Charleston Dog Show

Argos won 2nd place in the herding class! We are so proud!

Fwd:

After church on Sunday, my parents and Donna came over for brunch. Beau and I subscribed once again to a CSA this summer. And in our first box was a large bunch of mustard greens. Last year those greens kicked our tails and we DID. NOT. LIKE. THEM. But I was determined to try it again. This time, with much better success. But it's hard for anything to taste bad when it's been cooked in bacon fat! But let me say. I messed up the hollandaise. It was pretty much melted butter on top. Now, that's necessarily a bad thing. But still, not as it should have been.

Mustard Greens and Hollandaise Stack

Preparation: (for each single serving):

For the Stacked Toast
2 slices thick cut smoked bacon
1 slice of thick crusty white bread
1 egg
1 big handful of mustard greens, cut into chunks
¼ of a medium onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic (optional)

For the Hollandaise
2 egg yolks (whites discarded or used elsewhere)
1 Tablespoon cream
1 stick of butter
½ Tablespoon of lemon juice or white wine vinegar
Dash of cayenne, salt and pepper

In a large skillet, cook the bacon until crisp, reserving the bacon drippings. Remove the bacon to a paper towel lined plate. In the skillet with the drippings, sauté the onion on medium low for about 4 minutes until nicely softened. Add the greens to the pan and stir them and turn them until they are coated with the drippings. Continue to cook on medium low until the greens are well wilted and softened to your liking (for me this was about 6 to 8 minutes). Remove the greens from the heat. When cool enough to handle, chop the greens a few times so that the bites are more manageable.

Simultaneously, you will toast the bread and prepare the Hollandaise sauce. Begin by melting the stick of butter in a small saucepan until bubbly and hot, but not browned. Separate the yolks of two eggs and add them to the blender. Add the cream. Season the yolks and cream with a dash of cayenne, salt and pepper. Turn on the blender to whip up the yolks for about 30 seconds. Put the bread in the toaster now.

Have your lemon juice ready to go. With the blender running, take the little saucepan of butter and steadily pour it through the feed hole of the blender lid in a thin stream. Add the lemon juice after you have added approximately half of the butter and then add the remaining butter. By the time you have added the last of the butter, the sauce should be thickened and ready to use.

I get the impression that Hollandaise should not sit long before use so do time this properly. Fry the egg.

To build the stack, place the toast on a plate. Pile on the greens. Lay on the bacon. Slather with Hollandaise. Top with a sunny side up egg. Season with salt and pepper. Go sit down with the paper and make a pig of yourself. Then go see your cardiologist.

The toast is made with a day-old slice of crusty no-knead refrigerator bread. I served this with slices of tomatoes fresh from the Coppell Farmers Market. That made me feel better about all the butter. Do note that there are undercooked eggs all over this recipe and that you are taking your life into your own hands when you follow me down this evil path. If you would like to follow me further down the runny egg path, Croque Madame, Eggs in Cocotte and Ruffled Egg Cups are not to be missed.

 

SEC Network video for USC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuD0OBbA2-w&feature=youtu.be

 

 

Easter Sunday

Enjoying the egg hunt with the fan!

Kathryn's first day of work at BenefitFocus

My beautiful wife just headed out the door for her first day on the new job. Let me restate.... New career. Really proud of her.

Sailing trip in the books

Well the sailing “trip of a lifetime” is officially over. On our last day we sailing 30+ nautical miles from No Name Harbor back to Ft. Lauderdale. Winds were out of the NE and the sea state was larger than I would have liked, but we survived. We zig zagged up the gulf stream heading from 100ft deep to 250 and I ran the fishing gear. At one point mom and I were the only people on the bridge and when we saw a big group of flying fish I commented that those were the little guys that our target fish should be eating. At that moment the rod started buzzing with line going out. I headed back to start bringing it in and all the rest of my crew (haha) started to look alive. Morg and Kathryn brought in the jib and luffed the mail while mom reeled in the other line and captured the fight. I turned out to be a little tuna which is in the freeze for all to enjoy some future Sunday. It was really a highlight of the day and trip for me. I asked the others what they liked and Kathryn enjoyed the adventure of using the dingy to head into dinner, Morg liked the whole process of running the boat, and Mom liked spending time with everyone and the solitude. Despite all the time we ran the engines and generator we only went through $300 bucks of diesel so I am going to be less concerned with that in the future, but our GAS gauges didn’t read accurately. And that is just one example of the problems we had with FITS. We will not use the same outfit again as they seem to be running the boats into the ground with little maintenance, but for a cruise to start our barefooting careers this was certainly a good choice. More pictures to come as we share the different cameras.

 

Back to No Name

Yesterday we left Elliot Key after a leisurely morning and a fun stroll around the island. Unfortunately it wasn't officially open (Easter weekend) but we motored in and the park ranger had no issues with us checking out the nature trail. There were great raised trails around the island with learn as you go pedestals. Since we were the first to walk these trails in some time we went through plenty of spider webs with giant banana spiders. Mom found a cool piece of coral that she took as a memento and Morgan dropped a 20. He says it was an accident but I think he is a champion of the national park system. We sailed Biscayne Bay to just outside No Name Harbor and dropped anchor. From the previous post you can see we headed into Boaters Grill for a fun dinner. Today we will sail out to the ocean for so fishing and be back in the FITS marina by tonight. The moon is getting full so should be a beautiful evening. Getting a little sad to think this is over. Mom and Kathryn are concerned that since this was such a dream vacation for me all other will fall short. I would just like to do this consistently. I can't imagine a more relaxing vacation but a the same time there are activities all day long to keep you busy. It's awesome.

Happy hour on the boat and dinner at boaters grill

We shared an XL whole fried red snapper, tostones with shrimp, fried calamari, scallops in garlic sauce, and asapado with shrimp and lobster. Yowzer!

Holiday Isle

Beau here and making up for the lack of a blog post yesterday. Based on the tide we needed to leave the marina early to make sure we had as much water as possible and thus no blog post. So we got into Holiday Isle Marina on Islamorada around 1230 pm. It was my first time docking the big boat so I was reasonably nervous. As we approached the marina I tried to hail the dock master on the radio but he didn't monitor the radio (What!?!?) and this lead to me running aground on the approach. I was able to back out of that no problem and docked beside the sea wall. Greg, the dock master, did nothing to help with the effort and as soon as we made it on land he hurried to get us registered and receive payment. I tried to hook up the power but the only pedestal available couldn't be reached from my position which again would have been wonderful insight from Greg. I decided I needed to reposition the boat which was a last resort believe me. The wind at 25 knots and the tide were pressing me against the dock but my unbelievable wife came up with a great idea to solve the problem. We held the starboard bow cleat firmly to the dock and only using one engine rotated the boat off the dock, repositioned her, and secured her. Really pretty cool and being one of the larger boats in the marina this drew some attention. We then hooked up the power to find that pedestal was only 50% functional thus we had AC but no 110. We thought about moving be after all the stress and an incoming storm just decided to stay. We headed to the pool and had piña coladas and got to know new friends that had watched and helped with the docking. One couple that was particularly cool was Barb and Ken (not a joke) rom CO. They live at the marina for part of the year and have a successful property management business in Boulder. They made some recommendations on dinner and we headed to a great shower on the mainland. Once we were ready the storm had arrived and another neighbor offered to give us a ride. Marina folks can be just awesome. We started off at Whale Harbor, a bar that was storied to have great conch fritters. Completely delivered and then we caught a cab to Chef Micheals. Kathryn had grouper with key lime butter and caper sauce. Moms was prepared with olive oil and herbs over pasta. Morgan had sword fish and I had hog fish prepared creole style. All very good but their key lime pie didn't compare to Ballyhoo's. When we got back to the marina we debated on staying another day but decided we wanted to sail. This lead to the early departure and the lack of blog post. Up next a whole day of sailing. Hooray! That is Barb in the photo.

Full day of sailing

When we left Holiday Isle Wednesday am the winds were strong but favorable for a northerly sail so we started back. We stayed in Hawk Channel the majority of the day and closer to land as the waves were just rolling. We were in consistent 1-2 foot seas with an occasional 4 or 5. In addition the winds gusted as high as 48 knots that I saw so we only flew the jib. Even so mom and I was nearly 7 knots with the jib which from my perspective is flying on a sailboat. Morgan had some work to do (boo!) so it was Kathryn, Mom, and I manning the ship all day. We hoped to see more wildlife but except the occasional cormorant little appeared. I should mention that on the way into Holiday we saw a Portuguese man-of-war which was a first. Anyway the excitement of the day was heading back through Anglefish Creek all 3 of us weren't paying attention and we nearly took out a channel marker. We did tap it. Just a tap. I looked down to look at the chart plotter and pop my head up when mom starts a crescendo of baby Baby BABY! I slammed it into reverse and like a said only a tap. I am attaching a screen shot of the plotter. Lesson: don't take eyes off water or maybe that they move. I can't really say. We sailed north through Card Sound and back into Biscayne bay and spend the night in north Elliot Key near Boca Chita. More to come later since I can't get good cellular reception. I can see Miami but not reception. Wierd.

Wednesday revisted

My reading for the trip (since I'm not the one everyone is relying upon to sail this boat), our dinner last night (ribeyes with blue cheese butter and a kale and brussels sprout salad), the view of the nuclear plant and us. :)

Throughout the day

Us doing some extra sailing at the end of the day. Morgan had to do some work for a large part of the day and still wanted to do some sailing when he was done.

Chillaxin

My book and my wine and my footrest and my favorite lounging pants.

Reading with a view

My favorite spot on this 44' catamaran is the group sitting area on the back of the boat. There are cushions, a place to prop my feet up, I'm out if the direct wind while still getting a breeze and I'm not getting sunburned. I sit back here and read. And although I see the cooler and the dinghy, its not a bad view. Beats a computer screen any day.

Wednesday Morning

We are now sailing north in Hawk's Channel headed to the Gretian Rocks to snorkel down to see the Christ of the Abyss statue. Beautiful blue waters and the coolest temperatures we've had yet!

Good morning from Rock Harbor

Kathryn learned a new way to get me out of bed quickly this morning. I spring quickly out of bed when someone pops into your cabin proclaiming that the anchor is slipping. Not a big deal but it really shocks you in the early morning. Yesterday was fun. We left Elliot Key and flossed our way through tight channels down to Pumpkin Key. It was pretty windy and there were white caps in the sound so we were concerned that once we headed oceanside of the key it would get worse. We made sandwiches and decided adventure favors the bold (or whatever that expression is). We cut through Anglefish creek and made it into Hawk's Channel. The water was a little choppy but was a beautiful turquoise. Unfortunately based on the wind we had to motor the majority of the day. We made it into Rock Harbor on Key Largo around 5. We took our time getting ready and used the dingy to get into town for dinner. We were happy to meet a man living on a motor home that was happy to look after our dingy while we had dinner. He lived on that motor home right on the harbor. Pretty great living and he was Happy to talk about it. We had dinner at Ballyhoo's and it was awesome. Kathryn and Mom had whole fried snapper, Morgan had butter in an iron skillet with a hint of Mahi Mahi and I had awesome yellowtail. Heading back in complete darkness on the dingy was really adventurous and we easily found the boat. Everyone was zonked so every crashed which was good based on this early morning's anchor fun. Heading to Holiday Isle today on Windley Key.

9 feet down

While trying to hook up the grill to the side of the boat so we could grill burgers last night, the wrench fell to the bottom of the bay. What do you do? Put on your snorkel gear and go looking for it! That's what Beau and Morgan did. They found a complimentary washer as well. :)

No Name Harbor to middle of Biscayne Bay to No Name Harbor to Elliot Key

Tough day for the ship and crew. We got up to find we could only start 1 engine which you would think no big deal well just run off that on but on a cat you steer in a circle like a 1 leg duck. We used our sailing skills to get underway regardless. During the sail we called Fun in the Sun to trouble shoot and they asked us to return to No Name. So we sailed back and used the dingy to head to shore. Mike was held up in traffic on 95 so we waited hours for him to arrive. Once he did we headed to the boat where he had to clean contacts and disconnect a bad battery. We're not happy with FITS at this point and well have a conversation once we return. Once we go underway the wind had shifted to out of the south so we had to motor the entire way but once we did we had a great evening at Elliot Key. One of the highlights of the day was to see a manatee about 15 feet from the back of the boat. Mom loved it. Also once at Elliot we dropped some hardware for the grill into the drink and Morgan and I got to perform a rescue dive. I should also point out the grill didn't work yet another thing FiTs will hear about. Still a great day in emerald waters. Will be heading into the ocean today.

Sailing Day 2

Well... This day has been an adventure! Both of our engines failed in different ways causing us to have to sail back the way we came and have a mechanic fix them. That resulted in Beau and I trying out the dinghy for the first time as we motored into no Name Harbor to pick up the mechanic and buy some much needed ice. Which also resulted in watched a slew of what we can safely assume were Cubans dancing and partying to some very loud music on their yachts.

But we are under sail once again and headed to our originally planned lunch destination for the day, Elliott Key. We'll anchor there for the night while enjoying cheeseburgers and great conversation!

Day 1: Fort Lauterdale to No Name Harbor

We got the the marina at 9 am and started loading up the boat. Seeing it in person really brought home how large it was. 44 ft long and 28 ft wide. We had to be briefed on the inventory, all systems, and charts of the area and we were off. Sounds simple but we didn't leave until after 1. Mom had a great quote as we were pulling out of the marina, "I feel like I'm on the Starship Enterprise." Closet Trekkie. We had 2 bridges to negotiate before open ocean. The first Las Olas was under repair and only opened at 15 past the hour. We didn't make the 115 so we had to mill around until 215. In addition only one span opened of the draw bridge which feels tight on a 44 ft boat with a 74 foot mast. Once we made it through the traffic jam that had built we followed the leader to 17th Street bridge which only opens on the hour and 30 past. We didn't make 230 so had to wait until 3. We made it to the ocean by 330. We tried to throw up the sails but it would have to be a close haul since the wind was SSW. We quickly learned cats don't point well into the wind so we dropped the sails and motored for the next few hours. During this time we were in between 60 and 200 feet of Gulf Stream so I tried out the fishing gear my neighbor Clint loaned me. No luck but we had fun reenacting the scene from Jaws with the clicking of the reel. As we past Miami the winds changed and we flew the jib. We're able to motor sail and make between 7.5 and 8 knts. We made it to No Name Harbor the dropped anchor just outside of it about 830. K made shrimp tacos and margaritas. We sat outside imbibed and enjoyed the Miami skyline and stars. Awesome first day and everyone slept well. Coffee is brewed so more to come later.

Sailing

We're headed past Miami!

Beau's 35th Birthday

Personally speaking, I think we did a good job of celebrating Beau’s birthday in style this year. Friday afternoon I decided to throw him an impromptu birthday party scheduled for Sunday evening. I texted and called friends and gave them the details and they all could come! What great joy! We had about 14 people over Sunday night for hot dogs and all the fixin’s. And since Mr. Beau doesn’t care for cake all that much, we had ice cream sundaes. I tried my hand at a new homemade ice cream in Beau’s liking, Bourbon Caramel. Quite tasty.

 

The party started at 6:30 and went on until midnight. What an evening of celebrating this great man!

 

I think he definitely started celebrating on Friday when my sister, Jennifer, had the Buffalo Kickin’ Chicken Sandwich, Hot, Fried, delivered to the house for lunch as a surprise. He called me singing “Kickin’ Chicken!!!!”. He loved it!

 

Since yesterday was his actual day of birth, we celebrated then too. He had dinner with his mom at his favoriate place to eat, the Kickin’ Chicken, and then we went out for Tacos at Juanita Greenburg’s for dinner. Complete with a Choco Taco for dessert. J Compliments of the chef, our friend, Becky Woofter.