Cooking/Food & Drink – Riveted

Provisioning for the Summer

Laura Domela — Fri, 20 Apr 2018 22:50:09 +0000

Summer provisioning is underway in earnest. Partially filled crates clutter the dining room, and list items are being added and checked off pretty much daily.

We went up to Airship for a few days last week/weekend and managed to take up a good size load of stuff (nice not to leave it all for the final trip to the boat!). Last Friday night I gave a photography presentation at the Anacortes Yacht Club…showing some of my work, giving some tips for getting better photos from a boat, photographing wildlife, a little about camera gear, and some about drone photography. It was a great time and a fun group of people, and I very much appreciate that they invited me!

We’ll be giving a two-hour seminar on photography (from land, boats, and drones) at Trawlerfest in Bremerton on May 2 (plus two other seminars on May 1) so look us up if you’re interested! After that, we’ll be on our way to Alaska!

It rained most of the time we were in Anacortes.

A few the things on our “Take” list this year (that I might not easily find along the route): masa flour for making tortillas, Italian pearled farro (great as a one-bowl meal topped with veggies and grilled protein), and two bags of morita chiles for making this salsa. (We can’t get enough of this delicious, smoky/earthy condiment after trying it in Mexico last month, so I’ve been making my own.) I made a big batch of it at home and brought it up to Airship in this half-liter jar. This oughta last us a while, but I’ve got the supplies to make more!

Morita salsa

Morita salsa is made with chipotle morita chiles — a variety of smoked dried jalapeños. You throw a handful into a pan with some hot oil, wait a few minutes until they start to puff up. (If you leave them too long they’ll get bitter and the first batch of salsa you make will be a bust…don’t ask me how I know that.) Remove the puffed peppers (plus the rest that might not have “puffed” from the oil and soak them in hot water for 10 minutes or so. Remove them from the water, cut them open and remove most of the seeds, and then I like to hand chop the peppers. I tried them in my mini Cuisinart and they just gummed up and didn’t chop well at all. My friend Julie tried it in her Vitamix which worked great, but the intense chopping made the salsa much smoother and alas, much hotter. So far, hand chopping is my recommendation. Add oil (the stuff you used to fry them in) plus more in the jar to cover the mixture. I like to use extra virgin olive oil. The grassy flavor is a nice complement to the smoky chilies. Add salt to taste. This salsa will last quite a while and is great in tacos, on eggs, fish…well, so far it’s good on just about everything we’ve tried it on! (I get my moritas online here.)

Why is it that I can’t ever take a level photo of the inside of a cupboard??

A few weeks ago we tried a bottle of some smoked tequila that was on sale at our local liquor store, and it was surprisingly good! We’ve been on a “tequila martini” kick since we were in Yelapa last month, which means we’re gonna have to keep stocked with fresh limes…how hard is THAT going to be??

Update: I just read on the internet that you can easily freeze fresh squeezed lime juice and it lasts for months! Life-changing!

Tequila Martini (makes 2 cocktails)

4.5 oz tequila blanco
3 oz of fresh squeezed juice (half lime juice, half orange juice)
2.25 oz (or so) of Cointreau
Splash of simple syrup (we used Traeger smoked simple syrup, but plain would be fine)
Tajín for the glass rim (or a combo of salt and your favorite chili/chipotle powder if you like it a little spicy)

Note: Tajín is a seasoning mix made from ground chili peppers, salt, and dehydrated lime juice, and it’s great on the rim of a tequila cocktail. You can get it here.

Add all ingredients to cocktail shaker with crushed ice (and a chopped serrano pepper if you want a little spice). Shake well and strain into rimmed cocktail glass.

Another note: We also put some tequila in a bottle with a chopped fresh serrano for 30 minutes or so to infuse the tequila with pepper, which worked a little too well and we ended up only using 1/3 infused tequila to 2/3 regular tequila for the cocktails.

———————–

As far as other pre-made things we plan to have on Airship for the summer, here’s what’s going into the freezer so far:

Homemade bolognese sauce (maybe 10 or so meals worth, vacuum sealed into bags and frozen flat to save space)
Several packages of cauliflower pizza crusts from Cali’flour Foods. These are very thin crusts, kept frozen, and the ingredients are cauliflower, mozzarella cheese, eggs, basil, and garlic. We tested them out last night with friends and they were good!! They are a little finicky to pre-bake because they’re so thin, so I picked up a couple of these baking screens to try out next time.
Chimichurri sauce I made at home and froze…great as a condiment on grilled meats.
Several 1lb vacuum-sealed bags of chicken chorizo (good in breakfast tacos with eggs, slightly healthier than pork chorizo)
Light Flour Tortillas from La Tortilla Factory (for breakfast tacos, and taco nights with the flotilla). These are great, freeze well, and are 1/3 the calories of regular tortillas. Are you starting to sense a theme with some of the carbohydrates yet?
Several 1lb packages of grass-fed ground beef (for tacos, soups, burgers, etc.)
A few pounds of fish and some steaks

Pomi pizza sauce in cartons (for when we’re being lazy and not making our own), one of our favorite hot sauces from El Machete in Los Angeles, and some rosemary sourdough flatbread crackers for happy hours.

Notes about things still to do/make/bring:

A couple weeks ago we smoked some Cotija cheese at home on the Traeger and it turned out great. Cotija is good crumbled on salads or tacos, and we plan to smoke more and then freeze it to bring along.
Grated parmesan also freezes well. I use it to make my own caesar salad dressing, so I freeze it in small batches to grab when I need to make dressing or to use on pizzas or pastas.
I’ve been trying to come up with some healthy/creative alternatives to the “crackers, cheese, salami” happy hour appetizers to throw into the mix for happy hours. I picked up a couple of those round packages of polenta and I’m going to see about cooking some slices of that and topping them with a spoonful of sautéed wild mushrooms and garlic. I think they’d also be good topped with some bright fresh bruschetta.
It seems like this year I’ve focused more on sauces and condiments than in previous years (bolognese, chimichurri, morita salsa…) which is kinda fun since you can use condiments and sauces in such a variety of ways. Pesto is another sauce that freezes well, so I may make some of that before we leave (though it’s not hard to find in most supermarkets).
Last year I tried blanching different vegetables and then vacuum sealing them to freeze for later use. The asparagus was terrible (super watery) and the green beans were just okay. I think I won’t do this again, and I’ll just pick up a few bags of frozen organic green beans and maybe some cauliflower rice at Trader Joe’s, as well as some frozen spinach. Frozen spinach isn’t my favorite on its own, but it’s great to add to soups, an egg scramble, or on top of pizzas for a dose of leafy greens in the boonies.

We’ll let you know if we come up with any other cool ideas, and please feel free to share any of your ideas in the comments!

Food, Groceries, and Yoga in Yelapa

Laura Domela — Thu, 08 Mar 2018 21:37:48 +0000

We were up early this morning (probably trying to make up for yesterday). Last night we grilled up some of the mackerel we caught and made tacos for dinner. I cut up some mango, avocado, cilantro, and squeezed in some lime to make a fruity salsa for the tacos, and they turned out great. We sat in the lounge chairs on the edge of our room reading while watching the sunset and after the stars were out we called it an early night.

We got up and did yoga with this incredible view. (I found some fold-up yoga mats before we left that fit perfectly in our carry-on suitcases, so no excuses.)

After yoga I put together a little ad hoc huevos rancheros for breakfast (which consisted of a grilled flour tortilla, some local chorizo, two fried eggs, and the rest of the fresh salsa I made the other day). It was tasty!

We worked for a while (I know, we’re in Mexico, on VACATION, but we still have businesses to keep running) and then walked into the village for some groceries.

The path to the market (after passing a few burros)

Our first stop was the Tortilleria for some fresh (still warm!) tortillas. (I’m pretty sure I paid 12 pesos for a dozen tortillas…that’s about .64 cents US! Yes, we’ll be back.)

This big machine is cranking ’em out!

I love all the different views I happen upon while wandering the village.

We returned to the casa with our haul of groceries: tortillas, chips, tomatoes, mangos, avocados, poblano peppers, tomato puree, limes, margarita mix (until now we’ve just been having tequila and lime, but a full margarita sounded good), soy sauce, pepper, chorizo, cerveza, frijoles, cucumbers, red onion, serrano peppers, fresh shrimp, a watermelon, a Tupperware with a lid, and OMG finally, a sharp knife!! As with many rentals that have kitchens, the knives are sorely lacking in sharpness (and are way more dangerous dull than they are sharp!)

This afternoon I used more of our fresh mackerel to make a bowl of ceviche: diced fish, cucumber, tomato, red onion, serrano pepper, a little cilantro, soy sauce, a little salt, and tons of lime juice. Lunch!

I’m pretty proud of how this ceviche turned out. I’ve never made it before, but I paid attention yesterday while our captain made it out on our charter. It turned out REALLY good.

We may wander into the village tonight for dinner…there are still a handful of little restaurants we’d like to try (as much fun as it is to shop and cook in).

My Yelapa Ceviche Recipe

Chop up some very fresh fish (I used mackerel) and put it in a bowl
Squeeze a whole bunch of fresh lime juice over it until you can see the juice at the top
Add one diced tomato
Dice some peppers and add (I used poblano and serrano, but I’d add jalapeño if I had it)
Dice some red onion and add
Dice some cucumber and add
Chop some cilantro and add
Add salt to taste
Add a splash of shoyu or soy sauce (secret tip from our charter captain)
See if you need more lime juice after all this
Serve with tortilla chips or tostadas and a cold beer

My New Favorite Condiment: Chimichurri

Laura Domela — Thu, 11 Jan 2018 09:19:06 +0000

Chimichurri is a traditional condiment from Argentina. I’ve had it a handful of times at various restaurants, always loved it, but never made it. A couple weeks ago I made it to go along with some grilled steak, and it was delicious! Tangy, tasty, full of great flavor! The next morning I made us an omelette for breakfast — I filled it with some leftover green beans and a handful of baby spinach, and then topped it with a tablespoon or so of the chimichurri. OMG. Amazing. I Googled “what else to do with chimichurri” and got things like “great on all grilled meats and fish”…”as common in Argentina as ketchup is in the United States” (ugh) and “We’ve even seen it in tacos.” Tacos??? Tacos!!!

The next night we grilled up a couple of chicken breasts (glazed with garlic, honey, and olive oil) and then sliced them up into grilled flour tortillas along with some shredded lettuce and oven-roasted Roma tomatoes (with a bit more chimichurri over the top) and holy moly this flavor combination is insane. Trust me. You gotta try ’em. I’m making them again for friends next Tuesday night.

So my mom came over for dinner last night and guess what I made? Another batch of chimichurri!!! (Because obviously I’d run out by now.) The original recipe I made called for Italian parsley, cilantro, olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic, crushed red pepper, cumin, and salt. But looking again to the internets, I found another recipe that added shallot, jalapeño, fresh oregano, fresh lime juice, and pepper! So I made that recipe and at first I thought it tasted a little too vinegar-y, but both of these sauces were even better the next day, and the next day I did not feel like there was too much vinegar at all.

Anyway, last night I sautéed some shrimp in the chimichurri and served them over a bowl of farro, wilted spinach, and more oven-roasted tomatoes (drizzled with, of course, more chimichurri). My mom said it was one of the best things I’d ever made for her. (Which is super nice, but I’ve made WAY more complicated cheffy things that I’d figure she liked more…this just goes to show you how impactful the flavors are in chimichurri. It’s like hypnosis. You may notice there have been no photos of this nectar of deliciosity (besides the one above, which I borrowed from Krista’s flickr account via a Creative Commons license), and that’s because you can’t stop to take photos of chimichurri. You just make it, and eat it, and it’s gone.

I sent my mom home with the leftover chimichurri. I held onto about two tablespoons I thought I might use today, and ended up using those to make a spicy broth for Kevin, who finally succumbed to The Christmas Cold. I sautéed some garlic and jalapeño in olive oil, then added cumin, crushed red chili peppers, star anise, two cloves, and a cinnamon stick, then added organic chicken broth, water, leftover chimichurri, soy sauce, and some Red Boat fish sauce, boiled it for a little bit, simmered it for a little bit more, then added the rest of the leftover chicken for a spicy Sickness-Hammering Soup.

So there you go. Chimichurri. Here are the recipes I used. Apparently it will last in the fridge for three months or more and still taste great, and it freezes well. I plan to make a big batch of it this weekend and freeze up some portions for the summer trips to AK and BC (where it’s hard to find fresh cilantro, parsley, etc.) And if you’re wondering, this part here is the part of this post that has anything to do with travel or boating.

p.s. I’ve been really kicking up my cooking game lately while we’re at home, so if you guys aren’t all “Oh no, not another FOOD post!” I’ll share some about what I’ve been making. There are quite a few things I’m planning to make batches of to take along on this summer’s trip to Alaska…so perhaps that’s helpful!

On to the recipes!

Chimichurri Recipe One

Ingredients:

1 packed cup of fresh Italian parsley
½ cup olive oil
⅓ cup red wine vinegar
¼ packed cup of fresh cilantro
2 garlic cloves
¾ tsp dried crushed red pepper
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp salt

Directions: Puree all ingredients in processor. Transfer to bowl. (Can be made 2 hours ahead. Cover and let stand at room temperature.)

[from Epicurious]

Chimichurri Recipe Two

Ingredients:

1 cup Italian parsley, stems removed
1 cup cilantro, stems removed
1 shallot, chopped
1 jalapeño, chopped, optional, but do it (remove the insides if you want it a tad less spicy)
3 garlic cloves
2 Tbsp fresh oregano (I didn’t have this so I left it out)
½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
½ cup red wine vinegar
Juice of 1 lime
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste (I added a pinch of each)
½ cup olive oil

Directions: Combine parsley, cilantro, shallot, jalapeño, garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes, red wine vinegar and lime juice in the bowl of a food processor; season with salt and pepper, to taste. With the motor running, add olive oil in a slow stream until emulsified.

[via Damndelicious.com]

And here’s yet a THIRD more-authentic-looking recipe for Argentinian Chimichurri that has fresh oregano and no cilantro at all. I have not tried this one (yet) but feel free to truck on without me and let me know how it is. I’ll try it next, once I get my hands on some fresh oregano.

Provisioning for Our Trip Up the Inside Passage

Laura Domela — Sat, 29 Apr 2017 16:38:11 +0000

This Costco shopping cart doesn’t look all that bad, considering we bought some stuff for the boat and some stuff for home!

I thought I’d share with you some of our favorite Costco provisions, since I’m focused on this subject right now.

Shelf-stable Organic Bake-at-Home (or bake-on-a-boat) Sourdough Bread. This stuff is amazing. It comes in packages of three loaves and lasts forever. Maybe not forever, but we found a loaf in the way back of our cupboard a couple weeks ago…must have been from the first or second summer in Alaska. I sliced it lengthwise and baked it as garlic bread for the shakshuka I made and it was just as delicious as the garlic bread I made last summer, or the summer one before.

Golden Grill Hash Brown Potatoes. These are small cartons of dehydrated shredded russet potatoes (100% russet potatoes, sold in a package of 8 cartons). You simply add hot or boiling water to the carton, close it up and wait for 10 minutes or so, then cook up some hash browns. Easy, shelf-stable, and more compact than potatoes! Last summer when we were buddy boating with Sam, we added an egg to the mix and cooked them in Sam’s waffle iron. Latkes!!

Capers and kalamata olives. I’ll use these to make kalamata olive tapenade (I like this recipe) for happy hour snacks or whatever. Capers are nice to add to tuna salad, or smoked salmon/cream cheese spread, or that delicious chicken piccata recipe my dad sent me. Kalamatas are good on their own, thrown into a greek chicken dish, or even in martinis! (Costco has some olives we really like for martinis — Tassos Double Stuffed Jalapeno and Garlic olives (not shown, but I got some of those as well).

Better Than Bouillion. Making homemade chicken stock on the boat is usually a no-go. And carrying cartons of the free range organic stuff I can get at the store is not a good use of space. This little jar makes a summer’s worth of soups and sauces and takes very little space in the fridge after it’s opened.

Garofalo Organic Pasta – variety pack. Of course. Pasta is always a good backup plan when you haven’t gotten any fish or whatever and you want an easy meal. (Also good for potluck dishes.) We don’t eat much pasta (or bread, or potatoes for that matter) at home, but it can be tough to find frequent sources of fresh vegetables and non-starchy alternatives in some places…and, well, y’gotta eat.

Organic Diced Tomatoes. I always have a use for these. Soups, sauces, shakshuka, salsa…super versatile to have a flat of these canned organic diced tomatoes on board. I’d bring along several cases if I had a place to put em!

We also picked up a supply of NyQuil and DayQuil, because last year we both got sick (as did our friends Tiffani and Deke while they were visiting, unfortunately) and this stuff is hard to find in some of the smaller village stores (and if you DO find it, it’s often expired and expensive). I’m hoping that since we’re all prepared this time, no one will get sick.

One thing we’ve done the past two summers is cooked up a bunch of barbeque on the Traeger at home, vacuum sealed it into serving sizes, frozen it, and then stocked the freezer on the upper deck. Leave with brisket, pulled pork, and baby back ribs, come home with salmon, crab, and halibut! So we’re doing that again this year (just brisket and ribs this time).

Additionally, I bought some fresh green beans and asparagus. I blanched the vegetables for a little less than a minute, then vacuum sealed them into serving sizes for two and froze it all. I haven’t done this before, but I hear it’s a pretty nice way to have “almost fresh” veggies when there are none to be found. Will get back to you on that one!

I’ll make a trip to Trader Joe’s closer to right before we head up to the boat to pick up a few last minute things (maybe I’ll do a post about the TJs favorite items too!), and I’ll place the huge order of Nespresso pods to last us the summer. Also on the “Get” list: SodaStream CO2 cartridges.

Over at Slowboat we recently posted a helpful webinar called Packing and Provisioning for Extended NW Cruising that you might also find helpful. Check it out, and if you feel like it, share with us some of your favorite provisioning items!

Last Night at Cypress Head (I made shakshuka!)

Laura Domela — Sat, 15 Apr 2017 17:20:06 +0000

Yesterday afternoon after a bunch of work on the boat (both “work work” and “boat work”) we dinghied over to Eagle Harbor and went on another hike before dinner.

The weather yesterday could not have been better. We even had a cocktail on the top deck!

For dinner, I made a version of Shakshuka that I mashed up from a couple different recipes online. I added spinach and a little leftover pulled pork to our version, and it was amazing! Definitely a keeper! I should have taken a photo, but I didn’t. Here’s a recipe with a photo though…it looked kinda like that.

I sauteed some shallots and garlic in olive oil, then added cayenne, cumin, paprika, and red chili flakes to that. Then, some fresh diced tomato as well as a big can of organic crushed tomatoes, salt and pepper, and a couple big handfuls of spinach. I let that bubble a while on the stovetop, and when the bread was almost ready (crusty sourdough garlic bread) I cracked four eggs into the bubbling tomato mixture and let them poach on the stovetop. When eggs were soft-poached, I sprinkled a handful of shaved parmesan over the top, and then pulled out a big spoonful for each of us…served in a bowl with a side of crusty bread for dunking. Heavenly! Will definitely make this again. (Well, and I’m about to use the leftovers for breakfast. Great for any time of day, really.)

Here’s the breakfast version, as the eggs are poaching (we’re doing without the bread this morning):

Crossing Dixon Entrance and Homemade Salsa

Laura Domela — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 16:49:19 +0000

I set the alarm for 4:30am yesterday morning in Ketchikan — after 4 (so we’d have the 4am weather report), but 4:30 for a little extra sleep since sunrise wasn’t until 6am. No point having more than about an hour of pre-sunrise cruising. The alarm went off, I checked the conditions (they looked good for us to go) and then promptly talked Kevin into another half an hour of snoozing.

We actually left the dock in Thomas Basin at 6am. The water was calm and there was no wind in the channel. We saw several humpbacks as we neared the entrance to Behm Canal. They say you’ll know what Dixon is going to be like once you’re halfway between Mary Island and Foggy Bay. (Foggy Bay is a good stopover if you need to wait for weather, or if you want to split up the 80 nautical mile day from Ketchikan to Prince Rupert…it’s beautiful, and there’s good fishing in the area.)

Conditions were great, so we continued on. We saw a bunch more humpbacks, and got a little escort from half a dozen Pacific White-Sided dolphins. Once out in Dixon, the swells picked up a little but were no big deal at all.

Approaching Dundas Island:

That turqouise hose on the bow is the raw water (salt water) washdown hose, for when we pull the anchor. The anchor rode goes down into a locker inside that’s right at the head of the bed, and if you don’t rinse off the kelp and mud before pulling it in, it can get a bit stinky. So…the washdown is important. Also, attaching the hose to the pump inlet is a pain in the butt, so these days (and since we’re anchoring quite a bit), Kevin leaves the hose attached and on the bow. That means it’s in all of my pictures. We replaced the raw water pump a month ago or so and it came with a dark blue hose…I’m lobbying for him to swap out this turquoise one for the dark blue one. Being married to an artist is rough sometimes.

We called Canadian Customs and were given our clearance by telephone about three hours outside of Prince Rupert. Once through Venn Passage, we decided to anchor for the night in Pillsbury Cove rather than go to the marina. We didn’t need anything in town, and Pillsbury Cove looked nice (and we heard there’s good crabbing in there). Kevin got the crab traps ready while I navigated us through the last of the twisty, shallow canal, and we dropped them before anchoring.

It was just after 6pm when we got in and we’d picked up more veggies for fresh salsa (since we pretty much mowed the previous smaller batch we made two days ago). Buying store-made salsa is fine, and there are some good ones, but there’s just nothing like homemade, and it’s easy! I bought double what I bought last time…here’s a look at the grill:

Five roma tomatoes (cut in half), two habaneros (yes really, the salsa still is not that hot, I promise), 3 anaheim peppers (if they’d had poblanos or pasillas I’d have done a mix, but all they had in the larger mild peppers were anaheim), two jalapenos (I do two on the grill and two fresh…seeds removed).

Inside while the veggies were grilling, I mixed together two cans of fire roasted diced tomatoes, a large handful of cilantro, chopped, the juice of two juicy limes, liberal sprinkling of Penzey’s roasted garlic powder (the BEST!), similar sprinkling of cumin, and maybe a tablespoon or so of white balsamic vinegar. Once the grilled veggies are cool, chop them up and add them to the bowl. (I removed the seeds from the habaneros, too.) There’s no fresh garlic and no onions in this salsa, but if you taste it and feel the need to add some, by all means go for it. Also, I don’t add salt or pepper. I know, weird, but just taste it first. Here’s the finished product:

We grilled up some fresh halibut (given to us by a neighbor) for dinner and had that with some sauteed shaved Brussels sprouts and a baked potato. Kevin cooked the halibut perfectly.

Today we will head down toward Grenville Channel, and maybe anchor in Lowe Inlet tonight. We’ll grab our crab traps on the way out and who knows…we might have fresh crab for dinner tonight!

Here’s a map of yesterday’s Dixon Entrance crossing. (Dixon Entrance is that middle part with no land sheltering it from the open Pacific Ocean. Foggy Bay is the bay is on the right, just before Dixon Entrance, across from Duke Island.)

82.4 nautical miles, 11 hours 26 minutes:

Kasaan | Sunsets and Quiche

Laura Domela — Thu, 01 Sep 2016 18:17:12 +0000

The sunsets in Kasaan are so beautiful. These are three photos from last night, at different stages.

As the sun sets, the low golden light shines bright on the village and the hillside (behind me)…maybe I’ll take photos of that next time, but it’s hard to look away from the changing colors in the sky. Speaking of changing colors, the aurora forecast for last night was high, and since we had a mostly clear sky, I set an alarm for 1am…but by then some clouds had come around so there wasn’t anything to see. I checked again around 3:30am (the sky was clear) but I just saw stars. Of course this morning, the facebook page for Aurora Notifications was lighting up like crazy with a ton of photos of last night’s lights. Bah! We’ll try again tonight maybe, but so far today’s sky is cloudy.

We were in the market a few days ago and I wanted to get some flour and yeast to make some pizza dough, but they only had 5 lb bags of flour and I didn’t feel like trying to find a place for that bag in the kinda-full cupboard back on Airship, so as I was browsing the wall of Bob’s Red Mill small packages of a zillion kinds of flour, I spotted this bag of gluten-free pizza crust, and we decided to try it.

I bought some yeast, but this bag actually came with a package of yeast inside. We made one small pizza with half the dough (and some homemade red sauce), and it turned out really good. We both prefer pizza dough with gluten (mainly because of the texture), but this was not bad at all. The next morning I made some tiny breakfast quiches (in muffin tins) using a little more of the dough (I’d wrapped it in plastic and kept it in the fridge overnight). Those turned out great, so this morning I had some leftover sausage and cabbage from last night’s dinner, so I got out a round cake pan, and with the rest of the dough I made kind of a quiche (eggs, cheese, sausage, spinach, cabbage, a little salsa, salt and pepper). It turned out great!! This dough is actually perfect for quiche-like things…and if you’re gluten free, I highly recommend it for pizza too.

Update (for Pat):

Here are my notes on the quiche I made. Heat oven to 350. Following the directions on the Red Mill package, spread some dough with wet hands (makes it way easier) over the bottom and sides of a round, greased cake pan. Par bake until you can touch the dough and it doesn’t stick to your fingers. In a separate bowl, mix four eggs, a handful of whatever shredded cheese you want, chopped spinach, salt and pepper, and if you like, some chopped cooked bacon or chopped cooked sausage…a spoonful of salsa, etc. You can really put anything you want in here.

Pour mixture into par baked crust and return to oven until the center is a little bouncy to the touch. If you wiggle the pan and the filling jiggles like it’s still liquid, cook it for a bit longer. You want the eggs cooked and not runny. Mine took a while (45-50 minutes) but I’m cooking in a boat oven, which isn’t always as consistent (or as hot) as a home oven.

Slice into wedges and serve with hot sauce.

There, that’s my recipe.

p.s. For the individual muffin-sized quiches, do the same thing…they don’t take as long to cook.

Ketchikan, Cruise Ships, and Laundromats

Laura Domela — Mon, 22 Aug 2016 01:37:59 +0000

This was our view last night from Airship:

And this is the view this morning from the same spot. Quite a difference! It’s still fun to be right down in the middle of all the hubbub.

This morning we had nice surprise. Some fellow boaters we met on Thanksgiving in Friday Harbor last year, Connie and Chuck, are also in Ketchikan on their boat and found out we were here so they came by to say hello. So cool! We chatted a bit and they offered to give us a ride to the laundromat. (We’d pretty much talked ourselves out of schlepping our laundry all the way down there today…so this was very helpful. It’s so much nicer to have it done!) Nice view of Bar Harbor marina from the Highliner Laundromat:

While our laundry was going, we walked over to Tongass Marine to get some more dinghy patch supplies, and this afternoon we removed all the old glue and patch(es) and did a much better job. We hope. We were able to pull the dinghy up on the dock here and so it’s drying/curing in the sun and it’s not raining, so the temperature and reduced humidity should help with Patch 2.0.

This morning I tried a breakfast experiment. I mixed two ripe bananas, four eggs, and two teaspoons of vanilla and then used that batter just like pancake batter and made some little pancake thingies. They were thin and delicious, a little like banana crepes (served with a little bit of syrup). I think I might prefer them less sweet, but they were pretty great (and really easy)!

The cruise ships are gone now and the Arctic Bar is rockin’ up there on the boardwalk. I’ll do something with crab for dinner tonight and then I think Connie and Chuck are going to stop by for a glass of wine later.

Happy Sunday!

Peril Strait Anchorages | Deep Bay and Half Tide Neck

Laura Domela — Thu, 11 Aug 2016 17:15:05 +0000

We left Sitka on Tuesday morning and once through Sergius Narrows we decided to stay in Deep Bay. We put out crab traps and made dinner and didn’t really take any photos. The weather looked like this:

Inside Deep Bay:

No thanks, I’d rather be in the boat:

We fished a bit and caught one black rockfish but no salmon, so we made rockfish tacos for dinner.

On Wednesday morning our crab traps collectively had 20 crabs in them! Twenty! But guess what? Nineteen of them were females and we had only one male keeper. One out of twenty!! Apparently this used to be a great crabbing spot earlier in the season. We took our one crab and headed out. Still pretty rainy and cloudy. We decided instead of Appleton Cove we’d go someplace new, and anchored at Half Tide Neck in Hoonah Sound. Cool spot! (We caught another black rockfish on the way from Deep Bay to Half Tide Neck. Still no salmon.)

We set the crab pots out again (come on, one more!) and then did a little exploring.

Half Tide Neck panorama:

For dinner tonight I made rockfish cakes. (Same method as crab cakes, but with rockfish…and a tiny bit of leftover salmon…and I added some diced jalapeno.)

They turned out great!

There’s a mooring ball at the Half Tide Neck anchorage, and a little cabin. At first I thought it might be a forest service cabin, but I think it must be private. Sweet location!

This morning the clouds had lifted a little and we decided we’d forego Appleton Cove and go all the way to Takatz Bay in Northern Chatham Strait. The conditions were forecast to be good in Chatham (15 knot winds and 3 foot seas), so we’d make some miles and go to another new (to us) spot. We saw a couple humpbacks, and some more Pacific White-Sided dolphins. Boy do those guys move fast!

Where Peril Strait meets Chatham Strait:

Nice to see some blue sky, finally!!

Once out in the strait the conditions were more like 20 knot winds with 3-4 foot seas, but whatever. It was bumpy, but it was sunny!

Last Night’s Cocktail

Laura Domela — Wed, 16 Mar 2016 12:30:00 +0000

Last night's cocktail was a Rosemary Maple Bourbon Sour:

The recipe I followed (makes two cocktails)

3 shots bourbon
1 & 1/2 shots fresh lemon juice
3/4 shot dark amber maple syrup
1 large sprig of rosemary (plus 2 small sprigs for garnish)

Crush the large sprig of rosemary in your hand and add it to the shaker.
Add the bourbon, lemon juice, maple syrup and ice to above the level of the liquid and shake vigorously for 15 seconds.
Strain the mixture into rocks glasses containing large cubes of ice and garnish with remaining rosemary sprigs.

Next time I think I'd go to 1 shot of lemon juice and 1 shot of maple syrup. Cheers!

Last night's sunset from Airship's moorage at Patos Island:

P.S. If you're reading this, then we survived.