As is the case across the rest of Canada (and parts of the U.S.), it is a COLD first day of "Spring" here.  Right now in Inuvik we are at minus 20 Celsius (minus 4F).  Although that is not much colder than usual, it feels like the snow will never disappear.  This long winter is starting to make people a bit... shall we say... touchy?  Over-sensitive?  Moody?  Cranky?  Bad tempered?

A colleague of mine warned me last year about "March madness", which has nothing to do with basketball. Around this time of year people start to go a little crazy and grumpy.  They are sick of the winter and get a bad case of cabin fever.  They want to go outside without fear of frostbite.

Unfortunately, I am no exception.  Although I am doing much better this week, the previous two weeks were rough.  Little things would bother me and I couldn't let them go.  I'm usually a positive person, but nothing would shake me out of my bad mood.  I did not enjoy my own company, and I'm sure no one else did either!  Luckily I have come back into happy territory without permanent damage or the need for meds.

On the bright side of March (and it is very bright!), the sun is shining and we know that warm weather will follow in due course.  Soon we will have more than enough sunshine.  In some future post I will discuss the effects of 24-hour darkness vs. 24-hour light ... some like the light, while others (including myself) actually prefer the dark of winter.  Sounds crazy, I know, but I'm sure you'll hear me out.

As I don't have any photos that really go well with this post, below are some pictures of a dog-sledding trip I took on Sunday (my third time!) because these beautiful Siberian huskies are guaranteed to get you in a good mood.

And a picture of the sun on the snow-covered trees in my backyard for good measure.

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!

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!