Baked Lobster

Living here in the Caribbean, we eat a lot of fresh fish and lobster, all of it caught by husband, T. We've had lobster boiled and steamed and grilled, but we tried baking it for the first time this week, and I think it's my new favorite! We have friends here this week staying in a condo



so it was a great opportunity for T to give a little Caribbean lobster cooking lesson. (They are all divers and had caught dinner the night before, but had never prepared one.) The lobster tails were huge (generally not a good thing as they tend to be tough)! Husband split them and stuffed tons of butter between the meat and the shells.




Into a 350 oven for about 15-20, and wow, they were perfect! Very sweet and tender, and gone before I could get a photo! T had also removed the meat from the legs, and combined them with a crab he caught. He whipped them into a mousse with some heavy cream and filled little phylo shells. These were also baked for about 15 minutes and eaten just as fast!

We are house sitting for some friends this week- I love the view!



Part of the job is to use up the perishables in the fridge, so we didn't spend much on groceries this week, and this is what we ate:

Sunday was pizza
Monday husband made a chili in the slow cooker. If we do meat chili, we usually do ground beef, but we found some nice looking stew beef and used that instead. What a difference and my new favorite!
Tuesday was the lobster party
Wednesday was grilled chicken over a salad
Thursday I made beef gyros
Friday was pizza again
Saturday T made a wonderful home made chicken soup

We spent $45 of the $105 budget, so $60 into vacation fund!
Hope everyone has a great week, and thanks for stopping by!

Meat and a Vegetable

My husband and I went vegetarian for about a year, for no real reason, we just kind of were tired of eating meat. Gradually over the last year we went back to being meat-eaters, and the only meal requests he makes now are "Meat and a Vegetable". Really, he'd be happy with a piece of meat and a vegetable on the plate. I prefer to eat less meat, so every week it's a challenge to come up with meal ideas to make us both happy.

One of my favorite meals this week was tofu pot pie. I love tofu, he hates it, so some disguising was necessary. I drained the tofu and soaked it overnight in chicken broth, then drained it again, sprinkled it with poultry rub and baked it in the oven for about 45 minutes. The texture and taste was very chicken-like. I combined it with peas, carrots, and broccoli, a can of cream soup, and topped it with biscuit dough. Back in the oven til the top was brown and the inside bubbly. We both agreed it was delicious! Though of course, it wasn't vegetarian with the chicken broth, but it could have been made with veggie broth.

I am also a big fan of the vegetarian chicken patties, and we used them twice this week. First was in "chicken" parmesan, and later in the week sliced over an asian salad. Other meals this week were beef stew in the slow cooker, and reuben sandwiches (corned beef also made in the slow cooker). Frozen raviolis with an alfredo sauce and a tapas night rounded out the week.

We both love tapas nights, as regular readers may know. It's a great way to use up whatever is in the fridge, and ours consisted of mozzarella slices with home (boat) grown basil and some nice balsamic, fried olives stuffed with anchovies, roasted almonds, a cucumber watermelon salad, marinated artichokes, and fresh baked focaccia bread. A pretty addition to the tapas table are the wine bottle oil and vinegar cruets made by yours truly!



We came in under budget for the week, spent $95 out of $105. We actually came in $30 under budget, but I splurged a bit on some Spanish wine for tapas night.
Thanks for stopping by, have a great week!

Papaya Season

I suspect it is always papaya season here in the Virgin Islands, but my neighbor's tree has been especially prolific lately. If you have never had papaya, it tastes like a sweet melon, but the texture is denser than a melon, almost like cooked squash. It is a bright orange color inside, similar to a mango, but not stringy.

One of our dinners this week was chicken and veggie stir fry with a pineapple teriyaki sauce. Our latest papaya was the perfect ripeness, so I chopped some up and added it after the other ingredients were cooked. I wasn't sure what to expect, but wow, it was delicious! With the rest of the papaya, I made a simple salsa with chopped red onions and a splash of papaya curry hot sauce. It was delicious on a grilled chicken sandwich, with scrambled eggs, and as a pierogi topping. I'd love to hear how anyone else has used papaya!

I have been terrible with keeping track of our budget the last few weeks, holidays and all, but I'm pretty sure I have been going over. I also haven't been keeping track of meals, but I'm hoping to get back on track this week!

Our Christmas was good; we spent Christmas Eve with some friends and cooked up a giant pot of bouillabaise. Husband caught a few lobsters to throw in the pot and other people donated fresh mahi and wahoo. Not very traditional, but delicious!

Christmas day we skipped the usual parties and took the boat out to our favorite uninhabited island, Happy Island, and spent a wonderful day relaxing in the sun and the sea. Hope everyone had a nice holiday season, and thanks for stopping by!

Christmas Winds

The Christmas Winds are back here in the Virgin Islands, and they are driving me crazy! During the rest of the year, we see mild winds, but at the end of December we see tradewinds blowing 20-30 knots- constantly. They howl through the trees, toss the boat around, and bring very cool nights. In the South of France in the winter, they have the Mistral winds (rumored to actually drive people crazy) that blow a lot harder but only last for a few days. Ours last for a couple of weeks. I can't complain too much, though, at least there is no snow!

Our boat is decorated for the season, we don't do a tree but we wrap the inside part of the mast with garland and hang our ornaments- lots of divers and mermaids!



We also have an inflatable snow globe that sits on our awning over the cockpit and is quite impressive. You may think it would bother the neighbors, but the other liveaboards on our dock put similar inflatables up, too! Quite the carnival!



We did ok on the budget this week, $116, so $11 over budget, and this is what we ate:

Sunday: We had some friends over for a tapas party. I made flatbread, and served balsamic marinated watermelon, roasted almonds, warm olives and peppers, a cream cheese tourine with tomato and basil, and of course, lots of wine!

Monday: We made a pizza with leftover veggies

Tuesday: Husband made chicken breasts stuffed with ham and swiss, tomato soup on the side.

Wednesday: Pasta alfredo with veggies

Thursday was our softball game, and we grabbed burgers after.

Friday: Spinach salad with grilled chicken

Saurday: Burgers stuffed with Roquefort cheese and cajun seasoning, topped with red onions and tomatoes on Hawaiian buns. Yum- best meal of the week!

Hope everyone has agreat holiday week, and thanks for stopping by!T

Moonlight Cruise

One of our favorite things to do in the evening is to take a sunset happy hour cruise in our dinghy...this time of year though the sun is almost set by 5:30, when we are getting home from work. We have had a lot of rain this week, but the other night the skies cleared to reveal a gorgeous full moon- so we did a moonlight cruise! We typically tool around the lagoon and look at boats, but it was such a nice night that we went far out into the bay, cut the engine, and just bobbed around for a while. Simple pleasures!

On the way back in we stopped at the lagoon bar. From the water it's mostly hidden by mangrove trees, so you have to know it's there, but you can pull your dinghy right in:

We did pretty well on the budget this week ($105), we spent $98, and this is what we ate:

Sunday was corn chowder in the slow cooker, with a tomato and cucumber salad on the side

Monday we roasted up a bunch of veggies with sausage on the side

Tuesday was another slow cooker meal, exactly the same ingredients as the day before: veggies with sausage stew and a little gravy on top

Wednesday we had pizza

Thursday we play softball, so had a quick BLT on English muffins before the game. After the game we were so hungry, but no place open and no food on the boat. BIG breakfast the next morning!

Friday we ate out at one of our favorite restaurants, Schnitzel Haus. The only thing on the menu is schnitzel

Saturday we finished off the week with a big salad: mixed greens, tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, red onion, and turkey with a homemade mustard dressing.

As always, we resolve to eat more salad next week- we'll see!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great week!

The Best Gravy...From the Weirdest Ingredients

We such a small oven on the boat that cooking a turkey is out of the question, but in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I asked my husband to make his famous turkey and cranberry chili. He won’t tell me the recipe, but it involves turkey and dried cranberries. I set off for the ingedients, and rather than the dried cranberries, I bought fresh. They looked so good, and I have never actually eaten a fresh raw cranberry. Well, husband absolutely insisted that fresh wouldn’t work in the chili, so I had to find another recipe to use the cranberries. I stumbled upon Brisket with Cranberries, and the ingredients sounded so weird I knew I had to try it: brisket, a pack of dried onion soup mix, a bottle of catalina dressing, and a bag of cranberries. The recipe called for combining everything and roasting, but I did mine in the crockpot with some pork shoulder.

The shoulder was a little fatty, so I had to skim some grease off but the sauce tasted amazing! I made a gravy out of it, and it is my new favorite - fruity and meaty. We put the pork in bowls, topped with mashed potatoes and the gravy. I will definitely make this again, though maybe try chicken next time.

We came in $7 under budget for the week, and this is what else we ate for the week: Jerk Chicken, BLT’s with soup, Burritos with rice, Veggie Calzones, and a Mediterranean Tuna Salad. And Thanksgiving, of course. We went to a friend’s for dinner- no cooking, no cleaning, perfect!

We received this huge papaya from a friend's tree...I think I may make a salsa out of it!

Have a great week, and thanks for stopping by!

West Indian Jerk Chicken

Despite living in the West Indies for nearly 10 years, we don’t often cook West Indian cuisine. My preferred meal is any kind of carb and lots of cheese (favorite food= fried mozzarella sticks). Not a lot of cheese in West Indian cooking. Curiously, goats are raised here and goat meat is popular, but I can’t find anyone making goat cheese, one of my favorites. One of my first jobs on island was working for a resort, whose employee cafeteria served local food. I got to try all of the favorites: oxtail stew, goat water, funji, saltfish, and callaloo. I was very appreciative of the salad bar.

I do, however, like a good jerk chicken, and husband found a recipe that sounded similar to one he likes at a local restaurant. Lots of ingredients, but fairly straightforward and easy to make, a gravy rather than a rub. He served it over a rotisserie chicken from the market ($6.99 while a similarly sized uncooked chicken can average $12. I have never understood that.) On the side were boiled sweet potatoes (actually U.S. yams. The local sweet potato has a similar taste, but a blue-grey color that just doesn’t appeal to me.) and pigeon peas in sauce over rice. This was my new food for the week, pigeon peas. They kind of look like a pea but taste like a bean, straight from the can in a sweetish sauce. Good in the context of the meal, but I’m not sure if I’ll try them again. The verdict on the jerk sauce: I loved it but T thinks it would make a better marinade, and that it was too vinegar-y.

We came in right on budget, $105 for the week, and this is what we ate:

Sunday: Ok- I hate to admit this, but my very favorite frozen pizza is Totino’s party pizza. I know all the ingredients are ultra processed, the crust is nothing but grease and air, and the ingredient list is as long as my arm with words I don’t know, BUT, a weakness and a splurge. The market had them on sale, so I bought a couple, added some pepperoni, and ate a whole one by myself.

Monday: Oh lasagna, how I loved having you in the freezer! This was the last of the 6 I made and froze earlier, and we have had at least one a week. I may be tired of lasagna for a while.

Tuesday: Falafel with cucumbers, red onions, and homemade tzatziki sauce on pitas. I used to make my own falafel from chick peas, but tried a box mix on the recommendation of a friend, and it was much better.

Wednesday: We had planned on eating out with friends, but that was cancelled at the last minute, and I hadn’t been to the market, and didn’t feel like going, so put together what I could with what I had. I ended up with toasted bread topped with a fake chicken patty, turkey bacon, a fried egg, cheddar cheese, and marinara sauce. I don’t know what to call it, but it was good!

Thursday: Polish sausage with pierogis and sauerkraut. Yum.

Friday: Rotisserie chicken with stuffing and Caesar salad. Stuffing is another weakness. I could make a whole meal out of nothing but stuffing.

Saturday: Husband dragged me to new Twilight movie, so it was popcorn, French fries, and a slice of veggie pizza.

Wow, I feel like we ate a lot of junk this week! I resolve to eat more fruits and veggies this week. Since I neglected to take any food photos, here’s the view from my window at my studio.

Thanks for reading, and have a great week!

Tapas and Fondue!

Our dinner highlights this week were definitely Tapas and Fondue! We love to have tapas dinners on the boat…small bites, small plates, small table! We usually eat in the cockpit of the sailboat, and our table is maybe a foot by two feet. Tapas nights are also a great way to use up random things in the fridge.

Husband prepared it all on Monday night, when I get home a little later from the studio. He made a homemade pate which was fantastic and maybe I’ll get him to guest blog about that. Also on the table were toast points, warmed marinated olives and red peppers, sliced apples and pears, roasted almonds, several kinds of cheese, and a great bottle of wine. Unfortunately, the lighting in the cockpit consists of a rope light which doesn’t make for great photos!

We house- sat for some friends a couple days this week, so we took the opportunity to have a fondue party with two other couples…one other couple is pretty much max for entertaining on the boat. We served a lot of the same things as the previous tapas night, plus a whole lot of melted cheese! For dipping we had lots of bread and fruits. Everyone brought wine, and I think my favorite part was the wine tasting! Husband had ordered a wine aerator several months ago (and it still hasn’t arrived!) so one friend brought hers. I have never used one before, but the difference was pretty amazing. We all tried several different wines, before and after aerating.

For the rest of the week, we had hot dogs and sliders at a football party, pizza, chicken Caesar salad, vegetable lasagna, and chicken and veggies with pasta. We spent $94, so $11 into vacation fund!

I have been trying to try one new food item each week, last week was the pizza yeast, and this week it was this Philly cream cheese sauce I found on sale. I used it with our chic/veg/pasta dish. It’s already seasoned, so you just stir it in for instant sauce. It was pretty good, but I wouldn’t pay the normal price of $4.99. I got it on sale for $1.99

I guess that’s it for the week! Thanks for stopping by, and have a great week!

Water, Water Everywhere...

One of the best things about living in the Caribbean is the (usually) great weather. This week however was gray and rainy and almost cold at times. Though bad for the island visitors, most residents love it when it rains! The island does not have a fresh water source other than the rain- most people have cisterns that are filled by the rain, and this supplies the household water. On the boat we do not have a cistern, and we’ve never perfected a water-catching system, so we buy our water. Of course it is expensive, so conserving water is a way of life here. It always strikes me as ironic when I am paying to fill the water tanks while it’s raining and we’re surrounded by water.

Of course, we like to eat comfort food in cool rainy weather, and we did all week long! In the coming week I am really going to try for a salad or two.

First week back tracking the budget after taking a year off, and I’m definitely out of practice! We try to spend $15 a day, $105 a week (yep, my math was wrong in last week’s post!). This week we spent $123, and this is what we ate:

Sunday: Tortilla Stack. This is a great recipe that is basically lasagna with corn tortillas; seasoned ground beef, cheese, tomatoes, onions, etc. I splurged on cilantro ($2.99 for a small bunch). I usually do this in the slow cooker, but this time baked as a casserole.

Monday: Lasagne. A few weeks ago we were housesitting and had some room to spread out in the kitchen. I made 6 lasagnes ( they are each about 4x8 inches in disposable foil pans), with different combinations of sauces, meats, and veggies. I left one for the house, and froze the other 5 on our boat. Mondays I work late, so it’s perfect to pop in the oven with no fuss and no clean up.

Tuesday: Husband makes an amazing curry sauce with coconut cream, which he tossed with stir-fried veggies and served over rice. We also had some mini eggrolls that I made last week and froze in batches of ten. I think I made 60 egg rolls that day! Time consuming but very simple: cabbage, carrots, and onion.

Wednesday: We just joined a softball league, and we had a team meeting that night so we ate out. We will be playing Thursdays after work, so we will probably not be cooking that day.

Thursday: Sausage stew with sweet potatoes and apples .Husband is always asking for stew for dinner, but I really despise the beef stew/carrots/potatoes dish, an try to come up with alternatives. The flavors in this dish were fantastic!

Friday: Chicken Parmesan. We really love the veggie fake chicken patties, so we used these instead of real chicken. When I made all that lasagna, I had some leftover pasta that I froze and used it here. Homemade sauce and lots of mozzarella cheese!

Saturday: Pizza. I recently discovered pizza yeast! I was very excited to try it as the package says no rising is needed, and it doesn’t give dough that “spring back” quality when you are trying to stretch it into the pizza pan. However, I have now tried it twice with different pizza dough recipes, and I really don’t like it. It gives the crust more of a biscuit taste and texture.

You may remember that when I was writing last year, we were eating vegetarian. We were both kind of tiring of meat, and we stayed veg for about a year. Gradually we started eating meat again, and we are back to a few times a week now. I don’t know if makes a difference to the budget, since meats and veggies are equally expensive.

The sun finally came out again on Sunday, and I spent a great day at one of my favorite beaches.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great week!

Still Floating

Wow- a whole year has passed since my last blog post! No, we haven’t been off sailing around the world or swept away by a hurricane…still on a little island on our sailboat in the Caribbean. As you may know, my husband and I live in the Virgin Islands on our sailboat. It is very expensive to live here, so we give ourselves a menu challenge every week: a budget of $15 a day for breakfast, dinner, food and drink. Lunches are usually leftovers, and if we go out to dinner or happy hour, that comes out of husband’s money and not the grocery budget.

In addition to groceries being very expensive, ($9.99 for a quart of orange juice, for example), we have a few other cooking challenges living on a sailboat. We have a very small galley (kitchen) with little counter space or storage. Unless we are out sailing, we have the boat on a dock, so we do get shore power for our refrigerator, which is a small dorm room size. This means no stocking up on perishables, which perish very quickly here anyway! A head of lettuce bought on Monday is black and slimy by the end of the week. This is typical of all of our fruits and vegetables, as everything is shipped here from somewhere else and probably past-ripe when it gets to our stores.

Up until a few months ago, we didn't have a freezer (and we’ve lived without for over 7 years!); we didn’t want to buy one from the states as the shipping would be very expensive, and we had never seen one small enough to fit in the galley. Amazingly, we found a used one in the newspaper that was the perfect price and the perfect size (dorm room size). While it’s small, it’s been great to be able to make and freeze a few mini lasagnes or soup stocks, and a drink with ice cubes is now an option!

In theory, the addition of the freezer should help the grocery budget, but truthfully, in the last year I didn’t keep track at all. All of the sudden I just didn’t feel like planning, and tracking, and writing about it all- I don’t know why. So while I’m always careful, I do find that really keeping track helps to stay on budget. I shop every day, and it was becoming common to spend $30 in a day on random things and I’m sure we frequently went over the $115 weekly budget.

Of course, food prices have gone up in the last year, so I will see if it is still possible to keep to $115. If I spend less than that, the extra goes into vacation fund. Some weeks it has only been a few dollars, but it does really add up- since I started tracking the budget, vacation fund has paid for 2 trips to Europe and one to Mexico!

I will keep you posted next week on what we cooked and how much we spent, and with apologies to those getting snow, here’s a look at the view from our “backyard”.

Thanks for reading!

Beach BBQ Fish Tacos

We had some wonderful, fresh-caught meals this week provided by husband T, who had one very successful fishing day! He never fails to bring back something, and it's the only time I eat fish. After two bouts of fish poisoning (think food poisoning 10 times worse) I gave up fish unless it was caught by him. This way I'm sure exactly where it was caught, which makes a big difference here on the island, and I can enjoy fish again!

This is the mahi mahi,


and he also caught a tuna and some mackeral. The mackeral was for the dog, as you normally wouldn't eat it unless it's smoked. He fried a little up for her, and we both tasted it...wow- it was good!



For dinner that night we had tuna bruschetta with cheese quesadillas. I know, kind of strange.



My plan for dinner was veggie quesadillas, and he surprised me with the fish. He marinated it and seared it, served it with some mango salsa on french bread. Mmm.
We put the mahi in the freezer at his work for a couple days, then took it to the beach for a fish taco bbq! We took our power boat, a couple friends, couple dogs, and went to one of our favorite uninhabited islands, Happy Island.


He grilled the mahi on our little Son of Hibachi grill (great for taking by car or by boat because of the snuffer bag it comes with...you can fold up the hot grill and put it right in the bag and take it with you!)


We had shredded cabbage and a wonderful cilantro cream sauce, along with a delicious black bean salad made by one of our friends...and in keeping with the theme, lots of margaritas! As always, a great day at the beach!
We went over budget this week by $14, and this is what we ate:

Wednesday: Homemade Falafel with tomato soup (thanks to Witchy Woman's post about falafel last week...we love it but never think to make it!)

Thursday: Pasta with mushrooms and asparagus and a white bean garlic sauce

Friday: Tuna Bruschetta

Saturday: Dinner out with a friend, I had Chile Rellenos

Sunday: Veggie Pizza with meatless pepperoni (pretty good!)

Monday: Chili Pot Pie...this was so yum
. I made a chili with tomato, onion, mushroom, and crumbled up veggie burgers. Cooked it for a while in veggie broth, then put it in the casserole topped with cornbread, cheese, and black olives.
Tuesday: Big salad with pesto pasta

Another effortless vegetarian week! When we started about a month ago, we weren't really trying to make it a thing, just not eat meat until we really felt like it...so far, not yet!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great week!

Back to the Boat!

We just spent two weeks housesitting for some friends, and were back on the sailboat this week...good to be home! Though our kitchen on the boat is tiny, it's so much easier to keep clean! The nice thing about a big kitchen every once in a while, is that we can "stretch out" and make things that take a little more elbow room...our pierogies last week, for example.

We stayed almost on budget this week, we spent $106 (one dollar over!) and this is what we ate:

Wednesday: Tostadas- we baked the corn tortillas until crispy, and topped them with pureed white beans that husband seasoned. He says "we'll never buy canned refried beans again!" They were really good. Lettuce, tomato, red onion, cheese, and salsa...fairly cheap and really easy.


Thursday: We had an event to go to in the evening, so we both had a late lunch (veggie burger for me) and no dinner.


Friday: We had tostadas again for breakfast, same as dinner but topped with a fried egg. For dinner we had veggie burgers and french fries.


Saturday: Used up the rest of the french fries (the market only sells ONE brand, it's a big bag, and costs $6.99) with sandwiches- roasted mushrooms, red peppers, and onions


Sunday: Pizza- ricotta was on sale, so we used that with a homemade sauce and various veggies (and anchovies for me!) on pita breads.


Monday: Stir fry vegetables with thai noodles


Tuesday: Stuffed sweet potatoes with ricotta, onions, fake bacon bits, and sour cream, with steamed asparagus on the side


Yep, did you notice it was another veggie week? We both agree we really aren't missing the meat!

Hope everyone has a great week, and thanks for stopping by!

Eat Less Meat, Spend More Money

We just completed a meatless week...and we made some great meals! Last week we did 5 out of 7 meatless, and this week we decided to go for it every day! Husband generally likes meat meals more than I do, but he was totally on board this week. I admit, it definitely takes more planning...at the end of a long day it's easy to just grill up a chicken breast with some veggies. I wanted to incorporate some "fake meat" this week...definitely more expensive than real meat!

Ok, here on the island, everything is more expensive...including veggies! Two large portobellos will cost as much as a pound of ground beef, and nothing is ever in season! Do you pay $8 for one squash in September? We do! So, we did go a little over budget this week ($15 a day for food and drink, breakfast and dinner), but we would have gone a lot over budget...we are house sitting right now and they had some stuff that needed to be used up. We spent $109 this week, and this is what we ate!

Tuesday: Squash stuffed with mushrooms, onions, rice, broccoli

Wednesday: Tofu with teriyaki vegetables and rice

Thursday: Barbados Black Bean Cakes (from Vegetarian Times) with grilled sweet potatoes and mango salsa...really delicious!

Friday: Veggie Pizza...husband made the crust from scratch and we baked it on a pizza stone. As much as we make pizza, we don't own and have never used a pizza stone, but the place we are housesitting had one. I am sold!! The crust was amazing.

We topped it with mushrooms, onions, roasted red peppers, sun dried tomatoes, and some fake italian sausage. The sausage was really good, but at the regular market it goes for $9 for 4 links. I found it at the big box store for $5...still more expensive than pork sausage, $4 for 5 links.

Saturday: Grilled veggie kabobs with roasted rosemary potatoes

Sunday: Home made pierogies!

My very favorite! I had to work late, so T did it all...made the dough and a couple different fillings...potato and cheese, and fake ground beef ($6 for 12 ounces) with onions. Served with pickled beets and saurkraut...yum!

Monday: Enchiladas filled with leftovers...grilled veggies, black beans, fake meat, and served with a plum salsa.

At the end of the week, we both felt a little bit healthier, and a little bit lighter. The trend may continue!

Thanks for stopping by!

Flame-Kissed Chicken Skin

My husband T, describes his perfect day at the beach as such: "Best girl, cold beer, and flame- kissed chicken skin". Not sure about the last one, but this is from the guy who lovingly described the texture of a tenderloin I once cooked as "Noodles of Beef". Last week was our wedding anniversary, and he kidnapped me from the studio for a beach BBQ to celebrate. We went to our favorite beach,

the day was beautiful, and he planned ahead and brought everything! I mean everything...food, drink, chairs, towels, sunblock, even the book I was reading. He takes his beach days very seriously.

He recently bought a little travel grill called the Son of Hibachi, which he was eager to try out. Apparently it gets the coals hot very fast due to it's stovepipe design

opens up for two grilling surfaces,

and the best part, comes with a snuffer bag! For those, like me, that don't know about grilling stuff, this is a special carry bag that you put the hot coals and hot grill into when you are finished, so you can transport it immediately. Very ideal if you take your grill in the car or on the boat.

He grilled some marinated chicken, and served it with coleslaw and chips...delicious!

We enjoyed lunch and some champagne, then it was off to meet some friends...indeed, we transported the hot grill in the snuffer bag without causing a fire or the car exploding...good purchase, T!

I have been terrible on the budget this week ($15 a day for food and drink, lunch and dinner)...I think we went a little over every day. I have been very busy at the studio and have not been taking the time to plan ahead too much...so lots of easy meat and potato meals, soups, and pasta.

Two highlights of the week were the corned beef I did in the slow cooker (which I paid $17 for! It was maybe a pound and a half) served with potatoes and sauerkraut,

and meatloaf served with roasted red potatoes and carrots.



I vow to be back on track this week, it really helps to save money when you are paying attention!

Stayed tuned for my next post...I am sharing a post with my studio blog, Water Candy, and making water candy sushi!

Thanks for stopping by, and you can follow me here, too!
http://www.watercandyglass.blogspot.com/

Budget: OVERBOARD!

How ironic that my last post was about preparing for a hurricane...and then we had one! If you follow the weather, you know that last week Hurricane Earl hit us here in the Virgin Islands. We knew he was coming on Monday, and I started the day normally... showering, checking emails, etc...much to the irritation of husband who was busy securing lines on our sailboat (home) and powerboat (business). I didn't think that we would get weather so soon, then the rains came and the winds picked up and our boat was tossing and turning! One big gust threw the boat and stuff came crashing off the countertops! I packed my "ditch bag" as fast as I could and told T: "The dog and I are ready to go!"

We packed up and headed to our friend's house at 8 a.m. They have a great place (we stay there to watch their dogs when they are away)...huge TV with a million channels, (we have no TV) great hot shower, (boatyard shower for us!), big fridge and freezer with everything you'd want (tiny dorm fridge with no freezer for us!). We arrived, and much to our dismay, they had been out of power since 5 a.m! No TV, no shower, everything melting in the freezer. Sigh.

I was dying for an egg sandwich for breakfast, and thankfully they have a gas grill outside...so, grilled eggs

We sat through the rains all day, and cooked a pork tenderloin on the grill for dinner, along with some veggies...no complaints here!

We did have to scoop water off the deck with a dustpan to fill the toilet so that we could flush, but probably more than you want to know!

Hurricane Earl came down at a 3 or 4 strengh, and we were so worried about the boats! We wanted to check everything, but were trapped by fallen trees and a curfew. Finally we got home...everything OK! I was amazed. Home and business still floating, not a single thing amiss. BUT...Hurricane Fiona was supposed to hit that night! We stayed another night with the friends...skipped dinner because we all got ridiculous playing Happy Hour Trivial Pursuit (drink a shot everytime you miss a pie piece).

Next day we went home, everything still ok...and our power was back on. Some parts of the island were restored just a few days ago!

So -hurricanes done, and we were off to North Carolina for a family reunion...not sure that would happen because another hurricane was threatening. We made it, it was great...my brother smoked a pork for 12 hours with a homemade raspberry chipotle BBQ sauce that was amazing...so much good food all weekend!

Long story short, the budget was nowhere to be seen for about 2 weeks! Faced with an emergency, you buy whatever you need NOW, whatever the cost! There are actually laws here against stores price-gouging in an emergency...so no trouble there.

Whew! Crazy couple of weeks. One of our first meals back was gigantic smothered burritos...

tonight is chicken with corn and mash...needing some comfort food!

Thanks for stopping by!

Boatyard Stack-Up

Nope- not a bunch of pancakes or a really big sandwich...this is our marina during hurricane season! We are in the Caribbean, and those of us with boats take extra precautions. Many people like to haul out (take the boat out of the water) for the season, and our marina is a popular and safe spot. Is is very strange to see layers and layers of boats stacked up on the jack stands, with the masts towering above. Just doesn't seem right to see boats like this out of the water! We do not haul our sailboat or our power boat...we stay in a lagoon that is a very safe spot ( not a lot of wind, not a lot of storm surge)...but if a big storm comes we will get off the boat and stay with friends.

Normally this time of year on the island is quiet, but husband and I have both been very busy...I just opened a store for my glass art, and T has been busy doing adventure charters on our powerboat...I regret that dinners have suffered a bit! We came in a little over budget this week ($110, should be $105), and this is what we had to eat!:

Thursday: NO DINNER! We were both so tired from long days and opted for liquid dinners (never a good idea when those liquids are beer and wine!)

Friday: T took me out to Randy's restaurant...we split fried mozzarella, caesar salads, linguine with a creamy pesto, and a reuben...we spent all afternoon boating and we were so hungry we had a bit of everything!

Saturday: Sweet and sour salmon with fried rice...really good!

Sunday: The island's annual Chili Cook-Off! About 50 booths set up on the beach and compete for the title of best chili...we definitely sampled them all, though I think T's Cranberry Chili is still the best I have ever had.

Monday: Lemon pepper pasta (from newest Vegetarian Times mag) with chicken soup

Tuesday: Green chile pork stew...all day in the slow cooker= yum!

Wednesday: Leftover stew with grilled cheese sandwiches

Thursday: Black bean and sweet potato enchiladas with a raspberry chipotle sauce (my invention...T was skeptical but loved it!)

Oh, also this week I tried my first star fruit! Our neighbor gave us one off of his tree...no need to peel, just slice it like a star. Tasted like a cross between a pear and a kiwi, with a little crunch. T served it over eggs with hash and bacon...wow!

Hope everyone has a great week, and thanks for stopping by!

Lobster Obsession

Is there anything better than fresh-caught dinner? Especially when it's Caribbean lobster and crab!? The Sea was generous with husband yesterday when he set out to catch dinner...one huge crab, 4 Slipper lobsters, and 8 Caribbean lobsters!



He gave some to friends to chill until Sunday when we'll have a big lobster boil, and kept some for dinner- crab and lobster gumbo!



Let me tell you- as someone who used to live in New Orleans, his was the best gumbo I have ever tasted. He made the stock by boiling the crab and lobster shells, and that alone smelled delicious...I'm not sure what all he added because he was like a crazy man in the kitchen. Chopping veggies, cooking sausage, making roux. Oh, he must have been taking notes in the cooking class that we took in New Orleans on our last vacation! The color of the roux was a deep carmel with a nutty smell and was perfect with the sweet lobster and crab and spicy andouille sausage. Yum!

He set aside some meat from the legs that he cooked in the Lobster Popcorn method (see older post) and that went into omlettes this morning with spinach, cream cheese, onions, and peppers. Topped with a splash of Crystal hot sauce- perfect!




Aren't these gorgeous? The name of our power boat is Obsession, and here some of his catch rests on the dockbox. He does lobstering, freediving, and spearfishing charters with this boat, so if you'll be in the islands...

http://www.obsessionsportcharters.com/

Came under budget this week, spent $97 of the $105 budget, and this is what we ate:

Thursday: Burgers

Friday: Mini grilled cheeses with leftover white borscht

Saturday: Minestrone (here I used the first of sister's dried zucchini)

Sunday: Roasted pork tenderloin with rice and broccoli

Monday: Girls night out- cocktails and movie. Also boys night out-Hooters

Tuesday: Pasta Primavera (here I used the last of sister's dried zucchini)
I just added it to the sauce and let it cook for a while.

Wednesday: Pizza

And the week ended with the gumbo!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great week!

My Sister's Garden

I received the best surprise in the mail earlier in the week...a box full of good stuff from my sister's garden! She lives in North Carolina, and sent all kinds of things that I wouldn't even try to grow on the boat! There was a bunch of Chiogga beets (?), a bag of dried zucchini, and containers of ground red pepper and coriander seeds.

We used the red pepper first, adding it to a corn side dish that we had with chicken and mashed potatoes. She warned that it was hot, and it was! It tasted great, but both husband and I just love to smell it- so fresh and earthy.

There were a bunch of beets, so I decided to make borscht in the slow cooker. I had never heard of this particular beet, and was surprised when I began peeling them and they seemed pink. Once I cut them though- wow! Perfect stripes of red and white. Would the borscht be red, or pink, or white?



Turns out it was white, which was weird because it tasted just like borscht (beet soup) which should be red and which we make quite a bit. I added some sliced potatoes, onions, and sausage, and smoothed it all with the immersion blender then topped it with sour cream. Delicious!

The dried zucchini is also something new to me. She said we could freeze it (no freezer) so we will be adding it to some soup tomorrow. It tasted good as -is though!

We will have no trouble using all the crushed red pepper...but the corriander seeds will be an adventure. Have never bought them, and sister suggested Mexican or Indian dishes, so we will try that on the menu this week!


For the budget this week, we spent $108, which is three dollars over budget. Incase you are new, our budget is $105 for the week, and that includes breakfast and dinner (lunch is leftovers), food and drink. If we go under budget, it goes into Vacation Fund. Those few dollars really can add up...this year we spent 2 weeks doing a New Orleans vacation/Caribbean cruise, and last year we did a week in Paris and a week in Barcelona.

Anyway, this is what we ate this week:

Thursday: Homemade pizza

Friday: Fish and chips at the Toad and Tart restaurant. Friends were visiting and they graciously took us out (Thanks Deb and Mike!)

Saturday: Homemade veggie burgers (see last post)

Sunday: Grilled Kabobs (our neighbors have a grill and we joined them for dinner)

Monday: Chicken, mashed potatoes and corn (with sister's hot peppers)

Tuesday: Frozen Pot Stickers with steamed veggies and rice. I was tired and uninspired this day! But they were OK.

Wednesday: White Borscht with Polish pizzas. (Polish pizza is a thing our mom used to make for special occasions...we are Polish and from the midwest so make of this what you will...mini rye breads toasted and topped with cooked ground beef that has been mixed with processed cheese and then toasted again. I still love it.)

Thanks for stopping by, and hope everyone has a great week! (And call your sister!)

Veggie Burger: FAIL

I am always looking for new recipes to make the perfect homemade veggie burger, so I was so excited to see the cover of my latest Vegetarian Times magazine promise "the best homemade veggie burger". Inside, they revealed the secret glue that holds the burgers together for even grilling!

I have tried many recipes, and have yet to find the perfect consistency that holds together even just for pan frying. So- their secret ingredient? Overcooked pasta! Ok, never tried that, but did have some leftover pasta that was to be pureed. I added leftover rice, a can of white beans, and the veggies that I had: sauteed mushrooms and onion, red peppers, kalamata olives, cayenne pepper. Salt and pepper, balsamic, and some grill seasoning. I chilled them for a while, but they still didn't seem like they'd stick together, so I floured them a bit before adding them to a pan with hot oil. I wish I could say success, but they were a FAIL. The flavor was great, but did not hold together. Anyway, we used the leftovers in wraps the next day.

Husband took a few days in the kitchen this week, and I have to say there were some weird dishes...sorry husband! First night was mac and cheese with an assortment of leftover cheeses and mushroom gravy in the bottom, served with toast points and tomatoes. Next night was pineapple meatballs served with hard boiled eggs and marinated beets. Everything really was great, but I never would have thought of the flavor combos! I had to work late, but he very sweetly texted me a photo of his menu board!

We went a little over budget for the week ($112, so we were $7 over) and this is what we had:

Thursday: Pork tacos

Friday: Salmon, rice and veggies

Saturday: Meatball pizza

Sunday: Big Salad

Monday: BLT's on rye

Tuesday: Mushroom mac and cheese

Wednesday: Meatballs, beets, and eggs

One last photo for those who have never seen a fresh-caught octopus!

Hope everyone has a great week!