Eyes of a Beginner

Bought a new Delta anchor from West Marine. Any advice on its proper usage is much appreciated. It's made of thicker and higher grade steel than the danforth anchors I'm accustomed to. But if anyone can find a way to bend the shank, it would be me.

Also bought a new main halyard line, which I'll replace today. The old is almost certainly original to the boat, and is beginning to disintegrate.

Admiral Crankypants

Yesterday we hauled a bunch of my toys off the boat. Golf Clubs, Bow & Arrows, jib that needs repair, etc. Today I organized my remaining stuff and cleaned out a space for Amy to use as a closet. Amy speaks:

I’ve been a little out of sorts for the last couple of days. As Scott has mentioned, we’ve both spent the last several years living alone and now, we’re together in a space no larger than about 150 square feet. We’ve had a lot of errands to run before we leave Baltimore next week, and so have been running around for much of the day. On top of that, I was still living out of my duffel bag, and feeling not at all settled in. Most of you that know me would also know that this is a recipe for crankiness.

More on Admiral Crankypants' blog

CWCS: Nectarine Chicken

Cooking with Capt' Scott (CWCS)

Grill chicken

Cook rice

Make chutney sauce to pour over chicken:
Chop up nectarine and zucchini. Mush equal parts banana and water. Add nectarines and zucchini to banana mush and heat in pot until hot. Add hot sauce until desired spiciness is reached.

Grill nectarine garnish:
Cut a nectarine in half. Stick a fork in each half and grill over stove top flame like you would a marshmellow. Try to char the nectarine a little. It's done when it falls off the fork.


I like to grill chicken thighs and legs because they are nearly impossible to overcook. They are so fatty that they don't dry out. The only problem is that they are so fatty that they start grease fires on my gas grill.

At the supermarket we smelled the nectarines as we passed them in the produce aisle. That's always a good sign of a fruit that is ripe and will be flavorful. We passed strawberries, raspberries and blueberries too. They all looked good, but had no smell.

The zucchinis looked good at the market. My initial plan was to slice and grill the zucchinis as a side dish to plain grilled chicken. I didn't have a plan for the nectarines.

I guess the nectarine chicken idea was inspired by our dinner at Bicycle last week, and the mix of flavors in their dishes. I like the balance of sweet and hot in a chutney. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any hot sauce on the boat. I ended up borrowing a couple packets of Taco Bell hot sauce from a marina neighbor.

Negotiations

Amy and I are trying to adapt to life aboard and going forward together. It doesn't help that I've lived alone for seven years and that we are now constantly together in a confined space.

One of the minor issues I'm trying to resolve is whether to steal Amy's boat posts from her blog and post them here, or just link to them. In any case, if you want to comment on her posts, you can do it here or there. We read each other's blogs and comments. Amy just posted The First Week Aboard.

Infrastructure

Just because I'm taking a break from blogging doesn't mean Amy is.

The Old Fart Club

Grampa Speaks:

Visit with Scott on the occasion of his officially joining the old fart club (as he puts it)

The Salty Sea Dog, Sho-Me, and I paid a visit to Split Decision today to celebrate the big 40 and inspect the boat to see how he and it survived the trip. Both look in fine shape.

We embarked on a short sail (motoring) over to the Broadway Pier, where we expected to tie up and walk the short distance to the Wharf Rat, a favorite of Scott, me, and Sho-Me. Unfortunately we did not get far before the motor began missing and stalled out. Scott observed that we were apparent jinxes for his boat and began working on the motor after anchoring. I guessed that the problem sounded like water in the gas, and that may be it, but the full diagnosis is not in. After drying the spark plugs and letting the cylinders dry out (while we enjoyed a beer), we started up again toward Broadway.

But alas, the same thing happened again after beginning well. So repeat the previous paragraph, but change the last sentence to back to the marina.

And alas, again, repeat the previous paragraph, at almost back to the marina. But we did finally make it back.

When we (Scott, me, and Sho-Me) went to Nick’s, the bar/restaurant just up from the marina, we found discrimination is alive and well in Baltimore. Poor Salty Sea Dog was not permitted to join us on the outside patio and had to sit out lunch in the truck (more to add insult to injury, the truck belongs to Wookie, my regular truck dog).

But we enjoyed a couple of beers and fish sandwiches and good conversation about Scott’s adventures and plans, and my plans for retirement.

See the attached photos to see Scott actually at work.




Pic of Grampa and his Admiral:

Trip Retrospective

Found out that pictures posted to the blog are also in a Picasa web album. Unfortunately, only the pictures from this year are in the album, and I can't organize them without screwing up the blog settings. The first few pictures are NASA shuttle pictures, but soon after are pictures taken on Split Decision.

I Could Use Some Advice

Another post stolen wholesale from Admiral Amy's blog:

A variation on the desert island question, only for real: If you were moving yourself to a boat for two months and knew you had limited kitchen space, what items in your pantry would you not be able to do without? I have a pretty standard cupboard of condiments and spices, and have to decide what to pack and what to give away/throw away.

I don’t need to bring any cookware, since we already have the basics on board: cast-iron fry pan and a couple of sauce pans. There will be no baking, and we have limited and erratic refrigeration. So far, my list contains:

-cornmeal (for frying fish and other things)
-bouillon cubes
-any pasta, beans and canned goods I have in my pantry