I never cared for Bob Newhart and his ‘droll’ sense of humor, but he obviously had quite a following and went on to bigger and better shows. And yes, SP was pecked to death in The birds. In black and white. Graphic scene. I remember it well. Can’t believe my parents let us watch it when it finally came to TV.
My brother and I loved the movie. Go figure.
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I think it was Tippi in the phone booth. If memory serves, the shot of Pleshette’s eyeless face is routinely censored for network broadcasts, 'cause it’s pretty gross and will scare the horses.
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You are surely correct.
In this episode of “Dave’s never ending boat saga” there is food. I present…meadle.
There is no magic here. This dish is based on something my mother made when I was a kid to stretch money. I put in this in the category of refrigerator scraping: what is about to go off? In it goes. Today it was 1-1/4(ish) lb of ground beef, 1 lb dry of elbow macaroni, 1-1/2 medium onions, a couple of garlic cloves, a big carrot, a big bell pepper, two 16 oz cans of diced tomato, salt, pepper, cumin, cayenne, and oregano. This batch got divided into two vacuum seal bags (I make mine from the roll) and bunged into the freezer.
Serenity.pdf (100.3 KB)
The document is my rough meal plan and shopping list. I save all these so I have samples for vegetarian, short trips, long trips, small crews, large crews, a wide range of allergies and likes/dislikes. The meal plan includes things we/I make ahead and those I’ll make on board. The “additional” bits are things that flow to items in the shopping list. These are lunches, alternate meals in case someone gets motion sick, and the extra food for delays. Everything has a reason for being on the list. In this case the trip is planned to be four to four-and-a-half days. We’ll have the better part of a day getting to the boat (one-way car rental) and preparing for an 0540 (astronomical dawn) start on Saturday 9 May. There is food for the travel day. There is an extra day of good food in case of delays and two or three days of cans and other long life foods in case of a serious delay. Delays can come from mechanical problems or weather.
Usually I shop after I go through the boat. Because of COVID-19 I’m shopping at home and bagging things up for the drive down. It gives me some schedule reserve and reduces risk from shopping somewhere I don’t know well. It’s also the difference between getting off the dock at first light Saturday or early afternoon. It will save a day of rental car cost also. I spend customer money like it is my own.
Choices are based on feedback from crew, in this case the owner and his son. That’s why Spam is on the list. sigh The owner’s son loves the stuff. I’ll digress to a rant here. Based on experience I have become quite intolerant of self-diagnosed ailments. If someone coming on board says they despise lima beans there won’t be any. If they don’t like Brussel sprouts I won’t buy them. I have too many “gluten-free” people polish off a box of Thomas’ English muffins during a single watch. I quite literally ask for doctor’s notes for things that don’t ring true. It’s a good way to be left on the dock with me.
Chocolate is a special case. I personally have no interest in sweets. It isn’t a matter of will power. I simply have no taste for it. Lots of people do. Almost everyone. Maybe everyone but me. grin I keep a snack bag. I’ve learned that people eat as much because they are bored as because they are hungry (except 17 year old boys who are always hungry). Chocolate I keep with my personal gear and meter into the snack bag each day so it lasts the duration of the trip. I tend toward, as much as possible, high effort foods for the snack bag. Clementines, oranges, hard-cooked eggs - anything that must be peeled without making a mess is good snack food. Oh - no chips. Greasy fingers leave fingerprints and I’m responsible for someone else’s boat. Have you tried to get grease fingermarks off raw teak? Jeepers.
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I also find the carding everybody thing annoying - I especially encounter it in parts of NYC where young people go to party. But it’s easy to understand why they have a blanket card everybody policy. Otherwise if the cashier lets anyone buy beer or cigarettes without carding them, and then cards the next person - they’re really letting themselves in for having that next person pick a huge fight about it. “Oh, so I see you don’t card big-boobed girls/white people/ Spanish speakers etc. etc. etc.!!!”
And now the store has a situation that could get seriously scary, especially if the angry person is drunk, and/or with a group of their drunk friends.
Having said that I was SO pissed off when I took Mr Rat to a Mets game for his birthday a couple of years ago and the vendors refused to sell us beer in the food court because our state IDs had expired a few months earlier. Jesus! It’s not like I was trying to drive a car or teach in a school with an expired license. If the ID had expired, it still had been issued by the state, which at the time had accepted the verification I had used to establish my birthdate. I was so mad I demanded that they bring down the state alcohol compliance guy (or whatever it’s called) and he wouldn’t back down either. The state was on a tear to get everyone to update their IDs and to get the new Real IDs, I guess. BTW after fuming for a while Mr Rat found a vendor in another section whose name will be witheld in gratitude who sold him beer without carding him. Eye roll.
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In the UK, 18 is the age of majority and, unsurprisingly, is the legal age to buy alcohol and tobacco. Tobacco is very widely available and alcohol generally available in several types of retail outlet. They have to be licenced by the local council for alsohol (not sure of the position about tobacco)
Places requiring everyone to produce ID would involve a very big cultural shift here - we are not generally required to carry ID of any sort and there was major opposition when, some years back, the government proposed a nationwide ID scheme (it was some nonsense about preventing illegal immigration as I recall). That said, a goodly number of places do place warnings that, if the person looks under a certain age and wants to buy alcohol/tobacco. My normal supermarket sets its age at 25.
That’s what it was like here until 9/11.
An acquaintance is the cook on a freighter. He last got back from a run to Europe…his tales of trying to feed a crew of 30 of varying ethnic and religious backgrounds 4 meals a day on a 24-hour schedule are simultaneously fascinating and terrifying.
He said learning to provision overseas was a real learning curve.
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Yes. Simply, yes. grin I’m fortunate that usually I’m cooking for four or five people so variation is less. I’ve had entirely vegetarian boats which isn’t too hard once I get passed crew recruitment. If I choose a devout crew member I can cook Halal or kosher for everyone as long as they can accept that I can’t vouch for the provenance of cookware and dishware. With thirty people and not having hiring authority your acquaintance is going to run into conflicting needs and that makes things much more challenging in the galley. I’m fortunate that I always have had more crew candidates than positions so I can avoid conflicts.
Provisioning in a new place is always a challenge. Add a language barrier and the shopping time can easily double. Tiny pictures on canned goods and dry food don’t help at all. I bought some cans for one trip that turned out to be fish balls made from lutefisk. Vile. I have a bit of a following in some very small circles and we raffled off the last two cans (of three) at a gathering during the Annapolis Boat Show for a charity. That was fourteen years ago and those cans are still drifting around gifted from one person to another.
The Caribbean and nearby islands have the added challenge of really fast Creole spoken by the locals. I can catch a word here and there but mostly I’m helpless. The French islands are nearly as bad.
The big shipping lines use ships’ agents for provisioning. These are locals who tank care of dockage and fuel and customs for cargo and also do provisioning. Some are better than others. There is a version of ships’ agent who support superyachts. I’ve used such a few times. There are fees of course but sometimes that is cheaper than a string of taxis or a rental car. Generally good experience and they understand schedule pressure. I think the first time I used one was in Martinique and it was a real relief as we had a lot of boat work to do to get off the dock.
On commercial ships and most deliveries we do indeed run four meals a day: breakfast, lunch, dinner/supper, and midnights. Midnights are often self-serve but still need to be prepared. Most people eat three meals a day but some watches (12-4 in particular) sleep through breakfast so midnights is their third meal of the day.
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So, Fred said to Stan “I have two cases of sardines to sell. Very good price.”
Stan asks how much and they bargain for a few minutes before agreeing a deal. A couple of weeks later, and Stan says he wants refund as he tried one can and the sardines had gone off. Fred replies, declining, saying “Old friend, those aren’t sardines for eating, those are sardines for buying and selling.”
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This is all fascinating, Dave–thanks for sharing the nitty-gritty with us!
The thing that jumped out at me from your list was the LOW amount of beverages. As someone who drinks water all day long, I was surprised by how little you’re bringing on board. I know you’re surrounded by water when you’re out there, but it’s not potable! Is there more stock being brought on by others? #InquiringMinds
Hi Ev, yes we have water not on the list. There is a tank on board that holds 70 US gallons that we use for cooking, cleaning, and drinking. We use baby wipes instead of showers. Toilets flush with raw water (pumped from outside). The six 1-gallon jugs are emergency water in case something happens to the potable water tank so we can get to a place to repair and replenish without strain.
Americans average 80 to 100 USG per person per day including allocation of showers, washing clothes, and watering houseplants. Underway with a modicum of care we can easily operate underway with under 5 USG / person / day. Experienced crew do nicely at just over 1 USG / person / day. Dishwashing and galley cleaning is the big variable. Some people are simply more efficient than others.
I had a personal dehydration scare some years ago so I am careful to drink a lot of water. I have three water bottles I fill each morning and sip from throughout the day. That gets me a solid two liters of water per day.
People operating in small places tend to bump into things. Make the small place a moving platform and spills are a real consideration. My water bottles are Nalgene Tritan On-The-Fly that when closed you can kick across a room without spilling or leaking. My choice for hot liquids is the Contigo West Loop which also can take a real beating without dripping. The biggest problem with the Contigo is that the insulation is so good it can take quite a while before hot liquid is drinkable. I’m not a coffee drinker (anymore) but sometimes drink tea or chicken broth when I get chilled.
Water tankage varies from boat to boat. Some are rather small in which case we have to find secure storage for lots of jugs. Some boats have reverse osmosis desalination (“watermaker”) which are convenient but factor into fuel management and reliability. I’ve moved boats where the owner took out a water tank to make room for a watermaker so if the watermaker fails you’re in something of a bind. People make choices. I live with the consequences. grin
I’ve been known to opine that too much fuel, too much food, and too much water are self correcting problems.
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572 posts more or less about other things to do during quarantine and I don’t think anyone has mentioned checking Hungry Onion more often than usual.
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I can guarantee with a modicum of certainty that nobody in NJ during the Spanish Flu ever told his wife he was having a conversation all day with a gentleman from England.
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You’re on IM with John all day and haven’t invited ME? grin
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Fascinating @Auspicious - all of it; one question regarding the provision list. What do you use the Caraway seeds for, out of curiosity? Also assuming you have herbs, spices, and aromatics not listed?
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I imagine they’re for the parrot.
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Mentioned making yogurt in the InstantPot, upthread. While I’ve made yogurt before, it was years ago, and no specialty equipment. Would preheat the gas oven to about 175, turn it off and put the mixture in, covered with a towel. Took quite a while, but good result. Used the old recipe, and put it in the pot under the yogurt program. Amazing & pleased with the taste and texture of it, as it was. BUT, I wanted special yogurt, so I drained it, then whipped until glossy. I then layered with a thinned lemon curd. (Dickinson’s). My goal in all this was to create a knock off of a very popular, local, delicious, and $$$ yogurt. For most of the year, so far, we’ve been spending $35 - $50 on this yogurt - a week. Yikes!
I’m pleased to say I’m very near to nailing it! Going to tweak slightly for next time. Pictured would cost $20 at the store. It made more than that, but I ate it plain. Sooo, pretty jazzed about the project. Additionally, I’ve been trying for decades to source fresh sheep’s milk, to make yogurt like we enjoyed in Greece. We finally found a dairy about an hour away that sells it. Woohoo! Also available, but not until just recently - camel’s milk, and I can’t wait to try that.
Now why didn’t I think of that, bet you’re right @seal.
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