Quarter Year

That hat isn’t as stupid as it looks – there’s a mosquito net that folds into a pouch above the bill.

Before meals the monks pray. They say, “This food is for my body, not for enjoyment.” I think it’s ok to enjoy while you’re eating, but if you shove someone aside so you can have your favorite food then that’s just not right.

The other day someone said, in all seriousness, “I’m just trying to survive.” Business was slow, and though their ‘survival’ was at stake, they were using their money to pay me to wash the windows of their large home. We have a funny concept of survival. Their life isn’t at stake, their lifestyle is. A lot of us confuse the two, and since lifestyle is an extension of identity, the idea of changing it is equated with some kind of death. But it’s not death, it’s pride or vanity that causes the pain.

Food abounds. What if we ate what we had, not what we sought? And what if that was satisfactory?

I see why the monks warn us about enjoying food: Some of us buy our favorite food – even if we’re supporting companies that harm people – because we’re addicted to our lifestyles. I don’t think happiness depends on what we eat, so that’s not an excuse. When we’re addicted to something, we make compromises to secure it.

The next three days were dedicated to fishing. We would get up around 6:30 and head down to the harbor to meet Tim, our guide & charter. We went out on the saltwater and fished mostly for kings, but we did spend a slow half day looking for halibut.

The kings were huge and tasty. Fred pulled in the largest one at around 40 pounds.

This last picture is cold-smoked sockeye. It’s marinated in brown sugar and soy sauce (plus some other stuff) then cold smoked for 8 hours, if I remember right. It was served with soy sauce, sesame oil & lemon, plus some wasabi. Pretty outstanding. It was like the best sashimi you’ve ever had with a complex smoky flavor.

One evening we headed out to the Situk River to try to get a sockeye or two for our own consumption. No luck, but we did see a ton of eagles.

Some more pictures of the beautiful surroundings:

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