a day on the river

ps: no fish were caught this day BUT I did capture some great pics!

Saturday July 4, 2009

I have so many childhood memories linked to the July 4th. It was yet another excuse to get together as a family cook, eat, and celebrate. Our small little town would celebrate with a walking parade, a pancake feed at the Legion, and lots of lots of bonfires on the beach.

Due to some changing in the family dynamics, a few economic setbacks, and my brother and I both starting our own family we have slowly started to change up the 4th of July traditions.

The traditions are changing but the food and family is still there. Yesterday morning my husband woke up way early to go fishing for salmon in the ocean and I woke up much later to have an open house on one of my listing (selling real estate is just one of my many jobs). The conditions were perfect. Blue sky, lots of hustle and bustle, and almost no wind. Steve rolled home with a truck full of happy fisherman and each got their limit.

I managed to work a little and then finished icing some cupcakes I made for the 4th of July.

The recipe I used was a red velvet cake, cream cheese frosting and fresh blueberries.

Now, I had never made a red velvet cake before and honestly never looked at a recipe. All I remember was the movie Steel Magnolias with that red armadillo grooms cake. To my surprise it was so flavorful and rich. I made a simple cream cheese frosting and finished with a cluster of big plump blueberries.

Around dinner time I headed to my brothers where we made alder smoked, cedar planked salmon he caught earlier that morning. All in all it was a great day filled with family and food, just a little different but I guess it's part of life, creating new traditions.

Spring Alert

Yesterday being the first day of Spring has set my mind into a different thought pattern. I stopped thinking about stew and chili and now seem to be focusing more on salmon and quiche.
I'm working on the April features for the website and have some great ideas to start making recipes for.
Today, Steve (my husband of almost 2 years) and my brother are fishing for Spring Chinook and I'm so jealous. It's so nice today, perfect conditions for fishing and theres something about Spring Chinook that my tastebuds tingle for. Seriously, it's the best salmon ever. It doesn't taste like the salmon we get in the ocean in the late spring and early summer months. Steve thinks it's because they have more fat but I don't know for sure and personally don't care. All I know is they taste good and I like. I'm crossing my fingers for that fish today. I guess that Spring Chinook is going for $24 a pound at the fish markets here, can you believe it? How lucky am I to get to have fish brought home (crossing fingers still) that anyone else would pay an arm and a leg for! I feel the same way about razor clams. It's really hard to get the at restaurants because I make them perfectly the way I like them at home and they didn't coast $14 for 3 on a plate.
God, I love living in Oregon!
Being married to Steve has also given me this new found respect for my environment. He loves spending his days on a boat in the river or ocean, in the woods scouting for something, or on the beach digging for clams. I've had the opportunity to see parts of Oregon I would never have seen on my own. His passion for what he does inspires me. He's on the quiet side and almost prefers to be by himself and he doesn't like a lot of attention brought to him. We are opposite in almost every way. I think that's why it works.