Maggie and Levi - Globetrotting on their own....

Things have been moving quickly since we've been back to the US, especially since we've arrived in North Carolina after our road trip last Summer. Maggie and Levi were invited by some dear friends we met in Israel to be in the wedding of their oldest daughter. Of course, Maggie and Levi jumped at the opportunity to make another trip back to Israel and see all of their friends there again.

They also invited their cousin and his wife, Corey and Alida to make the trip with them. So they met in New York City 'on their way' and spent almost 3 weeks traveling around Israel and hanging out. 

It was a bit nerve-wracking for us, partly because our kids were traveling to the other side of the world, but also because we wanted to go with them!! Of course, no complaints at all from Maggie who was able to see her boyfriend who she has been maintaining a long distance relationship with (with a visit in the middle), so she was ecstatic to see him. He's the dashing British bloke in some of the photos. 

They had a great visit and the wedding went well. Corey and Alida also fell in love with Israel. Maggie and Levi were the 'tour guides' showing them some spots they really liked from our time there. Places like the dead sea, En Gedi (a nature walk with waterfalls) and of course, Sea of Galilee. They also spent a lot of time walking and walking and walking around Jerusalem. It is really an ideal city to walk because the weather is usually amazing, and you can hardly throw a falafel over your shoulder without hitting a archaeological site of something incredible. 

Here's a couple pictures from their trip: 

More pictures at: Picasa photo album

Real Root Beer and Ranch Dressing :)

St. Martin is half and half. The northern half is French and the southern half is Dutch. But there is a large lagoon called Simpson's Bay which is also split down the middle. We came around to the northern side and entered the bay through the French side (because it's free) at the 5:30pm opening and then came to anchor in the big bay.

Since then we've had a busy few days. We had some boat projects we'd been putting off just because we couldn't find the parts or didn't have time. St. Martin's has several cheap marine shops and you can find anything you need here.

We also had a huge shopping day and stocked up on food. We found some American brands which we were excited about and haven't seen in years!! Real Jolly Ranchers, A&W Root Beer, Cheeze Its, and Ranch dressing! :)

We also got a new dingy! For people not living on boats, the dinghy is basically our car. Once you anchor the boat, (and we usually anchor, hardly ever go to marinas....too expensive) you use your dinghy for everything.....hauling water, groceries, fuel, people, run to the store, everything. The one we've been using is the one that came with the boat when we bought it 3 years ago. It's perfect for 3-4 people and has a soft bottom. In the Mediteranean, it worked fine becasue it seemed like we were usually anchored right next to towns and it was a short ride back and forth, even if we needed to make 2 trips. But we seen in the Caribbean, everything is really spread out and we usually have a LONG way to go to town. With all of us in the dinghy, half of us usually arrive have wet pants, the stuff we bring in the dinghy is wet (not good for laptops....see early post in Turkey!), and we all arrive frustrated and grumpy. Well, we were in the marina store and someone had just brought in a flyer for a dinghy he was selling. It was just the size we need and came with a much bigger motor than the one we have. So, to put it in land terms, we went from a VW bug to a Suburban, and with 8 of us you can imagine, it was a happy day on Mehari! Even though it's a bigger motor, it's a 2-stroke which means even Emma can start it and drive it. so now it's not a problem to find someone to run errands ;) It was a great deal and we will probably end up selling it when we're done with the boat.


We checked weather and it looks like we have to wait here for a few more days then planned. So for now I guess we get to enjoy more of St. Martin :) We'll update again in a few days when we head to the British Virgin Islands...

~ Maggie

Wandering around the Balerics.

We arrived in Mao, Menorca after a long 4 day sail from Rome. We are now in the Baleric Islands of the eastern coast of Spain. We’re almost out of the Med, and I can’t believe how far we’ve come this year!

The town of Mao was really cool! The landscape here is really green with lots of trees everywhere and on these islands the houses are all built right on the edge of the water so they all have waterfront views. But from the water it all looks really cool.

We sailed onto another bay on the southern side of Menorca Island. We had heard from a friend that there was a Spanish Festival involving horses happening that night at a town we were going to be anchored at. The horse festival turned out to be really cool! Well, of course! We’re in Spain!! That’s epic enough! So we went into town at around 7pm and they had set up like a ring with a floor of sand. A single horse with a rider would enter from one side of the ring. The point of the night was for the crowd to try and spook the horse into rearing up and then all rushed in and hold it up as long as they can manage. Then after about five minutes or so the horse and rider leaves the ring as another comes in and the whole scene happens again. They went on for about five hours like this. I’d say there was probably 20 horses total. The later into the night, (and the more people had to drink) more people would join in the excitement of holding the reared-up horses. They also had a local band playing traditional music which we could hear at anchor til at least midnight.  Levi joined in for a bit as well….helping to try and spook it long enough to get the horse reared-up. He said it was crazy being that close to the horse with 20 other people all trying not to get hurt by the horse or by the other people!

Levi is in the jeans and black shirt

Next we sailed on to the island of Mallorca (Pronounced: may-or-ca) and stayed in two small bays on the eastern side. (One night in each.) Both bays we’re cute and very calm.

We plan to have one more overnight sail to the mainland of Spain, spend time going down the coast then on through the Strait of Gibraltar and out of the Mediterranean. We can’t spend long in Spain because we need to be though the Strait of Gibraltar around the beginning of October, due to weather, which is just about 2 weeks away.  So it seems we will be quite busy seeing as much of Spain as we can in the next two weeks before we head out of the Med and then on to Morocco. 

Scooters and Pastries :)

We're on the island of Leros and yesterday we rented motor scooters and drove around the island! The whole island is 30 sq. miles but on a scooter, going through some of the back streets, there's plenty to see :)

We found a cute little bakery on the east side of the island with some of the best pastries I've ever tasted! I( Maggie) got a chocolate pudding and strawberry tart and Levi choose the Caramel Cheesecake......Everyone got their own treat but here's pictures of the two....

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The pastry chef came out and started talking to us and gave us some info on some other great islands to visit this summer. He loved talking to Zoe.....(everyone does :) and ended up giving her 2 free ice creams!!  

Well we have to return the scooters in an hour so I'm off to take one last ride through the island :) 

Τα λέμε αργότερα--See you later!

Love and Morocco

This blog will combine things you don't normally see together. 

Love and Moroccan Food. 

So here I go......

February 14th! Valentines Day! Mom and Dad, Toni and Larry (some friends that were visiting) And my boyfriend Josh and I went on a triple date :) For Valentines day at....you guessed it......a Moroccan Restruant here in downtown Jerusalem called DARNA. 

When we were seated our Waitress came and asked our order. She was a Russian who had moved here some time ago. With her russian accented English it made it hard to understand what was on the menu. She kept telling us she was a 'good recommendaton.' So after 30 minutes of trying to understand what she was ordering for us.....we finally told her to bring what she thought was best....And indeed  she did bring us a yummy feast!!! :) 

We started off with some salads which, on this side of the world just means some small bowls filled with different veggtales.  In the bowls were olives, cooked potatoes in lemon and parsly, hot chiles, cucumber salad, shredded cabbage with dressing and sesame seeds

Then she brought out the  main dishes. They were: Cornish Hen, Lamb Shakes, Meatballs with Celerey, Stuffed Artichokes, Slow-cooked Veal.....ahh just thinking about them again makes my mouth water! :D

We had such a fun night together... Thanks Larry, Toni, Mom and Dad for letting me and Josh join you guys :) And happy late valentines everyone!!

Dinner with the Bedouins

Yes, it was a really exciting trip to Jordan!!! :)

Like Dad said we had dinner with them in our tent. A fire was made in the middle of the tent (for warmth and cooking) then they brought out chicken that had been soaking all afternoon in some yummy spices and began to grill it on the open fire. Soon after, the whole tent smelled of grilled chicken!! :D While the chicken cooked "chief" brought out a dish of wild rice, plates of Pitas and a bowl of camel yogurt. It kinda tasted like normal plain yogurt but thicker and more creamy. Since we hadn't eaten in 12 hours (we skipped lunch!) we ate it all up so fast!! We warmed up the pitas on the open fire and they were sooooo yummy!! I must have had 4 pitas myself!! :)

<----It was to dark when we ate to take a pictures of the table of the rest of the food but here's one of the chicken getting grilled :)



Thanks for reading!! :) Til our next exciting meal......-maggie :) 

Sweet 16!

We had another birthday last week, Maggie turned 16!!

Elizabeth, a college girl staying in the apartment next to us for 2 months from North Carolina, helped us plan a surprise party for Maggie and some new friends we've met here in Jerusalem. 

It was a total success, she had NO idea (plus it was 2 days before her b-day) so she was in through shock!

Elizabeth's brother put together a list of 16 activities she had to complete and at 12:30 am, she just ran out of time, but she was happy! Here's a photo:

Some of the chores included: making a PB & J sandwich without using her hands, eating a "concoction" they made out of 16 ingredients (she managed 1 1/2 bites) and compiling 16 digital photos of different clocks or watches reading :16 (8:16, 9:16, etc.) good times. 

We love you Maggie and are so proud of you!

Goodies from the Galley....:)

Hi all! Yes It's been awhile for the blog. We are enjoying the freedom of living make in " the reall world" ;) haha But no it's been a nice change and we are actually quite busy!!

I wanted to explain again why I keep posting all these blogs of food when we're supposed to be taking about sailing right? Well this past year (with Mom's encouragement) I really have

developed a love for being in the kitchen! Mom wanted me to keep consistantly baking in our VERY small size kitchen on the boat....saying if I could learn to bake in that little place I could bake/cook anywhere! Anyway, that's why I keep posting pictures of foods I'm baking. That and cause I want to make your mouth water....:) Haha

So like 3 days ago.....Lily had a birthday...........and I got to make her cake!!! A new challenge!! :) I studied and researched all I could the week before trying to understand the easiest way to make a layered cake. Many long hours were spent on the laptop. While staring at mouth-watering cakes!! But the day of her birthday (after about 4 hours of working) the cake turned out pretty good! Not what I had planned from the beginning but Lily loved and it and that was my main goal.

Here's pictures of the final product....:) Hope you enjoy!

Til next time, Maggie

Goodies from the Galley....:)

Hello All...

Yes we're still alive...and baking! :)

Thanks to my wonderful friend Miss Nikki I made pumpkin bars for last Friday night. I wanted to make something special for dessert and I had found a can of pumpkin in the store so I email Nikki and asked for the recipe....Thanks again Miss Nikki :)

If you don't know what a pumpkin bar is.....well I call it a slice of heaven but that's just me! :) It almost tastes like pumpkin pie but in a cake form. Along with thick cream cheese frosting on top!!


Luckily the recipe made two whole pans but as of now..........this is all that's left!

Thanks for looking. Til next time,

Maggie

Goodies from the Galley....:)

Saturday Mornings!

Don't know about you guys but we love to have a really yummy breakfast on saturday mornings. Usually that means me making something the night before. :)

A few weeks ago I had found this recipie for a coffe cake and have been dying to try it out. Everyone asked if I could make something for Saturday morning so I put two and two together....and ta-da! The bottom part of the cake tasted somewhat like a sugar cookie and the crumbly top is made up of brown sugar, oats and butter. The icing on top was my own addition...I thought it needed a little MORE sugar ;)

Everyone liked the cake so, sorry there's none left over. (Talk to Levi who cleaned the pan!) But I hope you can still enjoy the pictures! :) Unfortunatly all this cooking means lots of dishes so off I go.....




Til my next 'Goodie' comes,

Baker Maggie :)

Goodies from the Galley....:)

Baking in Israel..:)


Wow, what a trip this has been. We have seen so much here in Israel its hard to remember we have only been here for almost 3 weeks. Time seems to fly!


As we have been busy sight-seeing I haven't been able to get to baking to much lately. But Friday night I was craving something sugar-y so I looked through my cook book and came across the spice cake recipe!! And that's where my looking stopped! ;)


Here's pictures...to make your mouth water...I know I'm so evil! :)




Enjoy!
Maggie

Goodies from the Galley....:)

Passage Food! :)

Well we made it to Cyprus. Our first over-night passage complete (actually 2 nights). But since I wanted to be outside and not baking during the 45 hours the night before we left I made muffins! Awww they turned out so cute! A little smaller than the recipie said but hey, they were still eatible! I think I ended up with 62 so it was enough for 3 mornings! :) I also had an ex-tra helper this time..Thanks Ems! We made two different types. Banana....and blackberry!

So here's pictures of my bite-size, mini muffins..... :)

Then on our way to Israel we had a little bit rougher seas but I managed to go down below and make a quick batch of Chocolate Chip Cookies. Thanks Grammy and Gramps for the chocolate chips you brought over! :) They were a good snack at around 4:30am....










Til next time.....Maggie

Goodies from the Galley....:)

Dad's Birthday Pie!!

Happy Birthday Dad!

This year for dads birthday I made him a lemon pie. Well the recipe is for lemon merange but I skipped the merange part ;)

We left Marmaris a few days ago and are sailing with some friends we
met in the marina. So Friday we hung out in a small town we found called Gocek. Had lunch and did some shopping. Then hit the road.....Well I mean the sea :) After we sailed for a few hours we found a
small quiet bay and had a yummy Birthday dinner and of course, the pie for dessert.

So here's the pictures....enjoy!! 

Til next time....-Maggie

Goodies from the Galley....:)

Bananas!!!

Yes the bananas were on sale this week at the store! So they were
quickly purchased and brought home to use one of my favorite recipes.
I've done this recipe many times before but this time decieded to add
cinnamon to one loaf. And chocolate chips to the other......mmmm they
were so good with the new improvments! :)

I didn't get pictures of the chocolate chip one because it was inhaled
before I could get it out of the pan!!! :) But here's pictures of the
one with cinnamon.....










Thanks for looking! Til next time....--Maggie

Goodies from the Galley....:)

Here, I had promised to write a weekly post thinking I'm so bored I will gladly do something like this in my free time. But (as life goes!) it did not happen this way at all! As we get ready to start our sailing season and leave Marmaris Bay the days seem to be speeding by and I don't know where they go! :)

That goes, of course, the same with my baking. But business can not stop me from doing what I love right? So Friday night I stared a batch of cinnamon rolls for Saturday morning......Without thinking I accidentally made a full batch instead of the normal half batch I make for our family. Need less to say I was going to end up with over 50 cinnamon rolls!!! Thankfully some of our friends here in the marina took them off our hands with out any complaints. Thanks guys! You saved us from some pretty terrible stomache aches!! ;) Here's a picture of them. One is while they were rising and the last is after they are baked complete with frosting......Thanks Grammy for the great recipe! I wish you were here to bake them with me!!

All in the pans. Now it's time to rise!

Just a few of the MANY I had to frost :) Haha

Also before I go, Mom asked me to make some cookies for a small potluck we had here with our friends. I looked through the cook book and had been dying to make this for a while so I took it as a good chance to try the new recipe out. Once I figured out how long they needed to be in the oven(since our oven has a mind of its own!!) they were really simple! They are Lemon Tea Cookies coated with a lemon juice and sugar mix. So here's pictures of the "finished product." :)

The Lemon juice and sugar mix getting drizzled on top!

I have so much fun staging the photos! I think it makes them look even yummy-er! :)

Thanks for looking! Hope you enjoyed the photos!! --Maggie

Mom's wonderful idea :)

So my mother is always pushing me to do two things: bake more and
write more. But before I keep going let me explain a few things ;)
One of the many things i enjoy in life is baking. i love being in the
kitchen, mixing and creating. Especially sweet things! Since we have
been on the boat I have given a lot of thought to possibly going to a
Patissrie School (Thats just a fancy way of saying sugar-y things!). I
was excited to find out they have whole schools full of poeple who
have a sweet tooth as big as mine!
Now the writing... Mom is always...encouraging me to do more writing.
However my reply is always the same "my hand hurts after like 10
minutes!" The answer is lame I know. But I figure if I type on the
computer maybe my hand won't hurt after 10 minutes ;) So here the
writing part goes...

Now my mom has given me the wonderful idea of combining the two. She has asked I write (well, type!) something small about one item that
I've baked that week. The "baked item" could be anything from our
Sabbath Challah to a Carrot Cake I baked last week-end. (No there's none left! Sorry!)

All that to say, I hope you'll be back to hear my weekly ramblings
about my times in the kithen....now if only I had a name to call this
weekly rambles...........any suggestions?

-Maggie