G..Astronomy
Rhiann Marie - Round the World
Stewart Graham
Fri 30 Sep 2011 18:42
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Friday 30th September 1801 UTC 1901
BST
06:35.63S 015:11.66W
Wind SE 12 Knots, COG 005 Deg True, SOG 7
knots
After what seemed like a very long time of grey
skies and cooler temperatures, yesterday evening ended with mostly
clear blue skies and sunshine fading to the west. Through the night I saw the
stars for the first time in a while. Not all mind you as there was still some
cloud cover and still no moon. It will be interesting to see the night sky
here again on the equator. I searched last night for the Southern Cross behind
me but cloud or no cloud I am sure that is long gone. So my thoughts and
attention turned to the north where hopefully over the next few nights I can see
our old friend the Plough again and I am sure Orion will be visible here at
the equator and fairly soon the North Star should loom into view to the - yes
you guessed - the North!
The game plan yesterday was to continue sailing NW
as far down the wind as possible to prepare to turn north and onto the wind when
the lighter forecast winds kicked in yesterday. Had they done as forecast I
would have had to leave Ascenion Island to my port. But ............ the winds
stayed with us all night until this morning by which time Ascension was 40 miles
to my starboard on my same latitude.
So about 0700 I gybed the main off the pole and
over to port side and hardened up the mainsail sheet as the wind eased to 10 -
12 knots. We took it at 135 Deg true and pointed North. Straight for the
Canaries! The canvas was pressed, there was not slatting or rolling and we
sailed along in th egentle breeze doing between six and seven
knots.
To add to the joy the sky has been a rich blue all
day with only some cloud around the hem of her skirt at the distant 360 degree
panoramic horizon. Temperature is now well up and sea temperature is almost 26
C. The sailing was sublime and will be a day i will remember for a long time.
This is what I have been searching and hoping for. 100%
raw undistilled serenity! Priceless. However good things must all come to
an end and they inevitably will but....... but the forecast is looking
promising........
The equator is now 400 miles away and my Cape
Verdes waypoint is only now 2,200 miles away!
Now to start this last 24 hours off last evening I
decided to concoct up something in the galley. Something quick as I was enjoying
Facing the West (the band and the direction) and the first clear sunset in some
time.
So remembering that I hate waste and my freezer has
been playing up i thought I better use up some peeled prawns which had probably
by now been frozen, thawed and re-frozen several times. What else? Yes there are
some dried noodles which we got in Indonesia and should be used up before they
turn to dust. Yep and the left over cuttings of yellow and green peppers and a
green chillie. I was not sure whether to use a knife on them or a comb as
they seemed to have a bad case of green dandruff and lay soaking in some vile
liquid they were by then producing. Anyway waste not want not...... What next?
yes theres a half onion there that is going a bit crusty and brown and that
chooped garlic that I had to spoon the grey bits out off.
I also had a packet of high octane green chilli
paste in a packet that was bought some eight months ago in Thailand and I
knew would not be used up if i didn't use it then probably no-one
would.
That should do it. So I decided on something
orientalish. Into the wok with some oil because I think that's what they do. At
the same time I boiled the noodles because I think that's what it said in broken
English on the backl of the packet. Into the wok then with the brown onion and
grey garlic. This was swiftly followed by the peppers and chilli with their new
soggy hairstyle.
The noodles boiled and I drained them...... then I
chucked them into the frying wok. Oh yes and I seemed to recall the term "egg
noodles" so I cracked an egg in there too. Skooshed it around then for a bit. In
with the lumpy, almost dry rocket propelled green chilli paste. It was starting
to look interesting..........
Now "this is supposed to be oriental-ish" I thought
so why not pour in a dollop of soy sauce. That's chinese isn't it? "What
else, what else" I thought, oh yeah theres a dried solid half lime in the fruit
basket. I better put that in to prevent scurvy. So I crushed it in my right fist
and you would be surprised how much juice came out of that shriveled up wee
thing. No. Don't go there.
So there we have it. Rhiann Marie fungus infused
egg noodle green curry.
It was sublime. Divine, I think they say in South
Africa. Delicious and Michelin 3 star award winning. Now the next time you
are in one of Gordon Ramsays debt ridden restaurants or in Yo Sushi or some such
thing and you eat this dish - don't believe any of their bullshit. They did not
make up the recipe themselves. They saw it here
first.
I ate half of it last night and that set me up
perfectly for a wonderful day today. However there were still some prawnd left
in a puddle in the bag and half the red hot lethal green curry paste in a
packet. So I ransacked the cupboards again tonight and made another concoction.
However it made me scream. Not by eating it - it looks and tastes delicious but
when I forgot to wash the traces of green curry paste of my hands before
visiting the loo!
toodooloo! I'm off to Face the West and the
sunset......
e-mail for more recipes on rhiann {DOT} marie {CHANGE TO AT} gaelforce {DOT} net
And - again thanks a million to all of those of you starts that have been
sending me e-mails. They are really appreciated and keep me going. Not as if I
have nothing to do, but ............... well just keep them
coming
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