Benvenuti in Italia

With our trip to Italy coming up soon I have been trying to learn a bit of Italian. What I have realized is that I don't think I have the gift for learning languages. Italian and Spanish are pretty close so that has been helpful somewhat but they roll their r's as well and I can't seem to do that for the life of me.

I have been listening to my Italian CD's in the truck on my way to and from work but so far I wouldn't say there has been a whole lot of progress. Plus what I really want to know doesn't seem to be covered.

Personally if I was producing an learn to speak Italian CD I would start with things we really need to know when visiting a foreign country. I think asking where the bathroom is would be a great place to start. That would be a phrase you will be using on a regular basis. I would also cover ordering food, asking for the check, and of course shopping! But instead they cover the months of the year, days of the week, and then verb tenses. So right now I can go around saying what month of year it is and the day of the week. To me this isn't a huge priority because on vacation I don't really care much what day it is - isn't that really the point of vacation? I only need to know it is Monday if I have to show up for work.

I also think types of food should be covered as well - I want to know what chicken and beef are so I somehow don't end up with meat I don't recognize when it is meal time. Knowing which words to avoid would come in very handy when looking at a menu in Italian. At least I should recognize the word pasta and cappuccino so I will have a back up though when knowing what comes in my pasta could be a bit of a toss up.

Sam is much further ahead of me - he has been using the Rosetta stone and has been more diligent than I have on the studying part so far. It also might be the fact that he has been working on his Italian off and on for 2 years now.

Fortunately this trip he won't be working for much of it so he can be my translator. Usually I am in the one figuring it out while he is working so this time it can be his turn to try and communicate. I won't remind him that when I was in charge we were in countries like England, Germany, and Amsterdam where finding an English speaking person wasn't too terribly hard. I did somehow get us around in Japan though some of our dinners were in the don't study it too hard category and we were often surprised when the food showed up at our table.

Maybe miraculously in the next 2 1/2 weeks I will become more proficient but I guess at this point I will be happy to get through at least 1 more CD. Sam didn't seem very impressed when asking what CD I was on to find out I was just starting the second one, guess he thought I should be a bit further along by now.

But if anyone wants to know it is Thursday or how to say I like to travel I am your person. Just don't answer me back in Italian as that is when I will get very confused, and I don't even know how to ask someone to repeat their question or statement back yet! I think I may just work on finding my speaking Italian translation book and working on learning how to say where to find a shoe store, where is a great restaurant, how much is it, and where is the bathroom. That should really cover most situations I will be in. If I can eat well, buy great Italian shoes, and know how much I am paying it should all be good.

Plus there is iGoogle where I type in words in English and it will give it to me in Italian though I haven't found out where it will say it to the person for me yet since that is really what I need. Maybe all I really need to know is if they have wifi so I can use the Internet to look up the translation - that seems a bit easier to me.

shrimping season

Sam and I made our reservations early this year for shrimping season at casa del Schober on San Juan Island so this year we could get our share of shrimp and make it in time for the super short season. Last year the season closed early and we missed out on getting very many so this year we wanted to make sure we got plenty.

After meeting dad down at the boat on Friday evening we ate the dinner mom had made us. I don't know if it is bad form to eat shrimp on the boat where you are going out to catch their friends and family later but I didn't feel too guilty and ate way more than my share. Luckily for me Sam and my parents were much too polite to comment on my greediness or maybe because I ate them quicker they didn't notice. But I filled up on the grilled shrimp and was hoping we would find some more in the pots since 1 shrimp dinner wasn't going to quite cut it.

Finding your pot always seem to be a big of a challenge but since everyone else had mostly pulled theirs and headed home it made it much easier. That and the fact dad figured out how to track his pots on his GPS screen. I am pretty sure Sam received the message loud and clear that he might want to figure out this neat trick for himself soon on our boat.

Spotting the pots can be easy sometimes compared to grabbing the buoy and dragging it onboard. Sam and dad though have this routine down and they grabbed them on the first try. I just observed and applauded their performance since sometimes less assistance is better. I also took this approach when it came time to pull in the pots. When I reminded Sam we need to practice our man overboard drills for the upcoming summer he told me had been doing it all weekend when bringing in the pots and I really didn't have much of an argument against his theory.

Dad invested in an electric puller and this is the way to go. He doesn't mind hard labor but I think pulling 1 or 2 in by hand convinced him some things are really worth the cost. I think that is one thing my mom hasn't commented on how much it cost and she always reminds us boating isn't cheap but somehow the cost of the electric puller is never mentioned. But then I don't think she wanted to try her hand at manual pot pulling either which might have happened if she brought it up. Guess we know where I learned to pick my battles from.

Both pots had shrimp in them but not quite as many as we had hoped. Turns out the commercial boats had come in the day before and cleaned it out a bit. But we got enough for a couple of dinners so Saturday's evening menu was saved and mom didn't have to pull the ones out of the freezer she had just frozen.

Friday evening after much discussion and deliberation Sam and Dad decided on the best time to go fishing and shrimping Saturday morning. While Sam is not a morning person if it involves boating morning suddenly isn't a bad option. Sometimes I think more planning and strategizing goes into determining where to go fishing and when than corporate takeovers.

Mom and I decided they could come pick us up later when it was time to pull the pots since Dad had told us how choppy it was on Middle Bank on Friday morning when he went out. If my dad mentions it was a bit choppy and nasty I know I probably wouldn't want to be out in it on a destroyer much less his boat.

Lunchtime the guys called primarily since they hadn't taken along snacks and were hungry and hoping we would have a solution. If they had brought along food I am not sure when they would have contacted us.

We didn't get as many shrimp as we had hoped again but it was a decent catch. So if you don't limit out it must be time to move the pots. If it is a Saturday during shrimp season and you don't see any pots close by yours it might not be the best place to put your pot. Of course this was all discussed in hindsight when 1 pot came up empty. So the pots went down for the 3rd time. By now it was time to go eat some of the shrimp we had on board before we pulled the pots again.

Once again I ate way more than my fair share and we had fresh halibut as well. It is hard to beat fresh shrimp though when crab season comes around I will think that about fresh crab. After dinner we headed back out to pull the pots once more and try to limit out our 4 licenses. While we needed 3 licenses the 4th wasn't needed. But we did get some pretty good sized ones.

Sam and I got enough to have shrimp again for dinner on Sunday night and again on Monday night plus more for our freezer. My mom also gave me some to take to the cabin and share with my sister this next weekend. I wonder if she will tell her exactly how many she gave me. Something tells me I had better show up with all of them though I am tempted to do a shrimp appetizer instead. With an appetizer you can get away with serving less! Plus these shrimp have to last me until next year now or at least until crab season. This is one of those times when I wish I was married to someone who didn't really like seafood.

Sam - don't forget you need to figure out how to set the tracking system on your GPS. While it may be fun to see who all set pots in the bay driving right up to our pot would be much more efficient and leave us more time to drop it again if we don't limit out. I promise it won't reduce your boating time.

keeping it green - within limits

I try and do my part to help out the environment but there are limits to what I am willing to do. I turn off the water when I brush my teeth. I try to recycle whatever I can in terms of cans, paper, and cardboard. We don't have grass so it cuts down on watering and I reuse my towel for a couple of days. Sam likes to remind me how much fuel we save by sailing - his own version of being green.

But there are a few things I refuse to do even for the environment:

1. Reuse hotel sheets and towels - I am paying money to stay here and when I pay I want fresh towels and sheets every day. I conserve at home by not washing my sheets every day but if someone else is willing to do it I want fresh linens.

2. Use a compost bucket in the kitchen. I think the garbage smells bad enough if I don't take it out every day - I don't want anything decaying on my counter. Plus I have enough dirt in my yard already.

3. I love my thick toilet paper - 1 ply is not enough. Plus this is one place where I don't want to conserve paper - enough said.

4. Paper towels - I have a bit of a sponge phobia and I think sponges are nasty. I know you can put them in the microwave but then those germs are in my microwave now at least in my mind. I do put them in the recycle bin though if they don't have food on them - does that help?

5. Bottled water - I try to reuse a water bottle but then I leave it at work or at home and then after a while I think it smells. It probably doesn't but in my mind I think it does get a bit nasty and I need a new one. Hey the new arrowhead bottles smash down very small and I throw them in recycling so it doesn't seem quite as bad. Plus it is important to get in my 8 glasses of water a day - bottled water helps me do it.

6. Buying used items such as mattress, clothes, shoes, and furniture. It just freaks me out to think that someone else wore something before me that I don't know. Getting these items from friends and family works otherwise it is a no go. Instead I send my used items to family and the Goodwill so I am recycling in my own way.

7. Collecting rain water. Our yard gets enough mosquitoes I don't need to have another breeding ground and I am allergic. All that anti-itch and bug spray can't be good for the environment either.

But really the biggest way I have worked on saving the environment this past year is by buying a Kindle. Now I didn't initially buy it to help save on books but it turns out I really prefer reading on my Kindle. In my estimation that is about 200less books a year I now purchase. Now I did get many of those used so I was being environmentally conscious (really I just couldn't afford to buy that many new books) but now I am leaving them for someone else to enjoy.

Who knew that would be such a good decision and so environmentally correct at the same time? I wonder what next electronic item I can justify purchasing all in the name of saving the environment. Maybe an IPAD? Now I have an excuse to buy the latest technology all in the name of keeping it green.

jump aboard

I have come to the realization Sam must think I was some sort of long jump champion in high school and I still have this ability. I am not sure where he ever came up with this but in his mind I can leap from a dock onto our boat in a single bound from yards away. No matter how much he thinks or wishes this it simply isn't true.

I can't jump very far and I prefer to not jump even shorter distances than I probably could just to be on the dry side. Sam on the other hand seems to think I can somehow leap from a dock onto our boat when they aren't even in the same zip code.

This weekend was no different and reinforced once again Sam's distorted view of my leaping ability. We were docked via side tie between slips and as we started to untie Sam wanted to push out the stern since the wind was blowing us into the dock. While this was all well and good he wanted me to leap aboard the bow from the dock and then somehow getting myself over the railing. While I nicely declined he kept pushing and said the boat was leaving. So I clambered aboard in a most ungraceful fashion and somehow kept myself dry.

On board after I caught my breath I once again reminded him that while he can climb over the rails it doesn't work quite as easily for someone 7 inches shorter. He blamed it all on my jeans and insisted that it all went smoothly - I asked if he had seen my clinging for dear life hoping that someone would give me a boost up but he seemed to have missed that part.

Just a few hours after this conversation we were leaving the fuel dock in pretty windy conditions and had some unneeded assistance from the fuel attendant. Instead of untying the midship line first as I requested he untied the stern and allowed the boat to drift out while I was untying the bow. Sam started vigorously encouraging me to jump aboard but I declined and instead started retying the boat while trying to remain polite to the fuel attendant. I insisted that we redo this and I would get on board when the boat was actually in near the dock.

Sam came back to the dock - well I actually pulled him back in - and we tried again with me just stepping aboard instead of trying for a new long jump record. Once again I asked him why he thought I could somehow jump that far and he tried to say it wasn't that far but he wasn't the one on the dock looking across the water towards a rapidly drifting boat. At least this time there was someone else involved so we could blame the person "helping" and remember why we prefer to manage the lines ourselves.

Maybe I should be flattered that he has this much confidence in my athletic abilities but I am not. If it comes down to him leaving by himself or me taking a chance on an unexpected swim in the very chilly sound he is on his own. Maybe this is his way of seeing just how far I am willing to jump but by now you would think hes knows the answer is "not far". Or maybe it is that from behind the wheel his distance vision is distorted and docks seem much closer than they are. Once again it looks like the only way to overcome this one is to be the skipper and not the first mate. Somehow it always comes down to this - I just need to be the skipper.

spring cleaning

So this past weekend Sam and I finally made time to head down to Zig Zag (the boat) and spend some time on her and get her ready for our cruising schedule. It might be a good thing that it wasn't too light out when I arrived. It was a mess! Typically the boat gets a good scrub down from Sam each time we take it out and it was long overdue.

Seems we hadn't gotten out much this winter - maybe due to seasons passes at Mission Ridge and some good skiing days. Personally when it is chilly out I would rather be skiing plus the clothing is designed for those chilly days on the slopes. And of course I needed to ensure I was getting my money out of my seasons pass.

So really it was one of the first weekends we could make it down. We decided to stay on the boat for a few days while we worked on getting it cleaned up. Plus there were some new restaurants and old favorites I was wanting to try. When I saw the boat in daylight I was a bit horrified and was glad I hadn't succumbed to my idea of inviting some friends down for some appetizers Friday night. Turns out the birds had taken quite a liking to our boat this winter and had really made it their home.

For once I was happy with our division of chores - Sam cleans the outside while I concentrate on the inside. During a warm sunny day I haven't always appreciated my choice, especially when Sam closes all the hatches and windows and I am stuck inside a sauna. On Saturday though I was feeling pretty happy. While the birds had really made a huge mess of the outside the inside was pretty clean - for some reason a boat doesn't collect dust - mildew yes - dust not so much!

So while Sam spent hours scrubbing the outside I cleaned out cabinets and reflected on my good fortune. I didn't even really have to do much scrubbing on the head since we had only been on board for an evening. I would have to say my Saturday morning was much better than Sam's.

Finally he had it cleaned up and we were once again looking presentable on the dock. We headed out for a few hours and when we came back the birds had made their presence known once again. After speaking to liveaboards across from us they told Sam they had never seen so many birds and I would have to agree when we checked out some other boats across the way with their spreaders full of birds. Maybe a chilly, snowy winter in Seattle isn't such a bad thing since then the birds head south.

After a few days on board I wasn't quite as happy with my inside cleaning job - after all a few days in a small space and I really needed to clean up each day. Then I took a look outside and the birds had been paying us a few more visits. Really I would prefer to clean up after people (or animals) I know so being on the inside duty wasn't such a bad deal.

I have decided we will stick with our current responsibilities - as long as Sam is still in charge of the pump out station and any boating problems in addition to cleaning the outside. I may have to go take a few pictures outside to remind me come summer but I think I may have gotten the better end of this deal. Just don't tell Sam and if the boat looks dirty on the dock blame him.

new recipes

So one of my resolutions this year was to try a new recipe once a week. I know when I came up with my list it all sounded pretty good and easy on paper and reality definitely didn't enter into the equation. Pretty much like it was in 2009 when I came up with the same resolution. I had high hopes for all that I would accomplish once again before day to day life got in the way.

Really after a long day of work what I really want is someone else to cook and clean for me. My mom says it is easier to eat at home but I don't buy into her theory at all. I think it is much easier to go out any day and have someone wait on me and refill my drink as needed.

Honestly I had really somewhat forgotten my recipe plan - probably was right there along with my plan to update my blog 5 times a month. But then of course someone asked me and I was busted. So I started thinking back to whether I had come close or not and was surprised when really I hadn't done so badly. Of course it probably helped that this week alone I made 3 new recipes all at one meal. My sister Carla told me it was 4 recipes actually since the marinara sauce and meatballs were 2 items - I like how that gal thinks must be a genetic thing.

So when I thought back I had done pretty well for the most part and had tried quite a few new recipes though not all would be back for a second round. Some were easy like the Brie, apple, turkey paninis I made while others like the sauce I made took a few hours. What I realized is going to be the true challenge is when we are spending more time on the boat.

With my limited space on board I don't have the vast array of ingredients to choose from and an oven that really just gets hot doesn't bode well for any temperature sensitive recipes - especially desserts. It seems I primarily make the same things that I know are easy and where the pans clean up easily. For this reason alone I have banned eggs with the exception of baggie omelets. Eggs on a boat just make me nervous - from breaking in the fridge to cleaning the pans they just don't seem like a boating ingredient.

So I am going to take this resolution to the next step - probably since I am not currently on a boat and ideas always seem better in theory than practice - and try a new boating recipe each time we head out for the weekend.

I am sure Sam and our guests are eager to try something new beside what I (and Tanya) consider boat food - Ceviche, brownies, veggies and dip, chicken skewers with peanut sauce, cheese and crackers, and blue cheese dip. Though I have to admit any of those items right now sound pretty good and I am not tired of any of them, but when anyone who has been on the boat a few times has the menu memorized it might be time for a bit of a change.

Now I am starting to wonder how my Kitchenaid mixer and my Cuisinart can be used on board or nailed to my limited counter space. I can't really think of many new recipes which didn't use at least one of these. I might actually have to learn how to stir by hand again or chop onions on a cutting board. I think for this new plan I am going with simple though that might mean I need a panini maker now - wouldn't a new type of panini sandwich count here? So really this just means I will be bringing new items on board the boat - I just will need to figure out what I can get Sam to get rid of in the name of new good eats!

stocking island

When I found out we were going to the Superbowl Sam said since we are already in Miami the Caribean or other islands aren't very far away so why not extend the trip. I wan't a hard sell and started my Internet research. After looking all over I finally found something that had a vacancy and was in our price range. I thought that would be easier but with less than a month notice it was a bit challenging.

I found a place online called Stocking Island. Best of all I found out that this area is where many cruisers hang out in the winter and the place we would be staying was where quite a few of them would gather in the evenings. While Sam would have preferred being on a boat ours wasn't going to be arriving down there and this could be the next best thing. Besides this place was only accessible by boat and that definitely increased its appeal in Sam's mind.

About a week before we left Sam opened up one of his sailing magazines and the Georgetown regatta was featured - this was right where we would be. He was excited before but this was the true stamp of approval and I was now quite the travel planner.
After the excitement of the Superbowl a bit of relaxation and down time sounded pretty good. Where we stayed was an 8 person resort and you could walk for miles on the beach without seeing anyone else. Being the first one to have footprints in the sand is a pretty incredible thing - especially since I could never ever get out of bed early enough before - now I could head out at 10 and still be the first.


Sam loved the interaction with other sailors but really what he wanted to see when he looked out over the harbor was his boat sitting there. I reminded him that we might have to get a bit better at this anchoring thing when the winds picked up to the 30's one night. When some of the boaters we spoke with talked about taking shifts during the night while at anchor in windy conditions I didn't share quite the same excitement. Sam then cut his losses and pointed out the mooring pin options. Hey he knows when to make a transition and sell me on something new.

Turns out where we were you can actually make it in day trips from Florida - long days but all in daylight hours if all goes well. Now when we say that I am well aware with boating more goes wrong than right but at least it was something I would attempt in hopes I would be one of the lucky ones. Many people we spoke with stay most of the winter and really don't venture much further than Exuma. This only made me look quite adventuresome since even I would want to venture further as long as I could make land in a day or 2.

The vacation was everything that we hoped. Sam got in 2 dives (though I am still a little bitter he didn't catch the lobster he saw for dinner), we snorkeled a bit, walked the beaches, rented a boat and went exploring, and made a quick adjustment to island life. If we had been there on our boat I might not be writing this as Sam would still be there figuring out how to leave for good.

So in reality maybe it was a good idea that we flew down there so we could return back to reality and be a bit more prepared before we head off. Plus we need to figure a way to get our boat down there that doesn't include me going down the Pacific Coast through the Panama canal. Unfortunately for Sam this is going to take a bit of time, planning, and even more importantly a ton of selling on his part. Now one good thing in his favor is that one lady we spoke with mentioned how cheap it was to have her laundry done for her so I might be okay now without my washer and dryer.

So please if you want to take a boat from Seattle to Exuma Island please wait a few years to let Sam know. I don't want to be the only one living in Seattle and I am pretty sure he would be gone without a backward glance.