Ah, Corsica. Yummy. The market is across the street from the boat and ummm...well...yummy. Wild boat meat, salted, smoked, cured, aged, hung and delicious. Saucison! Charcuterie! I have been running around town screaming it at the top of my lungs, mainly because I like the sound of it and they are about the only 2 french words I know. ...and the cheese! Wait, fromage, I know that one too. Everything is made of cheese, pork, chestnuts and figs. Everything, even the people. No, not really, but I guess you are what you eat.

Spices. Don't they just look French? I am in heaven. All I do is walk around and eat. They even have fig and chestnut liquor tastings. 7:45am is the new "noon"... when in France...

All I am feeding the kids is baguettes and chevre. I get the morning helpers some nutella filled croissants for breakfast and they are just tickled to do the dishes after that, so i'm off to sample more of that fig drink.

And then there is the beach. Who can resist an afternoon nap in this sand after a hard day of baguette and cheese slicing? Got to watch out for the dog shit, but whatever. As long as they keep it out of the saucison.

MENU PLAN

It has been a while since I have written (or slept, or showered, or not cried myself to sleep...only kidding). We left Lunenburg just over a month ago, and are on our third stop. To bring you quickly up to speed:

stop 1: Horta, Azores, Faial islands-Portugal. islands in the middle of the Atlantic. I went diving, saw a Discovery Channel sized grouper. A great stop all in all. Puked all the way there, even cried, but it was worth it.

stop 2: Dublin, Ireland. Mom ad Dad were there, Fun Fun! Big city, nice people, good accents.

stop 3: Aviero, Portugal. Not sure why we are here. Looking forward to Corsica, leaving tomorrow. We are docked in the industrial area and it is a 20 dollar cab ride to town. I did get to the big market today to provision, and that was good. I luckily found an English speaking guy to translate and got all the local fruits amd veggies we can eat....which leads me to the reason I am here...

Yes, yes indeed, these kids do take the fun out if cooking. However, my baking skills are improving! Bread Bread Bread...everyday. I will never have to buy a loaf again as long as I live, I can crank them out like nobody`s business. I thought you all might enjoy a peek into what I have been feeding the masses. I have been keeping track of everything I make, so here is a 10 day sample:


day 1:

am: cereal and yogurt (fresh fruit every morning)

noon: grilled ham and cheese and mixed green salad

pm: Baked italian chicken, lemon orzo, sauteed zucchini


day 2:

am: fried egg on toast

noon: spinach and chickpea stew with cous cous

pm: jerk pulled pork and sweet potato fries


day 3:

am: peaches and cream oatmeal and chocolate muffins

noon: gyros, tzatziki, tomato feta salad, watermelon, mediterranian potato salad

pm: Taco Tuesday!



day 4:

am: cereal

noon: Oatmeal with nothing

dinner: oatmeal with blueberries

...it was a rough one. waves comming in the galley, me crawling on the floor in spilled olive oil...not a good day...



day 5:

am: hard boiled eggs, toast, sausage links

noon: tuna melts and carrot-ginger-peanut soup

pm: Chili and cornbread with whipped honey butter



day 6:

am: peanut butter and jelly banana pancake sandwiches (one of the kids ideas...if they get up early to make it they can have whatever the hell they want!)

noon: carmelized pork chops and coriander rice with sesame roasted carrots

pm: chorizo y papas and quesadillas (the mexican kids even did a little dance...)



day 7:

am: cereal and yogurt (the breakfast of champs)

noon: coconut and red lentil soup with pasta salad

pm: baked chicken, mac and cheese and carrots



day 8:

am: hummus, boiled eggs, pita, cheese, tomato, olives...thanks teta.

noon: chicken and beef fajitas with paprika lime sour cream and spanish rice

pm: Lasagna

Day 9:

am: scrambled leftovers and ricotta cheese bread (can you tell what all my energy went into?)

noon: sloppy joes and french fries (a house favorite. Gross.)

pm: haddock almondine with white wine lemon butter, saffron rice and roasted veg.

Day 10:

am: quiche

noon: white bean soup, potato salad and biscuits

pm: african peanut stew (in which I was not able to successfully disguise the turkey hotdog sysco calls deli meat)

WELL, sloopy joes and lasagna win, hands down. Ill keep you posted as I fruitlessly try to mature their tastebuds.

Glorious, wonderful day off...

At the beach here in Nova Scotia, Cherry Hill. Took the Ferry over. Green Atlantic coast line. Craig has his surfboards on top of the jeep. The water is so cold it makes my feet hurt. Everyone is on holiday in a wet suit. The kids are all decked out, complete with hoods and booties. The ones without, well, their feet must hurt, too. Not too many cars on the way up here.

Did see a little tow-head kid on one of those chopper style, banana seat retro bikes with the top of his wetsuit hanging down around his waist panting his way up the hill. 20 minutes later I saw him cruising past me on the shoreline where the water touches; nice, flat, beach cruisin' area. Couldn't pull my camera out fast enough...too bad...sure did fit.

"Canadian 3 day weekend" (below)

aaah...small town Nova Scotia

Back in Lunenburg and life is good. No kids + 8 mouths to feed=happy cook. Going for a walk...

Your Brain on Ketchup

Yes folks, this is what happens when you let your kids eat ketchup by the spoonful and layer their toast with jam, then sugar, then (yep, you guessed it) more ketchup...

Boston, MA

Back in the good old US of A. Boston- only so exciting. Too many people to move and too many hungry sailors milling about to dare leave my galley. 380 on the Russian ship Kruzenstern and 180 on the Argentinian ship (my personal fav) Liebretad, alone- all with spiffy uniforms and sultry smiles. Yikes.

There are a total of 35 tall ships here and probably 2 million people.

The kids are excited to be here, a little too excited. One 16 year old with a too short skirt has already been sent home for drinking with sailors. 1 week down and we have already found two condoms in the garbage. Did I mention before that I wanted to have kids? I take that back.

We have, fortunately, been able to escape the students and do some (clean) crew bonding at the irish pubs, it's been cheerios and bloodshot eyes for breakfast in port so far.

I am ready to get back out to sea.

Back in the US of A. I have never seen so many people in my life.

Grand Manan, Brunswick Canada

Our first stop was Grand Manan Island in Brunswick. Foggy and quaint,. but very pretty. Also VERY HARD to find a drink! apparently a church town. Nothing too exciting, except the tides. There is about a 30 foot tidal difference here. I took a nap and could see the horizon out my porthole, woke up an hour later and could see the barnacles on the bottom of the dock wall. The kids went out to play, and the stress let up some. Headed for Boston next.