Winter Onboard in Annapolis

—Blogpost written by Bob 

Friday, February 12

The outside weather was cold (under 30 degrees F) and very damp and it felt like it was in the low 20's.  The sky was overcast.  We got a very slow start to the day.

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In the morning I watched a couple YouTube videos and then (again) reorganized my camera bag.  I have a relatively large DSLR camera (Nikon D750) plus 3 lenses and my camera bag was designed for a DSLR camera plus just two lenses.  So, as you can imagine I am trying to fit too much stuff into the bag.  I ordered an extra (Domke-brand) external pouch to carry batteries, and such--If I need even more storage area, I can order a second external pouch later.

The Domke-brand F-900
Accessory Pouch

We filled our water tanks today around noon and had hot sandwiches from nearby PIP's for lunch.

After lunch on board, we did a little more grocery shopping since we were expected freezing rain for the next day or two--this was expected to be a real mess and we didn't want to drive on it.  We bought lobster tails for our special Valentine's Day lunch!

In the afternoon I prepared a baked French toast dish that I will be heating up in the morning.  I'll call it Cape Cod French Toast because I sprinkled dried cranberries in the topping.  (My original exposure to this dish was called Cape May French Toast because it was a breakfast served at a cute B&B in Cape May--we lost the recipe as we gave away the sailing cook book in which I had written down the recipe.  Off course, I used Swerve, a sugar substitute.)

Saturday, February 13

Our special breakfast: Cape Cod French Toast

As soon as I got up I brought the prepared breakfast dish in from the cold cockpit where it sat all night--it was actually colder than our fridge!  After 45 minutes in the oven it was ready to eat.  It was quite good but almost too sweet.  This morning after breakfast, I have made a few tweaks to the recipe after the first attempt.

CAPE COD FRENCH TOAST RECIPE

(makes about 6 servings)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup Swerve sugar substitute (brown)
• 1 loaf thick sliced bread (sliced about 2-inches thick)
• 6 large eggs
• 2 cups light cream
• 2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• Dried cranberries
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

INSTRUCTIONS: 

• Lightly grease an oven safe 9"×13" baking dish.
• Melt butter in a small pot over low heat on the stove.
• Add 1 cup brown sugar substitute and 2 tablespoons olive oil, mixing well to combine. 
• Pour mixture into prepared baking dish and spread out to evenly coat. 
• Sprinkle dried cranberries over mixture.
• Beat together eggs, milk, vanilla, and cinnamon.  Set aside.
• Arrange bread in a single tightly packed layer over the butter/sugar substitute mixture in the baking dish.
• Pour the egg wash over the bread slices.
• Cover tightly with foil and refrigerate overnight so the bread slices soak up the custard mixture.
• In the morning, preheat oven to 350°F.
• Bake, covered, for 30 minutes. Uncover and continue baking for a further 15 minutes.

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The sky was overcast and it was cold (low 30's) outside from the get go this morning.  Snow and freezing rain was expected all day.  All we saw was freezing rain.

Rain has been falling and freezing when
it hits our cockpit enclosure or the
dock, making a slippery mess.

I did some online shopping and purchased three lens pouches on Amazon.  I intend to use these  lens pouches to protect my lenses (when not in use) within my camera bag.  I really like the fact that they were not the usual black or gray color and they were relatively inexpensive ($20 for all three).

Southwest themed lens pouches

Sunday, February 14 (Valentine's Day)

Because I was up off and on all night, I slept late in the morning (until 9 AM)--it felt so good sleeping late!  We got even more freezing rain overnight and the outside temperature remained at or below freezing until about noon.

Icicles hang from our main sail cover
in the morning hours.

We enjoyed the warmth of the inside of the boat--even when I captured the above shot my feet were inside the cabin close to one of the oil-filled radiators.  Maggie, of course, had to go out and walk around in the ice--we have quite different views on cold weather.

Our special lunch (our main meal of the day) for Valentine's Day involved lobster tails--they were absolutely delicious!

I was experimenting with using my new wide angle
lens and "live view" on my camera.  This
image was captured just outside a shop
window in downtown Annapolis.

The afternoon was mostly gray outside with lots of tourists walking around downtown.  It warmed up to above freezing and I walked around a bit to take some photo's and to get some exercise.

Tomorrow is my appointment for simulated radiation...

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