Crunchy Cabbage Salad

Our engine mounts have arrived! Finally!

This was what all of the fuss was about!

Bryce and Tim have been working all afternoon and have changed one of the mounts and are working on a second. This will certainly give Bryce the confidence to change the remaining mounts with my assistance. This past week we haven’t really gotten much done around the boat and while that goes against all of our to-do lists and productivity quotas that we need to meet (Kidding… kinda), it has been wonderful.

Bryce’s mum is now home from the hospital after her double knee replacement so we have been able to spend some time with her helping her transition to being back home. Last weekend we were able to help out with and have much fun at our nephew, Jack’s, 5^th birthday party.

It was a superhero party and Ironman paid a visit.

We then had two days in a row of friends visiting up the boat. We haven’t spent too much time just relaxing on the boat so this was really great! One of the visitors was a one year old and while we love all of this kids that have visited the boat (6 months-7yo), we thought that this was by far the best age yet to have on board! Max can walk but wasn’t able to climb the stairs very easily so we could just shut all the doors and let him hang out! Thanks to everyone who visited and brought us treats! Please come again soon! 

Last week there were a couple of dolphins that made their way up the river and while I was up the mast the other day (we do do some work!), I saw a jellyfish! I have seen jellyfish in aquariums and washed up on beaches but I couldn’t ever remember seeing one in the wild moving as they do like an accordion as they do in wildlife documentaries. Bryce was pretty surprised by how excited I was as growing up he was used to seeing squillions of them. Nevertheless, he obliged and took a photo for me!

If you look closely, you can see it!

I had to go up the mast twice that day and while I was up there the second time, we decided that it was much easier to send the part that needed a quick repair job down in a bag for Bryce to fix rather than have me bring it down and then have to climb back up. This was a great idea until the sun started to set and the wind picked up. Not such a happy camper but I did get to see a beautiful sunset.

Yesterday, Bryce and his brother, Callun, spent the day building us new seats for the cockpit. One of them was rotting and we decided to rebuild both of them, just to be safe. All of the pieces are cut and they just need to be put together and painted. They are one of my favourite perches on the boat so I am looking forward to having them back!

Cozy corner chair (this is one of the old ones)

Backyard workshop

Since we haven’t been at the boat full-time these last few weeks, we defrosted and cleaned out the fridge and have been living with our food in an eskie (cooler). Leafy greens don’t cope very well living in an eskie and this has only served to further my new found fascination with cabbage. I have never cooked with cabbage much before but now my eyes have been opened! I love that I can keep it around and just peel off the leaves that I want, whenever I want and use them to bulk something up or add a little crunch. I have really loved experimenting with it and have had it in dumplings, salads, sandwiches and soups. This salad I love and think I could eat every day! Crunchy, salty, cool & delicious! It’s important not to put the noodles on until the salad is going to be eaten or they will lose some of their crunch. This recipe is loosely inspired by the recipe that comes listed on the back of the package of some Chinese fried noodle packets and by one of my aunts, who makes this salad all the time!

Crunchy Cabbage Salad

½ cabbage, white or red, loosely chopped

1 bunch green onions, roughly sliced

½ c slivered almonds, toasted (can be toasted in a pan on low heat over the stove)

1 package extra-firm tofu, crumbled

1 tbsp rice bran oil (or any other cooking oil)

1 bag Chinese fried noodles

Dressing

¼ c white vinegar

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp peanut oil

1 tbsp brown rice syrup (or agave or honey)

1. Cook the tofu in the rice bran oil at medium-high heat until it gets some colour.

2. Combine all dressing ingredients together.

3. Mix all salad ingredients together, except for Chinese noodles and toss with dressing.

4. Serve chilled with Chinese noodles sprinkled on top & enjoy!