Welcome to the first installment of “from the galley”! The crew here on the s/v Mer Sea does quite a bit of cooking. Even though Mexico can be relatively cheap for eating out, your dollar goes a lot farther, just the same as back home, if you eat in house. More dollars = more cerveza and Chidraui doughnuts! Besides saving our pesos for the bonus items that we can’t make ourselves or just flat out more time cruising, we also really enjoy cooking together. (Frankly, it is hard to find something we don’t enjoy doing together!) For those that have spent much time on (small) boats, you understand what a feat a single meal can be. For those that haven’t, this section is to shed a bit of light on the process.
Well, here is a quick rundown of our set-up. We have a 5 gallon tank of propane strapped on the stern that Marc rigged with a t-valve, one hose fuels the weber style bbq, also fastened to the stern pulpit, and the other fuels a 2 burner stove down below. Those are our only “appliances”. We do not have refrigeration and only one small cooler, which we have only filled with ice once so far. Part of the fun for us is meeting the challenges posed by limited resources and tools, with creativity and a sense of adventure as we search for ways to spice up our next meal! Which leads me to the subject of grocery shopping.
A regular part of most days is grocery shopping, which may sound like a chore to some, but for us, is a fun and usually eye opening experience. It often gives us a chance to explore the towns, learning the lay of the land and meeting the true locals, as we search for the freshest produce, at the best price. Depending on the day, and other local factors, it can take several stops just to make Colleen’s “Best in Mex” guacamole; one market may have the ripest tomatoes and limes, while another avocados, and a third, maybe on the other side of town, onions, garlic and cilantro. But it’s all worth it in the end! MMMmmm guacamole!
We mostly purchase fresh veggies, which tend to be a big chunk of our diet, but we do stock up on dry goods and have been known to purchase bacon, beef, and shrimp from the locals. Actually, truth be told, quite a bit of bacon, which we enjoy also using the grease to add flavor to our morning scrambles! As for vegetables, we purchase them fresh almost daily but they tend to be the usual suspects in respects to variety. A typical basketful at the market consists of garlic, onion, carrot, cucumber, limes, tomatoes, avocado, a variety of chilies, and possibly apple (which are imported from California!), zucchini or some other random local specialty item. When it comes to dry goods, it’s the basic flour (as we are trying our hand at making our own bread), legumes (black, pinto, and lentils), and of course, rice. Eggs also regularly make it into our breakfast bowls. Marc is a master scrambler. There isn’t a leftover yet that couldn’t be incorporated into a morning scramble.
Despite the fact that our choices are seemingly limited at the local tiendas (markets), as compared to the sky scraping aisles found at grocery stores back in the States, we have found that there is a certain simple joy, or thrill, of triumphing with the creation of a new dish, after getting out of our comfort zones and simply trying something new! We understand that most of our meals may not make it to any forward thinking cookbooks, but they definitely get us pretty stoked and always merit a victory CHEERS! Buen Provencho!
