To cook or not to cook!!

Food is important in any society or walk of life. As cruisers at sea its doubly important. I'm not even talking about the energy & nutritional value, although yes Mum I know to keep an eye on my vitamin c intake to stop scurvy ; ) A bad day at sea & faced with another 20 days of the same before you see land can lead to a poor mental state! A favourite dinner, treat or the smell of banana cake can bring a smile to your face.

Just over a year ago I got onto this boat thinking “I can cook, being in charge of the meals shouldn't be a problem”...how little did I know! I've had to evolve from the “land girl” who could pick up any ingredient she wanted from a variety of supermarkets & corner shops, 24 hours 7 days a week, & eat at any restaurant or take away when ever she felt like it. I thought I could cook but this is a whole new level.

I've slowly developed into the “boat girl”. Learnt how to survive with no freezer, no Sainsburys nor Tescos, and instead - a market brimming with vegetables that I've never seen in my life before! Last year I felt the pressure. This year the shock & stress of preparing & cooking meals non stop, plus learning the basics of how to make staple foods such as bread (enjoy the huge selection on the shelves next time you are in the shop & will someone please eat some slices of toasted Vogel's bread with butter & marmalade for me! Wow my mouth is watering!) has given way to an inquisitiveness to learn from the other yachties & locals. Linda (s/v Creola) trades recipes with the locals & watches them prepare these strange island veggies! Her cook book is brimming with exotic recipes. I'm slowly getting there. Less stressed but still learning the basics!

I've finally mastered bread. After a number of bad attempts last year. Think back to the scene in “About a Boy” where he kills the duck with his Mum's home-made bread – yep my loafs were equally bad. There was certainly nothing light & fluffy about them! I haven''t quite made it to fantastic loafs of bread but my foaccia bread was out of this world (Bobby's words). Then again we could just be deprived of good bread! ; )

My pizzas started off as square stodgy pizza but have evolved to amazing thin crust pizzas thanks to Chris & Erin (s/v Barefeet). I can safely say that no pizza, other than Pizza Express tastes as good. & no I'm not buying the bases from the supermarket I'm making it all myself, impressive I know!

I've just made my own Rosa Harissa (a Tunisian chilli paste). I chopped & de seeded so many tiny chillis that my hands burnt for days afterwards. A rookie error, next time I'll be donning disposable gloves! The paste gives couscous & spag bol a spicy kick plus makes a fab dip when mixed with yoghurt. Which leads me onto my next development, yoghurt! Last year I was making Easiyo yoghurt. A powder that you mix with cold water, put in a large thermos flask. After 8 hours you have yoghurt, amazing! Running low on the magic powder so learning from my fellow cruisers to make yoghurt using powdered milk & 2 spoons of yoghurt. What I've learnt so far......do not mix yoghurt with the hot powdered milk mix as it curdles – yummy not! Also learnt it doesn't work with the local yoghurt, maybe there isn't enough cultures in it. Oh & don't use powdered milk that has been open for years as that also won't work. Just made some Easiyo to see if a little of that & powdered milk will work. Given the choice I'd rather have the huge super-market brimming with produce just down the road but it's not & I'm learning that this is kinda fun.

I'm getting organised. Presently I have a fridge full of bread & pizza dough ready to be used when required. Plus some ginger cookie dough ready to be rolled into cookies next time the oven is on. There are jars of Rosa Harissa ready to be added to sauces or made into a dip when my next batch of yoghurt turns out good (think we maybe waiting a while for that one!), a tub of aubergine appetiser awaits our sundowners. I'm growing basil from seed for pesto although with only four leaves at present it will be some time before I have enough.

Yes I know I appear to have turned into a house wife & it goes against everything I have been brought up to do (Dad you'll be pleased to know I'm still unblocking sinks & coming up with ideas for practical things around the boat). Its the one downside of living this fun lifestyle on the seas you end up succumbing to the galley. I'm unwilling to give up the little luxuries to live on rice & fish alone so I've got to adapt & learn how to create things from scratch. I know how good a feast of pineapple upside down cake is at midnight on a night watch, how we look forward to the evening meal when we know we're eating pizza & how we equally share a box of Smarties that I've found at the back of the fridge. Little treats are important in life however small they may be.
Enjoy your treats & the convenience of your supermarkets! Me jealous? Well ok maybe a little bit! As for me I'm off back to Barraveigh to unpack 5 trolleys of food from the supermarket which include 24 tins of tomatoes & 25 boxes of UHT milk!