crabbing

{All photos courtesy of Sweets}

The promise was Whiskey Crab Soup.

We hopped into the pickup and headed out to check the water.  It was a fair day, as far as weather goes, with a confusion of sun and clouds muddled together in the sky above our little island.  We were supposed to go out boating that day, our first full day on Lummi, and our first jaunt into the waters of Puget Sound this crab season, our thoughts thick with those purplish-red crustaceans and the sweet sweet eats they promised.

Scanning the conditions surrounding our launch, we were dismayed but hopeful.  The side of the island we'd come from was sunny, the water like smooth glass, beckoning.  Here, though, the waves were rougher, the fog low, and the sun a questionable longing.

Finally, it was decided that we would launch and drive our little boat to the sunny side.  Bask in the rays, pull up our pots, fish off the side.  Surely the weather must be clearing.  By the time we came back, our launch site would be drowning in too much sunshine.

That was our hopeful scenario.

Now where to begin with reality?

alaskan salmon bake

OK, bad news first.  I don't have a recipe for you today.  I know I haven't posted one in a while, or posted anything for that matter, but I've been busy being out of town, on vacation, in Alaska.

For whatever reason that state needs to be italicized when being introduced.  I know it's just another state.  Hell, I know at least half a dozen people who grew up there, but I still hold on to the stereotype of mysterious, untouched land filled with dangerous wild animals; thick, dark forest; uncharted, ice-covered territory.  It's the kind of place suited for burly, bearded people wielding hatchets and living off the land, not a place to be taken lightly.

Well, as it turns out, my idea of 'what Alaska is like' may have been a bit over-dramatic.  A scrawny girl used to city living can do just fine there too.  She can relax and have fun, even.  Sans burl and beard. 

One of the highlights from my trip to The Last Frontier, was the incredible seafood at the Gold Creek Salmon Bake, just outside the capital city of Juneau.