Saturday, July 13, 2013

WHAT MY WEIRDO FAMILY DOES FOR FUN ON A SATURDAY MORNING

Obstacle course, mud run--all for a good cause.
The group--Before.
The starting gate.
And--THEY'RE OFF!
Nobody's tired yet.  8-)
First one to find the mud.
Another mudder
Get ready to act like a pig!
Getting down and dirty.
Life is full of obstacles.
Almost to the finish line.
Incoming!
Everybody is a winner.
Big finish!
Yeah, and I'm related to all of these weirdos.


Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Monday, July 8, 2013

PROVISIONS--Inside Passage part 4

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.