Alaska campervan holiday - The end

Kenai Peninsula - On the return loop back to Anchorage

Caught and released female Pink Salmon at Funny river.

Fishing from the shore at Lower Ohmer Lake, caught (and released) a lot of salmon smolt.

Hidden Lake, very clear water,

a clear sky during sunset.

Very scenic Hidden Creek trail,

down hill to reach Silak Lake,

Russian River, one of the most popular fishing area, lots of fishermen and spawned out salmon,

caught a Silver salmon,

and a wild Rainbow trout,

saw a bear at the opposite bank,

enjoying a salmon fish egg meal.

Seward - a fine morning,

Seward town, very small but well planned

In an exceptionally sunny day, according to the captain, only once in a month, joined a 5 hours cruise tour of Resurrection Bay.

a few orca circling the boat,

very scenic,

and a lot of Glaciers around.

Seward Sealife Centre with excellent display and information, finally able to look at puffins closely,

beautiful jelly fish tank.

Walked to the beginning of Exit Glacier, near Seward town.

Alaska, more cooking in campervan

King Crab

Alaska is famous for King Crab, this is how it is served in Totem restaurant in Valdez. The crab is harvested in December, cooked and frozen for use during the rest of the year. It is not the same as eating freshly cooked crab, and is very salty.

I bought a frozen King Crab, pour boiling water on it to melt the outside frozen ice. Then I soak it in a cooled broth of onion, ginger and sugar for 3 hours. It is refreshed, more juicy and lost the salty taste.

Ninilchik razor clam

Clam digging is one of the activities in this area, but best to do it on days with super low tide. It is called razor clam but is very meaty.

1. Use a knife to release clam from shell, remove sandy gut. Cut body in halves and wash off the remaining sand.

2. Sweat ginger and onion in butter, add clam and stir-fry at high heat for maximum a minute. It is very sweet and crunchy, over cooking will make it tough.

Pan-fried Halibut filet

At Deep Creek Sport Shop near Ninilchik town, I saw this fisherman cleaning halibut after a day out with his customers. I wanted to buy some fresh halibut, but as sport fisherman it is against the law to sell his catch, but he could give it away for free. I was happy to have the chance to taste fresh halibut, in this country, most seafood are frozen and packaged at the harbour.

Sprinkle a light coating of flour and salt on filet, sear at high heat in butter until slightly golden outside.

Coconut focaccia

1. Mix 200gm flour with 200gm shredded coconut.

2. Mix 180gm mildly warm water with 2 eggs, 80gm brown sugar, a pinch of salt, and 1 sachet of active dry yeast, fold in flour coconut mixture.

3. Pour the mixture into a buttered and floured baking tin, let mixture rises until double its original size. With wet fingers, make dimples on the surface and spoon melted butter all over the surface.

4. Bake at 180˚C until golden, around 30 minutes.

Seared scallop and silver salmon filet

Bought a packet of frozen Alaskan scallop at Homer, huge ones. Cooking in the campervan is the only and best way to enjoy the wonderful produce in Alaska.

1. Dry scallops and salmon filet, sprinkle salt on both sides of scallops and salmon filet, then dust a fine layer of flour on top.

2. Heat 1/3 oil and 2/3 butter in a frying pan until hot, place scallops & salmon in, cook for a minute each side for scallops and 2 minutes each side for salmon. The scallop is best when the middle is warm but still transparent.

Alaska campervan holiday - Part 4

Kenai Peninsula (south Anchorage tour)

20 Miles River and Portage Glacier, nearly full moon,

Russian River, a popular park with board walk along the bank,

a lot of Red salmon spawning,

and those spawned out.

Moose River near Izaak Walton Park is well developed with resorts in good locations.

View of volcano at Kenai Landing.

Kenai River at Centennial Park, another popular place,

again full of berries, this is Dogwood berry.

Ninilchic beach, in the rain,

this area is famous for digging razor clams,

fishing for halibut is popular in the southern end of Kenai Peninsula. Drove pass this Shop, customers just came back from a successful fishing trip.

Homer, unusual landscape, Homer Spit at the far end,

Homer is famous for having the warmest winter in Alaska - never below 0˚F! It is very green,

Homer is surrounded by snow-capped mountains too, but big and spread out. I was hoping that it is small like Valdez, my favourite Alaskan town.

Homer harbour under moonlight.

Alaska, still cooking in campervan

Watermelon berry

What an interesting looking fruit, and indeed tasted very mildly of watermelon!

Red salmon in coconut sauce

1. Sweat red onion and ginger until soft, add button mushroom slices with a big pinch of salt and pepper, stir-fry until soft. Add water and coconut milk to reach a thick consistency, season with soya sauce.

2. Add salmon, cut into 2 inches pieces, poach for 1 minute, turn over and switch off flame. Serve in a minute.

Parsnip sweet potato soup

Root vegetables can store longer and so is good to have when travelling in campervan, sometimes it is not easy to get supply.

1. Sweat red onion and ginger slices, add diced parsnip and sweet potato, stir-fry until corners slightly brown.

2. Add a tin of tomato, in chunks, 100gm of coconut milk, season with salt, pepper and soya sauce.

Salad with peanut butter dressing

When a jar of peanut butter is reaching the bottom and becomes very thick, use it to make a simple salad dressing. Add a little hot water to soften remaining peanut butter, mix in lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste.

Smoke salmon

Salt filet of salmon with 10% of it own weight of half salt and half sugar for a day, smoke in covered barbeque with wet wood chip.

Bacon and salmon bake

Wrap salmon filet with slices of bacon, bake at high heat until salmon is just cooked and bacon is golden.

Coconut Cake

1. Mix 200gm of flour with 200gm of shredded coconut, 1 sachet of baking powder, 80gm sugar and a pinch of salt,.

2. Mix 2 eggs with 180gm of coconut milk, fold in flour coconut mixture.

3. Bake in lined shallow tin at 180˚ C until golden, around 30 minutes.