Beautiful Saturday in May – Preakness Saturday

The weather today was nothing short of amazing.  When the temperature is in the low 80s with a gentle breeze blowing there is nothing more I would ask for.  Even though we got home at midnight last night (see what I mean about us not being morning people?) we managed to get moving as soon as the alarm went off at 8am.  We knew the Preakness was today and that meant crazy traffic so we wanted to waste no time getting downtown to the marina.  While most people wouldn’t walk to Pimlico (the track where the Preakness is run) from our house it would be an easy walk, probably 2 or 2.5 miles from us.  However that also means that we see the increase in traffic at our place so it makes sense to get out early if you are leaving.

Breakfast for us was a bowl of savory oatmeal, this time flavored with curry that included very lightly cooked broccoli and sun-dried tomatoes. Don’t forget it is always good to have broccoli and tomatoes since the sulforaphane and lycopene are better absorbed in the presence of the other. Also whenever you use curry (which includes turmeric) be generous with the black pepper since that enhances the absorption of the curcumin in the turmeric.  The photo above is a different bowl of savory oatmeal since I was rushed this morning and didn’t take a photo.

After breakfast we headed for the boat to avoid as much Preakness traffic as possible.

Eric and I both wanted to check out the opening day of farmers’ market at the Baltimore Museum of Industry which is a very short walk from the marina. Dan stayed on the boat and fed mama and baby duck while Eric and I went foraging for produce. I bought local strawberries, apples, beets and tomatoes.  Since I have lemons and my juicer on the boat I decided a little beet, beet green, apple and lemon juice would be delicious.  We both love strawberries with balsamic and black pepper which is why I bought the berries.  J

The little baby duck seems to be growing an inch a day. I am very surprised by the rate at which the little guy is growing.  Yesterday he looked like a baby and today he is more of toddler.  The baby duck has stolen my heart. He/she is absolutely precious.  I am sorry that you can’t see the little one in person.  He comes right to the back of our boat with his momma to be fed.  SO cute!

While the weather was gorgeous it definitely called for iced green tea. This is the pitcher with matcha and regular green tea with orange, lemon and lime slices.  We both really enjoy this beverage.  If you like green tea this stuff is good. Don’t forget to brew your green tea for 10 minutes to extract the maximum amount of EGCG and that vitamin C (fresh citrus) enhances your absorption of the EGCG.

Lunch for us was curried almond salad in lettuce cups with apple slices. I took a picture of the bowl of ingredients and the second is a formed lettuce cup.  I will make this salad again soon so I can measure things and tell you how to make it.  I use a raw cashew crème with lemon and garlic in place of the mayo which works perfectly.  This recipe is ridiculously simple and quick other than soaking the nuts which happens overnight in the refrigerator.

After lunch I turned beets, beet greens, apple and lemon into juice and dropped that down into the cooler to chill for later.  Did I remember to tell you that the juicer is on the boat too now?  I brought it down to show one of the guys at the marina.  It is a long story that I will tell you more about later but it has a great ending.  Two guys lost 32 pounds total in 2 weeks (one lost 20 in 2 weeks and the other 12 in 10 days).  Impressive right?  I love a good success story, or two in this case.  ;-)

In addition to relaxing at the marina we took one of the dogs (Peyton) for a walk since his human mom and dad were at the Preakness.  For those of you who haven’t been to the Preakness you aren’t missing anything in my opinion. I went to the Preakness 3 decades ago when I was in college and it was nothing more than a drunk fest which was too much for me even way back then. Somehow seeing drunken college kids passed out or throwing up has never been my idea of a good time. Call me crazy.  ;-)  I doubt this event would be more appealing to me now at 50.

Today there was also a more boat cleaning, polishing and waxing.  For those of you who don’t know when you own a boat there is a lot of cleaning, polishing and waxing.  It seems to be a never ending project in fact. We talked about hiring someone to do it but we both decided that was ridiculous. Why pay someone to do the manual labor and then spend more time in the gym.  Hence we opted to take care of the maintenance ourselves.

Speaking of the boat I wanted to relay something that I recently noticed.  The one thing that I don’t love about having a boat is the classic “boat smell” which is reminiscent of a wet dog.  In other words not good. To combat this “eau du wet dog” I have been burning multiple (either two or three) highly scented candles every time I was on the boat.  The candle aroma has been wonderful for the boat which actually now smells good and the not the least like a wet dog.  However there are a few negatives of burning candles.  In the cooler weather when the boat was closed up my air quality monitor would move into the unhealthy range in under 30 minutes after I arrived and had two or three candles going which I found to be a little disconcerting. Second I noticed today that the candle soot was much more extensive than I expected it to be.  I spent today wiping down the ceiling in the boat to remove the film of candle soot.

Fortunately I was over at Eric’s boat about a month ago and noticed a candle warmer that he had. It looks like a coffee or tea warmer but holds a jar candle. He picked me up two of them a couple of weeks ago I have been using them. Now I have the candle aroma but none of the candle soot or the deterioration in air quality.  I was happy with this solution so I wanted to pass it along. 

Our friend Eric had a work function to attend this afternoon and evening so I took Bri for a nice walk to get her exercise.  Can you tell I have somehow turned into the neighborhood dog walker?  LOL, I guess that is what happens when you are one of the few people who volunteers for physical activity. 

We had such a late lunch today I almost thought we were going to skip dinner but I knew that wouldn’t be good.  We decided to have the strawberries and tomatoes which I bought this morning and a big glass of fresh juice.  Not the most traditional dinner but we enjoyed it.

Huge Thank Yous:

Those of you who offered to look at the website have been extremely helpful.  I have gotten some incredible feedback for which I am very grateful.  Your suggestions have exceeded by expectations. That was the good side. The other side is that now I have more that I want to do on the site.  Since the round one review went well I think I am going to do a second round once I incorporate the suggestions from round one. I know that two of you offered to help a day or two ago and I hope that you will be available for the round two review. Thank you again too everyone who has helped and/or offered to help.  Your generosity is a bit overwhelming, but in a good way.

Happy thoughts:

• Saturday was another great day.  As always there are so many things to be thankful for when you take the time to notice.
•  It was nice of Mother Nature to give us a gorgeous Saturday weather wise. I don’t know that we could have had better weather for mid-May in the Mid-Atlantic.
• The grand-duck is growing up nicely.  I can’t tell you how much I am enjoying watching him/her grow up.  Baby animals are the cutest things!
•  I enjoyed the farmers’ market at the Baltimore Museum of Industry.  However I have to admit that my favorite part is that it is a short walk from the boat.  No doubt I will be back on a regular basis to buy produce for the boat on Saturday before our big trip on Sunday to pick up our CSA stash.
• Both pups (Peyton and Bri) were very sweet today.  Additionally it was nice to get out for a two walks today with the dogs.  Apparently you don’t actually need your own dog to get more exercise just borrow other peoples.  ;-)
•  We are actually making headway on the boat in terms of cleaning, and waxing.  It will definitely be a few month weeks before we have done everything above the gunwale but that is okay.  Slow and steady wins the race right?  Dan and I were kidding with each other that just about the time we get everything waxed it will be time to go back and start again, which is closer to true than either of us want to admit. I might have to add boat cleaning and waxing into my weekly calendar.  Who decided we should do the maintenance ourselves? Oh yeah, that was us.  LOL

Signing out:

Tomorrow starts bright and early, 6:00am to be exact.  That means that we need to shut down at the marina and get home sooner than we normally would.  It is a little sad to leave the marina early but I am sure we will get used to it.  ;-)

I hope you had a great Saturday and I will talk to you again tomorrow.