Random Things from the Galley, and beyond
1. Quinoa was not a hit. I inherited about fifteen pounds of it from a lovely couple leaving their boat for the summer. It cooks wicked fast, it’s healthy. I just need to get them to like it.
2. Taco mix. Also not a hit. We don’t do many of the quick-fix sauces and stuff at the supermarket and here I am reminded of why. Not a hit.
3. Trader Joe’s kitchen towels are awesome. If they were twice as big they’d be perfect. I will be buying another 4 or so when I’m in Atlanta this weekend. They dry fast, soak up tons, and are perfect for throwing on a flat surface when I’m washing dishes.
4. Dishes. I wash all of our bowls everyday. We use them constantly, it seems. And loads of kid’s IKEA plates. Constant. I do miss the dish washer, I will admit. Could care less about the microwave and other appliances, but do not take your dish washers for granted, landlubbers.
5. Coffee grounds? Bane of my existence. The sink doesn’t drain directly overboard- I have to pump it out, so we try to minimize the stuff that gets in those hoses, for fear it will sit and fester and smell. This is just one of a great many quirks of the boat that we didn’t change, thinking that there must have been a good reason for doing it that way. But seriously, if we ever do change it, I will not. Repeat WILL NOT miss scraping wet coffee grounds out of the bottom of that sink (that never fully empties). No matter how carefully I dump the French press, they sneak in.
6. The oven continues to impress. We made a pizza!
7. For our grand voyage I will be packing eight hundred loaves of bread, six dozen jars of peanut butter, and four dozen jars of jam. Clearly our children can survive on this ration for months at a time. John and I are suffering from the sameness, but them? They will never tire of the PB&J.
Speaking of whom, Rosy got two of her canines (teeth) this week. I’ve said it before, but teething is the big awful thing of the first two years that nobody warned me about. Visions of reliving the teething years=best birth control on the block. Two teeth to go, for now. Relief is setting in.
Meanwhile, Sophie has pink eye. John has predicted we will all fall victim to it by the end of the week. Living in 33 feet does have its challenges when it comes to managing contagions. She said before bed, “I tried not to touch Rosy all day!”
The girls and I leave for Atlanta this weekend and John has a slew of new things to play with- non-skid paint, a new radar tower, a fuel tank to install, a DC system to work out. We got a good quote for a dodger, so that’s coming along. Every day, a little more.
Sophie and I read a Jon Muth book tonight and while she was more taken with the panda bear illustrations than the Buddhist undertones, she made me read it twice. I love the end: “Remember then that there is only one important time, and that time is now. The most important one is always the one you are with. And the most important thing is to do good for the one who is standing at your side. For these, my dear boy, are the answers to what is most important in this world.”
In our rush of getting ready, it’s easy to look beyond the here and now. The weather is heating up, we have a zillion things to juggle, parts to order and install, bills to pay. But when we stop and have a meal, take a walk, read a book, we are doing something just as important. For them, especially.
I am with you on the dishwasher and coffee grounds. When I am at other people’s homes I’m excited about putting things in the dishwasher. And I used to hate doing that! My husband is the coffee drinker, so maybe that is part of it, but I swear I am always cleaning up coffee grounds from little corners and cracks everywhere. Our sink drains overboard, so I guess I should be grateful that I avoid that headache.
Also, in regards to the PB&J, when I was about six my family moved to Sweden for a few months. I gather that my sisters and I hated everything to eat in the whole country. I think we survived on zwieback crackers, butter, and sausage for months. All of these could be nicely stored on a boat to serve picky eaters.
LOVE the Trader Joes dish towels too, I agree, need to be bigger! And dish washers are such a genius invention. *sigh*. Zach saw one once and asked “what is THAT thing?”
I so wish I could get Zach to thrive on PB&J day after day. He loves variety and essentially non-easy foods. I am working on it…
Which Muth book did you read? They are sweet. I find they sink in slowly. Sometimes when I am mad about something hours after it happened Zach says “Mommy put down that woman” — a reference from Zen Shorts.
For the first ten years of our marriage (birthing 3 babies during that decade) I did dishes by hand at least 3 x/day. I will NEVER take a dishwasher for granted again.
I wish Houston would get hip enough to have a Trader Joe’s in town.
Coffee grounds and eggshells are the worst for screwing up even landlubber garbage disposals (ask me how I know). Too bad you can’t compost on the boat ;-( We have an orange tree outside our back door and have been dumping the grounds from our French press directly on it for a year now. It is more magnificent than ever this spring! Can you just pour the resultant slurry directly over the side of the boat? I’m hoping fish thrive on coffee grounds.
Our girls ate nothing but PB&J’s, apple slices and mini carrots throughout elementary school. Talk about bored mama packing the same-old same-old lunch sack every day. Somehow they survived. And I didn’t find out ’til years later that their classmates begged our girls to trade their apples and carrots for their twinkies and ding dongs and chips. Which, of course, they happily did … because Mean Mama wouldn’t let them eat junk food at home. Oy vey.
Doug and I rather favor a peanut butter and mustard with a slice of onion and leaf of lettuce sandwich. Have you tried that? And when you’re REALLY produce blessed, you could add a delicious slice of tomato. Almost like a BLT to us vegetarians!
You probably already know, but Similisan is an excellent homeopathic remedy (eyedrop style) for pinkeye. You can even buy it in a regular grocery store in the “eyecare” aisle these days. It works far faster (and cheaper and more safely ) than any antibiotic. You could all take it prophylactically if and when one or the other comes down with it. I wouldn’t be without it, personally.
Too bad about the quinoa. Will they eat it with melted butter and a sprinkle of salt on top, maybe? We just had it last night. SO delish.
I’ve got to get busy on my letter to Sophie!
kSue, thanks so much for the Similisan tip. That’s awesome to know. I will pick some up today if we see any pinkness . . . I suppose breastmilk works too!
Your sandwich sounds positively fascinating. I will try it.
And Rosy loves quinoa and any other “hard-core” grain from the Bob’s Red Mill cereal family. She and I will eat it. There was a good recipe for a salad with it in Food & Wine. I will convince them, I will.
Boatmama- Sausage is another favorite food group here.
and Cindy, we read The Three Questions by Muth. I’ve read Zen Shorts and loved it. I should get it again from the library. Or my own darn copy!
Thanks for the camaraderie, ladies. I’m off to dispose of more coffee grounds. Mama needs caffeine.