Features

Low-bush cranberries are gathered in Anchorage, Alaska, on Monday, Sept. 7, 2020. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)
Low-bush cranberries are gathered in Anchorage, Alaska, on Monday, Sept. 7, 2020. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)

Kalifornsky Kitchen: Cranberry conundrum

I have enough cranberries to try multiple recipes. So I will.

Low-bush cranberries are gathered in Anchorage, Alaska, on Monday, Sept. 7, 2020. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)
Low-bush cranberries are gathered in Anchorage, Alaska, on Monday, Sept. 7, 2020. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)
The ingredients for summer salsa. (Photo courtesy of Victoria Petersen)

Summer salsa, no matter the weather

By VICTORIA PETERSEN For the Peninsula Clarion Salsa is my favorite snack. I love how varied it can be and how personalized you can make… Continue reading

The ingredients for summer salsa. (Photo courtesy of Victoria Petersen)
Paella prepared by chef Victoria Petersen is pictured in this undated photo (Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)

Kalifornsky Kitchen: Summer traditions

Over the years, a paella feed has marked momentous occasions, like moving or birthday parties.

Paella prepared by chef Victoria Petersen is pictured in this undated photo (Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)
Fiddlehead ferns shooting up from the ground, on May 24 in Anchorage, Alaska. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)

Foraging for fiddleheads

Springtime in Alaska is the beginning of foraging season for me.

Fiddlehead ferns shooting up from the ground, on May 24 in Anchorage, Alaska. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)
A simple syrup made from locally harvested spruce tips is photographed in the author’s Anchorage kitchen on Tuesday, May 26, 2020. Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion

Sprucing up summer cocktails

The spruce tip simple syrup goes great in a lot of cocktails.

A simple syrup made from locally harvested spruce tips is photographed in the author’s Anchorage kitchen on Tuesday, May 26, 2020. Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion
Dutch babies, golden, eggy, puffy pancakes most often baked in a cast-iron skillet, can be paired with sweet or savory ingredients. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)
Dutch babies, golden, eggy, puffy pancakes most often baked in a cast-iron skillet, can be paired with sweet or savory ingredients. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)

Kalifornsky Kitchen: Puffy pancakes help fill downtime at home

Dutch babies are a golden, eggy, puffy pancake that can be served sweet or savory.

Dutch babies, golden, eggy, puffy pancakes most often baked in a cast-iron skillet, can be paired with sweet or savory ingredients. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)
Dutch babies, golden, eggy, puffy pancakes most often baked in a cast-iron skillet, can be paired with sweet or savory ingredients. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)
Photo by Victoria Petersen
This “perfectly herby salad,” inspired by a recipe from New York Times food columnist Alison Roman, is the perfect antidote to a cold, snowy winter weather.

Kalifornsky Kitchen: A perfectly herby salad

A new column by reporter Victoria Petersen.

Photo by Victoria Petersen
This “perfectly herby salad,” inspired by a recipe from New York Times food columnist Alison Roman, is the perfect antidote to a cold, snowy winter weather.
A flourless chocolate cake surprise on the doorstep, Monday, in Kalifornsky. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)

Kalifornsky Kitchen: Spread love in the era of COVID-19

Do you miss your friends and family? I do.

A flourless chocolate cake surprise on the doorstep, Monday, in Kalifornsky. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)
The finished product should have a light, flaky crust and moist fillings, as seen here on Christmas Day, Dec. 25, 2020 in Crystal Falls, Michigan. Finished off with a Michigan made beer, it’s hard to find a better second lunch/early dinner on Christmas Day. (Photo by Megan Pacer/Homer News)

Kalifornsky Kitchen: Pasties two ways

Peninsula Clarion columnist Victoria Petersen and Homer News reporter Megan Pacer team up to make the traditional hand pie.

The finished product should have a light, flaky crust and moist fillings, as seen here on Christmas Day, Dec. 25, 2020 in Crystal Falls, Michigan. Finished off with a Michigan made beer, it’s hard to find a better second lunch/early dinner on Christmas Day. (Photo by Megan Pacer/Homer News)
This flatbread is the perfect vehicle for leftovers. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)

Kalifornsky Kitchen: Stuff on bread

This pizza dough or flatbread, however you want to make it, would be the vehicle for our leftovers.

This flatbread is the perfect vehicle for leftovers. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)
Essential ingredients for my family’s lemon cake recipe, photographed on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020, in Anchorage, Alaska. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)

Kalifornsky Kitchen: Great-grandma’s lemon cake

It’s not much, but it’s also everything.

Essential ingredients for my family’s lemon cake recipe, photographed on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020, in Anchorage, Alaska. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)
My favorite breakfast bagel sandwich from my favorite neighborhood coffee shack, on Jan. 5, 2020, in Anchorage, Alaska. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)

Looking for a few good bagels

Simple ingredients to make your own breakfast sandwich

My favorite breakfast bagel sandwich from my favorite neighborhood coffee shack, on Jan. 5, 2020, in Anchorage, Alaska. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)
Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion
A chicken patty adds to a simple Japanese-cuisine-inspired noodle bowl.

Kalifornsky Kitchen: Pondering chicken patties

If you have no idea what a chicken patty is, let me take you to the frozen section of Costco, or Three Bears.

Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion
A chicken patty adds to a simple Japanese-cuisine-inspired noodle bowl.
Salmon ready to go in the oven, photographed on Tuesday, March 16, 2021, in Anchorage, Alaska. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)

Kalifornsky Kitchen: Sasha’s super simple savory salmon

I’m sure everyone on the peninsula who indulges in salmon have their own back-pocket way of making salmon.

Salmon ready to go in the oven, photographed on Tuesday, March 16, 2021, in Anchorage, Alaska. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)
Photo by McKibben Jackinsky 
A crankie provides settings for artist Emily Schubert’s puppetry, as seen on April 17 at Bunnell Street Arts Center in Homer.

Visiting artist creates ‘multi-potentialities’ in art

Schubert’s work includes sculptural ‘rooms’ that tell stories

Photo by McKibben Jackinsky 
A crankie provides settings for artist Emily Schubert’s puppetry, as seen on April 17 at Bunnell Street Arts Center in Homer.
The cover of Anne Coray's novel, "Lost Mountain."

Review: New novel set near fictional Pebble Mine

Coray’s ‘Lost Mountain’ looks at personal, community conflict in setting where a large mine might happen.

The cover of Anne Coray's novel, "Lost Mountain."
The cover of Larry Baxter's novel, "Abandoned." (Photo by McKibben Jackinsky)

New book looks at legend of Alaska’s ‘Nantiinaq,’ or ‘giant hairy thing’

The possibility of the existence of Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch, took root in young Baxter.

The cover of Larry Baxter's novel, "Abandoned." (Photo by McKibben Jackinsky)
Nancy Lord in a 2017 photo. (Photo by Irene Owsley and courtesy of Pier One Theatre)

Lord’s ‘The Frederick Cook Interview’ looks at polar explorer’s narcissism

‘The Frederick Cook Interview’ shows at 7 p.m. Friday on KBBI radio

Nancy Lord in a 2017 photo. (Photo by Irene Owsley and courtesy of Pier One Theatre)
Some of the works in Charles Aguilar's show opening Friday, March 5, 2021, at Grace Ridge Brewey in Homer, Alaska. (Photo courtesy of Grace Ridge Brewery)

Collage, puppet artist looks for ‘magik’ in his creations

Charles Aguilar’s latest show is at Grace Ridge Brewery

Some of the works in Charles Aguilar's show opening Friday, March 5, 2021, at Grace Ridge Brewey in Homer, Alaska. (Photo courtesy of Grace Ridge Brewery)
A collage of photographs surrounds the description of “Familiar Faces: Portrait of a Community,” on exhibit through May 2021 at the Pratt Museum in Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)

New exhibit looks at connections between objects and portraits

Pratt Museum show also includes new work by photographers, writer

A collage of photographs surrounds the description of “Familiar Faces: Portrait of a Community,” on exhibit through May 2021 at the Pratt Museum in Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)