Upchuck

 

Upchuck

This was the name of a restaurant in Wisconsin, the UP stood for Upper Peninsula and that brings us to the Upper Peninsula of Washington, Sequim, Port Townsend and Port Angeles being the largest towns ( too small to be called cities).
This part of Washington is both cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter, thanks to its proximity to the Pacific Ocean. This area is also in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains, meaning substantially less rain. Sequim (skwim for you non-natives) averages only 17” of rainfall per year; I think Seattle can do that in one month. In fact, Sequimians  boast of 300 sunshiny days per year. The sailors of old called this area “the blue hole” as in the only blue sky out of a lot of gray. Cold, yes, in January the coldest month averages 44 for the high and 30 degrees for the low. I guess that is what wood stoves are for; besides, we would probably be off pillaging in the lower 48 for a few months.
If we lived here we would have a small boat to fish for Salmon and Halibut, both plentiful. On the way out we would set crab pots in 20 to 30 feet of water in hopes that on returning we would have several Dungeness crab, the chances are very good since Dungeness Bay surrounds Sequim. A short drive gets us to Quilcene and Quilcene Oysters. My favorite way to eat them is raw with a little hot sauce and a small chunk of lemon rind, my second favorite way is fried; my mother would poach them in milk and eat them with crackers. Vikings do love sea food, I am partial to crab, eaten while still hot and dipped in melted butter and lemon juice, num num. I almost never order fish in a restaurant; I have been spoiled by having it just out of the water. Halibut is like lobster, Salmon done in wine, onions and grapefruit slices on the barbeque is sublime. I love to smoke salmon; the Indians had a good idea there. Anybody hungry?