lukesoliver.com

One of the interesting things about blogging is looking at the stats…how many views, which posts, which links people click on, etc.  But perhaps the most fun thing is the “search engine terms,” i.e. what did people search for on Google or Yahoo or whatever in order to find themselves at my blog.  I just took a look today and the most popular search terms by far have to do with baby seals. Apparently my theological musings are less interesting than bludgeoning cute, fuzzy animals.

Last night was Nikapiak (nik-a-pak) night.  That’s a word that roughly translated means “real food” or I’ve also heard “good food.”  Either way it basically suggests the good, hearty stuff that all the native students grew up on and probably would still be eating a lot of back in the villages.

Following my policy to always try a bite of the cultural food, I consumed some interesting bits last night.  Yes, I did suspend my vegetarianism for the sake of the cultural experience…and because I feel that subsistence type living is a different story than the industrialized food system to which I really object and which is the cause of my anti-meat stance to begin with.  Anyway, here’s a few of the delicacies:

A, B, and C: This is muktuk (sp?).  This is basically skin and blubber.  A and B are Beluga (poor Baby Beluga…not swimming so wild and free anymore).  C is Bowhead.  Yep.  Both whales.  I’ve eaten whale!  You have a good perspective of B and C there.  On B, the white part is the skin and the brownish is the blubber.  On C, it’s the black that’s the skin, with a nice piece of chewy blubber attached.  Apparently, the Beluga stuff was cooked, but the Bowhead is raw.  Let’s get a closer look at that stuff:

Mmm.  Tasty.  I have to say, the white Beluga and the Bowhead made my stomach freak out a little bit…it wasn’t quite sure what was going on.  But by the time I got to the black Beluga muktuk, I actually thought it was pretty good…pretty chewy, a little fishy, but not bad at all.

Moving along…D: that’s moose.  Over rice.

E: frozen raw trout dipped in seal oil.  I was a little sketched out by this.  Especially after a couple pieces of the muktuk.  But turns out it really wasn’t bad at all.  Kind of like sushi…minus the rice.

F: good ol’ salmon.  Finally something my stomach recognized.

G: various kinds of dried salmon.

H: that’s dried seal.

Also on the menu: caribou stew, fishhead soup (see to the right), clam chowder, salmonberry jam…and for dessert, eskimo ice cream which is traditionally “whipped blubber” but more commonly these days, it’s Crisco (Mmmm.) with sugar and berries.

I truly feel like I’m a little more Alaskan now.  And as luck would have it, I don’t even feel weird today!

Yep.  I saw ‘em.  Two.  On campus.  This morning.

Next up on the Alaska wildlife checklist: walrus.

I saw my first bear(s) today.  I was driving back to Soldotna along the Kenai River and there were two of them on the other side of the river.  They were a bit far to get any good pictures.  But these are some fuzzy ones.  I guess they do exist…I was beginning to have my doubts…