Those damn fishing boats

But I sure love eating their catch.

If you’re new here, welcome! I’m Rebecca, a recipe developer and food photographer. You might know me from my recipe websites, Of Batter and Dough and A Little and A Lot.

My husband and I are nomads with an RV, a motorcycle, and a sailboat, so I write about life on the road, the incredible places we visit, and the experiences we have along the way. Plus, there’s recipes.

And, if you are brand new to Substack, I created this short video tour.

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For new sailors, the fishing boats that hang out in the mouth of the channel connecting Muskegon Lake to Lake Michigan are annoying.

The currents from boats coming and going and the constricted opening of a channel disorients and concentrates the number of small baitfish, which then, of course, attracts the larger fish that the fishermen are trying to catch. So, that’s why they like to hang out there. Or so I’ve learned from googling WHY, oh WHY do fishing boats hang out at the mouth of a channel???

But, trying to navigate around them along with all of the other boats coming and going, is stressful. Especially when you’re new and trying to figure everything out.

This being our first year on the water, one of the things that I’ve noticed is that there’s no love lost between the fishing boats and the sailboats. We exist in the marina like high school cliques. Like with like. We wave and greet each other accordingly. Except for us, who are new and don’t yet understand the social structures and therefore wave at everyone. Even the fishing boats, although inside we are screaming, Why do you hang out in the mouth of the channel??? Don’t you know we’re new? Don’t you know how hard it is to get around you? (I should say waved at everyone. Past tense. We are learning.)

Once, in a restroom at a marina in Pentwater, I stood at the sink, fixing my hair and makeup after a shower when a woman who had just come in off a fishing boat came in to clean up. Upon learning that we were new sailors she launched into a monologue about how much she hated all of us. Well, not all of us. I think she said something along the lines of, “Not everyone with a sailboat is an ass, just most of you.”

Having just sailed past a fishing boat at what was, I felt, at too close a range, I didn’t know how to defend myself or if I even should. We are new! I wanted to tell her. We’re learning how all this works! We were taught different rules of the road in our ASA sailing classes than what it appears you all live by. We don’t want to be the biggest dicks on the lake but also, why do you hang out in such inconvenient places? And also, we’ve met some of the sailboat owners in our marina and they are lovely people! Are all sailors assholes? I don’t think so! But, what do I know?

I just smiled at her and left the building.

I might be new to sailing, but I’m not new to being a human and I know I don’t have to participate in every argument I’ve been invited to.

So, here we are, two and a half months later, and I no longer feel like we need a giant “Caution! New Driver!” sticker on the hull of the boat. We’ve sailed a lot. As much as possible. In a relatively short amount of time, we’ve moved from everything feeling clumsy and a bit stressful to everything feeling easy and fun. So fun! So easy! Look at me pulling our headsail from one side to the other as we glide through a tack! Look at us coasting in and out of our slip in the marina, elegantly grabbing and casting off the dock lines like we’ve been doing this our whole lives!

And still, those fishing boats at the mouth of the channel are still annoying as….

Moving on.

We didn’t grow up with boats. We lived in Colorado! And yes, there are lakes in Colorado. People own boats there. My uncle had a sailboat when I was very young and my dad had a small speed boat for a couple of years. But, it’s not the same as here, on the coast of Lake Michigan. When I told a friend of mine from Colorado that we were going to learn how to sail she said, “That’s so unique!” Unique for someone who lives in Colorado perhaps, but not at all unique for someone who lives in Michigan. Here, it feels like everyone has a boat.

For me, the experience of learning how to sail felt monumental. We signed up for classes, received our textbooks, and studied them like our lives depended on it because we thought they did. (They did not.) The first few days of class felt incredibly intense. Our instructor took his job very seriously. Which was cute because he was probably 24, but also we approached the task as if the fate of humankind hung in the balance. I stressed over each and every one of the three 100-question tests we took that week, convinced I wouldn’t pass. (My lowest score was a 93%. I might have a history of over preparation. And over thinking. All the things you can put an over before. Until I’m over it.)

I am being a bit over dramatic, of course.

And, we adored our instructor, who did, in fact take his job vey seriously, and as a consequence, we learned a LOT. Much more than from our second instructor who did not take the job seriously at all.

Anyhoo, flying high on the excitement of having passed three levels of ASA training in a week, we celebrated with fish and chips (probably caught by the disgruntled fisherwoman) and realized immediately that if we wanted some actual experience, we were going to have to buy a boat. We were like new drivers with a permit but no actual driving experience. How do you get experience? You get out on the road. Hard to do without a car. Or, in this case, without a boat.

Three weeks later, Steve and John, the now former owner of our new sailboat, motored it into our freshly leased slip in the first marina we found. John yelled, “I sold my boat!” I shouted back, “What a coincidence! We bought a boat!”

John and his friend Dean helped us secure the boat in the slip (Dean, patiently giving me instructions while looking at me sideways because it was immediately apparent that we had no idea what we were doing) then walked away. And there we were, sitting in the cockpit of a boat that was now entirely our responsibility, with no sails, and a cabin full of stuff accumulated by the former owner over 30 years of sailing. We stared at each other for a bit. Silent but thinking the same thing… what do we do now?

Steve said, want to put the sails on?

Do you know how to do that?, said I.

No.

But we figured it out.

The first few times we took our new boat out on the water were not what I would call fun and relaxing. Exhilarating, maybe. A little bit intoxicating. Anxiety producing but weirdly addictive. I was simultaneously relieved to return from a sail and eager to go back out. At first, Steve and I struggled to communicate and work together.

But then we found our stride. Gradually and then suddenly. Like everything always is.

Three months ago sailing felt like an exotic dream. After years of dreaming, of stopping to walk through marinas every time we traveled to a place with water, of saying to each other, Wouldn’t it be fun to someday learn how to sail? Wouldn’t it be great to have a boat? What if we LIVED on a boat? That would be something!, here we are.

We’ll take the boat out of the water soon and tuck it away for the winter. That’s ok too. We’ve got other places to go and people to see and a motorcycle that’s been poorly neglected this summer and needs to run. But, next May we’ll be back for a new season, not quite as green, but still in that delicious new stage of things where everything is an adventure.

And the fishing boats will still be as annoying as…

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1. The day we bought our boat!

2. Raising the mainsail after figuring out how to attach it to the mast.

3. Our first sail on our new sailboat! We were only out for 20 minutes before a storm rolled in and we got soaked. But, turning off the motor and raising the sails that we’d just put on was exhilarating!

4. Friends/ family who did not hesitate to get on a plane and come sail with us even though we were brand new sailors.

5. Finding our stride… this day is etched in my memory forever. It was hot and the water was cool and blue, and I sat with my feet hanging over the side of the boat, safe with Steve at the helm, feeling the cool spray and watching the coastline gently slip by.

6. It’s hard to describe how happy Steve is on the water.

7. One of many, many sunset sails.

8. Moonlight in the marina.

9. Sailing with our girls. ❤️

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This and that

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Are you a food writer on Substack? In case you haven’t heard, a group of us get together over Zoom once a month for a Mastermind. It’s awesome and we’d love to have you join us. Here’s the info:

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I read this story and I couldn’t stop thinking… what if this was my daughter? And also, why do the lessons of history continue to fall on deaf ears? Do we not know what’s at stake???

(Here’s more about the artist that is bringing these photos to life.)

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I am in love with this family ritual that Steve Sabicer shared in his recent post, Fall Into Balance.

“On the Equinox, we each write down a thought or belief we no longer want to carry. An idea we’d like to unyoke ourselves from. We write it down, fold up the slip of paper and walk it out to the backyard composter. One by one, we drop the notes into the the barrel and spin them into oblivion.”

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Taking time to notice is truly an art. But also, we can do it now! With no training or special skills. So that’s nice. As someone who travels a lot, it seems easier to notice the world around me when the geography is new. The trick is to notice the new things that are everywhere, all the time even in the same little corner of earth.

Just Five Images

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I learned a new favorite phrase from Nica Waters who writes Small Sailboat Life:

We call it “Pas De Suckage” (read with your best French accent, with the last 3 letters of the last word drawn out and emphasized), those glorious “pinch me” moments that just feel like they need to be acknowledged in some understated way. Keep reading…

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This week’s menu

Poached Salmon with Dill Sauce + Crispy Fried Potatoes + Vanilla Cake with Lemon Mascarpone Cream

Poached Salmon with Dill Sauce

Last week, Sheryl O'Connell who writes Just Really Good Recipes posted a recipe for Mediterranean Salmon with Dill Sauce. The recipe was inspired by a restaurant meal she had enjoyed but also paid $37 dollars for. When she got home, she decided that she could do better for less, and while I don’t have the comparison of the restaurant meal, I made her dill sauce this week and I think she nailed it.

Sheryl air fried her salmon. I opted for one of my favorite techniques - gently poaching the salmon in white wine with lemon, garlic, and dill.

I love this technique for poaching salmon. I first shared it last year in this recipe for Poached Salmon Salad with Honey Lime Dressing, a recipe that also made it to the Let’s Get Lost Cookbook.

Adding alcohol to the pan lowers the boiling point of the poaching liquid. This produces more vapor which helps the fish cook more evenly.

Laying the fish on top of lemon slices creates a part poaching and part steaming situation that prevents the fish’s flavor from being washed away and keeps the bottom of the fish from overcooking.

For the dill sauce, I followed Sheryl’s recipe exactly, opting for sour cream instead of yogurt and not thinning it with water. The sauce takes mere minutes to make and would be so good over so many things! It’s a keeper!

Total Time: 30 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• Creamy Dill Sauce (recipe from Sheryl O'Connell)

• 2 lemons, sliced into 1/2 inch rounds

• 3 or 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced

• A few sprigs of dill, left over from making the sauce

• 1 cup dry white wine or dry vermouth

• 4 skinless salmon fillets that are about 1-inch thick - about 1/2 pound fillet per person

• Water - just enough to come about halfway up the sides of the salmon fillets

• Salt

Instructions:

1. Make the dill sauce and place it in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

2. Slice the lemon into rounds that are about 1/2-inch thick and lay them across the bottom of a 12-inch skillet or cast iron braiser (It’s important to use a pan with a lid. Alternatively, cover your pan with a sheet of aluminum foil).

3. Peel and slice the garlic, and sprinkle the pieces over the lemon slices. Toss in a few sprigs of dill. Pour in about a cup of dry white wine (or dry vermouth).

4. Sprinkle the salmon fillets with salt and place them on top of top of the lemons. Add enough water to the pan to cup about halfway up the sides of the fillets.

5. Set the pan over medium high heat and bring the liquid to a boil. Cover the pan with a lid, reduce heat to low, and maintain a very gentle simmer until the thickest part of the salmon registers 125 degrees - 11 to 14 minutes.

6. Remove the skillet from the heat and gently lift the salmon out of the pan onto serving plates. Serve with the dill sauce.

Crispy Roasted Potatoes

Poached salmon with dill sauce is one of those things that can be served with any number of side dishes but potatoes sounded particularly good to me this week, so that’s what we went with.

I vacillated between making these crispy fried potatoes and cream cheese mashed potatoes, ultimately opting for crispy fried potatoes for no other reason than there would be one less dish to wash.

This simple technique results in potatoes that are soft and creamy on the inside, and golden and crispy on the outside. I make them quite frequently not only because they’re so simple and delicious, but because it’s easy to make as many or as few as you like.

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Vanilla Loaf Cake with Lemon Mascarpone Cream

Earlier this year I published a recipe for Grilled Apricots with Lemon Mascarpone Cream. Grilling apricots was a revelation to me but also, I kept thinking about all the other delicious ways to use the mascarpone cream, like dolloped over slices of cake, swirled onto cupcakes, or as a decadent topping for fresh berries.

This week, after our lunch of poached salmon with dill sauce, we ate slices of vanilla loaf cake with a generous spoonful of lemon mascarpone cream and spent the rest of the day feeling enormously happy and satisfied in the way you do after a really good meal. We all need more days like this, yes?

Vanilla Loaf Cake

This simple vanilla loaf cake is one of my most used recipes. It’s delicious on it’s own but is also a kind of blank canvas for dressing it up with anything you like. Try it with whipped cream and berry sauce (pictured below), a drizzle of hot fudge or salted caramel sauce, or lemon mascarpone cream, of course.

Lemon Mascarpone Cream

Ever since making this mascarpone recipe, I’ve been a little bit obsessed with using mascarpone in desserts.

Ok. So if you’re Italian, or have visited Italy for 5 minutes (me too!), you’re maybe rolling your eyes right now because it’s not like mascarpone and desserts is a new thing.

But I’m not Italian and, even though I spent one glorious week in Italy a few years ago, Mascarpone cheese is not something those of us in the US can even find in a lot of grocery stores.

This is changing. Thankgod. Because mascarpone is marvelous. Marvelous mascarpone! Someone should name a brand that. Perhaps they have?

I digress.

This summer, when Steve and I spent 6 weeks trying to live on our sailboat, I was only interested in super simple recipes that take only a few ingredients, not much equipment, and very little time.

And that, my friends, was where lemon mascarpone cream was born. I originally made it for these grilled apricots with honey, but it’s so easy to make and so good on, well, everything that I did kinda start putting it on everything. Make it, and you’ll understand why.

By the way, the basic vanilla loaf cake recipe is also the starting point for 4 flavor variations:

1. Chocolate Chip Loaf Cake: simply stir 1 cup mini chocolate chips into the batter before folding in the whipped cream.

2. Blueberry Loaf Cake: Fold fresh or frozen blueberries into the batter.

3. Cinnamon Swirl Loaf Cake: Swirl in thick gooey ribbons of cinnamon sugar.

4. Raspberry Swirl Loaf Cake: Swirls of raspberry throughout rich vanilla cake.

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