Poseidon Galley: Santa Cruz Island with Sarah, Jeff & Marco

This year our annual summer vacation with Sarah & Jeff included Baby Marco, his first island trip. He took to boating from the start: (See Marco's Blog for more cute pics).

Marco takes his turn at the helm:

Jeff invited our neighbor Bug aboard to do some fishing. Together they caught this nice halibut.

While John was cleaning and fileting the halibut, I mixed up some wasabi & soy sauce and we were ready for some sashimi - yum! Bug was a little hesitant to try the raw fish, but discovered he liked it. I think it helped that he had caught the fish.

For dinner we barbecued clams (see previous post for recipe):

I have to say, they tasted even better eaten outside under the stars at anchor - 0r maybe it was the company:

The next morning we awoke to a visitor. As cute as he is, he can make an awful mess and wasn't welcome aboard Poseidon.

One morning Jeff taught me how to make carasau, a bread (really more like a cracker) from Sardinia. Sarah & Jeff had fallen in love with this bread on their Sardinian honeymoon. First Jeff made a dough from our grape starter, flour, water, salt and yeast. He kneaded the dough for a few minutes, then we cut it into pieces and rolled out into very thin discs. The discs, one at a time, go onto a pizza stone in a very hot oven for about 1 minute or until they get very puffy, then they're flipped over for about 30 seconds.

Immediately, the puffy discs are cut open and separated - it's a two person job:

The separated discs go back into the oven one at a time for about 10 seconds per side until very crispy. Next we brushed the discs with olive oil and sprinkled some with fresh chopped rosemary, some with fresh chopped thyme and the favorite - finishing salt and garlic.

Served with cold cuts and cheese it made the perfect lunch:

In the afternoon we hosted a Mexican-themed cocktail party. Our dish (thanks to Bug's halibut) was Halibut Tostadas. Mix cubed (uncooked) halibut with avocado, green onions, chipotles, lime juice, tequila, adobe sauce and ground cumin. Serve on fried tortillas.

Some of the tame party pics:

Marco chooses the bait:to catch Daddy's shark:

Marco looks on while I make sushi:

We had spicy-halibut rolls (halibut mixed with sriracha and a little mayo with cucumber) and yellowtail rolls (fish from John's Mexico trip with avocado):

Sushi for four:

Sweet stuff in Poseidon's Galley:

Sarah & Jeff volunteered to help with dinner. At first they were a little intimidated:

But quickly gained confidence and cooked a great dinner-Pork & Mushroom Skewers with Basil Sauce:

They cut pork tenderloin into strips, and along with mushrooms, marinated them with green onions, basil, olive oil, vinegar, garlic and salt & pepper, then threaded on skewers and onto the bbq.