Month: April 2017

Kalyra Wine

April 28, 2017 /

True story – the name of our boat came from a winery in California.  I was on my way to New Zealand with a friend in 2008 with a layover in LA.  We drove up to Santa Barbara for the day and came across a tasting room for the Kalyra winery.  http://www.kalyrawinery.com/  The name Kalyra is an aboriginal word that means ‘wild and beautiful place’ – or that’s how I remembered it.  I called Trip from the airport and told him it sounded like it might make a good boat name.

 

Fast forward to 2009 and we had moved in together, bought a boat, and surprise – named her Kalyra.

Fast forward to a month ago when we realized that we needed to suspend our Kalyra wine delivery service.  Our final shipment included a complimentary bottle of bubbly and this thoughtful note…#ilovekalyra #kalyrawinery

 

 

Sourdough anyone?

April 27, 2017 /

I’ve enjoyed making no-knead breads for years, but had a chance to visit the King Arthur Flour headquarters in New Hampshire this past winter.  The sourdough starter for sale was too tempting to resist.

And now I’m hooked.


My overall excuse is that fresh bread is mandatory on a boat and I’m certainly going to have time this summer to practice.  In the meantime Trip, family, friends are all getting ‘present’ of test loaves as I work through recipes.  Sourdough pizza has become a weekly standard.

Great Kills Harbor, Staten Island, New York

April 26, 2017 /

Everyone has to start somewhere and Great Kills is it for us.  Though our home base is in Chatham New Jersey, Kalyra has always called Great Kills home.  Coincidentally, Trip’s first boat Irish Gift and his father’s boat Mihaska were also based out of Great Kills.

Please stop wrinkling your nose when you read Staten Island.  Great Kills is a beautiful gem of a national park that no one seems to know about.  It’s a quiet protected harbor filled with moorings but plenty of room for anchoring.  Located in Raritan Bay, it’s well protected from most weather (Superstorm Sandy is another story).  It’s only an hour from New York City by bus/ferry or a few hours sail.

Where are we now

April 25, 2017 /

Sigh……it’s April in New England so we’re still on the hard.  We’ve taken the winter cover off, started to install a wind generator, and are one coat into four coats of bottom paint.  Provisioning is nearly complete (dry goods and alcohol anyway).  We’re getting there – hoping to launch some time in May!

Boxed wine

April 22, 2017 /

I’d love to say we’re wine snobs, but if we were we wouldn’t be able to afford to sail.  We’ve got a great wine locker in the galley where we’ve got a case of red and white ready to open at any point. But lugging bottles (both full and empty) to and from shore gets old fast.  I’ve been on the hunt for a decent boxed wine for years.  Trip and I can agree that it should be red (neither of us are much into white wine), but I could never find one that a) we both liked, and b) would be light enough for summer drinking.

Enter Fantini.  It’s not widely available but I found it at a local wine store.  We tasted it that night and I went back and cleared out their inventory the next day.  Here’s to day drinking this summer!

Montepulciano D’Abruzzo DOC (Box): New from Fantini. The same Montepulciano wine, now available in a three liter box. 100% Montepulciano from vineyards located within the townships of Ortona, San Salvo, and Pollutri and covering a total of 825 acres. The grapes undergo soft pressing and de-stalking, before maceration on the skins and fermentation for 15 days. Ruby red with garnet reflections, the bouquet is fruity and quite persistent, reminiscent of red fruits, marasca cherries, and plums with vanilla nuances; full-bodied, with good balance and firm tannins, flavorful and long on the palate, immediately appealing and versatile.  http://www.empsonusa.com/Wines.php?prod=72

 

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