A Big Thank You to our Spring Customers

My brief dance with spring and summer weather is over and I'm traveling back in time via the canned tube with wings. Back to the kind of time where wind and tide is more important than dodging rush hour traffic or the crazy potholes. Uganik Bay, where we fish and live, has that kind of timeless energy to it, protected as a federal wildlife refuge, where development by humans is stanched and nature flows as it always has, geologically slow yet vibrant with life.

I'm guessing based on experience that this quick trip south and back will leave me feeling almost like I never left and like the other half of life humans have built and contrived is a dream. Setting new heat records while I was in Minneapolis was mildly disconcerting and my brain couldn't quite wrap my mind around it. I kept the acceptance of the heat locked away from me rather than embrace it. I love vitamin D for sure, but I knew I'd be headed back to Kodiak where not much melting was happening from what Adelia observed. In fact, I can't remember the last time I felt 90 degrees on my face. Picking salmon on deck at top speed in full rain gear in full sun for hours maybe, or in the new sauna we built for sure, but naturally heated air? I have literally no idea remembering an example. Maybe 10 years ago in living in Hawaii?

Reflecting on this trip to deliver salmon, I find that there are details that enrich life, things that come with appreciation. One thing I’m appreciating is connecting with our customers in person. I get great satisfaction knowing that I have helped stocked people's freezers and provided a layer of food security. As Alaskans in the remote fringes, we spend a lot of time planning strategies and timing to get food and preserve it. Freezing is one of the best ways for us. Whether it be the big raspberry harvest or salmon from the nets, the freezer captures that slot in time at peak of vibrancy and saves it for us to consume.

I'm hoping that our salmon that we have hand caught and selected with a discerning eye, then delivered to your gastronomic gateway, will let your taste buds send your mind to Alaska and appreciate the magic of our wild salmon. Healthiness comes from the vibrancy of our fish straight out of the ocean. They literally have a shimmer to them, indicating palatability and the clean taste. With a few of our customers, I talked about how our salmon isn't like other salmon in that it is so pure and not "fishy”, which I think comes from preserving the magic of our little fish right from the ocean.

If you can for a moment imagine a silvery salmon sliding through the salty three- dimensional depths on its journey, giving itself to us for sustenance, appreciation swells and it tastes even more wonderful.

~Tollef at 34,000 feet

P.S. I discovered a way of eating salmon while on this trip that I’ve never even considered before. Let’s call it the “Working Man’s Lunch.” I had come home for lunch in between deliveries and errands, very hungry, with little time, and really wanting to eat salmon. Problem: the salmon wasn’t cooked, much less defrosted. Solution? Don’t cringe…I used the microwave. We have always turned our noses up at cooking salmon in the microwave, something we don’t even own at home, but I gave it a shot out of desperation. I took it out of the packaging, put it on a plate covered with a piece of parchment paper, defrosted for 5 minutes, sprinkled salt and pepper on, and then hit “cook” for 5 minutes. Presto. Even my mom said it was good!