This time of year is a weather parade with confetti. It is the end of winter, yet there is still more to come, but spring is on the horizon. The sunlight is out more than 10 hours a day, yet it is still cold and windy. I want to be here in beautiful Alaska enjoying winter sports and the gorgeous sunrises and sunsets, yet the wanderlust in me yearns for a warm sunny beach with swaying palm trees, brown-skinned beach combers and fancy plates designed with foo-foo food. I want to ski, but I want to swim in the ocean. I want to enjoy a margarita with fresh squeezed lime juice, but my perfect cup of morning coffee with sugar and half and half is needed to start my day before a brisk walk in the cold, crisp air.
If I left Alaska right now and heard it was beautifully sunny and clear while I was away, I would feel bad, but yet if I wandered to somewhere outside where I knew I could go running without long johns and gloves, I would truly appreciate that as well. The dilemma here is like what to serve for that special company dinner: fish or beef, fancy or casual.
My answer to this tidal zone of a confetti parade is black and white. I don't have time or enough savings to indulge in a tropical trip or jet off to sunny California vineyards, so I best buck up, kick back and enjoy Alaska in March. Still, I can dream of far-away places and dishes to try, cultures to experience and climates to compare.
The ticket to that dream vacation in my mind came in the mail this week from far-away friends. As is my routine, I stopped to check the mail at Fritz Creek. By the way, this is the only place in the world you can get your mail, buy wine, pick up an incredibly tasty dessert treat or dinner and pet the cat while checking the progress of the owner's home-grown and curing prosciutto ham hanging in the back of the mail room.
I have a package slip and wonder what special envelope my favorite mail gal will unearth from the back room. She hands me an international mail package. I see it has an old address on it and yet it still found its way to my little box at Fritz Creek. It is from New Zealand. I feel its contents through the envelope to try and identify what it may contain. First thought -- a travel book on New Zealand from our friends who want us to come visit.
Fast forward to the three-mile drive home and opening the package. It's a cookbook from New Zealand, personally signed by the author and owner of her restaurant, Fleur's Place. The inscription, "Kia Ora, Mark and Teri, maybe this will entice you to come to Aotearoa. Fleur. 2008. Nan mai haere mai!"
Roughly translates to "Hello, Mark and Teri, welcome to New Zealand and to wander, welcome!"
What is this unfamiliar language? Friends more worldly than I am, they tell me it is Maori. Aotearoa is the Maori name for New Zealand and means land of the long white cloud.
Well, that pretty much settles it. The next big trip the Other Fisherman and I make will be to Aotearoa and you can bet I will look up Fleur at Fleur's Place. From her photos and her book, I think we would become fast friends. From the photos of her restaurant, it looks like a rustic model of the Double Musky in Girdwood -- casual and welcoming.
The next best thing to getting this special gift is paging through it. I spent an entire evening devouring its stories and recipes.
The recipes are native to New Zealand. Seafood dominates, just like it does in Alaska. They also enjoy their lamb, as we enjoy our moose.
Here is a recipe from Fleur's Place, by Graham Warman and Paul Sorrell.
"Local girl Missy Hollows, returned from cooking for the rich and famous overseas, devised this recipe while working at Fleur's Place. It has now become a permanent item on the menu and is regarded as one of the restaurant's signature dishes."
Serves 2
4 small fillets of blue cod, skin and bones removed
4 rashers (thin slices of) streaky bacon or smoked pork belly
25 ml olive oil (about 3 tablespoons)
100 ml white wine (about one-quarter cup)
150 ml cream (about one-half cup)
10 New Zealand littleneck clams, washed
Chopped garden herbs including parsley, chives, chervil. etc.
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
(About 350 degrees F.)
Lay two cod fillets together for each portion and wrap two slices of streaky bacon around the centres.
Place the two portions of bacon wrapped cod filets in an ovenproof frying pan and drizzle with olive oil. Select a pan that fits the portions snugly.
Roast in hot oven until the bacon begins to crisp and the cod is almost cooked.
Remove from the oven to the stove top on a moderate heat, deglaze (lift the flavours from the bottom of the pan) with the white wine while the cod is still in the pan.
Allow to boil, then add the cream. (This should come halfway up the cod filets.)
Add clams.
Boil gently until the sauce begins to thicken slightly and the clams open, then add chopped herbs, ground black pepper and salt.
Serve with steamed seasonal vegetables and freshly dug new-season potatoes.
Thank you, Holly and Jeff McMillan and Graham and Roz, for your wonderful book to entice Mark and me to visit your incredible country. It will be the first trip we make the next time travel requires a passport.
Until next time, enjoy being an armchair traveler and chef to exotic lands of a different country, if that is all your wallet allows you to do. And if you can visit somewhere outside the 49th state, you best find some wonderful cuisine to feast upon and share your story with me.
For me though, everyday in Alaska is like living a vacation.
