the Orthodox religion.

Over the next years, Russians and priests explored most of the sea shore and the Yukon areas of Alaska. In 1867 United States purchased all the Alaskan territory that Russian claimed for $7,000,000. (This purchase, which was tagged Seward’s Folly after Abraham Lincoln’s secretary of state, came to be worth many billions in mineral wealth, fish, timber, and oil.)

Wikipedia Commons GNU Free Documentation License

Today, almost 150 years later, Russia still marks the culture of Kodiak. Receptions at the Baronof Museum, the oldest building in town and oldest wooden structure on the west coast, serves Russian tea (flavored with spices, citrus, and sugar, recipe follows) from a steaming samovar. Pirok, a savory pie (recipe included in another of my blogs), is frequently made with Kodiak’s wild salmon.

On the night of January 7, a Ukraine tradition of Starring is held just after the evening church service. In this ceremony an elder or honored child brings a decorated star, 3-4 feet in diameter, to the front of the church and starts to twirl it. This represents the star followed by the three wise men. Then with song, the twirling star leads the congregation out of the church and to the first home in the parish, usually the priest’s, for music and Christmas goodies. During the next weeks, the star visits each home in the parish. On YouTube there is a two minute silent video from Alaska Film Archives entitled Russian Orthodox Starring Ceremony you might want to watch.

Julia, our 4 year old granddaughter, eyed our Christmas tree and couldn’t wait another day to  take it down. She was anxious to hold the each of the 8″ dolls that used to belong to my mother that I had hung on the tree. Then she anticipated sitting on Grandpa’s shoulders to remove the angel on the top. So, we took down the tree a bit early. The tree top angel, a family heirloom, has an embroidered dress and face, a curly Chore Girl for hair, and a toilet paper roll to hold it on the top of the tree. She was made by my sister over 40 years ago and has been on every tree since. You can see Julia was proud to hold it.

Bill and I aren’t Orthodox but we will go to the Russian Church on the night of January 7th and welcome Christmas once again and follow the star – just one more way Kodiak is enriched during the winter months with light and song.

Russian Tea for a Crowd

1 quart of boiling water

2 or 3 sticks of cinnamon

12 whole cloves

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 tablespoons loose tea

juice of 4 oranges and 2 lemons

3 more quarts of boiling water

Boil first 4 ingredients together for 15 minutes. Add tea and let steep off the heat. Strain. Add juices and water let stand overnight. This makes about 4 quarts and serves 30.

Variation

Omit the last 3 quarts of water and store in refrigerator up to one week. When ready for tea, add 3 parts water to 1 part Russian tea for whatever amount you wish.

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Taking Rubbings of Kodiak Petroglyphs

Posted on October 16, 2011 by Ann

On the south end of Kodiak Island at Cape Alitak multitudes of petroglyphs were carved, generations ago, into the face of rounded boulders facing the mighty Pacific ocean. At the tide line, the petroglyphs have been almost erased. Wind and rain have taken a toll on those higher up. Still feeling with your fingers and looking at a low angle you find whales, hunters, fish, and faces. The inspiration for other etchings are mysterious and yield only questions. And I have to wonder why are the glyphs located in this desolate spot facing the trackless ocean? It would have taken days to etch depressions deep enough in the hard rock using other harder stones. While I ponder these questions I admire the graphic designs which form a connection to ancient peoples who once were numerous on the Island.

These petroglyphs are located about an hour skiff ride from our cabin in Olga Bay and I count myself fortunate  to have been to see them twice. Now, in order to preserve the petroglyphs as much as possible, they are closed to casual public view but at the Alutiiq Museum in Kodiak (a modern facility preserving the Native heritage and language), the director  Dr. Sven Hakkanson Jr. carves granite rocks using modern tools to in order to illustrate these petroglyphs. In the museum these replicas provide easy access to anyone who wants to take a rubbing or simply run fingers over these ancient symbols.

This week we took our grandson, Simon who is almost 9, to take rubbings. First, we watched a short video Alutiiq Museum Channel on You Tube which explained where the petroglyphs are located and what is known about them. Then Simon took rubbings on the granite stones using the paper provided and large hockey puck crayons.

As we left, he asked, “Can we come back tomorrow?”

Yes, we can.

And the Alutiiq Museum is here, located just up the street from the Russian Orthodox Church in the town of Kodiak, for anyone to visit.

The petroglyph designs are popular for jewelry, clay tiles and silk scarves for sale in the Museum store. 

 

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Easy and Cheap, Classy and Elegant Crackers

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Posted on October 9, 2011 by Ann

Bill and I were in Buenos Aires about to splurge on lunch at * Cabaña las Lilas, a restaurant I found written up in Frommer’s Argentina. Bill opened the heavy wooden door by pulling on the handle, a giant cow horn. We blinked at the contrast between the hot and sunny South American day and the dark interior. Fire leaped up from a huge grill as chefs seared the steaks that made the restaurant famous. Classic guitar played in the background.

We were guided to a table for two covered with a starched white cloth. A rack of crackers was placed in front of us. I opened and laid the oversize linen napkin in my lap and stared at big sheets of crisp cracker that stood on a flat stand held vertical by four wooden dowels.  A novel presentation that I deemed rustic, unusual, and elegant. The large sheets of cracker snapped as we broke and bit into them, salty, yeasty and good. I smiled and took note, this was something I could duplicate back home in Kodiak with a little help from Bill.

Once home, Bill cut out a rectangle about 6 by 4 inches out of scrap oak. Routed the edge and drilled 4 holes for dowels. Lastly, he oiled the surfaces with vegetable oil. It took him about an hour which included finding the materials.

I found a cracker recipe in a James Beard Bread Cookbook of my daughter’s. I mixed and kneaded dough up and let it set over night because I learned from making pizza crust that fresh dough stubbornly clung to itself and kept contracting after each roll of the rolling pin. The next day, the dough relaxed and rolling was much easier.

Bill liked to roll out sheets of cracker dough, sometimes so thin you could see through them. He sprinkled the top with coarse salt, sesame or poppy seeds. He pressed the seeds into the surface with the rolling pin then I baked the sheets one at a time at 350 for 10-15 minutes.

I love this recipe. We make them two or three times a year for special meals. How often do you find something you can duplicate from an exclusive restaurant that is easy and cheap, classy and elegant? These crackers remain one of our best souvenirs of Argentina.

Bill and Ann’s Crackers

Variation from Armenian Thin Bread in the James Beard Bread Cookbook.

1 cup warm water

1 package dry yeast

1/2 stick butter, melted and cooled

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

3 1/4 to 3 3/4 cups all purpose flour

Mix dry ingredients together using the low amount of flour. Add the warm water and cooled butter. Mix with a wooden spoon until dough is too stiff to stir. Turn out on a floured board and knead until smooth and the surface feels like satin. Add more flour if needed to reach this point. Spray the inside of a gallon plastic bag with baking spray. Place dough inside and refrigerate over night.

The next day roll out gulf ball size pieces on a floured board. Roll very thin. Sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds and coarse salt. Roll in to adhere. Bake each sheet alone on a parchment covered baking sheet until lightly brown and crisp, 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees.

I have used granulated toasted onion, onion powder, and pepper as additives to the dough. All are good.

Store in an air tight 2 1/2 gallon bag for up to 10 days.

Serve sheets whole standing upright in a cracker stand.

* Cabaña las Lilas, Buenos Aires (tel. 11/4313-1336): Widely considered the best parrilla in Buenos Aires, Cabaña las Lilas is always packed. The beef comes exclusively from the restaurant’s private estancia, and the steaks are outstanding. The cuts of beef are so soft, they almost melt in your mouth. Despite the high price of a meal here, it’s casual; some guests even come in sneakers and shorts.

Read more: http://www.frommers.com/destinations/argentina/2296020003.html#ixzz1aJ8xUmV4

 

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Tuck’s Turnings

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Posted on September 29, 2011 by Ann

Termination dust hit the mountains yesterday. The light snowfall signals a ‘Get out of Alaska’ response from some. Bill and I have  certainly flown away for our share of dark Kodiak winters. But what struck me since I returned to town was how vibrant the people who stay in Kodiak become anticipating the winter months.

At the grocery store, Bill ran into our neighbor, Bob Tucker.

“What have you been up to? Have you been turning? Bill asked, knowing he made wood objects on the side.

“No, I’ve been carving. I just finished a king salmon.”

Bob had the day off  and he was going to be in the wood shop packing up a carved king salmon to send to a client.

“Is it packaged too far to take a look at?”

“No, just stop in on your way home.”

Bill knew I would be interested in Bob’s latest carving so he drove beyond Tucker’s place and into our drive way so I could go along.

The carved king salmon lay on a bed of foam in the packing crate. Bob carefully picked it up and held it for us to see. The polished satin walnut revealed amazing attention to detail. The characteristic black spots on a real king salmon became individual inlaid ebony dots spread across the back and tail. Just under the carved gill a thin slice of bloodwood, almost invisible, represented the bright red gill plates of a live, energetic salmon.

Although this fish was carved, I loved Bob’s logo I found on his web site, Tuck’s Turnings,”Every Tree Deserves Another Turn.” As I scrolled through his volume of work – unusual bowls, religious sculptures, and carved animals, I found an attention to detail along with a level of technical expertise that would put him in the top tier of wood carvers.

Bob is representative of our community. Alaskans who turn from the outdoor activities of our incomparable summers to the creative indoor arts of the winter. The community theater is practicing what has become my favorite play, Les Miserables from the original classic by Victor Hugo. The community chorus is practicing for 3 December concerts of Handel’s Messiah. The Kodiak Arts Council hosts a performing arts series and 3 local galleries host artists showings.

My thinking is that Alaska’s termination dust turns to determination dust in Kodiak. Bob Tucker is another Kodiak citizen heading into the coming winter with creativity, enthusiasm, and determination.

And, he lives just up the street.

 

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Making a Life with the Rock

stone 13
Posted on September 23, 2011 by Ann

My heartfelt thanks to Derivative Works for naming Wild Salmon Kitchen Blog of the Year.

***

“How is life on the Rock?”

“Life on the Rock is wet. We are rusting.”

or less often

“Life on the Rock is great!”

The weather – not the rock – prompts our answers. Our actual rock changes little. It remains a Rock for the Ages, made up in large part of  greywacke, a mud rock compressed into hard, dark, and angular strata, a stone rougher and coarser than slate

Like a photo of a shadow cast by an empty chair, it takes a certain aesthetic to see the beauty in this blue gray mass.

Several Kodiakians have used the rough, simple rock of our island in ways that accent the integrity of natural stone like the hearts on the stoop and the steppingstones lining a path at Ron and Mary Doubts.

A term for the using rocks like this is wabi-sabi, Japanese for an aesthetic that is rustic and simple, fresh or quiet. The term can be applied to people too although, I can’t think of an example right now.

At fish camp, my most beautiful wabi-sabi Kodiak rocks sit on top of our oil stove. These ocean tumbled rocks are satiny from being held for warmth by many hands.

And I love a wabi-sabi bird house my sister, Marilyn, made for me. Her husband, Ken, nailed it together from the banya wood pile. She covered it with beach stones and moss.

When Heather was little her favorite doll was a long oblong rock on which she drew a face with red magic marker. A true wabi-sabi baby. She was very upset when her brother tossed it face down on the beach cobble. She couldn’t find it and I couldn’t either.

At Christmas, I stack rocks behind a clay madonna riding a donkey. I like the simple rustic nature of this at a time when sparkle and glitz too often dominate.

Wabi-sabi can be these home made objects or something with more of an understated elegance which is what I tried to achieve with the birthday signage below and the drilled rock used as the gift card on a wine bottle.

With a whole island of greywacke, doesn’t wabi-sabi give a whole new meaning to Blank Slate?

 

 

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Alaskan Sport Fishing Rod Holder

Posted on September 20, 2011 by Ann

From Bill 

Anyone who has fished from a boat has had their share of snapped rod tips, crushed guides and broken rods.  There just doesn’t seem anywhere to place the fishing rods that they are not stepped on or in somebody’s way.  We don’t fish a lot from the boat but we do use a boat to get to the creek, so our gear has suffered like everyone else’s.

That is until this year.

Pastor Eldon Simonson, who had a sabbatical in Olga Bay last year, invented a rod holder with a discarded milk case, some 1-½ “ ABS pipe, and cable ties.  This holder keeps the rods in place, off the bottom and gunwales, and out of the way.  It is simple and with the addition of a small plastic tray in the bottom other tackle can also be carried.

So I found a plastic milk case on the beach and turned trash into a thing of beauty and functionality.

For my rod holder, I cut a ¾” slot in the pipe about 2/3rds of the way down the pipe, this allows for my fly rod, which has no handle below the reel, to be carried safely.

Thanks Pastor Eldon.

Categories: Just Make It Work Philosophy | 3 Comments

Floor Side of an Alaskan Cabin

Posted on September 16, 2011 by Ann

Our fish camp floors are many and varied, made to be practical and suit purposes underfoot. That doesn’t mean they can’t be pretty.

The kitchen floor is painted with blue porch and floor paint and accented with a floor cloth designed and executed by Heather and I. Painted canvass floor cloths used to be common in colonial times. I was surprised that this has lasted over 10 years and remained bright.

Our neighbor, Darlene Omlid crochets attractive and washable rugs with strips cut from old sweat shirts. She co ordinates the colors and single crochets with a big wooden hook. I have two 5 foot round rugs that she made in this way.

The green house floor is gravel that receives a transfusion of several buckets of new gravel from the beach every year or so.

The banya floor is cedar planks that resist the moisture that is rampant in a room devoted to bathing.

The guest room (also Heather’s room) has a bright lime green rug over indoor/outdoor carpeting.

Indoor/outdoor carpet dominates the most of the cabin interior as it is practical and warm underfoot.

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