Starblazer - 21/03/2014 – Another cooking frenzy

Yes, I’m bored and/or the heat has got to my brain. Why else would I
willingly spend hours in the galley where the ambient temperature down below
is 30o C, before I light the oven or hob? There is very little wind, we
are moving at a walking pace and we still have nearly 500 miles to go.
Starblazer is looking after herself and Q is reliably undertaking all
helming duties. Meanwhile the food I bought in the Galapagos is rapidly
rotting, it is certainly the worst provisioning I’ve done so far, hence the
cooking.

Thinking about making something different for lunch, I decided to make a
crustless Quiche Lorraine, using some stale eggs and some very thin American
style bacon which has no more meat content now than it did when we lived
there in the mid 1980’s. I thought I could also squeeze a loaf tin in the
oven at the same time so tried a new carrot cake recipe which conveniently
needed the same oven temperature. It also used up one of the slightly
rotten carrots. I am pleased to announce that both baked offerings were
very good. We ate the Quiche with a red and white cabbage and cucumber
salad and the homemade mayonnaise. Later on I made a cream cheese frosting
for the cake, very tasty. Dinner called for more culinary effort, Middle
Eastern style meatballs in sauce over couscous, followed by sliced pineapple
(tinned) with sweetened, fried polenta slices. It was also very tasty.

On the boat maintenance front, John finally gave in and spent a little time
tightening the alternator belts. The belt driving the alternator to the
engine battery had been successfully replaced in Galapagos; however the twin
belts driving the alternator to the domestic batteries had slackened and
developed a dreadful squeal. It was becoming increasingly difficult to set
the revs so that they wouldn’t slip and would charge the batteries. John
found the job both quicker and easier than he had expected and now we can
set the revs to a more economical 1500 instead of 2300.

Yesterday’s noon run was almost the worst yet, 111 painfully slow miles,
thank heavens there is a favourable current otherwise it would have been
even less.

Joyce