TransAtlantic Day 10: The Big Nothing, and Bridget Jones' Second Date Salmon

We saw this coming yesterday. After 9 days of ideal sailing conditions we ran into the Big Nothing of doldrums.

Actually it wasn’t totally without wind, as we got just enough to flog our sails about, but not so much that it could move Amari's big fat bottom by much.

For me anyway, I think too little wind is worse than too much.

It's like temperature. If it gets colder, you can always put on more clothes to brace against it until you can get home and snug up to the fireplace where you belong. But when it gets hotter, well, there’s a finite number of clothes you can remove without at least some jail time.

Likewise, I’d rather face increasing winds (to a point!) because I can always respond to it by falling off, spilling the wind, or reefing down to a handkerchief. At least I can DO something!

But under no wind, there’s just nothing sailing-wise to do but passively bob about like a discarded champagne cork. You can’t respond to the Big Nothing.

That said, I suppose you could turn on the engine and motor through the dead zone to find the wind, but what kind of sailors would we be if we raised the white flag, capituated to convenience, and let the diesel do our dirty work?? Nay, me hearties, we are committed to sailing every inch of this passage. Yarrr!

The good news is that the Big Nothing sat on us in the afternoon, but as of my early morning watch we are now ripping along at 4.2 knots with winds upwards of oooohhh 7 to 10 knots!

The winds should increase through this week and give us a nice ride back in, all the way to Rodney Bay.

Tales of a Galley Slave

We are making our way through the Dorado I caught, having the 4th meal on it so far last night. And I had most of the ingredients for “Bridget Jones' Diary Second Date Salmon” from Ottolenghi's Simple cookbook.

Okay not the salmon, and you’d think that would be somewhat important given that it’s in the title. But the Dorado pinch hit admirably, topped with a salsa of olives, capers, pine nuts, minced bell pepper, with saffron and thyme.

This fish tasted great, but it’s no longer the tender buttery filet it once was. Who among us is, I guess. So for the last few filets it’ll need to bathe in a sauce of some kind. Likely a roasted chili tomato sautee with a tahini sauce drizzle.

From Ottolenghi, Simple.

We also had to finish up the zucchini so I split one in half, hollowed it out and stuffed it with the zucch flesh, diced tomato, bread crumbs and an egg to bind it, pine nuts, and a crowd pleasing overabundance of parmesan cheese.

But tomorrow it’s back to the pulled pork roast we made before leaving. With the wind behind us and pork in front of us, it’s looking like a Sunday Fun Day for sure!