Testing testing

Ok, on to new andd exciting things. Israeli couscous with red string beans, feta and pistachios. This was a 15 minute meal. I am not kidding.  It was so refreshing as a main meal for dinner on a hot day. Jeff thought he would prefer it as a side dish with something else possibly chicken or fish. I can see that but I was happy with this and a side of sliced bread from the farmers market!

So, I cooked 1.5 cups of israeli or pearl couscous in salted boiling water for 4 minutes. Then adding .5 cup cut up red chinese long beans from the farmers market to the water for another 2 minutes. I drained it and added it to the silicone bowl to cool. Onced cooled add 1 cup spinach, .5 cup chopped mint, .25 cup diced sundried tomatoes, 1 seeded cucumber sliced, 1 cup cubed feta, .5 cup pistachios, .5 cup red wine vinegar, 2 tbsp olive oil and ample cracker pepper. Toss together and serve.

We had it for lunch the next day and added lots of fresh squeezed lemon. That really added the zip it needed!

Please try this, it was great!

Baking aboard

I decided I really wanted some muffins. Craving them infact. Ever since we were in titusville and passed a bakery. I almost got some scones at the farmers market but restrained myself as I have all that aboard. I just need to get over it and do it myself, kindof. To keep my sprirts up first time baking on this trip I bought a mix. I am not certain if my plan will work but I purchased silicone baking cups and I am going to use them instead of a muffin tin. I am sure many people have used these and have been successful. My worry, will they really release so that I don't have to use my precious fresh water to clean them. Can I use the salt water to wash them and the a fresh water dunk? Will it be perfectly easy and then I will be forced to enjoy muffins all the time??? The horrors

I decided today was the day to make the lemon poppyseed muffins. If these work out I have ripe bananas for tomorrow to make into tasty treats!

So, I don't carry eggs aboard but I do carry yogurt so I will sub yogurt and a bit of ripe banana for eggs. I don't carry milk but I do have powdered buttermilk and powdered skim milk. I also carry rice milk but have not found that I like using that for baking.

Also, I don't have the box the mix came in. Why?? Well I HATE cockroaches and they are attracted to the glue on cardboard boxes. We remove packaging material asap when we transfer food on board. I do not want bugs on my ship! 

The most difficult things so far has been baking heeled over and waiting for the oven to get to temperature. We are sailing right now and thank goodness for a gimbled stove! I have a nagging feeling, guilt maybe? I feel like I am wasting resources waiting for the stove to heat up. I am just using the propane without any net result. Oh well C'est la Vie.

The recipie called for 425 for 15-20 minutes after 10 min I turned off the propane to the oven and will check it at 15 and then again if I need to in 20. There are not any eggs so if they are not fully cooked no harm will come to us. The recipie also says to cool 5 min before removing from tin. I wonder if I follow that for my silicone cups...

Yes. Cool them and then wow! they come out with nary a crumb on the cup! I am so excited!!

Matanazas Inlet Anchorage - one of our favorite ICW anchorages

Transiting the 45.3NM along the ICW from Rockhouse Creek (New Smyrna Beach) to Matanzas Inlet  took us 8 hours and 33m.  The vast majority of the time we were able to motor sail under the head sail.

We rarely pass up the opportunity to anchor at Matanzas Inlet.  The area is seldom frequented by other vessels traveling the ICW so room in the anchorage is not an issue.  The bottom is sand and we have never had an issue with setting an anchor.  There are both ocean and inland beaches within walking distance.  Fort Matanzas, a small stone garrison constructed by the Spanish to defend against sneak attacks on St. Augustine.  is open to the public via the National Park Service.

Sandwiched between St. Augustine to the north and Flagler Beach to the south, the area is popular with beach goers on the weekends, but always clears out around nightfall.  Many of the beach goers prefer the inland side for their sunbathing, cookouts, cast netting, sand castle construction, dog walking, and general making of merriment.

During our last two visits to the anchorage we have found it difficult not to notice a new user group - photographers.  The sunsets across the Matanzas River are beautiful.

Sunset at Matanzas Inlet - May 11, 2012

So it seems natural to have the portrait and wedding photographers using the area as a backdrop.  Last spring while eating dinner outside we watched a shoot go from casual beach cloths to leppard bikini to nude.  It made for interesting dinner conversation.  Fast forward to this spring - as waning afternoon temps shoo beach goers off the sands and the sun melts into the western clouds, the photographers return.  Off our bow a couple clad in matching turquoise and white outfits are posing for what has to be pre-wedding photos.  Scanning around to our starboard side the photo shoots become a bit more intriguing -a woman in jeans and a lacy black top standing on a chair in the water surrounded by green balloons.  Continuing to pan across the beach past the crowd of beach goers grilling out and we find a young couple he in boy shorts and her in a thong bikini taking turns photographing each other posing provocatively along the water's edge.

Add another entertaining aspect to anchoring in Matanzas Inlet.

All day in space

We spent a most wonderful day touring the kennedy space center. We got home and what to have for dinner? How bout some rubens? I had peppered turkey on board that subbed for the corned beef, we had just purchased some swiss cheese, I made thousand island dressing kind of,  we had sourkraut thank goodness, but no rye bread just whole wheat.

I have kosher dill pickels that come in little cups enough for 2 servings I opened one up and minced a few for the dressing. I added some ketchup and the garlic and herb mayo mixed it all together, not bad.
On my frying pan I can cook 2 sandwiches a bit scrunched up but doable. I drizzled on the olive oil and placed the sandwiches into the hot pan, yum.

Bread, dressing, meat, sourkraut,cheese,dressing bread. Done
Served with a honeybell from the farmers market and the rest of the pickles and that was dinner!

Eggplant Mozzarella melt

Another glorious farmers market dinner. So happy we stopped in Ft. Pierce!
This is great aboard and fast for sure.
Slice the eggplant then dip in salted buttermilk and then panko bread crumbs. Bake at 450 for 10 minutes. I placed foil on a baking sheet and then used pam on the foil. Cut a loaf of bread in half, I used the asiago bread from the farmers market. Then spread on some pasta sauce, I like newmans own sockarooni.  Pull the eggplant out of the oven and layer the cooked slices on the sauce I overlapped the slices and still had some leftovers. I kept them for later. Then spread on some mozzarella cheese and placed back in the oven for another 10 minutes. I turned off the oven kept the melt in there till I was ready and made a side salad. When we were ready for dinner about 15 minutes later I pulled it out and dressed the salads. This was sooooo good! It really hit the spot!

Thunderstorms over Titusville

A couple more thunderstorms rolled through in the early evening while anchored at Rockledge, FL in the Indian River.  

We awoke on the 8th to light northwest winds and mostly clear skys.  For the second day in a row Anne sailed off the anchor and back into the ICW without using the motor.  The winds were light so upon regaining the ICW we engaged the engine motorsailed northward. 

After arriving in Titusville at 12:50 and grabbing mooring A1, Anne served lunch.  We have patronized the Titusville Municipal Marina on past trips and find the staff to be friendly and helpful.  The facilities are a bit dated, but are always clean and functional.  Through various avenues we heard that the marina installed a mooring field.  Sure enough the new field straddles the channel into the marina basin.  The marina requested the we pick a mooring and then call in to inform them which ball we grabbed.

Arriving early allowed us the time to take showers, do laundry, refill our freshwater tanks, and get back out to C’est la Vie prior to the arrival of this afternoon’s thunderstorms. 

I am so pleased with the image of the afternoon storm moving over the Titusville Municipal Marina that I've added it to my Sea & Sky Ablum  .

Tomorrow we are planning to spend the day touring the Kennedy Space Center.

Leftover Dinner

So we had salad again for dinner. It feels so good on a hot night to just toss some greens in a bowl with veggies with a bit of dressing and anything chilled in the fridge. Jeff had left over beef that I h sliced up for quesadilla for lunch and then on his salad for dinner. And then we cut into the asiago bread from the farmers market. Our friend Captain D had given us a bottle of bordeaux 2005. I have heard that was a good year. Jeff was not interested in wine this evening so I got to enjoy it all myself. Boy did I enjoy it! Great layers of flavors not strong on the fruit and light tannis. Once it unwound it really had a great raspberry on the tongue and still soft tannins but a long finish. It had cedar on the nose, I was expecting dusty or dirt on the nose and was pleasantly surprised!  We finished the yummy cream puffs for dessert.  That my friends was dinner!

Pump the breaks - severe thunderstorm ahead

We planned to anchor off Coco, FL this evening, but were stopped about 3NM short when conditions rapidly deteriorated to our north and west.  When NOAA posted a warning of the severe thunderstorm moving southeast we moved eastward out of the channel into 7 feet of water.  The anchor set firmly and I added a generous extra helping of chain.  Better to be out here with plenty of swing room and no other vessels to worry about; than crowded onto the Coco Anchorage.
The worst of the initial stormed passed to our west, but thunder continues to rumble around the area.
We will call it a day, and press on to Titusville tomorrow.

Mojitos

So I bought a mint plant because we have rum on board and I love to add mint to things...yogurt, eggplant, chicken, chocolate, the good things in life! So, I attempted a simple syrup. I only have raw sugar on board but I go forth. 2parts sugar ot one part water. I figure if this works then I can begin to make my own ginger ale.
Well, I did make a simple syrup and it is thick but I don't know that using raw sugar is the best idea. It makes for a really dark drink. I cut up mint and let it steep in the hot syrup to infuse the syrup. Thats a good idea and adds a great flavor just remember to strain out the mint before serving and you can store the left over syrup in the fridge!

So, to make the mojito, add ice, pour in rum, squeeze on a lime, add syrup and top  with soda water and some minced mint stir and enjoy. Delish!

Farmers market dinner

What a joy it is to have so many yummy options at my finger tips! I decided since it was a hot day to grill and not heat up the cabin. I had purchased a "bagged salad" at publix in marathon and knew I needed to use it or lose it. The asparagus I purchased at the market was looking perfect and I had just enough potatoes for one more meal.
The salad was mixed baby greens a white balsamic dressing, pecans crasins and blue cheese. I assembled the salad minus the cheese and set aside.  I cut up the potatoes, red skinned and fingerling, placed on some foil drizzeled olive oil and kosher salt and wrapped another piece of foil on top.  I snapped the ends off the asparagus and set them aside.
While I was in the galley Jeff set up the grill and turned it on. When the grill was ready, 5 minutes and it was HOT! I placed the foil packet of potatoes on it and turned it down to medium.  I checked on them 10 minutes later. They were ready and I added the asparagus to the pouch. My intention was to use the heat of the potatoes to gently warm the aspargus, not to cook them.
I want to say that I do not eat beef nor do I cook it. Usually when I have a question I call either my father or Jeffs parents. I tried this time on my own. I don't know cuts of meat or anything else.  We bought meat precut labled kabob meat. With that said, I strung the meat onto these cool stainless steel wire kabobs that our friend Trish to us.  Jeff salted and peppered the meat.  And I remembered reading somewhere that grass fed organic meat, which this was, had less fat so I didn't want to cook it as long.  I don't know if that is true I have not researched it but since Jeff was eating it and he likes rarer meat I felt justified.
A few minutes on the grill 6 total was all it took to sear the kabobs. The wire skewers are nifty especially since we have a round grill. I look forward to using them again! After the meat was done I removed the warm asparagus placed them on the grill and turned the grill off thinking the residual heat would do nicely to cook the asparagus.  I plated the dinner and grabbed the asparagus to top and it was a great fresh dinner.