Tag: Kirsten Dixon
Salmonberry Contest 2022 Saturday evening and a Special Cooking Class with Kirsten Dixon Sunday morning! A 2-Day Event!
by Jenny Chissus
So exciting to be welcoming Kirsten and Mandy Dixon and Valerie Granath as our judges for the competition this year! Seldovia is known for great salmonberries, and many folks have never tried anything but jams or cakes – and our competition has brought amazing talent out of the woodwork! From Sunni’s salmonberry cake and Peggy & Jen’s ice cream, Marcia’s wine to Liane’s chipotle, we have had some incredibly inventive and delicious entries!
The berries are here – so you have a week to pick, plan, prepare and get ready to present your entry by 6pm at the Boardwalk Hotel Saturday night! Besides being a lot of fun, there are prizes for each category as well as a People’s Choice award!
The basic rules:
* Bring your entry to The Boardwalk Hotel restaurant between 6:00pm and 6:30pm
* Recipe MUST include salmonberries
* Please present your entry with a NAME
* You may enter more than one item
* Each entry must have enough to share with 3 judges. It is nice to have extra as we will open a table for public sampling after the judges have tasted each entry. Folks in the audience get to taste these treats and we will have a People’s Choice award!
* You must pick either SWEET or SAVORY category for each entry
* The judges will be rating the entries on appearance/presentation, texture & taste (scale of 1-10)
Check-in your entries and grab a seat and enjoy dinner at the Boardwalk! This is a fun evening, and we thank the Boardwalk Hotel and their entire staff for helping to make the event a success! A lot is going on and it is a great time!
Foraged and Gathered Course Sunday Morning
Sunday morning August 14, 2022, from 9:00am to 10:30am
This is a very special event added this year! A COOKING COURSE with Kirsten Dixon!
If you have ever had the pleasure of taking a cooking class at Tutka Bay Lodge with Kirsten or Mandy and their staff – you know what a treat this is, that they are offering this intimate class right here in Seldovia!
Featured Dish: Seafood tagine prepared with wild edibles from Alaska and spices from Morocco!
You’ll have the opportunity to meet Hicham Hnini, chef at Tutka Bay Lodge, and Timothy Crockett, Executive Chef, and forager for Within the Wild Adventure Company. They will share with you, along with Kirsten Dixon, secrets of their rustic and refined regional cuisine.
Learn how to cook with tagine over a live fire or portable stove and hear the story of how Hicham and Kirsten met on a desert camel farm in Morocco and how he came to live in Alaska.
Kirsten will prepare her version of salmorejo – a cold Spanish tomato soup that is a lodge summer favorite. Tomatoes, cider vinegar, croutons, and smoked salmon make a simple and delicious soup.
The team will also have their cookbooks available for sale.
The cost for this course will be $25.00 per person – all fees are being generously donated to the Seldovia Fire and EMS Department! Thank you Kirsten, Hicham and Timothy! Space is limited and so please contact/text Jenny Chissus at 907-406-0044 to reserve your seat! The class will begin promptly at 9:00am, so please honor this very special event by showing up a few minutes early to settle in and be ready to begin! So thrilled that Kirsten and her team are willing to share their time and expertise with us!
2018 Salmonberry Contest, Recap of 2017 event & Interview with our 2017 Guest Celebrity Judge Kirsten Dixon!
by Jenny Chissus
There are quite a few things that come to mind when you think of summer in Seldovia, and one of the very special ones, is the fact that we are a haven for Salmonberries! We’re in our 2nd year of hosting the Salmonberry Dessert Contest, and we agreed that we needed to divide up the categories a bit as we had such a variety of treats last year! We will have two categories in our renamed “Salmonberry Delights Contest”! Sweet OR Savory – thanks to Kirsten Dixon for that description of last year’s event! This allows folks to submit both the “Sweet” Salmonberry Desserts as well as “Savory” Salmonberry Dressings, sauces & other. We’re excited to see what this year will bring!
The audience loved when the judges began sharing of all the treats once they had judged their portion. This year we will have a People’s Choice winner as the crowd truly enjoyed getting in on the tasty fare! So, to all entrants, please have enough for the 3 judges as well as some to share tastes with the diners at the Boardwalk as they will each have one vote! This worked out beautifully last year, as the three judges just take a taste of a pie or cake so there is plenty to share… but when it is just a candy, scoop of ice cream or a muffin, there is not much to go around! So keep that in mind!
Bring your entry before 6pm and sit down for dinner and a front row seat to the contest judging that begins at 7:30pm!
I know many folks who don’t live in Seldovia can’t wait for the season and make trips to our side of the bay for these elusive fruits! Last year, as we looked back at our photos from 2016, we figured we would be safe to have our contest in late July! Not so! Our lack of sun and warmth last summer led to a mediocre and VERY late summer crop of salmonberries, so we moved the event to the end of August! Thankfully, it all worked out to the good, as Kirsten and Mandy Dixon were able to make the event in August, and never would have been able to swing it in July! This year, the berries are ripening and plentiful, if you can beat the crows!
Last year, I wasn’t sure how it was going to go – if folks would find any berries – if anyone had great dessert recipes to create something for a contest… but when 7:30pm drew near, we had 25 entries! We had to bring out two more tables to manage the dessert feast!
We had salmonberry coffee cake, salmonberry swirl cake, lemon salmonberry marscarpone cake, salmonberry cheesecake, brie cheese with salmonberry chutney, salmonberry cake with fireweed honey sauce, chocolate covered rice crispy salmonberry truffles, salmonberry shortcake, salmonberry crumble bars, salmonberry rhubarb pudding cake, salmonberry smoothie, salmonberry cheesecake bites, salmonberry sweet buns, salmonberry custard pie with shortbread crust, brie with salmonberry lemon cream cheese and salmonberry jelly sauce, angel food cake with orange butter salmonberry sauce, love of salmonberry pastry with cream rose salmonberry essence, etc! It was incredible!
Thanks so much to Jeremiah and Angela and the Boardwalk Hotel staff who worked hard to accommodate all the entrants, people and fun! They did a phenomenal job! We look forward to having the contest there again this year! Thank you for hosting!
Enjoy the Slide show from last year’s event below – where you can see the winning entries and amazing chefs and bakers of Seldovia! Get inspired!
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Interview with Celebrity Chef Kirsten –
It was such a privilege to meet and host Kirsten and her daughter Mandy in Seldovia. Thanks so much to Valerie Granath from the Bridgekeeper’s Inn who offered her B&B for the two of them to enjoy a night in Seldovia after the contest!
I had a chance to visit with Kirsten and wanted to share some of her thoughts after the event was through!
Jenny – When you were invited to be a judge, what made you say “Yes”?
Kirsten – I enjoy any opportunity to visit Seldovia. We’re such close neighbors! At Tutka Bay Lodge we just feel that we are part of the Seldovia community and of course, I’m a huge fan of salmonberries and I’m a huge fan of our wild edibles bringing people closer together.
Jenny – You’ve been to Seldovia before, how was this visit?
Kirsten – Every time we visit Seldovia, it’s always a little bit more vibrant and active than the time we were there before. People are super kind and friendly and very warm and inviting to us.
Jenny – What was the highlight of your stay?
Kirsten – No, it certainly wasn’t what we expected. The talent and variety of the entries along with so many people entries, over 25! It was pretty amazing! The food at the restaurant was incredible, the company was wonderful, the music was really beautiful, and overall the evening with such great fun. The bed and breakfast was sweet with such a lovely morning breakfast.
Join us for the 2018 event, Saturday, August 11, 2018 at the Boardwalk Hotel!
All entries need to be registered at the hotel between 5:00 and 6:00pm.
Judging will begin at 7:30pm!
Seldovia Adds a Dessert Contest to Summer Fun
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by Jenny Chissus
The Seldovia Chamber of Commerce is excited to announce the 1st Annual Salmonberry Dessert Contest!
Salmonberries are often brand new to folks from outside our area. I know numerous people to come from the Homer side to pick our luscious salmon berries – as I guess there are very few locations to pick over there! We are the fortunate ones, salmonberries are ABUNDANT all around Seldovia!
They look like a raspberry, but they are much bigger, and when ripe, they are very plump, juicy and don’t have the firmness of a raspberry at all! If you are picking and collecting in a deep bucket, they will be mush in the bottom – so pick carefully – you must treat them tenderly! The seeds are much bigger than raspberries and they flavor tends to be more tart.
There are a variety of salmonberries from red, orange and yellow, and I can taste a difference, my favorite are the orange ones – when they are fully ripe!
Mostly – I pick and eat, pick and eat! But, when I am collecting, I most often freeze and store them for shakes – or, because of the large seeds, jelly is the great option, and what you’ll find most folks seem to do!
This year – we’re stretching a little! With this contest we hope to bring out those folks with special family recipes that use this delicious fruit! Bring your dessert to the Boardwalk Hotel by 6:00pm to be entered into our contest! We are leaving the parameters wide open with just these thoughts:
The dessert may NOT be store-bought
You may enter more than once
Have enough for 3 judges to taste
(remaining portions will be available after the judging for the audience to sample!)
If you would like to share your recipe – please bring an index card with ingredients/directions
We are also very thrilled to announce that Kirsten Dixon will be joining us as a Celebrity Judge for the competition! Kirsten is a renowned chef in Alaska and owns Within The Wild Alaska Adventure Lodges including the Winterlake Lodge and Tutka Bay Lodge. Kirsten and her daughter Mandy are quite the team as in addition to the two lodges they are also managing La Belaine Cafe in Homer and the Cooking School at Tutka Bay! We are honored to have Kirsten join us for this special event! We will have two other local judges rounding out the judging panel for the contest!
There will be prizes and awards – and so much fun! Start picking and practicing so that you will bring your “A Game” to the event! If you aren’t interested in submitting an entry – please come to dinner at the Boardwalk Hotel on Saturday night, enjoy a great meal, watch the contest/judging and hopefully have an opportunity to taste some of the entries!
Seldovia Time
