Baking On Board

It's March 17 and we have yet another snow storm. I'd say we have a good 6-8 inches of light, fluffy snow. I thought we were supposed to beware the Ides of March not St. Patrick's Day. Regardless, I took advantage of the weather and participated in the age old snow day activity of baking.

I used to have hoards of cook books. While I had a few favorites, most of them had only a recipe or two that I liked and they sat collecting dust. The Internet is my recipe book now. Whenever I come across something interesting, I add it to my Recipes favorites folder. The cupcakes I made today have been calling to me for a couple of weeks.

Months back, I introduced readers to the galley on board. It's time to see just how small my oven really is.


The ruler gives a bit of perspective, but it's 12 1/2 inches high and 15 inches wide.

Safe to say I won't be cooking a Thanksgiving turkey any time soon. This also means that many of my old pans don't fit in the oven. So, cupcakes are now baked in silicone molds.


I was able to squish 12 molds onto my little baking sheet. They are a little shorter than a regular muffin tin so my recipe made 18 cupcakes. The second batch of only six came out a little better so I need to keep that in mind for future baking endeavors.

The molds stack and take up very little space in my cabinets. Many thanks to my mother-in-law who thought to give us these handy molds.

Okay, so the problem of how to bake the cupcakes was solved. The next issue was getting butter to warm up to "room temperature" in a 59 degree cabin. I set out a stick for the frosting but it remained just as chilled as I was. After a sad attempt at blending it soft, I put the bowl and butter-covered mixer right in front of a ceramic heater for a while.

This may be the solution for winter baking. Any chefs out there, would I have been better off putting the butter in the microwave for a couple seconds? (Obviously before it coated my mixer.)

Ta-da! A successful batch of Chocolate-Guinness cupcakes with Bailey's and Jameson frosting. Éirinn go Brach!

The jury is still out on the recipe. The cupcakes are good but the frosting is a bit sweet for my taste. I definitely added a bit more Jameson than called for in order to give them an Irish kick -- and I recommend that if you try the recipe.

Galleys and Goodbyes

To start with the second part of this post's title, we (hopefully) said goodbye to our Regal 3760 today. She is on the market and we brought her to the Bay Bridge Marina for the Bay Bridge Boat Show this weekend (anybody want a boat?). With any luck, she will sell quickly. Today was bittersweet as she has been a great boat. Mother Nature knew we needed one last good ride and she gave us a warm, sunny day with few waves and we were able to send her off with a good bath.

As many of you know, our boats have been named Luv'n Life and we've always had Regals (hence the reason for the blog name). A friend recently asked if I was going to change my blog site now that we own a Carver. To answer simply -- no. I'm just redefining "Regal" to mean a way of life.

Now on to galleys... For my non-boating followers, a galley is a kitchen on a boat. Our beautiful Carver is still out of the water while the shipyard waits on trim tab struts. So, while we weren't able to move onto her yet, I was able to spend some good time arranging my new galley. Keep in mind that I've gone from this...

To this...

 

Before moving out of our house, I sold and donated a lot of kitchen stuff. Have you ever looked in the back of your kitchen cabinets? How many baking pans do you have that you've never used? I also put my china and crystal in storage a) because there isn't room and b) because highly breakable items like that do not belong on a boat (with the exception of two crystal champagne flutes that will be very carefully stored for special occasions). I am happy to report that I found room for everything! And there is still space left for food.

There is one part of my galley that has me a little concerned. How on earth do I fit everything I need in this refrigerator and freezer? Tips/thoughts/ideas are greatly appreciated!!

The previous owners of the boat left behind many kitchen items and I had fun deciding what to keep. While totally cheesy, these plates may be fun for deserts:

So, yes, I kept the fish plates. They also left behind regular plates, bowls, and glasses so I don't have to go shopping anytime soon.

Since she is out of the water, I was able to take a fun picture today.

Our 2002 Ford Explorer next to our 2003 Carver 466.

Before any of you say "Wow! Your boat is huge!!!" please take a picture of your vehicle next to your house. :)