Wordless Wednesday | Life Without A Fridge

Wordless Wednesday is supposed to be about posting a photo(s) without any words. But, I'm a rule breaker, so here are a few words:
 
1 - The fridge on our sailboat is broken. Again. {Sigh}

2 - It's hard to believe that I happily lived without a fridge on our first sailboat in New Zealand. Once you get used to having a "luxury" item like a fridge, it's hard to go back to not having one.

3 - It's probably worse not having a fridge in southern Florida because it's so stinking hot here in the summer. I sure am missing having a cold can of sparking water after being outside.

What words does this picture(s) bring to your mind when you look at it? 
 
For more Wordless Wednesday fun, click here and here.

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Have you read MURDER AT THE MARINA yet? If not, now's the perfect time as the ebook is on sale for only 99c/99p.

Pick up your copy of this humorous sailing mystery at https://books2read.com/MurderAtTheMarina

Find out more at https://ellenjacobsonauthor.com/

Wordless Wednesday | Fishy Russian Roulette

 

Wordless Wednesday is supposed to be about posting a photo(s) without any words. But, I'm a rule breaker, so here are a few words:

1 - We recently helped a friend bring his boat back from the Bahamas to Florida. He's a keen fisherman and put his line out every chance he got. While he didn't get the much hoped for mahi-mahi, he did get a couple of snapper and a barracuda.

2 - Scott and I have always been a little worried about eating certain kinds of fish in the Bahamas due to the possibility of contracting ciguatera poisoning. I know people who've had ciguatera and it sounds just awful - gasterointestinal and neurological symptoms can last for years.

3 - Snapper (like the one pictured above) can carry ciguatera, but if you eat smaller specimens, then your risk is supposedly lower. We did end up eating this one and the good news is that everyone survived.
 
What words does this picture(s) bring to your mind when you look at it?

For more Wordless Wednesday fun, click here and here.

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The latest Mollie McGhie cozy sailing mystery is now available! Pick up a copy of >>Bodies in the Boatyard<< at:

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Paperback available at: Amazon

Find out more at ellenjacobsonauthor.com

Back From The Bahamas!

We're back from the Bahamas!

Lots of stories and pictures to share in the coming weeks. I'll need to get cracking and pull some blog posts together.

But in the meantime, I thought I'd show you one of the things that made me smile when we were in Marsh Harbour. This plaque is from a memorial garden. I love how it describes this lovely lady as having been the town's chocolate cake maker and how she spent her life caring for others. So sweet!

What would you like to be remembered for? What are some of the most interesting grave stones or memorials you've seen?

Wordless Wednesday | Fun With Food

 
Wordless Wednesday is supposed to be about posting a photo(s) without any words. But, I'm a rule breaker, so here are a few words:

1 - Scott showed me the pictures from when he was helped our friend take his boat to the Bahamas earlier this month and this is one of my favorite ones. I love how our friend made breakfast into a smiley face. Bagel for the eyebrows, eggs for the eyes, and I think that's potatoes that make up the nose and mouth.

2 - Food should be fun, don't you think?

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a special message for John - the Twins pictures are coming to a Wordless Wednesday soon. Scott took a lot of them and he needs to go through them. Hope you saw us on TV. :)

EDITOR'S NOTE #2: For everyone else. If you're wondering what that's about, we went to a Minnesota Twins spring training game yesterday. Loads of fun even if the Twins didn't win.
 
What words does this picture(s) bring to your mind when you look at it?

For more Wordless Wednesday fun, click here and here.

Thanks for stopping by our blog - we love it when people come visit! We're also on Facebook - pop by and say hi!

The latest Mollie McGhie cozy sailing mystery is now available! Pick up a copy of >>Bodies in the Boatyard<< at:

Amazon (US) | Amazon (CA) | Amazon (UK) | Amazon (AU) | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Apple iBooks | Google Play

Paperback available at: Amazon

Find out more at ellenjacobsonauthor.com

Provisioning With Boys

I went provisioning with boys yesterday.

It can be challenging enough to go grocery shopping with just your husband, but add in another guy, and a long list of supplies that they need to get for the boat and you might just need an extra large chocolate bar at the end of the expedition to recuperate.

Scott is helping a friend take his boat over to the Bahamas. It's a win-win. Scott gets to go sailing and our friend gets to tick an item off of his bucket list. I'm going to stay behind on our broken boat on the hard and try to finish off the next book in my cozy mystery series, Poisoned by the Pier.

But, back to provisioning -- which, by the way, is just fancy sailor lingo for stocking up on groceries and adult beverages before you head off cruising.

I organized their grocery list into categories so that we could try to make the trip as efficient as possible.

First off was a stop at the bank cause cash is king in the Bahamas. The Bahamian dollar is on par with the US dollar and you can use American currency interchangeably with Bahamian currency which is nifty.

Then, we stopped off at West Marine because of course the day before you're due to set sail you remember something else that you forgot to get for the boat.

It seems like everyone from Indiantown Marina was at the West Marine in Stuart while we were there. A million dollars later, we headed over to Waldi, which is what we like to call Walmart and Aldi. They're right next door to each other. Walmart is good for some things, but Aldi is where we like to spend most of our money.

Note to self: Do not go shopping at Waldi on Sunday afternoon. Chaos. Too many people, too many carts, too much of everything.

When you go provisioning with boys, the first order of business is stocking up on beer. After that, they chucked a mattress pad cover in the cart. I'm hoping there isn't any sort of correlation between the two.

Toilet paper was also purchased. Not enough in my opinion, but then again, I'm not a boy.

We also pretty much cleared out the instant mashed potato section. I guess you can never have enough beer or mashed potatoes.

The groceries have been stowed. The docklines have been untied and the boys are making their way to the Abacos. Scott will get our friend situated in Marsh Harbour, then fly back. Do you think I should serve him mashed potatoes for his welcome back dinner?

Do you like mashed potatoes? What do you think constitutes enough toilet paper?

Thanks for stopping by our blog - we love it when people come visit! We're also on Facebook - pop by and say hi!

The latest Mollie McGhie cozy sailing mystery is now available! Pick up a copy of >>Bodies in the Boatyard<< at:

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Paperback available at: Amazon

Find out more at ellenjacobsonauthor.com 

Creativity & A Whole Lot Of Calories Through Food | IWSG

The Insecure Writer's Support Group (IWSG) is a place to share and encourage, where writers can express their doubts and concerns without appearing foolish or weak. It's a great place to mingle with like minded people each month during IWSG day.

Every month there's an optional question which may prompt folks to share advice, insights, a personal experience or story. Some folks answer the question in their IWSG blog post or let it inspire them if they're struggling with what to say.

This month's question is:

"Besides writing what other creative outlets do you have?"

Check out how people have answered this month's question, as well as the other insecurities and writing topics they may have shared by visiting the IWSG sign-up list here. You can see how I answered the question below.

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I really struggled to answer this month's question. I don't think of myself as a naturally creative person. I've tried my hand at a number of creative pursuits -- knitting, painting, ballroom dancing to name a few -- but never really stuck at anything for very long. Except writing. That's been going on since I started this blog way back in 2013.

I sat staring at my computer for the longest time trying to come up with something creative other than writing while I was snacking on some pretzels. Then it hit me -- I enjoy cooking and that's a creative sort of thing, right? 

My hubby and I have been doing a lot of cooking lately, trying to make restaurant-level curries. I think we finally hit the nail on the head a few weeks ago when we made butter chicken. You know what the secret it? Butter. Lots and lots of butter. That's what makes it taste like it came from a restaurant. Restaurants know the secret to great flavor - lots and lots of fat.

I don't have any pictures of the butter chicken itself, but if you're interested in trying your own hand at butter chicken, you can find the how-to and recipe in this YouTube video.

PS Simon is on strike today. He thinks it's stupid that we make curries. Why anyone would eat anything other than wet cat food and full-fat milk is beyond him.

What creative pursuits do you enjoy? Do you like Indian food?

Seduced By Coupons | Experimenting With Meal Kits

I'm a sucker for coupons. The irrational part of my brain screams, "It's a bargain! Get it! Use the coupon!" This is the same part of my brain that convinces me that having cookies for breakfast is a smart dietary choice. The more sensible part of my brain has been beaten into submission over the years and doesn't even bother to put up a fight anymore.

So when I got a coupon for a Hello Fresh meal kit, of course I ordered one, even though I knew it was probably a bit foolish. But, in my defense, I was curious what all the fuss is about. I also did a quick calculation and figured out that the cost of the meals (with the coupon, not at full price) was about what I'd spend on groceries, so it wasn't going to break the bank.

I picked three meals (two servings each) - Korean-style chicken thighs, chicken over tabbouleh, and chicken cheddar fajitas. Because I don't have an oven, I was limited to meals that could be cooked on the stove-top.

A few days later, my box arrived. Everything was well insulated with chill packs, but even so, in the heat we've been having, I'm not sure how long everything would have remained fresh if I hadn't picked it up right away.

The packing materials are recyclable, but we don't have recycling facilities at our marina, so I ended up having to chuck everything out. I felt bad about that.

It was kind of fun opening the box up. There was a paper bag for each meal, along with a recipe card. There were also a couple of Lindor truffles on top. They had melted in the heat. Still scrumptious though. {The boaters among you may notice something that doesn't quite belong in the picture - a joker valve. Ah, life on a boat. Fixing the toilet before dinner.}

Inside the bag, were lots of tiny packages and bottles. I love tiny things. Just look at those tiny fish-shaped containers of soy sauce! {This is when the sensible part of my brain started muttering about all of the packaging.}

I rummaged through each bag and pulled out the stuff that didn't need to be refrigerated. I imagine if you had a normal fridge, then you could just tuck each individual bag inside, keeping the meal ingredients neatly separated. My top-loading marine fridge doesn't have room for this sort of thing, so I just chucked everything into a communal bag and jammed it into an empty corner.

As for the meals themselves, they were fine. The recipes are straightforward and easy to make. But because I make variations of the three meals I had chosen all the time, it wasn't too exciting.

I can see the appeal of meal kits. When I was working crazy long hours, the thought of figuring out what to cook, going to the store, and then pulling it all together was overwhelming at times. Going out to eat, getting carry-out, or just having cookies for dinner was often the default. Something like this might be a solution for busy folks.

It might also be a good way to experiment with new-to-you ingredients. While none of the ones in my meal kit were new to me, I can see how it might be a good introduction for things like sriracha sauce or dukkah spice mix for some people.

Would I buy another meal kit again? Nope. The regular price without a coupon is way too expensive for what you get. Plus there's the whole issue of not being able to recycle the packaging materials where I am. But as far as experiments go, this was an interesting and tasty one.

What do you think about meal kits? Have you ever experimented with them?

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Murder at the Marina - a lighthearted & humorous cozy sailing mystery - available in ebook and paperback format at:

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Find out more at ellenjacobsonauthor.com 

Wordless Wednesday | Cap'n Crunch Cereal

Wordless Wednesday is supposed to be about posting a photo(s) without any words. But, I'm a rule breaker, so here are a few words:

1 - I was tempted to buy a box of Cap'n Crunch the other day. It's probably my favorite not-good-for-you-but-oh-so-delicious cereal. I used to eat it far more often than was good for me in college.

2 - These days I usually have a bowl of oatmeal in the morning. Not nearly as delicious. Unless, of course you sprinkle mini chocolate chips on top. Not that I would ever do that.

3 - Did you know that you can do more with Cap'n Crunch than just dousing it with milk? I actually found a recipe for Cap'n Crunch chicken. It sounds rather odd. I think I'll stick with just eating mine the old fashioned way in a bowl.

What words does this picture(s) bring to your mind when you look at it?

For more Wordless Wednesday fun, click here. 

Thanks for stopping by our blog - we love it when people come visit! We're also on Facebook - pop by and say hi!

Murder at the Marina - a lighthearted & humorous cozy sailing mystery - available in ebook and paperback format at:

Amazon (US) | Amazon (CA) | Amazon (UK) | Amazon (AU) | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Apple iBooks | Google Play | Book Depository | Books-A-Million

Find out more at ellenjacobsonauthor.com 

Morning Coffee | Random Thoughts & Oddities

Paul at Lat43 does these hysterical Morning Tea blog posts which are a brain dump of whatever pops into his head while he's writing them. I decided to steal his idea. Except, I'm drinking coffee while I write this and he drinks tea, so it isn't really stealing, is it?

So, here we go - all of the random nonsense floating through my head while I sip on my morning coffee.

• I stayed at a house in Atlanta earlier this month that came complete with two cats, one dog, and an Alexa. I loved the cats, the dog was sweet, but Alexa creeped me out. The thought of an object in the corner talking to me was weird. As much as I love reading scifi, I don't think I'm really cut out for a world populated with androids and AIs. 

• Of course, I'm one of those people who has the camera on my computer covered up with blue tape. You know that they're watching, don't you?

• Some raccoons got on my boat in the middle of the night and made a terrible racket.

• I'm assuming they're raccoons because the alternatives that I imagined are frightening. Like an army of Alexas trying to break in and remove the blue tape from my computer.

• What would you do if you had a child named Alexa? How would she know if you were talking to her or the box?

• I asked Alexa about it. She told me we could change her name. I think she meant her name, not the child's name, but who really knows what AIs mean. They're devious that way.

• Dogs smell peculiar. What gets me is that it doesn't seem to bother them in the least. Cats freak out if they get something gross on them and clean themselves immediately. 

• The dog I stayed with was called Mr. Chien. I can't pronounce French in the morning before my coffee, so I just called him Dog. He seemed perfectly happy with that. But, then again, he's the type of dog that's pretty happy with everything. 

• When I got back to the marina, I found soylent green around my boat. It wasn't as bad as a couple of years ago, but it's still pretty scary to think what the chemicals involved in sugar cane production can do to the local waters.

• If you haven't watched Soylent Green, you should. You might want to think carefully about what you're going to have for dinner afterward though.

• The house I stayed at had one of those machines with coffee pods. I'm not sure what they're called, but they're wonderful. You don't have to clean up coffee grounds, you just chuck the plastic pod in the trash.

• Yes, yes, I know - so bad for the environment. That's why we don't own one.

• Okay, that's not really why we don't own one. There are other considerations like lack of space in our galley, the fact that you need electricity to run it, and because we're cheap. We have a perfectly good French press that does the job. Plus we'd feel guilty about all of the plastic pods.

• Plane tickets are expensive right now. We're looking at flights back for Scott and it's gonna cost a pretty penny.

• Are pennies really pretty? Where did that expression come from?

• I spent most of my time in Atlanta trying to win over the two cats. They let me rub their bellies, so I think I was successful.

• I think I'm going to name my next cat Alexa.

What did you think about over your morning cup of coffee, tea, or other beverage of your choice? What time did you wake up at?

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Provisioning For A Voyage | Modern Sailboats vs. Whaling Ships

See that list above? It's from a list of "Stores and Outfits for a First-Class Whale Ship, For a Cape Horn Voyage." {You can see the full list here.} My mom is really into genealogy and does a lot of research on our seafaring ancestors who hailed from New England and made their living on whaling ships. So, from time-to-time, she sends me little tidbits about what life might have been like for them.

I love food. I love thinking about food. I love daydreaming about food. And I really love eating food. So this particular tidbit about the food provisions they would carry was right up my alley.

My great great grandmother gave birth on a whaling ship in the Marquesas Islands. Her husband was the captain, and one of the perks of being the captain is that you got to take your wife on long voyages with you. I'm not entirely convinced that that would have been a perk for the wives. Years onboard a boat as the only woman, hoping you wouldn't be attacked by sea monsters and sink to the bottom - no thanks.

I used to wonder how my great-great grandmother could have lived such a life, but then I saw that one of the provisions they stocked was 50 pounds of chocolate. I'm pretty sure that was intended entirely for the captain's wife's consumption.

It's interesting to compare the whaling ship list of provisions to what we take when we're out cruising. In many ways it's similar - chocolate, coffee, canned meat, flour, sugar, onions, rice etc.

But there were a few things I don't have a clue about. What is saleratus? And what do you do with a bottle of essence of spruce? If you know, leave your answer in the comments. Even if you don't know the answer, have a guess.

Are you interested in genealogy? Would you have voyaged on a whaling ship around Cape Horn? Know anything about saleratus and essence of spruce?

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Murder at the Marina available for pre-order at:

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Amazon (CA)
Amazon (UK)
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Kobo
Apple iBooks
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K Is For "Kilogramo" {Kilogram} | A To Z Challenge

In my ongoing efforts to learn Spanish, I'm highlighting a Spanish word each day during April as part of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. I'm also sharing the random thoughts that pop into my head when I try to pronounce them.

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Today's Spanish word is >>kilogramo<< (kilogram). And now for some random thoughts:

1 - Kilograms make me think of food shopping and cooking in New Zealand.

2 - Unlike us Yankees, they use the metric system. Such enlightened people. Americans of a certain age, will remember when we tried to go metric back in the 70s. It was  dismal failure. Although, we do buy soda pop in liter bottles. So there is that small victory.

3 - Kilograms were pretty easy to work with. When it came to shopping for meat, you just figure that two pounds of ground beef (or mince) equals roughly a kilogram.

4 - Now I'm thinking about cooking in New Zealand. That's how random my thought process is. That's a picture of our stove on our boat in New Zealand. No oven, although it did have a broiler which was handy for garlic toast. The other picture is of our provisions for one of our cruises. You'll note the Bombay Sapphire Gin (courtesy of duty-free at the airport) next to the coffee. Both indispensable items.

Do you use the metric system? What would you consider to be an indispensable provision if you were setting out for a cruise or trip? What's your favorite word that starts with K?

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Check out the other folks participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.

Saturday Spotlight | Sailing Book Reviews

In addition to the usual blog posts every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday about our eccentric travel adventures and day-to-day life living aboard a sailboat, I also occasionally post on Saturdays, focusing on things related to writing such as cover reveals, book launches, reviews, interviews with authors etc. So if you're a bit of a book nerd like I am, check in on Saturdays - you never know what might pop up.

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Today, I'm featuring reviews of three sailing-related books....

HOW NOT TO BUY A CRUISING BOAT | by Deb and TJ Akey

>>How Not to Buy a Sailboat<< is a great resource for anyone who is thinking about buying a cruising boat. The authors candidly share their experiences, both the good and the bad, so that aspiring cruisers can benefit from their hard-earned lessons. I've followed Deb and TJ's blog for years and always admired their practical, down-to-earth, and accessible writing style, which is also reflected in their book. You'll feel like you're sitting down with them over sundowners while they share their adventures and misadventures and give you tips and advice on what to do and, more importantly, what not to do when looking for a cruising boat.

Deb and TJ take you through the nuts and bolts of the buying process from considering a “for now” boat to learn on; identifying what type of cruiser you are; what to look for in your cruising boat; dealing with brokers, sea trials, and surveys; maintenance considerations; and when to walk away. They also share some of their favorite blog posts which give you insight into the personal realities inherent in the cruising lifestyle. 

Find out more about Deb and TJ and their book at Amazon | Goodreads | Website  

GET RID OF BOAT ODORS | by Peggie Hall

There are a lot of challenges involved in boat ownership, one of which is getting rid of the stink that can often emanate from the head (bathroom). >>How to Get Rid of Boat Odors<< is a comprehensive guide which covers the ins and outs of marine sanitation systems, including how to get rid of those unpleasant odors. 

I have the dubious honor of being in charge of our marine sanitation system (we have a Jabsco manual twist and lock toilet and a 25 gallon holding tank). To date, I've only had to deal with minor issues, like replacing joker valves, but, inevitably, something is going to go terribly wrong one of these days and I'm sure this book will come in handy. The author covers a wide range of topics including what's legal in terms of marine sanitation systems in the States; different types of systems; installation of a new system; common issues and troubleshooting; maintenance; and, of course, how to deal with those pesky odors.  

Find out more about Peggie and her book at Amazon


VOYAGING ON A SMALL INCOME | by Annie Hill

Once upon a time, we stalked Annie Hill. Okay, it wasn't the real kind of stalking, you know the kind that gets you a restraining order. We knew that Annie had a sister ship to the boat we had in New Zealand (a Raven 26) and when we were making our way to Whangarei, we spotted her moored on the river. We waved like crazy people at her and she was kind enough to wave back. 

Here's what her boat, Fantail, looks like. If you look closely, you can see that she's converted it to a junk rig. After reading >>Voyaging on a Small Income<<, I want a junk rig too.

>>Voyaging on a Small Income<< does exactly what it says on the tin – if offers practical tips and real-life examples of how to live and cruise on a sailboat on a modest budget. But it also does much more, providing insight into Annie and (her then husband) Pete's early days in their marriage and cruising life in Britain, the building of s/v Badger, and their day-to-day life on board her.

Annie shows how it is possible to have a rich and fulfilling life while living frugally. She covers a range of topics including a frugal mindset and philosophy; provisioning and cooking; different types of rigs; organization of space in a floating “tiny home”; anchoring and more. Although >>Voyaging on a Small Income<< was first published in 2001, the lessons Annie shares on simplifying your life while cruising are timeless.

You can read more about our adventures making our way to Whangarei here. 

Find out more about Annie and her book at Amazon |  Goodreads | Website

Note: I won copies of >>Voyaging on a Small Income<< and >>Get Rid of Boat Odors << courtesy of Saving to Sail (a site dedicated to learning how to make money online, while sailing the world) and voluntarily chose to leave an honest review. 

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Image via The Graphics Fairy

Have you read a good book lately? One of the best ways you can thank an author is to leave a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads. One of my New Year's resolutions is to try and be better about leaving reviews, especially for indie authors.

What books have you been reading lately? Have you read any of the sailing books featured here today? Do you leave book reviews?

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February In Numbers

Clockwise from upper left: (1) Trying to get back to learning Spanish; (2) Valentine's Day candy; (3) When your computer breaks, it's time to do sewing projects; (4) Some of the sailing books I read; (5) Taking apart my laptop; and (6) Shopping for canned meat.

It's time for our usual monthly recap by the numbers. February was a month of moderation and frustration. After many parties and overindulging over the past several months, I decided to declare last month to be >>Febfast<<. No, I didn't fast. Don't be silly. I can't go more than four hours without something to eat. But what I did do was try to cut out red meat, booze, junk food, and sugary treats.

I succeeded on all fronts except the sugary treats. But, on the plus side, I only ate sugary treats that other people gave me - like cookies from my friend Jane and candy from my mom. Although, now that I think about it, I guess I ate red meat (in the form of corned beef) at our canned meat cook-off. But I didn't buy any or cook any myself. I also ate Spam, but who knows what's in that. Is it red meat or something else? Maybe it's best not to ask.

The frustration part came in, not because I was watching my diet, but because my computer died on me. I've learned that I can't live without my computer. Sad, but true.

So, enough with all of those words, here's the usual random nonsense recap by the numbers:

• 9 - Number of days I was without a working computer. First President's Day interfered with delivery of the replacement part. Then it turns out that Dell goofed up with the service code on my laptop and the part I ordered wasn't compatible. Add in ordering another part and time for delivery and it was a long nine days.

• $39.95 - How much a replacement heatsink/fan cost (including postage).

• 2 - How many screws I had leftover after reassembling my laptop. I'm gonna assume they aren't important.

• 14 - How many books I read as part of my Goodreads challenge. 4 sci-fi/fantasy, 3 mysteries, 2 thrillers, 1 general fiction, 3 sailing-related books, and 1 non-fiction. 

•  85F/30C - What the real feel temp has been like lately in Indiantown. Had to plug the A/C back in. Occasionally I text my sister and tell her I'm wearing shorts and flip-flops. For some reason, she doesn't find it amusing. 

• $4.59 - How much a 6" veggie delight costs at Subway. I haven't had Subway in years. Not too bad calorie-wise and totally fit into Febfast. I met up with some cruising friends (MJ Sailing) for lunch when they came back to Florida to pick up a new headsail. So nice to see them, especially as I wasn't sure if our paths would ever cross again. Such is the way of the nomadic life.

• 4 - How many posts I've written in advance for this year's Blogging from A to Z Challenge. Is anyone else taking part?

• 5 - How many new characters I've created for the next installment of the Mollie McGhie sailing mystery series. At least one of them is going to die. I feel rather evil deciding who isn't going to make it to the end of the book.

• 1 - How many parts I've had to replace on my Sailrite sewing machine - the retaining ring cap spring. It's a sacrificial part, so no biggie to replace and luckily I had a spare already. {Duwan - this is why you were having trouble using my machine. We should have replaced it when you were here.}

• 3 - How many nectarines I threw away. I felt so bad about wasting food, but they were really gross. So disappointing to buy fruit that looks wonderful, but tastes awful.

• 2 - How many eggs I used in my salmon cakes for the Spamageddon canned meat cook-off.

In case you missed them, here are some of our favorite blog posts from last month:

Spamageddon | Canned Meat Cook-Off at Indiantown Marina
Saturday Spotlight | Sailing Book Reviews
Cooking without a Fridge: A Week on Our Boat in New Zealand 

How did last month go for you? What are you looking forward to this month?

Thanks for stopping by our blog - we love it when people come visit! We're also on Facebook - we'd love for you to pop by and say hi! 

Saturday Spotlight | Souper Blog Hop & My Favorite Sailboat Soup

In addition to the usual blog posts every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday about our travel adventures and day-to-day life living aboard a sailboat, I also occasionally post on Saturdays, focusing on things related to writing such as cover reveals, book launches, reviews, interviews with authors etc. So if you're a bit of a book nerd like I am, check in on Saturdays - you never know what might pop up.

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Today, I'm excited to be taking part in the Souper Blog Hop with Chrys Fey to celebrate the release of >>Pea Soup Disaster<<, written by her mother, Elaine Kaye. 

Don't you just love that picture? That's how I look whenever I have to eat pea soup. It's definitely not my favorite. Gregory, on the other hand, loves pea soup.

Before I share more about >>Pea Soup Disaster<<, let me tell you a little about one of my favorite soups, which we started making aboard our sailboat in New Zealand - >>Corn Chowder<<. It's such an easy soup to make onboard because you can use provisions which store easily and last forever, like canned potatoes and corn, powdered milk, onions, and chicken bullion cubes. If you're lucky, you'll catch a snapper (or other white fish) and can transform it into >>Snapper Chowder<<. (If you want to know more, check out this blog post which includes the recipe and a picture of a snapper Scott caught).

While I don't have a picture of our >>Corn Chowder<<, I do have a picture of the fabulous contraption that I make it in - our Wonderbag. It's basically a slow cooker which doesn't require any electricity.

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BLURB - Gregory Green loves his mom's pea soup, but when he eats it at school, all of his friends make fun of how it looks. He doesn't think it looks like bugs, and it tastes good! Then at recess, his friends run from him screaming, "He's a monster!" Gregory doesn't know why his friends are being mean until he sees his skin is green. The teasing gets worse until an unlikely friend comes to the rescue - his teddy bear, Sammy. Sammy usually only comes to life for Gregory and his family, but Sammy has an important lesson to teach Gregory and his classmates.

AVAILABLE IN PRINT at Amazon

ABOUT THE AUTHOR - Elaine Kaye got the idea for Pea Soup Disaster from her son who loved to eat her homemade pea soup. Pea Soup Disaster is the first of many fun stories featuring Gregory Green and his teddy bear, Sammy, as part of the Gregory Green Adventure series.

Kaye has worked as a library assistant and a teacher's assistant in elementary schools in the Sunshine State. She currently lives in Florida, but she has called Michigan; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Okinawa, Japan her home. She is grandmother of three boys.

You can find Elaine on her website | Instagram | Litsy - @ElaineKaye | Goodreads | Amazon

What's your favorite soup? Gregory has his favorite teddy bear - did you have a favorite stuffed animal?

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Visit the other folks participating in the Souper Blog Hop starting on Monday, February 26th:

Flashback Friday | Cooking Without A Fridge: A Week On Our Boat In New Zealand

 

Flashback Friday takes place on the last Friday of the month. The idea is to give a little more love to a blog post you've published before that maybe didn't get enough attention, or is something you think is still relevant or even a something that you really love and want to share again.

Many thanks to Michael d’Agostino for starting Flashback Friday and inspiring me to go back and revisit some of our earlier blog posts.

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This is a flashback to when we lived and cruised aboard our 26' sailboat, Rainbow's End, in New Zealand. She was a great little boat, but one of the things I really like about our new boat, Tickety Boo, is that fact that she has a fridge. We managed fine cooking without a fridge in New Zealand, but it's so much nicer to have a fridge, especially when it comes to keeping your beer cool.

{This post was originally published in March 2014. You can find the original post here.}  

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When we first decided to start cruising full-time on our 26’ sailboat, I thought one of the biggest challenges would be living without a fridge. Yes, that’s right -  we don’t have a fridge on board. We don’t have an oven, a dishwasher or a laundry machine either. This is a very low-tech boat and certainly a long, long way from living on land. But, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised that living without a fridge isn’t really a problem at all. And just to prove it, I thought I would share a week’s worth of our meals to show you the types of things we cook and eat.

One of my “inspirations” for preparing to cruise full-time has been Lin Pardey’s The Care and Feeding of Sailing Crew. In her book, she describes the meals she made each day on a passage that they took from Asia to North America, along with some handy tips and tricks. So, like all good idol worshipers, I decided to imitate her and I’ve been recording what we eat in our log. When I looked back to pick a week of cooking to share, I made a few observations:

• We eat a lot of pasta. Which you might not think is a bad thing, but I only make it one or two ways.  

• Tortillas are a godsend when you don’t have an oven and easy access to store bought bread. 

• Cooking experiments don’t always turn out. 

• Some things that I’ve made, even a dog wouldn’t eat. 

• Those are the days you think to yourself, “I wish we could order a pizza to go just now.” But you can’t. Because you have no cell phone reception and you are far, far away from a pizzeria.  
• We could definitely do better on that whole 5 a day thing. But that was probably the case before we moved onto the boat.  

Tuesday, 3 March 2014 (Bay of Islands) 

Breakfast – nada 
Lunch – rice & bean burritos and cheese quesadillas 
Dinner – pasta 

Usually, I’m a big believer in eating breakfast and demand to be fed pretty much first thing after I wake. But, since we’ve been out cruising, I find that we often eat much later at night then we did on land as we’re either anchoring someplace new or have been out exploring an island during the day. Or, I just can’t be bothered to cook until the sun goes down. So, I find that there have been quite a few days where we’ve skipped breakfast and quickly got the boat ready and headed out to our next destination. This was one of those days. 

For lunch, Scott likes to play a little game I call “Salmonella Roulette”. I heat up last night’s dinner – which has been sitting out without refrigeration – and he happily eats it. So far, he hasn’t gotten sick. So while he had leftover vegetarian rice and beans burritos, I settled for a cheese quesadilla.  

For dinner, I made my specialty – Ellen’s pasta with red sauce. Simple to make. You chop up an onion, a green bell pepper/capsicum, a couple of cloves of garlic and some sun dried tomatoes. Sauté them in pan with some olive oil. Add in a can of tomatoes, some olives, chili flakes and black pepper. (If you’re using a plain can of tomatoes, add in some salt and sugar too.) Turn up the heat and get everything talking to each other. Then turn off the heat for 10 minutes and let the pan sit. Turn the heat back on briefly, then turn off again. This is how we try to minimize how much LPG we use. Oh, the fun and games on a boat. Cook some spaghetti, add the sauce and voila – you have dinner. Even better if you add in some salami and cheese. 

Wednesday, 5 March 2014 (Bay of Islands) 

Breakfast – egg & cheese breakfast burrito
Lunch – nada 
Dinner – chili bean spaghetti with griddle bread and pepper jelly 

Even though Scott is our full-time skipper, he generally makes our breakfast. Technically, I should be doing that given my complete lack of useful contribution to sailing. But Scott is a real sweetheart so he does it. Either that or he is worried I’ll mutiny. His specialty is egg & cheese breakfast burritos. Another simple dish – make some scramble eggs with cheese. Heat up some tortillas in a frying pan with some olive oil. Combine. Yummo.  

Tortillas are fabulous little creatures. They live happily in their plastic pouches for months until you’re ready for them. We use a lot of them as bread is hard to find or is way too expensive to buy and we don’t have an oven to make our own. Tortillas are a regular feature in our repertoire. Unfortunately, they are made with white flour so the nutrional value is probably negligible.  

For some reason we skipped lunch. I was probably unhappy about this. But dinner made up for it as I made my only other pasta recipe – vegetarian chili beans served on spaghetti. At this point, we only had two tortillas left and lacked any other substance which resembles bread, so I made some skillet bread with rosemary and garlic to go with dinner. I found a jar of red pepper jelly in one of the cubby holes which we spread on it.  

Thursday, 6 March 2014 (Passage from Bay of Islands to Whangaroa Harbour) 

Breakfast – leftover skillet bread 
Lunch – leftover chili bean spaghetti & crackers with peanut butter and smoked mussels 
Dinner – pretzels, salami, cheese & crackers 

We had an early start to make our way up north to Whangaroa so we got the boat underway and then ate leftover skillet bread in the cockpit. It was okay. Pancakes would have been better, but they didn’t seem to be on offer. 

We stopped off at the Cavalli Islands at lunchtime to wait out the tides so that we could get into the Whangaroa Harbour (when you have a strong tidal stream vs. 10 hp engine, you wait). Scott played “Salmonella Roulette” again and finished off the leftover chili bean spaghetti. He offered to share. I looked at him like he was a madman and refreshed myself about what to say on the VHF if he got really sick and I needed to call for help. As usual, his tummy is made of iron and he was just fine. To top off his spaghetti, he had some crackers with smoked mussels. I was content to just have crackers and peanut butter – a meal which I personally think is a cruiser’s best friend. 

When dinner time rolled around, I decided to call a general strike in the kitchen and said, “I’m not going to make dinner tonight!”  Scott looked at me, rolled his eye and said, “Fine, I’m not going to skipper the boat anymore.” We stared at each other for a good ten minutes and finally realized no one was going to give in. So we settled for a smorgasbord of pretzels, salami, cheese and crackers. I’m not sure there was any winner in this particular battle of wills.  

Salami and cheese are a couple of our staples on the boat. I’ve found a great salami which doesn’t require refrigeration. Once you open it, you just have to eat it within 30 days, but that really isn’t a problem for us. It is a great little protein solution – we put a little in my famous red pasta sauce and have it for snacks. Cheese also doesn’t seem to require refrigeration but that might just be the New Zealand climate. It doesn’t get very hot here and we happily leave a block of Colby cheese in a container and put it in all sorts of things.  

Friday, 7 March 2014 (Whangaroa Harbour) 

Linner - grilled cheese 

For some reason, the only think I marked down in our log was grilled cheese. I’m pretty sure that wasn’t what we ate for breakfast. But I think we had them for a late lunch/dinner combo – what we like to call “linner”. When we were in Whangaroa town, we went to the general store. The thing about general stores in New Zealand is that prices are rarely marked on anything. Usually, I ask how much something costs. This time, I just took a load of bread up to the counter, the woman sized me and my American accent up and said, “$6.50, please.” This is the most we have ever paid for a loaf of bread here. I want an oven on my next boat so that I can make my own and not be held hostage to the general stores.  

So with our very expensive bread, we had some lovely grilled cheese sandwiches with onions and garlic granules sprinkled in for good measure. This wasn’t one of our better days when it comes to getting your daily dose of fruit and veg. 

Saturday, 8 March to Sunday 9 March 2014 (Passage from Whangaroa Harbour to Kawau Island) 

Saturday

Breakfast – eggs & toast 
Lunch – grilled cheese w/salami 
Dinner – peanut noodles 

Sunday 

Breakfast – toast & breakfast burritos 
Snack – pretzels and coke 
Dinner - pasta 

While I have done a teeny bit of night sailing before, this was my first official night passage – it took us 30 hours and 45 minutes to sail 119 nautical miles from Whangaroa to Kawau. We didn’t actually know that we were going to do it until later on Saturday when we realized that it was miles and miles from an anchorage and it was getting dark. And then Scott suggested we just carry on to Kawau.  

I was glad that we had breakfast that morning, as it turned out to be a very long two days. Because we had bread, toast featured in our breakfast, along with some scrambled eggs. Lunch on the first day featured more grilled cheese with the added bonus of some salami thrown in. For dinner, I decided to make peanut noodles for a couple of reasons – it only requires one pan to boil the pasta in and it tastes just as nice cold as it does warm so we could eat it throughout the night.  

On the second day, Skipper Scott made us breakfast using up the last of the bread for some toast along with some of his famous breakfast burritos with the last of our tortillas. Everything just tastes better when you haven’t slept. Once we got to Kawau, we celebrated with some coke and pretzels and then I topped off the evening with spaghetti and red sauce. One thing you have to love about Scott is that he will happily eat the same thing day in and day out. Which is fortunate as I make the same thing day in and day out.  

Monday, 10 March 2014 (Kawau Island to Islinton Bay) 

Breakfast – cheese & salami omelet & scrambled eggs 
Lunch – peanut butter, smoked mussels & crackers 
Dinner – pasta 

Because we were out of tortillas and bread, we had a “low carb” breakfast of eggs. I had mine plain and scrambled while Scott went all out and put cheese and salami in an omelet. Lunch we the usual cruiser’s special of crackers with peanut butter for me and smoked mussels for Scott. And of course, what would dinner be without my usual spaghetti and red sauce pasta dish. I’m nothing, if not creative.  

So there you have it, a glimpse into a week eating and cooking onboard Rainbow’s End. I’m guessing that job offers won’t be streaming in for me to be a chef aboard a super yacht? But in the end, as long as the skipper’s belly is full, that’s all that counts. 

Could you live without a fridge? Or, if you don't have a fridge, what are your go-to recipes? 

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