Best Recipes of Alaska's Fishing Lodges

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Adela Batin describes her award-winning books

The engine roared to life, fish-tailing our plane down the sandy beach. We had spent the day fishing a wilderness section of the Alaska Peninsula, catching countless silver salmon. But all good things come to an end. The inky black clouds on the horizon forced us to make a hasty retreat if we wanted to return to the lodge.

Pilot Joe Maxey pulled back on the yoke, and the bush plane climbed above the rolling whitecaps. Suddenly, a gust of wind hit the plane, followed by a resounding thud. Maxey looked back and shook his head. Not only was the rear wheel gone, torn off by a driftwood log hidden in the grass, but also our chances of landing on the hard runway at the lodge. Our only chance was to return to the beach and land on the soft sand.

With the skillful touch of a surgeon, Maxey feathered the throttle, and waited until we had rolled to a stop before he dropped the wheeless stub on the beach.

For the next three days we waited for help to arrive.

Would I ever make it home to finish my cookbook? Not only was the plane dragging its rear, so was I.

As full-time outdoor photojournalists, Chris Batin and I are continuously collecting photos and story material for publication in our books, newsletters and national magazines.

Ten years ago, I came up with the idea to write a book about my Alaska fishing lodge experiences. Since then, Christopher and I have visited over 40 lodges and collected hundreds of recipes, stories and adventures. Why such a devoted quest? I enjoy finding new ways to help people better enjoy the many wonders Alaska has to offer. There is not a greater thrill for me than to have someone say they've truly benefited from one of the books I've published.

Many people have said I have the best job in the world. While I agree with them regarding the time I spend in the field, the rest of the time spent in self-publishing can be anything but fun. Running a business can be quite a struggle, fraught with adversity and challenges. Even though I have a degree in advertising design and photography, my job as publisher required expertise in areas in which I had no formal training. Running a business requires skills in accounting, bookkeeping and marketing, areas most creative people find disgusting. And all that office work can certainly dampen the creative spirit and make a goal of writing a book drag out forever.

Over the past twelve years, I've published five books, four written by my husband, Christopher. Four of our books have won national awards for design and writing. All the books are now in their third and fourth printings. But book number six would be different, I would do everything myself.

Best Recipes of Alaska's Fishing Lodges is a special book to me because it was practically a one-woman job. I gathered all the research for the book, visited the featured lodges, interviewed the cooks, sampled the 190 recipes, took most of the 140 photographs, designed and laid out the 320-page book, designed the cover, took the color photographs for the cover, typeset and prepared the camera-ready copy. I contracted a printer, procured the financing for printing, sold advertising, and fought tooth and nail with the printer for five months to get the book to meet my printing standards. Once the book was printed, I contracted the shipping, designed and produced ads and posters for book signings, conducted an extensive marketing campaign for the book and handled books sales and distribution. A project of this magnitude would have required a staff of ten from a big-city publishing house.

Now, when I say it was practically a one-woman job, I will say I was smart enough to hire another woman to be my editor, enlisted twelve other women to help test the recipes for accuracy, and hired one special man, my husband, as sportfishing consultant to help me keep my flies and lures straight.

The thousands of hours of hard work paid off. The book has been selling far beyond expectations. But best of all is the spectacular reviews it has received from cooks and editors around the country. I was especially honored when Best Recipes of Alaska's Fishing Lodges was awarded first place in the Excellence in Craft Competition, outdoor book category, sponsored by the Northwest Outdoor Writers Association.

Women often ask me what's my secret for getting so much accomplished. Running several businesses is a lot of work. In addition to having a great support network of friends and advisors, modern technology allows me to operate on the edge of the Last Frontier and remain on equal footing with any publishing executive in New York or Los Angeles. I use computers, faxes and modems to keep me in touch with the world, yet I can enjoy watching grouse or moose walk through my yard while I conduct business over the phone with a supplier in Michigan. Overextended you say? Hardly. It's a matter of time management and priorities.

Chris and I always take time out to attend church, cook dinner together, hike in the woods or play with our Amazon parrot, Juliet and dog Tiger Lily.

The fact that I live in Fairbanks, with its 60-below and colder temperatures, and scarce daylight in winter makes business and personal goals that much more challenging. My regular routine of swimming laps at the local health club relieves stress and allows me time to daydream and work on solutions to problems.

Can't is a four-letter word that I have banned from my vocabulary. My creative force is my drive. Whether it is conceptualizing a photo for one of my books or brainstorming an effective page layout, I enjoy the creative process of turning a dream into reality. My philosophy parallels my lifestyle here in Alaska, a frontier state where a woman can achieve whatever she wants as long as she works hard and believes in herself.

And there are many instances that required lots of faith in myself. While obtaining material for Best Recipes of Alaska's Fishing Lodges, I've been menaced by bears and charged by an irate porcupine. I was between him and the only tree on the tundra. I stepped back to get out of his way and fell into the lake with my camera and telephoto lens.

Then there was the time the guide rounded a bend in the river and at full speed drove our boat onto a gravel bar, leaving us stranded high and dry. The men in the boat just sat there not knowing what to do. So I jumped out of the boat and immediately began to dig away at the gravel bar with my hip boot until the water flowed underneath the boat and we could slide it into the water.

During the course of writing Best Recipes of Alaska's Fishing Lodges, I've met some equally innovative women. In my book, I give interesting and informative biographies on each cook. One woman began her cooking career on the road, baking rice and potatoes in empty beer cans. Another cook 's mother tried to prevent her from accepting a job in an Alaska fishing camp, fearing her daughter would end up in a white slave ring. I describe details of how several women started out with nothing, trying to raise a family and build a business on their own or with their husbands, and succeeded.

I understand the drive these women possess. Because of my accomplishments in the outdoors and business, I've been described as a frontier woman of the 90s. In our two-story log home in a birch forest outside Fairbanks, I strive to employ the same skills and personality traits as my frontier predecessors--individualism, courage, a love of family and the Alaska wilderness--with the business savvy and acumen of a modern Alaska businesswoman. Yet, my journalistic travels throughout the state have led me to many other Alaska pioneer women with the same determination and desire to succeed. What is this common bond that we share, this recipe for success?

The recipe for success is not written on a 3 x 5 index card. The ingredients are different for each person, but the results are the same. Success, in whatever form, makes your soul light up and puts a smile on your face. To some, success is completing a tedious and complex project, to others it's relaxing on a warm summer's day and watching the garden flourish. To the career-minded, success may be a promotion, to a mother, a child at play. Indeed, Oliver Wendell Holmes sums it up best when he said, "There is only one success: to be able to spend your life in your own way."

Our success as Alaska women should be measured from within and not by the success of others. Each of us is given different challenges in our lives, different talents and opportunities. It is how we mix together these ingredients in the mixing bowl that is Alaska that determines our recipe for success. Here are a few important directions to follow when compiling your recipe for success:

When your self esteem has broken its mast, remember that while you can't direct the wind, you can adjust your sails so you can get underway once again. On the ocean of life, you can't discover new frontiers unless you have the courage and determination to lose sight of shore.

If you're afraid of making a bold move in a relationship or business, remember not to fear the winds of adversity, because in life, as in play, a kite rises against the wind rather than with it.

And once you're back on your feet, never ever fall victim to complacency. Alaska pioneer women do not follow where the path may lead. Instead, they go where there is no path and blaze a trail for others to follow. How you prepare your mind and soul today will determine tomorrow's achievement.

If I didn't believe in myself or my dreams, my book would still be a bunch of scribbled notes rather than a book in the hands of other women, inspiring them to break through personal barriers and achieve. Take your dreams, turn them into reality, and enjoy the happiness that is the result of following your own recipe for success.

Adela's achievements prove her pioneering spirit. On the business frontier, she has started and still manages several successful businesses that include journal and book publishing, photostock and advertising and graphic design. On her personal frontier, she catches world-record king salmon, enjoys scuba diving in Alaska in December, backpacking throughout the 49th state and capturing close-up shots of brown bear while many men are heading in the opposite direction.

Adela was recognized in 1986 as of the Top 10 Business Women in the United States by the American Business Women's Association. In 1990 she was listed in Who's Who of American Women. She has personally appeared on the covers of nine national and regional publications. An accomplished photographer, she has had hundreds of her photos published in the country's leading newspapers and magazines. Her most recent achievement was to research, write, design and publish her first cookbook, Best Recipes of Alaska's Fishing Lodges. In February 1994, it was awarded First Place for outdoor books by the Northwest Outdoor Writers Association.

Best Recipes of Alaska's Fishing Lodges is more than just a cookbook. It's a celebration of a wilderness lifestyle, highlighting numerous Alaska women, their stories as well as some outstanding recipes such as Kachemak Bay Crab Chowder, Tikchik Chicken and Chelatna Asparagus Puffs. For a personally autographed copy of Best Recipes of Alaska's Fishing Lodges, send $24.95 plus $4 shipping to Adela at: Alaska Angler Publications, P.O. Box 83550, Fairbanks, Alaska 99708. Or give her a call at (907) 455-8000. She would be happy to hear from you.

This page last updated: July 31, 2001