Speaking of beer...

Since we were speaking of beer...

One of the main uses of beer on "So It Goes" is not so much for drinking but for cooking. Beer is a needful component of everything from chili to stew.

One of the canal boats we work with in Ireland "Shannon Princess" just sent us a cake recipe that uses Guinness, which looks like just the thing... Check it out!

99 bottles of beer...

Being marooned in St Croix sans mast, one of the first things you notice is that the cost of beer is much higher than say, St Martin... Well, at least it is one of the first things I noticed!

Fact is, I'm not much of a beer drinker or to be more accurate I'm not big on the same old semi-generic lagers that pass for beer these days. Now if we were talking Moose Drool, it would be a whole different story...

Which has had me thinking along the lines of brewing my own beer... Sort of a nano-brewery I suppose.

The upside is that instead of paying $4 for a pint of decent beer (or $3 for Bud/Heinenken/Caribe) at the local micro brewery, I'd be paying less than 50¢, which makes Mr Cheapseats all warm and fuzzy, and the ability to have (at least if I get it right) beer that tastes like the sort of beer I actually like!

The downside is that finding room for said nano-brewery on "So It Goes" is going to entail building a "cool space" to house it (which is doable) and, well, just doing it... So these days, I'm spending some time reading various tomes on brewing and brewing equipment. While looking at various home brew kits like this one which seems to be the defacto standard or the smaller sort of the Mr Beer variety which would be a lot easier in the "I-live-on-a-very-small-boat" vein.

Well Key limes are green...

Shelly ace chef on the charter yacht "Three Moons" just sent me a great recipe to share... Good stuff!

Kiss-Me Key Lime 'n the Coconut Chocolate Cheesecake
Serves 16
Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Baking Time 55-65 Minutes

Crust:
1 Pkg plain devil's food cake mix
6 TBS butter, melted
1 large egg, at room temperature
Filling:
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 Pkgs (8oz each) cream cheese at room temperature
1 can (14oz) sweetened condensed milk
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup Key lime juice, at room temperature
Meringue Topping:
8 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. coconut flavoring
Garnish: Toasted coconut & twists of lime

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Set aside a 10-inch springform pan.
2. Place the cake mix, melted butter and 1 egg in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 2 minutes. Stop  the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. The batter should come together into a ball. With your fingertips, pat the batter evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the springform pan, spreading it out with your fingers until smooth. Set the pan aside.
3. Place the chocolate chips in a medium-size glass bowl and heat in the microwave on high for approx. 2 minutes. Remove the bowl from the oven and stir with a small rubber spatula until they are melted. let the chocolate cool slightly. Place the melted chocolate, cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk in a bowl and blend with a mixer on low speed until just combined, 30 seconds. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 1 minute more to thoroughly cream the mixture. Add the 3 eggs and the lime juice to the batter. Beat on medium speed for 1 minute scraping down the sides of the bowl periodically. Pour the filling into the crust and place into the oven.
4. Bake the cheesecake until it looks shiny and the center barely jiggles when you shake the pan, 55-65 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 30 minutes.
5. Preheat broiler. Beat egg whites, sugar, cream of tartar and coconut flavoring until stiff peaks form. Spread on top of baked cheesecake. Place under the broiler and watch carefully as the meringue browns. Remove when when lightly browned and cool.

Pressure drop...

The one can't be replaced tool in the "So It Goes" galley is the pressure cooker and as I write this the pressure cooker is doing it's thing and making BBQ pork and carrots.

One of our favorite foodie blogs LobsterSquad just dicovered the wonderful world of pressure cookers and i'm interested to see where it goes...

I am in awe...

The trick to living on a budget food wise is simply a mix of  being creative with ingredients as well as portion control which sounds a whole lot easier than it is...

For an exceptional example of someone who has it down to an art run over to Cheap Healthy Good and check out how you can get 17 meals for a couple out of $27 in 1 Chicken, 17 Healthy Meals, $26 Bucks, No Mayo...

Color me in awe!