First thoughts on the new galley project...

In redesigning the new galley for the umpteenth time, I've decided to change tack and not design it around ways that I think will be making it better but to simply focus on how I actually cook and use the galley. So, in short, do it for how I cook rather than how I'd like to cook...

Case in point, the stove. Truth is, I really only use one burner and the last time I recall using the second burner on the stove was about four years ago. The only use the other burner actually gets is to sit pots on to cool. Based on that fact, the idea of finding a single burner stove makes all kinds of sense as I can certainly use a little bit more counter space!

So, what I really want is something like this...

I would want to gimbal it and sort out a proper fiddle system but, at less than $30, it fulfills all the needful galley chores a stove does as well or better than a "proper" marine stove....

You should check this out...

Dave over at TriloBoat talks food!

A better way to bake onboard...

I've been on something of a baking binge of late and it's nice to have that smell that says "spice cake" and suchlike...

Part of the reason for the baking is that I recently purchased a stove top oven and it has worked out so well that I actually want to bake. The secret is the new oven does not heat up the boat's interior like our old oven did. Trust me, when it's 85 degrees outside the idea of making a carrot cake is seldom on my list of things to do, and it is always about 85 here in the tropics...

There is not much to the oven in question... a pan with a hole in it, a bundt pan, and a cover. In a word, simple.

Of course, on a boat, simple is no bad thing! Speaking of no bad things... so are pans and suchlike that stow easily, and in the case of the Ominia oven it even comes with it's own little nylon bag to keep the bits together.

While the bundt pan is not huge it does make a full sized cake or, to be more precise, is just the right size for a standard cake mix of the Duncan Hines/Betty Crocker variety.

All in all, this is an excellent product and very well thought out. So much so that I've decided not to bother getting a new stove with an oven in the current round of galley makeovering as this one does the job so well!

What's not to like?

French onion soup...

Over at my favorite pressure cooking blog there is an excellent post on adapting a recipe for pressure cooking... In this case a French onion soup recipe from Julia Child.

Awe inspiring...

I am simply in awe of this post over at The Tasty Island...

Kinda important message...

I guess the thing to do is have a drink...

Being that I've lived in and around the Caribbean for some time, rum factors in to the general scheme of things...

Rum pervades the history of these islands, the cuisine, and it's social life...

Over at Ministry of Rum, since it is August 16th, Ed is reflecting on National Rum Day!