Text 28068, 80 rader
Skriven 2009-08-30 23:17:00 av JIM WELLER (1:123/140)
Ärende: Michael's Visit 3
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Supper was our blowout meal of the visit. We called up Ray (Sheila
was away in camp at the mine on a two week rotation) and Neekha who
brought over a young friend. If Neekha had been by herself she would
have joined the grownups in conversation but as she had a buddy over
she ignored us and spent most of the evening in her (Michael's)
bedroom. I had introduced Michael to her as "the other blue food
guy" and "the guy who stole your bedroom".

It was Michael's turn to cook and he commandeered the grill. I had
promised him a taste of seal meat a long time ago but to my dismay
when I defrosted the package I found two more bloody turrs! (Those
are Newfoundland Murres, a small fish eating Auk.) Most of the
obnoxious oils are in the skin and this time I skinned the raw birds
before I brined and marinaded them instead of after I roasted them.
That actually did the trick! I brined them for 24 hours and then
marinaded them in ginger, garlic and soy sauce for 48 hours more,
starting the previous Wednesday morning. Michael boned out the
breasts and grilled them on a little aluminum foil raft with the lid
up so as to not contaminate the grill forever. And they were
actually tasty, much like duck breast. He and Roslind detected a
very slight residual rancid fish oil smell and taste but I couldn't
even detect anything off. Ray liked his share and so did Neekha when
I lied to her and told her it was duck. Only after I confessed did
she go into an act, pretending to be ill, "Oh, no, the terrible
turrs."

Second course: the lake trout. Michael marinaded it briefly Chinese
style in white wine, soy, ginger and scallions then grilled it
lightly. Every one pronounced it very good indeed. I give half the
credit to Michael, half to Archie, the fisherman.

Third course: the steaks. Michael and I shared a rare sirloin
portion, Ray got half a sirloin medium rare, Roslind's share went
back on the fire after carving and she got a medium well tenderloin
portion. The girls split the other medium well tenderloin so we
actually had leftovers for Sunday breakfast. Everyone got it exactly
how they liked it. The Clancy's went well with both the turr breasts
and the steak.

The meal was rounded out with Roslind's potato salad (I got to goof
off) and a watermelon.

Saturday night the Northern Lights reappeared in full strength.
Around midnight we drove out to the Yellowknife River to escape the
light pollution of the city and to double the effect with the
reflections on the water. Ended up standing beside a photographer
trying to capture the event. The sky was lit up from horizon to
horizon with dancing shimmering sheets of light, but no colours
though, just plain white. We spent an hour or two there before
returning home.

On Sunday Michael wanted to treat me to lunch and a final beer at
the airport but we discovered that although the restaurant was open
the bar station had been shut down. And that wouldn't do so we
backtracked halfway back to town for a bite and a pint. On Sundays
bars are closed here but not licensed dining rooms. But many of the
latter only open at 5 PM not noon so we ended up at Pizza Hut.
Michael found novelty even in that as it seems Pizza Huts aren't
licensed in the States. We had a pint and partook of the noon hour
AYCE pizza, pasta and salad buffet. We hardly got our money's worth
in the scant 19 minutes we had available before the plane loaded but
that's the price you pay if you want to drink beer on a Sunday. We
still managed to scarf up enough slices that Michael had to make a
huge pill expenditure. And so ended our four day weekend.
              
Things not done (not enough time): A high end restaurant meal, get
out of town to go berry picking (prime time right now) or fish or
go eagle watching, hike to Cameron Falls, eat inconnu (Archie didn't
have any that day) or meet Kevin and Lori the oenophile dogmushing
gourmet flexitarians.
                      

Cheers

YK Jim


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