Doing Things I've Never Done

People often ask me, how do you do it? How do you live a life of adventure? How do you move around so much and experience so many different things? The truth is, honestly, I don't know. I am not quite sure how I have come to do so many things in my 28 years on this planet.

We never traveled much when I was growing up, which was fine by me. I didnt know any different. I was quite content exploring the beautiful Pacific Northwest. You could spend a lifetime exploring beaches, parks, hiking trails, and mountains, not to mention the cute little towns from Leavenworth to Winthrop, La Conner, Friday Harbor and Westport. We skied on the weekends in the winter and went to "the beach" on Whidbey Island in the summer. Our first big out of state trip was to Southern California and Disneyland when I was in 9th grade, then a road trip back up the coast. I fell in love with Harmony, CA with it's population of 18 and wanted to grow up and move there. Although I did end up in California, it wasn't the small town of Harmony.

Growing up I told myself that I never wanted to live in California and I never wanted to live in New York, later on I told myself that I didn't want to live in Florida. Goes to show you. Don't ever tell yourself you don't want something, you may end up with it. Us Washingtonians have a perception of California and New York, as many people have perceptions of Washington with its rainy weather and eternal gray skies. Yes, it does get sunny in Washington, despite the rumors. Our perceptions of California and New York were indecent amounts of people, gridlocked traffic, smoggy skies, crowded beaches, and strip malls and freeways stretching as far as you could fathom. My idea of California basically summed up LA and my New York image summed up New York City - with regards to the amount of people that is. I had no idea that a whole state almost the length of Washington was attached to the New York City. I assumed Albany was a just a suburb. But as Dave always reminds me, if you assume, you make an ass out of u and me. Turns out, much of California is beautiful open space from untouched coastline to vineyards to the majestic Sierra Nevadas. And the majority of Upstate New York is rural with an incredible amount of rolling countryside and farmland. Goes to show you, don't make assumptions about a place until you've been there. Like Jimmy Buffett says "Don't try to describe the ocean if you've never seen it, don't ever forget that you just may end up being wrong."

My next experience with travel was Mexico for my high school graduation. We went to Puerto Vallarta as a family and stayed in a nice resort just outside the city. When I left on a backpacking trip to Europe with a girlfriend after college, I'm sure my parents were a nervous wreck. My travel experiences were very, very limited. Fortunately there is an entire community of young persons doing the exact same thing. The just-out-of-college-trying-to-figure-out-what-to-do-with-their-lives trustafarian urban hippies. Packs of intercontinental groups of 20 somethings traveling together with a common bond of exploring the unknown. In hostels, on trains and in bars you could find other like minded folks from Australia, New Zealand, South America, Europe and Canada. We had our money belts and locked up our belongings. We watched our backs and were never too quick to trust anyone. But with your only possessions crammed into a monstrous pack, you were free to roam, let your feet take you where they will. That trip was the gateway to my addiction to travel.

So again you ask, how do you and Dave do it? I guess my best answer is believing in ourselves. We never once let ourselves think we can't do something. If we are led to believe we can't do something, it just pushes us harder to prove them wrong. Take for example our sailboat. It started out as an innocent flower pot savings fund during those cold Buffalo winters. We plastered this large brass flower pot with magazine cutouts of sailboats in exotic anchorages surrounded by white sandy beaches and palm trees swaying in the trade winds. We threw loose change in the sailboat fund, each time it clinked with the rattle of change as we added to it, we would exclaim "For the sailboat!" The additions grew to dollar bills and $10's and $20's and even the odd $50 or $100. We had no idea how we would get our sailboat, how we would get to that pristine anchorage, we just knew we would. And you know what? We did. It wasnt until several years later, but we found ourselves one gorgeous morning at a picturesque marina in Bimini, having just made the crossing from Florida and headed further south. We looked at each other in disbelief, but somehow we always knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that we would be here. There were many obstacles along the way. And it didnt happen overnight, but boy howdy, we did it.

A great quote out of a great book (which Dave and I have a little excerpt in, by the way) is from Mel and Bob Blanchard's book Live What You Love - Notes From An Unusual Life. We began emailing them after we had read their inspiring book A Trip To The Beach - where they sold everything and moved down to a small Caribbean island to start a restaurant. We had the chance to meet them at a book signing in Toronto. They liked our spirit and included us in their new book. But their words and life experiences have greatly helped us follow our unique path. "Have the courage to let your life and stories and experiences be both odd and wonderful. May you be blessed with an unusual life."

It just not quite warm here yet and I'm still feeling the hearty wintertime meals on the menu. I took dinner over to Gram, Aunt Janet and Uncle Carl last night. As of a year ago, I had never sailed to the Bahamas, as of last night I had never made beef stroganoff. I'm always up for trying something new and beef stroganoff sounded good. It was quick and easy, ready in about 20 minutes. I had done a quick search on Saveur.com and this one popped up. So if you like the creamy zingy taste of a beef strog, this is a quick fix for your craving.

Beef Stroganoff

Serves 4

1 1/2 lbs filet of beef - I used round steak

6 tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

3 tbsp chopped green onion

1/4 cup white wine

A1 and worcestershire sauce

1 1/2 cups sour cream

salt and freshly ground black pepper

cooked egg noodles

Cut the beef into very thin slices, or chop into very small cubes. Marinate beef in a sprinkling of worchestershire, salt and pepper for 3o minutes if you have time.

Heat 4 quarts of water for the noodles and cook noodles by directions on package (should be about 10 minutes).

Meanwhile, melt 4 tbsp of the butter and olive oil in a medium pan over medium high heat. Do not burn the butter, but get the butter as hot as you can. Saute the beef very quickly. When it is just browned on all sides (this only takes a minute or two), remove the beef onto a hot platter. Reduce heat to medium. Add remaining butter to beef drippings and melt. Add the chopped green onions and cook for a minute. Add white wine and simmer for several minutes until the alcohol cooks out, but do not reduce the sauce. Add a dash or two of A1, I add about 2 tbsp, but that is my taste. Add the sour cream and salt and pepper to taste. Stir well to heat through, but do not boil or the sour cream will curdle. Cook for several minutes more to thicken sauce a bit. Add beef back into sauce to reheat. Serve noodles with beef and sauce on top. Sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley if desired.

Vitamin D INXS

Yesterday I got a bad case of vitamin D. It was my own fault. I knew it the minute I got to the dog beach. The sun was shining, the water reflecting, and me without my sunscreen. I am still at that sensitive stage, lightly tanned but without a solid base. I look at pictures from last summer when I had just returned from the Bahamas - 4th of July at Lake Curlew is a prime example - bleached blonde hair and deeply tanned skin (deeply tanned for a Scandinavian). I looked in the mirror around Christmas time and I hardly recognized myself, the transition had been slow. My face had lightened and my hair darkened. I could still pass for blonde, but I had been demoted to "dirty blonde." Since my return to the Sunshine State, I have noticed a slow transition back the other way, my hair now has champagne streaks when the light catches it right. I feel as if I am getting back to my real self again. I still take my D vitamins, fish oil and daily multi-vitamins...take your vitamins! A few pills while your young saves you taking a lot of pills when you are old! Most people, even in sunny states, do not have adequate vitamin D in their systems. Vitamin D2 and D3 are important because they help your body absorb calcium and phosphorous. But don't overdo it like I did yesterday and get burnt. That's the perfect recipe for melanoma.

I often think about how fortunate we have been to be able to go on an adventure like we did. It was hard visiting Pegasus the other day. That was our home for a year. Her musty interior smell brought back fond memories. When we climbed below, we bumped our heads and stubbed our toes. We kicked over the dog water bowl daily and the hatch over my head leaked while I slept, dripping water on my forehead like Chinese torture. Our books were soaked and mildewy and our stereo got salty and stopped working. It was an ordeal trying to find the shirt you wanted to wear in our little cubbies that held our clothes. Wrinkles were a permanent part of our ensemble. My galley was the tiniest cooking space I have ever experienced, my work space spread out to the settees and the stairs. However, I produced some of the best meals we have ever eaten on that boat with just a two burner alcohol stove and a bbq grill. Ever tried bbq-ing cookies for Christmas? And finding a cookie recipe that doesn't call for baking powder? (shortbread cookies). I don't know what a 32 ft sailboat works out to in square footage with all its curves and crannies, but lets just say your smallest apartment in Manhattan feels like a penthouse suite compared to living on Pegasus, and our cozy 873 square ft home in Tahoe might as well be the Taj Mahal. Despite the lack of basic living comforts, it was the happiest time of my life. I loved the simplicity of living on a boat. I came across this quote the other day it I feel like it pretty much sums up what I have come to learn in my adventuring years - as well as the hoards of middle-aged and retirees that have given us their simple advice of "do it while you are young." I don't know how many times I have heard people say, "if we hadn't had kids right away...we would have done what you guys are doing," or "I wish we would have taken the time instead of jumping into careers right away." It made me feel less like a flake that we hadn't settled down yet, and more fortunate than anything. So here is one of my favorite quotes:

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." Mark Twain

Today is gray. It feels like winter. The sun has been teasing us, coming out every few days, even bringing temperatures up into the 80's. Now a cold front from the north is boring down on us, bringing frost warnings at night and a high of 60 for the next few days. I know, I know, it's not 3 degrees like it is for all of you in places like St. Louis and Buffalo, but I'm still going to complain because I'm in Florida and it should be warm. It's Vacationland! So despite all the boat talk, I'm going to give you a hearty winter meal because I feel like you need it up north and I'm definitely feeling it down here. If you like the idea of meatloaf, but want something a little lighter (and cheaper!), this turkey meatloaf is great. It's super easy and oh so tasty. It turns out really moist and bursting with flavor. My sister made this last winter so I snagged the recipe from her, who got the recipe from her friend Jamie. That's the best I can do with giving someone credit. Whoever originally discovered this recipe, I give you kudos.

Turkey Meatloaf with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Rosemary

Serves 4

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

3 celery stalks, chopped

1 1/2 lbs ground turkey

1 1/2 cup breadcrumbs

2/3 cup drained oil packed sun-dried tomatoes

1/2 cup milk

2 eggs

1 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped OR 2 tbsp dried rosemary

2 tsp dried sage (optional)

2 tsp dried oregano (optional)

2 tsp salt

2 tsp ground pepper

Ketchup

Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Heat oil in heavy medium skillet over medium heat. Add onions, saute 5 minutes. Add celery and saute until vegetables are very tender, about 15 minutes longer. Transfer to a large bowl.

Add all remaining ingredients except ketchup to veggies in bowl. Mix thoroughly. Transfer to prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour. Brush with ketchup and bake until thermometer reads 165 F, about 15 minutes longer. Cool 5 minutes.

Cornbread Celebration

I am just going to go ahead and give myself a little pat on the back. I finally found a job! We have been in Florida for almost two months now (two months already!) and I have been on the hunt for work. I have been telling myself that I want to be choosy. There are numerous jobs available, but being that we have the gracious opportunity to stay with my in-laws, I decided that I'm not going to get just any job. I had Frankie and Johnny's New York Pizza call me after replying for an ad on Craigslist to an unnamed restaurant looking for an experienced server. "Yo, dis is FrankIE, you lookin for a job? Cawll me, we'll tawlk." Um....no thank you. Most other restaurant jobs were the 4-11pm shift, 5 nights a week. And when you are as in love with cooking as I am, two nights a week of cooking just isn't enough. Plus I would like to spend some time with my husband.

I randomly found a posting for a retail wine shop so I sent over my information. I was asked in for an interview and was happy to find that the young owners had a genuine passion for wine without the pretentiousness. Last night I went back in for a second/working interview and helped out with a charity wine tasting event. They also sell craft beer too! Bonus! I throughly enjoyed myself and am so excited for the opportunity. I have much to learn, however, so it is a little overwhelming. Although I have a solid knowledge of varietals and the major wine producers, they specialize in smaller wineries, many which I am not familiar with. But it is just like learning any other wine list - of which I had to do in my restaurant jobs - this one just happens to be a bit bigger, 400 to be exact. I am so grateful to have found something that is along the lines of my passions for food, wine and beer. I have found that keeping a positive outlook helps immensely. There were times I just wanted to curl up and disappear, bored out of my mind and hopeless that I wouldn't find anything outside a restaurant job. I think writing this blog has helped keep me in a positive mindset. It's nice to have something to focus on daily, challenging my mind to be creative. "When life gives you limes, make margaritas!"

I have been in such a great mood today. I finally feel like things are coming together for us down here. I kind of breathed a little sigh of relief. I will be making some money so I don't have to keep such a tight budget and I can concentrate on enjoying living in southwest Florida rather than spending my days job searching. Today I took the dogs to the dog beach. It is so beautiful out, deep blue sky without a cloud to be seen; breezy and not too hot.

Today I'm going to share with you one of my most favorite recipes. I'm feeling good, in a positive mindset, so I thought something sweet would be appropriate. Some of you may have had this cornbread because I make it so often. It has become my standard cornbread now. It's actually more like a cake than bread, that's probably why it tastes so heavenly. This recipe is out of At Blanchard's Table - A Trip To The Beach Cookbook by Bob and Mel Blanchard.

Caribbean Cornbread

Recipe from At Blanchard's Table

Serves 8

1 cup flour

1 cup cornmeal

2 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 lb (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups canned cream style corn

1/2 cup canned crushed pineapple, drained

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Preheat the oven to 325 F.

Butter and flour a 9 inch glass cake pan. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a mixer, cream the butter and sugar. While the mixer is running, add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. All the corn, pineapple and cheese and mix to blend. On a low speed, add the dry ingredients and mix until blended well.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a tester stick in the center comes out clean. Bout 1 hour and 15 minutes. Do not under cook the cornbread. It should be golden brown on top when done.

Ahhh Napoli

I officially love Naples, Florida. Dave and I have spent the past two days cruising around this unique little place. Before we moved down here we spent hours on the computer, researching all coastal areas of southwest Florida, from St Pete to Sarasota, Ft Myers and Naples. There is only so much you can gather from statistics and facts. The average age for most cities in southwest Florida is 65. Oh boy. But we are finding more young people than we thought. Plus it's almost like young people are so elusive that we all gravitate towards each other. In most cities I feel that it takes years to establish a circle of friends. Many people that have grown up and stayed in an area have their group bonded by the years, and it is almost impossible to break inside those barriers. Here, everyone is a transplant, and when you find another young couple with something slightly in common -boating, drinking beer, etc - you make every effort to do all those fun young people things together. Don't count on a rowdy party scene however, since the economy is almost entirely supported by the baby boomers and the bars and restaurants have locked their doors by 10pm. Oh well, if we want to stay up all night we can always go visit Buffalo.

The population of Naples is around 20,000, slightly bigger than Truckee, CA. It definitely has the feel of a beach version of Tahoe as well. It has a median income of $102,000, opposed to Ft Myers median income of $48,000. It is obvious as you drive south of the downtown that there is some money in this town. The homes go from modest Key West style 1920's homes, to outrageous McMasion estates with gated driveways on 2 acres of beach front property. The city has established vegetation, bougainvillea cascading over public walkways, and palm trees lining the streets. The smaller homes in the center of the city are vibrantly colored with tin roofs and well kept yards. The main strip, 5th Ave is host to excellent restaurants and boutique shops. On the west side of the downtown is a 10 mile strip of white sandy beach, accessible every few blocks by public walkways and a central city pier. On the east side of downtown is a protected waterway where you can find the City Dock and all the eclectic dive bars. Ft Myers has pumped a lot of money into their downtown renovation project and I wish them well, however the difference of driving through downtown Ft Myers and downtown Naples is like night and day. I have not once seen a more than 10 people on the streets of Ft Myers and the majority of the retail space sits vacant. In Naples, the streets are almost impassable on a sunny day, foot traffic causes cars to sit at a standstill.

I'm going to change the subject here, but this is kind of a cool story. The other night we had just gone to sleep, I think it was around 11pm. I woke with a start because it sounded like someone kicked the garage door. I sat up in bed - I am a light sleeper and wake to any strange noise. "Dave, what was that?" My heart was pounding. I didnt hear anything else. Dave stirred. "Do I have to get up?" he asked. Nothing. I guess maybe something just fell over or the neighbor was making a ruckus. Dave heard a few days later that the noise was the sonic boom as the space shuttle Endeavour reentered the earth's atmosphere. Here is the excerpt from the Naples News written prior to the event.

"The sonic boom from the space shuttle will be heard as the orbiter re-enters the planet's atmosphere traveling faster than the speed of sound. Because the shuttle's landing flight path takes it over Central America, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Naples area as it cuts across the Florida peninsula en route to Cape Canaveral, Collier residents will hear the sonic boom — two distinct claps less than a second apart — about 10 minutes before the shuttle's scheduled landing time.

I don't have a recipe for you today, I have been concentrating on studying for a job interview I have this afternoon. I will tell you more about it if I get the job, but for now I don't want to jinx it - this is a second interview so that is a good sign! Dave starts his solar energy class at the Florida Solar Energy Center on Monday and I am probably going to be going with him. We are planning on stopping by the boat in Indiantown and dropping off the bottom paint so they can work on it while Dave is in class. I will run around and get things ready to get underway and we will get back to it next Friday. It should take us 3 days or so to navigate the Okeechobee Waterway down to Ft Myers. One of the best deals we found was to park it at the City Dock in Naples (shown above). So we'll take it off shore into the Gulf of Mexico south to Naples. I cant wait to get back onboard! I miss that boat.

Bomb Diggity

Does anyone LOVE Pandora like I do? Ok, maybe I'm behind the times, but I just discovered it thanks to James and a late night involving entirely too much rum. I have created my perfect radio station. A mix of all of my favorite music in the whole world. A sampling includes Bob Marley, Buena Vista Social Club (and now other fun Cuban music is in the mix), Jack Johnson's surf soundtracks, Carla Bruni (the French Prime Minister's wife, incredible voice and guitar talent), Finley Quaye, Katie Melua, Slightly Stoopid, Xavier Rudd, the list goes on and on. They make a station based on what you like, adding in all kinds of musicians you've never heard of. I'm hooked. The best part about it, it's free! This morning I mixed it up and created a Reggae station. It has a great beat for typing. Plus you can't beat Red Red Wine first thing in the morning.

I bought a new light yesterday for my food photo shoots. I hope it does it's job. I never realized how difficult lighting can be when you are trying to take pictures of food. I've seen some pretty bad food photography and it just makes you not want to try that recipe. I also splurged and bought a set of white plates. They are actually the same plates as the ones at Norman's Cay Beach Club, so it brings back good memories to use them. Now my pictures are looking more legit. I can appreciate my mother-in-law's taste in dining ware, but I just feel like my ginger citrus pasta could have looked more appetizing on some crisp white plates.

My goal yesterday was not to go to the store. Well I went to Super Target to get my light and plates, and I bought bananas (for Dave), so technically I did go to the store. But I wanted to see what I could make with what I had on hand. Some of the best recipes transpire from not going to the store. I feel like I've been eating pasta every night - we brought spaghetti and meatballs over to Grandma's on Sunday - so I wanted to diversify. I searched through Saveur.com's recipes looking for a light-ish shrimp dish. There was a tequila shrimp that popped out at me, until I came across a Thai shrimp in garlic sauce. Ok folks, this is officially the "bomb-diggity" - the words of Chef Susan at The Majestic Cafe when something was exceptional. You will LOVE this. And it's super easy. It took me all of 20 minutes to make it. Dave didn't get home until 6:30 last night and wanted to go for a beer. We went to our usual spot, Lansdowne Street, just up the road. It's a New England theme bar, dark cozy interior with a huge stained glass window on the wall. They have a good selection of craft beer, which keeps us coming back. I got a Flying Dog Imperial Porter and Dave tried Gordon Double IPA from Oskar Blues Brewery, which was the best beer in a can I have ever tried. Anyways, my point being, we didn't get out of there until 8:30 and Dave was hungry. As soon as we got back I put some white rice on to cook - 20 minutes. I was done with the rest of the meal by the time the rice was done. My only issues that made me initially hesitate with making this dish was the oyster sauce that it called for. You can't omit oyster sauce. But since I wasnt going to the store, I looked up oyster sauce alternatives. I love Google. Ask and you shall receive. It took me a bit to track down an easy alternative. A lot of them called for boiling down oysters - if I dont have oyster sauce on hand, what makes you think I will have oysters? The easiest one was just a mixture of ketchup, soy sauce and hot sauce. I also happened to have celery and onion, so I sauteed the celery and onion the same way I did the shrimp. Put the celery in first because it takes a while to soften. So here we go - best recipe of the week, so far.

Shrimp in Garlic Sauce

Recipe adapted from Appon's Thai Food

serves 2

1 tbsp olive oil

5 cloves garlic - chopped

1 tsp butter

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce - recipe below

1 lb frozen uncooked shrimp

1 tsp flour

1 tsp water

Oyster Sauce

1/8 cup ketchup

1 tsp soy sauce

dash of hot sauce - I used Cholula

Thaw shrimp in colander under cool running water. Remove shells and tails.

Combine ingredients for oyster sauce in small bowl.

In large saute pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add garlic and stir for a few seconds, until fragrant. Don't let the garlic burn. Add butter and stir in until melted. Add soy sauce and oyster sauce and stir until blended. Add shrimp and cook for about a minute, until pink.

Mix flour and water in separate bowl and add to pan. Cook for another minute until sauce is thickened. Serve over white rice.

Recipe for the Perfect Picnic

Probably the best way to spend a Sunday morning is on a boat. I think. And that is exactly what we did yesterday. As weather goes for Florida in February, this has not been your ideal winter. The past few weeks have been blustery, cloudy and unseasonably cool - average daytime temperature in the 60's opposed to the 80's. Not that I am complaining! I am more than happy for an average day in February to be in the 60's, but when your expectations are for 80, it's a tad disheartening. Yesterday was the first day in a while that we awoke to humidity in the air and that feeling of a pleasant day sneaking in.

By the time we launched the boat around 10am, we were smiling at sunshine and 75. Our unnamed craft, a 15 ft Boston Whaler, sometimes simply referred to as "Little Boat," was as anxious to explore the back bays as we were. I can't imagine being cooped up in a garage with the garbage cans and overflow of storage, just another one of the fixtures. Each day the garage door opens, she peeks her bow out, wondering if her humans will find the weather exceptional enough to take her for a jaunt.

Dave threw a left fielded comment at me the other night. As we sat at the dinner table over empty plates, pleasantly full, he abruptly announced that he wanted to go on a picnic. What? Dave is not really your picnic type. He has entirely too much energy to sit and have a picnic. It was probably one of the most off the wall comments I have ever heard come out of his mouth. The previous evening, I had told him about a wonderful excerpt from Encore Provence by Peter Mayle, about his wife planning him a surprise picnic for his birthday. The picnic included all of his best friends and the venue was the Provincial countryside. Choice meats, cheeses, olives and of course local wines were all stars of the menu. Maybe that's what sparked his sudden, bazaar desire for a picnic. Anyhoo, we decide to incorporate a picnic with our boat ride.

The makings of a perfect picnic is an equation with two equally important variables; the venue and the ingredients. I didn't make a run to the grocery store before our picnic. We were anxious to get out on the water, and with the boat launch at the end of our road, it was silly to go an extra 2 miles out of the way to the store. I rummaged the cupboards and refrigerator for some tasty picnic pleasers. I was able to scrounge up bakery bread, prosciutto, mozzarella, a can of anchovies and two Reed's Extra Ginger Beer. If you have never tried Reed's Ginger Beer, then add it to your culinary bucket list. On the West Coast you can find it in most grocery stores next to the Hansen's soda. Here in the South I have to go to Whole Foods or a health food store. It's all natural and not too sweet, made with real ginger. My choice ginger beer for Dark 'N Stormy's - dark rum, ginger beer and lime, a Bermuda specialty.

Apparently everyone else had the same idea yesterday and so, when we pulled our little boat up on what we thought was a secluded beach, we were joined within the hour by 5 other boaters. I felt like I missed the memo about party island's location at our exact spot, where all the college kids take their boats to some far removed place, get Girls Gone Wild drunk, and listen to Tool and Rage Against the Machine all day (do I sound old?). Luckily we had already enjoyed our picnic by that point and were ready to get back on the water.

As we enjoyed the peacefulness before the ruckus arrived, I thought about what else I may have included for our perfect picnic. This also works well as an antipasti for an afternoon get together. Many of the ingredients can be found in the bakery/deli/specialty are of your grocery store. I usually go nuts with the roasted red pepper feta blends and stuffed olives. Of course they never list price per pound, so I can end up racking up a large bill if I'm not careful. So here is a list to refer to for your next picnic - I hope I'm not forgetting anything important!

Recipe for the Perfect Picnic

Cured meats - prosciutto, pancetta, hard salami

Fresh baked bread

Water crackers - I like Caar's

Bunch of green grapes, pears, apple slices

Greek olive mix or stuffed olives - garlic, almond, blue cheese

Olive tapenade

Cheese- hunk of Parmesan, Brie, smoked Gouda, Gruyere, Roquefort etc. Some grocery stores will let you sample the cheeses (Whole Foods, Top Foods, Haggen)

Whole grain mustard or white wine mustard - Grey Poupon

Anchovies -I LOVE anchovies, if you don't love anchovies try canned smoked oysters or smoked clams, smoked salmon or lox

Toothpicks

Plates, napkins, cheese knife, mustard knife

Cooler

Favorite book

Sunshine

Wine selection:

Depending on what you like, there is a fairly wide spectrum that would go with a picnic lunch. Here are a few

Dry Riesling - Chateau Ste Michelle Riesling $7 - low acidity, round, refreshing, passion fruit

Rose - Falesco Vitiano $8 - medium bodied, floral, strawberry and plum

Sparkling Wine - Dom Ste Michelle Blanc de Blanc $10 - dry to medium, pear and pineapple

Amber to red Grenache and Port, generally French or Italian, give a nice sweet complimentary flavor to mild cheeses and desserts.

Champange and sparkling wines go well with most any picnic menu

Beer:

Lindemans Raspberry Framboise $6-$7 - fruity acidity, sparkling clean taste

Young's Double Chocolate Stout $4-5 - smooth mouthfeel, not overly chocolate

Alaskan Brewing Smoked Porter $6 - perfect with smoked oysters, dark, robust smoky flavor

Don't forget wine/beer glasses and a bottle opener!

One of the best picnics Dave and I have ever had was a celebration of our arrival into the Bahamas. It took us several weeks of sitting in Miami Harbor, waiting for the right weather window to cross over the Gulf Stream to Bimini. It was a ten hour overnight trip and nerve wracking as hell. But that arrival into Bimini was the most exhilarating feeling ever. The sun started lighting the sky an hour or so before we reached land. As we crossed from the 10,000 ft deep, dark blue Gulf Stream and onto the Bahama Bank, the water turned to a crystalline electric teal color, like no color I had ever seen before. I looked down from the bow of our sailboat at a depth of 30 ft and could see the sandy bottom like it was only inches away. We were wired from a night of OD-ing on coffee and the adrenaline of our biggest accomplishment on our sailboat. From our marina on the sheltered east side of the island, it was a short walk across to the beach on the Gulf side. We packed a bag full of gourmet goodies that my mom had mailed to us in Miami prior to our departure. Our most prized picnic item being our bottle of Banyuls wine that traveled with us from Banyuls sur Mer, France to the Bahamas. Farther from home than I imagine this little bottle of wine would have ever thought possible. I sent this picture back to Guy who ran Cave St Jacques, the wine shop in Banyuls.

The Reluctant Herb Garden

I have this herb garden. This is my first attempt at growing anything in the south. So far my tomatoes have been attacked with some squiggly worm in the leaf and my basil has broken out with brown spots looking like a bad case of acne. My oregano and sage are doing great, but I think the thyme wishes it wasn't so humid down here. My mother-in-law and I scouted out some bright, colorful pots at this place called Old Time Pottery, this humongous warehouse along the lines of a Bed, Bath and Beyond but with steal prices. I love finds like that. Pinching pennies is my forte. I've attempted to solve the plant misdemeanors by spraying on them a mixture of milk and water. I read that it kills any fungus. I assumed my herbs would be somewhat protected by the screened in patio, keeping out any evil doers. But Florida is prone to any bugs, pests, fungi, diseases, etc, and ain't no screen is going to keep them out. If you've ever seen a cockroach scurrying down the sidewalk, you know what I'm talking about. They are not discreet.

My first attempt at keeping herbs alive was not a success. Several years ago, I had a window basil plant that I impulsively bought at Trader Joes. I had visions of this grand plant producing more basil then I would know what to do with. I would have basil on my sandwiches, sprinkle basil slivers on my salads, bruchetta with basil, mozzarella and tomato, it would be lovely. I was so concerned that I wasn't watering my basil plant enough. I would forget for a few days, so I would drown it to make up for lost time. Come to find out, you can over-water a plant. As the plant wilted, I watered more. I didn't understand - why are you dying? Do you need more water? And so came the end of the life of my window basil plant. All of you Northwesterners, please take advantage of any yard space that you have. Herbs grow like weeds up there. We had a spearmint plant when I growing up and my dad finally had to chop it down because it was trying to take over our Japanese Maple tree. My aunt Leanne has a rosemary bush that you could mistake for a tree. My oregano, sage and thyme flourished, I was cooking out of the garden every day. I am not foreseeing that in the imminent future of their Floridian cousins.

My latest science project is an avocado tree. I bought a Florida avocado at the grocery store a few weeks ago. When I opened the avocado, the seed had already split on the inside was the startings of a root. I peeled off the brown protective cover, pricked it with four toothpicks and placed it in a small glass of water. It has since outgrown the small glass, so I have moved it to a bigger glass. I wasn't quite sure what to do with my avocado seed after the roots started growing. Check out the stem growing out of the top! Doing some research, I am supposed to wait until the green sprouts leaves and then place it in a pot with fertilized soil, leaving the top 1/4 of the seed exposed. I have become anxious about my avocado seedling. This is a delicate stage and my thumb isn't even a pale shade of green at this point. I'll keep you posted.

On the topic of avocados, I have a great recipe for you today. Yesterday, Dave and I decided to splurge with a Saturday night out on the town. I had a craving for sushi, a very infrequent luxury on our food circuit. To save some money, I decided to make an appetizer for us at the house. We would have a glass of wine and an appetite wetter prior to dinner, hoping we wouldn't order as much as usual, saving a few dollars. After all my talk of avocados yesterday, they were on my radar. The avocado gods were shining on me as I went to Publix and found a perfectly ripe Hass among a large stack of green rocks. This recipe works fabulously in place of a side salad or as an appetizer at a dinner party. You could even chop them up and serve them on little spoons if you wanted to get fancy. I always begged my mom to make these, one of her specialties. They are so simple and oh so scrum-diddly-umptious. Again, I had to re-work my chicken scratched recipe out of my notebook and actually do some measurements.

Avocado Bacon Boats

serves 2

1 Hass avocado

4 slices bacon

1 tomato, diced

2 tbsp mayonnaise

1 tbsp Italian salad dressing

iceberg lettuce

salt and pepper

Cook bacon over medium heat in frying pan - I like my bacon crispy, it's easier to chop that way and I find the salt intensifies. Remove bacon from pan and place on paper towels to absorb the grease. When bacon cools, chop coarsely.

Meanwhile, slice avocado lengthwise and gently pull apart. Remove seed and carefully peel away skin, trying to keep the shape. If the avocado is ripe, this will prove difficult -and messy. Lay pieces of lettuce on a plate, set avocado on top of lettuce with the bowl shape facing up. In a medium bowl mix together bacon, tomato, mayo, Italian dressing, salt and pepper. Spoon tomato mixture on top of avocado.

Artichokes and Avocados

My absolute two favorite foods in the world, hands down, are artichokes and avocados. Is it coincidence that they both start with an A? Do I like them especially because of the alliteration? Is green my favorite color? Maybe I like the easiness as the words sashay out of my mouth when confronted with the age old question, "what is your favorite food?" Mostly, I get interested puzzlement out of my conversation colleague. How can a vegetable be your favorite food? Much less, two vegetables? (actually avocado is a fruit, I rebut). Do you not love cheese? (well, yes).

The truth of the matter is that I am one for texture. I love those mini bites of meaty tenderness at the end of the otherwise brawny artichoke leaf. So dainty. So sinful dipped in mayonnaise. The back of my tongue starts to salivate in anticipation of the heart, the perfect dessert for a perfect food. Another gluttonous indulgence; devouring an entire avocado for lunch, drizzling the slices with Worcestershire and a sprinkling of salt, feeling the smoothness of the spoonful sized slivers as they melt in my mouth. How many grams of fat in avocado? It's healthy fat, right?

I was irritatingly bewildered by the fresh produce when we moved to South Carolina. I don't know how fresh you can call it when it was most likely picked a week ago, needless to say, it was seriously lacking. Coming from the abundance of the Northwest, it's a bit of a culture shock to see so many produce items imported from Chile. I grew up with an unwritten set of standards that has somehow been permanently ingrained in my being; recycle, buy local, always keep an umbrella in your car. Living in the south has its drawbacks. There isn't much "buying local." Citrus and strawberries proudly carry "Grown in Florida" stamps. But alas, my beloved artichoke has to make the fatiguing trip all the way from California. My Hass avocado is hit or miss. Don't count on throwing a Mexican fiesta and serving guacamole. I'm sure every Publix in the area gets its delivery on the same day, so if you happen to go to the store on delivery day and find your avocado rock hard and green, chances are every Publix in the area will have the same inventory. You may have to put off that fiesta until next week if you really want to serve guacamole. On the plus side, the locally grown "Florida avocado" is usually always ripe and ready to go. It has a slightly sweeter flavor and firmer flesh than your Hass version, but just as tasty. And they are a bargain, double the size of a Hass - up to 14 inches - for the same price.

I surprised Dave last night with artichokes. If you can't tell by now, I love to cook. Dave, as it seems, loves to eat. That's part of the reason we make such a great pair. I cook almost every night. The majority of the time, I would rather cook than go out to eat. It's my daily pleasure to ponder what I will make for the evening. Last night I whipped up an easy concoction that I discovered on a whim years ago. I scribbled the ingredients in my cooking notebook to remember for next time. The photo below shows how I really cook, I kinda just throw things together until they taste right. I decided to measure what I put in the sauce, a daunting task. But I wanted some measurements, because in fact, that's what makes a "recipe." If you feel you need a little more of something, don't be afraid. I love this one because of the burst of flavor, the citrus, the spicy ginger, topped with a creamy crumbly cheese to balance the citrus flavor. We added canned lump crab, which does not even come close to comparison with fresh Dungeness crab caught off the shore of our beach place in Washington. If you want some protein though, it does the job.

Penne with Creamy Ginger Citrus

Serves 2

1/4 cup salted butter
1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
3 green onion stalks, chopped
1 clove garlic, sliced
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup half and half
1 1/4 cup chicken broth
1/2 lb penne rigate pasta
1 can lump crab meat
crumbled goat cheese or feta cheese

Heat salted water in a large pot on stove. When water boils, add penne and cook for the amount of time listed on the box. Usually about 6 minutes. Drain water and set aside.

Meanwhile, melt butter in large saute pan over medium heat. Add yellow onion and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Add ginger, garlic and green onion. Saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add flour and stir well. Add lemon juice, half and half and chicken broth. Stir well and simmer until sauce begins to thicken.

Add penne to sauce and stir until combined and noodles warm. Dish penne on a plate and top with crab and cheese.

The Italian in Me

Looking down on Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Italy

Let's face it. I am a complete contradiction of an Italian. The olive skin, black hair and dark eyes couldn't be further away on the spectrum than my blonde hair, blue eyes and fair skin. I am Scandinavian, Irish and Scottish. Quite a few latitudes separate the dark-in-the-winter, beer and whiskey drinking countries from the grape and olive growing, mild Mediterranean region. When I picture Italy, I picture abundance and warmth and that gentle glow of sunshine that casts a soft light over the vineyards as the sun sinks low in the sky. I like to imagine myself living in a rustic stone farmhouse built in the Etruscan era, with tile floors and maybe a restored fresco mural on my living room wall. I would have a flourishing herb garden outside my kitchen window and the smells of rosemary and basil would waft in on the afternoon breeze.

Some of you may know about my "birth mark," although I hate to call it a "birth mark." It just sounds so ugly when you put it that way. It sounds like something that you were born with and just can't help it, like a 6th toe. On the underside of my left arm, where most people show milky white, mine is olive. It runs from my wrist to my armpit. I spent a good part of my childhood trying to convince people that I didn't have dirt on my arm. I like to refer to my skin flaw as "overactive pigment cells." Or in a less medical sounding way, "my inner Italian attempting to break free." You wouldn't even notice it under normal circumstances. But if I have been spending considerate time baking in the sun, which I have been known to do, my true colors show.

Needless to say, out of all the cultures in the world, I am most intrigued with the Italian way of life. I prefer cooking traditional Italian cuisine, not just your meatball marinara and chicken parmesan, but I'm talking, pork tenderloin with mushrooms and rosemary, gnocchi with sage butter, handmade pappardelle and ravoli, and of course washed down with an excellent Sangiovese.

Several years ago we lived in Lake Tahoe, California. At the time, I was reading anything Italian I could get my hands on. It was kind of an obsession. After reading Dave countless excerpts from Under the Tuscan Sun, and Bella Tuscany, as I would sigh and look dreamily distant, he decided that I needed an Italian cookbook, so he bought me one for my birthday. It's called Flavors of Tuscany - Recipes from the Heart of Italy by Maxine Clark. I love cookbooks with pictures. Everything is better with pictures. If I had to choose between Perkins and Denny's (before I knew any better), I always chose Denny's because of their pictures on the menu. How else were you going to decide between the All American Slam and the Lumberjack Slam? It's the same thing with cookbooks. But this one is even better because it's all pictures of Italy. That was before Google Earth, where you could just zoom in to the place you were interested at look at everyone else's pictures.

So I'm going to share with you the best recipe for a red spaghetti sauce, traditional Tuscan style. I picked it because it looked really good in the picture, and I have been making it as my standard red sauce ever since. It's even better if you happen to have a friend who's family owns a cattle ranch in southern Oregon and you get ground hamburger out of rib meat. If you aren't so blessed, then pick out some quality ground beef from your local grocery store or butcher. I changed some things from the book, so this is written the way I would do it. It also calls for chicken livers, but I'm scared of chicken livers, so I omit them. Feel free to add the 4 oz it calls for, if you so desire. And don't worry about over cooking it, the longer it cooks, the better. Just remember to keep adding liquid so it doesn't dry out.

Rich Tuscan Meat Sauce

sugo toscano di carne

serves 4-6

1-2 oz dried porcini mushrooms

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 tbsp butter

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 small carrot, finely chopped

1 celery rib, finely chopped

1 lb ground beef, veal or pork

2 oz pancetta with plenty of fat, finely chopped

1/4 cup dry red wine

1 lb (1-16 oz can) Italian pureed chopped tomatoes

1 tbsp tomato paste*

2 cups beef broth

1 bay leaf

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cover the mushrooms in warm water and set aside to soak. Meanwhile, melt the butter in the oil over medium heat in a heavy stock pot and add onion, carrot, and celery. Cook for 5-10 minutes until golden and soft. Add the meat and pancetta and brown very lightly, breaking up any large lumps. Do not cook meat through. Add the wine, turn up the heat and boil until evaporated. Reduce the heat, then add the tomatoes and tomato paste, mix well then add the stock, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, stir well then half cover and simmer for about 2 hours (or longer if you have time), topping with a little water to prevent it drying out.

When you have 1/2 hour simmer time remaining, drain the mushrooms, reserving the liquid, chop finely and add to the sauce. Stir well and add a splash of reserved mushroom water. Simmer for 30 minutes more. It should be rich and thick.

*When I work with tomato paste, I either buy it in the tube, or in the small can. The tube works well because you can use that 1 tablespoon they call for and re-cap it. If you use the can, you will surely have left over. So I use one of the smallest tupperwares and freeze the rest. Otherwise it will start to grow mold in your refrigerator within a week.

Another fun thing to try if you have the time is homemade pasta and potato gnocchi. That is a different recipe for a different day, but I guarantee it will make your traditional Tuscan meat sauce taste that much more authentic. There is nothing better than homemade pasta and bread. Nothing.

Leftovers Salad

I laid awake in bed last night, thinking about my blog. I was trying to decide what I would focus on. Would I explore the wines of France? Maybe talk about the difference between the Italian Barbaresco and the Barolo? Dive into a dissertation about Belgian yeast and brewing techniques, and how it has affected American beer styles? Hmmm, sounds a little heavy right off the bat. Maybe not. When all else fails - KISS - keep it simple stupid.

So I will discuss what I made for dinner last night.

Yesterday was our Sunday. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are great days to have off. You can go to the mall and not have to fight the crowds. Schedule a doctor's appointment if needed. Go to the beach. We do what other normal people do on the weekends, we just celebrate it on different days. In most households, Sunday is the day for that big family meal. Gathering around the table and catching up on the week's events. Well, Im going to disappoint you, there was no big family meal last night. Our friend James came for the weekend and after a night of celebrating the fact that we hadn't seen each other in two weeks, I had no desire to cook that big family meal. Instead I rummaged the refrigerator for something quick and easy. By quick and easy I don't mean DiGiorno. What I consider quick and easy, it just means that I didn't plan it that morning and had to work with what I had on hand. We had enough romaine and spinach for a meal sized salad each, frozen shrimp, prosciutto, goat cheese, left over baby asparagus and some homemade salad dressing. The perfect meal when you had oh, maybe a hamburger at lunch, and you just aren't THAT hungry. So here is my recipe for a salad made of whatever I had leftover in the fridge.

Leftovers Salad

serves 2

2 servings mixed romaine and spinach

1/2 lb steamed baby asparagus (the really skinny ones)

2 oz prosciutto

12 frozen shrimp

2 tbsp sweet cream butter

1 clove garlic

1/2 tsp Old Bay Blackening Seasoning (or your favorite blackening seasoning)

Soft goat cheese crumbles

Homemade poppyseed dressing - recipe below

Rinse lettuce, pat dry and tear apart on two large plates. Cut asparagus in half or thirds and lay over lettuce. Slice prosciutto into thin strips and scatter over asparagus.

Place shrimp into a collander and thaw under cool running water. Remove tails if there are any. Heat medium sized saute pan and melt butter over medium heat. Add garlic and saute for 30 seconds to release the aroma. Add shrimp and blackening seasoning. Cook until shrimp is pink and just cooked, 3-5 minutes. Immediately place shrimp on the salad and top with goat cheese. The goat cheese will soften with the heat of the shrimp. Top with homemade poppyseed dressing. Enjoy!

Homemade Poppyseed Dressing

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp grated onion

1 tsp dry mustard

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup cider vinegar

1 tsp poppy seeds

1 tsp sesame seeds

1 cup vegetable oil

Mix together all ingredients in a bowl and then slowly wisk in oil. Keep in an airtight salad dressing container in the refrigerator.

The salad dressing recipe comes from one of the Junior League of Seattle cookbooks, I think it is the Seattle Classics one, which I don't have. I called my aunt one day to get the recipe because it is one of my favorites. Just the right amount of sweet with a nice tartness. I think the actual recipe in the book calls for romaine, red lettuce and spinach, with bacon, canned mandarin oranges and feta cheese. Im not a huge fan of canned mandarin oranges, but it's a really great salad.

Im also having a hard time finding good prosciutto down here. Absolutely nothing compares to French and Italian cured pork, but you can usually find a decent version at a good grocery store. Top Food and Haggen in the NW has a nice selection. You can even get deli sliced prosciutto and pancetta. I haven't checked Whole Foods yet, but they might be a better bet than the stuff they carry at Publix. It's some imported German stuff with juniper berries. Definitely lacking the flavor and intensity that I usually find with good cured pork.

Alright, well the dogs are bugging me to take them for a walk, so Im going to wrap it up. I'll leave you with a good quote I read last night in my book, Encore Provence by Peter Mayle. He was discussing the reasoning behind the French population's secret to old age and low heart disease rate when in fact, they eat a high fat diet and drink more red wine than any country in the world. It remains a mystery, but his findings suggest that it may simply be a matter of their uncanny ability to take pleasure in being alive.

"If there is such a thing as a formula for a long and happy old age, perhaps it's no more than that- to eat, to drink, and to be merry. Above all, be merry."

When I Grow Up...

Well I suppose I have to start somewhere. Starting a new blog is both exciting and arduous. Where to start? What to write about? Will I be entertaining? Will anyone read what I write?

After my successful and much followed sail blog about our adventures in the Bahamas aboard our 32' sailboat, I wondered how I could continue writing a blog. I enjoyed the daily ritual of sitting down to the computer and composing the latest news as an interesting and descriptive story. I loved the replies from friends and family back home in Seattle, always urging us on, giving us their cyber support as we made our way slowly south from Charleston, SC, through Florida and across the Gulf Stream, over to those islands that feel a world away. My friends and family were with me every step of the way. And it felt good to feel so connected. But how do I compete with a blog that followed such an epic adventure? I'm not quite sure, but I know I must keep writing.

We are settling down in SW Florida after years of hoping around the country. I should have been blogging for the past 5 years. Im sure I was much more interesting then than I am now. Sure, I know a lot more now, Im a seasoned mover and traveler. My little TravBuddy map says I've seen 10% of the world. I could have blogged about my flight attendant days and the trips we took at Delta Airline's expense. This last drive across the country was my 5th, the 5th in 6 years, and I am hoping the last. We have settled. So for now, no more adventuring on our sailboat. No more romantic anchorages in that "one particular harbor," probably not even any traveling abroad for a while (oh how I long to go back to Italy). But Im OK with that. I love south Florida. It's February and Im sitting out on my patio in short sleeves, while up north is getting hammered with blizzards. As our mentor's Bob and Mel Blanchard say, "live what you love." We try to live by those words and make our choices based on how happy we will end up being in the long run. We picked a place to live that encompassed as many key positives as possible. The weather being number one. We attempted moving back to Seattle, which don't get me wrong, I love Seattle. I love my family and friends who live there, I love the culture, the arts, the cuisine, the wine, the beer. But I do not love the weather. So now we are in a place that is instrumental for Dave's career in solar energy and my mental sanity. Now I am forced to face something that has been on the back burner of my entire life so far...what do I want to be when I grow up?

I guess I am coming to realize that it all comes down to passion. What am I passionate about? I liked sailing, but it made me nervous. I was happiest when we dropped anchor and we could mix up a rum drink and relax. I like painting, but Im not that great at it, so I don't think I could make a career out of it like my grandfather did in his days working as a cartoonist for the Seattle Post Intelligencer. I like writing, but I am a long way off of making any money at it, and I have bills to pay.

For those of you who know me well, you know that Dave and I have been all over the board with ideas during our past 6 years together. From a kayak company in the Everglades, to starting a brewery, sailboat charters in the Caribbean and window cleaning, courier delivery business and house flipping, the list goes on. But was I passionate about any of it? Obviously not, otherwise I would have been doing one of those things. I have been tossing a lot of ideas around but three things keep coming to mind; food - beer - wine.

I grew up in a large family. I like to think of your stereotypical loud Italian family, only an English speaking, dominantly blonde version. Every get together for as long as I can remember has been centered around food; Northwest style salmon feasts, with dungeness crab and of course a good Washington Chardonnay and craft brewed IPA. I grew up with that. It's part of who I am. So, now I am on the quest to find my path - other than working nights in the kitchen at a restaurant - that somehow embodies my passion for food - beer - wine. I am dedicating myself to a culinary adventure. Along the way I will share recipes, talk about our travels and pass on what I learn as I dive further into the culinary world. And I hope you will join me.