All of the talk of food is making me hungry. Atomic Bear's last post brings a number of ideas to mind. After living in coastal Alaska for 16 years, I find that I've become an insufferable seafood snob. I grew up in the American Southwest and used to clamor for a chance to visit Red Lobster. I'm sure this franchise is well intentioned, but it's just not the same. Once you have lived with freshly caught Dungeness crab, Sockeye salmon, Spot shrimp, and Pacific halibut, there's no going back. …not in Kansa anymore. I wrote a brief article at Suite101 with some of my favorite recipes called Alaska Wild Seafood. The cooking suggestions are simple, but the results are great. It helps to have something so good to work with on the grill.
My career shifted (a little) moving to Alaska and I ended up working in the port and harbor industry. Much of our effort in the Port of Valdez has been building up the infrastructure needed to support the commercial fishing industry. We recently received a grant from the State of Alaska to purchase and install a fish pump, heavy-duty dock mounted crane, and flake ice plant. We have a new harbor in conference committee before Congress, a cold storage and fish meal plant in the works.
Wednesday morning, at way too early in the morning, I will be driving 310 miles to Anchorage to attend the Changing Tides: Wild Alaska Salmon event being sponsored by the Alaska State Department of Commerce, Alaska Sea Grant, and USDA Rural Development among many others. I will be working with our local salmon hatchery, Valdez Fisheries Development Association, to present the many things we are doing to encourage fishermen to visit and use our port. Fishing is the biggest hope for diversifying our local economy.
I have enjoyed Belgium chocolate and beer this last year. I'm thinking a little grilled salmon and a couple of crabs would fit right in with them! The next participant in our blogging adventure is Fireflies in the Clouds.
Labels: Alaska, Commercial Fishing
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17 Comments:
Living on the Gulf Coast my whole life, I am very spoiled when it comes to sea food myself. That was actually one of the first things I fixed when we got back down here from Mississippi. Fresh shrimp, cole slaw and hush puppies..yummy!
What a fast commenter! The post is about ten minutes old at this point. I dearly want to go down to Louisiana and have a shot at their cooking. We donated a boatlift to the community of Empire and it would be fun to visit everyone that worked on the project.
Man. Good post, though I'm not a fan ... to say the least ... of seafood. Now I have to come up with something. Heh.
Beka is nearly always first!!! She's a speedster
Great stuff. I love salmon and crabs but I don't often get to have fresh seafood. Sounds divine. Not sure what hush puppies are though - must be an American thing
That's interesting that you are trying to attract fishermen for the economy. I lived in Boston for a while, and the big news was that overfishing almost destroyed the fishing industry along the New England coast. It's good to hear the fish are going strong in Alaska.
New England, especially Massachusetts, (Cape Cod) is great for seafood. Love the clam chowder, the white one (not the red made with tomatoes) and clam cakes!
Thanks Asorum for the delicious post.
Ahhh, more food writing. Right now I am craving some Salmon. Smoked, raw on rice, BBQed on the grill. I love salmon, oh my yes.
I have been craving Sushi quite a bit in the last few day, maybe I need to treat myself soon.
That's it....I'm packing my bags and heading back.
I enjoyed your post because I love reading about seafood. I can't eat it, though. What I *can* eat is emu prosciutto. Yum.
I am a huge fan of fish. In fact, in our country, we eat much more fish than meat. Well, we mainly eat sweet water fish. Sea fish are popular too but not that much.
And we're back to chocolate. Belgian choccie is the best, though. Seafood, I can take or leave.
I know what you mean about being a food snob, though, once you've tasted the good stuff, everything else seems like a bad imitation.
Okay, your post just made me extremely hungry! This is what I get for reading around dinner time. If I wasn't pregnant I could really go for some raw salmon sashimi or sushi. I guess "fish" sticks will have to suffice! :(
I grew up on the Delaware coast, and there's nothing better than eating seafood you've caught yourself. I used to enjoy crabbing in the summertime.
Get up early, catch the crabs, take 'em home, wash 'em, cook 'em, and then spend three hours slowly cracking and eating them. Heaven.
Man, it's 11pm, and all I have even resembling sea food is fish sticks.
It's going to be a long night :(
Why do I always get attracted to the posts about food??????
Salmon - I would love to taste one in your area of the woods. Something tells me that the taste would be much fresher and tangier than the Salmon I buy in the Supermarket.
In Jerusalem, you can go to the open air market and get live Salmon though they come from fisheries.
I really have to say that it is intriguing to read about life in Alaska. Makes me really jealous in many ways. I know some of it is romanticizing, but it seems that it can be a good place to spend some years.
I like this Blog. Always have.
Seafood? No thanks. (Even if it is good Alaska kind.)
First of all, I just never liked it--much to my husband's disappointment. And now, I am a freak about watching out for Mercury (which a good number of seafood contain), since we have been trying to get it out of my son.
All of you fish lovers out there can have my portion!
Yum. It's coming up to lunch time here and now I want to give up my chicken and cheese sandwich for ALL of the things you mentioned. On the topic of salmon, though, I have to be in the mood to eat that. Tastes good with alcohol, I think. Hehe. And why go mention Belgian chocolates just suddenly like that? Sheesh. YUMMO. PS - I like the image attached to this post, too. Cheers.
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