Deconstructed hot dogs

Yesterday we passed the thousand-miles-to-go mark and so it’s all down hill from here. The seas have moderated a bit and we’re running more downwind and life on board is a bit more civilised. Vanessa even managed to make soda bread yesterday, which was excellent. I had some for breakfast this morning with pineapple jam, the closest thing the Galapagos has to Frank Cooper’s thick cut marmalade.Things had sunk fairly low on the culinary front prior to yesterday, with lunchtime hot dogs marking the nadir. With no soft finger rolls, we had to make do with “Bimbo” bread. This is remarkable stuff in many ways. It last for weeks, never goes mouldy and never goes stale. Goodness knows what’s in it; it’s probably best not to ask. But its one failing is that the slices are too small to accommodate a hot dog. Vanessa’s inspired solution was to serve up a bowl of chopped up frankfurter and two pieces of Bimbo bread, each smeared with a good helping of ketchup. All you had to do was take a mouthful of bread, quickly followed by a piece of frankfurter and voila, the hot dog was reconstructed.Eating out of bowls rather than off plates has become pretty standard. In maritime circles the bowls are described as “dog bowls”, which at least has the effect of lowering expectations. However, despite the plastic bowls and “sporks”, Vanessa manages to conjure up culinary delights whatever the sea state, hot dogs aside, and in fairness to her, frankfurters were never going to form the basis of haute cuisine.For those of you nautically minded, we are sailing at 160 degrees to the wind, with the genoa poled out to windward, and with the Blue Water Runner on the other side. But the Blue Water Runner is a twin headsail I hear you cry. It is indeed, but we have chosen to tie the clews together, not, I hasten to add, as a punishment for its previous misdemeanours, but to enable us to fly it as a single yankee. So far it seems to be working a treat. Let’s hope the next blog’s content is as bland as this one!———-radio email processed by SailMailfor information see: http://www.sailmail.com