Perok Fish Pie and Foodie Pen Pals

I stepped into a time zone last week at my folks house as they hosted a school reunion. Decades old memories lay across the table. The understated smell of dust mixed with old news print, a hint of must & character of things from years past filled the air.   I heard lots of chatter with the tell tale accent of alutiq. I heard Russian words used in place of English & according to Wikipedia it's indeed called Runglish.

There were black and white photos strewn across the tables. Old school year books & annuals from many moons ago.  Magazine articles of weddings, obituaries, crab queens, grand openings & birth announcements.  I heard stories of my grandmother, my name sake, whom I sadly did not get to meet, giving neighbor children 10 cents to run quickly. How exciting & what a luxury  it was to get 10 cents from a neighbor mom and be able to buy an ice cream cone. Were ice cream cones really 10 cents??

It wasn't just the photos, smells, & story telling that brought a little bit of Kodiak, Alaska to Washington State.  The food on the table was pure Alaska. I was delighted to see the customary Perok. It's the fish pie that can take days to make. Infact, this perok took Mary three days to make.  Her son caught the salmon & she cooked the fish on the first day. On the second day she prepared the eggs and root vegetables. On the third day she cooked the rice, made the crust & assembled and baked the delicious perok.  As my Mom says, making perok is a labor of love.

Also from far away, I had the pleasure of receiving a box of foodie pen pal goodies. This month my goodies came from Toni at Running, Loving, Living 

Thanks Toni! Tasty food!

     Do you have a favorite dish that pays homage to your heritage?