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s t a n l e y • F a i r f i e l d • S h o sh o n e • P i c a b o
Janss Pro Am Race this Friday, Saturday
Snow Adventures at the SNRA REad about it on PaGe 8
Page 3
Company of Fools Season Includes Charlie Brown Page 5
Bird Migration Gains Momentum Page 13
A p r i l 4 , 2 0 1 2 • V o l . 5 • N o . 1 4 • w w w .T h e W e e k l y S u n . c o m
Sea Chef Gone Landlubber STORY & PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
T Dollar Mountain will close for the season at the end of the day on Sunday but not before hosting a number of free events, including a Family-Cross Race, Junkyard Rail Jam and Sunday’s Pond Skim.
Dollar Daze & Balderdash This Weekend STORY & PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
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ollar Mountain and Seattle Ridge will bid adieu to Sun Valley’s 76th ski season at the close of the day on Sunday—but not without a big splash. Literally. The Sun Valley Ski Patrol will present Dollar Daze Third Annual Pond Skim at 10 a.m. Sunday at the bottom of Dollar Mountain. Entry is free. Costumes are encouraged. There’ll be live music to add to the vibe, and a barbecue, too. The Pond Skim is among several events that make up a weekend of fun events for participants and spectators alike. A Family-Cross Race will be held at 10 a.m. on Dollar Mountain and a Junkyard Rail Jam will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday. There is no entry fee for either. Participants need to sign up for the events at the Dollar Ticket Office on a first-come, first-served basis. Baldy will stay open through April 15, with the exception of Seattle Ridge. And Sun Valley’s bigger mountain doesn’t plan to go out with a whimper. There’ll be buy-one/get-one-free lift tickets that last weekend, a Balderdash fun race/fire hose giant slalom on Lower River Run, kid’s adventures in the Adventure Parks, “Last Run” sales at Pete Lane’s and Brass Ranch, live music by Old Death Whisper and DJ McClain at River Run, and live music on the Warm Springs patio, as well. And, of course, another barbecue. Late-season discount prices are in effect through the end of the season. tws
im Filgate is used to his kitchen bouncing around. After all, he’s been a private chef on a yacht for nine years. Serving as chef on a yacht allows him to live the lifestyle of the wealthy, Filgate said, as he waterskis, wakeboards and scuba dives while touring ports from Alaska to South America and through the Panama Canal up to Nova Scotia. But the work often entails 12- to 14hour days. Not only does this Ketchum man cook for the clients and crew in a kitchen galley no wider than some of the fish he catches, he does all the shopping, ties lines when the boat docks and drives the boat when the captain needs a break. Often he’s even reeled in a 60-pound halibut, taking it from rod to the plate. He’s fixed dinner from what he’s caught in crab or shrimp pots and lobster traps that day. At the same time, he’s learned to make do with what’s at hand since he can’t run to the market for items on a recipe card. “You can’t guarantee you’re going to get fish every day so you have to plan a justin-case meal. You have to be on your toes all the time,” he says. “You have to plan your perishables for a long trip out at sea. And, if you’re going to Mexico, you don’t want to buy beef in Mexico, so you buy it in the United States and package it up. “You’re up at dawn to cook breakfast, you clean up and prep for lunch, then you prepare hors d’oeuvres and dinner. If you’re quick enough, you may find time to go for a walk or take a quick nap.” Filgate became interested in cooking when he took a cafeteria class in high school in his hometown of Victoria, B.C., baking Rice Krispie bars and preparing such dishes as lasagna. “I took it because I got to eat a free lunch and that meant I didn’t have to make lunch in the morning so I got to sleep in an extra five minutes. I was named top culinary student and so when a friend suggested I join him at culinary school, it made sense. I loved that I was
“I thought Idaho would be prairie, like Saskatchewan. I couldn’t believe I’d have a mountain in my back yard.” –tim filgate
always learning something new and it was fun,” he recounts. “I didn’t have to drag my butt to work. And I loved the rush of adrenalin you get in a restaurant—there’s nothing like it.” One of Filgate’s first jobs was at a golf resort in the Cayman Islands. He not only learned to golf but he learned new cooking techniques from around the world. He learned to manage a kitchen and plan menus based on food costs. And he won the Cayman Island National Culinary Competition with a menu that included lobster bisque, pickled salad with fried plantain, pigeon pea salsa and other dishes Filgate decided he wanted to drop anchor three years ago after meeting Heather Hammond, assistant director of the Trailing of the Sheep Festival, on a blind date. In a bid to settle down, Filgate asked his yacht client if he might cook at the client’s Sun Valley home for a ski season. “I thought Idaho would be prairie, like Saskatchewan. I couldn’t believe I’d have a mountain in my back yard,” he said. “That ski season went into summer and then into another ski season—we love the fact that you can go in any direction and camp, hike and mountain bike. I’d work here full time if I could, but I’m still doing some traveling.” As Tim Filgate the landlubber, Filgate has started focusing not so much on
Above: Tim Filgate trims the butcher string on the trout.
ocean-going fish, like halibut, but more on dishes like stuffed trout, salmon Wellington, even winter vegetable salads with roast carrots and beets. He has prepared flavorful lamb sliders and other dishes for the Trailing of the Sheep Festival the past couple of years, donated his culinary talents to the Young Life auction, and baked lemon tarts for The Community Library’s Moveable Feast. He’s also lending his support to the proposed culinary institute. His dream job would be pairing his cooking with estate management. “When you work on a yacht, you learn to be a handyman,” he said. “Just try to repair a dishwasher in a town of a
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