The Rookery Cafe – Riveted

Sunny Day in the Boatyard

Laura Domela — Thu, 13 Aug 2015 21:30:47 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska

Wow! This is QUITE a change from yesterday's weather, for sure.

We put our Cutless bearing in the freezer last night and then went and had a nice dinner at The Rookery Cafe. (Pro Tip: if you chill the Cutless bearing first, it'll shrink a little bit, which makes it a little easier to press into the stern tube).

Dinner was delicious, but I only took photos of the appetizers (the house made pickle plate and some fennel-cured sockeye lox with creme fraiche and Gustavus peas):

We shared two entrees: the Rookery ramen with duck, and Dungeness crab gnocchi. Both were very good! We walked around a bit downtown and then returned to our boat/treehouse at the boat yard. Kind of fun climbing the ladder to get up to the boat.

This morning we took new Cutless bearing No. 1 out of the freezer, got ourselves a little dish soap to lubricate the stern tube first, and then pressed the bearing in. It only required a little mild tapping with a wood block to get it all the way in at the end, and, well, 5 minutes later, new Cutless bearing installed! We also changed the zincs and Kevin pressure washed the hull of the boat.

Just before we left for lunch, our second Cutlass bearing arrived from the Nordic Tug factory (thanks guys!) so we stuck it in the freezer and headed down to try Tracy's King Crab Shack for some lunch.

There are four cruise ships in port today and the weather is gorgeous, so there were a ton of cruiseshippers downtown today, but the wait at Tracy's wasn't bad at all.

The king crab comes from Bristol Bay and I believe is frozen and then steamed to order here. We tried the Alaskan crab roll and the crab cake roll (sandwiches) both topped with cole slaw (both with combination of king and snow crab). The Alaskan crab roll was crabby and buttery, and the crab cake roll had some spicy sauce…they were very different and both good. We chatted a bit with a super nice couple from one of the ships (they were visiting from Toronto) and after seeing their king crab leg lunch (they said it was fabulous), I think we need to splurge and spend the $24/leg for those next time. When in Rome…or, you know…close to Rome….

It didn't help that we were sitting at the window where they steam the crab legs by the dozens. Yummmmmy:

We stopped and looked in a couple of shops that were closed last night: Annie Kaill's, where I bought this ring, because it's right up my alley, style-wise, and also because they didn't have the cute little fish measuring spoons that I really wanted:

Next we headed over to Trickster Co. Trickster Co. was founded by Rico Lanáat’ Worl (a Tlingit/Athabascan formline designer) to promote innovative indigenous design focusing on Northwest Coast art and Native culture. They began by designing skateboards for friends and family, but their product line is expanding pretty fast.

We bought a couple decks of the Tlingit Language Edition playing cards (these are so cool!). Each card has the Tlingit word for the card name as well as the standard numbers/suits. This deck was created to provide additional teaching material for people studying the Tlingit language (or for those who want to support the Native language revitalization).

…and Kevin got a great T-shirt with the Eagle Raven Tessellation design by Rico Worl:

Love it!

We got back to the boat and did some waxing and buffing on the boat waterline. Now we're just working a bit more and doing some laundry while we wait for the second Cutless bearing to chill out. The last part we are waiting for now is the new Shaft Seal from PYI, which should arrive tomorrow or Saturday. We can install it ourselves as soon as it arrives, so I think we'll be ready to go back in the water on Monday. Woohoo!! Can't wait to get back out there (posting about whales and icebergs and stuff again)!

Hanging out in Juneau

Laura Domela — Sat, 20 Jun 2015 13:45:52 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska

Yesterday we did a bunch of errand-y stuff…did laundry at the laundromat, got some good rubber gloves at the marine store, got more fishing stuff, put together the rail-mount fish cleaning table and installed it, organized all the fishing gear, cleaned out the lazarette, cleaned the grill, and just did a bunch more general organizing, rearranging, and cleaning…basically, getting ready for guests!

Last night we decided to go out to dinner in town and chose The Rookery Cafe. Several of our friends had recommended it, it had good Yelp reviews, and we were in the mood not to cook!

On the waterfront between Harris Harbor and town:

I love this mural on the City Hall building, with the totem faces on actual animals. The mural was painted by local artist Bill Ray, and depicts the Tlingit mythology of creation when Raven discovers mankind in a clam shell:

Dinner was fabulous. We started with a crudo of king salmon with creme fraiche, horseradish and nasturtium leaves, and shared a delicious caesar salad. We ordered two entrees to share: (1) a seared Alaskan halibut with carrot puree, pickled carrots, and sauteed broccoli rabe…

…and (2) more king salmon. with figs, black lentils, and mustard:

Both dishes were excellent, but I think we liked the salmon a tiny bit better…mostly because of the accompanying lentil/fig/mustard combo. Our waitress convinced us to try a dessert a bit later on, as it was fantastic too!

I don't remember exactly what it was called, but these are little dense cakes, with marcona almonds, figs, I think that was basil, a balsamic vinegar reduction, and…another sweeter, creamy sauce…it was SO GOOD, and not too sweet.

The overhead lamps in the cafe are a nice touch:

The service here was very good as well. We'd definitely recommend (and come back to) The Rookery! (We hear it's great for breakfast, too!)

Today will be a bit more erranding and I think a boat wash is in order. The weather forecast looks great for this week. Tomorrow, with Tiffani and Deke, we'll do all our provisioning for the week, drive up to Mendenhall Glacier and hike around a bit, return their rental car at the airport and cab it back to the boat, and then head to Taku Harbor for the night. We were going to try to get to the Alaska State Museum (which sounded super cool), but they're closed and moving and won't reopen until May 2016. Next trip!

The F/V San Dollar is in the slip next to us, and we met the owner, Butch Chase, as we arrived yesterday.

Butch is a super nice guy! We've chatted with him (and his wife) several times over the past two days while he's readying his boat for the fishing season. Starting July 1 he'll be out for the whole summer. He came over yesterday and gave us one of his favorite lures. It's a certain kind of squid with a hook, and the squid is ultraviolet so it turns a nice blue underwater. He said it's the only thing he uses now when fishing for king salmon, and then he showed me on the chart several of his very favorite fishing spots on our upcoming route. SO! NICE!

We were very appreciative, and thanked him many times, and then I put a batch of brownies in the oven to take over before he left for the day (I knew that Costco Ghirardelli box of brownie mix would come in handy) . He was psyched…said he and his wife LOVE brownies! (I figured it was an okay bet that a seasoned Alaska fisherman would probably not be be gluten-free…)

I told him we really appreciated all the information, and he said he thought we were such nice people and he just wanted us to have a great trip up here. (We are already!) Anyway, it was very generous of him. I think we'll try some of those spots on Monday as we head from Taku Harbor to Tracy Arm, and maybe we'll land ourselves a king!