Quiet Thursday on Barnegat Bay

Captain Bill and I went head-to-head for a bit and had a few 

friendly words.  Sailboats ruled the bay today, and this confirmed

my preference for sailing on weekdays.  I'm lucky that I'm able to

do so, and really lucky to get a weekend day off as well.

What He Said

\

Clarified herb butter, Sous Vide Cote de Boeuf?  Holy............
When the meat was sliced, nothing bled out. It rested while being
submerged in the clarified butter.  When the meat rests, the juices
stop flowing, and then when the meat is cut, less juice flows out of it. 

Enjoying Our Freedom

Freedom to drink any ice cold, cheap American beer we want.

Railmeat with a side of Bratwurst.

The baywater was end-of-summer warm, and some of us made it

even warmer.  I couldn't resist taking sea level pictures.  I'd just

polished the transom of its ugly diesel smudge and thought it was 

a good opportunity for a photo. 

 It was just deep enough to require me to kick vigorously while 

snapping the photo.  I love seeing the boat from the water.

The bay is nice and clean and where we anchored, about four and 

a half feet deep.  The rudder was inches from the bottom. 

Wiener dog swam much to her chagrin, but was re-vitalized 

once back on solid fiberglass and teak.  "You owe me big time!".

Wave That Flag

Happy and Safe Memorial Day.

Like Buttah

For at the very least one of my two readers:

This is like seared foie gras on top of a diver scallop,

garnished with sea urchin and white truffles.

I think they could've had Jimmy's amplifier a bit louder though.

Shut up Davey.  Can I borrow your lighter Dude?

Daddy's Home Tonight

Put them Tyson chicken tenders back in the freezer, rapido!

Bottomless Steak

Wooden buttons:   $2.00 each

Custom embroidered cap:   $20.00

White long-sleeve oxford shirt:   $49.95

Wooden bow-tie:  Priceless

Thanks for the photo Charley.  It must have been a great event! 

Gotta Find Better Shoes

Off The Dole

I got so sick of free soup, coffee and doughnuts.

Today was my first day off  in a year and a half.

It felt completely different than every day of the last year and a half.

Because I knew for sure, once again, that it would end really quickly.

And I made the best of it.  Just me and my sailboat.

Happy Mothers' Day

The only reservations I had about Mothers' Day were trying

to get reservations on Mothers' Day.  Shhhhhhhh............,

between you and me, today, Valentine's Day, and New Year's

Eve are the three most amateur dining events on the culinary 

calendar. You're better off going out one or two days before any

 of these dates; reservations are easier to get, it won't be quite as 

busy, and you probably won't get roped into a prix fixe menu 

where you all have to pay the same price for a menu you're 

not necessarily interested in.  But hey, you wanted to go out on one 

of these days.  We're happy to see you.  We just need your credit 

card number for a guarantee. We'll get the money whether you 

show up or not...............  Stay home. Between you and me. 

Get some cured olives and Epoisses Berthaut and a baguette.

Then let that Epoisses sit out a couple of hours until its sides start

to bulge out.  Frost two champagne glasses and fill with chilled 

Champagne.  Go out to the patio and sit back.  The rest I don't

need to tell you.  I know you both well enough by now.

Get some Ro Dylin King Crab legs, and with an herb snipper,

cut the length of the shells and remove the meat, placing it in a

saucepan with melted butter.  Then snip some chives over that 

meat and put heat on low.  You can cover the pan to keep the 

moisture in until you're ready to serve.  

Grill some marinated, butterflied leg of lamb over some applewood

chips, let it rest for 5 minutes so the juices stop boiling inside, so 

when you slice the meat, all the flavorful juices don't flow out onto 

and over the edge of the cutting board.  Place your perfectly boiled 

asparagus and impeccably roasted weird-shaped fingerling 

potatoes on the plate, then fan your rosy-pink lamb slices and drizzle 

pesto you bought at Wegman's around and over.  

Hey, sometimes you need a little help.

Happy Mothers' Day to my lovely wife and mother of our two lovely

daughters.  You're the best friend I ever had, and I can't imagine 

living one day without you. 

Destiny

Go figure that I ended up in the hospitality/restaurant business.

Uncle Carl was my great grandmother's second husband, and the

 two of them ran a quite successful bar and grill in Irvington, N.J.

for years.  Coincidence?  Maybe, maybe not.

  

I'm thinking the guy crossing the street is lucky to be on foot 

instead of behind the wheel at this point.  Too many pickled eggs 

with his shooters and beers.  On the bright side, it looks to be 

early in the day. Hopefully he made the best of it.

Carl, on the left, was proprietor, while Gram was cooking (smiling

from the pass).  Check out the sparkling bar.  The back of a bar 

these days doesn't look a whole hell of a lot different.  He had every

 right to be proud of his establishment.  The Angostura bitters bottle 

has not changed.  A couple more familiar faces were in the crowd:

The man to the far right with fedora and wire-rimmed glasses

was Grampa, Mom's Dad, and her brother Don to his left, 

Mojo's Dad.  To this day, I have an oval platter from Carl's.

As time goes by, I use it less and less.  

In the twenties, Grampa coached the local Rahway football team.

Probably just a club team, they look too old to be High School

kids.  Again, probably no coincidence that I'm passionate about the 

sport.  Although he died when I was about 7 or 8, I have to believe

that he had visions of me playing ball.  The tall guy to his side 

is probably a good indicator of how I would have looked next to

 him.  Just not quite as narrow in the mid section.  It would have

been neat for him to have seen me play.  With a plastic helmet on.

With M2F in Mind

Photo taken several years before the author was there.  I'm surprised
the pickerel weren't jumping onto the foredeck.  Five feet long, minimum.

Check out the wooden wraparound splash guard on this vintage

Sunfish.  The gooseneck height was rigged for maximum tacking and 

gybing comfort. I sailed this boat many times on that same pond, 

Elbow Pond in Andover, New Hampshire.  Ragged Lake Camp,

 a  summer camp where my brother and I went for the summers of 

1972 and '73, was an ideal place for boys to go to gain appreciation

for the outdoors, live in tents, wash in the lake, eat in the mess hall,

drink bug juice, get eaten alive by mosquitos, and partake in all the 

other charming activities that summer camp could afford.

Now that I've opened this can of worms, expect more on this 

enchanted place, considering the onset of summer. 

Game Over

Did someone mention getting the mast stuck in the mud?

The spreaders are a great location for that mast to snap.

Keep Off the Grass!

After eight months of looking at a mound of ground up tree 

stump on our neighbor's front yard, we decided to have it removed.

These snowplow stakes are in place to keep the hundreds of people

wandering across our yards each day off of the freshly-sown grass

seeds. I'm not sure why the recycling can is there; maybe he plans on 

reading the newspaper while waiting for the grass to sprout.  

I kinda liked the way the tree looked there better.

Don't mind the stupid video, just enjoy the song.

I still don't know why they named a college

after toothpaste.

Fowl Play

This photographer also took that cool Flyers' Stanley Cup photo
and the one with the rafter of turkeys on his roof.  Something about wings.

Back to what this blog evidently was envisioned to do; report 

less about windsurfing and more about knitting crotcheting food.

Slow-roasted, herbed, O Docker side-of-the-river, roaming chicken,
with a knot of six red potatoes and an onion/eggplant manicure. 

There's something to be said about chickens that wander the

streets wherever they please.  It's quite charming in an Amish kind 

of way.  But what's to stop an innocent passerby from becoming 

instantly inspired by the sight of a free-range bird?

Yes Windsurfing

O Docker!

Where art Thou, Brother?

It's Always Something

Does either of you know someone who needs to take this?

We do.

P.S.- And she'll be well taken care of.