This is, in many respects, a pivotal day. I’ve been here long enough for newbies to ask me questions that I can answer with authority, hell I didn’t know jack when I got here a little over a week ago. I know what you’re thinking, OMG what? OK, I never really intended to be here this long, but it is starting to grow on me, and people are asking me if I’m coming to the regatta next year… they say ‘it’s so much fun, you have got to be here’, Humm.
Up at 5:30 am, texted my honey, made breakfast, listened to the cruisers net, examined the Bahamian courtesy flag hanging from the spreader to get a sense of how strong the winds are, about 12 knots. Not bad at all I say to myself, one day this week it’s supposed to blow (wind strength, and over-all feeling about the day).
The boat has been vacuumed, cleaned, and sanitized, did I say cleaned? I mean seriously cleaned, like I don’t recognize it as my boat cleaned. If you were lucky enough to have visited Aine at any point in the past, you would think that this is a different boat, hell I don’t recognize her interior. For the past 7+ years there has been piles of shit everywhere, you’d swear I was a hoarder, each pile was a project, anchor windless, head conversion, AIS receiver and Wifi hot spot, water maker, ice box / refrigerator conversion, new AC circuit breaker panel, additional DC circuit breaker panel, new autopilot, yadee, yadee, yadee… the list goes on and on. Piles of shit everywhere, but not now! One by one the projects have been completed, there are no longer ANY piles of project shit sitting on the settee. Let me repeat that, you could sit on the settee and eat something from the solon table… unencumbered. Huh, imagine that? As I said you would not recognize it, this is the fulfillment of all my plans, it’s beautiful, she’s beautiful… but then again, I slightly biased.
Lunch was an opportunity to develop a new ‘Meals from the Marsh’ recipe. I need something sweet just about every day, throw in some chocolate and boom it’s a party in your mouth. The three-burner stove has an oven that I’ve never used, I imagine that you would use up an entire tank of fuel just running the oven for an hour or two baking something. So, I’ve avoided it in the past, but I got a little risky, a little bit over the edge, on the last shopping trip I actually picked up a box of brownie mix. The mix and water, an egg, a little oil, and an oven and you’ve got brownies baby, soft chocolaty, chewy brownies. I put it in my cart and was fully expecting to leave with it and make Aine culinary history, but… alas not happening, I kind-of chickened out or maybe better said, I was diverted. I got to the refrigerator section of the market, eyed the cut and bake cookies dough packages, and something in my head clicked… I know for many of you this is a scary thing, but I wondered if I could make these cut and cook cookies in a skillet? Why the hell not, I thought. It wouldn’t be the same, but it could be, I don’t know, OK, maybe better. I put the brownie mix back and picked up chocolate chip and sugar cookie dough. I had a little spring in my step as I went through checkout. Today I’ll try and perfect the recipe, I worked on it for an hour and a half, I can confidently say that you can not make cookies on top of the stove like you can in an oven. But… got your attention now don’t I, you can make a cookie that is really good, and not in a traditional way. No, you’re not eating raw cookie dough, although it’s damn good compared to abstinence, but I digress. These are not your Grand-Ma’s chocolate chip cookies, but they are really good in their own right. They are very chocolaty, have a soft crunch, good flavor, and they satisfy the need for COOKIES. Aine’s chocolate crumble cookies. Kind of like brownies, kind of like fudge, but with a crunch.
I can’t wait to try the sugar cookies.
No the private George Town Sailor and Cruiser Facebook group doesn’t have a secret hand shake to join, all you need is for Facebook to work properly. Apparently, when you click on the ‘join’ button it is supposed to ask you some questions, which it didn’t do the first time. I went back today and my join request said it was still ‘pending’, but this time it asked me all the questions it was supposed to. An hour later I was a member. My first act as a member… I posted a message looking for a pair of swim fins so that I could dive the Mermaid for Sarah and take pictures, same for the Thunder-ball Grotto. Within 20 minutes I got a reply from a Motor Yacht that they had a pair of fins that were free for the taking. I contacted them on the radio and made my way to where they were anchored, on the other side of the harbor naturally. But I got them, and they fit,
next in-the-water stop… Rudder Cut and the Mermaid.
Since I was already on the other side of the harbor, the downtown side, I stopped at the dinghy dock, tied up and went into town for lunch/dinner. I stopped at Sherrie’s Tropical Bar, someone has been bar-q-cueing from that location every time I’m in town and the smell of cooking meat always gets my attention. I got a few Sand’s Beers and an order of Conch Fritters with a dipping sauce that is lights-out fantastic, the perfect complement for the fritters.
Breakfast – Fried Kielbasa, Tea, Lunch – Saltine’s with hot salsa, baby carrots, homemade chocolate chip-ish cookies, Dinner – Conch Fritters, Sands Beer.