Sailing By Sampler

A quilt that gazes westwards across the wide Atlantic sea from the Cornish coast to New England...We live a long way from the sea and in the height of summer it can take many hours to reach the coast.But the minute we catch a glimpse of the water, sparkling on the horizon, the cares of the journey disappear.A brisk, salty breeze; clear coastal light; and the sound of the seagulls whirling overhead - eyeing up our fish and chip supper - as we stroll along the pier and we are restored...

No matter what anyone tells you, boat cooking IS different from cooking ashore. The space is smaller, there’s no grocery store 5 minutes away, you have fewer prepared foods and electric appliances, and food storage is much different. Despite cruising different oceans, we—Jan and Carolyn--both faced the same challenges: eating well while having time to enjoy all the other great aspects of cruising. We love to snorkel, swim, kayak, explore—and just sit and admire the view. We learned with the cookbooks we both had aboard, and wished for information that wasn't available--like when Jan ended up with a frozen chicken complete with head and feet and no instructions on how to cut it up. When we couldn't get foods such as sour cream, English muffins, spaghetti sauce or yogurt, we adapted recipes to make our own. Other times, we experimented with substituting ingredients--maybe the result wasn’t identical, but it was still tasty. We ended up with over 150 substitutions and dozens of “make it yourself” options. As we traded recipes and knowledge with each other, we realized we were compiling information that became The Boat Galley Cookbook: 800+ recipes made from readily-obtainable ingredients with hand utensils, including numerous choices to suit every taste: not just one cake but 20, 16 ways to prepare fish, 10 regional barbeque sauces, and so on. Step-by-step directions to give even “non-cooks” the confidence they can turn out tasty meals without prepared foods. Detailed instructions on unfamiliar things like making yogurt and bread, grilling virtually every food imaginable, preparing and cooking freshly-caught fish and seafood, cutting up and boning meat, cooking in a Thermos and baking on the stove top, as well as lots of tips on how to do things more easily in a tiny, moving kitchen. All this in an easy-to-navigate format including side tabs on the Contents to help you find your way and extensive cross reference lists at the end of each chapter. Quick Reference Lists provide idea starters: suggestions of included recipes for such categories as Mexican, Asian, and Potluck. The Boat Galley Cookbook is designed to help you every step of the way. We hope it becomes a trusted reference on your boat, and a source of many enjoyable meals.

Championship racers and professional adventurers disclose their favorite destinations in an inspiring volume of stories, travel tips, and photos. Featuring some of the best-known men and women in the sport—Tom Whidden and Gary Jobson (members of the winning 1987 America’s Cup crew), Jeff Johnstone (of J-Boats), award-winning sailing writer Lin Pardey, and many others—this is a unique full-color celebration for sailors to relive their greatest memories or plan their next big adventure. The amazingly diverse places they’ve selected include: Australia: Fremantle and Sydney Bermuda: St. George’s Harbor Brazil: Bay of Ilha Grande California: Channel Islands and San Francisco Bay Chile: Cape Horn Italy: Costa Smeralda, Sardinia Maine: Boothbay Harbor, Penobscot Bay, Southwest Harbor Florida: Biscayne Bay and Key West Scotland: Firth of Clyde South Africa: Cape Town…and dozens more For each place, the sailor recommending the venue spins an entertaining yarn about their experience there, and each description is accompanied by a “make you want to go there now” photograph. From the relative indolence of cruising the Dodecanese or the British Virgin Islands, to the white-knuckle adventure of rounding Cape Horn, to the thrill of partaking in the regatta off Newport, Fifty Places to Sail Before You Die captures the rich and varied world of recreational sailing—and may just inspire you to set sail on some new adventures of your own.

Together we will make nine original blocks, using my favourite piecing techniques, to create a quilt that explores the imagery of autumn: the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter; turning leaves and misty mornings; festivals of fire and fairytales at bedtime...Autumn, the burnished sunset of the year, washes the garden with shades of copper and gold. Nights draw in, mist rises, the winter approaches. Larders are stocked for the dark months ahead and favourite books taken down to read by the fireside. At home in Shropshire we celebrate with a Bonfire Party and, as we head back to the house with our friends, I imagine all the nocturnal residents of our garden gathered around the embers of the fire...