Enjoying The Evening

Wonderful sky on a beautiful night. Captain and I hanging out at our mooring.  Almost no need to go anywhere, it's soo beautiful!

Um, Captain, That's A Big Boat

We've had a couple of big boats visiting our harbor the past 2 weeks.  This only reinforces what a lovely harbor we have indeed.  How can we possibly leave all this when people are coming far and wide to anchor here.

Just a nice little boat from Kodiak, Alaska

The sailboat in front of it, it is 40 ' long!  5' longer than our boat.

This one, just another little ship...

We couldn't squeeze our little boat in at the fuel dock, guess we'll stop by another day.

These guys are from the British Virgin Islands!

Dolphin Marina, Harpswell

We headed out to Harpswell late on Saturday morning.  It usually takes only about 2-3 hours to get there, so we didn't need to get a very early start.  Captain had emailed and asked about a reservation, but they don't take them.  I sure hope that they have a mooring available after we took the time to sail out there.

The sail out was very gusty.  We were cranking along at 5 knots with both sails up.  The boat was heeling more than 10%, I really don't know how far because the gauge that measures that doesn't go beyond 10%.  I will tell you this, when my eyes get big and my jaw clenches AND I stop talking, Captain takes notice.  The boat was heeling a good deal and he joked about putting the rails in the water.  I am NOT that type of girl!  Maybe in a small boat, on a hot summer day, but not in a big boat on a long sleeve day.  I'm not a thrill ride girl either.  I spend the whole ride wondering just how I am going to die.  So Captain smartly read all the signs and asked me to take the wheel.  "Wha...why, where are you going?!" said I in a pitch a bit higher than normal.  He calmly took in hand all the ropes needed and walked to the mast and lowered the Main Sail.  The boat evened out and we sailed the rest of the trip with just the Jib.  And we continued on at about 4 knots, sometimes 4.5 with just the Jib.  He did comment many times how pleased he was that the boat sailed so well with just the Jib. 

We arrived in Harpswell in no time and I radioed into the marina.  Do they have a mooring for the evening?  Yes, they did.  We squeezed in next to a beautiful Hinckley (one of the many of Captain's dream boats).  This particular mooring was TIGHT.  I had to catch that mooring ball on first try, no matter what.  I did (and honestly, I never miss).  Captain exclaimed to the owner of the beautiful Hinckley that we seemed a bit close, like only 20'.  The other Captain replied that he thought we would be just fine.  And once the boats straightened themselves out with the tides, it did turn out okay.  Late on Saturday night when Captain and I were out admiring the stars and the milky way, we were only about 10-12' away from this beautiful boat.  But none-the-less, no trouble at all.

We arrived at the Dolphin Marina.  http://www.dolphinmarinaandrestaurant.com/

Captain radioed for a pick up from the marina tender.  It was my birthday the other day and Captain wanted to take me into the restaurant for a cocktail.  I can't resist their fish chowder, so I had to get a cup.  They serve their chowder with a blueberry muffin, isn't that different and fun?  We ordered up a bag of ice to take back to the boat as well. 

Back at the boat, we had to put that bag of ice to good use.  Cocktails were in order, but, I had to wait...

Ah, here it is!  Thanks Captain!

The sun was going down and right in my eyes!  Captain was busy hard wiring the CD player/radio, so I had to take some pictures of myself.  He was hard wiring because we had only 1 cigarette light port to plug stuff in.  The radio went in that port most of the time.  I needed to charge my cell phone, so we couldn't listen to the radio. Captain loves music.  So, he fixed that situation up right away. He is super handy and has a overstuffed tool bag and lots of little bits and piece of "stuff" on board to do any type of repair.   He hard wired the radio to we can do other stuff with the cigarette port and there is NO interruption in music. 

Sun is setting over the marina...

Up early and the sail home on Sunday was much much quieter than the sail in.  We saw several harbor seals and Captain fished a bit. 

We also saw our friends Caroline and Jeff enjoying their boat.  They were headed in the opposite direction as us and Caroline was pushing that boat and SHE had their rails in the water!  I guess she is THAT type of girl!  :)

See you next weekend!

Single Serve Pies

You are not even going to believe what I made.  Singe serve pies in a little mason jar!  The cutest things you will ever eat!  I made them for my family as we were headed out for a picnic on the waters edge and I eagerly volunteered to bring desert.  I have been just waiting for the perfect time to make these little pies, and my mom and sister would be just the right people to admire these.    Next up, I will be baking these on board for a few of our boating friends.  I'm also thinking little chicken or lobster pot pies!

(Empty jar, top left.  Filling added, top right.  Topped off with lattice or a cut out heart!  Too cute!)

(Ahhhh!  Can you stand the cuteness!??)

Easy as well, pie!  I used store bought pie dough and made a quick pie filling out of some Maine blueberries that I purchased earlier at the Farmers Market.  You even bake these pies right in their glass jar!

Single Serving Pie

Recipe makes 8 little pies

2 rolls of refrigerator pie dough
2 C. of pie filling, your choice (you can even use canned fillings)

My Blueberry Filling Recipe:

3 cups of fresh (or frozen) blueberries, rinsed and stems removed (if using frozen, defrost and drain first)

1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/8 cup all-purpose flour (for thickening)
1/4 cup white granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

Gently mix the blueberries, sugar, flour, cinnamon, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a large bowl.  Let sit for at least 30 minutes, stir often. 

To make a "perfect" lid for your pie, simply use the ring from the mason jar as a template.  Gently press the ring into the pie dough and wa-la!  Perfect lid for the pie.  Be sure to cut out a little vent for the pie.  Use a mini cookie cutter to cut cute shapes, free-style and cut with a knife, or if you are in the mood, lattice!   Set lids aside.

Take one little mason jar and press pieces of dough into the bottom and up the sides of the jar.  Continue with remaining jars.

Fill each little jar with approximately 1/4 C. of filling.  Top with a lid and press to join sides with the tops crimping with your fingers or a fork.

Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar if you want it extra special.

Bake for 30 minutes or so (until tops are brown) in a 375 degree oven. 

When I took these little pies out of the oven, some of the lids had pushed up over the top of the jar.   I simply waited for them to cool and the steam to escape and the lid went right back down.  So don't worry if this happens to you.

Cool and put on the lid.  They are ready to travel!  Heat up before eating if you would like.  But we enjoyed ours at room temperature and they were delicious!  Enjoy!

Slow Sailing

Here we were on Sunday sailing home from our recent overnight in Harpswell at The Dolphin Marina (more on that soon).  Little wind to start out with made for a slow start home.  But that's okay, the weather was GOR-G-EOUS!  Captain and I enjoyed the quiet time and just enjoyed the ocean and it's many sounds.

Boat Names

Okay, so there are alot of funny boat names out there like "Breaking Wind".  And there are the regular ones like "Compass Rose" & "Sea Mist" (ours).  And there are the cute ones like "His Revenge" and "The Other Woman".  Sweet ones like "Soul Mates".  And the dream ones, "Winters Dream". 

But have you ever heard/seen of this:

It was on this racing sailboat.    The bottom is even painted in a cow pattern.

The View Outside Our Window...

This is from our mooring on the Harraseeket River.

Organzing The Ice Chest

I was having a hard time organizing the ice chest.  All the stuff on the bottom, yeah, I couldn't reach it.  It was just too deep.  And every time I wanted "something" I had to move 37 other things and then it was soaked and often sitting in melted ice.  Cheese doesn't like water, it got ruined.  Anything in a cardboard box (like say, cream cheese), ruined.  Stuff tipped on it's side (like olives from the deli) leaked.  What a mess.  Considering sometimes we bring about 5-6 meals with us on board at a time, I needed to get in and out of the ice box quite a bit.  This was getting frustrating.  It can be improved, I know it!  What to do, what to do....

There is a shelf on the left side of the icebox which worked out great for holding stuff.  I had already but a basket there to keep "stuff" under control and contained in the ice box. 

So, okay, a couple of more basket from Target and some holes drilled in the bottom by Captain and I have solved my problem.

I have a set of 3 white plastic baskets now, that have these neat little handles that flip inward.  The feature of this flip, is that now the baskets stack.  I now put a block of ice in the very bottom, and nestle the champagne (awaiting a celebration), beer bottles and power-aid.  Then on goes a white basket.  Then another basket, then another.  I usually put ice cubes near the top, because, well, we use those often for cocktails.  The melting ice works it way through all the basket holes and I can easily lift the baskets out and get to whatever I need now easy pea-sy!  Everything stays upright (if I want/need it to) and relatively dry.

Sailing To The Goslings

We sailed out to The Goslings on Saturday.  We rushed down to the boat Friday night after I got home from the Farmers Market.  It was late by the time we got on board (8:15 or so) but soo worth it to wake up on the boat in the morning and have a full day ahead of us.  We sailed out on Saturday around 9:00.  But first we stopped at the dock to fuel up, pump out, fill up with water and buy some ice.  Turns out we didn't need any fuel.  We have hardly used any this entire season thus far, I mean it is a sailboat after all.  I have used up about 50 gallons of water doing dishes and then the both of us using the water washing up etc.  We were sure to top the water tanks.  We also had a quick pump out (not very glamorous, but it has to be done and this is the luxury of having a bathroom on board).

(Here is Captain getting ready to snake the water hose through one of the hatches).

And were off!  The Gosslings are a small chain of islands in Casco Bay.  There is a nice little harbor tucked in on North West side of the Goslings.  Many lucky folk have moorings over there and if you have a friend, you can ask if you can borrow their mooring for the day.  We are lucky.  We have a friend.  We headed out and had a great sail, nice gentle wind and a beautiful bright blue sky day.  Nice sun and nice temperatures.  We tacked a bit to follow the wind and arrived after about 2 hours.  Unfortunately, our friends mooring was taken by someone else.  No worries, we just grabbed another.  We settled in to enjoy some quiet time, a nice lunch and some sun.   If you are up for it and have a dingy with you (or kayak etc.) you can head over to the shore of one of the island to explore a bit.

We headed home after several hours and sailed right by our good friends, Caroline and Jeff.  Here they are grabbing a mooring for themselves for the late afternoon and evening.

We saw plenty of harbor seals....Captain caught this one on film!

We also saw some dolphin (didn't catch them on camera) and then caught these harbor seals basking in the sun!

Sometimes, I took the wheel...

Sometimes, I didn't!...

And then, sometimes we just enjoyed the ride and took a look around or up, and we found a rainbow!

What a wonderful trip!

Dinner On Board

Here I am in my galley, getting ready to put some fresh farmers market veggies to roast in the oven...

I made a nice big salad with spinach, greens and feta tossed with roasted green beans, shallots and tomatoes from the farmers market. Add a little balsamic olive oil dressing and we were in heaven! Delicious!

(Notice I changed clothes?  It got cool as those veggies roasted and the sun went down.)!

Osprey

We have a great little Osprey nest near our boat mooring.  Often, the mama or the daddy are out fishing for dinner for the little Osprey in the nest.  The other night, one of the parents needed some time out of the nest and was perched on the mast of the boat moored next to us.