My day off of work.

View from my overnight camp spot

This sunset was at 11:30pm by the way

Got my van all organized.  i'm proud.

Kuma does this - he just sits and looks at the sunset or the ocean. It's very sweet.

My day off of work.

After working double shifts at 2 restaurants every day, a Tuesday off was just the thing I really needed.  I got the hell out of town – drove about 30 minutes away on top of a high ridge overlooking the homer spit.  There wasn’t much around except a yurt.  Warm sun, birds, Kuma running leaping frolicking.  I felt so good, I think this is the first time I’ve been by myself on the trip! I spent the evening organizing the van and cleaning.  Made a dinner for myself: Chicken breast, polenta, tomato sauce and broccoli. Life is good.  I even made a fire (the first fire I ever made) and was pretty proud.  My mind was clear and empty, I slept deeply and woke up to rain shimmering on the roof and windows around me.  I woke up to a message from my boss today asking if I want to come Pearl Diving today for cash.  I said Duh and have no idea how that’s done.  But we’ll find out! More to come.

I worked at the fish restaurant today, we were a little behind in schedule and when that happens it feels kind of stressful.  There's so much to prepare before the lunch hour.  Then I was told "come up with a special for lunch today - we need to use up Rock fish, Shrimp and rice noodles today"  - in my mind i heard "UHHHHHHHH" for about 10 seconds.  But at the last moment I figure out to make a personal sized vietnamese Pho soup using the fishes in a fish stock (that we make daily) plus veggies, napa cabbage, chilis, fish sauce, rice noodles, cilantro and raddish.  I got to make it for a customer and they said "it was very good".. Which I hope means It was very good haha.  That was a new experience for me and my boss was really supportive in helping me come up with my own ideas.  He doesn't like to tell me what to do, but he'll help me think - which I really appreciate.

First Day at "second job"

View from inside the restaurant

Best day i've seen so far on the homer spit.  

 I arrived to my second job at 10am.  Chef's style is to just throw me in and supervise but not help me too much.  I was proud when he threw me a bag of roughly cut napa cabbage and said “Hey, chiffonade that please” and walked away.. I knew what that was J I learned how to properly fry fish and to sautee it.  How to make burgers rare, medium or well.  Proper timing so everything goes out at the same time hot. How to set up the plates in the window so the server knows which one is which.  The tickets here are all hand written, so there’s a little bit of a food code I have to learn so I know what to make and when.  This restaurant is beautiful and all the food we make is so clean – we get freshly caught fish every day and It’s prepared simple and perfect.  We get a lot of sunshine and ocean view.  I felt very satisfied after my high-pressure shift.  Chef made me fresh halibut tacos with lime cilantro slaw, home made salsa verde, bleu cheese salad and an amber ale for lunch.   I did my best and it was sunny and beautiful when I left.  – off to my first job at the tavern.

New Home

Pretty roomy eh?

Inside of my new rig!

Ahhhh.  There's a great breakfast place here with home made buttermilk biscuits.

Well I finally figured out a place to live: It’s made of metal and it drives – it’s a van! I bought it from a co-worker’s pregnant wife who just doesn’t want to deal with it anymore.  I already feel better – it feels nice just to know where I’m going to sleep and that I have a space which is my own, not interfering with anyone else’s space. I get to drive and not hitchhike to work anymore.  The van is pretty busted, all kinds of funny quirks about it but it gets me where I need to go, and It keeps the rain out which is really all I need.  There was a boat that started sinking off of the spit and the captain ran it into the beach so that it wouldn’t sink all the way.  The picture that you see is of a tractor keeping it from floating out to sea, but they needed to get 2 more tractors to help pull it out of the water.  I guess it was a brand new boat from Washington state and a seam busted or something.  Bummer, but I was a cool site on the beach.

Day 9

Day 8

Day 7

 Egypt stories by the pot belly stove

Rachel sewing a sachet

Tom's beautiful cinnamon pancakes

Finished Pine needle Sachets

We cooked directly on the surface of the stove.  This is yukon government's own design.

Cole makes the best eggs.

My morning tea.

Pine Needles

There's a lot of this during the drives

Jarret and Otis

Strawberry, Blackberry, Blueberry Rhubarb, Canadian Birch Syrup