What I've Been Cooking

I'm trying hard to cook more often, and along the way to eat more vegetables. I get a lot of inspiration from the daily newspaper, the Washington Post and especially the New York Times. Here are some things I've made recently. (Very few pictures, but most of the linked recipes have their own pictures.)

deconstructed roasted ratatouille

This was inspired by the Washington Post recipe for Ratatouille Galette. Eggplant, zucchini, red onion, and tomatoes are sliced on the mandoline and laid out in a pattern. To make a galette, it should be done on puff pastry. I actually bought some frozen pastry, and then decided not to use it. This was yummy just baked like this. A spatula scooped up intact rectangles for serving.

One oldie-but-goodie recipe I made for a family dinner is from one of my old cookbooks, the Silver Palate Goodtimes Cookbook. I made grilled shrimp with prosciutto and basil. The shrimp is marinated in lemon, olive oil, garlic and basil, and then wrapped in basil leaves and prosciutto, skewered, and grilled. The marination and the wrapping keep the shrimp from drying out. It's very time consuming to do the wrapping and skewering - I bought the largest shrimp I could find. I grow very large-leafed basil, so they worked very well in the wrapping.

I'm trying to eat less processed food, and most sausages are considered processed meat. (Though I wonder if fresh, uncooked sausages are?) I love sweet Italian sausage, and so I got a recipe for flavoring your own ground turkey (or chicken or pork). There were several recipes on-line. Of course the magic ingredient is fennel. I ended up using this one from AllRecipes.com. I like to just use the meat sauteed anyway, usually with onions and perhaps zucchini and tomatoes.

A recurrent meal I make is this Braised Chicken with Lemon and Olives. It's a casserole cooked in the oven (no stovetop browning) with whole Meyer lemons cut up and in the pot. You eat them skin and all when cooked. My store doesn't always have Meyer lemons, and when they do, I snap them up and make this. It smells so good! And tastes that way as well.

It's eggplant and zucchini season and I've had several edible zucchinis from my very own garden! I did this recipe for air fried zucchini, and it was excellent. It uses mayonnaise to make the coating of herbs and breadcrumbs stick. There are many recipes for roasted eggplants; I settled on this one which I've made twice. No salting the eggplant in advance. (One school of thought is fresh eggplant has no need, it's old ones that are bitter.) The recommended coating of olive oil, garlic, salt, and herbs and spices is brushed on both sides in the roasting pan just before cooking, and then the slices are flipped halfway through. The first time I made it I used the recommended cumin; the second time I wanted a different flavor family and chopped the garlic and then fresh basil leaves in my mini-food processor before adding the other ingredients and applying with a basting brush. Both versions were very good - I found myself picking up browned slices right from the pan and juggling the heat in my fingers before popping them right in my mouth. 

I generally only buy corn on the cob at the farmer's market. I usually just microwave the unshucked ears for 3-4 minutes and then eat them as a separate course with butter and salt. But I also like various sautees with the kernels stripped from the cobs and cooked briefly on top of the stove. So I made this chicken, marinated with basil and lime and then grilled, and served it with the recommended lime butter on the side, and a saute of corn, zucchini, and shallots, also flavored with basil.

On a similar note, since I loved the lime and corn combination, for a family dinner that needed to include a hearty vegan dish, I made this corn and chickpea salad. I kept the arugula on the side to be added at the table, because there were substantial leftovers of the main chickpea-corn mixture, which kept for a few days and only got better. 

Summer is inspiring! I've got a few more zucchini recipes stacked up, notably different types of frittatas. The basil supply is in no danger of running out. I think I'm going to slice off some branches and dry them, since I'm out of dried basil in a jar in the kitchen. Seems silly to go buy any!

Scotland - The Aftermath

 

Passengers

I had a terrific time sailing in Scotland, but I got home really knackered, as they say over there.

The time during most of the voyage had been a little bit dreamy, time and rhythms cut off from normal life and tied to the working of the ship. Foreign languages and barriers in communication contributed to the sense of out of time. We didn't have cell phone (and thus internet) access all the time, and rarely below in our cabins. On deck when anchored in port there was usually some coverage, so first and last thing in the day. I wanted to know the Vice Presidential candidate selection, so at least once a day I tried to pull up the NY Times app. I was startled one morning when the lead picture on the app on my phone was a graph of the stock market plunging down, down, down. I shared it with my fellow passengers, but my reaction, cut off from any possible actual response, was to shrug and let things just shake out on their own. I actually heard about the VP selection from a group text from friends. I read a little bit about the guy, and the next day enjoyed a brief time on Threads reading a series of "Tim Walz is the guy who..." jokes, stressing how he is the nice guy, the understanding father, the one you can rely on to be kind and come through in a crisis. It was fun to share in the zeitgeist with my friends back home, but most of my attention stayed on the here and now on the ship. None of the jokes or memes could be translated for my fellow passengers, I tried and failed miserably to their puzzled polite smiles.

Our last day on the ship had a "last day" vibe all day, a bit intangible. People were packing, thinking about their next plans, etc. It also was extremely rough, through very strong winds and big irregular waves, for a few hours, so for the first and only time I declined to help with the ship handling, but sat it out indoors in the dining salon until things calmed down. I had all kinds of feelings about that, but I'm sure it was the right choice for me. Sometime the previous day I had pulled a muscle or something in my shoulder, and that was part of my decision.

Party Time with the crew

We had a farewell party and dinner, anchored out in the harbor at Oban. There was a lot of gaiety from the young crew, some of whom were going to be changed out for relief crew the next day. Apparently one of the navigation devices had the date wrong (a software bug, otherwise it worked fine, they said) and thought it was Christmas Eve, so we had Christmas in August as the theme. They decorated the dining salon with lights and greenery and gave each other presents, while the captain and passengers looked on with indulgent smiles.

The next morning was all business - finishing packing, hasty breakfast, (the cook was one of those leaving the ship), and a last bout of pulling on lines to set the ship up for docking at the town dock in Oban. All of us (the passengers) got off. Five of them, the family of four and Swiss Rudi, were taking the same noon train as me to Glasgow, though I was the only one going right on to Edinburgh. We had all of our luggage, and it was the same intermittent drizzle as ever. After a brief burdened stroll through the very interesting and scenic old town, we piled all of our bags under a big umbrella in an open-air eatery close to the train station. Being together meant we could take turns making forays out and about during the couple of hours we spent waiting, to shops, to the take-out seafood place (fresh prawns, yum!), to buy provisions for the journey. 

The town of Oban looked worth
spending more time in

Boarding the train was a scrum, but we all managed to sit more-or-less together. The scenery from Oban to Glasgow was terrific! We went through forests, and through a series of long, narrow, deep lochs, and around minor mountains. At one point, they made all of us get off our train and walk along the platform to another, longer, train for the rest of the trip to Glasgow. Again a scrum, and I got separated from the group, into a different car (but at least seated, not everyone was). I had the day before used WhatsApp to send some pictures to Anna, (my only phone contact in the group) and so I sent her a message letting her know I was on board, and would look for them in Glasgow. Sadly, the train was late into Glasgow and so I had to run for my train. They were all there, and I said hasty goodbyes, but there was no time to exchange contact info (why hadn't we done that?) and off I went.

The train to Edinburgh was modern, but also crowded with standing folks, though I secured a seat. On arrival in Edinburgh, I was astounded at the crowds, as the August festivals were in full swing. I hadn't seen so many people in a while! I hopped right in a cab and went to the airport area hotel. It was elegant, posh, hushed, full of grey-on-grey-accented with black straight lines and minimalist decor. My plan was to head to the adjacent village for a pub dinner (it had been long time since harborside seafood) but after I got to the room I just deflated from the adrenaline that had fueled me so far. I realized every single muscle in my body ached and I was starving and exhausted. I did room service, didn't even finish the beer I had ordered, showered and fell into bed. 

The trip home was uneventful. The flight didn't leave until noon, so I had time for a full Scottish breakfast at the hotel before the airport, egg, sausage, bacon, black pudding, the whole nine yards. On the plane, I watched a movie (All of Us Strangers), read, dozed, napped. I Ubered home, as no family was available to pick me up. Bixby climbed up on the back of a chair and flung himself into my arms! I managed to stay awake until 8:30 pm, and slept through the night.

When I woke in my own bed (at about 4 am) I realized that many of the aches and pains had subsided, but my shoulder was on fire. Now, a few days later, I have sorted out many bruises and twinges, but clearly my shoulder is messed up. I have a PT appointment on Monday, and hopefully they will be able to help. 

I'm settling down now to a time to turn inward, to take care of me. No trips planned, some good family time with our girl in town for the next few weeks, a garden to tend, dogs to walk, farmer's markets to visit, an election to avoid thinking about (except for money). I can still do adventures, but I do need to allow recovery time from them. My weight the morning after I got home was alarming, tied for all time high, and I want to do something about it. At my last physical, my cholesterol was higher than in the past, and I bargained with my doctor I could lower it back down with lifestyle changes, versus going on a drug. My followup appointment, the reckoning, is in October. Fitness is, as always, a primary focus. I can do hard things, but I'm going to opt out of most of them for a while. Such a privilege to be able to do so!

I plan to eat a lot of vegetables.
This is zucchini and peppers from my garden,
with onions and a little minced leftover pork

Scotland Part B: Actually Sailing!

Note: I originally wrote up the following for my sailing club's newletter. Rather than write another account, I'm copying it to here with some minor edits for the different audience.

Sailing in the Southern Hebrides

For over a decade I’ve been getting emails from Classic Sailing UK (https://classic-sailing.com/ ), a travel company that provides a central location for classic and tall ships to post their trips offered to passengers, as well as some training courses. I signed up for a trip on a schooner to Iceland – but it was during the pandemic and it didn’t happen. But in early summer this year, clicking through on the ad and browsing through their trips, I decided to go for it. I booked a trip leaving in just over a month, in Scotland. Classic Sailing serves as the initial contact, but once a trip is booked, the remainder of your interactions are with the ship’s operators directly. The week-long itinerary was beginning from one small town on the west coast of Scotland and ending on another. It was only feasible for me because of the excellent Scottish rail system, enabling me to fly non-stop between DC and Edinburgh and then take the train to and from the ship.

Under sail.
I could sit like this for hours, watching the sea and the sails.

The Eye of the Wind is a 100-year-old steel brig (or brigantine, nobody seems sure) owned by Germans and flagged in Jersey, UK’s answer to the Cayman Islands. It has a rich history – built as a coastal freighter, and kept busy in the Baltic trade under power until the 1950s. In the 1960s, a bunch of Australian enthusiasts bought her as little more than a hull, and converted her back to square ship sailing glory. She spent decades down in the South Pacific as a training and holiday ship, sailing around the world once and Cape Horn twice. She was the star of the otherwise unremarkable 1996 movie White Squall with Jeff Bridges, the story of a training ship full of New England school boys that ran into a bad weather phenomenon. Around the turn of this century, the Eye came back up to Europe and eventually ended up with the present owners. They use her for some corporate training events, and otherwise she plies the tall ship passenger cruising trade. Typically, she is in European waters in the summer, and spends winters in the Caribbean.

Leaving harbor, motoring out a long channel

I’ve done a number of voyages on the Pride of Baltimore II, as have many other club members. This trip on the Eye is a whole different thing, a pleasure cruise, luxurious by comparison to the Pride. We were clearly passengers, invited to help with some of the ship functions, but not integrated with the crew. There are 2-person cabins, each with their own head and shower (a LOT of plumbing to tend!). I had a cabin to myself as the ship was not fully booked. There is a main-deck enclosed galley and dining lounge, with windows to observe the passing scene in comfort, as well as a below-deck saloon, with a library and skylights. Because of the superstructures on deck, there were also many places to sit comfortably outside, some very sheltered from the wind and the rain.

The quarterdeck, a place to have an overview
Both crew and fellow passengers are here

Look at how many ropes to pull on and coil!
"You get a rope, and you get a rope, and you get a rope!
Every body gets a rope!"

The pace was leisurely. We roused for a European breakfast at 8 am, and afterwards the crew prepared for sailing while the captain went over the plan of the day with us, as well spending time on topics such as navigation and the ship’s rigging and handling. We would get underway by 9:30 or 10, with all the passengers invited to join in the sail handling. With many small square sails, there are a LOT of lines to pull, bracing the yards to the wind even when under power, and raising the yards and lowering and trimming the sails and furling the sails. The crew would always invite the passengers to help with this, and hauling on lines and coiling them were our main tasks. Typically we would motor in the morning until we reached the right angle to set the sails, and were underway until we reached a harbor at 4, 5 or 6 in the afternoon. We would anchor (only laid alongside at the beginning and end and one other night), and we could then dinghy to shore to walk, explore, and visit pubs. We would go back for dinner on board, and then the hardier passengers and crew went back ashore for an evening out, though I generally crashed right away. (According to my watch, I slept a decent total amount each night, but got little deep, restorative, sleep. I was exhausted each night.) At this high northern latitude, we had 16 hours of daylight each day.

A village we stopped at

The weather was dreadful. It rained every day, but not all day every day. We would have drizzle, then brief pouring rain, then the sun would come out, and then it would repeat – all in the space of an hour or two. It was in the 50s for temperature, and reached the mid-60s some days. (But below decks, the lounge and cabins had heat when the generator was running. Besides our comfort, clothes could dry well.) During a dry spell, when I had shed some layers while hauling lines, a rogue wave came splashing aboard and doused me thoroughly from head to toe. After that, I just lived in my foulies all the time we were underway. I blessed my sea boots, even though they were a pain to pack and carry from home. I was aware in advance roughly what the weather would be like, and had brought plenty of appropriate clothing, so I never felt cold.

A crewmember (short guy in the middle) prepares to take
the Swiss guy and the young brother up into the rigging.
Harnesses are worn by all.

My fellow passengers were six Germans, one Swiss German speaker, and me. Four of them were a family - a brother and sister in their 20s, their father, and the father's brother, none with significant sailing experience. There were two hearty old guys in their 80s, who have done many similar voyages (though they said most were to warmer places!) The Swiss guy had never been on a boat before, but had wanted to do it forever. He was in heaven the whole time. The two young people got seasick, and had a bad couple of days, but then adapted (and/or the meds kicked in) and had a good time. There were nine crew, with a German captain, an Italian cook (yay!) and a mix of Danes, Swedes, Scots and Australians. A couple of the crew were “trainees”. The Eye is a formal training ship, and apparently that means the trainees can earn credit towards various professional certifications. Everyone spoke English well, but of course the German speakers spoke to each other in German (of which my vocabulary consists only of “bier, bitte”, surprisingly useful). The food was plentiful, hardy, and flavorful, with freshly baked brown bread every day. We had a European breakfast each day - porridge, cold meats and cheese, bread, butter and jam. Lunches and dinners were hot and starch heavy: several pastas, lasagna, couscous, risotto, with small cut up vegetables and meat mixed in. There was a cash bar available with beer, wine, and some whiskeys. Gotta love those Europeans and their wine.

See the small boat (slightly bigger than mine I think)
It came over to see us, then veered off.
I cannot imagine going out in these conditions in my boat!

The sailing was terrific! The wind never dropped below 15 knots, was mostly between 20-25 knots, and up to 35 knots on a couple of days. We left from one small town on the west coast of Scotland, and sailed to and through a myriad of islands in the southern Hebrides. The initial strategy, taking three days to unfold, was to position ourselves for a rounding of the Mull of Kintyre, which is in sight of northern Ireland, and has fierce currents and winds. The captain showed us how he worked with the almanacs and weather forecasts to get us to the Mull at slack water and on a reach. It was a long, fierce day of sailing and sail handling, a lot of fun. I have a great respect for the small boat sailors who tackle this area.

Most of my pictures were taken during bright intervals.
Those clouds there brought more rain within the hour.
(I wouldn't want you to think the weather was better than it was!)

The Scottish coastal scenery is fabulous! Islands, lighthouses, castles, fields, and many many sheep. The villages we visited were small, had old parts, but were quite modern and prosperous in many ways. There were whiskey (and rum and gin) distilleries around, but our schedule did not allow us to visit any, sadly. We did get a little bit of light hiking in, over hills and around bends. Plenty of sheep, a few terrific dogs, and actual Scottish heather growing on the hills.

We started in Greenock and ended in Oban.

Finally, the trip had to end. We got to our end point on Friday night, and anchored out. The next morning, we motored up to the dock and we left.

Next: the Aftermath

Sailing in Scotland - Part 1

This trip was scheduled almost on impulse, just six weeks in advance. I felt I was settling down to aging in place, and I really wanted to show myself I can still get out there and do things. I picked a sailing trip knowing it would be both physically challenging as well as mentally so. Traveling alone requires me to use a lot of gumption to avoid cowering by myself in my room while regretting missing out, in order to avoid dealing with strangers. I actually really like traveling alone most of the time - I enjoy the actual trip, time on the airplane (never try to talk to me on an airplane, I'm in my self-absorbed bubble), wandering around a strange place looking at things, all on my own schedule and at my own pace. But where it falls apart is meal times - I find it difficult to go into a nice restaurant on my own, especially for dinner. I've found being totally on my own for about three days is my limit. I've also found active, small group travels can be much easier, with interaction around activities coming naturally, and group meals planned. Hence the small ship cruise.

The cruise was on the west coast of Scotland, but I found there is a non-stop flight from here to Edinburgh (in the east of Scotland), and I hadn't been to that city as an adult, so that's how I went. I went over a day early, to allow for disruptions and to start to adjust to the time difference, as well as to simply see the city. I checked out the extensive network of trains and buses in Scotland, to verify I could get to the start and back from the end of my voyage via public transport. Infrastructure, people! It really is nice!

Edinburgh's Royal Mile, from the top deck of a bus

I booked two nights in a hotel that was near the central train station, and not coincidentally near the end of the airport bus and tram lines. I paid extra for an early checkin, and I was able to go directly from my flight to a bus to my hotel room, schlepping my bags only a couple of blocks. I had spent time with maps, guidebooks, and Tripadvisor beforehand, so with a brief refresher at the hotel I ventured out. First I bought my train tickets to get to and from the boat, and then I wandered around. Unknown to me when I planned the trip, Edinburgh has nonstop festivals of all kinds the entire month of August - comedy, theatre, music, fringe, art, drag, on and on, at around a million different venues around the city. It was packed with people! But there is compact area with the history and other sites, and I spent several hours on my feet checking it all out. Sadly, the castle atop a hill in the center of city was completely sold out of tickets, so I just wandered nearby instead. A mid-afternoon pub lunch (steak pie, chips, and beer) fixed me up with food for the day. By early evening, I was ready to crash and didn't regret it.

I was intrigued by this spiral building - never figured it out
Lots of hills in Edinburgh, views all over

The next day, I started with following a self-guided walking tour in a different part of the city, with breakfast at an interesting restaurant along the way. Last year, I fell in love with the Irish breakfast, especially the sausages. I was pretty sure the Scottish versions would be similar. But I went for something a little different. I was so glad I did - it was the best restaurant meal of the trip! Dashoon is a South Asian restaurant that offers breakfast. I got sausage and fried egg in a freshly made naan with sweet chili sauce with fruit sides- yum! and I chatted pleasantly with the waiters and the folks at adjoining tables.

One of the joys of my centrally located hotel (which was otherwise no more than ok) was the ability to keep swinging back to take a break before venturing back out. I was able to pace myself nicely. After my walking tour, I ended up back in the room for a bit, and then bought a ticket for the circular hop-on-hop-off bus, which started across the road from the hotel. I got up on the front seat of the top of the double-decker bus and rode the whole 90 minute route. After another bathroom break at the hotel, I used my same ticket to ride to the interesting furthest away stop and made my way back slowly, pausing at a street art show, some shops, and in the late afternoon, a pub for fish and chips and beer. I ate outside, and stopped at a pastry shop on my way back to the room for a scone for a sweet treat before bed. With 12,000 steps the first day, and 15,000 the second, I felt I had done sufficient exploring of Edinburgh and could skip night life to get more sleep with no regrets about not having done more.

The next day was some tricky logistics, juggling the hotel checkout time, train schedules, and the requirement to show up at 7 pm - and not before - at the ship at a dock in a small town the other side of Glasgow, where I had to change trains. The weather in Edinburgh had been gorgeous, but was forecast to have intermittent showers all day on the west coast, so I didn't want to spend a lot of time touring on foot outdoors with my heavy bags. 

I ended up taking a train to Glasgow right at the hotel checkout time. The ride was uneventful - except it was crowded - there were some people standing without seats. The route lay through suburbs and a bit of gentle farm country - nothing dramatic. I had to exit the platform into the main station to change trains, and I had figured out the ticket was good for any connecting train to my destination. I decided to spend my extra few hours in Glasgow rather than the tiny port town of Greenock. I walked around the city a little bit, but the weather wasn't great and my bags were heavy, so I reverted to the train station waiting room. I watched on the schedule board as a series of trains to Greenock departed - every half hour - as I read my book. I finally got on a train and took the short ride to the small town, where I debarked onto an empty platform (with no enclosed station) in a light drizzle. I had to walk more than a mile to the ship, with my heavy backpack and tote bag. More than halfway there, I stopped at the only open business along the route, a McDonalds (how appropriate! Scotch food!). I was still ahead of schedule, so I lingered over a diet coke, appreciating the caffeine and a chance to sit down.

Finally, the ship!

Finally, I headed to the ship. It was clearly visible from a distance - a classic square-rigged sailing ship, not to be confused with anything else. I connected with my fellow passengers also arriving, and finally, right at 7, we boarded and were greeted by the crew. After a very brief tour of the ship with some safety instructions, we were shown to our cabins (I had one to myself as the ship wasn't full). Dinner at 8, where introductions were made, a lovely meal was served, and we were told breakfast was at 8 and we would be sailing right after that. 

(Next: actually sailing!)