Our Lil Crush

The Christmas winds have offically arrived! We've had about 22kts for the past few days and the seas to match. We are seeing the effects of the same snow storms that buried our family and friends during the holidays. We spent the night in Leverick Bay and as Sasha was preparing to get our guests ashore, he spotted this little guy swimming in circles alongside our boat. With our handy dandy fishing net we scooped him out of the water and he seemed very glad for a rest.

After contacting several people who work in various hatcheries, conservation departments, and fisheries, we were told that he was a hawksbill hatchling that was a little lost. The only advice we recieved was to get him out of the marina and into a current that would take him out to sea. It's amazing that something so small can survive in the ocean!

A Lull between the Fronts

Literally NO wind the other day. We had maybe 2 knots for a few days straight. It was such nice ski water :)

Soggy Dollar

Check out Soterion on the Soggy Dollar webcam right now!

Sunset in Christmas Cove

Happy Holidays from Christmas Cove.

Prep Work

It is often said that when a crew is on charter the days are much more stressful for the girls and off charter the days are much more stressful for the guys. This is true. So I've decided to keep myself busy while off charter by prepping, cooking, and freezing!

Roasting red bell peppers on the stove.

I bought a pork belly to try out in the Sous Vide. Only problem was that I had to buy the whole 5# belly and I want to serve little starter portions. I had to borrow Sasha's hack saw (yes I cleaned it really well before I cut the belly). I cut it and vacuum sealed it into enough portions to last me 3 charters.

One Charter Down

Our first charter went without a hitch!! We had 8 guests for a quick 5 day cruise. Being their first time to the islands I was hard to hit all the good spots, but we did our best. The above pic was taken at White Bay on Jost. Sasha is giving the lay of the land before everyone headed for the beach.

This was one sandy charter! Sasha was cleaning filters almost constantly.

Making the galley work!! I was excited to really see what this galley set-up was capable of. It really worked well. It looks like Sasha took this pic while I was plating up during Fish Taco night. I was really nested in there among the plates, bowls, pots, and pan!!

Thought this shot was really neat. I am plating the calamari and seaweed salad.

Sous Vide Carrots

Step by Step Sous Vide

This post has been on the back burner for awhile (pun intended, hehe). I invested some of last season's earnings into a home Sous Vide machine with high hopes that it will simplify my job this season. Less time in the galley and less stress about meal timing will be a welcome relief. I have been playing with cooking different foods, and it's usually as we are sitting down to eat that I say, "Shoot! I forgot to take pics... again!" This time I remembered.

Step 1: Thaw and season meat as you wish. The only hard part is not using olive oil in the seasoning, because of the long and low cook times it can turn a bit metalic tasting. Other fats I've been using are butter and rendered lard.

Step 2: Bag it up. The picture of the food in the bag did not make the blog because I managed to smear all the seasoning all over the bag and mysef. This is harder than you'd think!

Step 3: Vacuum seal. I've been known to use ziplocks and suck all the air out with a straw to seal meats before I freeze them (yeah for small fridges). I've move up in the world with my new electric vacuum sealer.

Step 4: Sous Vide. For anyone not familiar, sous vide is french for "under vacuum" because you vacuum seal everything before you cook it. It is a process of cooking that brings food to a specified temperature by submerging it in a precisely temperature controlled water bath. (more info here) This meat was in the water bath for 2 hours.

Step 5: Finishing the meat. Yes, this meat is cooked and safe to eat. No, it does not have the crisp outer crush most humans are accustomed to seeing on their cooked meats. Quick fix is the torch I borrowed from the tool locker. My little brulee torch was no match for a rack of lamb. I can also finish the meat with 10 minutes in the oven, or a quick sear on the stove or the grill.

Step 6: Cut. Yummmmm...


Step 7: Plate.

Final Touches

I don't think that there are such things as "final touches" on a boat. No maintinance or polishing is ever final on a yacht this size. BUT she is really coming together. Sasha spent about an hour on the mast connecting the spreader speakers and adjusting the deck lights. He decided to leave this project for the evening when the sun was not blazing down. The one thing we did not take into consideration was the ferry schedule. Sasha was hanging onto the mast with his toes because he was swaying so much from the evening rush hour ferries and water taxies. Frustrating? Yes.

I've been testing a lot of the galley equipment. There is a learning curve to every stove, oven, and counter configuration. We had Kris and Lizanne over for a "thank you for helping us straighten out the boat" dinner. As we sat down Lizanne commented that it looked like a small bomb had gone off the the galley!! I told her to cut me some slack as that was the first real meal I had cooked in my new space. We both had a good laugh while doing dishes.

Above I am making a balsamic reduction in preparation for our upcoming charter. This season I'm really focusing on plating and general meal presentation. Bring on the garnishing youtubes!

Some Boat Shows are Like That

Just came across these pics. The night before the Tortola Boat Show, most of our fellow crew friends had just put the final polishes on their yachts and were busy catching up with each other after the summer away. We had other plans for the night. We talked another couple, Kris & Lizanne into "hanging out" with us.

While Kris and Sasha helped to put the boom back on under the glow of our super bright decklights,

Lizanne and I hung curtains and generally organized/polished the interior.

We even took it a step furhter and hauled the 3 foresails up - mainly because we figured brokers would ask questions about them being in the middle of the cockpit floor. Thought, no one commented on our lack of a mainsail :)

A fellow Hoosier named Captain Mike who just happens to be a yacht broker these days wandered on board at the end of one of our viewing days wearing a coconut bra and somehow convinced me to grab my tutu. OF COURSE Sasha only took pictures after Capt. Mike took off the coconuts. Fantastic!