Champagne Wishes and Cavier Dreams

Well, not exactly. Bethel is not the type of place where you can celebrate a birthday like that. Oh yeah, by the way, it's my birthday today so that's why I titled the post this way. I did spend the day relaxing, doing a little crocheting and some internet surfing for stamping stuff. This afternoon Eric and I were lucky enough to see a really Spotted Seal. One of Eric's co-workers parents were given a seal and he called to let us know so we could come over. Not too many seals come up the river this far so we never would have seen a live one in Bethel. Granted this one wasn't alive, but it was still cool to see a real seal. I took the camera over with the intent to take a few pictures, but they were already in the process of skinning the seal by the time we got there. It wasn't looking too pretty by then. Eric was lucky enough to help out with some of the skinning. Seal is a pretty big thing around here. Natives will actually save the fat and render it to oil to use for dipping fish and other things in. You would not believe the fat on a seal. I bet it was almost 2 inches thick. What they do is cut it up into strips and then put it in a 5 gallon bucket and let it render. It basically sits in the bucket and the oils come out of the fat and float to the top. This one seal will probably make 3-4 gallons of oil. Once the fat is done rendering, they will eat the remainder of the fat. Now seal oil is something I have yet to try. Just the smell alone is very strong. I have actually tried seal though. Seal can have a very fishy taste to it and can leave a greasy film in your mouth. Maybe if it was cooked different it might be better.

Back to the birthday, we did go out to eat tonight at one of the local eating establishments. VIP is a Japanese/American restaurant which does sushi, different type of rolls (california rolls, etc) and of course burgers. I usually get the 007 Rolls. They are like california rolls, but are topped with shrimp (cooked), avocado and a little spicy sauce. Very good! Eric had the shrimp basket with fries. Not too much of a variety from restaurant to restaurant. On the way home we stopped at the movie place and picked up the movie Juno. Can't wait to see it. I've heard good things about it and I love the previews.

Well, it's about time to put the movie in, so I will chat with you all later.