We have a stainless grill too but most of what we cooked on the boat happened here.

DIY Galley Cooking (And not cooking...) On A Small Sailboat Pt. 3

December 15, 2010 in Boat Food, Galley Cooking, Homemade Food, Portland DIY, Sailing Food, Uncategorized

This is my last installment for small boat cooking. Our sailing trip to the San Juan Islands late September/early October seems so far away now so it's nice to go through the photos again and share some of the food and drink ones with you. In my last post I left off at our arrival on Lopez Island. I'll keep it chronological and start at Lopez here.

Please let me know if you have any special boat foods you like to make -- either before the trip or while underway...

We got to spend a couple days and nights with great friends on Lopez and before we set off again we had this Odlin Bay picnic with really good sandwiches that Sandy made and all sorts of cheese, chips and snacky goodness.

Lunch on Matia was leftover peanut, serrano and garlic pasta with hardboiled egg and pinto bean sandwiches

We ate at Doe Bay's Cafe on Orcas Island a few times. This was their fresh from the garden list for a week in late August. Soooo good.

Doe Bay Cafe rocked. We ate our breakfast sandwich with pickled onions and garden greens and huevos while calming our sea legs.

Second mug shot -- literally. Kathryn Taylor Chocolates in Eastsound on Orcas was awesome and served Stumptown. Hello cappuccino.

Farewell dinner with Sandy and Vern back on Lopez Island in their outdoor dining room.

That's what was for dinner -- fresh Vern-caught Dungeness. It doesn't get better than that in my books.

We cooked the potatoes and corn on the fire in the foreground and everything else in the outdoor kitchen behind the bus.

DIY Galley Cooking On A Small Sailboat Pt. 1 DIY Galley Cooking On A Small Sailboat Pt. 2

DIY Galley Cooking On A Small Sailboat Pt. 2

October 27, 2010 in Boat Food, Galley Cooking, Uncategorized

I knew that I'd enjoy cooking on the boat. The size and ingredient constraints, being outdoors, simple tools and equipment that can drive some batty is actually fun for me. These are problems that I enjoy solving.

Problems such as how to store and cook fragile eggs on a small boat, how to prepare things such as pasta, rice and beans in the shortest amount of time as possible -- aka with the least amount of fuel so as to not run out. Well, I really enjoyed working these things out and making tasty food on the boat during our two-week sail in late September.

I'm not trying to say that our trip was all about food. Most of the time we were jibing and tacking for long stretches with little more than a piece of beef jerky hanging out of our mouths and exploring all sorts of amazing San Juan Islands including James, Lopez, Jones, San Juan, Sucia, Matia and Orcas. Along the way we saw pods of porpoises, lots of seals, sea lions, otters, blue herons, and even a bald eagle. Two weeks in the San Juan Islands treated us well.

When we were sailing Tyler was captain and I did as he said. When we were cooking I was captain and he did as I said. I know that you care about food and drink too so here's a bit of what we prepared on the boat and saw and did along the way. Part three will soon follow...

After we crossed Rosario Strait from Shannon Pt. Homemade cherry wine at our first stop -- James Island.

Breakfast the next morning -- meusli with nectarine (thank you Kim Carlson!) and strong coffee. There was an otter not too far away eyeing our food the entire time.

Once we got to Lopez Island later in the day Vern pulled up his crab pot in Odlin Bay where we buoyed the boat. He caught all of these Dungeness in only two hours.

Coffee on Jones Island with the Blacktail Deer.

Dockside cooking at Roche Harbor on San Juan Island.

En route to Sucia Island we called Waldron Island Turkey Island b/c we decided that once we were alongside that island we could eat these. Canned beans and fresh jalapenos do wonders for boat sandwiches.

DIY Galley Cooking On A Small Sailboat Pt. 1

Out of the water and ready for the San Juan Islands.

DIY Galley Cooking On A Small Sailboat

September 23, 2010 in Galley Cooking, Portland DIY, Sailing Food, Uncategorized

When you read this we'll be en route and setting sail for Lopez Island, our first stop, on this boat above on our San Juan Islands sailing trip. The past several weeks have been a confluence pretty much of two things -- book events and boat readying.

Early this summer my boyfriend and I decided that at the end of summer/beginning of fall we'd finally take our 19-foot, 1970s O'Day sailboat out for a real spin and, of course, take a much needed vacation.

We bought the boat with our neighbors last summer and have been up and down the Columbia where it's been moored ever since. This will be the first big journey -- ten days sailing around the San Juan Islands.

There's been a lot of preparation including getting it out of the water, scrubbing it, decking it out with more down-below storage, purchasing a dinghy, barbecue, lights and then some. We're in the last leg though now since we leave on the first day of autumn -- September 23rd.

To be honest, my boyfriend has done the bulk of the work but my job is important. I'm stocking and setting up the galley. Well, we don't actually have a galley so it's more setting up the makeshift galley.

I looked at some books at Powell's on galley cooking and got some good ideas but didn't feel like any were worth buying. Really, I think the most important thing to galley cooking is planning ahead, just like camp cooking. Learning to work with your small cooking space, stocking up with minimal and long lasting ingredients and some full-flavor tricks up your sleeve are all important. Having a food dehydrator doesn't hurt.

We'll be stopping at a lot of markets and farmers markets (my friend Rachel's mom is the editor of the publication that I just linked to here) during the trip to stock the larder and we'll also be checking out the local cuisine. Here's some of what I've cooked up for the trip...