April 25, 2008

I can't believe it is Friday and that we have been out here a whole week already. We wish we could say that progress is steady but the truth is the winds and the seas are fickle. The only real consistency is that for about three days we would start out the day with rolling seas and light wind but then by mid-morning the wind speed would begin to build to a nice 20+ knots by early evening and we would truly enjoy some smooth sailing, just surfing those big rollers. Then in the night the seas would
kick up the really huge swells, then the wind dies and begins shifting all about; coming from crazy directions vacillating about and we are back in the washing machine once again on the agitate cycle. Today's winds have mimicked this unpredictability to the extent I see frustration and despair written on my dear husband's face. We love sailing, but this is not the fun part, especially when the boom is slamming and the sails are flogging it just jolts us and Destiny. It has been hard work and lots
of going off course just to try to capture the wind and keep from getting stuck in the agitator motion. We are resisting running the motor unless it becomes very necessary.
When sailing is like this it does get tiresome having to brace yourself in the galley while trying to chop and mix and construct, but you really do get used to it eventually. We try not to get caught in the same old, same old when it comes to food because we love to eat! So at mid day I thought I'd try to get creative with lunch to at least break the monotony a bit. When we sat in the cockpit to munch, Frank commented on how good my latest concoction was and asked me what it was. Of course I said,
"I don't know I just started putting things together that seemed good at the time". I was going for light and refreshing because it is warm out here. He then said, "You know Barb, we get pretty creative out here and maybe we should write these things down so we will remember them, in fact, let's put them in our blogs to share with our friends. " So here is the Friday Blue Plate Special that we had for lunch today: ...
In med bowl combine
1 can albacore white tuna, drained
Chopped onion (2 slices off a lg. onion, chopped)
1/2 chopped large roma tomato
2 T dried cranberries*
2 T broken walnuts*
2 T chopped fresh cilantro*
1 dollop real mayo*
juice of ½ fresh key lime
Mix all of the above and salt and pepper to taste, then I served it in a bowl over a bed of salad lettuce and sliced avocados, topped with a dash of ground ginger. We ate it with Kashi crackers.
*The measurements are only relative because I used what looked right to me.
Enjoy!