A Few More Secrets

Me, the last time I ever cleaned Ol' Dies'.

I thought of a few more secrets. Since the first set was so appreciated, I racked my brain for more. Several friends have written me on Facebook or email with good tips, too, some of which I wish I could have used on the boat, but couldn’t because of freezer space (or lack thereof), or lack of space in general.

But here are a few more:

1. Make your own salad dressings and pickles. I pickle peppers, green beans, red onions, green onion bottoms, eggs, carrots and more. And you don’t have to can them, you can put them in old plastic yoghurt containers. Works just fine. They make great additions to sandwiches, Indian curries, hamburgers, etc. I’ve only bought two bottles of salad dressing since I got onboard – Caesar for Cap, because I don’t think she would’ve liked my homemade variety; and Ranch because Rigby was a Ranch dressing addict and it was cheaper than buying sour cream and making it myself.
2. Freeze herbs. The last cook on this boat told me that he couldn’t afford herbs. This always struck me as funny when I saw all the things he did afford… like store-bought bread. But it’s all where you choose to spend your energy. I love fresh herbs. But it’s hard to keep them fresh under these conditions. I do have a basil plant and what remains of a mint plant that some spider mites got to. But my real trick has been to freeze cilantro and mint and basil. No, they aren’t quite as good as fresh herbs, but better than dried when making, say, a pico de gallo.
3. Accept gifts and never turn away free food. I think this is harder for the individual or a family – I mean, how often does someone just leave you with free food? Tonight we had a reception on the boat, and the hosts offered me the remains of a platter of smoked trout and another of smoked whitefish (both made locally by a some Native American guy, apparently). Of course I took them! We’re having smoked whitefish salad sandwiches tomorrow. I’m gonna put it on the table with thinly sliced red onions, mayo, celery, and celery seed, and let everyone build their own. Momma Smith, and Harrison’s Mom both bestowed the boat with a ton of food, and I put every bit of it into the crew’s diet. I guess as a private individual, I would recommend looking into wild edibles. Today on my run I saw wild sweet peas, wild anise, an apple tree in someone’s yard with apples strewn across the lawn. I almost stopped to see if they were going to use the apples.
4. When I lived in Sweden, no restaurant had doggie bags. It’s really frowned upon. I’m not sure why. Maybe it looks desperate or something. But it’s amazing how many great meals I’ve made with leftovers. I distinctly remember one Christmas meal (julbord) when several people at the table couldn’t finish their filet mignon(!). I shamelessly had all of them boxed up and ate steak sandwiches for the next two days. Totally worth the looks I got.
5. Don’t buy breakfast cereal. I have a few on-hand. But they are expensive - and they move so slowly they get stale. This is because I make a hot breakfast almost every day. I also make a homemade granola and the crew almost always goes for that over the store-bought cereal. Google Early Bird Granola. The recipe is created by a friend of mine in New York. Her bags of granola sell for $9 each. Make the recipe and you’ll see why.

Position Filled

"What a treat," I heard Captain Smiley exclaim.

You’re too slow. The captain announced this morning that he’s found my replacement. See what I mean by the little world of tall ships? Up went the post on the billet bank; in came the responses. All I can say is: You’re missing out! Actually, the main thought coursing through my mind is: Pfew, I don’t have to feel guilty about leaving them in the lurch.

Layover in Traverse Bay
We made a pitstop in Traverse City around dinnertime last night, and our plan is to leave again bright and early tomorrow morning for Northport, a little town near the mouth of Traverse Bay. If it’s deep enough, we’ll do daysails there tomorrow – and the town has offered to host two barbecues, at lunch and dinner, to feed all of us. Splendid. That’s two less meals I have to cook.

Throughout the morning, every time I thought about the fact that I’ve got two weeks left I would suddenly burst out with unintelligible utterances, such as: “Wooh—ahh-hee-heh-hee-haw.” To celebrate, I made the crew sushi for lunch. I’ve been meaning to make sushi since Captain Flash left, but it’s been hard to gather up all the ingredients.

I started looking at my bunk today, thinking about packing it all up. It’s surprisingly little, yet surprisingly much. I might have to send my stack of aprons home to Mom, parcel post. I’ve made a list of all the things I’m going to throw out: my tennis shoes, most of my socks and underwear, two shirts that are irrevocably stained with black soot from the diesel stove... Then I noticed later today while trying on dresses at a women’s clothing store that maybe I should throw out most of my clothes. The boat smell is detectable even on clean laundry.

Wednesday’s Menu
Breakfast
Chilaquiles
Lunch
Sushi:
Shrimp tempura with avocado
Snow crab with avocado and carrots
Marinated tofu, avocado and carrots
Deep-fried squid tentacles and avocado
Dinner
KFC… um… yeah.. well, the crew got the afternoon off, except the duty person and… well, me, if people wanted me to make dinner. The fo’c’s’le clued in and all the deckhands texted me to say that they would not join for dinner. But sure enough, Harrison and Burns wanted their meal prepared. Not being too keen on this, and wanting to take off to the beach like everyone else, I caved. And Kentucky Fried is was.

Desperately Seeking Sea Cook

My apron collection - almost complete.

Captain Smiley came into the main salon a few minutes ago and interrupted my nap to say that my replacement would not be coming…that if I wanted to stay, he’d love to have me.
 
If I was a really nice person, and if I had been given more than two days off in a row in the last six months, and if I could have breakfasts off… even just two days a week… and if I didn’t have an amazing lover waiting for me in New York City… maybe, just maybe I would stay. But I’m not that nice. I’m beat. I’m so checked out there’s a vacancy sign above my bunk. But wait – maybe you’d like to take the job?
 
Here’s my sales pitch:
 
Drop Everything.
Okay, many of you can’t do this. You have kids; you can’t drop them. But imagine dropping the rest of it – the desk job at the 9 to 5 grind, the same old thing you do Friday night and the television shows you watch on Thursday. The car and the repairs you’re putting off. The lawnmowing, and especially the edging. The laundry – ugh. Leave it, all of it, and jump blindly into the great unknown. 

See the world.
Not all of it, but a beautiful little chunk of it. Starting with Bay Harbor, Michigan, you’ll wind your way around the mitten, past Detroit (where you can hail one of the few remaining mailboats and deliver… well… a four-by-four or even a donkey if you’re so inclined!), then through the Welland Canal – be sure to make amaretto cupcakes in my honor, and on to the Thousand Islands where you’ll taste that dressing right there where it originated.

This time around, we got to 
see Sleeping Bear and the islands. Hurrah!

Stop in Clayton, one of the cutest towns ever – where you’ll get a free pass to the Antique Boat Museum, and maybe even a ride in one of the boats out and around the islands. Eat a first class meal and drink some Riesling on the patio at Bella’s and watch the boat traffic. Buy some River Rat cheese and send a postcard to me. If you’re lucky the mayor will take you grocery shopping.

Then keep heading upriver, stopping at another yet-to-be determined Thousand Island port town before spending a few days in glorious Montreal – where, this time, you’ll be allowed to get off and hug your friends who live there. Or maybe even just hug a French-speaking person. Why not?

Next up, more locks. Then it's up and out of the St. Lawrence you go, around the tip of Nova Scotia – bring your wellies and your heavy weather gear and if you don’t have any, I can send you mine.

Then head down the eastern seaboard to a few ports I’ve never been so you’ll have to tell me all about it… in fact, start a blog, will ya, so I can live vicariously. I’d like that. Then keep on with the boat until she gets to Mystic for the winter maintenance program. It’s not all that long a ride – but what a ride it will be.

Did I mention they do the dinner dishes?
And all the dishes when underway!

Make whatever food you want.
(Within the budget, of course, but we’ve already established how you’ll do that.) Other than the commemorative cupcakes mentioned above, you will actually be paid to make stuff like blintzes for breakfast, sandwiches on homemade bread for lunch, Phad Thai and Green Curry for dinner, and macadamia nut cookies for midnight snack!

Learn how to sail.
Whenever you want, you can go up on deck and, to quote Seth #2, "Tug on lines like sailors of yore."

Be surrounded by excellent company.
Okay, maybe one will drive you crazy. One will be just plain weird. One will follow you around like a puppy dog hoping for scraps. And one will look at you like you’re the crazy one. But almost all of them will praise your cooking abilities and eagerly await whatever it is you’re bringing out of the galley at any moment.

Your time is your own.
Other than making sure the meals go out on time, and the coffee pot is always filled, you are free to do whatever you want. Okay, you can’t jump off the boat when it’s moving, you can't wear headphones when underway, you can't be barefoot in the galley, and I'm sure there's something I'm forgetting... but other than that…

Remind yourself that you’re alive.
Maybe you already knew this. Maybe you’re a nurse and you take your pulse regularly. But if you’ve forgotten… if you feel out of touch…this job will remind you. It will take you out of the real world and plunk you down in a place outside of time, on a magical thing called a schooner. And when you’re done, it will leave you changed.

The lake was so still, our wake
could be seen a half mile back.

The compensation package
You're gonna need your own insurance and the pay is pretty low – after phone bills and storage unit costs, I’m not sure I made a dime. But there’s other stuff to life than money, right? And if you’re luckier than I, maybe you can rent out your place – then you only have that phone bill. Maybe you’ll come away with a small nest egg?

You get one day off each week, except in transit. It's highly unlikely that you'll get a vacation, but who needs one when you're livin' the dream?

I've been hard at work stocking the boat - so you'd be unlikely to run out of anything for months except dairy, vegetables and meat. There's a healthy basil plant and every spice under the sun. Even the diesel stove is functioning well these days.
 
So, if I've convinced you, or if you know of anyone, the position is available August 28th. They only need someone for a few months, so you don’t really have to drop everything… just put it on hold. Send me an email and I’ll connect you with the real people behind the real schooner, which is not called the Marlin, but still has a nice name and will still go on all the amazing adventures highlighted above.
 

Pate for Banh Mi.

Tuesday’s Menu
Breakfast
Cheddar biscuits and sausage gravy
Lunch
Banh mi sandwiches: Vietnamese pate on homemade French bread with pickled of all sorts
Dinner
Bread-in-a-pot
Petite steaks that sat in a rub of French herbs and Asian spices and then were pan-seared on each side
Wide Homestyle Egg Noodles in mushroom sauce
Tossed salad with cherry tomatoes
 
 
 
 

Last Transit

Leaving Chicago in the ...dust?

Now that I’ve divulged a few secrets, I’m raiding my closet to find a few more. What else have I not said? I'm not telling who slept with who, or who drives who crazy. What else is there? That I freeze my herbs? I'll have to keep thinking.
 
Today we high-tailed it out of Chicago so fast the skyline was dissolving in blue before I had time to stick my head up out of the galley hatch after lunch. I guess not everyone on the crew (aka., the captain) is as keen on cities as I am.
 
There’s very little wind, so we’re motoring our way across the lake. I’m hoping for a swim call when we get to Traverse Bay, but that might not be until tomorrow morning. 
 
This will be my last transit. Once we get to Bay Harbor, there’ll be no more overnight sails on the Marlin. No more waking up to a sunrise with sea in every direction, or putting the midnight snack out, or taking long afternoon naps because dinner is at 7:30 pm. 

Sunset on Lake Michigan.

Outside of Time
We're out of cell phone coverage and that just seems to reinforce for me the fact that we're cut off. Not just here and now, on Lake Michigan, but most of the time this small group of people (what can there be, a thousand tall ship sailors out there?) spend their lives, cut off from the rest of the world. They don’t have houses or cars. They don't day-trade, or have 401Ks. They rarely buy anything except gear; even new clothes are often purchased at the Good Will. They don’t pay rent. They don’t buy food – unless you count ice cream and beer. Their impact on society is minimal.
 
Tall ships aren’t fulfilling a societal need. Nobody needs us, relies on us. And most of the time they think we’re pirates – so they don’t even know what they’re looking at to begin with.
 
And yet. I love the expression I sometimes hear on deck: the Marlin is a living piece of history. A little bit of majesty from a bygone era. So what if no one needs us? We exist to be the keepers of a tiny piece of the world’s memory, reminding people wherever we go of what a magical place we once thought the sea to be.
 
The tall ship sailors are a strange lot. If I believed in reincarnation, I might suspect that the tug of the sea is so strong in them that it is handed down, begun before they were born. But I don’t believe in past lives. I believe that for the most part, they are a bunch of misfits who, like the ships they sail, don’t quite fit in the real world, but belong instead, hovering on the outskirts.
 
I love the fact that, for as much as we are an attraction for the public, for all the people who walk our decks and peer into our mysterious and other-worldly lives – we are actually doing the same thing in reverse. Tall ship sailors go from port to port, peeking in on worlds they will never inhabit, amused by the goings-on of a society in which we play no part.
 
So here we go. One last port. One last show. Here's to making it a good one.

Monday’s Menu
Breakfast
Bread pudding with dates and cinnamon
Watermelon
Lunch
Sandwiches – I broke every rule on yesterday’s post. I bought honey-cured sandwich ham slices; expensive stilton cheese with apricots in it, and goat gouda (they loved both). I bought organic, pre-washed spinach and a sourdough batard at Trader Joe’s and they made sandwiches for themselves.
Dinner
Chuck steak slow-cooked in the oven in brown sugar, salt, pepper and chili flakes
Ravioli (another thing I never buy – but I wanted an easy meal day) tossed in olive oil
Zuchinni and yellow squash oven-baked with onions and garlic and salt and pepper. Easy.
Glass noodle salad with mint and thai basil and chopped peanuts and dried shallots.
Dessert
White chocolate macadamia nut monster cookies
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Secrets to Surviving on $6 a Day

We leave Chicago tomorrow at noon. It feels like we were barely here. Captain Smiley has decided to plug in an additional stop in Northport up on the Leelanau Peninsula before our long last week in Bay Harbor, Michigan. Two more ports to go.

Today when I went provisioning I indulged in ingredients for sushi and stocked up on some Costco items the new cook might have trouble buying in bulk anytime soon. And this made me think that with so little time left on this gig, it might be high time to divulge some secrets. Starting with the answer to the question most people ask: how do you do it on $6 per person per day?


There's no question that working on a budget has changed the way I think about food and shopping. I used to think: I am in the mood for X. Then I would go and buy ingredients for X. Often X would involve prosciutto, truffle butter, goat cheese and other high-end ingredients.

When I first started on the Marlin, there's no way I could have afforded to buy such luxuries - but strangely enough, now I do - and here's how.

1. Bulk purchasing. Where would I be without Costco? I only shop there about once a month, but it enables me to bulk up on meats and items like canned beans or condiments and drink mixes and cheese and nuts. I'm not as impressed by the value of buying produce there. I almost always get better prices and it's fresher at the regular grocery store. But hurray for bulk butter and eggs!

2. A well-stocked pantry. This may sound like it doesn't go hand in hand with bulk purchasing, but I having a variety of items at hand saves you money in the end. Every time I go to the store, I spend money - and usually I spend more than I need to because I'm buying items that aren't on my list. Sure, we'll eat those extra items, eventually, but if I don't go to the store as often, I can get us by on pantry items a lot longer and it forces me to use up things that need using up. A meal can be made out of flour and onions. A good meal. Like caramelized onion pizza. Or the onion gravy I made one morning for Eve to go with her biscuit - it was just as popular as the meat version and cost a fraction as much.

3. Price-watching. When Captain Flash went shopping for me one day, I told her it was hard for me to tell her which vegetables, but that I rarely bought a vegetable over $1.99 a pound. In fact, if possible, I only buy them if they're around $1 a pound. Meats, too. When I go shopping, I don't have a set menu. I just know I need enough proteins for one week (or two, if in transit). I look at all the meats, and try to stay around $3/lb. If I get chicken for $1.50/lb., I can buy brisket for $4.50, etc. 

Right now, we have in the freezer, a whole chicken, a beef brisket, a gargantuan pork shoulder, two 5 lb. bags of ground beef, chorizo, smoked sausage, two packages of Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage, and a ham. Out of this, I will get at least eight dinners, four lunches and four breakfasts.

4. Never buy these things: sandwich meats, bread products, pre-mixed baking items. I never would have thought about it before - if I wanted sandwich turkey, I would've bought it. But the per pound cost of sandwich meat is CRAZY. I'm trying to recall, but I think I looked at a family pack at the last grocery store, which had ham and turkey and something else in it, and it was probably only about a .25 pounds of meat. I think the cost was around $7 for the package. That's $28 a pound. Okay, let's say my numbers are off. It seems crazy. But let's say I'm off by half - that it was a half pound of meat. That's still $14 a pound. You can get prosciutto for $10. And when you consider that it's been through all that processing, the meat you can put on your sandwich that came from last night's meal will always be fresher. Even when it's a week old. 

Bread products. I have a whole new perspective on this. I would probably still scrimp in order to get really lovely bread. But when you buy the cheapest bag of hamburger buns, you could be buying a whole 5 lb. bag of flour. You could be getting at least five bags of buns for the same price, and probably yours will have more protein and more flavor. I currently have a standard arsenal of three bread recipes: a honey wheat sandwich loaf, a bun recipe, and the amazing bread in a pot, which works as a great substitute for french bread because of its crusty exterior and soft insides.

Pre-mixed. Let's just say pre-mixed anything is a bad idea. You are paying for someone to mix something. Do you have 15 minutes? Mix it yourself. It's just to look at the price tag: At least $1.99 for the average brownie mix. That's the cost of 5 lb. bag of flour.

5. Drink water. I keep several drink mixes on hand. It would get boring if all we ever drank was water. On the other hand, if you don't miss it, go without. I'm always shocked at how little I get out of one of those frozen apple juice rounds. Barely enough for everyone to get a cup. Which means I should buy two... which means there goes one person's entire dietary allowance - $6. Which reminds me, a great flavored water can be made by putting your fruit rinds in the water pitcher - tangerine, orange, lemon, you name it. 

6. Buy dried milk. I'm surprised at how I'm able to use dried milk with little or no change to a recipe. I still buy cream - I love to add a few tablespoons to the marinara, or to scrambled eggs. But in general, I don't miss the milk. You want it on your cereal? Switch to yoghurt - you'll cut out all those hormones and antibiotics clogging up our milk today and you'll get all those healthy bacteria instead. Better yet, make your own yoghurt (I keep meaning to do this....).

7. Eliminate waste. I know, this is redundant, but it's worth noting that I waste very little. On our big transit from Wilmington to Greenport, I filled only one large black trash bag. Granted, I had repackaged things ahead of time, and we were throwing metal and food slops overboard, so the only stuff making it in the trash was plastics. Still, on a regular basis, very little food goes un-eaten. Old bread goes into bread pudding or bread salad or gets ground up for breadcrumbs. Yesterday's dinner brisket becomes today's taco meat. Grease from the bacon is a lard substitute in making tortillas. Etc.

8. Go to the cheaper grocery stores when you can. I mean, if you want that lovely Italian cheese that's been sitting aging in wine dregs, it won't be cheap - no matter where you go. But today I went out of my way to go to the most amazing Asian market in Chicago. I found it on the Internet. I was able to buy those large cans of coconut milk - which you don't ever see at regular grocery stores - for less than I would usually pay for the regular size can. I bought a ton of food for $30. I had the same experience at Family Dollar in Ludington: I wouldn't buy meat there, but I got a few good-looking vegetables, and saved big on canned goods. It was well worth the extra stop.

So here's an interesting question I was asked: will I live like this when I get back to mainland living? Will I be convinced to live on $6 a day? It's tough. I love to eat out. Being here in Chicago makes me really miss all the food options a big city has to offer.

On the other hand, think about it. For a single gal, living on $42 a week, if I could just find free rent, I'd hardly have to work at all. But of course, I wouldn't have time to work either. I'd be baking bread and slow-cooking meat and pickling vegetables. That's the cost that isn't reflected in the tips above. Living on $6 requires time. A lot of it. In fact, you should probably think about hiring your own full-time cook. I think I know one who'll be available soon...

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

Day on the Town in Chi-Town

Since we got to Chicago, I’ve been in overdrive. I haven’t had to make breakfast, which gives me plenty of time in the mornings to get up, run 5 miles, shower, and then get to work. Our first full day here, before lunch I had baked a new batch of granola, made honey-wheat sandwich bread for the weekend, baked buns for hamburgers (the meal that night) and made an afternoon snack of 7-layer bars.

That’s the other perfect thing about our schedule here: because we’re doing four sails a day, we take the lunch break at 2:30, and dinner at 7:30 pm. This gives me tons of time to do accomplish things. On Thursday I was able to skip the afternoon sail and go apply for a new passport, AND get a mani-petti before the evening sail. And since I’d already formed the burgers, all I had to do was cook them off and make a tossed salad.

If I Told You, I’d Go Bankrupt
This has all worked in my favor since the main thing I’ve been preoccupied with since getting to Chicago has not been the crew (sorry, guys!), but the call-back I got for that new chef competition show – which was yesterday.

After my morning run, I looked through my wardrobe dejectedly – I didn’t bring anything to wear that I’d want to see myself in on television. If only I could bring my storage units with me like that gigabite in the sky that Apple keeps for me, so I could just pull down my nice dresses and heels in a pinch.

So I chose the best options, applied a temporary artichoke tattoo for good luck (don’t worry, mom, it didn’t show), and headed off for my first professional hair cut in over a year. Shoo-hoo! What a lovely thing. I highly recommend Patrick at Robert Jeffrey if you’re in need of a haircut in Chicago. (Thanks, Turbo!)

So… you want to know more about the show? I can’t tell you. I honestly don’t know anything about it – but I’ve also signed an agreement under threat of a one million dollar fine if I leak anything. But I went through the motions, did the interview and … well, who knows? It was the kind of thing I’ve never done. (I never imagined I would want to be on T.V.) But now I’ve done it. It wasn’t that hard. Though I wish I’d talked slower. Like I said, I’ve been in overdrive.

Aftermath
So what do you do in Chicago after a call-back? Eve and I got root beer floats and then went on a hunt for a 10-cup French press. I brought Thai food from Star of Siam back to the boat, and then Buttons, Harrison and Eve and I (who all had the day off) headed back there for a relaxing meal of our own, with cocktails and good conversation and – great Thai food. When we got back, Harrison and I took a quick spin around the Ferris wheel (free for tall ship sailors!).

As we floated above the city lights, Harrison said he didn't know about this big city thing. He preferred the smaller towns. But I was surprised how much I liked it: places to run and neighborhoods and parks to explore; great restaurants all around you; a Ferris Wheel to ride. Yep, I'll take Chicago anyday.

Friday's Menu
Breakfast
A raspberry smoothie
Lunch
A rootbeer float
Dinner
Mee Grob (Crispy sweet fried noodles)
Thai salad spring rolls
Sum Tum (Papaya salad)
Fried catfish in a red curry sauce (delicious!)
Noodles in Thai gravy (not to write home about)
Chicken and broccoli in peanut sauce

Cabin Fever

Man, I wish I were elsewhere. It was one of those days where I just didn't want to play mom to a bunch of twenty-somethings anymore. I didn't want cigarette smoke wafting into my galley. I didn't want to listen to the endless chatter of the fo'c's'le as I made dinner alone.

Fortunately, these days are few and far between. It'd been a long day. I didn't get my run in this morning because I was pretty beat. After lunch, I headed off to provision. I spent around $585. As soon as I put dinner on the table, I took off running. I'm not even sure I tasted the dish to adjust for salt or pepper. I just put it out there. 

I ran out to the lighthouse and back and through the neighborhoods, singing all the lyrics to old Kanye West songs, and planning my day tomorrow. We leave for Chicago at 8 AM, which means breakfast at 7:30. I'm going to put the coffee cake in the oven at 6:30. Then I'm going to get a run in while it bakes. When I get back, I'll put it on the table, run and take a shower, then come back and clean and start the stove as we get underway. It's gonna be a busy morning. 

We'll arrive in Chicago for the Taste of Tall Ships Festival a little over 24 hours later, around noon on Wednesday - and then the fun begins. Our schedule has us sailing four times, four days in a row. 

If you're in the Chicago area, come sail with us!

Monday's Menu
Breakfast
Dutch baby
Lunch
Spaghetti Bolognese
Dinner
Pasta, again, with Italian sausage, onions, garlic, carrots, bell peppers and broccoli
Foccaccia with shredded aged provolone, salt and pepper on top
Tossed salad

I Got All My Sisters With Me

Okay, not all of my sisters, but two of them did drive several hours to come sailing with us today. Unfortunately, the third one couldn't make it, but she was missed. I hope L and R enjoyed it. I was a little frazzled. This whole application process just puts more on my plate than usual - and I can already barely make it through a day with time enough to myself. 

The other day I booked a flight to New York departing on the 30th. So before my sisters left I packed my backpack full of stuff that I don't want to lug with me there: my Nalgene bottle, my rain jacket, my one-cup coffee press; books; my hand-held food processor (aka., "wand")... and a handful of other things. It felt very definite. It made real the fact that I'm leaving soon, that the jig is almost up, and I have no clue where the road ahead will lead.

A summery version of Corned Beef and Cabbage.

Sunday's Menu
Breakfast
Cheese grits with Asiago, caramelized onions and chipotle
Eggs coddled in bacon grease and butter
Bacon
Lunch
Corned beef on hash browns with cabbage slaw and pickled carrots
Dinner
I was going to make paella, but the mussels I pulled out of the freezer smelled awful, and the shrimp was freezer-burned, and I hadn't really thought through how I would make a vegetarian version and a meat version with only one hotplate... so I changed plans and made red beans and rice that didn't really cook long enough, and turned out more like soup... it tasted good but was not my best meal. I really felt like I was off my game. But I was also lower on ingredients than I've ever been... so there weren't a lot of options... Later, I realized I should've made spaghetti bolognese, but whatcha gonna do?

My dinner was different, though. My sisters and I went to the Blue Moon Bistro and I ordered tuna sashimi and a dry martini.

All Over the Map

A Ludington sunset.

I'm sitting at the Jamesport Brewery in Ludington, drinking a Manhattan. Beside me Eve and Harrison sit typing on a laptop and smartphone, respectively. It's the oddest night at a bar I've had in a while.

I'm making sketches of dishes I could make on cocktail napkins. Fortunately, I had the day off, so I could spend five hours filling out a 25-page application for that chef competition show. And now all I can think about is food. The fact that I don't know how to skin a rabbit (no, they didn't ask this), and that I have a habit of doing things that might make me look ridiculous on camera - like the moment, right after Eve stopped filming me tonight, when the horseradish honey container exploded... all over the galley. A half hour later Eve stopped me: "You still have some on your neck."

A question that occurs to me periodically is, How do I come across? If I were to see me through the eyes of a producer, what would I see? What type am I? Would I fit the bill?

Big Day
I also have another big day tomorrow: two of my sisters are coming sailing with us! So even though I'm really really low on food (read: proteins), I have to find something I can impress them with. I do have some seafood in the freezer... Maybe pallella?

Saturday's Menu
Breakfast
A smidgeon of the pumpkin roll I bought from the Amish farmer who looked like a parody of himself, bowlcut and all
Lunch
A spicy pulled BBQ pork taco from Bones and Butts. Delicious.
Dinner
I bought the crew a big family pack from Bones and Butts, and used my free time to plate a dish on my own clock. Eve filmed me as I created and plated a summer version of Corned Beef and Cabbage. I have video, but you know how that goes. Plus, if I submit it for the contest, it may be against contest rules. So you'll just have to use your imaginations!

The Taste of Freedom

Chicken and rice.

There's something magical about waking up on the hook, the waters around you like glass. The sun coming up over the dunes back on land. More than anything, I wanted to jump off the boat for a morning swim. But that would've caused a man overboard call, Harrison informed me the other day. Oh! How I long for my freedom! To jump off an anchored boat whenever I want to! 

What was it Captain Dashing said about incarceration?
I'll be free soon enough. 

It was another day spent focusing on making photo-worthy dishes for the audition. It's a good thing that I have this new reason to cook well, to keep me from getting lazy in my final weeks and making soft tacos and marinara all the time.

I wasn't able to get a lot of the ingredients I'd hoped for at the market in Frankfort - it was the most overpriced and poorly stocked butcher counter I've seen in our travels. The fruit and vegetable selection was equally bad: all of their cherries came from Washington State (!). So what do you do? I reused a lot of ingredients today. The leftover plum salsa went into the chutney at lunch, along with the watermelon pico. I used the steak again (expensive as it was, it fed us three meals!). I was also working under a few other constraints: it was Captain Flash's last day. I didn't want to make anything she couldn't eat. Let me rephrase: I wanted to make sure there was stuff on the table that she would eat. 

She likes chicken. She likes rice. She likes chorizo. And carrots.

So I chopped up some carrot sticks. Baked two chickens and made some rice. The rest I'm sure she would't eat. 

At some point after breakfast, J-bird and I discussed this lack of freedom. He had been living on his boat before coming to join us. He's about ten years older than I am, and thinking about becoming a sea captain. A bold move, some would say. So he's trying to get more sea time. He agreed, it's a strange thing to give up all your freedoms and come to this. "I'm still getting used to it," he said. 

He's been lucky enough to sleep in the main salon until now, because the fo'c's'le has been full, but with Butler's departure, he's been asked to move on in. I don't know how I'd cope in a little space with a bunch of 21-year-olds. After dinner, when we were cleaning up, I played him this brilliant story by Boris Timanovsky called Pen Pal, which I heard on the Moth podcast. You'll just have to listen to it to see how it ties in. 

Crowds beside the lighthouse to welcome us.

Gone
After dinner a bunch of us had a drink at the bar to toast Captain Flash on the eve of her departure. Then Buttons serenaded Cap on her ukelele with a song she wrote. It was a strangely low-key ending to her time with us. I feel like we should have been dancing and blowing horns. I feel like, most of all, we were missing a few key players: Bly and Rigby and Smith for starters. Missing elements aside, I hope she knows how much we enjoyed her leadership. 

Butler also left today, to get to college orientation. Yep. Young thing. And we're back down to ten again. 

Navajo taco.

Thursday's Menu
Breakfast
Wheat germ pancakes
Sausage links
Lunch
Chicken and rice with:
Plum and apricot chutney 
Carrots pan-seared in rice wine vinegar, salt and pepper
Spinach sauteed with garlic, salt, pepper, siracha and soy sauce
Reduction sauce made from reducing the liquid the brisket was cooked in on Wednesday night
Dinner
Navajo tacos:
Fly bread
Pineapple fried rice with carrots and onions for Eve, and another version with chorizo and no onions for Captain Flash
Pickled red onions
Pickled banana peppers
Chipotle mayonaise
Watermelon pico de gayo (I still had watermelon I needed to use)
And leftover steak

When it Blows

Plum salsa.

Every day now seems so prescient, so full of meaning. With only 25 days left on my contract, I have that quickening feeling I used to get as a kid as summer vacaon came to a close.

I've loved being in Frankfort. This morning I ran out to the lighthouse in a 25 knot wind, with the waves hitting the breakwater and splashing over the concrete making my sneakers wet. Then I ran through the neighborhoods, old, sturdy Michigan homes with their yards and gardens in all their late summer glory. I even found a house I want to buy: 505 Leelanau St.

When I bought my apron at the local kitchy gift shop, the cashier told me it was made by an older local lady who needed the money. I wanted to meet this lady and help her out by upselling her aprons. When I asked after a butcher, and the cashier told me there wasn't one, I thought aloud, "Well, maybe I should move here and open a butcher shop!" (Not that I know the least thing about running a butcher shop!) I could just see myself here, having a life by the lake.

The completed tostada.

Moving On
But, as is our plight, it inevitably came time to leave. We sailed this morning for Ludington, as the weather service continued to issue a small craft advisory. The winds were still high and the waves rocked the boat pretty hard as we left the shelter of the breakewall. It was some of the heaviest weather I've seen on the Marlin.

Not long after lunch I got a phone call from the captain of the ship I mentioned yesterday. When it rains. Or should I say when it blows...?

He's looking for someone to start in March at the latest, possibly for their yard period starting in November. And a year-long contract. It could all work out perfectly.


Full crew with supercargo
With two passengers, we're topped out at fourteen onboard. We also have three captains among us - our new leader, Captain Smiley; our first mate, Seth #2, who will be relief captain for Captain Smiley after Bay Harbour; and our beloved Captain Flash.

The changeover will be complete when we arrive in Ludington and Captain Flash leaves us for other adventures.

Right now we're sitting on the hook, about three miles out from Ludington, so we can make our grand arrival tomorrow at noon. The crew just watched a short film called, "Around Cape Horn."

I've been working hard all day to film my cooking and food; a tough job when all the deckhands are hard at work. And I made dishes for lunch and dinner that feel very "me" ... They were well recieved; with the exception of Captain Flash, everyone even loved the grits! There was not a shred of food leftover.

Wednesday's Menu
Breakfast
Sour cream coffee cake
Watermelon
Lunch
Tostadas with:
Caramelized onions in balsamic, salt and pepper
Leftover ribeye diced and briefly reheated in a skillet with lime juice, salt and pepper
Mozzarella cheese because I couldn't find queso blanco
Plum salsa
Sour cream
Watermelon pico de gallo
Dinner
Brisket slow-cooked in soy sauce, vermouth, brown sugar, siracha, white and black pepper
Nassau-like Grits (cooked in bacon grease, with bacon, onions, jalapeños, tomatoes, mayonnaise, chicken broth and worchestshire sauce, salt and lots of freshly ground pepper
Warm-pickled yellow squash (essentially sautéed in rice vinegar), with salt and pepper and mixed with fresh chopped basil
Broccoli in vermouth, siracha and brown sugar with dried cherries an bacon
Dessert
Cherry pie from the bakery in Frankfort

Maybe Life is a Picnic...

Crew devouring their meat.

What a day. Captain Smiley said a few days ago that we had a little extra cash in the crew slush fund and that we should spend it. I suggested we spend it on ribeye, and he agreed! So yesterday I had the butcher counter slice me ten 2-inch-thick slabs of beef. I walked across the street to the fish market and bought a whitefish filet for Eve and Butler (the latter likes meat, but for some reason, not steak...?!). 

Storms flew in and out over the lake and dumped on us all day, threatening to rain on our barbecue parade, but just around 6ish, the rain stopped and the crew lined up to take fixings out to the picnic tables.

After everything was out the door and I was about to join them,  Eve and I took a little pause and I vented about my future - a topic that's been on my mind a lot lately. I had just gotten an email from a captain of a boat in Los Angeles that I was hoping to work on in last November, but it didn't work out. I said to Eve that who knew what the future would bring, but let's face it, it was really unrealistic to think I might get on that new chef competition show I planned to audition for in Chicago.

Then the phone rang. "Hm," I said. "I don't recognize the number. But maybe I oughta answer it. Maybe it's the captain."

"That's not a Los Angeles number," she said. Though I have no clue how she would know this.
I answered. "Hello?"

It was the casting agency for the show. Did I really work on a boat? Did I go to culinary school? Had I worked in restaurants? And would I mind skipping the open casting call and coming directly to a call-back interview with her on Friday the 12th?

A tall ship cook's wet dream.

Tuesday's Menu
Breakfast
Hash with leftover short rib meat
Fritatta with leftover banh mi vegetables
Lunch
Cuban sandwiches
Homemade garlicy dill pickles
Various salads and spreads and crackers
Dinner
Ribeye steaks
Parker House rolls with wheat flour and molasses
Rice salad
Macaroni and cheese
Spinach salad with blue cheese, dried cherries and bacon bits

Back in the Game

Lunch's salad buffet.

During transits, it's hard to keep the same schedule as one would on land. Obviously, I can't go running in the morning. So my exercise routine goes out the window. Today I ran out to the lighthouse again, then up a hill along the lake. I saw six deer. It felt great. 

My thoughts these days are preoccupied by what I want to do when I'm done here - and where I'll land. During our day off, I asked Bly about his plans for the future. It was interesting to hear him thinking aloud, turning each option around in his mind. I know now what I didn't know when I was younger: that you have to be careful when you make these choices. You can always undo them, but you often forget that in the consuming day-to-day routine of life. 

I did send off my letter of interest to that chef competition show yesterday. Just got to get that video submission together. But that's just stalling. Even if they chose me, it's not something I can build a future off of. It's just another distraction, another sidetrack.

Where is the main road? I wish some fortune teller could clue me in. 

Neb's burger topped with pork tenderloin.

Monday's Menu
Breakfast
Sausage gravy
Biscuits
Eggs over easy-ish
Smoothies
Lunch
Quinoa salad with roasted vegetables, feta, chili flakes, mint and lemon juice
Roasted beets with goat cheese, honey, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, olive oil and toasted pine nuts
Pork tenderloin, marinated in sherry and cinnamon overnight, then rolled in flour, paprika, white and black pepper and pan-fried until golden brown, served on top salad greens with boiled red potatoes tossed in caesar dressing and topped with asiago cheese
Dinner
Hamburgers, with oven-baked then pan-seared squash slices for Eve

On the Lam

Over half my body is as red as a tomato, my feet are killing me and I can't seem to wash the sand out of my hair, but Boy, What a day.

After a late night of carousing ("I think this is the latest I've ever been out with the Marlin crew," said Bly as we sauntered back to the boat at around 2:30 am), we woke early as breakfast was put out by... not me!

Harrison, Buttons, Eve, Bly and I got take-out breakfasts from the only place open in Frankfort, a little place called the Crescent Bakery, and walked to the beach where we sat in the shade and prepared for our Big Day Off.

Me, Bly, Harrison, Buttons and Eve with Glen Lake and 

a massive sand dune behind us.

Then we wound our way up through the country roads around Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore to a little-known hiking spot called Pyramid Point. The dune there made a steep decline into the lake from at least 150 feet. We sat and took in the view. It was awesome.

We stocked up at a market in Glen Arbor then hiked a good long ways out over the dunes to a beach where we played in the waves and sprawled out on the sand for hours. It was good to be together again.













Sunday's Menu

Breakfast
Egg and bacon pannini
Lunch

smoked fish pate, hummus, and spinach dip; garlic bread, kalamata olive sour dough and an artichoke foccaccia; string cheese and 5 Layer Bars

Dinner

Ice cream: mine was two scoops, one of key lime pie and the other some sort of Eskimo mash with coconut ice cream, pieces of coconut and brownies

Harrison with my hipstamic lens.

Fair Winds and Following Seas

Steak, salad, pasta and bread in (but out of) the pot.

I haven't written since we left Marquette. It's that end mentality setting in. And a laziness. We arrived in Frankfort on Thursday at noon. Yesterday we celebrated the ship's 10th birthday. And today is Saturday and Bly is coming to the boat any minute!

After he left us in Marblehead, he hightailed it out west to have adventures moving a roving fly fishing camp around Wyoming. He just got back to his hometown in Michigan and - just in time to meet up with us. We've been talking about sneaking over the dunes and camping there tonight, but the forecast is full of rain and thunderstorms.

Heirloom tomato salad.

It feels great to be back in west Michigan. The scenery here is spectacular - dramatic 200-foot dunes spilling into crystal clear water. This morning I ran out to the lighthouse and back. It made me want to move here. If it weren't for the fact that winter exists and will be coming back with a vengeance.
Today is also Cap's last day as Captain. Yesterday Captain Smiley arrived. We met him for the first time back in Newport, when he hosted a barbecue for us, and now he's in command of our fair ship. It's odd, that she's leaving. I've always seen her as The Captain of the Marlin. She's the one I came to work for. The one I interviewed with. The one who said she would go out with the crew, and was discovering her management style. I've always been proud to say she was our captain.

But as has happened with everyone who's about to leave, Cap has been chomping at the bit. She's been especially grumpy for the last 48 hours. And I totally get it. With less than a month left on my contract, I've got one foot out the door. I have no idea what I'm doing next, but by golly, world, bring it.

PS about P1
I mentioned we have a volunteer with us that is staying though to Chicago. I decided to give him a name: J-bird. He's a good eater.

J-bird's Bibimbap.

Saturday's Menu
Breakfast
Blueberry muffins
Smoothies
Bacon
Lunch
Pasta with pesto
Salad of sauteed zucchini, heirloom tomatoes from the farmers' market, garlic and red wine vinegar
Chuck steak slow-cooked in the oven in an old marinade I had in the fridge
Dinner
Bibimbap, for the second night in a row:
Carrots sauteed in sesame oil with sesame seeds and a dash of salt
Onions sauteed in rice wine vinegar, a dash of salt and red pepper flakes
Zucchini sauteed with very little oil and a dash of salt
Beef short ribs slow-cooked in this marinade I will try to upload a link for
Rice
Sauce made out of a cup of rice vinegar, a cup of brown sugar, and siracha to taste

From a Distance

Neb and Deutsch prepare for their day off.

This was kind-of a crazy day: breakfast on the table at 7:30, at which point I headed out for a half hour run before muster. Got back, super sweaty, and figured I'd clean the stove while I was dirty and shower afterwards. The shower never happened. By the time I knew it, I was baking bread and couldn't leave. Lunch was scheduled for 1 pm with dinner at 5, which makes for a very tight turn-around. I actually laid down in my bunk and set my alarm for a ten minute nap around 4 pm and ... I slept!

I was beat.

Now I sit here typing, newly showered. I am in the half-sun, half-shade of the library getting free wi-fi, so I'm typing on a real keyboard for once.

What luxury.

I got kicked off the sail this afternoon, which enabled me to walk down to the beach for the first time. I can't believe I waited so long to get down to the water here. It's stunning. As I was sitting there I saw the boat coming in, and I ran down the beach (with laptop in tow) to cheer her arrival. Overhearing the people around me as they talked about her, I corrected them and proudly gave them accurate information. There's something about seeing her from a distance, from the outside, as others see her... Sometimes you forget you're living and working on a thing of  beauty.

Sandwiches for lunch. 

As her carronades went off, I hollered, "Is that all you got?" Later, Harrison told me he heard me, and had seen me running down the beach.

"I'd know that run anywhere," he said. Which made me rather self-conscious about my running... erm.. style.

Our new captain arrived today, Captain Smiley. I met him back in Newport, and so far I think I'm going to love him as a captain, though I will miss having a woman at the top. I always thought that was bad-ass.

Bibimbap became a crew favorite tonight.

Friday's Menu

Breakfast

Coffee cake

Lunch

Sandwiches on homemade wheat bread

Dinner

Bibimbap

The community band was playing when I walked 

back from the showers.

Kids on the swings at sunset.

Walk along the beach.

A Boat Birthday

I made a birthday cake (the ship's real name has been photo-

shopped out) - clearly showing that my skills do not lie 

in applying icing through a hole in a plastic baggie.

Last night, we waited for hours as the two Manitou islands of Sleeping Bear got very very slowly closer. I was so excited. I've camped at Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore many a time, but had never gotten this close to the islands off the coast.  As the legend goes, the Momma bear and her two cubs tried to swim across the lake, but the cubs didn't make it. So the Momma Bear waits on land, immortalized as the park's highest dune, and the cubs are still stranded out in the water, as islands.

I went to bed before we got to the islands and awoke this morning to thick fog. We may have been close to the islands, but who could tell?

Uneasy
Something about the whole day felt off. In my nap time between breakfast and lunch, I dreamt

Harrison pours the bubbly for the toast.

I was on a bigger boat and was super stressed about getting lunch out. The galley was in this strange configuration so that people were always walking through and I was stressed and couldn't find anything. Our current first mate, Seth #2, was in the dream. He sent a crew member to make him his own meal and she kept getting in my way and finally I went to Seth #2 and asked him what was wrong and he said something like, "All you ever make is chicken and I want some real meat. And you never make dessert." I was flabbergasted. (In real life, he says how great my food is after every meal.) I replied that he didn't have to worry because I was anyway out of chicken and that I did try to make dessert every night we were in transit.

We arrived in Frankfort to a sizable crowd, especially given the fact that we had no established contact in the town - and the fact that it's a pretty small place.

Not long after we arrived in Frankfort, we got a visit from the Coast Guard. This is not unusual. What is unusual is that they made us run through a man overboard drill... just as we'd sat down to lunch!

Oven-roasted vegetables: turnips, onions, green bell 

peppers, tomatoes, carrots, and potatoes.

Happy Birthday, Marlin!
Before dinner, we had a birthday toast to the Marlin and Seth #2 poured some champagne over the side in an offering to Neptune, as is customary.

Then we ate steaks, with chuck steak  that I'd marinated for days. In my mind, even that didn't make those steaks rewarding. Just not a good cut. Though a grill may have helped.

Captain Flash bought ice cream and I put out the cake.

Eggplant with mozzerella, basil and sauteed garlic.

Homesick
As we sat around the table talking, I shared this email I'd received from my sister this morning with the crew. Apparently, my little nephew, E., has been missing me.

My sister, L., writes:
Our conversations have been going something like this.
"I wanna go see C.C.'s boat."
"I'm sorry, E., but C.C. and her boat are far away"
"Can we drive there?"
"Not today"
"Tomorrow?"
"Sorry, but no."
We have had this conversation many times.

Then today we were reading Where the Wild Things Are, and Max got into his boat.
"Like CC's boat?"
"Yes, it's a sail boat, just like C.C.'s boat."
"Is he going to see her?"
"Max is using his imagination, he's pretending to go see the Wild Things, would you like to use our imagination and go see C.C.?"
"Yes!"
So we took a sailboat through the jungle and the ocean in his bedroom to see you on your boat:)

Then on the page where Max gets back in his boat and goes back home, Max is in the boat with the moon and the stars overhead.
E. said "C.C. goes night-night in her boat?"
"Yes, do you remember sitting in her bed on the boat?"

Birthday steak.

"Yeah, and she sleeps there, and the moon and the stars are UP IN THE SKY." The last words were spoken with some excitement. :)

Thursday's Menu
Breakfast
I can't remember
Lunch
I can't remember
Dinner
Steak, marinated overnight in this recipe. It didn't blow me away.
Eggplant, mozzerella cheese, basil, red wine vinegar and sauteed garlic
Oven-roasted vegetables
Dessert
Birthday cake: chocolate mayonnaise cake with brown sugar frosting (and store-bought vanilla on top; plus chocolate made by mixing cocoa powder into the vanilla)