Boat life

I had to go into work for a few hours today on the weekend.  I thought I would be in and out, but (won't bore you with the details) because of technology issues that affected a guest, ending up having to stay longer.  This was along with having to go in yesterday too, to take care of a few things in the office.

So when I came out today and got on my bike my mind slightly felt down and I was reminded of times back in Dublin when I would have also worked on Saturday's and Sunday's.  But as I cycled along Eaton Street, up Palm Avenue, and stopped at the top of the hill overlooking Garrison Bight it reminded me just how different my life is now. A flavour of my weekend (in between the stints of work) is below.

On Saturday we went out for a wonderful fishing trip, further than we had ever gone before.  Patrick went out with his friend recently who showed him this spot and how to use his Garmin to get there.  And he did it!  It was very exciting to be so far away from land and in an area I had not fished before.  Between us we caught two nice porgy and Patrick landed a BIG plump lane snapper.  And I hooked a starfish!!!!  Pulled up my line and there was a beautiful starfish hanging like a christmas tree decoration.  This photo was an attempt to capture it but instead it caught the moment it fell off my hook....if you look really closely you can see one of it's arms in the bottom left hand side of the photo! My face shows my feelings about not getting the photo lol.

And guess what we are for dinner that night instead of take out?! Fresh fish!!!!

 

Then today, the weather was SO BAD this morning that really it was an unexpected bonus that we got out this afternoon.  I cycled in to work, stayed for the few hours and then headed to the yacht club where I met Patrick.  We zipped out to the crab traps and pulled up this haul of 7 good size stone crab claws.  Delighted!

This is our docking spot.  Note the hose pipe connected to the engine.  We are flushing it out with freshwater to get rid the salty sea water and clean out any dirt etc.  It was really nice in the yacht club and we took our time hosing and scrubbing the boat and with the engine flushing.  Case in point: see how relaxed and smiley Patrick looks :)

 Long story short, let that be the last negative thought to go through my head for some time yet!

Good food is all the sweeter when shared with good friends

 The day arrived for our hosting party!  We did a lot of preparing, cleaning, pre planning, planning, deciding lay outs and talking through timelines, to make it run smooth, and we are delighted because in the end it went great!

First things first, covid. I feel very lucky to live somewhere that the climate lends itself to being outside a lot, if not all of the time.  Also, it was really, really breezy (windy) yesterday which meant that even when we were indoors there was a huge amount of air blowing through the house.  We had all the doors open, and this movement of fresh clean air helped make things feel safe also.

Preparing: We cleaned all morning on Sunday.  Also included in that time was a run to the grocery store to get key lime pie (dessert), mayonnaise (for the key lime mustard) and cupcakes for a colleague leaving The Saint. Patrick kindly drove me down to the hotel so I could run in quickly with those and that was during the morning time also. Patrick figures it was 4 hours cleaning between the two of us.  I think it was more like five.  How can a small house need so much cleaning?  But I must say it feels nice now, the morning after, having everything spick and span.

And of course it was worth it, for all of THIS:

Fruits of our Labour! 5.5lbs or 32 crab claws (4 each)

After everyone arrived and were outside, set up with drinks etc., Patrick and I moved swiftly (all that communication and preplanning work paid off!) and set the table and laid out the claws on ice.  When everyone arrived in to eat there was a lot of oohing and ahhing, and lovely convivial conversation all about what a treat stone crab was.  It was really lovely and gratifying to hear how much everyone was enjoying the food. After all that was always the objective - to provide something lovely that people would enjoy.  Oh and prosecco, everyone had a glass of chilled crisp prosecco which is always a good accompaniment to crab claws.

Smorgasbord

I know I keep mentioning the preparation, but actually, a crab claw party is probably one of the easiest gatherings I've hosted from a cooking/preparing perspective. They are boiled fresh once we catch them and then immediately frozen.  So all you really need to do on the day is have defrosted them prior (18 hours in the fridge starting the night before!) and then lay them out on the ice displayed nice.  I made the devilled eggs earlier that morning in between the cleaning - but they are easy to make, in fact I enjoy it/find it therapeutic. And I popped the (Publix) garlic bread in the oven 30 minutes before everyone was due to arrive. Oh! I made a key lime mustard dipping sauce too - which is sooooo easy and delicious, and got lots of compliments!

Happy Birthday Emily! Celebrated with a Key West "birthday cake", lol

Even with it being breezy, it was just perfect outdoors

Good people! Love this gang!

The cooler behind us doubles up as place for ice and a bench seat. I like this photo of us!

Monday's are certainly easier after a wonderful weekend like this. 

I wish you all a fantastic Monday and week ahead everyone! 

Crab trapping - the best day yet!

 

Look at this!!

Just imagine, with the weather the way it is at the moment (windy!), we weren't even sure if we would get out on the water.  Well we did! And in the first trap we pulled up we get two monster crabs and get two of these monster claws off of them.  And this haul could have been doubled!! Technically (legally) you are allowed take the two claws, but morally we always just take one.

We ate crab claws last night and we have the makings of a fabulous Valentine's celebration dinner waiting in the freezer.  Sure feels decadent I tell you, nothing like that sweet crab claw meat.