Fireweed Honey Butter Tart

Fireweed Honey Butter Tart, originally uploaded by Thom.Su.

Photo note:

"Fireweed Honey Butter Tart, Saskatoon Berries, Mill St. Porter and Walnut Ice Cream"

grilled peaches with blue cheese and fireweed honey

grilled peaches with blue cheese and fireweed honey, originally uploaded by xianjessen.

So, what can you do with fireweed honey?

This looks quite good to me~

Canning Fireweed Honey

Canning Fireweed Honey, originally uploaded by plainsight.

Photo note:

"A sugar syrup flavored with clover and fireweed blossoms--this is a "homestead" honey which gets the flavor and color of honey without the use of bees."


Here's a recipe I found:

Fireweed Honey

50 pink clover blossoms

10 white clover blossoms

25 fireweed blossoms

3/4 tsp alum

5 lb bag sugar

3 cups boiling water

Wash blooms thoroughly in cold water. Put all ingredients except water in pan, then pour boiling water on. Let sit for 10 minutes. Bring to boil and boil for 10 minutes. Strain through cheesecloth. Put in canning jars and water bath process for 10 min. before sealing lids.

Making fireweed jelly

Making fireweed jelly, originally uploaded by henniferlyn.

I love this image - a heavy cooking pot filled with the simple but lovely fireweed blossoms.

Delicious fireweed jelly from Alaska

Delicious fireweed jelly from Alaska, originally uploaded by gserafini.

One of our bus guides talked about making fireweed syrup. Fireweed is everywhere, and the vast swaths of violet against the spruce and birch backdrop is quite beautiful.

Photographer's note:

"Michael brought us back this awesome fireweed jelly that he made from Alaska."


Fireweed Jelly

8 cups of fireweed blossoms

1/4 cup lemon juice

4 1/2 cups water

2 pkgs pectin

5 cups sugar

Pick, wash and measure 8 cups of fireweed blossoms. Add 1/4 cup lemon juice and 4 1/2 cups water. Boil 10 minutes and strain. Take the strained juice and heat to lukewarm. Add 2 pkgs powdered pectin and bring to boil. Add 5 cups sugar and bring to full boil. Boil hard for 1 minute. Pour into hot clean jars and seal. Process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

West Rib Pub & Grill, Talkeetna, AK

On a short visit to Talkeetna (I totally recommend it), we had lunch at a great little place called West Rib Pub & Grill.













I had the Bou Burger (that's caribou),














and my daughter and husband has the Reindeer Chili.

















What's fun is to read the walls int his place. Pity we didn't sign our names, but maybe next time!













There are also interesting things to read at each table, and this nutrition guide was of particular interest:

Smoked Salmon at Chena Village

On our tour to Alaska this past two weeks, we took a stern wheeler boat cruise to the Chena Indian Village where I became intrigued with salmon drying on racks outdoors, and in a wooden shelter.

Having Some Grass With My Soapberries

Having Some Grass With My Soapberries, originally uploaded by MommaD photos.

So, who else likes soapberries?

Photo note:

"During our 2008 trip to Denali NP, we spotted this grizzly bear grazing on the soapberries in the tundra. When visiting Denali, one must take the shuttle buses into the park, after the first ~15 miles. At that point you can then get on and off the shuttle bus as you please and do some hiking on your own. It's weird - you hike for miles and see nothing (as far as wildlife goes), then turn a corner and see something just like this feeding along side your trail. Only adds to the excitement! In 2007, we met a few people from Germany (I think) who got out and hiked for awhile - looking for the perfect trail-side sighting - and they weren't disappointed...... Scared to death by their unexpected encounter... but probably still talking about it today."

* * * *

I unfortunately wasn't blessed to see any grizzlies, but I love this photo.

Soapberry

Soapberry, originally uploaded by Alaska Rose.

Here's another, better photo of the soapberries.

Soap Berry Ice Cream

We just got back from Alaska, and I was looking up Soapberries. I'd never heard of Soapberry Ice Cream until today.

Here's what I found out:

The Canada Buffaloberry (Shepherdia canadensis), also known as Russet Buffaloberry, Soopolallie, Soapberry, or Foamberry, is one of a small number of shrubs of the genus Shepherdia bearing edible red berries. One recognized form however bears yellow fruits. The berries have an extremely bitter taste.

The plant is a deciduous shrub found in open forests and thickets all over North America. Its northern limit is around the Arctic Circle. The shrub reaches a height of 1–4 m (3–13 feet).

Fruits are extensively collected by some Canadian First Nations peoples such as Nlaka'pamux (Thompson), St̓átimc and Secwepemc (Shuswap) in the province of British Columbia. The bitter berries are not eaten directly but rather processed as sxusem ("sxushem") or "Indian ice-cream". Branches bearing fruit are hit with a stick and only the very ripe fruits that fall off are collected. A clean mat or tarpaulin is placed below the bush for collection. The berries are later placed into a great bowl that is absolutely free of oil or fat and are mixed with some sweet fruit such as raspberries. The mixture of berries is crushed and vigorously beaten in the manner of whipping cream in order to raise the typical foam of the sxusem confection. Sxusem has an agreeable blend of sweet and somewhat bitter tastes, possibly comparable to that encountered in sweetened coffee. The substance is believed by the First Nations peoples who prepare it to have many healthful properties, but the saponin chemicals making up the foam may also cause gastrointestinal irritation if consumed greatly. Native theme restaurants in British Columbia have occasionally had sxusem on the menu in recent years.

Sketch by Britton from 1913

Persons reading about saponins should be forewarned that unrelated plants in the genus Sapindus, which produce highly toxic saponins, share the common name soapberry with the edible Canada Buffaloberry. References to Sapindus "soapberry" toxins should not be misattributed to Canada Buffaloberry.

The common name of the plant in British Columbia is soopolallie, a word deriving from the historic Chinook Jargon trading language used in the North American Pacific Northwest in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The name is a composite of the Chinook words for soap (soop) and berry (olallie).

(Wikipedia)

Recipe

Mix 1 cup berries with 1/4 cup water and 4 tablespoons brown sugar, until all the berries have dissolved into a stiff pink foam.

Moon man Watermelon

Moon man, originally uploaded by Frank Synopsis.

On our Princess cruise to Alaska, we saw these wonderful carved watermelons in the Horizon dining room. While I didn't take a photo, I found this photo from another's cruise.

Twilight Cake

Twilight Cake, originally uploaded by ❀ℓєтιzια❀.

Twilight Cake

Twilight Cake, originally uploaded by Kell's Kreations.

Another amazing cake!

Photo note:

"I was really excited to do this one. I planned it months ago. When my friend told me her daughter was really in to Twilight I begged her to let me do this.

The cake was a vibrant red velvet with my mascarpone cream cheese filling. Very popular flavor with my friends and family. The flavor went hand in hand with the theme."

Twilight Cake, Twilight Birthday Cake

top view twilight cake

top view twilight cake, originally uploaded by The Whole Cake and Caboodle ( lisas cakes ).

Photo note:

"Buttercream cake with fondant pawn and blood. Background information - Twilight is a young adult love story about a teenage girl Bella who falls in love with a vampire Edward. the apple on the cover symbolises Bellas choice in seeing her vampire lover (he is forbidden fruit).
The pawn features on the cover of one of the following books in the series and is thought to symbolise Bella as a young innocent human, as later it is shown with a queen thought to symbolise her as she is turned into a strong vampire instead of dying. I threw a bit of blood in. Vampires and blood go together like cheese and crackers! i gave dimension to the image on the front for interest"

Featured here - http://hubpages.com/hub/How-To-Make-A-Twilight-Cake

Chocolate Cake, a poem

I love chocolate cake.
And when I was a boy
I loved it even more.

Sometimes we used to have it for tea
and Mum used to say,
‘If there’s any left over
you can have it to take to school
tomorrow to have at playtime.’
And the next day I would take it to school
wrapped up in tin foil
open it up at playtime
and sit in the corner of the playground
eating it,
you know how the icing on top
is all shiny and it cracks as you
bite into it,
and there’s that other kind of icing in
the middle
and it sticks to your hands and you
can lick your fingers
and lick your lips
oh it’s lovely.
yeah.

Anyway,
once we had this chocolate cake for tea
and later I went to bed
but while I was in bed
I found myself waking up
licking my lips
and smiling.
I woke up proper.
‘The chocolate cake.’
It was the first thing
1 thought of.

I could almost see it
so I thought,
what if I go downstairs
and have a little nibble, yeah?

It was all dark
everyone was in bed
so it must have been really late
but I got out of bed,
crept out of the door

there’s always a creaky floorboard, isn’t there?

Past Mum and Dad’s room,
careful not to tread on bits of broken toys
or bits of Lego
you know what it’s like treading on Lego
with your bare feet,

yowwww
shhhhhhh

downstairs
into the kitchen
open the cupboard
and there it is
all shining.

So I take it out of the cupboard
put it on the table
and I see that
there’s a few crumbs lying about on the plate,
so I lick my finger and run my finger all over the crumbs
scooping them up
and put them into my mouth.

oooooooommmmmmmmm

nice.

Then
I look again
and on one side where it’s been cut,
it’s all crumbly.

So I take a knife
I think I’ll just tidy that up a bit,
cut off the crumbly bits
scoop them all up
and into the mouth

oooooommm mmmm
nice.

Look at the cake again.

That looks a bit funny now,
one side doesn’t match the other
I’ll just even it up a bit, eh?

Take the knife
and slice.
This time the knife makes a little cracky noise
as it goes through that hard icing on top.

A whole slice this time,

into the mouth.

Oh the icing on top
and the icing in the middle
ohhhhhh oooo mmmmmm.

But now
I can’t stop myself
Knife -
1 just take any old slice at it
and I’ve got this great big chunk
and I’m cramming it in
what a greedy pig
but it’s so nice,

and there’s another
and another and I’m squealing and I’m smacking my lips
and I’m stuffing myself with it
and
before I know
I’ve eaten the lot.
The whole lot.

I look at the plate.
It’s all gone.

Oh no
they’re bound to notice, aren’t they,
a whole chocolate cake doesn’t just disappear
does it?

What shall 1 do?

I know. I’ll wash the plate up,
and the knife

and put them away and maybe no one
will notice, eh?

So I do that
and creep creep creep
back to bed
into bed
doze off
licking my lips
with a lovely feeling in my belly.
Mmmmrnmmmmm.

In the morning I get up,
downstairs,
have breakfast,
Mum’s saying,
‘Have you got your dinner money?’
and I say,
‘Yes.’
‘And don’t forget to take some chocolate cake with you.’
I stopped breathing.

‘What’s the matter,’ she says,
‘you normally jump at chocolate cake?’

I’m still not breathing,
and she’s looking at me very closely now.

She’s looking at me just below my mouth.
‘What’s that?’ she says.
‘What’s what?’ I say.

‘What’s that there?’
‘Where?’
‘There,’ she says, pointing at my chin.
‘I don’t know,’ I say.
‘It looks like chocolate,’ she says.
‘It’s not chocolate is it?’
No answer.
‘Is it?’
‘I don’t know.’
She goes to the cupboard
looks in, up, top, middle, bottom,
turns back to me.
‘It’s gone.
It’s gone.
You haven’t eaten it, have you?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘You don’t know. You don’t know if you’ve eaten a whole
chocolate cake or not?
When? When did you eat it?’

So I told her,

and she said
well what could she say?
‘That’s the last time I give you any cake to take
to school.
Now go. Get out
no wait
not before you’ve washed your dirty sticky face.’
I went upstairs
looked in the mirror
and there it was,
just below my mouth,
a chocolate smudge.
The give-away.
Maybe she’ll forget about it by next week.

--Michael Rosen