Where is GYPSEA?

Well today ocean conditions with waves 3-4 feet provided a perfect opportunity to change plans and take advantage of a beautiful day of cruising to our destination on the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) from Southport, NC to Moorehead City, NC. It will actually take two more days on the ICW before we move onto Virginia, but no complaints here. I will take a beautiful cruise that offers views of fantastic homes contrasted by areas of serene marshes and untouched beaches over a bumpy ocean ride any day. We had several dolphin sitings today, but too fleeting to capture images of. The ICW lived up to its reputation of bridges potentially slowing down travel. We did not plan ahead for timing of bridges that only open on schedule, so when we approached the Wrightsville Beach bridge just after 11 am, we had to wait until noon for it to open again (It will do so only sooner for the army or commercial vessels) as it only opens on the hour. Following that we came upon the Onslow Beach bridge, which also opens on schedule every hour as well, but we timed it much better so had only a few minutes to wait for that bridge to open. There were several areas along the way that we had to proceed with caution as the water depths were quite low, but still safely passable as long as we took our time. With five hours before we would reach our destination and cruising on very calm waters, today was the day to finally spend time in the galley (kitchen)! Carl has been working hard at the helm the last two days, so I decided to make his favorite meal, chicken cutlets with a tomato salad. You really can’t eat a tomato salad without a crusty loaf of bread, so homemade bread was added to the menu. To fill the sweet tooth, I made a healthy version of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. It is truly zen prepping meals on the boat when you are in calm waters, and are able to look at the beautiful scenery that you pass along the way. While the galley is compact, it truly has all I need to mimic the meals I make on land. The only challenge is that I am working with a convection vs conventional oven, so I am limited in the size of bakeware I can use (and only round cookie sheets will fit), but thus far it is been more than doable. I am a definite Instagram recipe junkie, and i particularly like the no knead bread recipe I made tonight. It is actually a cheesy bread recipe, but tastes just a good without the cheese and herbs, both of which I have subbed in or out on different occasions. Today I decided to coat with sesame seeds. instagram.com/andyseascostkitchen_/reel/Cp7YYsJOoUx/

While I did not have a cast iron dutch oven to bake it in as I do at home(and am seriously considering adding to the galley), It still came out nice and crusty baked in a 9 inch round cake pan lined with parchment paper. I didn’t have a mallet to pound my cutlets, but a wooden spatula did the trick! When I was done breading the cutlets (which I did ahead of time and kept in the fridge until we got to port) I had a fair amount of egg wash and bread crumbs left and rather than making some meatless cutlets (which my boys still to love love to eat), I realized I had some small red and orange peppers, so instead made stuffed peppers. I had some fresh spinach I had steamed and frozen, and threw in some chopped onions (cooked in a mug in the microwave with EVOO and garlic) white wine, and some fresh grated Parmesan cheese. Following that I threw together a simple tomato salad with Compari tomatoes, chopped scallions, and fresh basil. When it was time to eat I tossed it with EVOO, a small amount of white wine vinegar and sea salt. The Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies were really quite good and were sweetened with honey. https://www.skinnytaste.com/healthy-chocolate-chip-oat-cookies/#recipe

To say were were stuffed when done, is an understatement, but we both agreed it was our favorite meal so far. Homemade chicken cutlets win every time! And of course we have leftovers to carry us through the next couple of days! So tomorrow will have to focus on how I keep moving on the boat and burn calories during long days on the water. It was quite a challenge when we were on the open ocean, but today I could easily do a workout while we were cruising. Will share some tips tomorrow.

As it turned out, Moorehead City, which is were we are docked this evening, was the perfect place to stay onboard. The marina (at least where we were docked) was more industrial in nature, and there were not shops or a restaurant within view to lure us away. It may exist here but was not readily apparent. The dock hands who came to help us tie up were very nice, especially given we got here just as they were getting ready to close the office.

Our dock neighbor was on a sailboat heading from the Bahamas back to Ohio on Lake Eerie. He asked if we were caught in “the storm” earlier today. Thankfully no since we were not on the ocean. He offered that seas were up to 15 feet! Honestly that sounded just horrifying to me. He all but chuckled when I said we stayed on the ICW because the seas near here were 4-5 feet today. I will never feel the urge to win that contest! I am happy he made it here safe and hope I never find myself in any conditions remotely like that (even if I do have a survival suit EPIRP, and life raft)!.

Tomorrow we will continue on the ICW to Bellhaven and hope to explore that town when we get there, and then the last stop in North Carolina will be Coinjock. This is apparently the prime rib capital of the world!…I kid you not. Any other boaters we mentioned this trip to advised that on our way through NC we had to stay at Coinjock Marina and go to their restaurant and get their famous…are you ready for this…32 oz prime rib!…definitely not my thing, but I am under peer pressure to at least check it out. So I called the restaurant at the marina, thinking if this is so famous we should make reservations as it would be sadly ironic if we docked there and could not get the famous prime rib. Well as it turns out, they do not take reservations for less than 6 people, but I was advised I should reserve my prime rib! I can’t even type this with a straight face. Well reserve I did, the famous 32 oz prime rib for two! Not sure if we will be eating it sitting at a table or getting it at the front door but If I get there between 11 am and 8 pm, there will be a prime rib with our name on it! Will be doing lots of extra workouts over these next few days.

OK, so enough about food, but I wanted to keep to my word to offer how we cook and prepare on board….though not always as elaborate as tonight…lots of simple grilling and a salad and grilled veggies on the side. Carl more than earned this meal tonight!

On to Bellhaven!

So long Southport!

Happy Camper on the ICW..Captain Carl focused at the helm!

Wrightsville Beach Bridge where we had to wait 45 min for it to open!

The parade of boats that waited for the Wrightsville Beach bridge to open!

Moving along passed the open Onslow Beach Bridge.

One of several bridges we could easily pass under.

Another Instagram recipe favorite for lunch: Celery salad with chopped pecans, dates and onions with a white vine vinaigrette dressing.

Basil, today is your day! Finally going to do some cooking!

Cutlet prep!

Improvised mallet to pound the cutlets thin!

Mix of extra light OO and EVOO to cook the cutlets in..mandatory aluminum foil barrier to catch oil splatter!

The dough is risen, and bread is ready to be baked.

Now onto dessert! I substituted extra light olive oil for the coconut oil in the recipe posted and they held their shape fine.

Finished and delicious!

Dinner is complete!

Being able to make bread so easily is a game changer. We will typically freeze half since there are no preservatives in it and then it will last longer without getting stale. While a bit of a carb heavy meal, every now and then you need comfort food; especially when far from home!