It's like Santa came to our freezer...

When I was gone to Paulatuk last week (photos to be uploaded as soon as I find where I put the camera), the Meat Man came to Tuk. I had heard in passing that there was a Meat Man, just like the Fruit Man, but I had never seen him in town before. Luckily our friends at the RCMP called to let Deon know that the Meat Man was in town, and then they told the Meat Man to stop by our office before he left Tuk.

Deon ended up getting five cases of goods from the Meat Man, and they are nice and skinny so they can line up neatly in the freezer. Thank goodness we ordered the second little freezer from Costco, so now we have enough capacity to stock up when the ice road is open, and when surprise salesmen come to Tuk!

I had to wait until I got back to Paulatuk to hear what the Meat Man had to offer, since Deon prepared some of his treasures for us for dinner. For an appetizer, Deon had a tray of sushi for each of us, complete with soy sauce, wasabi and ginger! Deon knows that I LOVE sushi, so this was the best surprise of all! He also made pork souvlaki skewers for our main course, which also came from the Meat Man. Another one of my favourite foods!

The other treasures included another case of sushi (they are all frozen, vacuum, packed and you let them thaw in the fridge all day), a case of sirloin tip roasts (since we've been having really bad luck with quality beef up here!), and a case of Beef Wellingtons which Deon loves, and we're going to try tonight.

I am wondering if I should go see if the Fruit Man is here today, since I saw him in Inuvik earlier this week. It would be his last trip on the ice road for sure, since it is quickly melting!

Ice road resupply mission...

This weekend I was more than happy when Barry called to ask if I wanted to go on the ice road with them to Inuvik, where they had to pick up his truck and get some groceries at the same time. Despite what is always a long drive (2.5 hours each way), it is totally worth it, for several reasons: (1) Fending off cabin fever by getting out of town for the day; (2) Having someone cook lunch or dinner for you at a restaurant; (3) Restocking the freezer and fridge; (4) The potential to see something cool along the way.

It definitely was nice to get out of Tuk for the day. Deon didn't feel like coming because he'd already been on the ice road several times this week to go to Inuvik and Aklavik for meetings, so he was more than happy to stay home (and cook supper for when I got back!)

We ate lunch at Tonimoes in Inuvik, which was... okay. At least I didn't have to cook for myself, right? I swear the weekend chefs in that place are not the same as the weekday ones... the food always seems a bit off on the weekends! I'm not sure you can call it a "veggie wrap" if the ends aren't tucked in, and everything falls out the end. Maybe they should rename it the "veggie roll?"

We managed to go to most of the stores in Inuvik, and pick up some foods (and drinks) that are unavailable in Tuk. My treasures included:
-4kg box of chicken breasts ($48.77- the same amount would cost $67.99 in Tuk)
-2 boxes of frozen French onion soup (for our French nights when we don't feel doing a lot of prep- the soup goes nicely with a chicken cordon bleu from the freezer)
-3 twleve packs of (diet) pop ($9.99 vs $15.99 in Tuk)
-1 sirloin tip roast (~$20- nice beef is hard to come by in Tuk!)
-various fresh produce including asparagus, "Grapples" (apples that taste like grapes), fresh cilantro (YAY!)
-1 box of red wine (who cares about class when you can have practicality?)
-2 bottles of Yellowtail Bubbles (which are just begging to be popped open!)

Between my shopping yesterday, and Deon's earlier in the week, I think we're set for a little while now in terms of having some "different" things in the house to eat and drink. Having the new freezer that we ordered from Costco (well, the second one- the first one arrived broken) really helps to allow us to hoard food for when the ice road closes. Before the ice road opened this year, I was starting to get a *little* bored of chicken breasts and pork chops, and my creativity was really wearing thin... Now we've got enough to have variety for the next little while!

Mmmmmmmmmuskox Burgers

We are trying to use up all of the food in the freezer before we leave for vacation, and one of the things left to use up was some ground muskox. Muskox is sold right next to the ground beef in the store across the street, and is very comparable in price. Muskox meat however, I think is much healthier for a number of reasons: #1- We're talking about a creature here who has lived its life out on the land, free of human interaction and all the "extras" we get in our farm raised beef. It's as free range and organic as you'll get! #2- When you cook muskox meat, there is very little, if any fat that comes off it. The burgers I cooked tonight had a few tiny drips of fat, and that is all.

Tonight I made some muskox cheeseburgers for us to enjoy (minus the buns, since there are none to be found). Just take some ground muskox, add an egg, some breadcrumbs, some garlic, chopped onion, dried Italian herbs, and moosh them all together. Form some pattys (I made 6), and pop them on the George Foreman (or our knockoff equivalent) until they're cooked through, top them with cheese and other favourite condiments, and chow down!

Here they are before cooking:


The meat is much darker, and richer in colour than ground beef.


The finished product!