Catalina Vacation Days 15 - 25 (Yes, 25 days!!)

Day 15:
We left Newport this morning and headed back to Howland's Landing on Catalina Island. Besides Testa Dura and Poseidon, there were only two other boats here. We could swim right from our boat to a beautiful snorkel spot - water is down to a chilly (ha!) 74 degrees. Felt a little ambitious this afternoon so made some frozen yogurt and biscotti.

Lemon-Blueberry Frozen Yogurt

Pour fresh lemon juice into a small bowl and sprinkle a package of unflavored powdered gelatin over the juice. Let stand for 5 minutes. In a small saucepan, whisk more fresh lemon juice with sugar and corn syrup and bring to a boil until the sugar dissolves, about one minute. Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon gelatin.

In a medium bowl, mix plain whole-milk yogurt with lemon zest. Stir in the lemon juice mixture and whisk in heavy cream. Set the yogurt base in an ice water bath and let stand, stirring occasionally, until cold, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan, mix fresh blueberries with sugar and a little water. Simmer until saucy about 4 minutes and let cool.

Pour the lemon yogurt into an ice cream maker and freeze.

Scoop alternating spoonfuls of the yogurt and blueberry sauce into a plastic container and freeze until firm, about four hours.


I previously posted a recipe for Biscotti (click here)

But here are a couple of pictures of the process. Forming the logs before baking:
After the first baking:
After slicing and the second bake:
Day 16:
A couple of months ago I bought some veal shanks and promised Frank & Carrie I would make them Osso Bucco, but somehow the timing never worked out. Even though it's not exactly a summer dish we decided to make the veal tonight. I started out with good intentions of taking pictures, but only got this one beginning shot (look at the size of those bones and imagine all that yummy marrow):
Here's the recipe - Dredge the veal shanks in flour seasoned with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil and butter in a large oven-proof pan. Sear the veal shanks until all sides are a rich brown color. Remove the shanks from the pan. In the same pan, saute chopped onion, celery, carrots, lemon zest and bay leaves until they soften and start to get a little brown color. Put the veal back in the pan. Pour in some dry red wine and let simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the wine has reduced by half. Add beef broth and canned tomatoes. Cover the pan and braise in a 375 degree oven for about 1 1/2 hours. Remove the cover and cook for another 30 minutes. The sauce should be thick and the veal tender and nearly falling off the bone. Make a gremolata by mashing together pine nuts, anchovy, garlic, orange zest and parsley. Scatter the gremolata over the Osso Bucco before serving (I'm embarrassed to say that I almost always forget this last step!)
Day 17:
Our good friend (and director of the cooking show) Peter and his girlfriend Lynne came out to visit. We picked them up in the dinghy at Two Harbors and couldn't get back to the boat fast enough so we could jump in the water. We kayaked to Emerald Bay, snorkeled and swam with leopard sharks. Peter brought a copy of the final cut of the cooking show so we could watch and comment on together. The changes Leander (the editor) made were great and we're all really happy with the show - now it's time to go out and sell it!

Thanks so much for coming out to visit. We had a great weekend and really enjoyed your company.

Day 18:

After more kayaking, swimming & snorkeling we had to take Peter & Lynne back to Two Harbors so they could catch the express boat. We made a stop and the Harbor Reef Bar first and look who we run in to -- Lee & Nancy:

and Joe & Jeri:

Joe, me, Lynne, Frankie, Carrie, Peter, John & Jeri:

Day 19:

Frank & Carrie left this morning. We were supposed to head home too, but convinced ourselves we should stay another couple of days so we could go to the Ventura Marina BBQ at CAT Harbor. Last night we invited Frank & Carrie for dinner and while I was chopping veggies for a lasagne I cut my finger pretty good. This morning it was looking pretty ugly so we went ashore and had the lifeguard/paramedics take a look. They said I should have had stitches last night but now it was too late, so they treated and bandaged my finger and sent me to Doug's for a drink. Don't know what made me think to order a Bloody Mary! We walked to the other side of the island to meet up with the Ventura gang. We visited and played Mexican dominoes for awhile, but my finger was hurting so we headed back to the boat for a nice quiet evening.

Day 20:

Staff & Jane, Matt & Nook, Joe & Jeri and Jeff moved from CAT Harbor and joined us at Howland's this morning. They came over at Happy Hour to watch the cooking show. When the show was over they presented me with roses, a crown (aluminum foil adorned with pennies) and a pendant (a string with a quarter and masking tape) in honor of the film premier. Crazy (but wonderful!) friends:


Days 21 to 25:
We still couldn't bring ourselves to leave and decided to stay a few more days. We stayed at Howland's one more night and then moved back down to White's. Bonnie & Curtis also came in and anchored Once Upon A Tide:

We dinghied into Avalon so I could have a doctor look at my finger. I swear the doctor could not have been more than fifteen years old - an Iranian Doogie Howser! But he was very nice kid, treated and re-bandaged my finger and now we feel better about staying another couple of days.

Isn't this a cool sand sculpture. I didn't think there was that much sand on Avalon's beach:

We went into Avalon one more time to watch Janie & Bonnie go parasailing:

Bye, we're headed back to Ventura in the morning:

What a great vacation. I can't believe we were able to stretch it out for 25 days. Perfect weather, fun family visits and great friends. Life is good.

P.S. I forgot to report that John was the cribbage champion on this trip. He kicked my bootie!