On the very long summer nights...or shall we call them days. Heck, there are no nights anymore, I suppose. I get rather confused. Laura keeps telling me it's nighttime even though it's daylight; I get up when it's night and think it's day when it's still night. Here it is just the beginning of our 24 hours daylight period, and I'm longing for the dreariness of the short winter days again. I know, I know, that's sort of crazy, but I've grown accustomed to being kept in the dark.
Hmm, that's sort of like the last job I worked. Being treated like a mushroom. Kept in the dark and fed bulls**t all the time. That's why I'm not there any more. There's no bull around here, unless it's a bull moose, anyway. Well, sometimes the things I hear at the bar sound like bull, but who am I to judge? The best quality of a good barkeep is to listen without judging, and to smile knowingly a lot.
Anyway...I digress from the long summer nights. Working at the saloon is good for the body and the soul. The trip to re-stock the larder with food and drink is an arduous task in the winter, mostly due to snow and the bone-chilling cold, but in the summer we're slowed down by the mud. Hard to navigate even with the four wheel drive, and trying to clean it off is like prying dried cement loose. By July the only thing not covered with two inches of mud will be a small place in the windshield and the side view mirror...unless another moose decides to rub his head on that, and then we'll have no mirror again this year. When we can, supplies come in via float plane at the small lake, and we motor down with the 4X4 to get them. On occasion, guests actually truck supplies in for us, and we trade time at the inn for their haul time, a good exchange in these parts. Works great for the two with Sno-Cats in the winter, as they haul sleds and can bring several weeks of goods at one time.
There I go, digressing again. I do that a lot here. Lack of sleep, I suppose. Did I mention we have 24 hours of daylight? And how hard it is to sleep during the day, even if it is night? I did, didn't I? Hmm, repetition is the sincerest form of flattery. Or is that imitation. Good Grief..I better quit while I'm behind and go to bed.
The Early Days
Photo courtesy of Elyse Silva
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Eskimo Ice Cream - Akutaq
Akutaq - Eskimo Ice Cream History
The native people of Alaska have a distinct version of ice cream. It's not creamy ice cream as we know it, but a concoction made from reindeer fat or tallow, seal oil, freshly fallen snow or water, fresh berries, and sometimes ground fish. Air is whipped in by hand so that it slowly cools into foam. They call this Arctic treat akutaq, aqutuk, ackutuk, or Eskimo ice cream. Akutaq is a Yupik word that means mix them together.
This is a delicacy that Alaska Natives have thrived on for thousands of years. This recipe was made by Natives a long, long time ago for survival and was used as a special traveling food. When hunters went out to go hunting, they brought along akutaq.
Akutaq can also be made with moose meat and fat, caribou meat and fat, fish, seal oil, berries and other Alaskan things. Women traditionally made akutaq after the first catch of a polar bear or seal. Traditionally it was always made for funerals, potlatches, celebrations of a boy's first hunt, or almost any other celebration. It is eaten as a dessert, a meal, a snack, or a spread.
Today, Eskimo ice cream is usually made with Crisco shortening instead of tallow and with raisins and sugar sometimes added. The region of Alaska lived in usually determines what berry is used, and each family usually has their favorite recipe for Eskimo ice cream. It is said that your choice of berries used in making Eskimo ice cream is a lifetime decision. It is okay to eat any flavor made by others, but if you are caught making more than one kind, you will lose all social standing.
The people of the Arctic love to serve their favorite dish to cheechakos (newcomers in Alaska). When guests are willing to try their favorite foods, the Inuits feel pride at sharing their culture. At first, the host might be shy to offer any of their food for fear of rejection. If you are a guest and are offered some (you will probably be served first as a guest), at least try a small amount. Please do not express any "yucks" or other words of ridicule. If you really cannot bring yourself to eat this unusual food, accept the serving and find the oldest person in the room and offer the food to him or her. This will show that you have good manners, if not good taste, and that you respect your elders. Then quickly grab a plate and fill it with things that you can eat. Most people who try Eskimo ice cream say it is delicious!
Food is the connector to everything that surrounds the Inuit culture. Each celebration includes a huge feast, as they believe that food tastes better when it is shared with family, relative, and many other people. Feasts are very special because they believe sharing food is an important part of their culture and an important link to their heritage. In community feasts, where everyone gathers in a public place, all food is donated by those who have food to give. In bigger communities, designated hunters provide much of the food.
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Akutaq Recipe
This was a very hard recipe to record, as each family usually has its own version and usually has never written it down in an actual recipe. They generally just make it from memory and feel. After reading several descriptions on how to make Akutaq, I came up the the following recipe. I have never, personally, made the following recipe.
The type of fat used determines how the Akutaq will taste and feel, as each animal has a different type of fat. Well-aged yellow fat is usually preferred because it has more flavor and whips up fluffier than does fresh fat. The ice cream can also be sweetened with sweetener or with fruits. Meat and fish Akutaq are not usually sweetened.
1 cup reindeer, caribou, or moose fat (back fat)
1 cup seal oil, divided
1/2 cup water or 2 cups loose snow
4 1/2 cups fresh berries (blueberries, cloudberries, cranberries, salmonberries, or blackberries)
Grate or grind fat into small pieces. In a large pot over low heat, add fat and stir until it becomes a liquid (the fat should never get hotter than it is comfortable to your hand). Add 1/3 cup seal oil, mixing until it is all liquid. Remove from heat and continue stirring the fat in big circles.
While continuing to stir at a steady rate, add 1/4 cup water or 1 cup snow and another 1/3 cup seal oil. As fat slowly cools and starts to get fluffy and white, add remaining 1/4 cup water or 1 cup snow and remaining 1/3 cup seal oil, continuing to stir.
When the Akutaq is as white and fluffy as you can make it, fold in berries. Form into desired shape.
Cover and freeze to firm up.
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Modern Eskimo Ice Cream
1 cup solid vegetable shortening*
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water, berry juice, or 2 cups loose snow (optional)
4 cups fresh berries, (blueberries, cloudberries, cranberries, salmon berries, or blackberries)
* Crisco solid vegetable shortening is preferred
In a large bowl, cream vegetable shortening and sugar until fluffy. Add water, berry juice, or snow and beat until well combined. Fold in berries, 1 cup at a time, until blended.
Place in freezer to firm up before serving.
Thanks to: http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/Akutaq_EskimoIceCream.htm
Akutaq - Eskimo Ice CreamAnother Recipe
Fish (white fish, pike, or salmon) 3 to 4 pounds, cleaned, deboned, and, if frozen, thawed.
Crisco/lard
Vegetable oil
Sugar
Berries (blue berries, salmon berries, cranberries, etc.) 1/2 gallon to a gallon
Chop the fish into chunks and place the fish into a large pot. Fill the pot of fish with water to cover fish. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer twenty minutes or until fully cooked. Allow to cool.
Place fish in a large bowl, squeezing out the water as you do so, and crumble into small pieces.
Take at least two large scoops of Crisco with your hand and add it to the fish. Stir it up with your hand for at least three to five minutes, or until the fish is mixed well with the Crisco. Add additional Crisco as needed for the fish and Crisco to blend together smoothly
Add about a cup of the vegetable oil, and continue stirring until the mixture is creamy. If it's not getting creamy in consistency, add a little more vegetable oil.
Whip it up with your hand until it gets fluffy.
Pour at least a cup of sugar into the mixture and stir until all the sugar dissolves. Then add another cup of sugar to the mixture and stir until that also dissolves. Add additional sugar to taste.
Add lots of berries to the mixture and stir it up or mix by hand.
The akutaq is ready to eat. Keep it refrigerated.
Crisco/lard
Vegetable oil
Sugar
Berries (blue berries, salmon berries, cranberries, etc.) 1/2 gallon to a gallon
Chop the fish into chunks and place the fish into a large pot. Fill the pot of fish with water to cover fish. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer twenty minutes or until fully cooked. Allow to cool.
Place fish in a large bowl, squeezing out the water as you do so, and crumble into small pieces.
Take at least two large scoops of Crisco with your hand and add it to the fish. Stir it up with your hand for at least three to five minutes, or until the fish is mixed well with the Crisco. Add additional Crisco as needed for the fish and Crisco to blend together smoothly
Add about a cup of the vegetable oil, and continue stirring until the mixture is creamy. If it's not getting creamy in consistency, add a little more vegetable oil.
Whip it up with your hand until it gets fluffy.
Pour at least a cup of sugar into the mixture and stir until all the sugar dissolves. Then add another cup of sugar to the mixture and stir until that also dissolves. Add additional sugar to taste.
Add lots of berries to the mixture and stir it up or mix by hand.
The akutaq is ready to eat. Keep it refrigerated.
Friday, May 29, 2009
June Cometh in Alaska
Summer is here in Alaska come June. Time to plant the hardier flowers and hope that it doesn't snow any more, although we occasionally have snow as late as mid June. Not frequently, but it does happen; we also hope the last frost will be past in the next week or so, as the more fragile plants are waiting for that time to be planted, to come to their full glory in about 6 weeks or so.
It's daylight 24 hours a day. That's a refreshing change from winter, when it goes from dark to a sort of twilight, then back to dark again.
Winter games and hunting are over and the time is right for midnight ball games and of course, everyone's favorite, drinking and carousing at the Saloon. That never changes, regardless of season. It seems odd at first to step outside and see it's just as light at 2 AM, our closing time, as it was at 10:00 PM when you came in. At least to newcomers who are not used to the daylight. For some it makes sleeping difficult too, although we do "hear by the grapevine" that after a rather full evening of food and drink, some have no trouble sleeping at all. 'nuff said about that!
Note: State Liquor Law allows service from 8 AM to 5 AM but we close service at 2 AM because we can't stay awake any longer. We'd rather be honest why we close the bar, than tell you any law requires it. We can't sell alcohol on election days until the polls close. That's funny as we're the only ones here who vote, so there's nobody to bribe with a whiskey, which was the original reason for the service establishments closing on election days. We tried to vote by mail, but the cost to ship me to Fairbanks to vote was so expensive that we decided it just wasn't worth it. Plus, have you ever been shipped anywhere by UPS? Man, do they know how to drop kick a package all over. Now I know why our stuff looks like it was dropped from 10,000 feet when it arrives! (We do know about vote by mail. Now I just get in the mail truck and ride to Fairbanks like everyone else to vote, thank you!)
I do miss the Northern Lights, which, of course, are not visible in the summer. When I lived in the northeast part of the lower 48, I once chased what I thought would be the Northern Lights for miles, only to find it was a shopping center. Talk about disappointment! Of course, everyone talked about going to the Northern Lights and it was only natural...but that's another story altogether. Just leave it that I still find disappointment to this day when I realized how I was duped into traveling to find nothing spectacular at the end of that drive!
Of course, as previously mentioned, the mosquitoes are back, and yesterday I saw one that looked like a DeHavilland Twin Otter coming in for a landing. Huge and winging low with a growl instead of a buzz. We've installed some of the blue light type mosquito traps that electrocute the mosquitoes around the porch, and when one hits the grid they don't make the usual "zzit" sound. It sounds like a lightning strike and a thud! I swear the lights flicker from the juice it takes to kill one of those things, but the guests do seem to appreciate our efforts to create a bug free zone. Laura did have to remind one guest that it was not our evening barbecue they were smelling, as the glassy eyed guest had a plate in his hand and was looking hungrily at the trap. Good grief!
It's daylight 24 hours a day. That's a refreshing change from winter, when it goes from dark to a sort of twilight, then back to dark again.
Winter games and hunting are over and the time is right for midnight ball games and of course, everyone's favorite, drinking and carousing at the Saloon. That never changes, regardless of season. It seems odd at first to step outside and see it's just as light at 2 AM, our closing time, as it was at 10:00 PM when you came in. At least to newcomers who are not used to the daylight. For some it makes sleeping difficult too, although we do "hear by the grapevine" that after a rather full evening of food and drink, some have no trouble sleeping at all. 'nuff said about that!
Note: State Liquor Law allows service from 8 AM to 5 AM but we close service at 2 AM because we can't stay awake any longer. We'd rather be honest why we close the bar, than tell you any law requires it. We can't sell alcohol on election days until the polls close. That's funny as we're the only ones here who vote, so there's nobody to bribe with a whiskey, which was the original reason for the service establishments closing on election days. We tried to vote by mail, but the cost to ship me to Fairbanks to vote was so expensive that we decided it just wasn't worth it. Plus, have you ever been shipped anywhere by UPS? Man, do they know how to drop kick a package all over. Now I know why our stuff looks like it was dropped from 10,000 feet when it arrives! (We do know about vote by mail. Now I just get in the mail truck and ride to Fairbanks like everyone else to vote, thank you!)
I do miss the Northern Lights, which, of course, are not visible in the summer. When I lived in the northeast part of the lower 48, I once chased what I thought would be the Northern Lights for miles, only to find it was a shopping center. Talk about disappointment! Of course, everyone talked about going to the Northern Lights and it was only natural...but that's another story altogether. Just leave it that I still find disappointment to this day when I realized how I was duped into traveling to find nothing spectacular at the end of that drive!
Of course, as previously mentioned, the mosquitoes are back, and yesterday I saw one that looked like a DeHavilland Twin Otter coming in for a landing. Huge and winging low with a growl instead of a buzz. We've installed some of the blue light type mosquito traps that electrocute the mosquitoes around the porch, and when one hits the grid they don't make the usual "zzit" sound. It sounds like a lightning strike and a thud! I swear the lights flicker from the juice it takes to kill one of those things, but the guests do seem to appreciate our efforts to create a bug free zone. Laura did have to remind one guest that it was not our evening barbecue they were smelling, as the glassy eyed guest had a plate in his hand and was looking hungrily at the trap. Good grief!
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Spring at the Saloon
Spring has come and will give way to summer shortly, as the bitter cold is slowly giving way to, well, just plain cold. The earth below our feet, once covered in white cold snow, has started to turn wet and soggy as the tundra gets into its' usual state of "bogginess" on top of the permafrost. Shortly, all around will be the worlds' biggest mud bog, attended by mosquitoes so large, that when we first got here, one landed and we attempted to load aviation fuel on, and board passengers, before we realized it wasn't a bush plane! (No wonder the passengers were so darned reluctant to get aboard. The pilot really was a blood sucking creature!) Come to think about it, some have ascribed that statement to the airlines and the overall cost of flying up here from the lower 48 anyway!)
We do everything really big up here in Alaska. You know, those Texans think they do things big, but our Texas size donuts are about the size of a postage stamp. You could hide Texas in a corner of Alaska and never find it until the snow melted! If the snow melted, that is! We do have some things they don't, such as Eskimo ice cream, a local delicacy, and other foods that we were marginally aware of until the Saloon became a virtual reality. We'll post the recipe along with others as time permits.
We do everything really big up here in Alaska. You know, those Texans think they do things big, but our Texas size donuts are about the size of a postage stamp. You could hide Texas in a corner of Alaska and never find it until the snow melted! If the snow melted, that is! We do have some things they don't, such as Eskimo ice cream, a local delicacy, and other foods that we were marginally aware of until the Saloon became a virtual reality. We'll post the recipe along with others as time permits.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Our Inn
Our Inn is located about 500 miles from nowhere, according to many people who try and find us, but about a hundred miles from Fairbanks and a bit more than that from Anchorage would be a better description. We're a ways off Highway 3, the road leading to the Denali National Park. That said, the road to here is rather difficult and many guests arrive via float plane on a nearby lake, or in winter via snowmobile; in fact, we have several guests who actually own Snow-Cats. That's how much they enjoy the hospitality at the Wild Moose Saloon.
How we got our name is a long story. Actually, we don't remember all the finer details, but it has to do with a large bull moose, an open door on the enclosed porch, some of Laura's cooking and trying to drive the poor confused creature back out into the woods. Or, trying to get out ourselves, whichever came first. Luckily, the moose was the first to exit, without much damage, and the joke was that the place looked like it was run through by a wild moose. Well, the name just kind of stuck, and as time went on, here we are, still with it. And, come to think of it, looking at our logo, we've seen some of us look just about like that moose, after a long evening of tipping some of our finer brews and whiskeys!
How we got our name is a long story. Actually, we don't remember all the finer details, but it has to do with a large bull moose, an open door on the enclosed porch, some of Laura's cooking and trying to drive the poor confused creature back out into the woods. Or, trying to get out ourselves, whichever came first. Luckily, the moose was the first to exit, without much damage, and the joke was that the place looked like it was run through by a wild moose. Well, the name just kind of stuck, and as time went on, here we are, still with it. And, come to think of it, looking at our logo, we've seen some of us look just about like that moose, after a long evening of tipping some of our finer brews and whiskeys!
Welcome to the Wild Moose Saloon!
A warm welcome to all our friends, guests and patrons to our new website. It sure has been a long and cold winter here at the Inn, with lots of snow and ice to cover the ground outside, and much warmth and cheer inside. Laura has been cooking her famous Irish meals and along with some good ol' Alaskan food and drink, we've managed to keep a relatively full house even with the difficult weather.
Montgomery welcomes each guest with his usual snarl. For quite some time, we thought he was an ordinary cat, until he accidentally delivered what was a most savage bite to a patron one afternoon, almost severing a limb. It was then we realized that gray cats just don't get that big, and the cute "meow" was actually a snarl, and his penchant for eating everything in sight was getting to mean everyone in sight as well. So, we keep him well fed before we feed the guests, if you don't mind. Kind of makes for a less hostile evening that way. Incidentally, the closest hospital is 380 miles away by helicopter...in good weather. So our advice is never aggravate the cat... for any reason.
Montgomery welcomes each guest with his usual snarl. For quite some time, we thought he was an ordinary cat, until he accidentally delivered what was a most savage bite to a patron one afternoon, almost severing a limb. It was then we realized that gray cats just don't get that big, and the cute "meow" was actually a snarl, and his penchant for eating everything in sight was getting to mean everyone in sight as well. So, we keep him well fed before we feed the guests, if you don't mind. Kind of makes for a less hostile evening that way. Incidentally, the closest hospital is 380 miles away by helicopter...in good weather. So our advice is never aggravate the cat... for any reason.
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