Sunday, June 17, 2012

Catalina in June - Part One

John decided he would like to celebrate (celebrate was not his word) his 70th birthday at Catalina Island.  We left our slip at 6:00am on Friday morning and after a stop for fuel we were on our way. Here is John's reaction when we first spotted the island:


By 3:00 pm we were anchored off of Hen Rock and pretty much had the place to ourselves:


It was a different story across the anchorage at Moonstone.  The Newport Beach Yacht Club was having a stag cruise and it was packed with guys gone wild:




They were all flying this party burgee.  Apparently this guy has attended a few of these events:



After their party on the beach, a bunch of the guys went aboard Juno for a little golf and skeet shooting.  Yep, Juno cruised around in circles outside the anchorage with golf balls being whacked off the bow and guns blasting from the stern!!


And then we look up and here comes "Aqua Man" flying towards our boat:






Not a typical weekend at anchor!! And then there was the guy water skiing in the anchorage -- behind a sailboat!! Seems like every time we turned around we would say "Well, I've never seen that before!".  It was great fun, but it was also nice when all the boats cleared out on Sunday afternoon and we had the anchorage back to ourselves again:


One of my favorite things to do at anchor is to eat our meals outside.  Here are a few yummy things we enjoyed in the cockpit.  Cheeseburgers with Claiborne & Churchill Brut Rose:


Baby Back Ribs with Phipps Family Cellars Zinfandel:


Grilled Halibut & Mango Salsa, Asparagus and Fennel with a 2007 Chausser Chardonnay:


And a few of our favorite boats at Moonstone:





Next up -- we move to Avalon and my sister comes to visit.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Mother's Day-Part 2


I received the perfect gift for Mother's Day:




Here is what was in the basket:
  1.    Pineapple
  2.     Papaya
  3.      Mango
  4.      Asian Pear
  5.      Orange
  6.      Pomegranate
  7.      Two Ears of Corn
  8.     Two Artichokes
  9.       Purple Cauliflower
  10.     Two Bunches of Baby Carrots
  11.     Baby Fennel
  12.      Baby Bok Choy
  13.      Baby Red Beets
  14.      Baby Candy Stripe Beets
  15.      Baby Orange Beets
  16.      Baby Turnips
  17.      Baby Kohlrabi (sooo cute!!)
  18.      Broccoli
  19.      Yellow Summer Squash
  20.      Radishes
  21.      Green Onions
  22.      Yellow Pepper
  23.      And One Baby White Potato!
And here are some of the yummy ways we used the veggies:

Roasted baby carrots, baby turnips, baby kohlrabi & baby fennel to go with a roasted chicken:


Roasted Baby Beets, mixed them with oranges for a great salad:


Sauteed Baby Bok Choy and served with pot stickers:


Braised the Purple Cauliflower and served with a pork shoulder:


Thank you Sarah, Jeff & Marco - GREAT, GREAT gift!!