Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

A storm came rolling in today at around 2 pm, the likes of which I've rarely seen. It swallowed up the Chicago skyline in giant swath of greyish black. It billowed up over the pier and when it finally started dumping rain, people ran shrieking for cover. It was quite something. We had to call our sail short, and so made it back to the dock just at 2, before the action started.

Tiki Masala on skewers and Basmati rice cooked with
cardamom pods.

A Sea of Faces 

On Thursday, not long after our arrival, a young refugee deckhand from Mammoth joined our ranks. I call her Mouse because she has a teeny tiny voice for a tall ship sailor. Then last night when Eve and I came back to the ship there were two more faces. "Who are all these strange people on our boat?" I exclaimed.

Palak Paneer and the rice (again).

One was only there for the day, the other was our new first mate, to replace Seth #2 when he goes on a short vacation on Monday. I am calling the new mate Burns, because of his pronounced curly sideburns. On Monday we're getting one more new deckhand. Thus the Tall Ship Shuffle continues.

It's a lot of change to take in during my last weeks. I almost didn't want to give them names. You, dear reader, will hardly get to know them (because of course, neither will I). But who knows? Maybe they will say and do extraordinary things in the next 15 days. Like, for example, when Burns asked about our mail drop situation because he had forgotten his special... fork. Yep, uh-huh.

Naan bread and a cupful of butter.

Dinner was delicious. I mean everything came off perfectly. So I am posting the recipe links. Of course, I did not follow them exactly, but used them as guides for spices. The Tiki Masala was especially good. I let the chicken marinate for much longer than an hour and I don't have a grill, so I rested the skewers on 9 x 13 inch pans. I had planned to also fry up some papadum and blend some mango lassis, but time somehow got away from me...

Saturday's Menu

Breakfast

Once again, the crew was welcome to get breakfast hosted by Navy Pier - hurrah!
Lunch

Buttons' plate.

Sandwich buffet and a salad made with fresh tomatoes and arugula.
Dinner
Naan bread
Palak Paneer
Tiki Masala
Basmati rice
Mango and raisin chutney