Flying to Alaska - Flying in Alaska

I live in Austin, Texas. It takes a while to get up to Alaska from here. First to Denver, Minneapolis, or Chicago, depending which airline we use. Then to Anchorage, and with a small jet or twin prop back down to Cordova. Here, our boss picks me up in his Cessna 206 and we fly out to the Tsiu River. One year, I hitched a ride in the jump seat of the DC-3 that flew supplies to the lodge. These Alaska "workhorses" seem to be indestructible. The pilots told me that their plane has flown on D-Day across the Normandy, already. Can you imagine? Over 60 years ago! During our 90-minute flight to the lodge, the pilot and co-pilot had a lively conversation about all the things NOT working on the plane. Eavesdropping from my shaky little folding seat right behind them, I started to get a bit nervous. I asked them if at least the landing gear would function properly. They laughed and offered me a cigar with the words: "This is a smoking plane, buddy!" Look at some great pics at my "Alaska Lodge" lens.

I'm back from Alaska!

My internet connection was way too slow for blogging. But I'm back with a lot of stories to tell. While I was gone, the good folks at Squidoo HQ decided that I'd make a worthy Squid Angel, so they gave me a badge. I'm tickled pink, honored, humbled, excited. And I made a new Squidoo lens about it: Squid Angel Blessings by Chef Keem My annual cheffing gig at the Driftwood Lodge was a great success. We served fabulous food and the guests were very happy. Many of them go on fishing trips all over the country, several times a year. They always tell me that they are surprised at the quality of my food, and that they haven't eaten this good anywhere else before. That's nice to hear. It makes me proud! Over the course of the next few months, I will post regularly about my adventures and recipes, with a load of great pictures. To whet your appetite, I start with a few impressions of the Driftwood Lodge, our home for the silver salmon season at the Tsiu River in SE Alaska, next to the mouth of the Bering Glacier.

The Night I peed on a Bear...

It was 11:30 p.m., on a clear and chilly August night at the Driftwood Lodge in SE Alaska - when I had to pee. I stepped outside, behind the lodge, where one can stand at the edge of a 3-foot dip giving way to a vast expansion of the tundra surrounding our piece of land - and I went about my "business". During the day, one can see the Chugach Mountain Range, about 20 miles away, and the dense growth of alder and cottonwood stretching across the area. At night, all I could see was the moon and the mountain tops in their yellowish luster. I had just arrived 2 days ago, for the first time in the last frontier, to work as the chef of the lodge during the upcoming silver salmon season. And I was star-struck, so to speak, by the dramatic beauty of the land and its views, especially on this beautiful summer night near the Gulf of Alaska's thrashing surf. As I was standing there in the moon light, spraying my arc of relief into the bushes across the night-black dip in front of me, I noticed the outline of a strangely familiar shape rising slowly from the darkness of the ground, about 5-6 feet away. The "shape" became taller than I, and the "outline" became clearer, while I was "holding on" to the last, somewhat hesitant phase of my "business" at hand. And then everything seemed to happen at the same fraction of a nano second: the "shape" turned into a definite live brown bear hovering 6 feet away in wonder and puzzlement over my "wet approach", me remembering everything they told me about encountering a bear (wave your arms, holler, DON'T run!), dismissing it at the same moment, turning around and racing back into the safety (?) of the lodge, where a couple of our fishing guides finished their last beer of the evening. One of these brave young men grabbed his rifle and went back outside to chase off the "wet one". He was still there, in the shrubs, exploring the origins of those wonderful kitchen scents he had probably picked up from miles away. We could hear him moseying around for a while longer, until our guide's profanity yells must have persuaded him to move on. At least, I have a witness - I was not hallucinating! I had peed on a bear!

Fresh from the Tsiu River - Alaskan Silver Salmon

You know what? I don't really like salmon. Never did. Until... ...I had my first freshly caught silver from the Tsiu River in SE Alaska. This is good eating! My favorite cooking method is a quick saute in butter and spices, finished in a hot oven. Watch this video from my Alaska lodge kitchen for a demonstration of my way of cooking silver (coho) salmon fillets.

Alaska is calling - and I come...

Next Sunday, I will hop on the planes. Yes, it will take four planes to get me to my Alaska lodge kitchen: Austin - Seattle - Anchorage - Cordova - Driftwood Lodge. I've been cooking for our guests - fly fishermen from all over the country - for the last 10 years. The Driftwood Lodge operates only during the silver salmon (coho) season from mid-August through mid-October. The fishing is awesome, the duck hunting is great, and my food is quite popular. Let me show you how I like to prepare wild duck breast. I made a little video, directly from my lodge kitchen.