Gorilla's In The Mist...

Breakfast:
Homemade Blueberry muffins
Roasted Pablano, Mushroom, Spinach and Cheddar Frittata

Dinner:
BBQ Ribs with Sweet and Sour Tamarind BBQ Sauce
Cole Slaw
Curried Sweet Potato Fries

The day usually starts around 7am, it’s not as if you can sleep when everyone else is up since we all basically share quarters…

The crew doesn’t like to eat breakfast early. So, I wake up, sit on deck with my coffee and watch the boys as they go about their business. I feel like Sygorney Weaver in “Gorilla’s In The Mist”, a silent observer of men in their natural habitat; fixing things, replacing lines and cables, sanding, painting, lacquering, a little chest pounding and some jumping around and throwing things to defend their place in the male hierarchy. Unlike New York men these men are actually handy, mechanically inclined and don’t require a users manual to screw in a light bulb; and all while wearing clean polo shirts and pressed shorts… There is a God, and she’s a woman!

This morning I made blueberry muffins from the Gourmet cookbook. The recipe called for a crumb topping, which was nice and I found the muffin itself good, moist, nice crumb structure but slightly lacking in flavor and character. The crew loved them and gobbled them up, but next time I think I would add some orange or lemon zest to the batter to give it a little zing… I’ll have to play around with it.

For the frittata I roasted pablanos over the gas flame; peeled, seeded and chopped them. A lot of people will peel and seed roasted peppers under running water but you lose a lot of flavor doing this. I recommend laying the pepper flat on a cutting board, and using a small pairing knife to gently scrape the skins and seeds away. Breakfast is a great way to use up extra ingredients. I had some leeks in the fridge that were on their last legs so I chopped them up and threw them in the pan with some red onion. Sautéed the mushrooms, added the roasted pablanos, a few handfuls of baby spinach and then the eggs; cooked it for a few minutes on the stove top and then threw it in a 350 oven, five minutes before it was finished I sprinkled on some grated cheese. When the cheese was almost melted, it was ready to serve.

I’ve made a lot of frittatas in my day and I have to say that making them thinner and in a wider pan, rather than thick and smaller, yields a much better result. I was debating which pan to use and decided on a 12 in’ non-stick skillet. The frittata was just about an inch thick, no more than that, and took maybe 10 or 12 minutes to cook (using 8 eggs and about ¼ cup of milk). I find that if you make a frittata too thick, the bottom gets over cooked while the top is still loose. This one cooked up just perfect…

There are quite a few boats in the bay here at St. George and like us many of them are heading to the Caribbean. There is a nice rapport among the boat people. Everyone is very friendly and introduces themselves… I met two people in the local coffee shop (which offers internet access) – Greg and Wendy. Wendy is on a catamaran and is sailing down to St. Maarteen for the winter and Greg is transporting his family’s 45 foot sailboat down to Tortola so that they can come down for winter and spring breaks to go diving…

Bermuda has been great. The water is a brilliant aquamarine, loaded with little silvery fish that I’m tempted to scoop up, fry and eat with some fresh lemon and a crisp, cold bottle of white wine… The weather is gorgeous and the people are always smiling and friendly. The island has a real European feel and they even drive on the wrong side of the road here. I’ve dodged a few scooters and busses because I was looking in the wrong direction while crossing the street! With Christmas on its way, I see people outside wrapping Christmas lights around the palm trees and tinsel going up in the shop windows. Unlike New York, nobody paints fake snow on their windows or puts white blankets of cotton batting under the Christmas trees… No reminders of snow. Brilliant! I want to stay!

Tomorrow we set sail for St. Maarteen, in theory at least, as I’m learning in the sailing world – everything is tentative… I don’t know if I’ll be able to post again before we head out.