Meaning, I'm left holding the bag or in this case
the catnip filled mouse she brought back for me from her vacation sailing trip and her three day business trip to Florida.
Mom had a great time on her sailing vacation across Lake Superior. She said despite the fact that the weather wasn't perfect and it was a bit cooler than they would have liked, it was really nice to be so far away from civilization that the cellphone didn't work and the only communication with the outside world was the marine radio and the AM/FM radio in the galley.
Unfortunately, Mom also had a camera malfunction. The little card that goes into her digital camera can't be found on her computer and the camera doesn't seem to know it has a 10GB memory card. She did get some pictures on the internal memory off the camera though. She needs a new digital camera if you ask me.
So, until she either figures out how to get all the great pictures of her trip off or gets some pictures from her friends, she can't show you the galley kitchen she cooked in or the big, big freighter that Mama Breadchick's next door neighbor is the steward on.
They shared adjoining locks at the Soo Locks with the neighbor's boat and Mom and the neighbor had a nice chat over the deck railings while the neighbor's boat was lowered so it could go on Lake Huron and Mom's boat was raised so it could go on Lake Superior. It was fun to see the looks on the tourists watching from the veiwing stands because compared to the big boat, Mom's 38 foot sailboat was really tiny.
Once out in Lake Superior Mom made good use of the galley but not the grill because it rained almost every day, especially when it was close to dinner time. Mom also said the oven was funny to work in because she had to bake things in shifts it was so tiny, even tinier than the one she has here!
One night Mom made a complete foil dinner in the oven
of spicy mini ground turkey meatloafs, potatoes with carrots,
and those braised greens with bacon she wrote about here. Everyone loved the turkey meatloaf because mom used cumin, smoked chipolte chile powder, and some jalapeno juice in them.
For dessert, Mom made a simple bowl of fresh berries with a splash of cointreau and demerara sugar sprinkled on top.
Another big hit on the sailboat was a polenta crusted ratatouille tart
Mom saw on her friend, Patricia's blog, Technicolor Kitchen, right before she left for her vacation. She oven roasted the veggies and served it with a big lettuce salad made with heirloom Black Seeded Simpson lettuce picked up at the farmer's market in the Soo.
The crust was a bit crumbly Mom said so she is going to play with it this week because she is making the tart on Monday to take to work all week as lunch.
Mom even baked bread a few times while on the boat, including making the BBA bagels! She did those once they made it to Isle Royale becasue the boat wasn't rocking too much and she could use a bigger oven on the boat moored next to them, a big 60' powerboat with a full kitchen. She shared some of the bagels with the people on that boat and they said they were the best bagels they had ever had except for ones they got in NYC!
Mom says she will have a catch up post for the BBA Challenge really soon because she also made the Poor Man's Brioche while on her vacation. Mom is real glad that the BBA Challenge is at your own pace because with her travel schedule the past two months, she hasn't had the time to bake once a week.
One other bread Mom made while on vacation but not on the sail boat was the Bread Baking Babes bread of the month. Not to give anything away, Mom said that she wasn't sure that her family in Michigan would like the bread but was really happy everyone LOVED it.
On one of the days while Mom was on vacation, someone in her office called her about a business trip she needed to go on the day after she got home from Michigan. They were one day out of Whitefish Bay and on deck enjoying a pocket of sunshine when someone heard a cellphone ringing. Mom said the wind was blowing just right because she had half a bar on her cellphone. The person from her office was a bit surprised that she was someplace without cellphone coverage and internet.
Mom said she was surprised her cellphone even worked! It didn't work for long because they got cut off but it must have worked long enough because when Mom got home her airline tickets and everything for her Florida trip were waiting for her.
Anyways, Mom didn't get home until 9pm on Tuesday night this past week and had to be on another airplane at 11am on Wednesday morning to go to Florida. Needless to say, this didn't make me very happy and I showed her how unhappy I was by jumping into her suitcase while she was trying to pack her bag with nice clean business clothes
and grooming myself all over her favorite brown business suit
so she could take some cat hair with her. Pretty funny of me huh?!
You can tell Mom travels a lot by all the tore off plane side baggage claim tickets on her suitcase.
Mom was even more surprised when she got back from Florida and she saw how big her tomato plants
and the rest of her garden and grown, especially the tomato plant from Tennessee which is shoulder high. She found a few tomatoes starting to grow on the Tennessee plant.
Even if the humans don't like all the rain we've had in June and July, Mom's garden sure does!
Well, I can't think of anything else you need to know about what Mom has been up to except to say she is really glad to be home for the rest of the month and excited about getting back into the kitchen to bake some more of the BBA breads she's missed and putter with a few recipes she's testing and to catch up with all her friends on the internet and in person.
She knows she owes a few of you some emails to tell you how fantastic your breads are looking and she has a post about a family restaurant in Northern Michigan that makes the best pie ever. She also wants to tell you about some new bread bakers she is really proud of and has been meaning to write about forever.
If you want to join in Weekend Cat Blogging this weekend, just leave us a link on the comments. If you want to check out what all the kitties have been up to this past week, check back on Sunday evening to visit the links left by everyone!
And now I have to nap with my new mouse
because writing this post has been exhausting....
