Keeping Fresh Food Longer

New Bern, NC

[You may ask why there aren't more posts in this blog about things of Libby's interests and purveiew.  The fact is, that I tried several times to get Libby to write blog posts.  It never stuck.  Prolific blogging is driven only by the love of writing.  All else is secondary.]

I don't think I ever blogged before about provisioning.  One reason is that our diet on the boat differs little from what we would eat while land bound.   A second reason is that we don't do trans-oceanic passages that require 4-8 weeks without access to a store. We have no experience with that kind of provisioning.

But we have learned to live with very limited refrigeration.  Here are a few tips.

Adequate refrigerated space is a must.  A space big enough for one six pack is insufficient.   You can use ice, or refrigeration, but the volume must be adequate.  We actaully have excess volume, perhaps 7.5 cubic feet (I'm not sure exctly. I never measured.)

We found a significant improvement using "green bags" to store veggies. Debbie Myers is one brand of such bags. We also use the meat bags, bread bags, and cheese bags. All of them allow us to store stuff significantly longer without refrigeration, or longer still with refrigeration.

Highly processed breads last a very long time. Wonder bread will last much longer than fresh bakery bread. Thomas' Bagels will last months compared to one day for fresh bagels. Hostess Twinkies are reputed to last longer than the pyramids :-) In other words, less-healthy is correlated with lasts-longer.

Specific to potatoes, there is a old trick of storing individual potatoes in socks. That prevents them from sprouting. Ditto for apples. A bad apple in a sock is less likely to spoil neighboring apples in the bin.

Onions and tomatoes: we buy the smallest ones that we can find so that we don't have to store sliced leftovers.

Some articles say that coating eggs such as in wax makes them last a long time without refrigeration. We never tried that one.

Ultra-pasteurized milk (such as organic milk) lasts much longer after opening. In addition, Parmalat milk can be stored for months without refrigeration before opening.

We also use our pressure cooker as an autoclave. Leftovers that won't fit in the refrigerator, we put in the pressure cooker. Then add a little water, seal the top and heat it fully. Leave the top on. The interior should be sterile and suitable to keep the food until the next meal. I'm sure that food safety experts say that practice is unsafe, but we take the chance sometimes when the refrigerator is full.

Look for books and articles on "provisioning."










Fair WInds

Too Big To Fail

New Bern, NC

By the way, I've been teaching courses on Excel up at the library this week.  Why?  Just because I love teaching.  I volunteered to do the same at the Marathon library last January, but they had to ask permission of the head librarians in Key West.  I'm still waiting on them to get back with an answer.

Here's something I did as a bit of original research just because I was curious.  It is a perfect case for library research.

I remember reading Fortune Magazine in the 1960s, especially the Fortune 500 list, and the Fortune top 10.  I wondered how the top 10 positions changed through the years.  You can see it below.

The names of the companies are in the cells, the colors identify the industries.

Top marks should go to General Electric.  That company (which I used to work for) has reinvented itself again and again.  Most companies fail to reinvent themselves ever and thus disappear.

What's the moral to the story? Nobody but nobody is too big to fail.

If the picture is chopped off, click on it to see it full screen.

Thank You For Your Service

New Bern, NC

A blog reader commented on my recent post about the air show. He said:

Those pics of kids with the guns is very disturbing. I know we did the same as kids with toy guns, playing army and cops and robbers, but to have the soldiers there with the actual weapons for the kids to play with is wrong. Parents and the Marines are in bad form here.

I think he’s wrong. Here’s why.

I surmise that the reader’s feelings are the result of the debate about gun rights and gun culture in the USA, plus news of horrific shooting deaths. He and I and you may or may not agree on that. But the military is a special case that should not get confounded by the larger debate.

Our country always had needed warriors and always will. People who serve in the military, and their families sacrifice greatly for the benefit of the country. It also seems true that the burden of military service falls selectively on a small minority of our families with a strong military tradition. In those families, generation after generation serve their country. The rest of us get all the benefits, but share none of the burden beyond paying taxes.

It is part of these families’ tradition to recruit their children to be tomorrow’s soldiers. It is likely that the children at the air show are disproportionately members of military families. If the love of weapons leads to gun accidents, then these same families are disproportionately the victims of those accidents. It is part of their sacrifice.

It is wrong to call what they do wrong. The only appropriate response, including recruitment of children, is “Thank You For Your Service.”

Good Boater, Bad Biker?

New Bern, NC

I like to consider myself and Libby as good boaters.  We are considerate and safe.  In terms of keeping the boat in seaworthy condition, I rate us in the top 25%, but not the top 10%.  I keep a bike on board, and I use it a lot.  Evidence suggests that I'm not a very good biker.  What evidence?  Read on.

The day after riding my bike 38 miles to see an air show I bragged about my feat on this blog.  The day after that, I went to use the bike and I noticed that the tire pressures looked low.  I got out my guage and pump, and checked the pressures.  Oops, only 10 psi in each.   So I pumped them up to 40 psi and started to leave.  BANG, an explosion as loud as a shotgun blast hit before I had gone 50 feet.

But I had a spare tube on board.  I put in the new tube and started pumping it up again. Libby hollared STOP!  The tube was protruding from the side.  This time I inspected the tires.  The picture below shows Libby sticking her fist through the hole in the side of the tire.  Whoops, I hadn't noticed that.   I looked at the other tire.  It was better, but there was a worn place where the tube was beginning to stick out.

I confess to never having checked the tire pressures since I bought the bike.  Nor have I inspected the tires or treads.  I just don't even think of applying the same standards to the bike as I do to the boat.

So, suppose I had a flat at the far end of the trip to the air show.  I would have been very sorry then.

So, off to the store for new tires.  Once again, modern retailing baffled me.  Bikes were on sale for $88, but two tires and two tubes cost $86!!!   Hopefully, though the new tires are better quality than the original equipment.

Now with everything repaired, I noticed that pedaling is very much easier than ever before.  It's possible that I've been riding on low tire pressures since buying the bike last November.  Oh well, I can rationalize that a tough pedaling bike is better for purposes of physical fitness.  Do you think anyone would believe that?

My bike, all fixed up.

Rescue of The Bounty

New Bern, NC
35 06.669 N 077 02.377 W

My friend, Doug Campbell, is a co-author of a new book "Rescue of the Bounty"   I just finished reading it.  What a fun story to read.  Doug is a long time reader of this blog and a very seasoned W32 blue water sailor.

All our cruising friends will recognize much of the story.  It speaks of familiar places, familiar ports, and weatherman Chris Parker.   The talk about ship systems and ship's operation are also familiar to cruisers.

The best part is that it feels like three stories in one.   

First, it leads us up the ladder of suspense as a whole chain of errors that underlay the cause are detailed.   It starts on the first page.  When Libby started the book she exclaimed WTF on the first page.   Major accidents are almost always caused by a chain of errors, not a single mistake.  I was struck by the gap between the excellent reputation of the captain and crew and their actual performance which seems inexcusable in hindsight.

Second is the descent into chaos and oblivion as the consequences of the errors lead to doom for Bounty.   Sailors like me will understand the frustration of Bounty's crew because they are so helpless to change the destiny.

Third is the story of the rescue, allowing all but two of the crew to escape death.  The rescue alone is a great story.

Hats off to Doug and to his co-author Michael.

The lesson to all of us -- discipline and diligence is vital to safety

One of the Elizabeth CIty C-130s

Above.  I went to an air show yesterday and saw a C-130 that may have been one of the planes in the Bounty Rescue.  On board, I got to meet some the crew who were involved in the rescue.  Cool.