Salmon and Sunshine

Mrs. Sunshine, Annie and Elmo
Salmon art in down town Anchorage (photo by Martha)
Combat fishing on the Kenai River

June 25, 2006

It is Sunday, and the sun was shining on the volcanoes across Cook Inlet when we got up, and still shining when Martha had “church” on the steep trail from Eklutna Lake up to Twin Peaks. We didn’t go all the way. A young guy in shorts and a t-shirt zipped by. He said he was going to the top and expected to be back by around 10:00 P.M. We might have made it by 10:00 tomorrow morning.

When we got back to Anchorage, we stopped by New Sagaya, a really good specialty grocery store and bought salmon and veggies for dinner. When we got home Annie told grandson Birch, who is three years old, where we had been. “What kind of salmon did you get?” he said.

We have learned that in Alaska, salmon is not salmon. It is king salmon, red salmon, silver salmon, dog salmon, pinks, Chinook, sockeye, chum, humpies, coho, and even kokenai and char. In the restaurant, they even brag about the river where it was caught. “We feature Copper River reds on the menu tonight.”

David, after eight years experience, now believes that the name of the salmon and where it was caught is less important than how long the fish has been out of the water. The reds we got at New Sagaya had not been out of the water long, and Steve cooked them perfectly on the grill. Drizzled with a sauce of simmered garlic, shallots, white wine, grapefruit juice, and thick cream; accompanied by a half pound of good wine and the Sunshines, it doesn’t get much better than that.