Pete & Family

Pete, his daughter Lia, her husband Paul and their baby Julian drove down from Sacramento to visit Grandma Ila. They stopped by Friday night for dinner.

Me, John & Lia with our niece Lia and great-nephew Julian:

Julian gets on my good side by seeming to enjoy my minestrone and focaccia:

Julian shows off his "Andreotti Gap":


Saturday, Pete's daughter Kristen and her boyfriend Ian stopped by to visit and join us for a BBQ of Farmer's Market veggies, flap steaks, tomato & cucumber salad, potato salad and strawberries. Here are the veggies that ended up on the 'cue:

Paul, Lia, Julian, Pete, Killer, Kristen, Lia and Ian:Grandpa Petey and Julian: Paul & Lia: Kristen & Ian:

Joe's Bread

We (John, Lia & me) were just starting to talk about what we should have for dinner when Jeri came aboard with hot-out-of-the-oven bread that Joe had just made. He actually sent two baguettes but we ate one of them so fast there was no time for a picture:

The bread was incredible - thank you so much Joe!

We had Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato & Avocado sandwiches on the boule:

And a bowl of Roasted Tomato Bisque:

Fire Roasted Tomato Bisque:

Saute onion, carrot, celery and garlic in butter for 5 minutes. Stir in flour and tomato paste for another minute. Add chicken broth, canned fire-roasted tomatoes for 15 minutes. Use an immersion blender to puree until smooth. Stir in heavy cream and season with salt and pepper.

A Boatload of Family

John's sister, Lia, arrived from Rome on Friday night and will be staying with us for about a month. Sarah, Jeff & Marco drove down Thursday night and stayed for the weekend. My brother Steve was in town from Oregon on Saturday. And my cousins, Marie & Susie, also came for the day on Saturday.

Here are my cousin Susie and her husband Paul, Dad, my cousin Marie, her husband and their daughter Lisa, John, my sister Laura, my brother Steve, Ma and me:

We had tacos for lunch and I put my guests to work making homemade tortillas. Laura was up first and she did such a good job she was put in charge of instructing the rest of the crew:
Susie takes a turn:
Steve:And Lisa:

Everyone had great fun pitching in and our tacos were delicious! Our neighbor Bonnie was a great sport and helped out by cooking all the tortillas. Thank you Bonnie!

We don't get to see my brother or our cousins near as often as we'd like and we all enjoyed the visit. Hope we can get together again soon and you didn't mind working for your lunch!

Marco waves bye-bye to my family:

Marco doesn't seem to mind being trapped behind the barrier Papa built:

Especially when I feed him Parmigian0-Reggiano cheese with 100 year aged balsamic vinegar - don't all babies love that for a snack?

Uh-oh, I turn my back and he goes for the escape:
When it was time to make dinner, Sarah banned me from the galley. She said I deserved a break and that she, Jeff, Lia & John would cook dinner while I played with Marco - I didn't need much convincing!

Jeff made homemade pasta:

Sarah made a salad and helped her Dad and Aunt Lia with a carbonara sauce:

Marco and I play with the Baker's hat Lia brought me from Italy:

We didn't get a picture of the delicious Pasta Carbonara, but here's the recipe:

In a skillet, saute pancetta, shallots, red pepper flakes and garlic in olive oil and butter until the pancetta is cooked but not crispy. Add cooked and drained pasta to the skillet, season with salt and lots of black pepper. Mix over low heat until the pasta is well coated with the sauce. Beat eggs, cream and parmigiano cheese together is a small bowl. Put the the pasta in a serving bowl add the egg mixture and mix quickly and thoroughly. Serve immediately with additional parmigiano and a drizzle of good extra-virgin olive oil.

Corned Beef & Cabbage

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I corned my own beef for the first time and it was delicious! Good thing I did because apparently there was a corned beef shortage in Ventura this year - a lot of angry people in the grocery this afternoon. Who waits until 4:00 pm on St. Patrick's Day to shop for their meat? I decided not to tell the woman complaining in line behind me that if she had only thought to corn her own meat 10 days ago she would be eating corned beef for dinner tonight. Honestly, for a brief moment I did think about making that obnoxious comment.

The first step in making the brine is finding saltpeter - I found some on Amazon.com that came from a pharmacy in the midwest! The saltpeter is to keep the meat from turning grey. First you make a brine with water, salt, sugar, saltpeter, cinnamon stick, mustard seeds, peppercorns, whole cloves, whole allspice berries, juniper berries, bay leaves and ground ginger. Cook over high heat until the salt and sugar have dissolved. Let cool until it reaches a temperature of 45 degrees. Put the brisket and brine in a food-safe bag, seal and lay flat inside a container. Refrigerate for 10 days, checking every day to make sure the beef is completely submerged in the brine.

After 10 days, remove from the brine and rinse under cool water. Place the brisket in a pot, add onion, carrot and celery, bay leaf and allspice berries and cover with water by 1 inch. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce the the heat to low, cover and gently simmer (I transferred the pot to the oven, to save gas) for 2 1/2 to 3 hours or until the meat is fork tender. Remove from the pot and slice across the grain:

We served the meat with John's Cabbage & Onions (saute chopped cabbage, onions and garlic in olive oil, add a splash of white wine, salt & pepper and cook until tender) and boiled potatoes:


We just received an e-mail via single-side band radio from our very dear friends, George & Jan, that I would like to share with you. George & Jan have been cruising in Central & South America aboard their sailboat "Claire de Lune" for about five years.


Hola Amigos:

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!

We are finally heading into Panama City tomorrow to reach our next StarGate and "GO THROUGH" the Panama Canal! Hope to transit April 7th!

We tried to leave Benao Saturday night at 9:00pm but it started howling....so stayed until Sunday morning. We got some pretty good wind (gusting to 30+) BEFORE we got to Punta Mala but the seas were relatively flat, so just motored against it. The actual rounding was only with about 15+... so turned out to be a good weather window! Of course, we then turned north and pounded against the chop in the Bay of Panama with the wind on the nose for the next 16 hrs!!! Not fun, but doable!! We finally got a small turn of the wind from the west and put up a reefed main and staysail and could do more than 2 kts for the last few hrs. Got into Isla Otoque around 11 AM on Monday! SOOOOOOOOOO glad that's over!!!

We've decided to spend a quiet, relaxing day here. It may be the last one we get for a while! I've decorated the boat with all my GREEN stuff and I'll be fixing Canned Corned Beef, Instant mash potatoes and what's left of the cabbage! It's not like the real thing....but it will do!! Tomorrow we will be in the "Land of Plenty" and will be able to restock! Then it's busy, busy, busy!!

Just wanted to take the time to wish everyone a "top of the mornin'"
And share with you an Irish Prayer and an Irish Blessing:
May God grant you always....
A sunbeam to warm you, A moonbeam to charm you, A sheltering Angel so nothing can harm you...
Laughter to cheer you, Faithful friends near you, And whenever you pray, Heaven to hear you!

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face.
And until we meet again...may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Our next letter will be from the other side of the Canal. Looking forward to the next adventure!
Stay healthy and happy and take care of each other!

Muchos abrazos y besos,
Jan & George & Cata
Isla Otoque, Bay of Panama, C.A.

A "Marco Guidi" Lunch

For lunch today we tried some of the Parmigiano cheese and salame we bought from Marco at Guido Marcelllo's in Santa Monica. We drizzled a few drops of the aged balsamic vinegar on the cheese and served with some fresh bread (I made the rustic and the pumpernickel was from our neighbor Dave) and preserved kumquats. Opened the bottle of Italian Rose Spumante that Marco gave us and we had the perfect lunch!

To make the kumquats I made a simple syrup of equal amounts sugar and water, boiled for 10 minutes. Cut a small x in the bottom of the kumquats and boil in water for about 10 minutes. Drain and add to the simple syrup and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes and allow to cool.

Here's the balsamic vinegar (aged 100 years). You can't tell from the picture, but it's just a tiny 3 ounce bottle. The balsamic is so thick it barely pours out the bottle - it is heaven!

Roasted Red Beet Ravioli w/ Sage Buter Sauce

So beautiful and so yummy!

Wrap beets in foil and bake on a cookie sheet at 400 degrees until tender, about an hour. Cool, then peel the beets, cut into chunks and put them in a food processor. Pulse until the beets are cut into very small, granular pieces. Put the beets in a bowl with ricotta, grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, the zest of a lemon and salt to taste. Mix together and refrigerate for about an hour. Roll out sheets of fresh pasta and cut rounds with a ravioli or cookie cutter. Spoon about a tablespoon of the beet mixture on a round, wet the rim of the ravioli with a little bit of water, top with another round of pasta and seal. Boil the ravioli in salted water until tender but still firm to the bite. While the pasta is cooking, heat some butter in a large skillet, add the sage and keep warm over very low heat. With a slooted sppon, scoop the ravioli into the skillet, add half of the Parmigiano and mix well to combine. Serve at once topped with additional Parmigiano.

Armando en la Cocina de a Bordo

Armando is the guy responsible for the beautiful hairstyles that Jeri & I have. He has been cutting my hair for more than ten years and we always spend the appointment talking about food. Jeri & I both wanted to learn how to make tortillas, so we made a deal with Armando (born in Mexico City and a great cook) - I would give a homemade pasta lesson, Armando would give a homemade tortilla lesson and Jeri would be our sous chef. We started with the pasta lesson, using the well-method, mixing and kneading by hand:

Armando's pasta got a bit sticky and needed Jeri's help:

Time to roll out the pasta. Joe (Jeri's husband) was up first:

Our neighbor Bonnie stopped by and we convinced her to give pasta a try:
And we're ready to cut the pasta:

Everyone did a great job with the pasta and now we're ready for our tortilla lessons. Armando starts with the flour tortillas. We knead the mixture of flour, salt, lard, "secret ingredient from Mexico" and water:

Armando shows us the technique for rolling out the flour tortillas and Bonnie is the star:

And her reward for good work, was more work. Bonnie rolled out dozens of tortillas! Here's Joe trying to take credit for Bonnie's hard work:
Armando starts pressing out the corn tortillas:Here is the press we used for the corn tortillas and lucky me Armando gave me the press and the flour tortilla dowel (rolling pin) as a gift:

Dave & Kim stop by and Dave takes a turn rolling out the flour tortillas:

Jeri cooks the tortillas- the most declicious tortillas I have ever tasted. The flour tortillas were so light and the corn so flavorful:

Armando cooks a surprise for Jeri- tongue:

The tongue was cooked with onions, garlic, beef boullion and water in the pressure cooker for about an hour, then peeled and chopped:And Jeri, great sport that she is, bites into the delicious lengua. Seriously, the tongue was really good!Armando also brought his chile verde:

and chile colorado:

We ate taco, after taco, after taco...but still had room for Jeri & Joe's yummy Banana, Coconut, Pineapple Upside Down Cake:

Thanks to all of you for a great day!