the promised pictures

My trip to the North Slope region of Alaska was an eye-opening experience. I flew almost every day, mostly in small planes. I saw the tundra during the summer, which is beautiful in a strange, barren way. Part of me looks forward to seeing it in the winter, but another part of me thinks that I must be crazy to look forward to being in Barrow in the winter. I learned one word in Inupiat: "aarigaa," which is an expression of satisfaction. I unfortunately didn't get to eat any whale meat or Eskimo ice cream, but I will be going every three months from now on so I'm sure the experience will come along sometime. So no food pictures to share with you, but hopefully you'll enjoy these anyway...

Okay, I guess this one is kinda food-related. This is a dumpster in Barrow. All the dumpsters in town are spray-painted with positive, inspirational sayings (maybe to prevent someone from spraying them with not-so-positive sayings?). This saying refers to events in the mid-1900s when all whaling was banned because of over-hunting by commercial whalers. The Inupiat people protested because they were not the ones to blame for the whales being hunted to the brink of extinction. They have been hunting and eating whale meat for centuries. They eventually won back the right to continue whaling the way they have always done: sustainably and respectfully.

Another semi-related food picture! This is caribou fur (I think) drying in Point Lay, one of the villages I visited. Caribou season opened mid-August and continues through the next month or so, then may re-open depending on how many caribou are killed. I spoke with someone in the village who got a caribou a few weeks ago and had already eaten most of it. He was hoping to get another one soon.

No food at all in this picture, just the beautiful beach in Point Lay. Can you see the town just over the hills there? I loved this village. It helped that the weather was perfect the day I was there, about 60, sunny and clear.

Just to prove I was really there, here's a picture of me next to some whale jaws in Barrow. This was taken in front of the Inupiat Heritage Center.

The Arctic Ocean. We stayed a few blocks from here while in Barrow. I'll be sure to take another picture in a few months with all the snow and ice. Then it will really look like the Arctic Ocean.

the tempura experiment

I apologize for the long lapse in blogging. August was busy with a friend's wedding, a family vacation and my first trip to Barrow with my job (pictures to follow, I promise). I did find some time in all of that to try something new in the kitchen, though.


A few weeks ago I found myself with a fridge full of fresh vegetables and some fresh halibut from the market. Hmmm, I thought, I've always been curious about tempura. Maybe now is the time to try. After some internet research, I plunged in. I found the process to be very simple, very messy and a lot of fun. Here's what I did:

First, I prepped all the veggies. I decided to do green beans, zucchini and sugar snap peas. I washed everything, strung the peas, snapped the ends off the beans and sliced the zucchini into medium thick slices. Then I set up my tempura-making station: one plate of flour, one bowl with two eggs beaten with a tablespoon or two of water (egg wash), and a plate of panko. I heated a few inches of canola oil in a deep frying pan. When a pinch of flour spattered nicely in the oil, I began putting the veggies through the assembly line. Flour bath, egg bath, panko bath, then onto a plate by the hot oil. Then into the fryer until golden brown, turned occasionally to ensure even cooking. Everything came out wonderfully, although the green beans and zucchini were better than the sugar snaps. I would have done sweet potato slices if I had them around. I cut the halibut into medium-sized chunks and fried that last. Somewhere in there I made a dipping sauce in my food processor. I made the sauce up completely, but it turned out well--how could it not, though, when composed of tamari sauce, sesame oil, fresh cilantro, grated ginger root and fresh garlic? I added a little water to thin everything out nicely. I think next time I might add some peanut butter.

I think this would make a great meal for a party. It should be eaten fresh (although mine did stay amazingly crispy in a 350 degree oven until my husband got back from work). The prep is so simple that everyone can pick out the veggies they want and go through the assembly line themselves. I did, of course, feel that greasy heaviness after consuming just this for dinner. That's why it would be great as an appetizer, or along with a bunch of fresh fruit or a big green salad.