Loaves (or cakes) and Fishes....

So it was party time chez moi Saturday evening.... a party for the grad students from this year (I taught the grad methodology course). It was to be a potluck: no planning, just bring something and see what happens. I decided to make a poppyseed cake. I started late in the evening on Friday, so took it out of the oven around midnight. I left it on the counter to cool. In the morning it was still there.... I set it down and went into the living room to play the piano for a couple of minutes. I heard the sound of a chip bag being opened, so shouted to the kids to wait for the evening on the chips. I also headed in to get the bag. It seems that Alex also decided to sneak a piece of the cake. Here is what I mean by 'sneak'.




Not as sneaky as I would have liked. ah well...

So, one of the students has a boyfriend who is Coast Salish, and quite famous in the community as a fire keeper and guide. He said he would come and cook a salmon in the backyard. It was a 'first spring salmon' from the Fraser, so there was a ceremony to go with (all the bones and skin have to be retained to be returned to the river where the fish was taken), including some songs (yes, he brought his drum).

My suggestion (not wanting to wreck the grass) was that we build the fire on the patio. Not such a great suggestion.... 10 minutes in, the cement (still too full of moisture) started exploding....throughing the logs up in the air, and cement fragments everywhere.



ooops. on the amusing side, the day before, my student had said she hoped to leave no traces. I said, "That is ridiculous! I LOVE traces! what is a party with no traces!?" I am prescient! hahaha... but... it did mean Plan B (since we wanted to get that salmon cooking)... so... we revised.... we washed off the salmon (some cement landed on it), got it re-salted and peppered, while steve and the guys actually dug out a hole in the grass and he brought his own logs and bricks.... and alder branches so the fish would be smoked. It was a slow fire (1.5 hours?) and the salmon was amazing.




Steve and I were given the 'privilege' of the head: that is, we each got a cheek (delicious) and an eyeball. I will admit that I think the eyeball was a 'try it once' kind of thing. but... he told us that the Elders usually get the eyeballs (afterall, the eyeballs are the first thing the eagles go for). I found it a bit crunchy, and kept thinking of the salmon we got to see dissected at Goldstream park (when we got to pass around the lens from the eyeball!)



Adventures!