Cooking

I was inspired to write a blog post about cooking after watching a marathon of episodes of Anthony Bourdain's series No Reservations and The Layover. The problem is I think I am more inspired to write about Tony rather than cooking itself. I've kept coming back to work on this post, it's been a
bit of a struggle, and I think I've finally just realized that I just don't have much to say about what goes on in the galley. To be totally honest Gordon does most of, if not all, the cooking aboard. I am a lucky gal indeed, and on the flip side, it is I that does the cleaning. It's a very fair trade, and we both agree that its best that we stick to that which we are best at respectively. That said there are those days, weeks, and months that Gordon is away on the tug and the Boy and I don't go hungry. I most certainly prefer a diet of whole natural foods with the occasional pub lunch. I have no desire to fill my son, nor myself, with synthetic processed foods and so I have learnt a skill or two in the galley. As I read more and more about the liveaboard lifestyle the interest in improving my cooking skills is certainly growing. I have been rather intrigued by the possibilities of solar cooking, and my recent Pinterest account is slowly spawning an eye for a recipe here and there. Particularly, these Black Bean Brownies, a combination of two of my favorite foods, chocolate and black beans!

We primarily cook upon our small but mighty Origo 6000, a non pressurized alcohol stove with 2 burners and an oven. We've learnt through our online research that folks either love the Origo or absolutely despise it. With daily experience we have learnt the nuances of our Origo and just work with it. Cooking times are slightly longer, but what's the rush to hurry up and eat? We also use an electric kettle in the mornings for coffee, though this is about conserving fuel not time. The only real difficulty is in finding the required denatured alcohol in our current neck of the woods, so we end making trips to Kingston quite regularly to stock up. 

Given that we are liveaboards with limited space, we still have quite an array of cast iron and stainless steel pots and pans.  Both work equally well on our alcohol flame depending on what you are cooking. Meals can become a bit of a juggle with the limited stove top space, especially with the Boy being a bit of a picky eater, but we are quickly learning the art of the one-pot-wonder! I'll let you know how the black bean brownies go over, just please, don't tell the boy what they are made of ;)