Cranberry Bogs and Desserts

After a week of visiting with friends near Portland, Oregon we are back on the road. Driving south along the Oregon coast on Highway 101 we saw a 'U-Pick Cranberries' sign. Having just gotten a new recipe for cranberries and never having seen a cranberry bog we made a quick stop. 

I was expecting to be wading through standing water but apparently they only flood the bog when it's time to harvest so the berries will float to the top while the machine pulls them off the plants.

This dessert is amazing! Give it a shot. It's easy and you will love it. The original recipe calls for walnuts but I think it's much better with almonds.

Cranberry Nut Dessert

• 1 1/4 cups cranberries
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup almonds
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 Teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• Powdered sugar

1. Butter a 9-inch pie dish and cover bottom generously with cranberries. Sprinkle with brown sugar and nuts.
2. Beat egg into a small mixing bowl. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar. Beat in flour. Slowly beat in melted butter. Pour batter over berries.
3. Bake at 325 for about 40-45 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired.

Night-Watch Lentil Soup

Now that we are back in cooler weather we like to have some hot soup to keep us occupied during our long watches at night. Before we leave I make this fast and easy Lentil Soup that doesn't require any perishable ingredients.

1/2 large onion

1 14oz can mixed vegetables

4 cups water or broth

1 cup dry lentils

2-3 Tbsp bouillon powder (less/none if using broth)

1-2 Tbsp curry powder 

1/2-1 Tbsp paprika powder

Salt and Pepper to taste

In a large pot cook onions in oil until tender. Add vegetables and water. Bring to a boil. Add lentils (1/2 cup more if you like very thick soup). Add minimum amounts of bullion and spices - then add more to taste. Cover and simmer until lentils are cooked - about one hour.

This recipe is also available on our galley community GalleySwap.

How to make "Ice Cream" on Board

Who doesn't love ice cream? We sure do, but our freezer will not keep it frozen in this heat so I had to figure out a better way to get our fix.

Sorbet is a super-easy and fun treat to make on a boat. Pretty much any fruit can be used. Raspberry-Banana is always a winner, as is Banana with some chunks of dark chocolate. Here I use fresh mangos.

Don't over-freeze sorbet as you want it to be the consistency of a nice smooth gelato. I pour the sorbet into small ziplock bags and stick them right onto the evaporator plate of our freezer for a few hours. When I'm ready to serve I knead the bag until the sorbet is smooth. Then I cut a small corner into the bag and squeeze the sorbet into a bowl.

I use my stick blender to mix up the sorbet. It works well on the inverter and doesn't take up much space.

1-2 ripe Mangos or other fruit
2 Tablespoons Honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-3 limes* or lemon to taste

Whip everything together with a blender, food processor or stick-blender. Add more of any ingredient to taste. Pour into ziplock bag. Freeze.

* I use the tiny Mexican limes so add regular sized limes/lemons slowly

How to Store and Use Glass on Board

Many boats come complete with a set of plastic dishes - as did ours. It seems that the general consensus is that because an item is on a boat it has a tendency to break and therefore should be plastic. Not so! Mike and I really don't like to eat or drink from plastic as it seems to take on a taste after some time. We also try to use as little plastic in our lives as possible, so as not to further contribute to the plastic debris we find on every beach.

The first thing we gave away were the plastic plates and replaced them with our ceramic plates from when we lived on shore. No plastic taste and the plates keep food warm a lot longer than plastic plates do. Underway I toss a towel into the cupboard with the plates to stop things from shifting and rattling. When my parents and I sailed from Germany to California in the 80s we also used ceramic plates and my parents still use those same plates on their current boat to this day. Zero breakage.

Next we got rid of the plastic cups. We now use mason jars for drinking glasses which are very thick and sturdy. And used with these screw-top lids it's like having a built-in storage container or drink-shaker.

We use real coffee mugs and for our wine we use real wine glasses. A glass of wine just isn't the same drank out of a plastic cup. I have broken one wine glass out of sheer clumsiness - not due to living on a boat.

We did keep the plastic bowls to use when we are underway since they have non-skid bottoms and are nice and deep.

To store glass bottles and jars I use "6-pack wine bags". They are about $2 from Whole Foods or Trader Joe's or if you buy enough wine they will sometimes toss one in. I have about a dozen of these bags and store everything from wine and liquor bottles to jam and sauerkraut jars in them. There is no rattling and if anything should break the spillage will be contained within the bag.

How to Make the Perfect Margarita

Happy National Margarita Day! We sure are glad to be in Mexico for this special day. 

Here is the recipe for our favorite Grapefruity Margaritas from our very own GalleySwap!

1 fresh squeezed grapefruit
2-3 fresh squeezed oranges

1-2 fresh squeezed limes

2/3 cup Grand Marnier

1 cup Good Tequila

I try to do about a 1:1 ratio of juice to liquor, so add more liquor if you have particularly juicy fruits.

Shake and pour over ice. Serve in a salt rimmed "glass". Garnish with a wedge of grapefruit or lime.

An un-traditional Day

Since it's just plain too hot to bake anything onboard we decided to have a decidedly un-traditional Thanksgiving. Not to mention I had no clue where to buy a whole turkey.

We headed to the beach at Punta de Mita with the SUP. On the way we stopped off at our favorite taco place in La Cruz to have our "Thanksgiving Dinner". Total cost: 12 bucks!

This marks two years in a row that we did not have a turkey. Last year was spent moving aboard Camille. To be honest I don't miss the piles of dishes. Though the leftover sure would be nice to have today.

Provisioning and Lessons Learned

Before heading further south into Mexico we spent three months in Ensenada (60 miles south of the border) getting Camille ready and driving across the border to San Diego once a week to buy parts and gear. During this time I was learning what types of food are available at Mexican grocery stores but we had a hard time weening ourselves from what's familiar. So we filled Camille to the waterline with all of our favorite foods from Trader Joe's and cases of wine from Whole Foods (only $2 per bottle and much better than the two buck Chuck from TJs!). In retrospect, the food is the same here, just some labels are different (and in Spanish of course).  

At the US-Mexico border. Waiting to get into the US. This usually took about three hours!

Not quite a year later and some of that food is starting to expire! And we're left wishing we had stocked up on things other than food. Not to mention that food is MUCH cheaper in Mexico and we could have saved a ton of money!

Case in point: We are currently adding a new sunshade to the cockpit and in order to install the twist snaps (which we brought back from our recent trip to the US) we needed a lot of stainless steel machine screws. We went all over town to find size 6/32 machine screws in half inch - we should have bought more when we were in the states. Stainless is nearly impossible to find in this country! Especially when you need a specific size. Either that or it is extremely expensive. We were able to find one inch screws at the local marine store (think: a third to half more expensive than West Marine) and Mike had to cut them to size.

Parts for repair and maintenance for the boat are also pretty hard to find and cost at least a third more because import duty and taxes have to be paid. Forget about getting anything shipped here. It is not cheap and might not make it! Better to fly back when you have a long list of needed items.

If we had to do it over we would buy more spare parts and trinkets for the boat and a lot less food before leaving the US. Though we have spare parts for nearly everything on board, Murphy's law mandates that only the things you don't have spares for will break - like our galley faucet which luckily was available at Home Depot. Note that not all Home Depots are created equal. When you first walk into the chain in Mexico you feel like you have been ported back into the US but you soon notice that the selection is limited. No stainless screws, nuts or bolts for example...

To provision for passages or long periods at anchor I have a master list of all the items we have bought before and eat/use regularly. My master list is kept on my iPhone in the Reminders app. Things we do not need are listed as completed and before we go shopping I go over my list and uncheck the items we need to buy. While/after shopping we click on the check box and once again complete the item. 

The more we spend time away from grocery stores the more I learn how much of an item we will need and I usually just guesstimate quantities while shopping (one/two per day of such and such). Fresh items are the hardest to plan for. After a week and a half we are usually down to a few apples, oranges, limes, onions and potatoes. Avocados will ripen overnight in this climate but will last over a week if kept in an open green bag in the fridge. I also use green bins in the fridge. Carrots, and jalapenos, and even things like strawberries will stay fresh longer. 

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This post was written as part of a blog-hop. Visit the Monkey's Fist website for posts about this topic written by other cruisers or check out these topics:  

Why do we Cruise
Relationships Aboard
Pink and Blue Jobs Aboard
Leave it or Bring it: Stuff
Fear
Swag and Approaching the Natives
Clothes and Laundry

Homemade Flour Tortillas

Just added my favorite flour tortillas recipe to GalleySwap. They are easy to make and taste amazing!

Crossing the Sea

Leaving Baja in our wake

We're in Mazatlan after our third crossing of the Sea of Cortez. We're on our way to Puerto Vallarta where we will be spending the summer (aka hurricane season). Since early July we've been making our way south from the Loreto area and now all that is left is one overnight trip.

We had a very long swell on our crossing which we're attributing to the two hurricanes brewing down south. After the calm of the Sea it was nice to feel the motion of the ocean under our keel.

Cooling off during the crossing

Dorado! (aka Mahi Mahi or Dolphin fish)

Mahi Mahi Tacos with mango salsa

Marina El Cid in Mazatlan

Marina El Cid in Mazatlan

Meet Cesar

ENSENADA BLANCA - This is Cesar. He runs the palapa bar on the beach of Ensenada Blanca.



Icons on map are clickable for more information on anchorages, marinas, snorkel spots, etc. Zoom out for others.


There is no written menu and only three meal choices: Fish Tacos, Ceviche, or Clams. When you order the clams you better have some time to sit back and enjoy a cerveza because after bringing your drinks Cesar will don his fins and snorkel and dive into the ocean to dig them up. Talk about fresh!



Getting ready to get some clams



After about 20-30 minutes he comes back with pockets full of clams



Fresh chocolate clams (spanish: almeja chocolata) from 4-8 feet of depth


Cesar gets the knife just between the shells to up open the clam



Ready



Whack



My picture taking must have made him nervous because he sliced his finger while opening clams



Chocolate clams inside



Rinsing and scooping the clams out of their shells



Chopping clams 



Cesar then sautés the clams in lard (!) and garlic



And then he spoons the cooked clams back into their shells for presentation



Yum!



Enjoying clams with some cruising buddies

Mexican food made easy. And no fridge required!

Tortilla Machine in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle

Now that we are in Mexico tortillas have become a staple food, so I figured I better learn how to make them in case we run out. Corn tortillas are a breeze as long as you have Maseca (the recipe is right there on the bag and even I can decipher the spanish instructions), water and salt. Most important is a tortilla press! Not wanting to add more gadgets to my galley I tried making them without a press and they turned out a "bit" thick. 

Since fresh meat only lasts a few days we found the perfect substitute: We call it bagged meat (see photo below). It lasts for two years unrefrigerated and tastes great! Just fry it up with some onion ( and /or bell pepper, mushrooms or anything that stikes your fancy) and a dash of water. 

Make fresh guacamole by adding lime, salt and several spoonfuls of your favorite salsa (I like to use Herdez Salsa Casera). Serve the guacamole with the avocado pit to keep it from turning brown. 

To keep avocados from ripening too quickly put them into "green bags" in the fridge (leave the bag open to prevent moisture). I've kept avocados hard for nearly three weeks this way.

Then mix up some Media Crema with a squeeze of lime, chill for 10 minutes and you get instant sour cream! 

¡Buen provecho!

Don't forget to make up some of our favorite Margaritas. Recipe on GalleySwap.

Maseca and my Tortilla Press from Cabo

 Fresh Tortillas cooking on the stove

Bagged meat. Very little trash to boot! 
Lately we've been buying the turkey meat which comes in a blue bag.

Celebrations

Some days ago Mike had yet another birthday. We hadn't really been out to a fancy dinner since leaving Portland and were happy to have an excuse to dine in style. Punta Morro Resort, just outside of town, has a fabulous restaurant over the ocean. When the seas are big, waves splash onto the windows just beyond the tables. Since the sun has been setting around 5pm here, we arrived after sunset and instead were treated to the moon setting into the pacific ocean.