New Anchor System On The Way!

Our 10 kilogram Bruce anchor hanging off the bowsprit of The Key of Sea gave us plenty of reason during last boating season, to suspect it was too little anchor for our boat. Several times, we found ourselves drifting off of our anchorage even though we had carefully gone through each step necessary to secure us to the bottom. After setting the anchor we also set the GPS proximity alarm to warn us should the anchor slip. In every case we had to reset the anchor more than once. Fortunately, we never had to depend on it during an overnight stay or stormy weather.

We were confident in our anchoring ability. So why the problem? I bought a book on anchors and anchoring and read it front to back. I began to suspect we needed much more anchor than we are currently carrying. Fast forward to a visit to Pacific Marine, a used boating supply store here in town. I had a long conversation with one of the staff regarding my options. In the end they recom-mended that I have at least as much chain as the length of the boat. In our case probably 35-40 feet would be a good length just to be sure. We will also replace the well-frayed anchor line and upgrade to a slightly larger diameter rope. We will continue to use a 3 strand nylon line for its strength and elasticity and that will give us an overall scope of about 300 feet.

As to the anchor. Well, it turns out we have been using about half the anchor we should have. We will keep the current 10 kg Bruce as a back up and go to a 15 kg model for our permanent anchor. We'll need to mark the scope every so many feet in order to keep track of what has gone overboard when we are setting the anchor.

So, we have a job ahead of us and I am looking forward to it. Thought I'd get to it during the upcoming Spring break in another week. I have an eye on a used 15 kg Bruce down at Pacific Marine that looks to be in good shape. I may go down and buy it next week. I think some sort of rubberized mat placed in the bottom of the anchor locker on deck might help curb future scratching and denting of the fiberglass locker.

Another addition to this year's cruising will probably have to be a new small hp outboard motor for the dinghy we bought last season. Still looking for a deal on that. My old motor which I spent a lot of time last winter fixing up just hasn't paid off the way I had hoped. It is just to old, unreliable, difficult to steer and start. It works and it could continue to serve us, but a new motor would be much lighter and easier to get running. Well see. We can always use the oars that came with the dinghy! We'd get some exercise that way as well. ha!

With the new paint job and zincs in place since last Fall, our mechanic, Travis, is all set to do the annual physical in two weeks--new oil, filters, etc., we are about set for the 2011 boating season. And we are planning a lot more boating this summer. Oh, and one more update. When Travis visits to do the annual check up, he has also promised to move the port side engine sea strainer further aft. It currently sits just far enough forward to make it just inaccessible for me. As it needs to be looked at before and after every trip, it is quite bothersome to have to ask someone to squeeze into that space just to check that one concern. Now I'll be able to get to both of them easily.
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30 Minute Saint Patrick's Day Dinner

I'm on my way home when it occurs to me that we hadn't discussed anything for dinner tonight--St. Paddy's Day! Why not surprise my wife and bring home the fixings for a dinner to celebrate the holiday? A quick up and down the aisles and I had the ingredients.


1 pound of good quality sliced corned beef for sandwiches (found in your deli)
1 head of cabbage, cut into wedges
6 small red potatoes, cut into 2 inch chunks
3 slices of bacon
butter
salt and pepper

Fill a pot with water up to the bottom of a steamer and turn on high. When water is boiling place cabbage wedges into the bottom of the steamer. Sprinkle with salt. In another pot place potato chunks and boil until cooked. Slice the bacon thinly and sprinkle onto a baking sheet. Cook in a preheated 375 degree oven until browned and crisp. When the bacon is done, set aside saving drippings.

When the cabbage wedges are nearly cooked through, place the slices of corned beef over the top of the cabbage and allow the contents to steam until the cabbage is done.

Drain the potatoes, butter, salt and pepper to taste. Plate up the cabbage wedges, top with butter, salt and pepper. Arrange boiled potatoes on plate. Salt, pepper and butter to taste. Add a portion of corned beef. Sprinkle bacon over the cabbage and potatoes. Serve immediately.

All that activity took me almost exactly 30 minutes. Whew! Oh, and what did I do with the bacon grease? Well, I decided to do nothing, but you could pour it over the cabbage and potatoes. You could also roast the cabbage wedges in the drippings instead of steaming them. It is a yummy alternative but one that would, of course, add lots of extra calories and fat to the meal. It would also add to the preparation time.

I found the use of good quality pre-cooked corned beef not only saved a lot of time but it was also far less salty than the boiled corned beef briskets I usually purchase and boil for an hour or more. Plus I only bought enough for what I needed instead of a 3-4 pound brisket that is way more beef than I need.
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Chicken Piccata with Sauteed Mushrooms

The classic Chicken Piccata gets a delicious twist in this version.

I've been playing with leftovers and little bits of this and that I find in my fridge to make creative dinners during my time off due to the recent heavy snow which gave me several days off to play house husband. This easy and quick main came out beautiful and yummy!
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Chicken Piccata with Sauteed Mushrooms


2--boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1--gallon ziplock bag
1 egg
1/2 c flour
1 T salt
1 t black pepper


1/2 lemon, juiced
1--lime, cut and juiced
1--juice from mandarin orange
1 c--sliced mushrooms
1/2 sliced red onion
2 T--capers
3 T--olive oil

Place the chicken breasts in the ziplock along with the flour, egg and salt and pepper. Shake the bag and squeeze the ingredients until well blended.

Meanwhile, slice onions and mushrooms. Heat a pan adding olive oil. When hot, place the chicken breasts into the pan (shake off excess coating in the bag) and brown each side. Add mushrooms and onions and saute as the chicken finishes. When the mushrooms and onions are caramelized add in the capers and the juice from the lime and lemon. Toss in the lemon and 1/2 a lime. Add in orange juice. Let the juices meld with the chicken.

Remove the chicken from the pan and spoon out the vegetable mixture over the chicken. Toss the lemon and lime halves. Serve over rice, pasta or salad greens.

Bon apetit!

Asparagus-Stuffed Chicken Breast

Home all day today. No school. Snow Day. So, I made a quick trip out to Fred Meyer to pick up a few items, just in case the snow storm turns into a multi-day event.

I found some locally grown, fresh, chicken breasts on sale. Got 'em home and tossed a couple into a zip lock. Then I started looking through the fridge for some likely ingredients for a marinade. There on the self were bottles of tamari, Sriracha sauce and some peanut sauce. Rubbing my chin and scanning the fridge shelves, behind, underneath, tucked way back, I found the rest of my ingredients and began formulating my plan. Here is what I came up with for dinner tonight.

Asparagus-Stuffed Chicken Breast

2--skinless, boneless chicken breasts, butterflied
6--large white mushrooms, sliced
1/4 small red onion, sliced into rings
6 green onion tops, sliced
6-8 small fresh asparagus spears
4 pats of butter
olive oil
1/4 c cooking sherry

Marinade for Chicken
1/2 cup Tamari Sauce
2 T Sriracha Sauce
2 T Peanut sauce
1 t salt
1 T black pepper

Place chicken breasts in a gallon zip lock bag. Pour marinade ingredients into bag. Zip closed. Slosh chicken and marinade together coating the chicken. Turn the bag several times during marinade period. Allow to marinade for at least 3-4 hours. The longer the better.

When ready to put the dish together, remove the chicken from the bag and let drain. Butterfly each breast.

In a frying pan add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 1 pat of butter. Toss in onions and mushrooms. Saute, stirring until mushrooms are golden brown. Add sherry and continue cooking a couple more minutes. Remove from heat.

Spoon 1/2 of mushroom mixture into each butterflied chicken breast. Place 1/2 of the asparagus along the length of each breast. Place pieces of butter around the vegetable mixture and fold over the butterflied half of the breast to cover the mixture. Place in a 9 X 12 casserole. Cover lightly with olive oil and salt and pepper.

Place in a pre-heated 375 degree convection oven and roast for 1/2 hour. Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes. Pour pan juices over the breast and any sides.

Serve each breast over a bed of rice, mashed or boiled potatoes.
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This dish went over well with my wife. She had been working on our taxes all day, so I would have to say that the least I could do was to make a nice dinner. Thanks sweetie for all you do for us.

My NookColor E-Reader

I recently had the opportunity to spend some of the final dollars available to me for classroom technology through a 2-year grant from the state of Washington. With it I purchased the Kindle e-reader with wi-fi and 3G, a Pandigital e-reader and the new Nook Color e-reader. I have been playing with both devices now for the past couple of months and I've come to some conclusions I thought I'd share.

This blog entry may begin to sound a bit like a commercial for my favorite e-reader and so you don't have to wait several paragraphs before I tell you, let me come right out and say that the Nook Color is my choice among the devices I have tried.

Now, while I have absolutely NO love for Barnes and Noble or any other predatory type of business, I must say I was totally taken in by this little gadget. I had been looking into the idea of an e-reader for some months before the Nook Color came on the market. Mostly I'd been drooling over the Kindle sold by Amazon.

When I discovered I could use my tech grant funds to purchase an e-reader or two, I thought, why not use this as an opportunity to see what's out there and how they might best be used in education. With the Kindle I purchased a couple of down loadable books and started checking out its other capabilities. Almost from the start I had some real issues. It wouldn't, for an example, allow me to do much of anything beyond using it as a book device. It is black and white (the e-ink format is a plus as it seems more realistic and reads more easily outside by the pool than devices without this technology). Another problem with the Kindle, and this is its biggest issue, is that it is proprietary, meaning that it can only download books from Amazon. Almost all the other devices out there allow down loads from other web book sellers. It also won't allow access e-books from public library systems. As I approach retirement and begin looking at less expensive options in life, this seemed a pretty good option in my mind.

The Pandigital e-reader I bought through the local Kohl's department store was a color unit. It had so many issues that I erased everything off its memory and returned it for a refund. Similar in size to the Nook Color, the Pandigital device also had limitations as to who and how I could access e-books. No good!

Then, just before Christmas 2010, I discovered the Nook Color being sold in Barnes and Noble and Best Buy for $245. I went in to my local B and N store and not 10 feet inside the front door was the Nook sales desk. I had a sales person all to myself to ask all my questions. She was very knowledgeable and eager to help. I walked out with one when I found out it could do nearly everything I was looking for. And what it couldn't do were issues the Nook people were already preparing to address. Here are some of the perks of the Nook Color:

• Full color screen
• 7" glare resistant screen
• Non-proprietary
• Touch screen navigation including pinch zoom
  
• Allows me to down load books from my local library free
• Allows me to purchase books from competing sources
• Allows speedy access to Internet
• Allows speedy access to Facebook and E-mail
• Comes with apps for Pandora (great), chess, crosswords
• More apps in development
• Free wi-fi access anywhere it is free and at Barnes and Noble stores where you can read any book free for an hour
• Get a free beverage with the coupon on the in-store w-fi system
• Free Book Fridays
  
• Free 800 tech support number
• Automatic free device upgrades
• The device is beautifully designed
• Weighs about on pound
  

Wow! So what's wrong with the Nook Color? Well, I suppose that depends on what you were looking for to begin with. It doesn't, for an example, have the apps the Apple Ipad has (what you see is what you get). Nor the Ipad's screen size (nearly twice the size). Nor the I-pad's weight of around 2 pounds. However, the Nook folks assure us that they are working on app development and that an app store is in the offing. The Nook would be better off if it operated with a 2.2 OS instead of the current 1.1. That, too, is on its way. I think I was really looking for a mini tablet and not just an e-reader, so the Nook Color has all but given me that. It still doesn't play video (other than MPEG-4) so Netflix and Hulu are out of bounds, but I am told with the upgrade to the Android 2.2 coming later this year, the ability to use Adobe Flash will be included. That will finally put the Nook into tablet territory and make it far more competitive with the popular Apple Ipad which costs twice as much.

What I have not done is to tell you anything about the other number of e-readers on the market. Sony has a popular one. Borders Books sells the Sony as well as ones made by Kobo and Velocity.

Do your homework carefully. Ask lots of questions. What features do you want from your e-reader? Do you even need one? What's your budget, etc.? A lot of folks are, like me, smitten with the Nook Color. In fact it just ran away with the top honors for e-gadget of the year award. We gadget hounds are a fickle lot and when the next big thing comes along our Nook Color readers will no doubt wind up in the bottom drawer of the desk with our old PDA, and other outdated devices. But for now, the Nook Color has my heart.

Some of My Favorite Food Photos

The Barcelona, Spain Market Place. The nut stand.




Lettuce in the Grandville Island Market. Vancouver, B.C.

An Orange

Cottage Pie On A Cold Winter Night

Looking for an easy to make comfort food for dinner? Here is one that is a favorite around our house. Having a son-in-law who happens to be a Brit helps.

We were in Wales with family and friends a couple of New Years ago. Nick and I were tagged as the dinner maker for New Year's Eve Dinner. We decided to make a Shepherd's Pie. Making it with lamb is considered Shepherd's Pie, with beef is a Cottage Pie.

Turned out we had all the ingredients except for the tomato products usually added in--usually catsup and or tomato paste and sauce. I suggested using Daddy's Sauce, a sort of A-1 Steak Sauce tasting concoction, which we did have. This is what we came up with. It was delicious. Daddy's Sauce is available here in the States but it is pricey!

2 pounds of ground beef or lamb
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 handfuls of peas (frozen is fine)
1 clove of garlic, minced
3/4 cup of Daddy's Sauce
1/4 cup of beef broth

options:
1 stalk of celery, diced
8 ounces of mushrooms, sliced
salt and pepper
5 pounds of potatoes
1/2 stick of butter
1/ 4 cup of milk

Peel potatoes and cook in salted boiling water until soft. Drain and put back in the pot. Add milk and butter and use a mixer to blend into potatoes until they are mashed. Salt and pepper to taste.Set aside.

In a skillet, add veggies except peas and add meat. Cook until meat is browned and veggies are nearly cooked through. Drain oil from pan. Add in Daddy's Sauce and broth stirring into mixture. Salt and pepper to taste.

In a 9 X 13 casserole pour meat and veggie mixture into the bottom and smooth out filling the bottom. Pour mashed potatoes over the meat mixture and spread uniformly across the top. With a fork, rough up the top of the potatoes leaving small peaks. These will brown and caramelize as the casserole bakes. Place in preheated 350 oven for 45 minutes or until the top of the potatoes are browning.

Enjoy!