Winter Weather

Staying warm with ice skating on the lake & cheesy seafood pastas

The harbor in Homer is packed with sea ice and the wind is pulling temperatures down to 0 degrees F. The stars have been keeping the big cold moon company and the lake in town has become an ice rink for kids after school and all of us seeking a place to gather and soak in the light during the short afternoons. Sunset is still at 5pm, though we’re gaining daily now on the downhill side of the equinox.

Emma (hello! It’s me) welcomed a baby boy to the family during the holiday season and skating on the lake has been a welcome way to get fresh air, feel the blood pumping and clear the blur of newborn days. The sharp sound of skates on the ice and the half-moons they leave behind feel real and solid, like a marker in an otherwise soft and foggy season. We take turns holding the baby on a sheepskin nest of puffy coats while he sleeps and skating around the lake under the glowing mountains. Alaskan winter can be humbling, physically and mentally hard, but the beauty of it is also unmatched. Walking down on the beach this week has been a show of muted pastel waves rolling onto a glassy shore of frosted stones. The sea ice makes pancakes that wash against each other in the waves, clinking like ceramic plates. It’s so cold and beautiful it takes your breath away.

Needless to say, we’ve been finding comfort in cooking warm meals and recently had the opportunity to host a virtual cooking class from the coziness of Claire’s kitchen with the Milk Street Cooking School! We made comfort food appropriate for all kinds of winter weather from our cookbook Harvest & Heritage – two cheesy pasta dishes – Fancy Crab Mac & Cheese and Tinned Fish Carbonara with Arugula and Pine Nuts. Over 250 new friends joined us on ZOOM to grate cheese, talk about Alaska seafood and crack crab legs! Some people cooked along with us from their home kitchens and some tuned in with the intention of cooking with a recording of the class later on. A moderator from Milk Street relayed questions from participants while we cooked, like where to source different crab species, options for ingredient substitutions and other ways we like to eat tinned fish. We had such a good time that we came away in agreement that we’d like to try some more of our own cooking classes! So stay tuned for more opportunities to cook together in the coming months…we’re hoping to start with a virtual class in March about our favorite ways to prepare the salmon in your freezer.

Speaking of frozen fish, last week we launched a subscription model for our Wild Alaska Sockeye Salmon Portions, shipping monthly in 5LB or 10LB boxes. When you sign up for these monthly deliveries, you save 15% on the box price and you also get added to our PAID subscriber list on Substack, which gives you access to exclusive content (like the recipe for Tinned Fish Carbonara with Arugula and Pine Nuts that we’re sharing in this post beyond the paywall). We know purchasing salmon from Alaska (the good stuff) can be expensive, so this is our genuine commitment to making quality wild seafood more affordable and accessible for our customers and giving them (you!) an opportunity to know your fishermen and feel confident in preparing your catch. If you’re here because you signed up for a salmon subscription, thank you for choosing Salmon Sisters seafood and welcome!

We will leave you with a big creamy plate of carbonara. May it warm the belly and the soul. You can also find this recipe on page 151 in your copy of The Salmon Sisters: Harvest & Heritage.