Busy Month

December is always a busy month whoever you are but ours seems to get busier as the years progress.

It all starts next Saturday evening with our E Pontoon christmas dinner at the Pyewipe Inn. This is a black tie three course dinner arranged by the moorers for the moorers.

The weekend after we have another saturday evening even at the Marine Lounge in the marina this time organised by the marina.

Of course there is new years eve where we will be at Woodcocks on the marina and of course there is christmas day where we will be chilling on the boat. Boxing day this year will see us back in Sheffield so plenty of travel time as well thrown in. Oh and I forgot both my works christmas party and Liams christmas party. 

I will be glad when January comes around.

Big Trip 2014

We decided to plot all of our planned stops on a map as a bit of a visual aid to ourselves whilst planning this big trip for next summer. In doing so we have realised just how far we plan to take or little boat, on our own!

It looks much further plotted on a map like this than it feels totting up the miles between each harbour or port. 

With winter finally snapping at our heels and cruising time becoming less and less we can start to settle in and plan this trip in earnest. We can also start to plan just what work we will be doing to Naughty-Cal in the next few months as we work up towards preparing her for this epic voyage. Her usual couple of weeks on the hardstanding may be extended next spring as we have many more jobs than usual to squeeze into the avaliable time. We have to have her in tip top condition if we are to attempt this trip. There is no room for error or malfunction.

Garlic and Herb Turkey

Another recipe for you today.  quick and easy bite to eat that takes just ten minutes or so to rustle up. Ideal for a weekday after a long day at work.

So add a chopped onion, a chopped chilli , a handful of chopped mushrooms, a diced bell pepper and some sliced courgette to a large pan and fry until just starting to brown and soften.

Next add some diced turkey thigh and cook until browned. Then add a tub of light soft cheese with garlic and herbs and stir until well mixed through. Leave to simmer for a few minutes

Finally serve with rice and garlic bread. Here we have used wholegrain basmati.

Turkey thigh is a more economical cut of meat than turkey breast. It is cheaper much cheaper to buy yet is better suited to dishes such as this as it doesn't dry out, the extra fat content helps to keep the meat moist.

Its that time of year again when turkey is on a lot of menus but we tend to eat it year round rather than veiwing it as a Christmas meat only. Perhaps that is in part due to us not tending to have turkey for Christmas dinner.

Sunday Lunch

We are loving our new oven. Finally a proper Sunday lunch onboard. Last night it was roast beef, roast potatoes, stuffing and cabbage. Not a scrap was left! 

Nice Evening

It was a lovely evening for a cruise on the ditch last night. Not another boat on the move. 

Dunbar

So back to next summers big trip and if all goes well and the weather is fair we may head further North yet to Dunbar. It isnt such a long way further north than Eyemouth but we can well and truly say we have been to Scotland if we make it here. Making it to Dunbar however as with the rest of this trip very much depends on weather and sea conditions. If it isn't right we wont be going. We may be brave but we are certainly not fool hardy.

 The entrance to the harbour doesn't look to be for the faint of heart.

 The harbour sheltered by the sea wall is still very much revolving around fishing. Visitor mooring here is against the quay wall so lines must be set to allow for the rise and fall of the tide.

 Stunning scenery along this stretch of coast with hidden coves and small bays.

 This one just beside the harbour wall.

A multitude of architectural styles in the village.

The Oven

So here is our new boaty oven, well not our exact one as I forgot to get a picture of it in situ, but one that’s the same.

It’s a Morphy Richards KWS1525X-F2UB rotisserie mini oven. I doubt we will ever use the rotisserie function, that isn’t really what we bought it for but if it ever tickles our fancy we shall let you know how we get on with it.

The oven has quite a large capacity at 25 litres yet manages to be a compact unit at about the same size as a microwave unit. It has a clever bulge in the back which allows the oven to take a 12 inch pizza. Unfortunately this clever bulge means that the oven doesn’t fit where we wanted it too so at the moment we are thinking of a new more convenient place to house it. At the moment it sits on top of the saloon table which isn’t really ideal but it is out of the way as we tend to sit in the cockpit. We can shift it about if we decide to sit in the saloon for a change.

Despite its compact size (H28.4, W43.5, D46.4cm) the oven has some handy features including a 60 minute timer, grill, rotisserie and temperature range from 90-230 degrees. We found it to heat up really very quickly, probably helped by the small dimensions and also found that it kept the heat in very well.

The extra added bonus was that it was on offer when we got to the shop to buy it, reduced to £46.99 from almost £100. Not a bad deal at all. It really won’t take long to pay for itself even if we only use it for pizzas on a Friday night!