A contemporary Yukon storyteller
John Firth’s latest book includes the signature of a ghost. Caribou Hotel, Hauntings, Hospitality, a Hunter and the Parrot.
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What a difference a year (or 40) makes
The 53-kilometre Chilkoot Trail starts in Dyea, Alaska, at sea level and in full rain forest. There is lush vegetation, dense, fragrant canopy, moss of
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Here Comes the Sun
When winter is in its grip and snow is all around, take heart: the sun is not far away. Make it arrive sooner by enjoying
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Eat (or Sip) Your Veggies!
Decreasing meat consumption (even just a little) and upping your vegetable intake can do wonders for the digestive tract. This vegetarian “Soup Pot” along with
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Spring is in the Yukon Air
What better way to welcome the return of the sun but to pack a picnic and find a slope covered with crocuses? While it may
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Oh What a Pear!
By this time of the year in old Klondike days, food supplies were running a bit low. However, in most cabins there was flour for
Break Your Fast … F-A-S-T!!!
Morning is a great time for these muffins. Low in fat, high in flavour, calcium, complex carbohydrates and fibre, one of these with a glass
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Summer Salads
With summer’s arrival in the North (thank goodness it is finally here) come picnics and pot luck BBQs. Having a salad or two to make
Lovely Lemons and Rhubarb
That bright and beautiful time of year is finally here: the lupines are in the woods and the eagles are proudly flying overhead. So, too,
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Beautiful Beans
Here is another make-ahead salad to add to your summer repertoire. This recipe is a great one for adding colour, fibre and flavour to your
Starting to Go Plum Crazy
That special Yukon summer time is here. Go out and pick some fresh wild raspberries to combine with ripe, red plums in this delicious summer
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Yukon Salmon Goes Upstream
Succulent salmon is a new gold in Yukon rivers and streams. If ever you cook, bake or BBQ a fillet and are fortunate enough to
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Klondike Rice and Beans
In old Yukon, many a miner survived the winter with a sack of rice and a bag of beans. With escalating food prices, we may
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A Simmering Supper
Roasting the vegetables makes difficult-to-peel squash easier to work with. As well, along with fresh garlic, roasting sweetens and intensifies the flavour of root vegetables.
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A Christmas Savoury
In Klondike days, the oldtimers would have used canned spinach to make this quiche. Today, we have the luxury of being able to buy fresh
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Tropical Taste in a Northern Kitchen
When a prolonged winter continues cold, colder and coldest, one can counter with thoughts and tastes of the sunny South. Here is a muffin, loaded
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Striking Gold; One Potato at a Time
Yukon Gold potatoes, as fresh baby nuggets or mature full size, are wonderful for this delicious, warm salad. Paired with fresh apple and Camembert cheese,
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Tutti Fruit-ee, Go Fruit
Sometimes fresh is not always available. In early Klondike days, canned or dried fruit was the norm. Many modern-day Northerners dry fruit for lightweight hiking
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Great Pick for a Potluck
This is a great recipe for your next potluck supper. Quick to put together, better after it has sat for an hour, this salad is
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Wild About Rice
Northern wild rice (Zizania palustris) is a grass that grows in shallow lakes and slow-moving streams. While not harvested in the Yukon, one can sometimes
A Taste of Our Northern Woodlands
Morel mushrooms are an exquisite treat found in the ashy remains of the forest fire floor. Because these mushrooms only germinate when exposed to extremely
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Round and Round and Round We Go
In old Klondike days, ingredients were rather limited. Lard or bacon grease was often the only fat for baking. Holy smokes, can you imagine? In
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Bittersweet Endings
While the snow is gone, and with it the skiing and snowshoeing, back come the swans, ducks, crocuses and the long-awaited spring light. One season
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Simple Salad for People on the Go
Here is a simple salad, colourful and high in nutrients. Try using a whole wheat penne or vegetable pasta for interesting texture and increased fibre.
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Rhubarb and Strawberry Fare
Rhubarb is the earliest crop to be harvested in the Yukon and is now fresh and plentiful. Grab it from your garden or find a
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Larger than Life: The ‘King of Keno’
Pat McKenna takes a cook’s tour of famous, infamous and soon-to-be-famous Yukon chefs. An unassuming hero amongst the locals, a font of Northern knowledge for
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Tasting Tagish
Pat McKenna takes a cook’s tour of famous, infamous and soon-to-be-famous Yukon chefs. Café, motel, RV park, store and more – Tagish Stores is serving
To the Beat of a Northern Bakery
Pat McKenna takes a cook’s tour of famous, infamous and soon-to-be-famous Yukon chefs. With dancing, folk singing and lots of great music entertainment, the Village
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Raked Over the Coals
If you like to camp in comfort and enjoy a challenge, take a Dutch oven. Breads, bannock, cinnamon buns, upside-down-cake, succulent meats and baked fish
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Kerr-razy for Taste
Pat McKenna takes a cook’s tour of famous, infamous and soon-to-be famous Yukon chefs. Featured today is Mary-El Kerr of Whitehorse. Mary-El Kerr, owner and
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Plank It Up
Sockeye is in season and if you haven’t yet discovered the ease and piquant flavour of cooking fish on a cedar plank, now is the
Bottoms-up in the Blueberry Patch
Picking in the blueberry patch; what could be sweeter? Along waterways and creeks, hillsides and rocky patches, these little blue beauties are worth the hike.
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Simmering Spuds
The firm texture of Yukon Gold potatoes goes well with fresh corn to deliver a rich flavour in this hearty and healthy soup. Leave the
Held Together by a Noodle
Vegetables and fresh fruits, lots of them, held together by pasta in this quick-to-prepare meal, is perfect for a busy fall night. You can eat
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Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum! This Healthy Veggie Pie Is Yum
Fall is a time of great vegetable abundance. Yukon-grown root vegetables, as well as squash, mushrooms, pepper and garlic, add rich flavour to this warm
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Approaching Life ‘Gingerly’
There is nothing like ginger for spicing things up. Fresh, candied, pickled in syrup or dried; all forms of ginger are pungent, fragrant and especially
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Time for Bison
If your family or circle of friends didn’t harvest any bison this fall, don’t despair as bison is now available in local grocery stores. As
Simple and Sweet: An Old Time
Simple ingredients: butter, sugar and flour make up real old-fashioned shortbread. While variations on these basic ingredients are many, the real McCoy is hard to
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Cooking on the Wild Side of Christmas
Steak and Kidney Pie has been a Boxing Day tradition in my family. They go “Box” (shop) and I make the pies … mmm …
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Cranberries Colour Christmas
The bright-red colour and tart flavour of Yukon cranberries complements Christmas feasts beautifully. For a change, try baking cranberry sauce ahead of the big day.
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A Chocolate Valentine for Your Sweeties
What is Valentine’s Day without chocolate? Cut into heart shapes and sprinkled with a dusting of icing sugar, these are moist and not too sweet.
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Having a Cup of Spring-Time Tea
Spring is finally in the Yukon air. When it takes hold, one can hardly remember when we were in the midst of those long winter
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After Jack’s Lantern Has Been Lit
What to do with the pumpkin after H-day? Here is a delicious and heart-healthy pumpkin and sweet potato stew, fragrant with spices to bring smiles
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Simmering Soup on a Cold Winter’s Night
Wild meat, made into sausage, is a versatile protein food that can be used in all kinds of healthy dishes. Caribou, moose, bison and
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Having a Cup of Spring-Time Tea
Spring is finally in the Yukon air. When it takes hold, one can hardly remember when we were in the midst of those long winter
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Those Irish Eyes … (… Potato eyes, that is!)
Our cool northern climate is similar to conditions in Ireland where so many potatoes (with Irish eyes) grow plentifully. Yukon Gold potatoes, along with the
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Springtime Rice
In old Klondike days, about the time of spring break-up, often all that was left in the cabin larder was a bag of rice. With
Lightweight Foods to Lighten The Load
Here are two lightweight and quick-to-prepare recipes sure to deliver loads of flavour and little weight while being carried in your pack, canoe or kayak.
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Cooking on the Wild Side of Summer
Wild raspberries are yours for the picking in a ditch or river bank near you. Take advantage of our warm summer weather and gather plump,
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Beets Me
Beets are one of the “super foods” – extremely high in vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants. They also happen to grow well here in the Land
Conserving Cranberries
For the Thanksgiving table, nothing could be finer than Yukon cranberries prepared with the zing of oranges. This is a very simple, very delicious way
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Going Plum Crazy for Fabulous Flavour
With fall come many fruits, particularly juicy plums – lovely large dark ones and smaller golden plums. Either variety will work well in this easy-to-make
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A Thimble Full of Christmas Cranberries
thimble is a little cap worn on the finger while sewing. Common in past days, maybe not so common today (unless you are a quilter),
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Going Nutty North of 60
Nuts of many kinds (both the human and plant varieties) were common about town in early Klondike days. Nuts keep well, have great flavour and
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Snap it Up
Those long and much anticipated golden days of the summer solstice are upon us. Go out and enjoy the sunshine and warmth. When you get
With Sage Advice
Along with the crocuses, up come new buds on ‘artemisia frigida’, better known as wild sage. Aromatic, especially when crushed, sage is a silver-grey-green member
The Great Garbanzo
Garbanzo beans, although relatively bland, have a rich texture that can be easily perked up with herbs and spices. For vegetarians, legumes are a standard
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Steely Determination: Racing the Yukon River Quest
There is a strong current heading north towards Dawson and it is not just that of the Yukon River. Sixty-nine teams are registered in this
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Dipping into that Festive Flavour
The festive season is upon us and so too is food for entertaining. Here is a trio of dips, ones that can be made ahead,
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Something’s Fishy for Dinner
While a fish stew exists in many cultures, our northern fish shines like no other in the version presented here. Choose a firm textured fish
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A heart warming Valentine
Tomatoes, paired with roasted peppers, garlic, onions and carrots take on an outstandingly rich flavour in this good-for-your-heart soup. Lycopene is a phytochemical in tomatoes
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Bank on Salmon: It’s in the Can
Take a can of salmon … it is amazing what one can do with it. With fresh salmon so pricey and fish so healthy to
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Go for Oats
Those who enjoy the Yukon outdoors know that snacks need to be easy to pack and hold up without crumbling too easily. Peanut butter packs
Winter Camping and Skiing? Get Out and Get the Sun!
Winter weather … cold, crisp and clear. When the sun shines, get outside. Ski, snowshoe, sled or run your dog to get that sun full
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