The centerpiece
of the galley on the David B is
Christine’s Heartland Sweetheart wood stove. Its shining chrome and pleasant
warmth welcomes passengers as they step inside the boat.
Christine pulls
desserts, main dishes and scrumptious breads from its oven like a magician
pulling rabbits out of a hat.
Even when I
watched her put together meal after meal I couldn’t figure out how she managed
to conjure gourmet food out of the cupboards and bins in her little kitchen.
I did pick her brain about her bread making and she was very helpful and willing to share information about her methods. Several times I got up early in the morning to observe as she made the breads for the day. We had the place to ourselves, and while she showed me how she worked the dough we could watch sea birds diving for their breakfast in the quiet water of the bay.
While we were
traveling along out in the middle of the open water, Captain Jeffrey pulled up
about a quart of sea water in a bucket and poured it into a pan on the little
black stove.
It boiled away
for a couple of hours and evaporated down to almost a fourth of a cup of sea
salt.
Cranberry scones, egg, spinach and feta cheese frittata with bright red strawberries fresh from the garden were on the menu for one of our breakfasts.
Crisp salads
dressed with a variety of dressings plus chowders and soups appeared for our
lunches.
One of the most
memorable dinners was the sock-eye salmon with quinoa salad and mixed steamed
veggies. I’ve never been much of a fan
of salmon but DH and I both agreed it had a delicate and fresh flavor without
any oily or fishy taste.
After spending one afternoon exploring a small island and gathering fresh oysters and mussels at low tide we were treated to barbecued teriyaki lamb. It was accompanied by red potatoes marinated in butter and snap peas.
Desserts ranged from three berry cobbler and apple pie to ginger cookies and more. Then, just in case we were still hungry there were always plenty of snacks provided.
We ate like
kings for the whole voyage. I’m still
working on burning off all that wonderful butter.