Tag: cooking

January 14, 2014

Holiday Baking on a boat!

Before we get too far away from the holidays I wanted to post a few pics of how my holiday baking turned out. It’s tradition for us to have fresh-baked Christmas cookies and pie every year so this year was no exception. The only part that was a challenge was the lack of counter space. Having a tiny oven just meant I had to bake smaller batches and only one cookie sheet at a time. We didn’t mind having the oven going all day since it was so chilly during the holidays and the oven heat kept us toasty inside the boat.

Yummy vanilla buttercream frosting hit the spot for my wicked sweet tooth. I made some extras for neighbors and friends, and some for Santa of course!

I ran out of bowls for mixing the pie crust so I used the pie plate instead.

We brought pumpkin pie over to Carl and Cynthia’s boat for Christmas Dinner before our new friends set sail for the Keys and Bahamas. Since I don’t have a cooling rack anymore, an upsidedown cupcake pan worked perfect :)

After rolling out cookies the cloth can get pretty messy. I used the edge of one of the cookie cutters to scrape off the majority of the dough before retiring the cloth to the laundry.

There were a few more people that we wanted to bring cookies to so the next few batches were of sea turtles, starfish and palm trees as I was dreaming of what our New Year will bring!

December 1, 2013

Giving Thanks

We are so lucky to be here, on our very own boat, really doing this, just going for it, living the dream!! Just in time for Thanksgiving, we are thankful for a lot of things but most of all that we are able to be here living this amazing lifestyle.

Holidays are a little different when you live on a boat but our first thanksgiving as liveaboards was nothing short of traditional. The number one must have item was a homemade pumpkin pie!! It’s absolutely against everything I was raised with to use a store-bought pie crust so in our tiny little galley I set out to whip one up. It’s so easy to make and totally worth the effort of mixing it and rolling out the dough. There is a secret family recipe I use that makes the crust extra yummy. Anyone who wants to try it is welcome aboard :)

We thought about cooking up a full spread on the boat for just Peter and I but that would have taken days in just one smallish 15″x15″ oven. We didn’t plan early enough and all of our neighbors were going elsewhere to celebrate with their families. The Harbormaster of Burnt Store Marina invited us over to her house, yet something else to be thankful for. Peggy and her husband Don had several other cruising friends over and we heard lots of great salty stories from some wonderful people who have “been-there-done-that”. We had a huge traditional meal with turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, fruit salad, cole slaw, stuffing, deviled eggs, olives and biscuits. Of course we brought the fresh-baked pumpkin pie and someone else brought a banana pudding dish. Delish!!!

The last few days have been really chilly here, dropping to an astonishing low of 40 degrees at night. Our days have been calling for sweatshirts and pants, oh my!! We’ve been snuggling up and keeping it cozy in our humble aboa-t. The day after Thanksgiving I caught the boys snuggled up together so cute. Gunner loves morning time with his daddy after waking up, going outside and then eating breakfast. Peter and the kids go back to bed and read for a while. Its Gunner’s favorite time of the day. For the cold nights we’ve been making yummy hot comfort food. Our favorite on the boat so far is pasta shells with homemade meat sauce. It had the perfect amount of spice and kept us warm and toasty.
Dinner up in the cockpit is SOO cozy!! Especially when its raining. We have our LED lights plugged in and a dehumidifier to add a little warmth and dry it out. A couple of blankets and a hot meal make this a real fun place to be when its cold and stormy. We leave the kids downstairs so its kind of like a date night too :)We hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving with friends, family and loved ones. Happy Holidays and thanks for following our blog!!!

November 16, 2013

Betsy Turns 7

Betsy Jo turned 7 yesterday!!

She normally sleeps in a cozy little space that is above some drawers and level with our bed, but little Sue got to sleep under the covers snuggled between us the eve of her birthday! She didn’t move an inch all night to make sure we wouldn’t remember she was there in the middle of the night. (See our CREW page to read more about Betsy and to see all of her different names).

We woke up yesterday and began with our normal routine:

First set up the ramp to get the dogs from the cabin to the cockpit, then help the dogs jump from the boat to the dock.

Then, we hurry up to the grassy areas along the sidewalks so the kids can go potty. Gunner always finishes first because he is so anxious to get back inside for breakfast. For her birthday Betsy got to hunt for lizards a little longer than normal, but if we let her she would chase them all day! Gunner didn’t mind so much because there were so many good smells outside.

Back on the boat for breakfast while mommy and daddy have coffee, then Betsy got to wash out the cereal bowl that we shared. Minimizing dirty dishes and conserving water by letting Sue do the pre-rinse gets us a jump on the daily chores :)

It’s nap time for the dogs while we do some work on the boat outside, then they make another potty trip before we run some errands.

Jose’s birthday dinner was served on a special birthday plate given to us by Jody’s grandmother who we all call Bean, and was given a healthy portion of barbecued New York steak with her own spot at the table!! We said our prayers holding hands and paws, and enjoyed another fantastic home cooked meal aboard our cozy humble aboa-t. Betsy is such a good little girl that she wanted to help us clean up too :)

After dinner we finished watching The Bucket List so Betsy would be even more excited about all the fun and amazing adventures we are about to go on while I baked a cake on our boat for the first time. Red Velvet with cream cheese frosting AND filling!! Mmm it smelled so good!!

We of course sang happy birthday and gave Betsy a high-five. Even though doggies shouldn’t have sugar, we had to let Betsy Jo have a taste of her own birthday cake. She is pretty good at eating from a fork!

Betsy is a very special dog and anyone that meets her will understand. She loves everyone she meets and is the happiest dog we know. It was a blessing that Peter found this little girl 7 years ago and took her home so she could be here with us today.