Thai Kitchen menu

Menu for Thai Kitchen in Edgewater (across from steakhouse).

Thai_Kitchen_Menu

 

Selby Sub Shoppe menu

I keep losing this so I scanned in a copy.

selby_sub_shoppe_menu

life aboard, Q1

So I reckon I’ve been living aboard since roughly the middle of November, which would make this roughly the end of Q1.  Technically I’ve been homeless since Jan 2 so we can call  Apr 2 a versary of some sort, but thought I’d wax a bit about life aboard since November.  I’ve had a bit of Nelson’s blood, and it’s a crisp clear windless night outside, so what better time to wax.

Towards the end of November, a heron hang out on pier 2.  It was early enough for the herron to be around still, but  late enough in the season and quiet enough in the marina that nobody disturbed it.  Every time I walked towards pier 2, he’d squawk one of his deathly squawks and scare the living piss out of me.  Not quite literally.  A few weeks later, he left.  I reckon it migrated though I don’t know how near and far. Speaking of scaring the piss out of me, I just love having the option of three piers, with two ends each, whence to take action when said living piss is scared out of me.  I generally manage to hold it until I get to the end of the pier.

About the same time that the osprey disappeared, several new ducks started hanging around.  The domesticated ones are here year around, as are the mallards.  But since December we’ve had a couple of canvasbacks, and several couples of buffleheads. Buffleheads nest almost exclusively in holes excavated by Northern Flickers and occasionally pileated woodpeckers, but we have none of the latter around since, last I heard, there were only 2 left and these in some landlocked state.  Also, the buffleheads are one of a very few species of duck who, unlike men,  remain monogamous.  This is in stark contrast to mallards, I guess.  There’s at least one gay mallard couple in the marina. (strangely, the ones in the picture also seem to be two males.  Maybe I’m in the gay part of the migration path.)  I also found out that ducks can leave trails in the water.  NYE at the marina with good friends, lots of drink, and cold, cold water to jump in.  Can’t think of anyone I’d rather spend NYE with than you who were here.  Nor a better place than Bahia.

In sadder news, sometime in January someone shot one of the white domesticated ducks, for no good reason.  Strangely, the gay mallards started hanging out with the widder duck.  January also iced over the creek, and brought the first snow.  I’ve seen very few places as peaceful as a marina in the snow.  In other news, a southpaw was signed in to office.  I’ve never seen people in DC so happy.  I think the entire town, locals plus 2 million visitors, were absolutely elated. I mean really. Everybody. About time.  Of course, we locals stayed at home and drunk and watched the teevee.  Saved the really good stuff for Burns night, light though it was. 

Next thing I know, three paragraphs later it’s February and 70 degrees outside!  Time to take the kayak for  a spin.  Two things I realized:

1. I really enjoy answering people when they still ask me “where” i went kayaking.
2. I just realized this tonight: i have to walk about a hundred yards towards land to launch my kayak.  How cool is that?
3. unrelated, but since I’m enumerating: I like cooking on the boat.  The size of the galley makes it more of a challenge.  Setting limits makes for better food.  Cold nights bring long-simmering stews that warm the cabin as well as the body.  Hot nights, quickly cooked crisp meals. Neato.
4. I guess it’s not just food that’s influenced by temperature.  I guess there’s a heightened sense of awareness outside the realm of what has become human: of the weather, the animals around me, the way the wind blows.  Seasons are defined by weather and fauna and flora and winds rather than the calendar.  I know if there’s this type of weather, it will bring that type of wind which will bring a high or low tide.  Winter has much more drastic tides than summer.
5. I haven’t been sailing since early fall.  Time to go again. Anyone?

Now, not all’s peaches and cream. I have one or two things to complain about:

Here it is: Next person that mentions “living the dream” gets all their sailing rag subscriptions revoked (especially Lats and Atts), and I will personally pay Puck to read that passage of the Pardeys having sweet, sweet love to them. Repeatedly.  With feeling.  And pictures.

Oh, and the bastard gulls mooning me.

No-Sno.

Was reading Woody!’s discussions today and I saw an interesting dissertation on DC snowfall:

SNOW IN LONDON GOT ME TO THINKING ABT WHEN DID WE LAST HV
SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL (LAST WK NOT COUNTING). AT DCA AND BWI IT WAS
12/5/07...DCA HAD 2.6" AND BWI 4.7". AT IAD IT WAS 1/17/08 - 4.0".
AND LAST REALLY BIG ONE WAS 2/16/03. QUITE A LONG DROUGHT FOR
SNOW LOVERS.

WE NEED SEVERAL INGREDIENTS FOR BIG SNOWS...ONE OF WHICH IS LOW
PRES TO THE SOUTH. WE HV THAT W/ THE LOW MOVG ACROSS CENTRAL
FL...BUT ALTHO THERE HV BEEN MINOR WOBBLES IN THE PROJECTED TRACK
THIS CONTINUES TO LOOK LK IT WL TRACK TOO FAR E TO BE A
SIGNIFICANT SNOW MAKER IN MID ATLC. ON TOP OF THAT THE LOW WL BE
TRACKING N MUCH TOO RAPIDLY EVEN IF IT WERE TO TRACK CLOSER TO
THE CST TO GIVE US A SIG SNOWFALL.

So once again it looks like we’re escaping any significant snow.  But there’s still hope.  Historically February-March are the best months for snow in this area.

starting to warm up…

29 January 2009

According to the normals for this area, as of today-ish, the worst of the cold is over.  From here on out, we’re warming up!  yippee!

All in all, not a bad winter.  Lowest so far was about 6F, and interior of the boat stayed comfortably in the 60s.  Around those temperatures my fershwater pump and sink drain froze; I got a heat lamp to help alleviate that situation in the future.

I guess we’ll see the winter ducks start leaving soon.

cheers!

Y

9 Jan 2009: Internet aboard

so far my best solution is engenius 3610 EXT.  Neat product.  And props to both Engenius and their reseller, Keenan Systems for taking the time to answer all my questions.  (Don’t be afraid of Keenan’s website…just contact them and they’ll tell you exactly what you need: www.keenansystems.com )

Winter Heat Aboard.

Now that I moved aboard, people (lubbers) seem very concerned that I stay warm.  Although I appreciate the concern and occasional bottle of rum, it’s time to accept that my usual response of space heaters is inadequate.  It’s time to come clean with the whole winter heat issue.  So here goes:

Natural heat!

Little known to land dwellers, there is a natural hot spring hidden in a little creek far up the Rhode river where I keep Bahia.  The hot spring keeps the water around the marina at a hot 70 degrees, even with the coldest winds blowing.  In most nights, the hot water warms up the hull and the heat radiates pleasantly  through the floorboards and throughout the cabin.   For the coldest nights, I have retrofited an old-style radiator with a pump and a stirling engine: The pump circulates the surounding hot water through the radiator, pumping from the bottom of the creek where the water is closer to 75.  The stirling engine silently runs a fan to move the air around a bit.

So there you have it.  I’m truly glad to have found such a spring with adequate depth on approach, as it seems to me everyone else who lives on a boat just hibernates over the winter.

Living aboard…but where?

Not really where to live but where to be a resident?  What to do with mail? Voting (I guess I’ll do that soon…)? ID /drivers license? (shudder)…Taxes?

Some services:

St. Brendan’s Isle comes highly recommended in the cruising circle.  Shall I be a floridian?  How often will I have to go there to renew my license?

earthclassmail looks interesting.

Then there’s places where I plan on spending the next year or two, like Charleston…Or shall I winter in Jacksonville?

rice

23 November 2008, 0015 EST

Not a wholly nautical theme, but got to thinking about rice lately.  I tried to make some tahdeeg the other day, and was wondering what to do with leftover rice when the idea of fried rice came to me.  I’ve been thinking about seasonal cooking lately, along with boat-friendly cooking, and also rice:  A long-simmering risotto to help warm up the cabin and the bones on a winter night (it’s been in the 20s overnight).  Or a quick and spicy stir-fry (or fried rice?) to keep cool in the summer.

Why rice?  It seems to me that we in the West don’t do nearly enough with rice, relegating mostly to a side dish or a risotto.  McGee writes, matter-of-factly, that about half of the world’s population lives on a principal diet of rice, providing nearly 3/4 of the food energy to some people, like Cambodians and Bangladeshis.  Rice (along with corn) feeds the world.  And what do I do with it? Occasionally, a risotto; mostly relegate it to a side dish with a pad of butter and, if feeling adventurous baptize it “spanish” and add overcooked vegetables, more for color than for taste, like sprinkles on ice cream; and half the time I don’t know what to do with leftovers.  Also, while learning to do with rice, perhaps I can learn to do more with ingredients mostly foreign to me in the galley.  I have grand, probably wrong, visions of asian dishes made hot, fast, and easily prepared in a limited area.  Stir fries, rice, curries…delicious things prepared in minutes.

Of course now it’s winter so I may stick with those long-stewing recipes… but there are always a few warm days to experiment. While I’m at it, I may end up keeping better track of galley-friendly recipes somewhere.

Drats!

To more pressing and important projects…I seem to have issues with beer:

Any ideas?