We receive many questions when we mention that we have a boat. Can you sleep on it? Can you cook on it? What do you DO all day????

We can sleep on the boat, in case you have not figured that one out yet. We have 2 staterooms (bedrooms) and can technically sleep 7-8 people. This means you can bring your kids or another couple and be comfortable.

As to cooking, we have a 4-burner stove. This is a bit unusual as most boats have only 2 or 3 burners. What is nice about this one is that it has a bigger oven. What that really means is that I had to search to find a small cookie sheet that would fit. It is run by propane and is a bit quirky. The burners are either high or not high and there really is not much in between. The oven heat is all in the back so pans need to be rotated (recent lesson learned). It calls for some creative cooking and watching.

I decided that every good boater should know how to cook bread on a boat. I looked for recipes and I also brought a mix to make beer bread. I finally found a recipe for no-knead bread. My kind of baking! You make the dough the night before and let it rise. The cool thing is that you put the dough in a dutch oven (or, as in my case, a big pot with a lid) Pop it in the oven, and one hour later…bread! It came out beautifully.

The other bread I made was beer bread and it was a mix to be made and baked in a loaf pan, 5x 7 or so. Just add beer, stir, plop in the pan, and bake. My kind of baking!!!!

Now, I will say that we did buy these special nesting pans that are made for RV’s or boats because they store so well. The handles are removable making them easy to put away. They are nice pans and they distribute the heat really well for stainless steel. Definitely like them! Anyway, back to the bread. The Beer Bread was made in the loaf pan. Take a look at the pics to see how well that turned out. It was tasty but it was a sweet bread and we wanted just plain old bread. I think I will stick to the overnight bread.  At least the front half tasted good.

Now for blueberries. I love blueberries. I have them in my cereal every day all year. I love them in muffins, pies, crumbles….the list goes on. When Shawn said the North Channel had blueberries, that was all I needed to hear and I was all in on the trip. Wild blueberries!!! Have not had them since I was a kid.

When we were in the Pool at the end of Baie Fine, we hiked up to Topaz Lake. While it was beautiful, I was looking for blueberries. There were a few patches, but they had been pretty picked over. We kept searching….and voila! We hit the motherload. 1 berry for me, one for the bag. Yum!

We continued our search as we anchored in different spots. Sometimes we got lucky and others not so much but I realized they like pine trees and dappled sunlight. Made the hunt sooo much easier-just follow the delicious pine scent. But now that I have all these blueberries, what do I do with them? Pie? Crust ingredients, check. Cinnamon, vanilla…ummm…nope. (eating a handful). Vanilla ice cream? Check. Blueberry shakes! Now we have just enough left over for munching. They are very small so you can pick for a long time and just get 1 cup. But, it was worth it.

As you can see, life on board can be very simple. Cooking, gathering berries, and deciding where to go next.