Its a funny thing when you think about it. Or rather, for those of us who haven't written anything more public then a facebook status, its somewhat unnerving, that anyone might be at all interested in reading about what 'Im' doing. I should comfort myself with the thought that right now at least and maybe for a while yet, I am without doubt writing to...well myself. And maybe my Mum. Phew. I can relax and crack on. She says I look good in a sack so she'll like it.
I'll be bold and consider myself an attractive 5 minutes read. I dont wish to take up too much of your time. I've been reading some blogs and some of them dont half go on a bit. I think my blog is going to be interesting but I dont want to push it. Little and often will be my phrase! Talking of which, thats how one should eat apparently; which leads us nicely onto the subject which brings me here in the first place - Food, Glorious Food!
Haha!, Lovely, lovely. Even writing the word 'food' had me downstairs making a pot of fresh coffee and breaking off some still-warm, french bread, smearing it with butter and honey. I eat alot (lots and often in fact) and the reason my french bread was still warm is because I picked it up from the market this morning. And the reason I did that is because I am currently living in a house in 'La Garde Freinet'; a small-ish village in the South of France near St Tropez (darling) And One does that when One is in France on a sunday morning.
The house is fondly known as 'The Crew House'. And this time of year its occupants are growing in numbers to make up what will be 'the Crew'. We are the lucky crew who work on a beautiful classic yacht called 'Mariquita' (pictured). This year she will celebrate her 100th Birthday.
Our season really starts hotting up around April when all the crew will have arrived from far flung places. We move onto the boat and soon we will start our race training. Without going into it too much, we are primarily a race boat and we'lll be racing in 8 Classic yacht regattas this year around the Mediterranean. Its hard work. And its great fun. Its all done as classically as possible which means we pull everything up by hand without the aid of electric winches. Block and tackle, jiggers and stoppers and best of all, we get to sing sea shanties. No, really, we do.
Whats all this got to do with food? Well I am the cook. Im also Staysail number 1, when we're racing, but primarily I get to cook for 12 hungry sailors on a boat, on a budget and sometimes on an angle. My little 'Force Ten', gimbled oven and I have had some adventures, not always good and there may have been some words, usually not good. Cooking in a kitchen thats being thrown around in every direction can be a challenge and isn't for everyone. But despite what my oven might think, I like that.
So my blog will be about the recipes I mostly tend to create for 6-12 people, using ingredients from around the Med and some that we have 'plucked' from the sea and actually my first recipe may well be a 'road-kill' wild boar daube, that we scraped off the tarmac not far from here. (my second amateur butchering experience)
For unlike some big boats, we dont have a nice, big budget. But thats more fun, realistic and a good thing and again, I like the challenge.
Why 33 Degrees? Nothing technical and Im no Mason. Im just 33 years old, (that was honest!) cook with degrees heat, sometimes on an angle and well, hey, I thought it had a nice ring to it. So please join me for cooking experiences, recipes, and sailing adventures.
Cooking on a beautiful classic sailing yacht. My life at 33 degrees.
