I have been a bad blogger recently, for several reasons.  I have been really busy (who isn't?!)...and... I was on holiday for two weeks...and... quite honestly, I am well into my second year in the Arctic, and I'm experiencing things for the second time around.  Which means they aren't quite as new and shiny as they were last year.  I still love it here, and I still get a sense of excitement when I think of this awesome adventure I'm on.  But I don't want to bore you by taking photos of the same things I did last year!

So I'm happy to report that last Sunday I did what I didn't get to do last year, and that's participate in the annual Lobster Supper that the Francophone society hosts at the Legion for Mother's Day.

For $35 you get a lobster (you can either dine in or take away), garlic butter, a choice of potato salad or caesar salad, a drink, and lemon meringue pie.  Amazing!

I was cleaning out my freezer the other day and discovered some Arctic char buried in there.  For those who don't know, char is apparently well-known (among those who know these things) for being a very tasty fish.  I am not a fan of fish (unless it's raw in sushi, or covered in batter and fried British style with thick chips), but I'm trying to eat healthier, so I force myself to cook it once in a while.

Below is a random picture from the internet of what fresh-caught char looks like.  This is actually the world record holder - they are large fish!

In an earlier post, I showed pictures of what it looks like frozen - one of our northern communities, Ulukhaktok, is famous for its char.

And this is what it looked like on my plate.  I decided to slather it with lemon-dill sauce, with sides of mini-potatoes and celery.  Healthy and delicious!

A couple of weeks ago I went berry-picking with some friends in the hills just outside of Inuvik.  Although the blueberry season had passed, we were in perfect time for cranberries.  It was a warm clear Saturday in September, and there was no place we'd rather be!

I got a little nervous when we saw fresh bear prints, but the other girls had bear spray and bear banger, so we didn't let a wild animal deter us!  He didn't seem that big anyway...  :)

I got the berries home and washed them, and ended up with about 7 cups of berries, which I threw in the freezer for future use.

Jump forward to Thanksgiving (Canadian Thanksgiving weekend - Oct 6-8!), and I pulled a few cups of berries out of the freezer and made my very first home-made cranberry sauce by boiling the berries in orange juice and sugar.

Round it off with a turkey dinner with good friends, and overall it was a great first Thanksgiving in the North.

Anyone who knows me at all knows how much I love tea.  I drink bucket-loads a day, and always have a teapot somewhere within arms-reach.  I drink mostly different varieties of green tea (which I credit with keeping me healthy and happy) but I do sometimes enjoy traditional English-style tea with cream and sugar (which tastes best when made by my British parents with Kenyan tea), or flavoured black tea like chai or pumpkin spice with lots of sugar.

So it is no surprise that I am always on the look-out for things I can boil up or steep.  As I have spent a bit of time out on the land here in the Arctic this summer, I have discovered a couple of new things that taste good when boiling water is applied.  Today I will show you rose hip tea, and next week I'll show you Labrador tea. 

Below are some pictures of the process (which I'm not sure I'm doing correctly, but I figured I'd just throw them into hot water and see what happens!).

Rose hips are the pods that form at the base of the rose flower.  Up here I believe they are from the wild rose.  I don't have any photos of them on the plant, but I will rectify that this weekend and post a picture later! 

They are apparently extremely high in vitamin C, and also contain vitamins A, B, D and E, as well as antioxidants, pectin, and organic acids.  The tea is good for preventing bladder infections, and for headaches and dizziness.  It also strengthens your immune system against infection and colds (thanks to the high vitamin C content), helps with digestion, flushes out the kidneys and urinary tract and relieves mild rheumatic pain.  Impressive!

So how did it taste?  Well, the flavor is what I would call "delicate"....meaning, it was hard to taste anything!  You need about 5 whole rose hips per cup of water, or you can also cut them into pieces... I'll try that next time.  Maybe I need more, or I picked them too early, or I need to dry them or cut them up.  But it was very pleasant -- other people have said it tastes like apple, and I would agree (it was nice and tangy). 

During the long days of beautiful weather we had last weekend (when it got over 30C / 86F), I had the chance to get out on the land and pick some berries in a couple of spots.  Berry picking is an almost sacred activity for the people of this region, and they take advantage of the long days to stock up on healthy berries to last through the winter.  (At the risk of sounding overly sappy) ... being outside, soaking up the sun, and harvesting fruit from the land makes me understand why they say Arctic summers are the world's best-kept secret.

Of course, we were always on the lookout for bears.  We didn't see any in the flesh, but we did spot a few paw tracks, some of which were too fresh for comfort, so we didn't wander far...

Below are pictures of the berries and other plant-life that we found.  The only ones we ate were the ones we could safely identify, which were the blueberries and cloudberries.  The others are a mystery, and I'm waiting to ask my botanist friend before eating them. :)

Nonetheless, between Google images and myself, I have taken a stab at identifying all of my findings except one, so if I'm right, yey to me!

I love receiving mail, and I love receiving packages.  Above anything else however, I like receiving CARE packages from friends and family far away.  Recently I have felt well-loved, as my cousins sent up a package of good things from Vancouver, and an amazing friend from Ottawa sent up some home-made granola lovingly packaged and wrapped.

They both gave me warm fuzzies -- like a long-distance hug.  You know who you are, and I love you!  Thanks for making me feel special.

(Warning - photos in this post will be disturbing to all readers) 

Once thing you need to get used to when working in the Arctic is that you never know what you may encounter around the office.  Several times in the last few months I have walked into our office kitchen and been greeted by giant frozen char (really big fish), dried reindeer, muktuk (whale skin and blubber), frozen muskox, and (my personal favorite), skinned muskrat!

Below is the most disturbing picture.  Skinned muskrats.  Yes... those are furry feet!  Sorry for the picture, but this is honestly what I saw in our office kitchen a couple of weeks ago!  Apparently muskrat meat is delicious.  I can't wait to try it. Really... I'll just have to wait until the memory of this photo fades.

We have a steady supply of reindeer meat in the office - both dried and frozen.  Below are some frozen packages that are for sale.  As I have mentioned in previous posts , I love reindeer meat!

The dog-sledding and trapper skills contest was held down on the ice highway.

I went down on the last day to watch the trapper skills contest, which included digging a hole in the ice for ice-fishing, making a fire on the ice, and cooking bannock and tea.  The top prize was $600 and the competition was fierce.  People of all ages participated, from teenagers to elders.

These were the tools -- a pick to dig through the ice, and a ladle to remove the snow and ice from the hole.

And this is the end result.  It's amazing how fast the holes filled up with water, and you had to make sure they didn't freeze over!  

Once a team had dug their hole, then they started making a fire on the ice.

Then you're ready to cook your bannock and boil up your tea!

I had a moment of weakness this afternoon.  I wish I could describe it as a "rare" moment of weakness, but that wouldn't be true.  Ignoring the healthy fruit sitting in my office, and the cut-up veggies in the fridge, I decided to indulge in an Eskimo donut to satisfy my afternoon craving!

For those who don't know what an Eskimo donut is (which I'm assuming is most of you!), it's a deep-fried dough with holes poked in it.  Some say it looks like the dial on an old-fashioned rotary phone.  It doesn't have a lot of sugar in it, so it can be eaten as savory or sweet.  It is hugely popular in the Arctic, and you will find it at any community event, gathering, or feast.

People also make them for various fundraisers, which is why we often have donuts available at the office!

Because I like my treats really sweet, I decided to warm up my donut in the microwave for a few seconds until it was really soft and gooey and pour honey on it.  Yummmmmmm.