Archiv der Kategorie: Alex & Taru

I've lately been slightly obsessed with oil and deep fried things in general. It all started with the French fries the other day. And since I had some oil left from that procedure, I figured why not continue deep frying things that comes in my way. Chicken for example. Chicken cooked and submerged in oil always gives a nice flavor, and here it was a confit type of taste I was looking for. Let's see how I proceeded.

For chicken I'm like most other people, rice suits the best. My favorite way of preparing rice is to first panfry red onion, salt and cumin in olive-oil before tossing in the rice to cook in the mixture. Gives such a great flavor to the otherwise dull taste of solid rice. I always use basmati rice, except for this time as I had run out of it and couldn't find it in the store. Bummer. Regular white rice will do too. 

Prepare some veggies. Cut green and red paprika/bell pepper, tomatoes and garlic in whatever shape you fancy.

In canola or vegetable oil, panfry veggies and garlic till soft and sweet. It should take a while. Season with salt, black pepper. Add dried or fresh basil, parsley, thyme and or whatever herbs you've got at home. And nutmeg of course. Don't be scared to use nutmeg, I add a lot to obtain the sweet and nutty flavor.

When vegetables are done, remove them from the heat and let them cool down on a plate. Now time to semi deep fry the chicken. Pour a generous amount of (canola or any vegetable) oil into the already hot pan. Toss in your separated pieces of chicken. They should almost be submerged but not completely. I've cut two large legs in smaller pieces and thus got a nice mixture of whitish meat, skin and some more greasier parts of the chicken. No bones in this one. Add salt and pepper. Make sure to mix often so the chicken pieces doesn't stick together or so that not only one side burns. If the pan is hot enough, it goes rather quickly to obtain a crispy golden hue which is what we're after. Taste in between and add more salt, pepper or why not some more herbs.

When chicken's done, lower the heat, throw in the vegetables, mix well and leave it all to simmer for a while.

Rice and stew done.

Go ahead and serve. 

The mixture of deep fried chicken, the sweet peppers, tomatoes and garlic with nutmeg and herbs combined with the flavorful rice is absolutely divine. It might seem as there's a lot of grease and fat into this meal and yes it might be just so, but every once in a while it should be ok. My deep-fry obsession hasn't lessened as yet so perhaps I'll come up with another greasy dish before we go back to a more healthy sort of diet again. 

This one's for you Reggie! Ha ha ha... found it while processing through the Bonaire pictures. 

While we were still in St Martin/St Maarten working on Duende - sxm the island which we also love very very much (we love all the Dutch islands in fact) - our friend Reg gave Alex the nickname "Michelangelo". Why such a pompous name you might ask. Because it is very obvious when you learn to know Alex that he is obsessed with perfecting things. His work seems never well done enough and he can spend hours and days adjusting the slightest details, to reach to a sort of perfection that not many bothers to work towards as it seems a mission impossible. 

He really is a true perfectionist and puts very high pressure on himself to reach that utter perfection in anything he creates be it music mastering, joinery, fiberglass or carbon design, boat building and anything else in between. Sometimes I try to tell him, baby, it's good enough now, much better than what anyone would expect for such work. And he mutters back: No, it's just not done yet, give me a few more days.. and there he continues, sweating away hour after hour, barely even allows himself to take a two minute break.

Another funny thing I got to think about when I saw this photo. After only knowing us previously through the blog, William said to Alex the other day: But you really smile a lot! Like it was a surprising discovery. In the blog Alex might have a serious appearance most of the times, but that's only because he feels uncomfortable posing and unfortunately I must be the evil partner who asks him to do just that for the blog from time to time. Well well, all the things we put each other through, but at least I have my very own Michelangelo in the house.

And here's a few Michelangelo quotes that could as well be from Alex himself:

I celebrated our new view with a cold beer.

Hello bud. 

And this is our lovely Swedish neighbor. He was in front of us before, now we're next to each other. Will tell you more about this guy and his boat very shortly. We've met so many friendly, interesting people here in this marina, Club Nautico, Cartagena. It goes without saying that we feel very much at home right here, it even reminds us a tad bit about Barcelona. Club Nautico is also the most affordable marina we've encountered since we left the Mediterranean 2,5 years ago, a huge plus now in times of refit and repairs.

One of our favorite topics of argument here in our 30 m²/300 sq ft existence is cleaning and organization of things onboard. I might not have been the tidiest person all my life and I can be the cause of a hurricane mess from time to time, but the older I get, the more have I learnt that a fresh clean home makes for a better organized mind and gives mental peace. A tidy surrounding also helps you to make better decisions and give harmony, compared to the stress and unconscious unbalance a home full of clutter can cause. It really is metaphorical for life itself. The less distractions and mess around you, the greater and happier will you feel.