Clothes. Not the most aquatic topic, yet, being a liveaboard and having to be presentable every once in awhile (a.k.a. work a 9-5) means dealing with clothes and clothing storage aboard. In this case I'm not talking about clothing and cruising, but keeping clothes aboard at the home marina.
For every liveaboard friend I have there seems to be different way to deal with clothes, but there seems to be two popular methods. The first is keeping some or all of your clothes off the boat, whether in a space at work or in your vehicle in the marina parking lot. This makes a lot of sense for a lot of people - their clothes stay fresh and dry and many people shower in the marina showers - close to the car and parking lot. Quite a few folks bike to work as well, nothing like having clean, wrinkle-free clothes in a locker when you get there. The second popular method is to keep clothes aboard, limit what you have, and wash them regularly. This one sounds pretty straightforward, but getting rid of enough clothes to fit can be a challenge (cough-captain wifey-cough). Different spots on your boat require different methods to keep things dry and moist-air free (a.k.a. mold & mildew). I know one liveaboard who washes all of his clothes every two weeks no matter what - whether he wears all of them them or not. We tend to fall in to this second group - get through your clothes in a couple weeks so that everything gets washed. Dress clothes that we don't wear that much? Summer clothes (we don't have that many since we live in the Northwest:)? We keep them in a storage bag in the trunk of the car. Surely there are some interesting liveaboard keep-your-clothing-fresh ideas that we haven't tried yet…let us know in the comment section! ~Paul & Amber ETC
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Living aboard a sailboat means letting go of a few things…but not Thanksgiving!!! Captain Wifey and I are firm believers that cooking as liveaboards doesn't have to go the way of long hot showers & jumping on the bed. When we first moved aboard we were skeptical of our Force 10 propane stove. It didn't take long, however, for Captain Wifey to prove that she is not just a domestic goddess, but an aquatic domestic goddess! But does our sailboat's lack of counter space, only two burners, and a small oven make it impossible for even her to make due on the most important eating day of the year? Let it begin! The first thing she did is find recipes that she felt comfortable preparing and combine recipes that best utilize our cooking areas. She searched online for these recipes using foodgawker. Also, there's some good apps (Simply Cookin) that save multiple internet recipes in one place so you don't have to worry about the websites refreshing while cooking. To make the actual day of cooking more manageable, Captain Wifey prepped the day before - basically, a lot of chopping. There is only the two of us to cook for but we wanted lots of leftovers. Most of the recipes prepared serve 6-8. The Captain always likes to try new recipes, so for the menu she chose traditional recipes with a twist. Instead of green bean casserole, we had Roasted Parmesan Green Beans. Instead of a pumpkin pie for dessert, she made a Savory Pumpkin Spiral Pie with Goat Cheese (above) as a side dish. Other side dishes included Sweet Spice Roast Carrots, Mashed Potatoes, Sausage & Apple Stuffing (below), Cranberry Orange Sauce, and Buttered Rosemary Rolls. Since there is no way we'd be able to fit even the smallest turkey in our oven, she cooked a cornish hen as the meat course. To end the meal, the Apple Pie Parfait can be cooked in the microwave (our boat actually has one) or on the stove and topped with whip cream instead of ice cream (ice cream doesn't stay frosty aboard…for some reason). The meal is going great, here's a few tips if you try on your vessel: - Have a second fuel tank full in case the first empties before you've finished cooking - Fill water tank - Try to find recipes for the oven and stove top to utilize all cooking areas at the same time General tips for cooking larger meals: - Pre-prep as much as possible the day before Rinse & cut all fruits, vegetables & herbs & store amount for each recipe in separate containers Measure and mix seasonings for each recipe Label all items Don't forget to thaw frozen items - Read through recipes multiple times to become familiar with them - Create a timeline for when to do specific steps - Make sure all pots, pans & dishes to be used are clean & in reach - Make sure all ingredients are easily in reach and pre-measured if possible Voilà! Thanksgiving aboard!!! Anything is possible! Next year: maybe we should cook the meal while sailing?!?!?!? ~Paul & Amber [this post = all Amber!] ETC RECIPES
Roasted Parmesan Green Beans Sweet Spice Roast Carrots Savory Pumpkin Spiral Pie with Goat Cheese Sausage & Apple Stuffing Mashed Potatoes - boiled & then roughly mashed with seasoned salt, sour cream, butter, Parmesan cheese & chopped parsley Cranberry Orange Sauce Pioneer Woman Buttered Rosemary Rolls Chicken Tabaka Recipe ~ replaced tomato juice with water Apple Pie Parfaits with Whipped Cream ~ cooked on stove for 15 minutes SHOPPING LIST 5 medium potatoes 2 firm apples, chopped fresh rosemary, coarsely chopped 1-2 garlic cloves minced or nicely chopped 4 tbsp of cilantro chopped 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice zest of 1 orange 1 (12-ounce) bag fresh cranberries 12 oz green beans, trimmed 1 cup celery, diced 1 onion, diced 1 onion, grated 1.5 teaspoons sage 1 bunch of parsley 2 lb of pumpkin, peeled and cut in small cubes 800g baby dutch carrots 1 tablespoon brown sugar 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch 1/4 teaspoon vanilla 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (more or less, depending on what you like) granola 2 1/2 tbsp of ground coriander 1 1/2 tsp of ground cumin 2 tbs honey 2 tbsp of oil coarse sea salt Ground pepper 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper 1/4 tsp garlic powder 1 tablespoons seasoned salt 1/2 cup dried cranberries 1 cup chicken broth 1 tbsp of coarse semolina whipped cream caramel sauce frozen, unbaked dinner rolls 1 egg, beaten 450-500 gr. of phyllo pastry sheets melted butter 2 oz sour cream 1/2 cup shredded parmesan 6 oz goat's cheese, crumbled 1 whole cornish hen (8 oz, i use two hens to feed the family) 1 pound italian sausage 1-2 cups of tomato juice or water 1 loaf whole wheat bread TIMELINE Total cooking time: 6 hours 0:00 Cranberry sauce on small stove & sauté onions for pumpkin pie on large burner 0:30 Boil pumpkins on large burner & preheat oven 0:45 Toast bread 1:00 Start making savory pumpkin pie 1:30 Cook stuffing on large burner 2:00 Savory pumpkin pie in oven 2:15 Boil potatoes on larger burner 2:45 Make mashed potatoes 3:00 Stuffing in oven 4:00 Carrots and beans in oven 4:45 Cook hen on large burner 5:00 Rolls in the oven 5:30 Cook apples on stove & whip cream I'm getting old. The hints keep coming. It might be the light colored hairs that have been showing up in my beard lately (grey) or maybe the ritualistic grunt I make every time I get up out of a chair. When did sitting on the floor become so uncomfortable? I'm not that old, but I definitely feel older. What's good about getting older? Old man boat talk*.
When I first moved aboard our sailboat in Seattle I was introduced to Dan - our next-boat neighbor. Dan's older than me and has lived aboard for quite some time. "Did you get rain last night?" Dan asked one morning. "Nope," I said. "Well I got 6 inches," said Dan. "Wow, that's crazy, I didn't get a drop!" I exclaimed. "Yep, I got two drops on deck, six inches apart!" quipped Dan. There you have it. Old man boat talk. Older dude dishes zinger to younger (but getting older) dude. I didn't even see it coming. I guess technically it was weather talk in this case - but around boats, on the dock, and from an old man. As the years go by out here on the docks I've heard a lot of old man boat talk, not all zingers, some just plain funny. "What's the date, it's the 28th, right?" asked one sailor to another. "It's not the 28th," said the older sailor with certainty, " it's the 3rd". It turns out they were both wrong - it was the 6th! One of those guys was a week off! That dude lost a week! At the end of the day I'm thankful for all of the funny talk around the docks. Living aboard can be challenging and a lot of serious things can be going with people and their boats at any given time. It's nice to laugh about the big stuff, the little stuff, the boat stuff. ~Paul ETC *I'm positive there's old woman boat talk too, I just don't know any old women on my dock…nor would I dare call them out for being old! |
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