Dressing the part while eating “Alaskan”

On New Year’s Day I posted our resolutions (fun fact: I posted these from the Pike’s Lodge in Fairbanks) and this week’s theme has been “Alaskan.” We didn’t know really what that would entail, since most of our meals have been part of a packaged deal. Read all about our Alaskan adventure here.

We arrived the afternoon of the first and figured not that many places would be open. I had done my research (I’m a hyper-diligent menu checker) and found that the restaurant that shares a parking lot with our lodge would be open AND had some great looking foods! Unfortunately, their online menu wasn’t current and I had to switch up my order when we arrived.

Brandon and I wanted to try something Alaskan, so we started out with some Alaskan crab stuffed mushrooms. They were pretty good, topped with Parmesan in a white wine and lemon cream sauce. We both went with burgers for the main course – don’t worry, they weren’t moose or muskox or anything exotic, although that would have been fun. (Fun side note: while you can hunt moose in Alaska, you can’t sell it commercially.)

Pancakes with reindeer sausage

We also had some tasty fare at the Bettles Lodge, the all-inclusive “resort” we stayed in. This included dinners of pork tenderloin with veggies and rice, teriyaki salmon with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli, and pot roast, risotto and corn. For lunches: tuna sandwiches with homemade tomato soup and chicken noodle soup. And for breakfasts: a bacon and cheddar frittata, pancakes and REINDEER sausage and eggs, hash browns and bacon. It turns out that reindeer sausage tastes a lot like kielbasa, and it was delicious!

Our favorite pizza combo, with reindeer sausage

We’re back in Fairbanks now and for dinner last night we ordered some pizza for our last Alaskan meal. What’d we get? The usual… with more reindeer sausage! This time the reindeer tasted more like summer sausage and less like kielbasa. I think I’ve had my full of reindeer for awhile.

We also found that Alaskans aren’t so into their wine. Thankfully, there was still access to wine when you’re out in the bush. So far, we’ve opted for bottles of Malbec. We also did a little Alaskan Brewing beer sampler at the hotel bar with the Alaskan White wheat ale and the Freeride APA, both beers I haven’t seen in Seattle.

Starting today, we’ll be cutting out the meat and going vegetarian for the week.