Yesterday we went into a market on Staniel Cay to pick up some fresh produce but the shelves were empty except for onions, garlic, carrots and cabbage because the weekly supply boat wasn’t due until later that afternoon. This prompted me to write about how a couple of foodies are faring without refrigeration. Well, it’s like camping for a couple of months but we are getting by better than I thought. I do crave a cold yogurt, fresh greens and cold drinks. However, I can’t complain when you think of how little others have to eat in the rest of the world.

ICE

We have an icebox filled with warm beer and seltzer which we drink each day. In the evening we mainly have been having a rum drink made with freshly squeezed oranges, limes and lemons with a little tonic or bitters. It is delicious - but oh so much better on ice. So, we get creative or beg. We traded a beautiful mutton snapper filet to a couple and in return they invited us over to their boat for drinks. We became friends and have gone over for cold drinks a couple of times, or, if they come over to us they bring ice. We helped out another boat with directions, and then begged for ice. In Cambridge Cay we were on the last mooring that happened to be for boats 100 feet or larger. A few hours later a big boat came in and took a recently freed smaller mooring. A perky Australian crew member popped over on the jet ski and asked if we would mind trading. We said sure - if we could have some ice. We did the trade and she came over with a whole cooler bag full of ice. Later she came back with their crew member in charge of fish and refilled the bag. We went wild with cold beers, iced water, iced seltzer and rum drinks for 24 hours. We splurged and opened a can of evaporated milk and had that in our coffee and on granola rather than the powdered milk we have been using.

MEAT

     Every once in a while we catch fish. We have dined on small snapper, jacks, a small blackfin tuna,  and ever since we got a great new lure in Spanish Wells - Mutton Snapper and Mahi-Mahi.

Mahi-Mahi 

We also had several meals from some conch we collected. If we go into a town we sometimes get a frozen piece of meat and eat it that day.


cleaning the conch

conch salad
    
 We eat what we can for breakfast, lunch and dinner for 24 hours and we give away what we know we can’t eat immediately to grateful sailors. Nico made homemade corned beef and every so often I pull out a 6 - 8 oz. piece that I cook up with carrots, onions, cabbage starry style or with diced potato or sweet potato as a hash. We have canned chicken from Trader Joe’s that I cook with red curry and coconut milk with the usual carrots, onions, cabbage or canned Asian veggies. Tonight, however, we will feast on soba noodles and fresh mung bean sprouts that I grew in my seed sprouter! I make a variety of skillet dishes with tuna, sardines, pink salmon, and even spam! I make dishes with pasta, capers, olives, artichoke hearts and dry Italian sausage. I bought farmer’s market eggs in Vero Beach and they lasted about a month - frittatas, omelets, hard boiled on a cabbage salad nicoise. We also eat beans and rice in a variety of ways. A trick that Nico learned in one of his sailing books is to make an omelette the next morning, using up any dinner leftovers.

Omelette with chicken curry leftovers
     
 Typical meals: hash w/eggs with hearts of palm salad, Salmon burgers, beans and rice,  canned chicken & pasta, root veggie hash, lots of stir frys using cabbage, carrots & onions, various salads using cabbage as the green.

SPAM with corn, sweet potatoes, carrots and sprouts

FRUIT

     Our fruit supply has been good. I bought grapefruits, oranges, lemons and limes at a grower in Vero and I keep them in a net. I have to check every day because suddenly one will start to look bad and needs to be eaten that day. Hard apples such as gala have lasted. I have canned fruit which we haven’t used yet and I bought a bunch of freeze dried fruits at Trader Joes which have been good with granola. When I can I buy local fruit such as a giant papaya.

papaya

VEGGIES

     I’ve mentioned the basic onions, carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes and cabbage but I also keep various squash and beets in our net. I buy, and use up quickly, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. I was able to get beautiful arugula grown on Eleuthera. Last resort are the canned vegetables stored away in the salon.

SPAM, tomato and sprout pitas

BREADS and SWEETS

     We loaded up on a variety of cookies, chocolate and candies. I make a pan of brownies or bars once in a while. I made an apple crisp using pie filling from a can. When in Eleuthera we bought some homemade treats like pineapple upside-down cake, sweet potato jonnycakes and bread. I buy fresh bread when I can and then we use pita bread and wraps along with WASA crackers or a Norwegian brown bread that lasts forever until opened. I also planned on making bread but found it is too hot to have the oven going.

snapper, sweet potato johnny cake and papaya

GOING ASHORE

      Last but not least, we do eat ashore once in a while. We had dinner with Steve Connett and his partner Barbara in Spanish Wells but Nico’s Wahoo fish was way overcooked. We had a sailor’s potluck in Hatchet Bay that was made up of a variety of snacks that don’t need refrigeration, and in Staniel Cay we went to very different kind of restaurant called Taste and Sea. We found out we had to order before 11:00 for lunch. When we went in at 11:30 the place was deserted and they gave us the special which was Dumply Soup in big styrofoam containers. We got a cold beer and sat down, looking over the turquoise bay. Then, one after another, pickup trucks arrived filled with workmen coming in for their orders. Soon it was packed. Another cruising couple came in hoping for lunch and were told they would have to wait and get whatever was leftover. Dumply Soup, pronounced Dumplee, was a thick gravy surrounding a variety of pork parts (vertebrae, rib, tail, unidentifiable bones) and wide, thick noodles. There was even some plantain and possibly a carrot in there. Also, we have very much enjoyed having lunch, dinner  and wonderful snacks aboard Diamond Sky with Roger and Laura Gray, and Scuppers, their cat. 


We did not eat this little guy!