Lobster Pasta

We had just sat down to dinner when we heard a knock on the cockpit door.  It was our neighbor Jimmy, aka Son of Scallop Guy, and he handed us a live lobster he had caught off of Anacapa Island earlier in the day.  Ten minutes earlier and that lobster would have joined our steak on the BBQ.  But I'm glad we waited because the next day I decided to make a Lobster Pasta, a fun alternative to grilled lobster.

First I made a half batch of homemade pasta (1 whole egg, 2 egg yolks, 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 1/4 cups 00 flour):

I removed the lobster meat from this beautiful tail, cut it into small chunks and sauteed for a couple of minutes in olive oil and chopped garlic:

I removed the lobster from the pan and added 1/2 cup of white wine.  When the wine was almost evaporated I added these beautiful heirloom tomatoes that I had peeled and chopped and seasoned with salt:

I simmered the tomatoes for about 20 minutes while I put a large pan of salted water on to boil.  I cooked the fresh pasta for about 3 minutes and stirred into the tomato sauce with a little of the pasta water.  Plated the pasta and topped with the lobster pieces and chopped parsley:

I know I've said this before, but ... I love my neighborhood!!! Thanks Jim & Jimmy for one of the sweetest and most delicious lobster we have ever tasted.

Prisoner's Harbor

Prisoner's is usually not one of our favorite anchorages because it can get very rolly at night.  But this weekend was beautiful:

Peter & Lynne pulled in a few hours later aboard Nshila:

The next morning the ocean was so calm that we took a long dinghy ride up the island towards Fry's Anchorage.  Here are some beautiful sights we saw on our mini-cruise:

The highlight of our trip was kayaking (in shallow water close to the beach) with some really big bat rays and leopard sharks - it was awesome! We couldn't see the rays buried in the sand until our kayaks glided over them and spooked them.  Then they would flap their wings, stirring up big clouds of sand, and swim right under our kayaks.  The commotion the rays made got the sharks excited and they schooled together and swam underneath us too!!  Lynne was brave and jumped in and swam with them.  The view from my kayak was close enough for me!

Also brought along some clams and oysters from The Jolly Oyster.  John's getting pretty darn good at shucking oysters.

Delicious with our Mango Margarita topping (pureed mango with tequila, triple sec and lime)