Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Brrrrrrrrr



Another snow. More motivation for our exit from these parts.

This exit, referred to among us as The Escape Plan, is a very complicated, very demanding, very simple little plan. Involved is one sailboat, equipped with all the modern technologies of navigation and power supply, one two person crew knowledgeable in old time navigation, several languages, and familiar with every piece of equipment and hardware on above sailboat. The wind.. and a dog and cat.

A critical part of the plan we are now addressing is food.

In January we began our ''nothing with faces" diet. This was an experiment in which we took meat completely off the menu.

"So you must eat a lot of beans?" was the classic assumption, and, while there are a lot of wonderful ways to fix rice and beans while at sea, for now, its mostly been experiments with fresh veggies, seeds, and nuts, with interesting sauces over some kind of rice, noodle or barley. Without meat to fall back on, we had to be more creative with our cooking, and are eating a more varied diet. Our fruit intake has doubled, as it now substitutes processed sweets, that we used to occasionally munch out on. This is much cheaper, and makes us feel better in the morning. We found baked kale chips are great remedy for that potato chip addiction. Oatmeal bars with bananas, nuts, coconut and dark choc. are easy to make on a cruising boat, keep a good while, and are an excellent way to satisfy a sweet tooth. You see, we are not total ascetics. We like flavor. Our sacrifice and self-discipline, is based on practicality and pleasure.

This is where vegweb comes in. So far every recipe from this site has been incredible. We have made some delicious, nutritious meals that are simple enough to prepare at anchor. And that's what we're ultimately after.

Making sushi on a boat is simple, fun, yummy and cheap!



14 comments:

judith said...

You nailed it... food is the main thing that keeps me on the hard. That and my addiction to grocery shopping. And my fear of waves... big waves.

judith said...

You nailed it... food is the main thing that keeps me on the hard. That and my addiction to grocery shopping. And my fear of waves... big waves.

judith said...

Oooo, gotta get a lottery ticket today! Our problems could be over.

Travis and Maggie said...

You have problems?

I'm scared of waves too. Especially big ones. But I found that if you just dive into them, they pass over your head and you can come out the other side. Not sure how this would work in real big waves, and I hope to never ever find out!

Travis and Maggie said...

but yeah this months food experiment has made me realize that its possible to eat well, really well, with a few bulk ingredients and spices. I 'm so excited about dehydrating, and canning! And then there's the dog and cat food to figure out how to make and can.
Then there are some who go without refrigeration altogether, with great success. I don't know if we're that hard-core. I know we could be if we had to be, but our 12v. coolerator works well so we'll probably let that dog sleep a while.

Behan said...

ooo- thanks for the vegweb ref. That could help us, too. I keep trying to slide our family toward a vegetarian diet, but it's been difficult. Cruising outside our home grounds (ex-Bainbridge Island WA) I can't source any "face food" that I trust. Food in Mexico is not meat heavy, but meat plays a big part in the diet. As much as anything else, though, the variety of food to support a diverse, interesting, totally veg diet is pretty limited. For example, any grain outside long-grain white rice is nearly impossible to find. Forget quinoa, barley, wheat berries, etc. I paid a stupid amount of money the one time I found tahini on a shelf. We just can't make it work! I'm pretty sure this will only get more difficult when we head for the south pacific this spring. I'm hugely an "live to eat, not eat to live" person and just can't see doing the same rice & beans every day. Somehow though I have stockpiled sushi rice :-) although we happily eat it with fish, not just veggies!

judith said...

But I don't like to get my hair wet.... My parents used to spend months living on the island of Port Aransas in South Texas. They would pack their motor home with loads of dried fruit, which they dried themselves. Dad would fish daily and what they didn't can in pressure cookers they would sell to make extra money. They loved it! I think some of this rubbed off on Jolea.

rob said...

Hi Travis and Maggie Don`t fish have faces then ? I`m confused:o))how about eggs? they have faces at easter and humpty dumpty had a face as well as "a great fall" Ha!

rob said...

Have a look at Lin (and Larry) Pardeys, Care and Feeding of Sailing Crew, they didn`t have a motor for many years so I`m sure they didn`t have a refrig. :o))

Travis and Maggie said...

Thanks for that tip Rob. I checked out their website, what a great couple of people. And they have seven boats! that they take care of and sail! Wow!!! That book is now on my wishlist:)

I didn't want to confuse anyone. Yes fish have faces, yes we will eat them, but for now we went vegan to see what its like.

Samantha said...

does vegweb tell about dehydrating and canning? or is that something you already know how to do? i'll have to check out the site. i've been meaning to research dehydrating and canning... wasn't sure if i could do my own while living aboard. we are working on getting a new refrigerator in the very near future. soon we'll be living large, too!! :)

Samantha said...

oh, and i'm afraid of big waves, too. still working on that. :(

Nishant said...

That and my addiction to grocery shopping. And

Work from home India


my fear of waves...

Travis and Maggie said...

S, We got a book on canning, and tried it with some jars. It was super easy, nothing but boiling water and putting the jars in. We still have to get a dehydrator, but that looks pretty simple too.