Seal-a-meal continued…

/0 Comments/in /by

Ok, so today was a rainy day. What else to do but work, (forget that), or cook! I decided to continue the Seal-a-meal progress and load up at the grocery store. On the menu, Chop suey, Goulash, (substituting the elbow maccaroni for a larger pasta Ziti type), Butternut/Acorn squash soup that turned out famously and one chicken dish that was, well, less than perfect, but would fill a sailors needs. It was a Chicken stir fry of sorts. These were all childhood favorites that kept me sassy and FULL! I still use the recipe cards of my Mother and Grandmother that contain tons of food stains on them!

Each batch made approximately 6 or more man-sized servings. I also have kept one small serving of each recipe to have a “crew-taste test” prior to the sail. We will see if there will be opportunity to have the crew come over for my “pot-luck”!

Tomorrow on the agenda, freezing some fruit, another Chicken stew recipe and maybe if time allows, I will be making some Beef Stew. (Did I mention I stopped at Knoches Meat market today?) Best butcher in Madison!

These recipes bring back loads of food memories and rekindled some of my earlier joys of cooking. I hope the sailors will enjoy!

Prepping for Atlantic crossing

/0 Comments/in /by

Tucked away at the Charleston City Marina, home of the MEGA yacht docks, Grateful Red is going through some last minute fine tuning. Back home in Wisconsin, my responsibilities as land-crew for the Atlantic crossing are feeling the pressure. I have contacted officials in Bermuda to make sure I will be allowed to bring prepared foods, frozen, for the journey from Bermuda to Azores. I haven’t done this much cooking from scratch for ages. But hopefully, the thick hearty soups and stews will be appreciated.

I have implemented the use of a seal-a-meal that sucks all the air out and seals the pkgs. They conveniently freeze flat and can be stacked like a big brick of ice! Handy. The MEN, will then utilize the vast quantity of sea water to boil the bags of delectable. Handy even still. All they need is a cup/bowl/plate and fork or spoon.

On the menu so far:

  • Chicken stew with pasta
  • Spaghetti/sauce & pasta
  • Beef stew
  • goulash (something with hamburger)
  • Ham steaks
  • Egg omelet with cheese/bacon (after boiling it can be put in a flour tortilla to make a breakfast burrito)
  • Au gratin potato and ham soup
  • Split pea with ham soup (it was a lovely ham bone!)
  • Cream of zucchini soup
  • Large Pasta’s to add to soups for bulk

I will be working on more including freezing fruits for vitamin C! (and a nice treat)
Any food suggestions for the boiling bags is greatly appreciated.

And, welcome to the new followers! Now add your pictures…

At Charleston City marina

/0 Comments/in /by

The Grateful Red is at Charleston City Marina ready for the next voyage: The Charleston to Bermuda race (or as they say “C2B”) and on to Europe. The sail from the Edisto party to Charleston was five hours of sailing and more then five minutes of chaos. Crew was Stan, Ron and Jim all new to a five hour offshore sail and Ann Marie—an experienced Chicago Beer can racer.

Nice breeze and on a reach with the fore sail only—couldn’t be better. Couple hours in noticed a front—rolled in the Genoa, started the motor and got wet. Winds were dying so we continued under motor with a round of beverages. Decide to sail up the Charleston ship channel under genoa only in moderate winds. So far a pretty nice story.

As we head up the ship channel the winds started to increase—ten, twenty, twenty five. Rolled in the two thirds of the Genoa—still doing six plus knots. But not done yet—soon the winds were 30 plus, Genoa rolled completely—motor only. Showing the crew how to drop anchor if being blown into the rocks.

As we headed up the Charleston river—winds started topping 40, and I am thinkin—be ready to turn downwind and back out to sea. The engine is moving us at maybe two knots in 40 plus. Ron is on the VHF with the Harbor master—we turn into the harbor which means downwind like a rocketship. Luckily Kristine, Mary and dock hand are waiting for us. In full reverse the group can barely keep the Grateful Red from charging into the floating dock ……. but lines and motor held. We stop a foot or so from the dock, tie up and open a round of beverages.

Terrific job by both boat crew and land crew—note the crew foul weather gear.

Just another day on the boat!