" A Bag of Potato Chips" gets the Number 2 Spot of my Favorite Culinary Memories

The plan was for Phil and I to drive 29 miles north of Kenai to Captain Cook State Park where the Swanson River flows in Cook Outlet. We would pick up the Pat, Melissa, Rusty and Ken, Melissa's Dad who had floated the 24 miles of the Swanson River. We arrived at 12:30 p.m. and were to meet them sometime between 12:30 and 2:00 p.m.. We waited and waited. No canoes showed up at the launch sight. We grew increasingly hungry as we had not eaten since breakfast. Finally, at 3:20 we decided to drive eight miles back to the small village of Nikiski to find something to eat. On the way Phil made the comment, "Beings its Sunday afternoon, we will be lucky to find a place to buy any food." "Well," I replied, "maybe we can find a vending machine and share a bag of potato chips."

Nikiski ended up having two "eateries". One looked kind of like a bar/restaurant combo and the other a "Mom and Pop Diner". It was called "What's Cookin?" So we went in to see "What was cookin....." Inside the door was a sign which read,

"All You Can Eat Prime Rib and Seafood $16.50 or 14.29 with a senior
discount"

Phil asked how old you have to be to get the Senior Discount. "Older than me." the proprietor replied.

Smoked Salmon Quesadillas - My #7 Favorite Culinary Memory

To duplicate this delicacy, you will need to plan a little ahead so Martha Stewart, take notice!

Begin your preparation in March of a year ending in an odd number such as 2007. Start seedlings of some select green chilies such as "New Mexico 6" or "Big Jims". In May, transplant the small plants in a sandy loam soil in a semi-arid climate such as New Mexico. Take usual care of the plants and harvest some wonderful chilies in August. Roast the chilies over the barbecue grill and remove the skins. Freeze chilies in layers separated with wax paper and wrapped tightly for eleven months or until you can go ishing for pink salmon.


Pink salmon can be easily caught in Alaska on EVEN NUMBERED YEARS! In fact, on a given day one can just about wear themselves out reeling in these feisty creatures. Fishing on the Kenai on these years will harvest many pink salmon. Natives do not like to keep them so if you don't fish, hang around those who do and just ask if you can have their pinks! They will think you are weird but just smile humbly and accept their gift! To Alaskans, they are called "Dog Fish". They do not freeze or keep and can turn to mush rather easily but they do can, smoke and we found frying fresh fillets make a wonderful meal. Pink salmon is very mild in taste.

OK, back to my recipe: Fillet about five pounds of pink salmon and soak it for approximate twelve hours in a brine. There are many recipes of brine one can find on the internet so I won't take time to include the recipe.

After "pickling" the salmon, lay them in your smoker. Of course, Martha wouldn't buy a smoker, she'd make one like the one Pat made for us to use. Leave your salmon on the smoker for 2-3 days. Remove and place them in a dehydrater for an additional day.




This homemade grill was transformed into a smoker using a crockpot hotplate acquired from a garage sale and kept piled with a couple handfuls of woodchips to smolder.

Cut up smoke salmon in to very small pieces before making quesadillas.

Preparing Quesadillas:

On a flour tortilla, spread sauce (see recipe below). Place small amounts of flaked salmon and strips of green chilies on top of sauce. Sprinkle with shredded Monterey Jack cheese. Top with another tortilla and brown in oil.

Sauce: Blend: Equal parts of mayonnaise and plain yogurt, green onion, cilantro and lime juice. This is great for halibut taco sauce, too!



An afternoon at College Hole on the Kenai River can produce a nice day's catch of salmon; a few red, a silver, and an abundance of pink. One afternoon Phil caught about 18 pinks or "humpies" as they are called. The male pinks have a large hump on their back which is full of fat. They are fighters and fun to catch by heavy to carry up the trail.

Culinary Memory #8: Grilled Halibut and Couscous

Not only was this a delightful meal, the newly acquired friends who prepared it for us made it truly a culinary memory! Dwight Martin grilled fresh caught halibut AND ling cod while Carole made a side dish of couscous with corn and zucchini mixed in. (yum!) Fresh sliced tomatoes were sprinkled with olive oil and basil. This way my kind of meal! I contributed to the meal by bringing rhubarb cobbler.

I met Carole online when I discovered her travel blog telling about their planned trip to the Kenai. I instantly was drawn to this couple just by the tone of her blog and the pictures of what looked like a VERY friendly pair. Through the internet we arranged a meeting soon after we arrived in Kenai. Our second visit took place at their camper at the Solid Rock Bible Camp where they were volunteering as part of "Sowers" (Servants On Wheels Ever Ready to Serve).
Dwight and Carole made us they wonderful meal and gave us a tour of the camp; a truly amazing place! The highlight of the night was learning Carole's story as a missionary to Columbia for seventeen years. We eagerly received a transcript of her autobiography and devoured it that night! Meeting Dwight and Carole was not by chance. God brought them to us to bless our lives just by our chance meeting. The following day Carole accompanied us on a wonderful day to Homer.



These two pictures were actually taken in our 5th wheel as I did not take pictures in their bumper pull that night. We had added pleasure in having them over for a meal in Steward as their frig was on the fritz. They brought their own spoons! That was to rib us about the fact that we were short on spoons previously when they had come. We had not been prepared for entertaining while traveling! Linda, what were you not thinking? Of course, I'd entertain in a pup tent! And yes, indeed, we entertained numerous times on that trip.

"Mother-in-law's Mean, Throw-down Breakfast" : Top Culinary Memory # 9 of My Alaskan Adventure

The first week in Kenai my son-in-law, Rusty and Phil drove to the Russian River each day to salmon fish. I would send them off with a hearty, stick-to-your-ribs, breakfast. When Rusty returned to Wichita he told my daughter, Lesli,

"Your mother can sure "throw down a mean breakfast!"

I took that as a great compliment coming from one of my favorite men. There were two varieties I assume he was talking about:

#1: "Mean Throw-down Breakfast" consisted of a stack of:
two fried tamales (homemade and fried crisp before serving)
fried potatoes, with onions and green potatoes
grated cheese
bacon - fried crisp and cut in small pieces
two fried eggs
roasted green chilies (out of our garden)

A side dish of warm rhubarb sauce
went over quite nicely!

#2 "Summertime Mean Throw-down Casserole"

In a small casserole dish, layer:

4 corn tortillas - fried crisp in hot oil and broken up in small pieces

1/2 c. Cheddar cheese shredded

1/2 large sweet* onion, 1/2 green pepper cooked together

4 strips bacon cooked crisp and broken up

1/2 c cheddar cheese

4 eggs, fried, over-easy Don't break the yolks!

salsa verde

Serve with warm, flour tortillas and hot coffee! (Single helping version pictured above)

I discovered, in these improvised meals how much the flavor of corn meal (in the tamales or tortillas) adds to a breakfast dish. "Throwing down" some Fritos on the plate first is also a tasty touch. What makes this a culinary memory, though, was sharing it with the guys I love (and Pat made it one morning, too) in my "cozy camper" on morning they were so exuberant about the prospects of salmon fishing that day!

* Thus the name "summertime casserole". Sweet onions such as Walla walla sweets, 1015s, Vidalia, and Noonday are only available in the summer time because they do not keep. They are large and so sweet! They are a party to the onion eater's palate!

Welcome Back to Linda's Top Ten Culinary Memories of My Alaskan Adventure

Number 10: A Romantic Hot Dog Supper on Kluane Lake!

To qualify for a culinary memory, the meal must have at least two of three important ingredients: exceptional food, company or ambiance. My Number 10 had a wonderful dose of two: company and ambiance.

While it won't be something you'll find in Gourmet Magazine but it was a special event for me. Hot dogs are something I like so much I just have to have one at least once a year but Phil said he was hungry for a good old fashioned chili dog. I decided a beach picnic would be just the place for one. We were on our way home through the Yukon Territory in early September. The air was sunny and crisp and fall colors were magnificent. We parked along the lake at Destruction Bay. Kluane Lake is a large lake and I mean LARGE. Now in New Mexico, a large lake is one you can't chuck a rock across but in the Yukon, a large lake takes hours to drive around. That wonderful evening we climbed down the rocks and roasted hot dogs on the bank of the lake. I put Horsey sauce on mine for an extra kick! Romantic!

Stay Online for my Top Ten Culinary Memories of Alaska!

They will be coming soon!

One more of my Favorite photos!

I took this on from the Highway connecting Homer and Kenai.

My Great Alaskan Adventure!

My husband and I recently returned home following a nine-week trip from the southwest to Alaska! We finally came home when we ran out of "wows!" Our trip included driving through Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. Then we proceeded through Alberta, British Columbia, the Yukon Territory, arriving in Kenai, AK on August 4th. We returned home a different route which included the Cassier and Yellowhead Highways to Jasper, south through Idaho and Utah finally clipping Colorado and home to New Mexico. Stay online for my "Top 10's" of my Alaskan adventure!