LET THEM EAT CAKE!

Cuz if they keep eating cake I keep working!

Here are a few of the cakes and cookies that

I actually remembered to take pictures of

before they left the kitchen. I think what

I need is a dedicated spot in the kitchen

to take pictures, like a light box. The

finished cakes could go there before I

deliver them and then I would remember

to take pictures!

Dark chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting

for (you guessed it) a hunter.

A marble wedding cake with buttercream frosting.

The customer called me the next day and

left me a message: "I have to say I was very

surprised--that was the best cake I have ever eaten

which really shocked me since it came from a bakery"

I think there is a compliment in there somewhere...

This was a fun cake to make. The customer called for a

retirement cake for the museum's curator. She threw some

ideas out there and I said Why not the museum itself?

She said You can do that?? Yep, and it is all edible.

A local reception cake for a couple that was married

in Hawaii. Lemon cake, lemon curd, vanilla buttercream.

Sugar cookies for a library program about

conserving energy. They wanted lightning

bolts, but I know from experience that due

to the shape of the bolts, most of them would

have been broken upon delivery.

I hate to be the cookie Nazi, but in a way

that's my job, isn't it? LOL

The dreaded boy cake. No flowers, no pretties, no fancy

schmancy. So what else is there? Hey I know--Plaid!

Can you believe this was for a 6 year old girl? I loved

this kid! They met me at the party venue and she came

out of the car and immediately started telling me all

about Egyptian culture. Her mom said she has read

every book she could get her hands on and loves

the History Channel. At 6 years old.

She loved her cake with real edible gold dust

sprinkled all over it. She said Thank you lady,

that's exactly what I wanted. :-)

A play on the popular Life is Good clothing line. This was

for a church life group and one of the men had a Life is

Good shirt on when he came in. Their meeting theme

was log cabin and the whole menu was geared towards

that. They even cooked dinner on an antique cook

stove to be authentic!

Another fun baby shower cake with clotheslines around

the cake and little girl clothes hanging on it. I didn't

realize until I saw the pictures of the cake that the

flower I put on the baby's bum looks like a banana

peel--what a dork I am! Why oh why didn't I make

it lavendar or even pale blue?

A baby cookie platter ordered by an out of state Grandma.

She had me deliver it to a Coast Guard family 2 days

after the baby was born.

I knocked on the door and it whipped open with a

large man in sweats with big dark circles under his eyes

standing there with a pacifier hanging from the corner

of his mouth and a very tiny baby crying on his shoulder.

He briefly smiled, thanked me and apologized as he took

off down the hallway to bring the baby to mommy. He

even forgot to close the front door.

I remember those days...

A Goodbye cake for one of the nurses at the hospital.

Fun, fun, fun. The customer gave me a picture of her

son on his snowmachine and that is him on his

birthday cake. I painted his image onto fondant

so the whole thing is edible. I was able to paint the

goggles and headlights in gold leaf so they looked

like light was shining on them and I sprinkled

edible glitter on the snow.

Well thanks for looking! I am headed back to the

kitchen to finish my fish cookies!

STUFFING THE FREEZER

My husband and I went to Juneau for a short

shopping trip last week. As luck would have

it there was a farmer from WA state selling

organic vegetables at the church parking lot

across the street from the store we were at.

The produce was really nice and there were

apples, peppers, nectarines, pears and nice

beefsteak tomatoes. The cases of tomatoes

were marked as seconds because some had

very minor marks on the skin but they could

not sell them to restaurants that way.

So I bought the whole case with plans to

put them in the freezer.

I started off by boiling a big pot of water.

I made an X in the bottom of each tomato

with a sharp knife, then plunged them

into the boiling water for just a few

seconds. I immediately took them out

and plunged them into a sink of icy water.

The skins easily slid off:

Then I took my largest stockpot and sauteed

2 onions in butter until they were soft:

While the onions were cooking I chopped the

tomatoes into chunks and processed them in

my food processor until they were almost pureed.

I did leave some chunks of tomato so I can use

this for pizza as well as spaghetti sauce and

for casseroles:

When the onions were softened I added 2 pounds

of caribou burger to the pot, along with a whole

bunch of garlic, basil, oregano, salt and pepper:

Once the burger was browned I started pouring the

processed tomatoes into the bucket:

I had a little too much for my stockpot, so the overflow

went into a smaller pan so it wouldn't boil all over. At

this point I added more spices and just kept tasting and

tasting as it cooked. I always figure that if it needs more

I can always add it, but if I add too much I may ruin

the whole pot!

This step takes awhile because you want to cook

everything together for flavor, but you are also

reducing the amount of liquid in the pot to make

a thicker sauce and to concentrate the tomato flavor.

I just left it on low and watched it throughout the

day, stirring it often as it slowly boiled the

water away.

I still added more seasoning at this point and

when it was as thick as I wanted it was done:

And here is the end result; 6 large bags of delicious

sauce that I can use for spaghetti, casseroles, pizza

or I can just pour it over hot pasta for a quick dinner.

Nobody is going to call this gourmet food, but it is

all organic and sticks to the ribs quite nicely when

it's cold outside and we've been working all day.

A TASTY HALIBUT RECIPE

I made a halibut dish the other day for lunch and my

brother requested the recipe, so I am going to post it

here in case anyone else is interested. It is super

easy, very tasty and even tastes good the next day.

I have had this dish made by several people and

it seems to be one that everyone puts their own

spin on. Some people delete the onions and

add peppers, some people marinate the fish

overnight in white wine. I found a few different

versions in the cookbooks I had here at home

but none of them were Alaskan cookbooks.

So I went to the library and checked out a book

on Alaskan cooking to find a standard recipe. The

book is dated 1983, and titled Cooking Alaskan.

This is what was written about the recipe:

Halibut Caddy Ganty is a famous Alaskan recipe

that originated with Mrs. Prosper S. Ganty. "Caddy"

who died in 1980, was a longtime resident of

Skagway, Sitka, Hoonah and Pelican. With her

husband she operated mercantile stores, crab

and salmon canneries and cold storage companies.

The Pelican storage company seems to have

"given birth" to this recipe that is now regarded

as part of a family heritage in many homes

in Alaska.

This version comes from Lena Andree of

Dillingham, via Audrey Rearden, Homer.

HALIBUT CADDY GANTY

Take 2 pounds of filleted halibut and cut into large chunks. Rinse very well,

drain and pat somewhat dry with a paper towel. Roll each piece in dry bread

crumbs until coated on all sides.

Place the crumbed fish in a single layer in a buttered baking dish. Cover the

pieces thickly with a sauce made from:

1 1/2 cups sour cream

3/4 cup mayonnaise

3/4 cup finely chopped onion.

Sprinkle the top with paprika and bake uncovered at 500 degrees for 15-20

minutes or until lightly browned and bubbly. Serve at once.

My 500th POST!

Dave is 90 years old. He's played golf every day since his retirement 25 years ago. One day he arrives home looking downcast. "That's it," he tells his wife. "I'm giving up golf. My eyesight has become so bad that once I hit the ball I can't see where it went." His wife sympathizes and makes him a cup of tea. As they sit down she says, "Why don't you take my brother with you and give it one more try." "That's no good," sighs Dave, "your brother's 103 years old. He can't help." "He may be 103," says the wife, "but his eyesight is perfect." So the next day Dave heads off to the golf course with his brother-in-law. He tees up, takes a mighty swing and squints down the fairway. He turns to the brother-in-law and says, "Did you see the ball?" "Of course I did!" replied the brother-in-law. "I have perfect eyesight". "Where did it go?" says Dave. "I don't remember."

THE GREAT HUNTER RETURNS

My husband returned yesterday from a week long

hunting trip to Adak. That is on the Aleutian Island

chain and a long ways from nowhere if you look at

a map of Alaska.

He went with a group of 7 guys and they had a

very successful hunt with 11 total caribou taken.

They worked hard for the meat, having to carry it out

on their backs. My husband said he made 2 trips with

his bull, with 100 pounds on his back both times

going down terrain like this:

Then they had to load everything onto the 4 wheelers

for the trip back to the house they stayed at. He said

it is beautiful country, a lot like you would picture

Ireland and Scotland with rolling, grassy hills and

islands everywhere. The only problem with all

grassy hills is there is not one single tree

anywhere and the herds of caribou can see

you for miles. So there was a lot of hiking

along the ridges to get above the herds and

upwind. He had a painful night after packing

the large bull because his legs were cramping

so bad from carrying the weight down the

hills.

Adak is extremely windy and if you look closely

you can see Alaska Airlines coming in over

this runway. He actually took a short movie

of this plane coming in to get them and part

way through the plane goes sideways from

the wind shear! They only come in twice a

week, so if they can't land you get to wait

4 days for the next flight.

Adak has an interesting history that you can Google

and read online. It is an abandoned naval base and

only 150 people live there year-round. It is a huge

island and the caribou herd was planted there

back in the 60's for the officers to have fresh

meat. They started with 25 animals and the herd

is up to 3000+ because there are no predators.

There is no limit to the number of caribou you

can kill and without hunters removing them

the herd would slowly expand and eat them-

selves to starvation.

He brought the nice weather back with him; we have

had a couple of nice, warm days to enjoy. Our last

Farmer's Market for the year is this weekend and

I am headed down to the kitchen to start the

decorated cookies I will be selling. The meat

should be coming in today, so I am looking

forward to tasting the caribou. The group he

was with ate some steaks while they were

there and every one of them said it was the

best meat they had ever eaten. With no

predators and unlimited food the animals

are fat and happy up there, so the meat is

fork tender like grain fed beef only no

antibiotics or hormones!

Well, off to the cookies....