A little something to eat while we wait out the weather.

My friend, Becky, requested a recipe and you all know how much I love to cook, so it seems natural that a post about cooking and a recipe should appear from time to time (probably more often than it should). We visited Dan and Becky Kong in Newport, OR for almost two weeks on our trip south. There was a lot of good food. Dan and Becky taught us to crab and how to clean and cook them. When we left we had one bag of crab down in the very bottom of the ice chest. As a celebration for making it to Charleston safely, I decided to use the last bag (sadness- Becky send more CRAB!) to make a souffle. The recipe is as follows:

1 lb cleaned and picked over crab meat
4 tlbspn butter
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cups milk at room temperature
6 separated eggs
dash of cayenne and a dash of dry mustard
1/2 cup Asiago cheese
1/2 cup grated white cheese (jack or swiss)


Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Butter souffle dish. Melt butter over med-low heat. When it is hot add flour and whisk smooth. Cook for a few minutes and whisk the entire time to keep from burning and to help keep it smooth. Remove from heat and add milk a little at a time. Add yolks, salt, pepper, cayenne, mustard, crab, and cheese. Whip eggs white to soft peaks. I do this by hand because they are easier to control and I live on a boat (no electric mixer). It will take about 7 to 10 minutes by hand. You can add cream of tartar or arrowroot to help stiffen the egg whites. GENTLY fold the egg whites into the mixture. When all is folded, pour gently into the souffle dish. Bake in the preheated 400 degree F oven for 30 to 40 minutes. Test with a skewer to see if it is done. Enjoy.

Now, a thing or two about cooking on a boat. Boat ovens for the most part don't regulate very evenly and the temperature needs to be checked every ten minutes to make sure it isn't getting to hot. We also anchor out often and power consumption is a concern. That is the reason I don't usually use electric appliances. I do a lot of hand chopping and mixing. I've found it relaxing as I don't have the normal hectic 9 to 5 life. There is time to spend really preparing a meal. Well, more about my galley later. I'm hoping to take some photos so those of you not living on a boat can understand the compactness of a galley. One must be very organized on a boat and clean up as one goes a long, otherwise you can get overwhelmed quickly.

Well, that's really all for now. I hope my next post is more about our trip, but if you enjoy the cooking side please let me know.

Cheers,
Jerid

Three months and homeless!

Dear Friends,

I don't know who will even read this, but several friends have inquired as to our adventure. It's been a long road (or should I say river) to get here. We started restoring Reisender 6 years ago next month. We've asked ourselves what we were doing on several occasions, I still don't know if we will ever have the answer to that one. What we do know is sitting still is not for us, so after quite a few years, quite a lot of headaches, many anxious days, and a few dollars later, here we are heading down the coast to who knows where. We've had the love and encouragement of many of you and we've had the doubt's of several others (for those of you betting against us.... pay up the the other party).

We left Portland on August 11, 2011, and it has been the slowest 300 miles we ever hope to have. Our happy little floating home has only made it to Charleston, OR, but here we are. September 24, 2011. We used the Columbia River as a test cruise, and we have re-camped each time down the coast to evaluate what needed to be brought up to snuff and make us more sea worthy. The boat is getting better every leg of the journey and so are we.

Sitting in Portland all these years has been difficult for both of us. We have worked hard and watched friends prepare and take off with us standing on the dock. Sometimes tears in our eyes. They've always been wonderful telling us we were next, but then the next friends left and again we were standing on that dock. Casting off from our dock on July 2nd was heaven, but now we are here in Charleston and we found new friends casting off and us standing again on the dock. We know we are only days behind them, but being left behind again with our goal so close is saddening. Our little home is in great shape and ready for the next leg with the exception of our muffler which should be delivered in the next few days. To all our friends who have gone on ahead of us and watched us standing on that dock.... we will catch up to you! That's a promise we intend to keep!