{"id":152,"date":"2021-02-05T11:49:19","date_gmt":"2021-02-05T20:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rightasrainonline.com\/?p=152"},"modified":"2021-03-05T13:40:21","modified_gmt":"2021-03-05T22:40:21","slug":"togiak-blues-and-reds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rightasrainonline.com\/?p=152","title":{"rendered":"Togiak blues (and reds)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The picture you see here serves a dual purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

 First, it gives you some insight into why I stopped coloring my hair. Second, it shows you what it\u2019s like to pick berries in Southwest Alaska. This picture was taken just outside of Togiak, which is a Yup\u2019ik community of about 800 people. As you can see, the berry bushes average about six inches high. (This is in stark contrast to Southeast Alaska, where I live. Here, to pick berries, you have to try to be as tall as possible. We also get all fancy with our berry names: thimble, huckle, salmon, blue, blue huckle, cran, salal. As far as I know, Togiak berries come in two varieties: red and blue.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While visiting Togiak, I learned to eat akutaq. Akutaq<\/em> is a treat that the locals make using shortening, sugar, and berries for flavor. I tasted some that one lady, Eileen, had made, and it surprised me by being delicious. I asked her how to make it, and she explained that you need about three parts Crisco and one part sugar. You put the sugar and Crisco in a big bowl and mix it by hand, (plastic gloves are a good idea) until it is light and fluffy. Then you add your berries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, my mother could make merengue with a hand mixer, and I can\u2019t even do it with an electric model. I watched another lady, Caroline, mixing and mixing a huge batch of akutaq<\/em>, and my arms and shoulders started to ache all on their own. I asked her what the recipe should be, mentioning what Eileen had told me. Caroline shook her head. \u201cNope,\u201d she said, \u201cyou need one part Crisco and three parts sugar.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I digested this information for a bit, and then asked Caroline what kind of flavorings she used. Of course, she mentioned berries; reds or blues, or both. She said that she sometimes liked to add dried fish. Then she chuckled. \u201cI had a crazy auntie,\u201d she told me, \u201cwho would put just about anything in hers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLike what?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, like M&M\u2019s, Froot Loops, stuff like that,\u201d replied Caroline. \u201cOne time she put peanut brittle in there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I noticed that while Caroline was not putting any candy or cereal into her mix, she was<\/em> adding some dried fish. I bravely asked her for a taste. She obliged me with a small spoonful. It wasn\u2019t bad, but I decided I liked it better with just berries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, I haven\u2019t tried to make akutaq<\/em>; I\u2019ll leave that to the experts. What I did <\/em>do is bring home a bunch of berries and make jam–some red, and some blue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The picture you see here serves a dual purpose.  First, it gives you some insight into why I stopped coloring my hair. Second, it shows you what it\u2019s like to pick berries in Southwest Alaska. This picture was taken just outside of Togiak, which is a Yup\u2019ik community of about 800 people. As you can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[105,103,104,27,67,106],"class_list":["post-152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-as-an-alaskan-educator-and-citizen","tag-akutaq","tag-berries","tag-berry-picking","tag-southwestern-alaska","tag-togiak","tag-yupik"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rightasrainonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rightasrainonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rightasrainonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rightasrainonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rightasrainonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=152"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rightasrainonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":154,"href":"https:\/\/rightasrainonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152\/revisions\/154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rightasrainonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rightasrainonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rightasrainonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}