Dan the Man

My dad is finally back home from "Deadliest Catch" Alaska! Ok, not really Deadliest Catch - my mom made him promise that he'd stop fishing in the dangerous areas the moment he proposed, years and years ago. In order to keep his best catch yet (my mom, hehe), he happily obliged. 

So these days, he heads up to Southeast Alaska near Ketchikan every summer to bring in hundreds of thousands of pounds of salmon. I tell ya, fish should steer clear of this fisherman - he's a force to be reckoned with.

For the second year in a row, he made it home to celebrate his birthday! The birthday boy requested a home-cooked meal and family time, which is exactly what he got. It's always so nice to have him home :) Hope you had a wonderful birthday, Dad! Love you.

P.S. Check out the halibut he caught - not quite as big as a few years ago, but still GIANT!

Trout Saratoga

So what to do with all that trout? Trout Saratoga, of course! It's simple, flavorful and probably just tastes better since you know it's fresh. From bottom of the lake to dinner table in less than a day! I don't think you can say that of store-bought fish.

The only downfall? The bones. I hate fish bones. My parents can attest to this, as I used to complain about them during our many meals of fish. I've toughened up since then a bit, but still don't like bones. Is this just me or do others have an intense aversion to fish bones?

Other than that, it's a meal worth making.

Ingredients
1 (4 pound) whole trout, cleaned (We did like 4 small trout, and thanks for cleaning the fish, Dad!)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 clove garlic, minced (I added more like 3 cloves)
1/2 cup white wine (plus a glass or two for yourself)
1 lemon, cut into wedges
4 sprigs fresh parsley

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Lightly oil a 9x13 inch baking dish. Season the trout inside and out with salt and pepper to taste, and place in baking dish. 

In a large bowl, combine tomatoes, olive oil, 2 tablespoons chopped parsley, and minced garlic. Spread evenly over the fish. 

Bake for 35 minutes, or until fish flakes easily. Baste during baking with wine. Serve garnished with lemon wedges and parsley sprigs. 


P.S. Last night, my Dad told me that fishing is in my genes - my ancestors fished off the coast of Norway in Stapnes for over 500 years. Plus, apparently women in the family often bring home the bacon (or fish in this case!) - my Great Aunt Tilda was apparently a force to be reckoned with when equipped with a fishing pole! 

Another fishing story.

Instead of waking up at the crack of dawn like last time, we opted for the evening bite on opening day. We were out on the lake by 4:30pm, ready for a fishing showdown. You see, my Dad has yet to out-fish me. We have years and years of opening days and fishing derbies under our belts, but my undefeated record still stands. (Knock on wood.) So he is committed to one day break that record. So what do you think? Do you think 2012 was the year for my Dad? Or has Joe been reading up on tips and tricks since his last time out in 2010? The fishing story below...

Cain Lake a small, quaint lake just south of Bellingham.

  

The fishing extraordinaire, my Dad. Even if he can't out-fish me. (Again, knock on wood.)

Joe got a bite... but no fish.

"Hey dad, let's get our pictures together... oh wait, FISH ON!"

They just kept coming and coming...

These faces are saying "you've got to be kidding me!"

"Seriously, let's just stop the embarrassment..."

Erika: 10, Boys: 1 - to protect the innocent, I won't share who got the one :)

So my record still stands. Phew! Better go start on my magic fish-attracting potion for 2013. Up next, how we cooked the trout, yum!

A fishing story

We started fishing bright and early (woke up at 4:45 and on the lake by 6am!) out on Cain Lake.

It was quiet and a little rainy and cold.

But luckily we were all pretty bundled up.

We got 1 or 2 sunbreaks, even if the temperature didn't rise.

Joe got the first fish.

I caught the second fish.

And as you can see, I was very excited about it.

Kam wouldn't let me take any pictures of him (he must be going through a phase), so I had to sneakily snap a few.

This might be the only picture we got of him where he's smiling AND looking at the camera. Too bad I wasn't doing the same!

At the end of the day, we came home with 14 fish. I'll let you guess who caught the most, but it rhymes with America. :)

Gone Fishing

This weekend, Joe and I are headed north to the good ol' Skagit Valley for opening day of fishing with my Dad and Kamron. I'm pumped (to out-fish them all, of course... ok, I'm sure Kam will take the prize on this one)! Dad mentioned something about 4:15am, but I think that's negotiable. Send me your fishing mojo!

Have a wonderful weekend!

photo from this wonderful flickr stream

Bon Voyage!

Every summer, my dad takes a trip north to the great state of Alaska. While some assume it's for sport fishing and fun, it's actually tough, scary, think 'Deadliest Catch' commercial fishing. Well, not really, it's not the super dangerous kind, but it's definitely hard work - or so I've been told. He's been doing it since before I was born, starting out fishing in the Puget Sound in high school and eventually moving up a level to Alaska. Now he has to continue fishing to support my mother's puppy habit.

When I was little, I thought he went up and caught millions of pounds of fish (one year he actually caught 1.2 million pounds!) with a pole because I didn't know any better. Now I know he actually works on a seiner which essentially means there is a big boat, huge net and skiff (or smaller boat) - the net is connected to the big and small boat and the skiff goes out and spreads the net throughout the water. Then eventually circles back to close the net and catch all of the fish! Then they are brought on the big boat and the crew "picks" the fish or sorts through all of them, getting stung by tons of jellyfish. My dad drives the skiff, so he doesn't have to worry about the jellyfish anymore. (Note: I'm not a seiner expert, but this is how I envision it.)

Tonight my dad is crashing on my couch so I can take him to the airport at the crack of dawn. My reward: He's bringing down fresh crab (caught this morning!) for dinner. Yum!

Dad with a halibut score, 300+ pounds!

This is where he bunks for 6 weeks, eek...

His boat

Great picture from the skiff

Completely unrelated: Dad and me in San Francisco. Not sure what we were going for...