Super Smoothies for Power Training

 

Can Opener: Hey! Captain C, your sard–

Captain Cat: You interrupt my karate lesson.

Can Opener: –sardine smoothie arrives. With 10% froth as decreed. I’ll just put youtube on pause then, shall I?

Captain Cat: In a leaded crystal bowl! Yes, that will be fine, Can Opener. All is good in paradise. Muscle rest and recovery is key to maximising… protein after training fuels muscle building… blah, blah, bla. Whatever. Bottoms up!

Captain Cat’s Super Smoothie for Power Training 

Total time to prep:  10 minutes

# Servings:              2

Level of difficulty:   Even the Can Opener can do it

Into a pitcher big enough, dump the following:

• 1/4 cup milk
• 3/4 cup yoghurt (or frommage frais)
• 1 cup ripe bananas (3 medium bananas should do it)
• 1/2 cup strawberries, blueberries, nectarines, peaches, kiwis, mangoes, any kind of frozen berries, or for the very mild palate, pears

Use a potato masher and a fork on a boat (if, like most people, you don’t carry the hand blender on board) – an extra bonus for the biceps. Otherwise, on land and for the fortunate, the handheld mixer is best.

Directions: Peel. Dump. Blend. Slurp.

Options: If you can stand the taste, adding a tablespoon of brewers’ yeast packs a huge vitamin B punch. My observation is, however, that given the choice between brewers’ yeast and more strawberries – most humans will take the strawberries.

Favourite options you’ve added to your smoothie?

  

–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Note: Most cats are lactose intolerant. They love cheese, treats are good – but they shouldn’t be carving out a new food group for it. This recipe is intended for humans. 

Captain Cat, on the other hand, can eat anything, anywhere, anytime. My smoothie was still, of course, made with sardines and water. Obviously. Bring it on.

Thermal Scones – Cheese And Onion

Thermal Scones – great for warming up cold crew 

Ever looked for recipes that fit the ingredients left in the fridge? I haven’t. All my recipes come straight from a place of divine inspiration and are planned I tell you, planned.

So when I sniffed the cheddar cubes at the back of the coolbox and glimpsed the limp green onions folded next to them, it was not ‘practicality’ raising its ugly head, but rather Bastet shooting a bolt of her brilliance earthward, lancing me delicately between the parietal lobes. I dictated to the Can Opener immediately.

Here forthwith is my received genius:

Overview

• Total time to prepare: 5-10 min to mix, 10 min per tray in the oven
• # Servings: 20 two-inch scones
• Level of difficulty: Even my First Mate, the Can Opener, can do it

Into the Dry Ingredients Bowl

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons sugar (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar (optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• all the cheese you got – the more the better. 1 cup is good. Cut into cubes is cheesiest.
• ½ cup chopped green onions (shallots) or leeks or even white onions

Into the Wet Ingredients Bowl

• 1/2 cup margarine or oil or butter
• 1 cup milk

Directions: 

• Pre-heat the oven. 
• Mix everything in the dry bowl. 
• Mix everything in the wet bowl. 
• Grease a baking tray. 
• Dump the wet bowl in the dry bowl and mix everything together. 
• Drop the batter by spoons onto the tray. 
• Bake at 230°C (450°F) for 10-12 minutes. 
• Serve warm.

Tasty Options: Add a few chopped herbs if your crew has been trained to enjoy this (a teaspoon is enough for a whole batch). Fresh is best, I have a real nose for finding rosemary bushes when ashore and instruct the Can Opener to load up whenever possible. Thyme and sage work well too.

Thermal Cheese Onion Scones are great for warming up cold crew as they (the scones) keep coming out of the oven piping hot.

Got any favourite cheeses and/or herbs and/or options that you’ve added to savoury scones?


–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Note: Most cats are lactose intolerant. They love cheese, treats are good – but they shouldn’t be carving out a new daily food group for it. Captain Cat, on the other hand, is unique. He can eat anything, anywhere, anytime. Bring it on.

Captain Cat Mounts His (Sugar-Free) Soap Box

 
On Dieting
An unnecessary and unnatural scourge. There is no reason in the universe for a diet!

What’s dieting got to do with sailing?
Everything. 

True, you can sail when you are overweight and out of shape. Same as you can play baseball or cricket or golf when you’re out of shape. 

But you sail better when you are the right weight and in good shape. You move faster and with greater agility. 

Fast and agile means fewer medical issues when you might not be close to a good doctor or hospital. And it means you’ll move faster when there’s a challenging situation on board (storm, gale, tight manoeuvre, extreme sea state, rescue situation, etc). It’s a fact.


I put the Can Opener on his no sugar diet about a year and a half ago. He’s lost fifteen pounds and looks great. He sleeps better. He never had to calorie count or think about what to eat while he was optimising his weight – he just followed the Golden Rule below. 

And yes, indeed, he looks fine! 

The Solution

The Golden Rule
If you need to lose weight, then …  

DON’T. EAT. SUGAR. EVER. 
(Or fat. Obviously.)

What other names can sugar masquerade as?
Sugar is sugar no matter what cute name it is disguised as. Just don’t eat it. 

That means…

NO agave, corn syrup, any syrup, cane juice, dextrin, dextrose, fructose, glucose, invert sugar, lactose, maltodextrin, malt syrup, maltose, rice syrup, saccharose, sorghum, sucrose, xylose…

Read the label and if it lists it, don’t eat it. Simple. 
But not easy.

How to avoid sugar…
Check every ingredients label, and if ANY of these sugar/fake sugar/sugar wannabes shows up on it (or anything else ending in -ose)… DON’T eat it. 

By the way – don’t eat those other artificial sugars (eg saccharine) either. If it doesn’t exist in nature, you shouldn’t be eating it either. Captain Cat has spoken.

There is NO FREE LUNCH. Literally. 

What’s that you say? No fructose?
Yes, fruit has fructose in it. But in an unrefined form. It takes longer (ie a normal length of time) for the body to break it down. 

On the other hand if you read ‘fructose’ as an ingredient on a box, this is a refined form of sugar which is super-easily absorbed by the body. Not good. You want your body to at least burn a regular amount of calories whilst it works to break down your food.

Is it easy to stop eating sugar?
Nope. 

The Can Opener complained bitterly. He was doubled over in pain the first month sometimes. When he looked really bad, I’d bung him a prune. Fortunately, that would perk him right up.

Sugar is supposed to be as addictive as cocaine . That means it’s a hard habit to kick. 

And in the west, it is nearly impossible to avoid sugar in any processed or restaurant food. Start checking the ingredient labels and you’ll see what I mean.

Our local supermarket has twenty-six aisles. Twenty-four of them have products in them that contain sugar. Only two do not – these are:

1. the vegetable aisle
2. the shampoo and cleaners aisle.

How to survive sugar withdrawal symptoms?  
Go eat a few dried fruit pieces instead. Or a piece of whole fruit. Or a salad with lemon on it. Loads of fun, right? No, not at first. But after a while, yes actually. Even the Can Opener thinks so now.

The sugar withdrawal symptoms may drive you insane, but if you can survive the first month, you will be okay. The next three months are hard, but not impossible.

After six months, sugared products actually become unpleasant. It is too much and too granular. You can taste the emptiness.

After a year, it is easy and you are fit, optimised and ready to sail in top form!

 
That’s it. 

Follow my plan and you’ll have a six pack in no time. 

And live longer with nice teeth.

 

–Captain Cat 

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

 Previously: Fitness on Boats

Victualling And Food Care

Next up at the Cruising Association last weekend, was a lecture on ‘Victualling And Food Care’, with Sandy Duker. O my!

Food is my personal favourite and my own specialty. I do love to organise the First Mate to a well provisioned yacht! Preparedness for every exciting milestone in the day (ie. every meal time) is a top priority.   

As Sandy approached the lectern, I leaned forward on the Can Opener’s shoulder to catch her every pearlescent word. I knew I indeed had a secure grip on my perch to get me through her lecture when the First Mate let out a mighty yelp.

Sandy revealed all her secrets of food care aboard yachts and the Can Opener wrote ’em down:

Assumptions 

• You are catering for 2-3 weeks,
• refridgerator exists,
• but no freezer.

Consider 

• likes of the crew
• medical conditions eg diabetes
• allergies 
• is the boat ‘dry’ or ‘wet’? 
• people eat more at sea – out of boredom, because they are cold, on watch… 

Meal Structure / day

• 3 meals
• 3 snacks
• Happy Hour!   

Planning Provisions

• overcater for drinks
• plan meals sequence to match freshness of the fruits/vegetables
• make a daily planner… and convert it to your shopping list
• plan to grow your own sprouts, herbs 
• leave big roasts till end of journey as they take longer to defrost 
• overestimate how much water you need – do NOT rely on watermakers. These break down regularly.
• overestimate hot beverages needed
• plan for every eventuality – assume that you cannot rely on the fridge, the watermaker etc…

Good Things To Include In Your List

• lemons
• limes 
• dried fruit
• squashes – they keep forever
• beans, chick peas
• patés in tins
• freeze dried meals – found in moutaineering shops, can also be ordered online
• fish – do not rely on fish caught at sea. You may catch ’em, you may not… 
• cereal bars (better than chocolate for snacks which melts in the heat)
• fresh herbs growing 
• tinned olives, nuts
• fruit cake

 
Note: packaging

• flour and grains that are pre-packed (ie not loose in bins – more likely to have insect eggs in them that will later hatch…)
• soups in packets (take up less space)
• tomato sauce in tins (not in tubes as these are often badly crimped and leak) 
• choose packaging that squashes flat (eg UHT boxes) as you will be carrying all that garbage to the next port…
• no carboard!

Fishing 

• need a fish hook/gaff to bring the fish aboard
• make sure the fish is really dead before you bring it aboard – or there will be an awful mess in the cockpit
• PUT A SIGN next to the engine to remind yourself to bring in the fishing lines before you start the engines
• consider any fish you catch to be a bonus, an extra to provisions. Don’t rely on them!

How to Shop

• if in a rally eg ARC, where there are many other people provisioning at the same time – you need to buy earlier
• shop in the markets yourself – don’t arrange for delivery
• choose both ripe and under-ripe produce
• supermarkets near yachting centres will often vacuum pack your meat in portion/meal-sized eg Las Palmas, Canarias 
• be careful – some countries leave the ribs in meat which can puncture the vacuum packing
• look for Cruising Association members discounts at stores eg Jolly Harbour in St Lucia

Water Conservation 

use salt water for:

• washing hair with dishsoap and a freshwater rinse
• washing dishes
• washing vegetables with salt water in the middle of the ocean – water is clean

Food Care

• yoghurt – make your own
• eggs – turn them daily
• remove packaging 
• double wrap pasta and grains in your own plastic, seal and date
• wash all fruit and vegetables, and air dry in cockpit before storing
• store potatoes, onions, carrots in string bags in cupboards – for airflow and its easier to check them through a string bag
• use ‘stay-fresh’ bags
• inspect food every day – because it will suddenly go off in one day and must be used immediately
• store cheese in boxes in fridge, and/or wrap in a vinegar cloth

 
Managing Inventory

• date and label all tins and bags with permanent marker – contents and date
• name each of the lockers eg SFP, saloon forward port (to refer to in inventory lists)
• NOTE: if boat hull is dark then storage lockers will get very warm/hot
• inventory list: product, package type, number, location
• do weekly physical inventory check
• update provisions inventory list every time something is used

Cooking

• pressure cookers are:
• faster
• use less gas
• easier for washing up – only 1 pot
• good in rough weather as are sealed

The Cruising Kitty’s Favourite Books 
on Provisioning and Food Care 

1. Care and Feeding of the Sailing Crew, Lin Pardey
2. Sail Away!, by Paul and Sheryl Shard

 

 

Wow! A ton of good advice from Sandy. We’ve heard much of it before from others, but it’s always good to hear it again and to know that this stuff really works!

–Captain Cat 

 (transcribed by the Can Opener)

Food Wonderful Food – in Trapani

Provisions Renewed

There are few things more critical to keeping up crew morale than food. Quite important for Captain morale too. This is a point that I have gently and not infrequently intoned upon strategically within the Can Opener’s hearing. 

Just thinking about the next meal the Can Opener will rustle up lifts my spirits.

All-important garlic

In Trapani – when the stores were open – abundance overflowed. Gleaming tomatoes, snappy lettuce, onions, cheeses, dates, olives, turgid fruits and captivating legumes I could not name.    And garlic, my beloved, in copious quantities, everywhere…

Cheeses, sausages, olives in oil and spices, pickled onions, pistachios, more cheese…

I ordered the First Mate to load up in town on every single thing I had carefully annotated and cross-indexed on the provisioning list until his backpack seams audibly complained.
 
When the storm breaks, allowing us to continue our voyage, we will be ready…

–Captain Cat 

(transcribed by the Can Opener)