Boats and Yachts.

This post is specifically for JoJo Earle. The first part was copied from my second ever blog  but then I have added the bits about the other two vessels.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Well, I'm a Canadian and have been since 1978, however I started life as a mewling infant in Cheshire, England. They gave me World War II for my first birthday - you can work out for yourself how ancient I am. After that war, my parents went to live in the South of England and we eventually moved onto a Thames Barge called Iota. It was a wonderful craft. They were built to carry goods up and down England's rivers, in particular the Thames which flows through London, and someone got the idea of converting them to residences. They had flat bottoms so could go into the shallowest of places. They had leeboards on either side to prevent them drifting in the wrong direction. Most had a mainsail, topsail and foresail. Some had a mizzen sail too, aft (at the back) and were operated by a man and  a boy although I knew at least one married couple who operated one for many years.

This was an incredible place to live. We had fitted carpets and a fridge - not that many appliances available in those days. I remember the fridge was a pain in the butt as it was propane fired and had to be kept level. Keeping a fridge level on a boat of any kind is difficult. I remember lots of problems and swearing about that fridge although I was only about 9 or so at the time. My father loved to sail so we took Iota to France, Holland and Belgium on many occasions. This was how I learned to love food and I think, how my mother learned to be a gourmet cook. When she first got married she literally couldn't boil an egg. There was a family story about my father picking her up from work to go somewhere, they went to his place so he could change, and he asked her to make a bacon sandwich whilst he was getting ready. He returned to find her in tears because she hadn't a clue how to do so. Considering what a wonderful cook she became, this always seemed funny to us in later years..

 Eventually  Iota was sold and my father bought the Sunfish which was a converted Motor Fishing Vessel. She was never used for fishing although she had been used for mine sweeping during the Second World War: my father found her in South Africa somehow and paid a company to bring her back to England. She was a very sturdy boat and would ride some pretty bad weather much of which we experienced in the North Sea which is not a calm place at all. We travelled to many ports on Sunfish (her legal name was Silver Sunfish). One time we went to Denmark and she was too big to fit in the yacht harbour so we had to go into the commercial harbour and when we wanted water we had to go into the Tuborg (beer) harbour. It's the only place we ever visited where the harbour master offered us a beer.

After Sunfish came Pamara which was actually built as a yacht and was a fairly old boat. She rolled

like a stuck pig on the calmest of waters. I personally didn't like her nearly as much as the Sunfish. My father retired and sailed her to the island of Malta in the Mediterranean where they berthed for a number of years. They sailed to lots of different spots in the Med and I often flew out from England to join them. She too was close on 90 feet as was Sunfish. My parents finally left Malta as did many English people as they had a new prime minister who was very anti the English. They must have lost heavily through this I think. With Pamara they ended up in Alicante, Spain where they lived for a few years then sold the boat and moved into a house. A delightful place which they called Villa Pamara.

So, JoJo, this is how I lived on boats or was associated with them for many years.

I love Bruschetta and this sounded good. Don't forget it's pronounced Brusketta.

Basil and Tomato-Feta Bruschetta

• 36 servings

What You Need

• 1 French bread baguette (16 oz.), cut into 36 slices
• 2 Tbsp. oil, divided
• 7 plum tomatoes, chopped (about 2-1/2 cups)
• 1 pkg. (4 oz.) ATHENOS Traditional Crumbled Feta Cheese
• ½ cup finely chopped red onions
• 2 Tbsp. chopped basil
• 1 Tbsp. chopped black olives
• ¼ tsp. pepper

Make It

Heat broiler.
Broil bread slices 2 to 3 min. on each side or until lightly toasted on both sides. Brush evenly with 1 Tbsp. oil.
Combine remaining ingredients with remaining oil.
Spoon onto toast slices just before serving.

Have a great day