Crab and Old Bay Cookies

So a good friend of mine was born here in Maryland and recently moved to Florida. She has been a bit home sick. So I made her some Christmas Cookies with a bit of a Maryland theme. Crab and Old Bay. To those of you who are not from Maryland Old Bay is sort of the unofficial state seasoning it is a delicious blend of spices that goes perfect on crabs or shrimp or sweet potato fries. People around here put it on everything from crabs to chips to cheese.

Old Bay canister and cookie

The Old Bay Cookie is made with a square cookie cutter the Joy of Cooking's rich roll cookie dough and royal icing made the way that Sweetopia instructs. Everything is piped except the seasonings part is written using something called food writers. Food writers are basically markers of food coloring that you can use on well dried royal icing

Old Bay Cookie, canister and Crab cookie

'

Old Bay Crab cookie and Old Bay Canister

Crab is made with the same recipe for roll cookies and royal icing but the add of red disco dust and red edible glitter added while the red was wet. 

Sock Monkey Saturday with Sock Monkey and Tree cookies

This Saturday I went with friends to an annual tradition in my group of friends Sock Monkey Saturday at the American Visionary Arts Museum. Every year it is a blast kookie and charming all in one.
Since it is a four hour event I am always getting the munchies. This year for my friends and I I made some sock monkey cookies and a few trees.

Here they are with my sock kitten. 

And all of our sock critters all together. 

Next year I will have to get a real sock monkey cookie cutter MONKEY FACE cookie cutter

Baltimore Parade of Lighted Boats December 7 , 2013 Annapolis Parade of Lighted Boats December 14, 2013

As you are trying to get into your festive mood for this holiday season one of the best things in my mind is to go watch a parade of lighted boats. What is awesome is there are two locally in the next two weekends. Baltimore is on December 7 and  Annapolis on December 14.
Lighted boat parades combine nautical and maritime with Griswald like holiday cheer. The hours and number of lights used to create these displays is amazing.
Baltimore Parade of lighted boats is put on Fells Point Yacht Club and supports Toys for Tots. The best viewing area is the fells point pier and near the pier 6 area.  Baltimore's is much more spread out then Annapolis.

Annapolis( well the Maritime Republic of Eastport) puts on their lighted boat  on December 14. Eastport Yacht Club sponsors in Annapolis. The best viewing spot is at Pussers and the hotel right behind Pussers however the whole of ego alley is usually packed with people. People will line the bridge and boats will go on both sides of the bridge in about 30 minute groups.

How to watch a parade of lighted boats

1. Dress warmly for the weather. Layers and hats and gloves are key 

2. Bring hot chocolate ( spiked if adults is a delicious option) but hot beverages make this much more fun

3. Bring candy canes for some reason this adds to the fun and they take a while to eat so plenty of time to eat a candy cane while watching 

4. Bring friends and family. This is a great outing for the whole family or a group of friends more people exclaiming over angelic sailboats and trans out of sailboats and how in the world did they get that tug to look like a crab is much more fun. 

5. For Annapolis get there early as parking and finding a spot can take longer then you expect. Baltimore the parade is much more spread out so this is not an issue. 

6. Bring your Camera!! you want to snap some pictures. 

7.Have a pandora Christmas mix on your phone or some other way of playing a little Christmas music because you will have times where you feel like caroling or at least listening to Bong Crosby sing.

8. Make sure kids and clumsy adults stay back from waters edge you do not want anyone going in the water in December.

9. Merry Christmas

Holiday Gifts for Sailors under $50

It is that time of year and you are stuck trying to figure out what to get for that person who has everything so you think to yourself "she or he loves to sail I'll get them something sailing related". Ah but what to get in your price range? Below is a list of great gifts for the sailors in your life. ( Or yourself)

Under $10
Honestly there is not a whole lot boat related under ten dollars. But there are always stocking stuffer needs. So then you decide are you going to go fun like a drink koozie with sailboats on it.

Or are you going to go practical like white electrical tape

$10-$25
SailorBag Sailcloth lunchbag- Perfect for a few drinks and a snack. This is ideal for a few hour sail or for the sailor in your life to bring to lunch. $15

The Marlinspike Sailor - This book is how to do all the fancy knotwork. Some fun stuff to do over the winter to learn better line handling and things like splicing triple strand. $12.75

A rigging knife- Every sailor should own one and it goes great as a package with the previous marlinspike sailor book. They are great for splicing as well as useful for all sorts of applications. $17.12

Mclube- Ok not the sexiest gift or the most exciting but honestly almost every boat owner needs an extra can of this stuff. It is the best boat lubricant and so useful. So for the practical sailor this comes in super handy.$16.99

$25-$50
Leatherman Skeletool - I keep mine clipped to my shorts while sailing. The perfect combo of pliers and knife without anything much extra weighing it down this is my favorite multi-tool. This year mine ( with frequent washing) has done everything from crack lobsters to open beers to fix halyards or cut a new batten to fit. $39.89

New Sailing gloves- Go look at their old ones and get a new pair because racers will chew through a pair in about a year and a spare pair is always a great thing. Gil ones $25.36

This Ships Flask- Come one this is an awesome way to bring some rum down to the boat. at $25.39 this is sure to warm the heart of your favorite sailor.

Holiday Gifts for Home Cooks under $50

Christmas and Hanukkah are coming up fast and soon. Holidays are a great time and we all have those that are foodies or cooks in our lives. The probably have many tools but the question exists what to get that great cook that is making you your favorite dish? Prices may change as they are of the day I wrote the list

Under $10
Digital instant read thermometer in cute colors $8.99. Every cook needs one or more handy.


Manatea Infuser for Tea $10  Adorable little sea creature for the tea lover. Also awesome in soup pots for things like bay leaves that you want to fish out later.

$10-$25
Pepermint hot coco mix from Sur La Table Seriously this stuff is amazingly awesome. It is like french kissing Santa's elves. $10.95

Magnetic Retro kitchen timer. It adds charm to the kitchen and is super functional and makes a nice bzzing sound when it goes off. Comes in lots of cute colors. I have a blue one and friends are always asking where I got it. $11.56

Silpat Once they own one it will boggle their minds how they ever did without. From cookies to roast chicken one of these goes under and makes cleanup a breeze on everything as a matter of fact feel free to get people a second or third if they already own one. $17.24

$25-$50
Immersion Blender soups gravy sauces and smoothies are a wonder using this. Fast as anything to make awesome salad dressings. All sorts of easy emulsions and smooth things. Comes in all sorts of cute colors or classics silver or white. $34.95

Oxo Good Grips non skid cutting board- Ok you are thinking a cutting board?!? Yes a cutting board this one has grooves for liquids and a silicone bit that keeps the surface on the obverse from touching the counter it is the best real cooks cutting board. It does not move around and is solid and not that expensive at $21.99

Le Creuset Stoneware mugs- They have the heft of a good diners mug with the pretty Le Creuset colors and style. They are great coffee mugs that keep the coffee hot and I will admit that I felt envy at my friends place when she served me coffee in them. $39.95

Peugeot Pepper Mill- These are the best lifetime awesome pepper mills and do a fantastic job of size control along with easy grinding. $35

Nutmeg grinder- If you have been reading this blog at all you have heard me rant about how much better real fresh ground nutmeg is then the dried stuff in a jar. You have probably converted to the fresh stuff and might as well help your friends out. $26.15

Keep tuned you merry gifters I will be doing higher price limit gift guides as well as sailor gift guides.
Happy Holidays.

Hostess Gifts for the dinner or party host

We are entering into party season. The cocktail parties the holiday get together the glitz the glamour the fun the stress of trying to figure out what to give as hostess gifts. Sometimes wine is the answer but a bottle of wine will often get lost in a bunch and not stand out to stand out try these ideas. Plus do not forget to send your thank you notes. Receiving a thank you note a few days after a party leaves the warm hosting glow that encourages people to host more often.


For the dinner or cocktail party host
Nutmeg grater
Fancy oils ( a friend of mine gave me this one and I love it )
Jar of Sea Salt Caramel Sauce(recipe here)
Good Coffee for the morning - a lb of nice coffee is always appreciated
Some muffins or cinnamon rolls for the next morning
Paperwhite or an Amaryllis bulb they require no effort from host that day but show your kindness for next month

My Pin Fail Nautical Painted Pumpkins

So let's all admit we look at Pintrest and think to ourselves humm that does not look so hard I can do that. Yup that is me. For a year or two now I have seen people repinning cute painted pumpkins in preppy nautical paint jobs. Since Blue-green and orange look very good together and humm how hard could it be to paint an anchor I decided to try it. Somehow, I expected it to look more like the ones I see truly talented people produce. So here is my pumpkin for the year and it is nautical but less then adorable.

Nautical Pumpkin

However I am proud that I grew the pumpkin myself and that I tried. Now if you want to see cute ones go over to the blog Sand & Sisal they have some darn adorable ones for those of you with some better art skills.

Privateer Day Fells Point

This weekend was Privateer Day in Fells Point Baltimore. Privateer Day is the local celebration of the nautical history that Fells Point Maryland was actually a harbor for Privateers and Pirates in the late 1700 early 1800's. It has a great fake battle with Pride of Baltimore and  other vessels shooting cannons at each other in front of Fells Point. There were also all sorts of great people dressed up as pirates and 1812. sea shanties were being sung by musicians. Plus then all the cheesy Pirate hoopla. A great people watching time. I did not grab too many pictures as I was mainly chatting with friends as we walked around but a quick few.

Easter Dinner Recap

I find it really useful to recap dinner party menus for myself and now that I am doing this blog I am going to share it with you.
Guests 4 adults 3 kids
Menu
Centerpiece- 30 chocolate covered peeps on sticks and 18 decorated cookies on sticks
        Note do not let the kids at the centerpiece as an appetizer they barely ate anything else. However                     chocolate covered peep on a stick was a huge hit as were the cookie sticks
Appetizer- carrots and peppers with hummus
                note:hummus was not a hit with the kids but the carrots were
Dinner-
10 lb ham (brown sugar glazed)
2 lbs asparagus(steamed with lemon)
1 lb brussel sprouts ( roasted with sesame oil and seeds)
10 twice baked potato halves( cheddar, garlic, sour cream, butter and horseradish)
                     Notes about twice as much ham as I should have made. Also about twice as much asparagus. Only had 3 leftover twice baked potato halves so good amount. The brussel sprouts were the sleeper hit almost all went and everyone loved them ( well except nephew who thought why eat brussel sprouts when there are jelly beans)

Dessert
Easter baskets, Strawberry lemon curd Triffle, centerpeice
               Note triffle one triffle bowl worth of triffle was the perfect amount only one serving leftover for breakfast this morning

My Centerpeep

I dipped peeps  in melted chocolate and then stuck bamboo sticks in them and then made some cookie pops and put it all in a basket with floral foam and Easter grass.

Lemon Cake and the Single Birthday Gal

It's my birthday and I'll have cake if I want to cake if I want to, you would have cake too if it happened to you. Today is my birthday and a Tuesday. A Tuesday is not a night that is all about going out and whopping it up. I went out with friends on Friday and with my sister on Saturday so my birthday is really already celebrated but hey I really felt like cake on my birthday. The thing about being single however is that nobody was going to bring me cake or make me a cake. Nor should I really consume a whole cake all by myself. Instead the mini lemon layer cake.

Ingredients for cake
1/3rd cup milk
Zest of two lemons
2/3 cup flour
2/3 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
juice of 1 lemon
Pam for baking

How to make cake
1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray 2-3 flat ramekins (mine are green but same size and brand) with Pam for baking
2.Zest the two lemons into the milk and let sit.This will infuse the milk with yummy lemon flavor.
3.In your mixer of food processor cream together butter and sugar
4. Add in the egg and then breifly mix again
5. Mix together the dry ingredients and add half to the food processor or mixer.
6. Add half the milk then the other half the dry ingredients and mix again
7. Then add the other half the milk mix and then add the lemon juice and mix again.
8.When everything fully combined divide between either 2 or 3 flat ramekins depending on number of layers wanted. Two layers will be very full but 3 layers is a different frosting ratio. If I had to do this again I would have used 3 ramekins but I used two today.

Ramekins (Zested lemon shown for scale)

9. Bake 20 minutes at 350 till dry in center
10. Invert onto cooling rack.

Ingredients for Frosting
1 stick softened butter
juice of 1 lemon
2 cups powdered sugar
pinch salt

How to make frosting
1. Cream butter
2. Add in lemon juice and then keep mixing adding in a pinch of salt
3 While mixing slowly add in powdered sugar and keep mixing until very creamy
4. Frost cake layers with frosting and then since it is on hand add a little bit of yellow disco dust, silver sanding sugar, and a yellow candy star. Serve the entire cake on a salad dish.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Pi day chicken pot pie

Today is march 14 otherwise known as pi day.  Let me give you 3.14159 or so reasons to make chicken pot pie for dinner.
1. It is one of the tastiest dinner pies
2. As easy to make a few and freeze either as whole pies or mini pie as to make one.
3.14 it is pi day

Ok so I have you convinced.  Let me now tell you how. This recipe makes three pies or twelve mini ramikin sized pies. You could scale down but as they freeze so well and it saves time later and really takes no longer go ahead and stock up. I am bringing two pies to a dinner and game night tonight the others I put into ramekins for single serve later.
You need
4-5 lbs chicken thighs
1lb carrots
3 onions
1 cup frozen peas
1cup milk
2cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons flour
1 potato
1 tablespoon bells seasonings or other poultry seasoning
1 tablespoon freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon salt
6 crusts worth of pie crust dough
Pam

In a big heavy pot ideally a dutch oven type at least 4 or 5 quarts (I use one that is a no make brand that is a bit like this) salt and pepper and cook your chicken thighs a few at a time  on medium depending on the size you will be able to do 2-4 at a time. Do not crowd them as you want the browning. Make sure to keep the brown bits (fond) at the bottom of the pan. Remove them to another dish as they are done cooking. to cool off. When all the chicken thighs done cooking  pour off the fat that has accumulated and without washing the pan add in the 3 onions that have been diced. Stir it around and let the onions saute and go translucent. While this is happening take the carrots and peel and chop them up. Add these to the pot and stir around. Add the three tablespoons of flour and cook another two or three minutes this gets rid of the raw flour taste later. Add in the salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning and then add in the two cups of chicken broth and the cup of milk. Bring to a simmer. While bringing to the simmer grate a potato into the mix using a course grater. Then while simmering remove the meat and skin from the chicken thigh bones and dice it all up. Once the mix is simmering you can add the meat back in. Now add the peas to the mix and check consistency. It should be about as thick as good gravy if not let it simmer a bit longer. 

Put one pie crust in the bottom of the pie pan and then spray with pam on the crust( this keep the crust from absorbing quite so much liquid and makes it tastier. ) Then use a ladle to ladle in several cups worth of pot pie. Do not over fill or liquid will leak everywhere when baking. Add top crust. You need to pinch edges to prevent leakage at edges and then cut lots of vent holes in order to vent the steam. I suggest cutting as many digits of pi as you know off the top of your head into the pie. Then either freeze. Or bake at 375 for 35-45 minutes till top crust is golden brown and inside is bubbly. For mini pie ramekins fill ramekins 3/4 full of pot pie mix and add layer of crust on top with lots of vents. Put ramekin and all inside a ziploc bag and freeze or bake at 375 for 30-35 minutes until golden. If frozen when go to bake pie just add about 5 minutes to bake time. 

Sorry this is a picture of the unbaked pi as I am baking right before tonight's dinner party as pot pie tastes best hot from oven.

Boats and Presidents

It is Presidents day weekend. Since this is a sailing and food blog I want to mention the boats that our presidents are famous for.
George Washington
He is most famous for crossing the icy Delaware river on Christmas night 1776. This raid was a bold move of the revolutionary war. The boats were a mishmash cobbled together with the assistance of the Pennsylvania navy however the majority of boats were either ferry boats or Durham boats (flat bottomed with keels steered with sweeps primarily used at the local iron works)

Washington Crossing the Delaware by Leutze

Thomas Jefferson

USS Constelation

Urged and then started the US Navy. He is responsible for the first ships to be commissioned to be built for the US Navy. This bill was the Naval Act of 1794. The ships commissioned that made it to completion were in order of launch the USS United States, USS Constellation, USS Constitution.  Of these USS United States was sunk during the civil war. The USS Constellation you may still and I highly recommend you do visit in Baltimore. The USS Constitution still belongs to the US Navy and may be visited in Boston for great tours as well.

USS United States

USS Constitution

John Kennedy

On August 2, 1943 Kennedy was serving in the US Navy as a lieutenant junior grade aboard the patrol torpedo boat 109(PT-109) when it was sunk by the Japanese. He then led his men to swim first to one abandoned island and then to a second one where they lived for six days off of coconuts.

President Kennedy in his younger days had been a sailor of star class boats. Of all our presidents he is probably the best sailor. As an adult he had two sailboats. The Manitou a 62 foot racing yacht  sometimes called the floating white house and the 26 ft Victura which was given to him for his 15th birthday by his father and remained his favorite boat throughout his life. 

JFK aboard the Manitou

For a nice video of JFK sailing his Victura go here. He was president so we can forgive him his bad sail trim around 1:20 and 4:55.

Chocolate Popcorn

For those of you who are single this valentines day like I am you, you probably want some easy to munch chocolate treat but nothing too hard to make or too high in calories or designed for multiple people. The answer is Chocolate Popcorn.
You need
1/4 cup popcorn kernels
2oz chocolate
salt to taste
Mix ins to taste I frequently use things like craisins, almonds, caramel bits, mini marshmallows, ect

popped with mix ins

Put the 1/4 cup popcorn kernels into your hot air popcorn popper and pop them. While that is popping melt the 2oz of chocolate in a double boiler, metal bowl over pan of water, or microwave until just melted. Add the mix ins to the popped popcorn ( I used craisins and almonds in this example). Then drizzle the popcorn with the chocolate while stirring constantly. Make sure to pull from the way bottom to the top not just around and around. Keep stirring until fully coated and the chocolate has begun to set again. Add a shake or two of salt if desired. Somehow all popcorn needs a slight bit of salt to my taste.

Chocolate coated popcorn with almonds and craisins

Enjoy and Happy Valentines Day!

New Years Poem- Naval tradition

Tradition has it on the sea and now on this blog
A poem is made of the daily log
Since new years day is tommrrow
2012 a year of some sailing sorrow
Hurricane Sandy took Wabridge and Christian to the swell
The HMS Bounty sunk as well
The Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race aboard Cuchulain
We lost a man.

On the note more cheerful
Some sailing news we had a year full
Sailrocket 2 really sailed some speed
59.23 knots put them in the fastest all time lead
Oracle's AC72 got really banged up
Capsized practicing for the Cup

Wednesdays sailing for me
Skipper bought us a new number 3
Best in region one CBYRA
Some good races on the bay
With DSC I did not race
Fun sailing with friends regardless of pace

Fathers day weekend had Sailibration
1812 celebrated in Baltimore and the Nation
Blue Angels and navy whites
Tall ships and parties most the nights
Ships from different countries and states
For the repeat in 2014 I can not wait

Well 2013 is soon to arrive
Enjoy tonight just do not drink and drive.

Twas the night Before Christmas

Boaters stocking

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the boat the stockings were hung by the mast with care in hopes that St Nick soon would be there

St Nick

I in my cap

had just settles down for a long winters nap

When out on the bay arose such a clatter.

A little old driver so lively and quick I knew in an instant it must be saint nick. 

He whistled he shouted he called them by name 

No trimmer, Now Fordeck now Grinder 

On Pit, on Spintrimmer on rail

Now Sail away, Sail away all

Merry Christmas from Single Sailing Savor