M+B=E2O2

From the Crusing Log

Date: 9/4/10- 9/6/10

Cruise from: Ventura Harbor

Cruise to: Coches Prietos, Santa Cruz Island

Weather/Sea Conditions: Very foggy heading out, cleared up 1-2 miles out, 2-4 ft swell, windy.  Overcast, flat & no wind upon our return

1st cruise with club

7:15am

• Left the dock & couldn't see the other side of the harbor. Should be interesting
• Oh Crap! The bow light is not working.  Better call G-Baum & see what might be going on.
• Checked it all out, not the fuse- light bulb maybe?  Don't have the right size screwdriver to check.
• Visibility is CRAP! Thank God for GPS & good friends with radar!

8:00 am

• What's this? Is that the sky? Why yes it is! 1 mile out (or so) and we cleared the pea soup.
• Good breeze. Have the main up averaging 6.3 knots
• It's  a little cool with the wind & occasional spray.  Wouldn't mind a dodger right now.
• Made it through the NB shipping lane with no ships or fog. Yay!
• OH NO!!! Our American flag jumped ship!! :-(
• Hmmm looks like a SB ship heading our way.
• It's getting bigger, yet still looks to be in the same place.....
• ....5minutes later.... Yup, definitely getting bigger. Time to change course a bit and pass behind it.
• This guy is hauling ass!
• Whew! Done with the SB shipping land now!
• It is pretty dang windy. 15-20 knots at least.

11:00am

• Yay! We are in the lee of the island. Flat & no wind. Time to drop the main.
• I can see Albert's (cove)! Almost to our destination.

12:20pm

• Wow, Coches is crowded.  Where will we fit?
• After discussion with a few other boaters via Andy C. we pick our spot & drop anchor.
• A huge thanks to Andy for setting our stern not once, but twice!!

2:30 pm

• We are holding tight- time to hit the  beach. Ben swam in, we took Clifford.  First load, kids, then I head back for all of our stuff
• There are 500 gazillion yellow jackets!! Yikes!
• Quite a crowd on the beach! Plenty of kids to play with.
• The stand up paddle board is the hot ticket item!

4pm

• Cocktails & munchies on the beach.  Thankfully the bees are thinning out.  Maybe only 100 gazillion now. :-)
• So far we are up to about 5 kids stung.  :-( Glad we brought the Benadryl

6:30pm

• Guess it's time to go back to the boat. Hot dogs here we come!

8:30

• Light's out for Ben! We are rolling around a bit so he's feeling a little green.  Kids & I sat on deck for a bit & marveled at the milky way and all of the millions of stars out.

1:30am

• Everyone woke up for a potty break. Everyone.  Still rolling about, but our anchors are holding strong. 

7:00am

• It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!!
• Ben & Ryan C. left for their hike/run/workout.  They went up two peaks.

9:00 am

• Kids all up. Ben is back- with a sprained ankle :-( Guess he'll have to lounge on the beach all day.

10:30

• Heidi G & I set out on a morning hike.  Great conversation & a great workout.   Just hot enough to sweat, but not enough to be too hot.  

12:00pm

• Gammy, Gampy, Marlo,Paublo & Romeo made the crossing in the Century.  Came back from our hike to see the blue boat tied to our boat. 
• The water felt good after our hike.  Cold, but with a spring suit not bad. 

4pm

• Kids have not left the water all day.  G&G left for home.
• Cocktails and munchies on the beach  again.  The bees are CrAzY! More kids stung today.

6:30 pm

• Finally heading back to boat.  It's funny how quickly the beach empties once the sun goes behind the island.
• Skipped BBQing tonight & heated up some pasta that I had made at home.  Warmed up the cabin nicely too.
• Fog rolled in, not very heavy but makes for  a chilly evening. No stars to see tonight. :-(

1:30am

• Wind kicked up a bit & the swell direction seems to have changed slightly.  Rock & roll baby!

2:00 am

• Didn't like the way we were swinging in front of Ivan C.  We adjusted our lines a bit.  All better!

6am

• Time to get moving.  Hoping to head out by 7 am.
• Dang our anchors were set tight!! We rock!!! They were really hard to pull up!

7-11 am

• Calm flat seas, no wind, gray skies.  Visibility is over 5 miles so we feel good going through the shipping lanes.
• Several dolphin sighting along the way.  None came to play though :-( they seemed to be feeding.
• Olivia was the last to wake up- around 10:45!!

11:15 am

• We are almost back to the harbor.   1:20 to go
• Looking forward to  a hot shower!!!

12:45

• We made it!!! Time to offload everything and go home!

What a great weekend!!!! Our first solo cruise was a complete success!!!!

Tikka Masala

Several weeks ago I decided I wanted to try to make one of my favorite Indian dishes- Chicken Tikka Masala.  Only problem was that I decided to make this on the first Friday of Lent.   So I thought I would take this dish that I'd never made and change the main ingredient-instead of chicken I used shrimp.  I've made it twice since, once again on a Lenten Friday with shrimp then I made it again but finally  with chicken. 

The first go around I used a recipe on http://allrecipes.com.  Since I'd never made anything like it and I was going to use shrimp instead of chicken I followed the rest of the recipe exactly as written.  We were having friends over (Nice of me to test never before tried recipes out on friends huh?) so I doubled the recipe as well.  All and all it was pretty good, especially if you were congested and needed to clear you sinuses! The original recipe called for 2 teaspoons of cayenne pepper.  I have never used cayenne pepper so I doubled it.  whoa nellie! It was so hot! Both Ben and our friend G loved it.  G took the leftover sauce home with him as a matter of fact.   I was able to eat it, but not really enjoy it.  I love hot, but not that hot!

A couple weeks later I tried again.  This go around was for another dinner party and added another two  guinea pigs friends to try my second attempt.  This time I added a spice or two and I cut the cayenne waaaaaay down.    Ben, G & new guest M added the cayenne to their own plates to up the heat, I think the rest of us agreed that it was darn near perfect with out it though.  There was enough of a kick to taste it, but I didn't have to blow my nose throughout the meal. 

I was really excited to finally get it together and use chicken.  I love shrimp, but I hate peeling and de-veining those suckers.  This time I was making it for my mom, two of her two sisters & my cousin who were in town for the weekend.  Those gals are Polish through and through and not really into the heat, so for this round I only gave the cayenne jar a shake  or two in the sauce.  I also tripled the recipe and portioned out a bit for my cousin who is vegetarian.  For her bit I had bought extra firm tofu to use. 
The general consensus was that it was quite yummy- Yay!   I absolutely love it and am so excited to make it again.

Here is the recipe I came up with- mostly as found on the allrecipes.com site.  I doubled & tripled this though.  I cook for 6 minimum around here and more often than not I have a few extras around the table. 

Ingredients:

marinade:

• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper (only if you love it HOT!) 1/4 teaspoon is what I used the 2nd time
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
• 4 teaspoons salt (or to taste- I used kosher)
• 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces OR 2 lbs of shrimp, peeled, de-veined and tails removed OR extra firm tofu

sauce:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 jalapeno pepper finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 3 teaspoons salt (or to taste)
• 1 8 ounce can tomato sauce
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1. In a large bowl combine yogurt, lemon juice, and all the spices from the marinade list-cumin, cinnamon cayenne, black pepper, turmeric, salt  & ginger.  Stir in your meat- chicken, shrimp or tofu.  Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour- I had my stuff marinating all day.
2. If you are making chicken or tofu- you can use your grill to cook it.  If you want you can skewer the  chicken, I just threw it on some veggie grill sheets that I have to keep the meat from falling through.  You want to cook th chicken until the juices run clear- 10-15 minutes or so.
3. Melt butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat.  Saute garlic and jalapeno for 1 minute. season with the sauce spices -cumin, paprika, turmeric and salt.  Stir in tomato sauce and cream.  Simmer on low heat until sauce thickens, about 20 minutes.  Add grilled chicken/tofu and simmer for 10 minutes.  Transfer to a serving plater and add fresh cilantro on top

For shrimp:

Instead of grilling the shrimp I just dumped the entire bowl of marinade and shrimp into the sauce once it had thickened.  I then cooked the shrimp in the sauce (a little less than 10 min I think- the shrimp should be pink).

All this was served with brown rice that had been seasoned with onions, garlic and turmeric and I added frozen peas once the rice had finished cooking (the hot rice will defrost and cook the peas in a few minutes).  Add some warm Naan bread and you've got yourself a delish meal!

Grilled marinated chicken

Simmering in the sauce

The finished plate :-)