LAW 71: Snow with your wind anyone?

Well we have survived day/night one of Winter storm Jonas, aka Snowmaggedon part deux. We did have to get up once last night to readjust one of our spring lines. The work boat is completely filled with snow, urk i am glad that it is not my job to bail her out. So far everything is fine here, albeit a little chilly. The docks are fairly clear of snow, courtesy of the wind, which does not feel as strong as predicated(not that i'm complaining mind you). Still, we are getting blown about a bit.

I found the way the ice is forming in the fairway interesting. It looks like large, albino lily pads.

looking out towards the hard

Another day of snow, supposed to get another 10" over the course of the day. If you are in the snow zone, stay inside, stay warm and drink heavily, in moderation.

More later,
Morginne

LAW 70: Homemade crackers anyone?

We've been eating out of the freezer for the last couple of days. Brrr! It's been very cold, and four days until i get paid(it really does suck getting paid once a month), so….. when i decided to make fish chowder for supper the other night i was only momentarily flummoxed by the lack of crackers, oyster crackers specifically. After all isn't that what Dr. Google is for? Bingo! A very simple looking recipe popped up immediately courtesy of serious eats.com. It was very simple to make, although my crackers didn't puff up the way i felt they should have. This was probably due to a not hot enough oven. If you don't know; Mungo and i cook on a kerosene Butterfly stove top for which we purchased a small box reflector oven. Ahem, can i say temperature control is always an issue? Why yes i can. But i digress.

Oh ya, don't forget to line the cookie sheet with parchment paper

With my typical disregard for scrupulously following any ingredient list i went ahead and substituted the ingredients i had on hand: whole wheat flour for all purpose white flour, salted butter for the unsalted the recipe called for. I mean, really, butter without salt? Tres boring. Ya ya, i know. So the upshot, crackers that weren't quite as puffy as i would have liked. They were also surprisingly sweet, and just a little to salty. Next time i will cut the salt to 1/2 tsp, and probably omit the sugar completely. It is only there to feed the sugar addiction that most of Americans have. It's not like its feeding a yeast.

Really, there were more than this

So, the recipe as written:
1 cup flour (your choice, but remember, whole grains are so much better for you)
1 tsp each, salt, sugar, baking powder. Mix all dry ingredients together. ADD 2 Tbls cold butter, cut up into little pieces. Work the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles a coarse meal. ADD 1/3 cup of cold water. Once more, use your fingers to mix and knead the ingredients into a smooth ball. Don't over work. Cover and let rest for 15 minutes.  Meanwhile pre-heat oven to 375. Generously flour your work surface, divide your dough into workable portions. Roll out to 1/8" thickness and cut in what ever shape you wish in the 1/2" range. Bake for about 15 minutes, the bottoms will start to color. Turn off heat, open oven door part way and allow to cool in oven. The crackers will continue to crisp up during the cool down period.

Since my oven is a baby one i only baked about half of what the recipe made and refrigerated the rest. You could easily cut the recipe in half as well. Mungo and i ate up what i made, and would have eaten more, so this was a good strategy. Oh ya, the fish chowder was really yummy too.

Yummy fish chowder, Cod to be exact

More later,
Bon appetite
Moregainne

LAW 69: Twelve leaves to go.

Well, i guess the Green man might be done sometime in February. Sigh! I had to move my embroidery hoop today, after finishing yet another large oak leaf.  The good news is, i am over half done. The bad news is i have twelve leaves left to do. Ten of the twelve are yup, you guessed it, large oak leaves. That translates into at least 24 more days of work; that's before finishing off the edge, cutting the background out, and installing any needed hardware. Second sigh. I am beginning to think i am crazy. Oh well, it will be a spectacular piece, i think.

sigh 12 leaves to go

More later,
Morgainne

LAW 68: Sunday supper; Chicken Tortilla soup

Chicken Tortilla soup is one of the easiest winter soups to put together Its semi-homemade status allows the chef to pull it together in about 30 minutes; providing of course that you have cooked chicken and chicken stock already prepared. Alright, so not so….but it can easily be done out of the cupboard.

ingredients ready to go

The only drawback to using all the prepared product is you lose control of the sodium content, which if you are using commercial chicken stock, canned re-fried beans and store salsa can be way beyond healthy.  Regardless it is very yummy, and was a hit for supper on Sunday.

As a note Sunday suppers are almost always for four; and there are almost never leftovers. So keep that in mind when you are looking at my ingredients list, and adjust accordingly.

I had poached three fairly large chicken thighs(my favorite piece of the chicken), so i had a nice rich homemade chicken broth and chicken. Olive oil is my go to choice for sautéing. I used two smallish yellow onions for this soup, three cloves of garlic, and a stalk of celery. These were sautéed until they were tender. For aromatics i used fresh whole cumin seeds, a diced, seeded jalapeño. some fresh ground black pepper, good Mexican oregano and some thyme. Note, no added salt. In went two cans of fat free re-fried beans, most of a jar of a decent, fairly spicy salsa, about a quart of chicken stock, the shredded chicken, and a 16 ounce bag of frozen sweet corn. See what i mean? Easy peasy!  Right before serving stir in about four ounces of grated, sharp Cheddar cheese. Earlier i had toasted up some homemade tortilla strips. I usually garnish this with lime quarters, fresh cilantro, and diced avocado. Couldn't find an avocado remotely near ripe, oh well. As you can see, yummy.

Here's to us, good friends, good food!

Usually we have Sunday supper up in the slip holders lounge, our galley table really isn't big enough for four,  Chris and Shannon have a lovely picnic table on the stern deck. Not at all practical in chilly winter weather. The lounge was out this weekend due to a lack of electricity. So we crowded around our table for two and had a cozy winter's soup supper.

More later,
Bon appetite!
Morgainne

LAW 67: Everything's better with bacon, part two; or Bacon Sprouts forever

Bacon Sprouts?! Bacon Sprouts you say? What the ….. are Bacon Sprouts? Well i was wondering the same thing one evening when Mungo and i stumbled across a Youtube video from the BBQ Pit Boys, titled Bacon Sprouts. We fell in love with the idea  of Brussel Sprouts wrapped in bacon, and have been entertaining our foodie friends with tales of Bacon Sprouts ever since. We finally got around to making them last night, after we were accidentally 'gifted' with a package of said sprouts(but that's another story).

Bacon Sprouts are, according to the BBQ Pit Boys supposed to be grilled over indirect heat. Alas, it was supposed to snow last night; besides which we were out of charcoal, so… i reasoned that there really wasn't all that much difference between grilling and oven roasting. It worked pretty well, although, as you can see, clean up will be a major chore. I really was thinking that i should line the pan with foil. Sigh…..

Note to self, line the pan! It will be a b…. to clean

THE METHOD

Clean and trim your sprouts, being careful to leave enough of the stem end to hold the sprouts together. Blanch them briefly in boiling, unsalted water. Blanching time will depend on freshness and size of the sprouts. The video we saw recommended around 12 minutes, which i thought was excessive.  I blanched ours for about one minute and don't think that was quite enough. So, maybe three??? Drain, and allow to cool enough that you can handle them. They should still be a little warm though. For each Brussel Sprout allow half a slice of good quality bacon. We used an apple smoked bacon from Eckrich. The first couple of sprouts were a little difficult to wrap, but i got the hang of it and it was smooth sailing after that. It helps if the sprouts are still warm, and the bacon is more or less at room temperature. If you sort of stretch the bacon by gently stroking it(tee hee) it will wrap around the sprout more easily. You sort of wrap it around than cross it over. Tuck the lose end underneath. Surprisingly there is no need to pin the bacon. It will 'shrink to fit' as it cooks.

Blanching insures the bright green remains through cooking

Place the wrapped sprouts on a rack over a pan that you have lined with foil.  Right before you pop them into the oven, which has been pre-heated to the vicinity of 450 degrees glaze them with maple syrup. Oh yea!

Note the pools of maple syrup 

The Bacon Sprouts will need to cook for about a half hour. I took them out and re-glazed them at about the 15 minute mark. The BBQ Pit Boys recommended dipping them in your favorite sauce. I thought that that sounded like gilding the lily, but wish i had, as i felt that they needed a touch of hot/savory. Still and all, they were very yummy, and yes, i will definitely make them again.  I suspect that i will make a spicy, savory maple sauce, adding some hots and maybe garlic. hmmmm. We had four Bacon Sprouts a piece, along with some roasted Acorn squash. Altogether a very yummy, quite good for winter eve's meal. After all, every things better with bacon.


Here's to bacon, eat well, and enjoy!
More later,
Morgainne

LAW 66:Between a third and a half

Wow, just finished another four leaves on my GreenMan piece. It feels as if i have been working on it forever! It looks to me that i am somewhere around a third complete with the embroidery, than of course it is time to finish it off. Sigh…

Green Man, still in process

outside leaves are all wired, the background will be cut away

The weather turned cold as promised last night. We, however, did have a beautiful sunset. The light was perfect "golden time", mellow and very photo friendly.

Looking north off the bow of the boat

We did not have a Sunday Supper last night. Chris and Shannon had a work related party. I did however want to share a yummy variation on the traditional Shepard's Pie. Shepard's Pie as you likely know is usually topped with mashed potatoes. This is undeniably excellent, yummy comfort food. It is good to think outside of the box on occasion. This version is topped with mashed pureed Cauliflower, one of my favorite variations. The rest of this is pretty traditional, a pound of organic, grass fed ground beef (Yea Aldi's!), lots of sautéed onion and garlic. Carrots and celery. All of this lightly cooked, with a little added moisture, seasoned with fresh ground pepper, a little red pepper flakes, oregano and thyme, than layered; meat, veggies than topped with the mashed cauliflower. I usually grate a little fresh nutmeg on the cauliflower. You can stop there, but i usually sprinkle the mash with a mixture of bread crumbs and grated cheese. Top with paprika and bake for about a half hour at 350. This will serve four.

Shepard's Pie half covered with mashed cauliflower

Shepard's Pie is a good all around use up all that stuff in the frig/freezer dish. Although it is traditionally made with ground beef, lamb would be just as good, and provide a change of spicing You could veer off into a middle eastern sort of palate. I've never tried it, but i bet this would be yummy with a lima bean puree as the topper, especially seasoned with a little rosemary, lemon, and lots of garlic. Hmmmm.

Just out of the oven, ready to eat

Stay warm, and eat well
More later,
Morgainne

LAW 65: What, you don't believe in global warming?

So today is January 10th. It was 61 degrees at eleven o'clock this morning. What? you say, Morgainne did you move to northwest Florida? Or perhaps Bahama? No folks, this Baltimore, hon!

This is low tide, yes the docks will be under water

We  almost never have south winds during the winter months, but the wind is at gale force out of the south south west. We're really rockin and rollin here on the Floating Empire. i'm pretty sure that high tide tonight will be over the docks. usually we are climbing up the ladder to get off the boat during the winter months.

Oh ya, it will be 26 degrees tonight. Brrr! Time to re-light the karo heater. Sigh. Still in all it has been a very mild winter.

Cat in sunbeam, well dud!

And of course, no blog entry is complete without the obligatory portrait of the cat. We continue to be amazed that anyone would give away such a great cat. But we are happy the fools did, because now this great cat lives with us.

Here's looking at you kid

More later,
Morgainne