Sockeye Salmon Three Ways

At the tail end of August, one of my fellow cooks at the senior's residence came by our work with an offer I could not refuse: he was selling freshly caught sockeye salmon for $10 each. At the same time, I happened to know that the Local Overpriced Grocery Store (aka LOGS) was selling whole sockeyes for about $22 - $24 each. So, I bought one sockeye from my colleague. I should have bought more.

The fish was cleaned and gutted and headless, but needed filleting. So, after work, I went to LOGS, which has an excellent set of butchers, and asked one of the guys there how to fillet the darned thing. He said, "I'll just do it for you. It'll be quicker." I told him I had not purchased the salmon from the store, but he didn't mind. He went a head and filleted the fishy for me while I watched so I could learn. I then went home and cut eight portions from the fish! What a screaming deal! I should have gotten more from my colleague, but at the time I had no idea what I was getting. Oh well.

I have had a few meals from this salmon, and they were all awesome. I took some camping for Shan & me, and that was lovely. But at home, I have prepared this salmon three different ways.

Exhibit #1: Salmon with Key Lime seasoning from World Market (love that stuff!), rice, and Asian coleslaw (coleslaw mix, seasoned rice vinegar, sesame oil).

Totally awesome meal, very easy & quick to prepare, and healthy to boot.





Exhibit #2: Grilled sockeye with maple, soy, and ginger glaze.

Oh, this was absolutely divine! The glaze was easy: maple syrup, soy sauce, and a few drops of ginger oil my dad bought for me at the Nelson Farmer's Market in July. I served this also with rice and the same Asian coleslaw.





Exhibit #3: Salmon & Shrimp Chowder.

Oh, how I love a good seafood chowder, and this was another winner! Very simple to make, and I found some cheap back bacon at LOGS to go in it. I got a huge pot of soup that made me about 8 servings, and for it I used the two tail ends of the sockeye, about half a pound of shrimp, and a couple frozen pieces of chum salmon I had kicking around my freezer that I had purchased at Safeway a while back. God, the difference between the sockeye and the chum is ridiculous! I don't think I'll ever buy chum that way again - it's just pathetic in comparison to the sockeye!

Camping Grub 2010

My SIL and I went camping recently, as has been our tradition for the last three years. It was a totally awesome trip, and if you want to read more about it, you can go here. The full Flickr set is here.

As usual, we ate like queens! Here is a rundown of some of our food.

On day one, we went to soak in Ainsworth Hot Springs, then drove the short distance from there to Kaslo, where we had one freaking awesome lunch at a place called The Rosewood Cafe. Here are our lunches.

I had a fantabulous Monte Christo Sandwich with homemade baked fries.

Shan had a huge turkey burger with all the fixings & a side salad that was served with a homemade rosemary vinaigrette.

More to follow on this restaurant as it was absolutely brilliant!

One morning we had Eggs Benny, which is something we usually have while camping. It's just such decadent camping grub!

Dad joined us on Saturday, and he brought a set of really amazing steaks for dinner. We didn't have the BBQ with us this time and the grate on the fire pit was way too filthy to cook anything on directly, so we opted to pan fry them in cast iron skillets on the camp stove. Shan seasoned them with garlic butter and Montreal Steak Spice, and we served them with garlic bread (which she baked over the fire as it was covered in foil) and some rice. The steaks were like butter - completely awesome!

More from this trip upcoming, as we went to the Hills Garlic Festival in New Denver, too.

Magazine Monday #66: Brown Sugar & Chocolate Chip Pound Cake with Maple Espresso Glaze

So, I was invited to a friend's for dinner last week, and I offered to bring dessert. I have a ton of rhubarb in the freezer, but my friend's husband is not a fan. Plan B involved blueberries, but that was a no-no, too. Plan C kinda fell into my lap during a ransacking of my recipe binder. I just happened upon this recipe from the October 2007 issue of Bon Appetit Magazine, and I had all the ingredients on hand.

This is one frakking fantastic cake, people! It was a huge hit at dinner, and I had some left over to munch on when the urge arose. And arise it did. This makes one awesome midnight snack, I can tell you for sure.

The recipe is here.

I used dark brown sugar, not the golden kind. I actually prefer the darker sugar because it has more flavour and it's a little richer. I really think it makes a difference in the taste & texture of my baking.

When I made the glaze, at my friend's house, I added too much liquid, and it came out more as a sauce. I was totally OK with that and so was everyone else!

Definitely a keeper recipe that I think I'll go back to time & again!

Life Is Good...

My good friend Pierce, AKA Tina Marie of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor, gave me a wonderful tribute in a recent post, and bestowed upon me something entitled the "Life is Good" award.

I have met tons of great people through blogging, both this blog and my regular blog, and Tina has become such a great friend to me, such a source of strength and encouragement, that I really feel blessed to have her in my life - even though we have never met! So, thank you, Tina, for being there for me, for your support and for your constant friendship! I do hope we can meet in person one day in the not-too-distant future!

Of this award, Tina says on her blog: "The rules are, to accept this award, I shall answer the 10 questions below and pass the award to six fellow bloggers."

I may not be passing this along...I don't normally do that part of these awards, but I will answer the 10 questions!

1. If you blog anonymously, are you happy doing it that way; if you are not anonymous do you wish you had started out anonymously so you could be anonymous now?

I am only semi-anonymous, though I started out wanting to be completely anonymous. It's easy enough to find my name out if you've been reading this blog (or the other one) for any amount of time. I am happy with this, however, or else I would never give the hints to my real name. It's only been a problem on my other blog, which is why I changed the site over to WordPress & took it off search engine crawling.

2. Describe one incident that shows your inner stubborn side.

Just one? Really? Hmmmmm... I have so many examples it's ridiculous. But let's stick with something simple: putting together furniture. I buy a piece that comes in a flat pack, and I will NOT give up on it until it's up and functional, even if it takes all night, even if the instructions are ridiculous (like Ikea's), even if I can't hammer straight - you name it!

3. What do you see when you really look at yourself in the face in the mirror?

Very complicated question. I see a Plain Jane who is pushing 40 and showing it.

4. What is your favorite summer cold drink?

Simple: iced tea or girly cocktails! And frappuccinos!

5. When you take time for yourself, what do you do?

I go lay down on my super comfy new couch (which came assembled!) and watch TV all day. Or I read & listen to music. I used to take long baths, but in my new place, there is no tub, only a cramped shower stall. :(

6. Is there something you still want to accomplish in your life? What is it?

I have a lot of things I want to accomplish in life, and I feel time is running out with some of them. I want to get married & have a baby. I want to travel. I want to write a novel. That is my starting list.

7. When you attended school, were you the class clown, the class overachiever, the class shy person, or always ditching school? Describe who you were if not one of these.

I was the quiet kid who actually got along with her teachers and was thus labeled a brown-noser. I was also the bullied kid who was drastically marginalized & traumatized.

8. If you close your eyes and want to visualize a very poignant moment in your life, what do you see?

Never mind!

9. Is it easy for you to share your true self in your blog or are you more comfortable writing posts about other people or events?

Both.

10. If you had the choice to sit and read or talk on the phone, which would you do and why?

God, I love a good chin wag on the phone and I don't do it often enough! But I also like to read. Either or.

So there you go! Thanks again, Tina!!!