Making the bad apples into something wonderful!

Owning a boat is a luxury, so why do most people complain about the work.  Paul's dad told him that to have fun you have to spend money, and boat owners spend money.  I don't mind.  Why do I like boating - freedom, that feeling of euphoria when you laugh with your friends, that feeling of being part of a group that all share the same joy, all boaters share the same difficulties in keeping their boats looking great and working properly.  

What about the friendships, everlasting, there's an instant smile that comes to one's face when you are on the water, even on the race course - you always smile at your closest rival, knowing that they are feeling the same joy as you and your crew are on the water.  That close bond between your crew, the boat, the water and the wind.  I invite people to come sailing with me all the time - first timers or old timers, why, to share my priveiege and luxury.  I think most that come out for the first time feel the same joy, wonderment, the same feeling that you are using the earth's resources without using them up.  

What about the organizations.  Some are good, some bad.  Sometimes members of a boat club lose sight of why they are members of an organization, they are there to all share in the joy of boating, the joy of meeting new people, the joy of laughing.  People tend to forget that we are only here, in this existence for a very short time.  They forget to live, to laugh and to forgive.  They forget to tolerate and they forget to laugh.  They forget to take their boats off the dock and feel the wind in their hair, feel the cool dampness after being on the water on a cool fall day with the drizzle, the clouds and the waves.  I think they forget the feeling of anticipation of putting the boat back in the water and reconnecting with friends you lost touch with over the winter during your hibernation.

Boaters forget we all share a common love, being outside, being on the water, and having a good time.  I would hope that someday they can regain that sense of being human and living and inviting more people out sailing with them to share their joy and forget the bad stuff that our short lives throw at us.  It's worth the time and money to me to have a place where I can forget about all the bad stuff, out there on the water, waiting for the 5 minute gun before the start of the race.  To forget about politics as we cast off, wondering what sails would be appropriate for the possible front approaching, to forget about reality as we search for that lost sailing glove or wrestle with a knot in a halyard.  It's more fun to stress over a perfect spinnaker gybe then what your neighbours are up to, or what you believe your fellow human beings should or should not be doing, in your opinion.

I'm sure my thoughts are same in any type of organization, sometimes we all need to step back and sort through the bad apples because I'm absolutely certain there are many more good apples in the basket then bad apples, and it's easy to take the bad apples and turn them into something outstanding - all they need is a little reminder once in a while.

...

Speaking of apples - IT'S CRAB APPLE SEASON

So I raided the neighbour's lawn and here's my crab apple jelly recipe:

A basket of crab apples, washed, stemmed, debugged and quartered

A handful of vanilla sugar or Splenda

2 whole star anise

1 pkg liquid pectin or 4 tbsp. powdered pectin

Water

Put quartered apples in large stock pot, sprinkle with sugar and toss in the star anise.  Cover with water, just until the apples begin to float.  Cook on high for approximately 10-20 minutes, until apples have completely broken down.

Pour the liquid through a sieve or a large strainer lined with cheese cloth and let sit a couple of hours.  

Pour the liquid back into the stock pot and reduce the liquid by 1/4.  Add pectin and cook a further 10 to 15 minutes until the liquid begins to thicken.  Pour into jars and let cool with the lids off.  Can be stored in the fridge for quite a while (how's that for accuracy) and eat with any kind of game meats, poultry, on toast or right out of the jar with a spoon.

HINT:  if the liquid seems a tad bitter, add some vanilla and a touch more sugar or Splenda to balance the bitterness.  Crab Apple jelly should be a bit sour with a hint of bitterness which comes from the skin of the apple.

Was able to go sailing yesterday afternoon - Wednesday.  Would be my usual race night but racing is over until next May.  It was cloudy out, but there was probably about 10 knots of wind out of the South East.  We fired up the motor and took off for a couple of hours.  

The lake was amazing.  There were pockets of rain over the lake as well as on land.  We were able to sail around the rain.  It's pretty cool to be able to see the cloud cover low over the lake and see those rain squalls march by on their journey into oblivion.  A large powerboat pulled out of Port Credit Yacht Club and we watched him disappear into one of those squalls over the horizon.  The sound of the water rushing by the boat covered the sound of their motor and the rush hour traffic noise and we didn't need to talk, just exist.

To the west there was a small break in the clouds and we glimpsed some red sky as the sun tired to bring some warmth to the earth.  I sat on the low side staring out across the lake.  We could have been almost anywhere sailing.  The dark choppy water and the rain obscuring the south shore.   The English Channel, the Southern Ocean?

The cold started to catch up to us and we gybed and headed in.  There was only one other boat out on the lake and it was heaven with all that space - all that quiet!

Now, I'm sitting on my couch thinking about making my mom's butter tarts today, seems like a good day for that.  The great Canadian treat, everyone has their own recipe they love but I'll share my mom's recipe (I don't think she will mind).

1           Egg
1 cup    Brown Sugar
1 tsp.    Vanilla
Pinch     Salt
1           Nob of butter
2 tbsp.   Milk
 

Beat all together and add 2 tbsp. milk.  Put about 5 layers of filo pastry in a muffin tin, brushing each layer with melted butter.  Fill and seal the tart at the top by twisting the pastry.  Bake at 450 until filling is dark.

You can do the tarts using regular pastry but I find that the pastry for most butter tarts is too thick and tasteless and a waste of calories.  I mean if you are going to eat that many calories - please people - make it worth it!

Birthday, Sailing and Dinner

So yesterday was my birthday - 39...not much to say about that.

Yesterday was also the Last Blast - the final distance race of the year.  We've been trying to finish that race for the past 9 years.  One year we broke off the rudder, thank goodness my dad was with us...  One year we ripped the storm jib, yes the storm jib and the wind indicator blew off the top of the mast.  2 years in a row we decided to go to Canada's Wonderland instead and ride the coasters. Finally, yesterday, we were able to finish the race.

The day started cold, cloudy, windless and with a birthday candle in a butter tart from the gang.  With Paul on the helm, we screwed up the start and tacked BACK over the line.  After a few "words", we tacked out into the Lake, well away from the fleet, who all decided to go near shore.  The wind was blowing about 10 knots out of the east, creating those stupid little waves really close together.  Then the drizzle started - that unending drizzle.  There weren't too many boats on the lake and that was bliss - total bliss - all that space.

After 12 tacks to the mark at the Toronto Islands we managed to catch and pass the entire fleet except for the Catalina 29 or maybe it's a 34 - California Girl and that new boat Brayden owns - some sort of futuristic rocketship with an ungodly PHRF of 52.  No catching that guy.

Batteries were dead in the GPS so we sailed old school - with the compass and a pair of binoculars. As we were rounding the mark the wind died, I mean died.  The Lake was flat and we could watch the rain slam into the glossy surface as we sat there, drinking our coffee flavoured rum trying to warm up.

The wind sort of picked up out of the south so we put up the spinnaker and watched the knot metre climb to a whopping 2.34 knots of speed.  Then the wind kept swinging around to the north and we had to sort of jibe the spinnaker then out of pure - "forget it", we took it down and hoisted the headsail.  For 2 hours the wind would pick up, swing around to the south, drop swing to the West, drop - for 2 loooong hours.  However, after 5 hours and 30 some odd minutes - we crossed the finish line in 2nd place! 

We dragged our cold wet bodies home for hot showers.  Paul was taking me out for dinner at the best sushi/Japanese restaurant in Toronto - KAJI.  They are in an unassuming little hole in the wall on the Queensway, beside a massage parlour.  The chef has fresh fish flown in from Japan and other parts of the planet on a daily basis.  He also has ingredients from Japan you can't get here, fresh herbs, sakes and spices.

There were three menu choices, I chose the most expensive and Paul chose the 2nd most expensive.  We sat at the sushi bar and watched Chef Kaji and his underlings work their magic.  My meal was 10 courses, Paul's was 7 courses.  The courses that stood out most for me were the seared scallop with green peppercorns, the fresh water BBQ'd eel, lobster with fresh apple and the 3 kinds of tuna sushi.  Then there was the fresh water trout baked in salt, the steamed sea breem with chestnut puree and the sashimi - ohhhhh the sashimi.  Each plate was exquisitely presented, everything from a sort of cerviche served in a hollowed out gourd to the fragrant pine broth served in a Japanese tea pot.  In by 8 pm - out by 11 pm.  Thanks Paul - great day, great race, great food and best of all, great company!  And the rain finally stopped.

Single Handed Race - Part 1 - The night before.

It's currently the night before the single handed race.  Not sure if I will go or not, if the wind is over 15 knots then I can't do it, Ashe doesn't have an autohelm and I can't handle the boat without one in over 15 knots and choppy seas.  So I sit here, drinking apple wine listening to the wind pushing it's way through the plethora of mature trees on our street hoping for less wind tomorrow.  Sailflow.com says right now, (9:12 pm) the wind is gusting to 30 knots, that is a lot!  I bet it's a bit more than 30 knots right now.

The saving grace of this evening is the temperature.  It's perfect, about 27 degrees in the house - perfect.  I would have gone sailing tonight, in the dark, in the waves but the wind...hmmm  The beauty of sailing is your total dependence on the weather and reading it correctly.  We've chanced it and won and we've chanced it and lost - getting caught in a downpour or a squall or two - or three.  

A couple of years ago, Paul and I were racing home from the Scarborough Bluffs with our usual group of eager beavers when a squall hit the fleet.  We all saw it coming and frankly, there was nothing we could do about it!  Full sail, hatches open...  I have no idea what the wind gusted, coming out of the south east, but I remember the driving rain, the unusual calm of the water and the smile on Paul's face as he hung on for dear life on the tiller.  I was worried about the sails being damaged, he was enjoying the force of nature - the beauty of it's fury and our helplessness.

This summer, a weekend in August, we planned on sailing across the lake to 50 Point.  We set out under cloudy skies.  We watched a several squalls develop over Mississauga, squalls develop to our south and one about 1 football field from our port side.  It always amazes me to see the rain off in the distance, slowing soldiering it's way toward you, you see the trees and the land disappear then you see the water being pelted as the rain mingles with the lake water and it splashes up to the sky with the force from every drop.

I grabbed the raincoats, battened down the hatches (yes that's a real term) and smiled as we watched the full force of the wind pass behind the boat.   The full  downpour pelted the deck of Ashe.  I was laughing as I looked at Paul in his medium grade yellow rain jacket scowling as rain ran down his visor around his neck and down the back of his rain jacket.  I didn't care - it felt wonderful.

When it rains like that and you are on the water everything disappears, all around you is water and you are there on your own, the boat becoming your saviour underneath you.  Strange, you are floating on the water, yet in the water.  Personally, the downpour ended way too soon.  I was enjoying it.  I couldn't see out my glasses, we were soaked inside and out and it seemed like we were the only people on the planet.  We were laughing!

We have a cool little boat that Ashe - a tough cookie.  She's old, needs a little TLC but she's also our way out of the boring city.  Our way to be on our own.  When we sail - it's always too short a time or it's too long until the next sail.

My wine glass seems to be empty.  I guess it's time for a refill and a quick check on Sailflow to see if tomorrow's forecast has changed...

Sad state of eating in public

I admit it, I'm lazy when it comes to packing a lunch.  I think about it, mull it over all weekend and then conveniently forget Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and of course Friday.  I spend probably close to $10 a day.  Shameful I say.

However, yesterday's lunch at Druxy's at commerce Court might have solved my problem.  I wanted a sandwich and didn't want to spend $10 at the Sandwich Box so I tried Druxy's (they have a new look - and free Wi Fi).  So I ordered  a sandwich with Hummus, Avocado, mango, sprouts and Swiss Cheese all on French Bread.  As I watched the woman make my sandwich, try and cut a slice or two of bread a consistent thickness and I end up with a sandwich that 3 people could have lived off of for a month.   Even the owner made a comment and I told him that's the worst sandwich I have ever seen.  Bless him for only charging me $2.

The bread was tasteless, cheese was poor quality, mango was crunchy and the hummus was uninteresting.  I think that was the last straw.  I and everyone I know work hard for their money and I just want a decent lunch, put together or made by someone who actually cares.

I went home that night and made 4 cranberry French baguettes - 3 in the freezer and one in the oven.  Total actual work: 40 minutes - total baking time: 30 minutes - total rising time: 2 hours.  Now I have enough homemade bread for the month and it has flavour and is interesting!  

I think it's time to stand up to mass produced food - after all food allows us to walk, talk, breathe and blog.  Say no.  If it's not good say something, take it back.  Eventually we might change the way process food is cranked out of uncaring factories.  

Here's my Cranberry French Baguette recipe, it makes 2 loaves.  Everything is in weight because it will guarantee consistent loaves each time, it's more accurate then volume measurements:

425 g    Water

7 g          Instant Yeast (1 package)

750 g      Bread Flour

12 g         Salt

4 g          Malt Syrup or honey

12 g       Sugar

12 g      Butter

Mix all dry ingredients and sift.  Add remaining ingredients and knead 10 minutes.  If needed add more flour to a wet dough or a little water to a dry dough (I had to add a little water).  In the winter time the dough will be drier then during the summer humid months.  Cover and let rise about 1.5 to 2 hours.  In warmer weather the dough will rise faster then in the cooler winter months.  In the winter, I put the dough by my furnace to rise.

When doubled in size, remove from bowl and knead for about 5 minutes.  Divide into 2 equal parts.  Roll out with rolling pin to about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.  Sprinkle with desired amount of dried cranberries or your favourite dried fruit and roll into a baguette.  

To freeze: wrap in plastic and pop in freezer for a rainy day.   

To use right away: cover baguette with a towel and let rise another 30 minutes.

To bake baguette: preheat oven to 400 F, put a bowl of water in with baking - bake for 10 minutes, remove bowl of water and continue baking for another 20 to 30 minutes.

To bake frozen loaf: remove from freezer and remove plastic wrap.  Cover with towel on a cookie sheet and let thaw all day or over night - about 8-9 hours.  Bake as outlined above.

Enjoy fresh bread - remember, practice makes perfect.   Once you get the technique down, most likely after the first try there's no excuse to buy bread again.

Went up to Bobcaygeon this past weekend.  Love it up there.  It's a very small town with the Trent Canal running through and lock #32 right there on the main drag.  Lots of cute houses, some new, some old, some wreckers.  Lots of little cafes, cute shops.  There's a little restaurant/gift shop just north on 48 going toward Kinmount.  It's called Harmony Farms.  Food is great, nice books, jewellery and clothing, everything very reasonably priced.  I was there to peddle my chocolates.  Got a deal.  Going up Nov 13 to make chocolate santas as part of their open house.  Gives me another excuse to go to Bobcaygeon.  My dad lives there with my step mom, Sue.  They have a cute house.

We also dropped into Kawartha Country Wines.  They specialize in fruit wines.  Some sweet, some dry, some bitter.  They also have vinegars that you can drink as an appertif.  I am working on a chocolate using their Cherry Balsamic Vinegar and they might be interested in carrying my chocolate as well.

Dad took us for a little toot down Valley White Road.  It's a one lane dirt road in the woods with a few houses set back.  The road winds and has lots of ups and downs, on a day like Saturday, with the trees turning colour it was beautiful and quiet. 

Sue went to the farmers' market Saturday before we got there and I made dinner for Dad, Sue and Paul.  We had a striploin roast, roast potatoes, cauliflower and some kind of radish/turnip veggie and green tomatoes from Sue's garden.  I also made an apple pie for dessert with blackberry wine.  We drank Kawartha Country Wine's Cherry wine with dinner and got all excited discussing and laughing at our selves and our embarrassing adventures sailing and racing.  No pictures of the feast because we were drinking Bailey's and Rum and forgot.

If you have never had a striploin roast, you should do it once a year, worth the money and it's easy peasy - lemon squeezey:

Roast Striploin with Roast Potatoes

Serves 4 - don't expect any leftovers!

 2 pound      AAA Black Angus striploin - fat on

4                 Red Potatoes, quartered

1 large         Onion, chopped

2                 Sprigs of Rosemary

Method:

Preheat oven to 250 F.

Put large skillet on stove and heat to smokin' hot.  Sear the roast on all sides to a deep brown.

Put potatoes, onions and sprigs of rosemary in roasting pan and place seared roast on top.  Place pan, uncovered, in oven and cook for approximately 1.5 to 2 hours or until internal temperature of the meat reaches 140 C for medium rare.

Remove from oven and put roast in separate pan and cover with foil to rest.

Increase temperature of oven to 400 F and put potatoes back in oven to crisp up (can also put apple pie in to bake at this time).  Let potatoes cook for about 15 minutes.

Slice roast thin or thick - end pieces are the best! 

New Recipe after a day of racing

Finally had fair winds, although the race started off with a 15 minute start delay praying for a breath of wind, which finally came - and it was a breath.  Downwind start, which I'm not comfortable with, so we took our time to get the spinnaker up, even after with me wrapping both the spinnaker sheet and guy around the bow pulpit...  The wind was strange, one boat just 50 feet to our right took off like gang busters, that Sierra Tango...grrrr.  Six miles to the mark, dead  downwind going a painful 3 knots, that took about 2 1/2 hours.  Turning the mark, the wind picked up and we picked up to 6.5 knots, but not enough to catch anyone. Unfortunately we did finish 5th out of 5 boats but we had a great time - after all we were sailing!

Came home and made a roasted pheasant with an apple cranberry chutney.  This recipe will be featured in the next Chill magazine (it's free at the beer store) but here's a sneak peak at the chutney recipe - it's amazing with the pheasant (which was cooked with 2 slabs of bacon on top):

2             cored and diced green apples - skin on

1/4 cup    brown sugar

3             sliced shallots

1/2 cup    apple cider vinegar

3/4 cup   dried cranberries

1 tbsp.    dried thyme

1 tsp.      fresh grated ginger

2            garlic cloves

1 tsp.      black mustard seeds

1/4 tsp.   cayenne pepper

to taste   salt and pepper

Method:

1. Put sugar in large sauce pan on high heat and let melt, add shallots, vinegar and garlic and cook shallots until they are translucent. 
2. Add remaining ingredients, cook over medium heat, constantly stirring until apples begin to soften.  Cover with lid and remove from heat.  Let sit off heat approximately 10 minutes to steam.

Totally yummy!  That's one recipe I have no problems sharing - because it's so good.  Maybe Stella's Cafe on Amherst Island will adopt it and call it Jen's Chutney...