Christmas Pot Luck---15/16th December 2012
Yesterday at 5 the marina Christmas pot-luck was scheduled
to get underway. I gave up sanding the
hatch boards at about 2:30 to make apple-cranberry crisp. (You’ve got to go with the ingredients that
you have!) Cooking on the boat is a somewhat different experience. The first step is usually assembling the
ingredients. As things are stored all
over the boat, this might involve lifting the floor-boards or pulling off the
cushions of the settee and ferreting in the storage space behind. If you need a pan to cook in, you have to get
down on your knees in front of the stove and pay homage to the cooker. Next you
get started with the chopping and preparation on the countertop that doubles as
the fridge top. Inevitably just as you
have loads of things on chopping boards or plates on top of the fridge you
remember that key ingredient that is ---still in the fridge.
By the time I had the apple crisp assembled, the oven
thermometer read 400. I popped the tray
in and turned the oven down. Forty
minutes later (after a few temperature checks) the “crisp” looked like the
underbelly of a flounder. A fork prod at
an apple revealed that even the apples weren’t soft. I boosted the temperature further and went
off to take my shower. On returning, the
boat was starting to have an apple smell (mixed with that unmistakable whiff of
diesel). Peeping into the oven, the
white glare of the topping nearly blinded me. The heat dial went to max. Meanwhile I spotted the butane burner I had
been using for stripping varnish. I
found myself thinking, if it works for crème brulee why not apple crisp? It was
only the risk of fire that stopped me.
After one hour and forty minutes in the oven, I gave up and took the
pallid crisp to the party. It’s boaters
after all…
I ate and drank (diet sprite and tea) and talked to various
people until it was well past my usual bedtime.
It’s uncertain what today will bring.
Perhaps I’ll start varnishing but then again maybe not. Football tonight
if I can find somewhere to watch it!
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