Seal-a-meal continued...

Ok, so today was a rainy day. What else to do but work, (forget that), or cook! I decided to continue the Seal-a-meal progress and load up at the grocery store. On the menu, Chop suey, Goulash, (substituting the elbow maccaroni for a larger pasta Ziti type), Butternut/Acorn squash soup that turned out famously and one chicken dish that was, well, less than perfect, but would fill a sailors needs. It was a Chicken stir fry of sorts. These were all childhood favorites that kept me sassy and FULL! I still use the recipe cards of my Mother and Grandmother that contain tons of food stains on them!

Each batch made approximately 6 or more man-sized servings. I also have kept one small serving of each recipe to have a "crew-taste test" prior to the sail. We will see if there will be opportunity to have the crew come over for my "pot-luck"!

Tomorrow on the agenda, freezing some fruit, another Chicken stew recipe and maybe if time allows, I will be making some Beef Stew. (Did I mention I stopped at Knoches Meat market today?) Best butcher in Madison!

These recipes bring back loads of food memories and rekindled some of my earlier joys of cooking. I hope the sailors will enjoy!

Tucked away at the Charleston City Marina, home of the MEGA yacht docks, Grateful Red is going through some last minute fine tuning. Back home in Wisconsin, my responsibilities as land-crew for the Atlantic crossing are feeling the pressure. I have contacted officials in Bermuda to make sure I will be allowed to bring prepared foods, frozen, for the journey from Bermuda to Azores. I haven't done this much cooking from scratch for ages. But hopefully, the thick hearty soups and stews will be appreciated. I have implemented the use of a seal-a-meal that sucks all the air out and seals the pkgs. They conveniently freeze flat and can be stacked like a big brick of ice! Handy. The MEN, will then utilize the vast quantity of sea water to boil the bags of delectable. Handy even still. All they need is a cup/bowl/plate and fork or spoon.

On the menu so far:

Chicken stew with pasta
Spaghetti/sauce & pasta
Beef stew
goulash (something with hamburger)
Ham steaks
Egg omelet with cheese/bacon (after boiling it can be put in a flour tortilla to make a breakfast burrito)
Au gratin potato and ham soup
Split pea with ham soup (it was a lovely ham bone!)
Cream of zucchini soup
Large Pasta's to add to soups for bulk

I will be working on more including freezing fruits for vitamin C! (and a nice treat)
Any food suggestions for the boiling bags is greatly appreciated.

And, welcome to the new followers! Now add your pictures...

The Grateful Red is at Charleston City Marina ready for the next voyage - The Charleston to Bermuda race (or as they say "C2B") and on to Europe. The sail from the Edisto party to Charleston was five hours of sailing and more then five minutes of chaos. Crew was Stan, Ron and Jim all new to a five hour offshore sail and Ann Marie - an experienced Chicago Beer can racer.


Nice breeze and on a reach with the fore sail only - couldn't be better. Couple hours in noticed a front - rolled in the Genoa, started the motor and got wet. Winds were dying so we continued under motor with a round of beverages. Decide to sail up the Charleston ship channel under genoa only in moderate winds. So far a pretty nice story - as we head up the ship channel the winds started to increase - ten, twenty, twenty five. Rolled in the two thirds of the Genoa - still doing six plus knots. But not done yet - soon the winds were 30 plus, Genoa rolled completely - motor only. Showing the crew how to drop anchor if being blown into the rocks. As we headed up the Charleston river - winds started topping 40, and I am thinkin - be ready to turn downwind and back out to sea. The engine is moving us at maybe two knots in 40 plus. Ron is on the VHF with the Harbor master - we turn into the harbor which means downwind like a rocketship. Luckily - Kristine, Mary and dock hand are waiting for us. In full reverse the group can barely keep the Grateful Red from charging into the floating dock ....... but lines and motor held - we stop a foot or so from the dock, tie up and open a round of beverages.


Terrific job by both boat crew and land crew - note the crew foul weather gear. Just another day on the boat!

Sail to Edisto Beach....continued

From Brunswick, experiencing a spectatular sunrise, we sailed the 13 hour sail to Savannah and after navigating the Wilmington River, we docked at Thunderbolt.
It didn't take us long to get a
hot shower and find a great bar. Tubbys Tank house provided great "southern" hospitality via rockers and tasty martini's.
(ken stayed back at the boat to work, girls sipped...)

Later in the evening we took the Magik taxi van into Savannah to find Polk's market. Our sailing friend Ann Marie let her friends Diane and Jerry know we were coming and they treated us to a great southern Low country boil.



We had a tremendous time in Savannah. Diane and Jerry Polk were gracious hosts and "over-fed" us. A Low country boil is similar to a fish boil, but honestly, better! Shrimp, crab, corn, potatoes, sometimes sausage, okra, yummmmm! All you could eat. We also experienced boiled peanuts. You either love them or don't.

Well, I DID! Thank you Diane and Jerry.

Our plan was to motor up the river to downtown Savannah on Wednesday morning, but weather came in and we decided not to compete with the container barges in the dark and rain. Good decision. We had the same cab driver several times and he wanted to become one of the sailing crew. Saw our great times we were having. Wednesday night we met several friends at Vic's on the River for dinner. Diane and Jerry, Bonnie and John, Jan, Nancy, Jim and John. All coming Thursday to Edisto for the party. John Hardiman took us to a bar afterward where we danced and continued to bond with our new and old friends. We Loved Savannah!


All of our sails started in the middle of the night in order to arrive in daylight hours to our next marina. Teri, Mary and Kristine had first shift leaving Savannah. We left at low tide to get the aid of the current for the 2+hour motor out the Wilmington River to the Ocean. Dark, foggy, and occasional rain, we reached the Ocean and woke Ken up. His job was to plot our last course to Edisto. Miserable rainy day.

Not cold thankfully, but very wet at times. Wasn't the most pleasant sail we had but we arrived in Edisto on time (our planned time to arrive). Kristine docked the boat in the strongest current

we had experienced and after tying up, we got the beer out! Edisto Beach would be our home for next several days. We had 40 friends meeting us there for the "Winter" party! Heard Wisconsin had snow, and we were happy to be in Edisto. It is fondly referred to as "Ed-is-slow" and they really mean it!

Enjoy the remaining pictures of some of our "party" times in Edisto Beach. Highly recommended for a low-key time away from the stress of our daily lives.








Just some quick pictures to share. Can you guess if we had a good time?...duh!

Girls Crew - St. Augustine to Edisto Beach Leg

Ft. Lauderdale Crew, Charlie, Scott, Denny, Jory & Vicky, having departed on Sunday, new crew, Kristine, Debi, Leslie, & Mary (karla missing, not at sea!, and Teri to be picked up at Brunswick Golden Isle Marina) checked for last minute provisioning, went to bed with plans for a 3pm departure. Winds on Sunday had us alittle concerned with the exit from the dock, but weather forcast was for decreased winds by that time. Our exit was smooth and we made our way out to sea.
Next stop, Brunswick Georgia. Dockage at Golden Isle marina. Winds at our nose we motored the first day. Teri arrived on time, although she missed our boat dinner of cheese and chicken quesidillias! Tasty!



Departure Monday night planned for 1pm, but was hard to get to bed in time for a reasonable rest. First crew shift, Ken, Mary & Teri pushed off alittle late, but with great even tide effects. Back to the Ocean swiftly, with hot coffee in hand. Tuesdays sail was great, alittle cool, no sun at first. Able to sail both main and genoa. About 10-14 knot winds, perfect for us! Happy to say, no heads over the rail so far. Great victory for the girls sail! Arrived at Thunderbolt around 2:30. Easy dock. Secured the boat and the girls headed to Tubbys Tank house, for some downhome libations...can you even imagine. Found some wonderful rockers to help us unwind.

Ft Lauderdale Crew Picture

Docked at Camachee Cove Marina in St. Augustine, new crew ( the girls crew) watched in amazement at the great efforts to spit-shine the boat by the Ft. Lauderdale Crew. Boat never looked better. We made dinner reservations in the historic part of St. Augustine at a great Italian restaurant that Ken and I had found on our last visit to St. augustine. Time for Crew pictures finally. Clean, refreshed, fed, and discovering the land-legs all were happy!