Shark... It's what's for dinner!

One of the nice things about being on a French island in the Caribbean is they have a very healthy view of what to do with fish of all sorts!

Most folk in the states have eaten shark and ray at one time or another but almost always masquerading as something else.

Sadly with the current decline of the shark population worldwide sooner rather than later there won't be any sharks and it is a shame as shark is not just good eating but a very important part of the food chain and when they go a host of other fish species will as well.

Ceviche...

Way Upstream has a great recipe and how to on just the sort of ceviche that makes one want to go fishing...TODAY!

This seriously rocks...

Chocolate cake with a difference...

Joy the Baker is one of our daily reads and I always look forward to whatever she has in store...

In this case it is a Chocolate cake that I really can't wait to try out and in fact I'm thinking through the process to convert the recipe to a pressure cooking steamed version as I think it would work just fine.

Now you may have noticed the green Avocado frosting but there is more as one of the main ingredients of the cake itself!

This is just the sort of recipe and cooking article I live for... I mean who wants yet another same old same recipe you can dig out of "The Joy of Cooking" (not to knock one of the GREAT cookbooks of all time) but less of the old and more of the creative and interesting! Joy The Baker gets it just right!

Perfect cockpit munchie...

Food to go along with cockpit entertaining is something of an art form and I am always on the lookout stuff exactly like this...

Caponata with bread grilled on the BBQ is perfect for solving the problems of the world while relaxing in the cockpit and watching the sun go down!

For the recipe check out Bakers Banter which is just an amazing resource...

Conch Fritters...

On the other hand...

Crab cakes...

Getting the boat ready to head towards points north and with the madness of last minute projects, repairs and provisioning I have to keep my mind focused on the benefits of sailing north...

Like Crab Cakes!

Tiki 4th of July...

The 4th of July for me has always meant beach, surfboards and Tiki drinks...

When I was a kid, the whole Tiki bar thing was quite the rage and seriously hip. In these modern times the whole Tiki fad is looked down on by many as a pinnacle of kitsch but it was a LOT of fun, and I'll go on record as saying we could always use a whole lot more FUN!

Plus let's get real... What better place to have your very own movable Tiki Bar than an ocean-going sail boat?

Of course to do it right you need LOTS of RUM! Lucky for us that down here in the Caribbean you can buy a good rum for less than $4 a liter (and you'd be dumb-as-nails to use anything better for Tiki drinks) various fruit juices and some serious Tiki mugs...

I mean you really do need the Tiki mugs as they strike just the right note and the whole point of the excercise is striking the right note! Of course you can always use coconuts and hollowed out pineapples but for me Tiki mugs are the serious stuff (and who wants to waste good drinking time hollowing out a pineapple?).

Of course you need the recipes because, while most things on boats are not rocket science, mixology of the Tiki variety IS and before you are ready to come up with your own special signature Tiki/Boat drink it is best to spend a bit of time learning from the masters and working on the classics!

"Sipping Safari" is a great place to start but any of the Beachbum Berry books will do...

I would be remiss in not mentioning that for a proper on-board Tiki party that the old T-shirt is something of a faux pas and that at the least a real Aloha shirt is the minmum for Tiki chic (leis however are considered to be something of an over kill)!

Have a happy 4th...

A potato salad of note...

One of the nice things about living on a boat is that it is a very BBQ friendly environment and where there is BBQ there is also the side dishes that make it all come together.

Potato salad for someone with a pressure cooker is so easy that its pretty common on the menu and I am always looking for new ideas for doing potato salad and keeping it "fresh" and mixing it up a bit.

A recent post by Smitten Kitchen for Horseradish Potato Salad, which is some kind of perfect for a July 4th BBQ... I love Horseradish and any excuse to bring it out is welcome. It rocks!