Two Celebrations in One: Food, food, food!

(By sat phone)

When November 28^th came around, Mark and I had been cooking for a couple of days. We made a three course vegetarian dinner for our friends on Kril, which was a creative and tasty event. Then, on the 27^th, Mark started preparations for the day after, making soup and a special cake. That evening, he made my birthday dinner – a day early under this year’s circumstances: chicken-shrimp spring rolls and a scrumptious shrimp pasta dinner, one of my favorites!

 

Birthday breakfast on Irie

 

On Thanksgiving morning, which coincidently also happened to be my birthday, I was ordered to stay in bed, while Mark was cooking up a storm upstairs in the kitchen. I tried to figure out what was going on based on the sounds in the galley, but failed. So, it really came as a surprise, when – at 9am, I heard dinghies arrive and people approach. The cockpit was decorated with balloons and set up for a festive group breakfast. Our friends from Kril and Iona joined in the fun: all-you-can-eat blueberry-banana pancakes. Very yummy!

 

Birthday banana bread

 

It was all about food and sweets that day. Because of my birthday, there was heart-shaped banana bread after breakfast (supplied by Kril), chocolate-raisin cookies in early evening (supplied by Iona) and a rich double-layered chocolate cake at night (baked by Mark).

 

Birthday chocolate cookies – Leili loved the excitement

 

Birthday chocolate cake

 

In between these treats, we had our massive Thanksgiving feast on SV Iona. The men had been working hard and cooking lots to provide us with a Thanksgiving-worthy menu. It started off with pumpkin soup, followed by an array of dishes on the long table: heaps of stuffing, roasted duck, roasted chicken, grilled potatoes, cranberry sauce (discovered in the deeps of a locker), mashed potatoes, gravy, barbecued purple sweet potatoes, and steamed beans. The whole lot was accompanied by our last 1.5l bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. Nobody would have ever guessed we were anchored in the middle of the Pacific Ocean!

 

Thanksgiving dinner: before…

 

Thanksgiving dinner: after…

 

Chris and Katie played some of their new songs – daily practice for Leili’s bedtime, a magical live performance for us.