Text 28119, 82 rader
Skriven 2009-08-31 14:33:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: more YK 105
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Dinner at Bullock's, touted by Reader's Digest as the #1 place
on the planet for fish and chips, not that it makes sense to
cite Reader's Digest for stuff.

As it was prime dinnertime, we got the last table in the joint,
right by the slamming door. It took years (seemingly) to get
waited on. Renate (Bullock), who knows Roslind, gave us a bunch
of crap for waiting patiently and not asserting ourselves.
She said if we didn't belly up to the bar, as it were, we would
be there all winter and have to give her a Christmas present.

The first thing that comes out is the rolls, big fluffy low-salt
things, quite good-tasting, with slightly ripe butter on the side.
These will hold you for a while, which is good, as given a full
house, it'll be a while before anything else gets served.

Aside: The young women in town tend to be slim and quite attractive,
whether white or mixed-blood or what. Several of these came in
during our stay and ate at the counter. Jim says that people here
are more athletic than in the big cities.

Roslind, asked first by the waitress, opted for the pan-fried
pickerel, which was everyone's first choice and was in fact the
gem of the day - a thick slab, probably caught fresh the same day,
moist and just done. My pan-fried char, though done a couple
shades past how I'd do it myself, was pretty delicious. Jim got
the caribou steak rare, which came medium-well, which I am given
to understand is par for the course. It was respectable, pleasantly
wild-tasting. The seasoning of the day was garlic-ginger-soy, more
garlic I think on the meat than on the fish. I'd have perhaps
preferred plain, but the treatment went fine with everything. There
was a fourth offering, I think whitefish, but as there were only
three of us, we didn't try it.

Funny thing - when our orders came out, one of the young ladies
at the counter served as honorary waitress and served us our
meals, because the real waitress was off doing something else.
A pleasant informal atmosphere. Which reminds me - during our
time there, quite a few people dropped by to say hello - former
customers of Jim's, former co-workers and/or customers and/or
students of Roslind's, a local political bigwig. 

Along with our main meals: salad, sort of ordinary, with your
choice of blue cheese or ginger-soy vinaigrette, and excellent
thick-cut fries.

I had an Alexander Keith (I think I got the name right this time)
IPA, not particularly hoppy and pretty character-free.

After dinner it was still light, and so we went off to visit the
grandkids.

Charlee and Lexi are as charming as Jim claims: both comfortable
around adults and independent enough to play by themselves when
the adults aren't paying them attention.

Raine and Tommy with Tommy's siblings Gordon and Viola and
Gordon's wife Bonnie. Tommy and company are very taciturn,
though Tommy is an affable host and generous with the alcohol.
I had a Kokanee, a B.C. beer that is pretty light but is
distinguished by a strong floral nose. Followed by a double
shot of rye, most of which I got down in one gulp. We all
carried on various fragments of a conversation that had
something to do with a television or something, though I had
a hard time figuring things out owing to the strong Newfie
accents of some of the people, oh, and also the strong liquors.

Speaking of which, back home we cracked the bottle of Old Weller
that I'd brought; it's a 7-year-old 107 proof delight, quite
mellow though still with the bite you expect at that strength.
It's more wood-aged tasting and much less green than what I'm
accustomed to drinking.

The aurora - first of the season, according to Jim and Roslind -
was a wonderful close to the day. It was better than anything I'd
ever seen in Alaska and almost as good as the best encountered
at 30000 feet on the Anchorage-Seattle redeye. Jim said that it
was pretty good for the time of year but nothing special.

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