Hebrew National

The Kodiak chapter of the Audubon Society has a summer hiking program where knowledgable locals lead hikes into the backcountry and on the various paths about town. I am proud of our hikes - they are not your typical tourguide leading a bunch of tourists on a dog and pony show. Rather they tend to be an eclectic mix of locals and off-islanders getting together to check out a new trail. And the leaders are locals and NOT professional tour guides. Your leader might be the local radiologologist, archaeologist (me), or even a doctor. Off-islanders who join the hikes get to actually mingle with us locals as well as see Kodiak. Every summer as a form of community service I try to lead one or two hikes.

This year I lead a hike up Mount Monashka. A tough climb up a 1900 foot mountain with spectacular views out over the ocean and town. There were all the usual locals - the radiologist, John Mahoney, a former crab biologist who now works for the halibutt commission - along with a visiting couple from Israel, Leah and Moshe. I got to talking with them about hot dogs; I wanted to know why kosher hot dogs are so much better than all the rest. I also mentioned that it is very tough to find kosher dogs in town.

Anyway, the hike went well, a few weeks passed, And then a big box arrived at the Alutiiq Museum. Overnight priority mail from a company in California. It had a keep refrigerated sticker (symbolized with a schematic penguin), and looked vaguely medical in origin. Both Zoya and I suspected it had to do with her plans to ship breast milk to Africa (whole other blog entry there!). Imagine our surprise when we opened it to find Kosher hot dogs - Hebrew National brand. They were amazingly well packed, nestled in gel packs and dry ice, and NOT frozen. And so good to cook on the grill. Now I think I know the secret to Kosher dogs. I bet they get a lot of extra care, are well packaged and not frozen! Thank you Leah and Moshe. Patrick