We've been fitting in lots of fun in between the boat work and errands. We are very near to the Atlantic coast so we spent a day in Beaufort, NC, at the Maritime Museum. Just off the coast of Beaufort is the "graveyard of the Atlantic" including the recently-found wreck of Blackbeard's pirate ship Queen Anne. It was great fun to see the maritime history of the area and the artifacts from the ship! The museum library was open to all - we could have spent hours there looking at the books on sailing, the ocean, and creatures of the sea. There is also a strong history of whaling on the Carolina coast so the museum had a whale skeleton and heart on display - amazing to see up close. There are a string of islands just off shore - some with wild horses - but the weather wasn't cooperating to see them across the channel that day. Ava was bummed but we will hopefully see them when we pass that way again on Night Music. Both kids are still swimming daily and Reed is becoming a great ping pong player - he still can't beat his Mom, though. All that practice in her grandparent's basement while growing up is paying off! For the past several years we've made and decorated holiday cookies - the kids run the show! The good news about still being in the marina condo is we have a bigger oven and table to set up the decoration station. They turned out pretty good using just spoons and knives to decorate. The "bad" news is we decorated way to early this year so the cookies have already been eaten. Batch number two is underway today! We attended a lovely holiday choir concert at the historic New Bern Presbyterian church. Built in 1817, the old wooden two-level structure was in beautiful condition with wonderful acoustics. It has a rich history, including being used as a hospital during the civil war. The choir was small but wonderful. They also have a hand bell choir - it is on our list to hear them play before we leave town. We did get a small tree for Christmas - having to consider limited boat space and boat battery capacity, we opted for a self-lighting tree that we could store for next year and maybe use for other holidays. We ended up with a pretty "bare branches" tree that we are excited to decorate for Valentine's, Easter, birthdays, etc. And one of our favorite holiday traditions is playing lots of family games. Settlers of Catan is great fun - but there has been lots of complaining about the roll of the dice not following the expected percentages - so last night's game included a tracking histogram of the numbers rolled. That's about all the homeschooling we got in this week! There will be no Seattle Sanderson holiday card via snail mail this year - so we are wishing you and your families a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!! | |
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Nearly every Saturday morning for the past 5 plus years, we took Ava and Reed to the Queen Anne Community pool for their 1/2 hour swimming lessons. Being a sailing family and living in a city surrounded by water, it just makes good sense that both kids learned how to swim. But was also had this trip we had in mind knowing that once in the Bahamas and Caribbean, several hours a day are spent in the water. Snorkeling, exploring, kayaking, etc. are all much more fun if you are a strong swimmer.
This week we brought out the snorkel gear for a test run in the pool at the Rec Center, mostly to make sure the masks fit properly. The kids loved it - especially Reed. He didn't want to get out of the pool! Everything fit, they practiced diving to the bottom of the pool with them on and getting used to the feel/mechanics of snorkeling. All those years of swimming lessons, getting comfortable being in the water and knowing how to move around paid off. NOTE: On a different note, be sure to check out the other blog pages as well. When the email notification feed widget was set up, it only sends a notice if there is a new post on this - HOME - page tab so if posts are made to the other pages, you won't get a notification. As we wait an additional week for the final, unexpected project to be finished on Night Music (see Eric's blog post), I am researching and making a detailed list of what we will bring with us for food and drink (provisions) when we leave for the Bahamas in early January 2015. There is a lot to consider. We DO have refrigeration on Night Music so that opens up the possibilities compared to our last sailing adventure. However it is a small beer-cooler sized box, not a full sized refrigerator. And as any sailor will tell you, most boat refrigeration systems conk out every once and a while so we need to consider refrigeration a luxury, not a given. Ideal foods for our journey are shelf stable, such as canned goods or dried goods. There are grocery stores in the Bahamas but provisioning can be quite expensive ($10 for a gallon of milk, $65 for a case of beer) so the more we bring with us, the more likely we are to stick to our monthly cruising budget. Fortunately, there are many sample lists available to work from that other Bahamas cruisers have published that give us a great start to build upon. We've been trying out different brands of canned chicken and beef, canned fruits and veggies, dried milk, and boxed wine, hoping to find some favorites when it's time to stock up on in bulk. We will do our final full provisioning in Florida before we depart, where grocery stores and Costco are easily accessed and prices are cheaper. We've also got the sharpie handy - labeling the top of cans is essential in case the labels wear off when they are all stacked together in storage lockers. Another great trick to great eating on a boat is having a wide range of herbs, spices, and sauces on hand to add to the variety of flavors. Having pasta night after night can be a lot more interesting if the flavor profiles are very different. We brought along our entire spice cabinet from Seattle so we are set in that department. We've been trying local hot sauces and other condiments to see what else we might like. Night Music isn't big enough to hold all the ketchup that Reed would like to bring along - we haven't solved that dilemma yet! We also brought our pressure cooker with us. Since our stove fuel is compressed natural gas (CNG), which is not readily available in the Bahamas/Caribbean to refill, we need to be aware of our fuel usage. A pressure cooker is a great way quickly to prepare meals as cooking time is usually 1/3 to 1/2 normal cooking time. One item that does NOT store well is bread - so that is something we will need to make ourselves aboard. Incredible fresh bread is so readily available in our Seattle neighborhood it is has never been on our list of something to make at home. Being in the condo her in New Bern with a full-sized oven is the perfect place to test bread recipes that are easy to make and all four of us will enjoy. There are two recipes favorites so far - the first is Jacques Pepin's Gros Pan recipe - so easy and wonderful that we DO plan to continue making it at home in Seattle when we return. (http://blogs.kqed.org/essentialpepin/2011/09/18/gros-pain/). It is a crusty/chewy rustic loaf that doesn't require perfect water temperature for the yeast and the proofing time is flexible so if we are out snorkeling a bit longer than planned we don't have to worry about the dough being ruined. A few pictures of the dough, prepared loaf and final product are below. It doesn't last long - we are going to need to buy a lot of flour and yeast! The second bread recipe comes from a classic book - "The Care and Feeding of the Offshore Crew" by Lin Pardey. It is a simple but versatile dough that can be use for sandwich bread, pizza crust, and even spread out slathered with butter/sugar/cinnamon to make a yummy breakfast bread. Here's the recipe:
Dissolve the yeast in the water, then add salt and sugar. Whisk together. Stir in flour one cup at time until it becomes to difficult to stir, then work it in with your hands until the dough stops clinging and is an even consistency. You might not use all 6 cups of flour. Cover the bowl with a towel and set in a warm place to rise for about 45 min. Punch down the dough, cut in half to make two loaves. They can be in a bread pan or a free form loaf (see above). Once shaped into the loaf, let rise again for 45 min, then bake at 350 for about 30-35 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool at least an hour before slicing or it will clump up on the knife - this is very hard to do as the smell of fresh, warm bread almost demands it be eaten immediately! |
AuthorsWe are Karrie, Eric, Ava, and Reed Sanderson. Our house is in Seattle but our home is wherever the four of us are...and for the next two years, our home is Night Music, a Tartan 37 Sailboat. Archives
June 2016
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