As I was skiing today I kept thinking about my Great-Grandmother, Anna Chukan. She loved us in a quiet and solid way that my family misses every day, yet we know that her love abides with us still. Whether I had just come in from playing, skiing or fishing, if she were not busying herself with something, as she often did, I would go to sit with her. She invariably acknowledged my fun or effort with an approving inhale and, “You smell like fresh air.” When my Great Grandma, also known as Umma, and Grandpa would come in to Anchorage in the winter to visit from Bristol Bay, oftentimes I would come in from playing and find Umma bent over picking bits and lint from the carpet and putting them into a little trash bin. She would look up, smile and say, “Just like picking berries.”
Umma would always have good food waiting for us when we would come back from fishing and as we sat down she would say to us, “Eat full.” One of the things she would make that was always profoundly pleasing was her fish soup. The ingredients were basic: good sized cubes of salmon with their skin still on, a few pieces of spaghetti broken into the pot along with a handful of rice grains, a few rings of onion and a little bit of salt. The broth was as clear as water with drops of fish oil resting on top and it didn’t seem like it would taste like much, but the flavor was amazing. The miracle of this soup was on the order of magnitude of the fable Stone Soup, but better. Better because we knew that this soup came from the unconditionally loving hands of our Umma and the salmon was from the ever-giving generosity of the Naknek River, our home stream.
For more about the miracle of wild salmon visit http://www.whywild.org
Mel
Lily-Elaine Hawk Wakawaka
February 7, 2012
i just ate two pieces of hard smoke fish. i stink good.
fish*wine*ski
February 7, 2012
Mmmmmm. Good kind.
Niels Martin
February 16, 2012
I eat some every day , then have crackers with peanut butter and crandberry jam.
fish*wine*ski
February 16, 2012
Pilot bread?
Karen Pulice
February 11, 2012
That was a wonderful story about “grandma Chukan” as we called her, even though she was really our aunt. What a wonderful woman 😀
fish*wine*ski
February 11, 2012
Thank you Karen. It’s nice to hear from you. I hope you, your Mom and Dad, and the rest of your family are doing well.
sarahvine
February 11, 2012
Yum, I could taste the soup and smell her house. Thanks for sharing.x Sarah
fish*wine*ski
February 11, 2012
I love hearing from all my relatives. Thank you, Melanie
martha johnson
February 14, 2012
HI Meline, good story about Grandma, every Christmas she made me two kinds of sugar candy, and now I’m sorry I never asked her how to make it. The boys ask every once in a while if I could make it. My Mom use to make it for Christmas also. I tryed once but it didn’t turn out.
fish*wine*ski
February 14, 2012
Thanks for writing Martha. I remember that candy. I thought she just boiled sugar water down until only that dark candy was left. I will ask my Mom if she knows how to make it and get back to you. Hope you are having a good winter. Love, Melanie
martha johnson
February 14, 2012
HI Meline, Thanks for the info. I think in one of the candies she put butter, I’m not sure.I’m happy to be in touch with you
Niels Martin
February 16, 2012
I’m rich , I have lots of family , I want to hear from all of them.
fish*wine*ski
February 16, 2012
Thanks for writing. Glad you found the story.
martha johnson
February 14, 2012
To answer your question, I am having a good cold winter. We had a lot of snow but too cold to go hunting, now it warmed up and the snow mostly all gone.
hope to get more snow so Cierra and I can go ptarmigan hunting. Love, Martha
fish*wine*ski
February 15, 2012
Hoping for more snow here in Juneau too. Lots more skiing to do this winter.
Hope you get yours.
Love,
Melanie
joan knutsen
March 8, 2012
I miss you all…and I miss Auntie and our long warm times sitting together. Thank you Melanie! I have a story maybe you would like: I once asked Auntie what the key to their long marriage was and she huffed…stood up straight and with all seriousness said ‘If he’s too mean – I don’t feed him!’ Then she smiled a knowing smile and hugged me. Wise lady 🙂 love Joan
fish*wine*ski
March 8, 2012
Thank you for that story. It’s so nice to hear from you. It was really good to see all of you in some of Sarah’s family pictures on Facebook. You and Eric have such a beautiful family.