On Sausages, Chemical Packets & Generosity

Friday & Saturday, 28-29 March 2014

Sausages, chemical packets and generosity. Three things you probably never thought you would see stringed together in the title of a blog post. But they basically sum up our time in Waiheke Island, so there you go.

After anchoring in Man O'War Bay on the eastern side of Waiheke the night before, we headed over to Rocky Bay on the southern side to do a walk in the regional park there. {There will be one of my usual rambling "going for a walk" photo posts coming up. You'll want to check it out if you're into zombie wallabies.} Rocky Bay is a bit exposed and was getting roly-poly so we shifted over to Awaawaroa Bay for the night. The next day, we were back at Rocky Bay for another walk and one of our dinghy misadventures. 

Next it was off to Putiki Bay to re-provision at the Countdown in Ostend, where we ran into our former boat neighbor at Westhaven Marina. We've run into him several times this summer and love chatting with him. He is retired and spends a lot of time single-handing his boat around the Hauraki Gulf. And this is where the generosity comes in. Not only does he have every imaginable bit and bob squirreled away on his boat which he'll loan you, he also offered to let me crash on his boat when he heard I was going to need a place to stay in between selling the boat and heading back to the States to buy the next one. 

So generous, so sweet! We don't know him that well, yet he was telling us where he keeps the key and where the blankets are stored. You keep hearing stories about the generosity and kindness of sailors and its true. Whether it is having someone give you heaps of scallops or the offer of a place to stay. Lovely. {Not to worry, we didn't take him up on his offer and have something else sorted out for accommodation.}

Well, now on to the other two words...sausages and chemical packets. If that sounds appetizing to you, here is a simple recipe so you can recreate this delicious meal on your boat.

Recipe: Chemical Smothered Sausages & Potatoes

Step 1 - Mill around the grocery store saying to each other, "I don't know, what do you think we should have for dinner?" Say this back and forth to each other at least 13 times until finally someone says, "Hey, why don't we have bangers and mash?" {Translation tip: "bangers" mean "sausages" in Americano}

Step 2 - Go over to the meat department and hem and haw over the price of sausages. The cheapest ones are going for NZ$7.49 and it seems like a lot of money just to satisfy your need to eat dead animals. To be fair, there are cheaper ones, but they seem contain more fillers than dead animals in them.

Step 3 - Roam around the store and try to think of something else to make which: (a) is cheaper than sausages; (b) takes into account the cooking facilities aboard your boat and (c) involves dead animals.

Step 4 - Give up and put a packet of lamb sausages in your basket. 

Step 5 - Try to figure out how to make mash to go with your bangers. Buying potatoes, boiling them and mashing them seems way too hard. Consider buying a packet of instant mashed potatoes, but decide that would be a step too far. It is tricky balance between not wanting to put any effort into cooking a meal and not wanting to feel like a complete failure by using ready-made products.

Step 6 - Remember that you have a can of potatoes on the boat. Decide to fry them up with some onions in lieu of mash. Problem solved. Overall, this will probably take as much time as making mashed potatoes, but opening a can seems so much easier than peeling a potato.

Step 7 - Talk about how gravy makes everything taste better. But of course, who wants to make their own. Remember, you can't even be bothered to make mashed potatoes! So this is where the chemical packets come in. The grocery store has a wide selection of packets and jars of chemical powder that magically turn into gravy with the addition of water. Brilliant. Buy a packet, being careful not to look to closely at the ingredients list. 

Step 8 - Lug your groceries back to the dinghy, head back to the boat and move to a new anchorage on Motutapu Island for the night. Drop the hook. Stare at each other for at least 45 minutes until someone breaks down and agrees to make dinner. It was me.

Step 9 - One of you reclines on the settee and offers really "helpful" advice on how to make chemical smothered sausages and potatoes and then claims that they made dinner. That would be Scott.

Step 10 - Eat. Enjoy. Digest.

Overall

Total nautical miles =30
Number of dinghy misadventures = 1
Number of chemical packets consumed = 1
Cost of chemical packet = NZ$0.89
Cost of lamb sausages = NZ$7.49 
Number of happy people after eating sausages & chemicals = 2

A boat we love running into when we're out and about in the Hauraki Gulf!