Gather

Michele Genest is a Whitehorse-based chef and writer. She is also somewhat of a gardener. Michele has also written two books “The Boreal Feast - A Culinary Journey Through The North” and “The Boreal Gourmet - Adventures In Northern Cooking.”

FIBRE GREYMAGIC MATTERS

column with Susan Clark

EYE ON THE OUTDOORS

Photo: Michele Genest

Susan Clark is a retired family physician who has been living in Whitehorse for the past nine years and has three adult sons and two granddaughters. column with Murray Martin Murray Martin is a former Ontario conservation officer and a long-standing member of The Outdoor Writers of Canada. VINO with BOREALIS Peter Turner Peter lives on a lake just north of Whitehorse, and says “I’m a ‘wine enthusiast’, not a ‘wine connoisseur’… I still have lots to learn!” In a past life, he was a wine merchant for the largest wine store in the U.S. Midwest, offering more than 4500 choices. He blames his life-long love of wines to growing up in Montreal with wine-loving parents, who let him start tasting at about age two.

column with Peter Turner

FEEL GOOD FOODS

column with Tara Klippert Tara Klippert is a born and raised Yukoner and Registered Health and Nutrition Counselor who provides 1-on-1 health coaching, premade and customized meal plans at foodsandfeels.com

DELTA

RAMBLER

There is something magic about a real bran muffin, the old-fashioned kind that our grandmothers and great-grandmothers made; not too sweet, boldly fibrous, stuffed with dried fruit or berries, substantial enough to provide energy but light enough that we didn’t fall asleep mid-morning because our digestive systems had to siphon blood from our brains, to cope with a sudden rush of doughy carbs.

Our grannies and great-grannies wrote out those recipes in schooled handwriting on 5-inch x fort st john3-inch cards that were lost and found and lost again, sometimes turning up stained and battered at the bottom of a cardboard box containing report cards, scraps of beaded leather, ribbons and yellowing obituaries, for people we didn’t know, clipped from the local paper.

But sometimes those old recipes don’t turn up again, and then we must embark on a fevered hunt for one that can deliver the remembered flavour, look and texture of the beloved favourite. I found gold when I received a handwritten bran muffin recipe from a friend, complete with an illustration of a muffin, bumpy with raisins, just out of the oven—you could tell by the steam rising in curls from the top.

My pal got the recipe from our mutual pal, and I don’t know where she got it, but when I baked off a batch I was transported back to column with Granny’s kitchen, in Ottawa, the summer I was seven. Our tadpoleDennis Allen finding excursions in ponds near the Rideau River that summer were fuelled by early breakfasts of warm Dennis Allen is an award-winning filmmaker, forlorn songwriter and hopeless storyteller. bran muffins, with a pat of butter melting on top—simple, substantial He’s the only guy he knows who’s never seen the Stones. and delicious.

When the editor’s call came for recipes that would do good things for the gut, I was ready. With one and a half cups of wheat bran, these muffins are an excellent source of fibre, and we all know what that’s good for. Wild blueberries provide additional fibre, vitamins A and C, and antioxidants, while walnuts contribute more antioxidants plus alpha-linolenic acid, one of the There is something magic about a real bran muffin, the old-fashioned kind that our grandmothers and great-grandmothers made three most important of the essential omega-3 fats. So, bran muffins as good as Granny’s and full of good gut things—what are we waiting for? Cooks, to your stations!

BLUEBERRY AND WALNUT BRAN MUFFINS

With big thanks to sometimeYukoner Val Baggaley, whose recipe, so much like my grandmother’s, was given to me by Whitehorse-ian Laurel Parry, in the best tradition of recipe sharing amongst families and friends.

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup butter, melted 1/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed 1/4 cup birch syrup or molasses 2 large eggs 1 cup buttermilk, yogurt or milk, soured with 1 tbsp lemon juice 1 1/2 cups bran 1 cup flour 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp kosher salt 1 cup wild blueberries, thawed if frozen 1 cup chopped walnuts

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 400°F and grease a 12-cup muffin tin, or insert muffin liners into each cup. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk melted butter, brown sugar and birch syrup or molasses, until blended. Whisk in eggs, one at a time, followed by the buttermilk, yogurt or soured milk. Stir in the bran. Sift together the flour, baking powder, soda and salt, and add to the wet mixture, stirring just until mixed. Fold in the blueberries and walnuts. Spoon batter into greased muffin cups or liners, filling each one about 2/3 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until tops are golden brown. Serve right away, or cool on a rack and store in a paper bag for one or two days. These muffins freeze well and are terrific camping food. Makes 12 muffins. ■ Susan Clark is a retired family physician who has been living in Whitehorse for the past nine years and has three adult sons and two granddaughters.

COMMUNITY ECOLOGIES

Scott Dudiak is a Whitehorse based biologist and sustainability advocate. Scott hopes to shift narratives away from environmental doom towards community agency for change. He is inordinately fond of beetles and other overlooked creatures that sustain our human communities.

CITIZEN PROFILE

This story was provided by Kwanlin Dün First Nation as part of its series featuring Citizen suc cess stories. If you’re looking to find out more about Kwanlin Dün they invite you to read their award-winning book Kwanlin Dün Da ̌ kwa ̌ ndur ghày ghakwadîndur Our Stories in Our Words. It’s available through the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre in Whitehorse.

LESSONS FROM THE ROUND

Scott was professionally trained by Safety Services Nova Scotia to be a driving instructor in 2010 and after teaching for 2 years there, moved back to the Yukon in 2012. In January 2020 he launched Yukon Driving

Academy. Scott has a love of driving and takes pride in seeing his students succeed on their journey to becoming safe drivers and wants to see the roads used in a safe and defensive way.