Nice, Neat and Rarin' to Go

Nine of Cups and crew have endured quite a busy, chaotic few weeks. Now that the chainplates are done, the new rigging is nearly installed and the furler is good to go, Nine of Cups is pretty much back to normal … nice, neat and rarin' to go. There are a few more details to take care of here. The varnishing and other projects will have to wait till we get to another port. It's time to move on.

We've been working on last minute preparations ... getting ourselves into the right mindset. We hired a car for a couple of days to top up the propane tanks, do a few errands, pick up a some supplies and re-provision once again since we ate most of our provisions from last time around. Fresh vegs and fruits are always the last items aboard.

While David has begun making his systems' checks, I've been prepping down below. Beyond buying and stowing provisions, I've been busy getting things ready for life at sea. I've made up extra granola and stored it away. Big batches of brownie mix and pancake/coffee cake mix and muffin mixes are prepared in big ziploc bags … ready to scoop out a few cups, add  the liquid ingredients and bake. Easy … peasy. The hammocks and hanging baskets are full of long life veggies and night watch snacks are easy to access. I've filled up empty canisters and gotten rid of any extra overwraps, especially anything plastic, to minimize trash en route.

I've washed floors and beaten rugs. I've dusted and cleaned out lockers once again … everything was filthy after the chainplate project. I've scrubbed the sinks and the sink strainers and the head. They get so yucky on passages, so I like them pristine before we leave. It's easier to do when I have plenty of fresh water and power, more difficult when water and power are at a premium and the boat is bouncing around. The sheets have been changed and a final, several-load laundry run has been completed. I never know when I'll have washer/dryer access again, so everything from jeans and towels to potholders and blankets have been washed. Things are neat and tidy and stowed conveniently … at least for a few days

I've inspected the ditch bag and found that our flares are outdated and need replacing. All fire extinguishers are in good order.

We're still not sure of our ultimate destination this season. Isn't that so like us? Namibia is the plan for the short term. It's the country just north of South Africa if your African geography is a little rusty (or non-existent). We'll see how we like it there for a few weeks. Further north in Africa does not seem particularly appealing. I've done all sorts of research on probable destinations on the other side of the pond. The Caribbean seems a bit too mundane, but it's an option.We recently got our 10-year yellow fever booster shots, just in case we end up somewhere in Africa or South America that requires it.

So we're just about ready. We'll check out with Customs, Immigration and Port Authority in the next few days in anticipation of a reasonable weather window for departure.

When Life Hands You Potatoes...

A new foreign boat pulled into the marina and tied up at the end of the next T-dock down from us. We could see their flag flapping in the wind, but couldn't identify it. White, red and blue horizontal stripes … not Dutch … perhaps Eastern European? We had to consult our little flag book before we determined that it was a Russian flag. A couple of days later, the boat pulled into the berth beside us. We were surprised to see the boat's name hand-scrawled (or was that spray paint?) in large red-orange letters on the hull … Berserk. We knew a Berserk from New Zealand, but it had met an unfortunate end in Antarctica … the boat sunk and three of its  five-member crew were lost. How many Berserks could there be?

Sure enough, Jarle stopped by and after a few minutes of reminiscing, we determined it was the same guy on a different boat which he'd once again named Berserk. When I think of the word “berserk”, I think frenzied, deranged, going crazy … someone going over the deep edge. Berserk has come to mean this in English, but in actuality the word is borrowed from Norse mythology. It refers to the “berserkers”, Norse warriors who worshiped Odin and fought in a trance-like frenzied rage that some think might have been induced by eating hallucinogenic 'shrooms. These guys wore bear and wolf skins to make themselves even more ferocious looking. The word berserker comes from the Old Norse meaning “bear coat”. Just a little more trivia for you. Moving on … Jarle is Norwegian, though his boat is now Russian-flagged, and considers himself a modern day Viking, perhaps akin to  a berserker.

Back to the story at hand … I get side-tracked so easily. During the course of conversation, Jarle indicated he was heading back to Norway for several months and asked if we'd like some of Berserk's freshies. Well, sure, we could always use a few extra spuds and onions. He brought two huge, heavy laundry baskets full of potatoes, onions and carrots. As David hoisted them onto the boat, I couldn't imagine where I'd stow them all. Sharing came to mind immediately. Would our cruising friends on Ave del Mar like some? How about the guys working on the dock; they'd probably like some fresh veggies? I went through them all and sorted them, disposing of the soft, squishy, wet ones (ick!). Potato eyes were scattered everywhere in the cockpit. I filled up Cups' hammock and hanging baskets, then took the rest and divided them into bags which we distributed to any willing boat or worker.

Now … what to do with all those potatoes. The damp ones were peeled and boiled immediately. Some cooked potatoes went into a big potato salad for dinner and the rest can be used for home fries with eggs in the morning. I figured we could have a cottage pie for dinner one night with a mashed potato topper and perhaps I'd make locro, a hardy, delicious potato soup we tasted first in the mountains of Ecuador. I might not use them all, but I'd certainly put a dent in the potato stores over the next week or so. The rest will serve us well on our upcoming sea passage once I figure out a place to stow them.

Then Jarle stopped by with a huge plastic trash bag full of tinned green peas. Hmmm … I'm going to have to give this one a bit more thought.

By the way, here's the recipe for Locro Ecuatoriano (aka Ecuadorian Potato Soup) ... just in case you ever end up with too many potatoes.

Locro Ecuatoriano

Cuisine: Ecuadorian

Author: Marcie Connelly Lynn

Serves: 4

Ecuadorian potato soup

Ingredients

• 1 lb (500g) potatoes, peeled and finely diced
• 1 large potato, peeled and cubed
• 2 Tbsp (30ml) oil
• 1/4c (60g) chopped onion
• 3/4c (185ml) milk
• 1 tsp (5ml) salt
• 1c (250g) cheddar cheese, grated or thin-sliced
• 1 ripe avocado, peeled and sliced (as garnish)
• Water
• Lettuce leaves, washed and dried

Instructions

1. In a large saucepan, saute the finely diced potatoes with onion in oil, till onion is lightly browned. Add enough water to just cover the potatoes, then one cup more water. Cover and bring to a boil. Stir in the separate cubed potato. Reduce heat and simmer till the potato is tender and the diced potatoes are dissolved. Add milk and salt stirring in one direction until the locro almost boils. Remove from heat.
2. In advance, line bowls with the lettuce leaves and then add cheese. Ladle the hot soup into the bowls and garnish with sliced avocado and more cheese if you like.
3. Note: We rarely have fresh lettuce leaf aboard. Though it makes a lovely presentation and it's traditional, we find the soup tastes just fine without the lettuce. It would probably be good without the avocados, too, but we love avos so much, I don't make the soup unless I have them on hand.

3.3.3070

Provisioning in Style - Bagatelle Mall of Mauritius

The market is absolutely great for freshies, but we were in need of some other staples … and a few treats. We've found a couple of small grocery stores in town ... a ShopRite and a Winners ... both within walking distance, but both tiny and lacking in stuff we wanted. We haven't quite decided if we'll stop in Reunion yet, but whether we do or don't is irrelevant since prices there are very high and we're better off provisioning here. We'd heard of the Bagatelle Mall of Mauritius, which is a bus ride away, and purportedly had two large hypermarkets. We decided to head out on a foraging expedition.  

Sure enough, the bus let us off right in front of a modern, rather large mall. We're talking Tommy Hilfilger, Ralph Lauren, Hugo Boss, QuikSilver and a multitude of other high end stores we weren't interested in, plus two hypermarkets and veggie store. We walked through MonoPrix first ... okay, but not great. We checked out the other grocery store next, Intermart, and it had pretty much everything we wanted at reasonable prices. It was bustling with people. The aisles were jammed and the check-out queues were long.

Like most modern malls, Bagatelle had a large food court as well as some nice restaurants. We opted for lunch before shopping for three reasons. First, it's always better to shop on a full stomach. Second, it was lunchtime and we were hungry. Third, the name of the restaurant we chose was called The Flying Dodo Brewing Company. How could we resist?

We had a fine lunch with a Dodo beer and returned to Intermart. Since we were transporting all of our provisions in shopping bags and backpacks and needed to be able to carry it all, we were quite conscious of how much we could buy. We opted to take a small shopping cart and when it was full, we called it quits. We just managed to fit all of our purchases in the bags we had. We tromped back to the bus station laden down like mules, rode a jam-packed bus back to Port Louis, and walked from the Victoria Square bus station back to the marina, sweating and lugging our groceries through the crowded streets. Back on Nine of Cups, we got it all unloaded and stowed. We'll head back one more time for a second load. This foraging stuff is hard work. Whew ... time for a beer.