Fish heads, guts and all

Today was exhausting. I didn’t have to get up and make breakfast though; Marcia did it, eggs, bacon and potatoes. I admit that she is better, she knows how to serve a crowd, I’m just worried about not having enough for the whole year. I took Jesse to the store to help me carry things; we got more free bread, even croissants this time.

Our fish arrived, it was amazing, about 45 kilos for 45 euros. I showed the guy around the boat, Baron asked if the other crate of fish on the dock was for us and we got it as well! In the long run we got two and a half cases of fish, he also later came back with pickled, smoked and dried herring, smoked salmon, anchovies in garlic and a few other fishy things. All of that for only 45 euros, but there was a lot of work we had to do to the fish.

Baron and I went on to the fore deck with the crates of fish, a cutting board, bowls for guts and heads and best of all, a hatchet. The heads got whacked off in three stokes and I pulled out the guts and flopped it into another bin. Some of the guts were crunchy so we concluded that crab was their last meal, there was also some starfish among the fish. It took us at least an hour just to behead and de gut. Then we got a few more hands, Jesse, Laura, Richard to start washing and then cutting off the fins and tails. They were stacked on trays, wrapped in cling film and into the freezer they went. Everything was done by 1600, we had gotten them around 1000, six hours of work for all that fish, there are at least 300 fish.

We also got off the dock around lunch time and are headed for Cowes, UK.

Free bread

Just another day in the galley, my last full day for a while I guess being in charge. Marcia will be more in charge for the next month; I’ll get a mini vacation. Maria took me to the store today, well one of them was closed so we asked at a bakery next door, we ended up getting a huge black trash bag full of bread, just a little dry. Then to the grocery store for some odds and ends and the fish market, we wanted a hole case of sole that we had had for dinner last night, they said they’d deliver it in the morning.

Marcia

Today was a really odd cooking day having Marica around, watching what I was doing, she’s here to give me advice, help me out and make a better cook out of me.

When Jesse and I were walking back from the showers we noticed Tres Hombres, the boat that Jojo left us for. Later we found out that they had just gotten in from a 43-day transit from the Caribbean. They have no engines and tiny generators so they don’t have any refrigeration; they made a lot of their own salted meat, pickled vegetables and canned fruit. Unfortunately they ran out and for the last two weeks its been rice, beans and lentils.

Brussels

Jesse and I got up early to go to Brussels with Tenley and Chris, the train took about an hour through mostly countryside. The first thing we saw in Brussels was this amazing church on a hill, Cathedrale des Sts Michel and Gudule, the two patron saints of the city. It had amazing stained- windows, an intricately carved pulpit, reliquearies of various saints, hands, skull, hips, and a crypt with the remains of an 11^th-century Romanesque chapel.

Then we walked over to the museum area of town, the Library had a small museum in it that was free. Some really old interesting text, but we couldn’t read what anything was. They did have a very teeny tiny bible, smaller than your fingernail and a page from the Egyptian book of the dead. Next was the museum of royal art, paintings from the 15^th to 19^th century, they had a lot from the Brugele family because they are from here and Rubens. I recognized some of them from my art history textbook, the styles and the names of the artists. Best of all was turning around and my whole body getting goose bumps because I saw Death of Murat by Jaques Louis David.

Chris was dying to go to a bar that was in one of his favorite tv shows, so we searched around for the Delirium Café. It was a really cool bar, lots of tin beer signs on the walls with circle drink serving trays on the ceiling. Some tables were old barrels while some booths had parts of the copper brewing vats as little roofs. I actually had three beers, all very girly and sweet, my favorite was mango, but the cactus and apple were good as well. Their beer menu was really more of a catalog because it had a selection of over 700 drinks.

Our last stop was to the Grand Place, the center of town, a big old square with the Hotel de Ville and the guildhalls. The Hotel de Ville was built in 1402 but wasn’t finished until 1444 so the building is not symmetrical with the right side being shorter. The Guildhalls that surround the rest of the square are adorned with gilded statues and symbols related to their trade. The wheelbarrow represents the grease-makers, the swan for the butchers and the golden tree for the brewer’s headquarters.

When we got back to the boat Marcia was there.

Bruges

We had an amazing day off. Richard, Jesse and I spent the day walking around, the morning in Oostende and the afternoon in Bruges. In Oostende we walked around killing time until a nautical store opened, there were lot of stalls set up all around the boats, folding ceramic knives, leather scraps, stripy shirts, candy and other nautical nick knacks. We ended up going to a bakery and getting some giant meringues there and then to a square where lots of booths were set up, mostly clothing but there were two big rotisserie meat trucks. We got lunch from there and got some fruit at a grocery store and it made an amazing lunch. I had a big hunk of ham, Jesse a sausage and a meat dumpling and Richard had some chicken and roasted potato nuggets. On the way back to the boat we passed three seafood stalls that looked amazing, things to eat and dried fish hanging out. There was also a gelato place that I’m sure we will return to.

Off to Bruges we went, we took the train, only took 15 minutes. Walked around and finally found the main city with lots of pointy spires. We just walked around aimlessly looking at things, old churches and buildings, little shops, canals, lots of general cuteness. The only church that was actually open was called Our Lady and had a statue made my Michelangelo, it was of Mary and baby Jesus, it looked very similar to his pieta in St. Paul’s. We looked at a lot of chocolate shops and finally chose one to buy a few from, we got a hedgehog filled with hazelnut, lemongrass, Havana that tasted a bit smoky and red wine vinegar that was a favorite. Jesse and Richard also found a beer shop that had a wall of all the 780 beers made in Belgium.

Rigging the main coarse

The main coarse is finally back in her right full home. I made samosas for lunch, it took awhile but was fun and really well worth it. After lunch I walked around, to the grocery store, asked some bakeries about where to get flour and saw and old church and bell tower.

Rigging the main coarse

The main coarse is finally back in her right full home. I made samosas for lunch, it took awhile but was fun and really well worth it. After lunch I walked around, to the grocery store, asked some bakeries about where to get flour and saw and old church and bell tower.