Kitchen...galley..either way it needs some work

Mark has asked me to come up with a plan for our galley. While we both cook (well, I do things in the kitchen/galley that could be called cooking if you are being kind) since the galley is exposed it sort of falls into the aesthetic realm which is my area so I get to design it. Mark told me I should have a wish list and while some items on my list won't happen due to space constraints, I decided to dream big.

The following photo is not mine, nor is it a photo of Ceol Mor but if Mark could manage to build the same galley for me I should say I would be well pleased. Yes. I think this would do nicely.

 Never mind that this isn't even a galley on a monohull, it is the galley of Blue Guru, a luxury 70 foot catamaran available for charter from Charterworld for the bargain price of $29,000 per week. Still, I think this galley set up would work nicely for me. I still wouldn't be able to whip up gourmet meals unless you count grilled cheese as an epicurean masterpiece but I would look really good making messes in this. I might even be inspired to wear a cute and tidy apron. You told me to dream big Mark...

And now, back to reality. Here is a shot looking into the galley from the saloon. Yes, it looks like a bomb went off. A boat in refit often looks like what it is- a construction site. You'll notice that there isn't even room enough for the stove from Blue Guru in our galley. So I shall have to keep the beautiful galley of Blue Guru in my head and work with what I've got.

Now back to reality, its time to dream up a teeny, tiny dream galley. I would like Corian countertops. I've lived with them in the house and I really like them. They are easy to keep clean, are heat resistant and light in weight- very light in weight which is good not only for sailing but because a boat galley means you will have to lift up panels in the countertop to access storage. A lighter panel to lift while rocking and rolling in the sea is a good thing and since I guarantee that at some point I will drop said panel on my foot, my poor toes will appreciate the lighter weight. Ideally I'd have Corian fiddles with handholds cut in but if sticking with teak fiddles means we are done sooner and with a few more pennies in our pocket by all means- keep the teak.

We currently have a double bowl shallow sink. I want to scrap that for a deeper single basin. If I need to have a double basin for one bowl of salt water and one for fresh water for washing up, I can always drop in a plastic basin. Having the deeper single bowl means I will have a handy spot to clean the grime off of Kitty. She's a wee thing so I imagine it will serve her well as a bathtub for a few more years. I want to keep the fresh water and salt water foot pumps, but I want to ditch the horrible, impossible to fill a pot under faucet we currently have for a goose neck faucet with an attached spray hose. This means we have to have a pressurized water system which is at the top of my list of wants.

Ceol Mor has a gimballed 2 burner propane stove and oven. Due to the fact that there is no real room for a proper propane locker on our boat ( we have a tank on the stern rail) I want to get rid of the huge and heavy and very expensive to bring to ABYC safety standards stove in favor of a simple, inexpensive, lightweight and easy to install Origo 3000. It will be easier to build a locker to store alcohol. It will be easier to transport cans of fuel via the dinghy as opposed to schlepping a big and heavy propane tank. I've done dry runs cooking in my Dutch oven on a stove top and feel very sure that we can forgo the Origo 6000 which has an oven. I'd rather use the space where the oven would fit for storage. Especially because for some reason Mark is very attached to bringing a bread machine on board. Well you'll need a spot to store that huge machine and this is the only spot that it will fit in.

We currently have an old microwave installed and with my fantastic cooking abilities *cough cough* the microwave and the inverter that allows it to function get a workout on the boat. We've found a compact microwave/convection oven combo and I am hoping that the footprint will work on Ceol Mor. That will take care of any oven needs that can not be met with either the Dutch oven or a solar oven. I do not expect to use the oven all that much but it would be nice to have from time to time.

We have an antiquated holding plate in a reefer box just now. It pretty much sucks. I WISH we had the room and amp hours for THIS sweet set up but we don't have either. Womp. Womp. My goal here is to have me climbing up on the counters, throwing my upper body down into a small, dark hole and trying to extricate food stuffs as little as possible. My first choice would be a 2 drawer refrigerator/freezer. my second choice would be a small refrigerator drawer for day to say stuff and a well insulated ice box with holding plate for long term storage. What I will probably end up with is an Engel portable model. So long as we figure out a way to store it out of the way, I'll deal with it and just pretend that it is a gorgeous drawer model.

The one thing I dreamed up that I really want and that Mark is applying his Mr. Wizard skills too is a lifting storage system. We have a reefer box wedged between the sink and bulkhead for food storage. it is difficult to access, deep and again requires far too much acrobatic talent for me to ever be happy about. What I want is to build in a removable, locking lid into the countertop which when removed will allow access to a shelving system that raises up and locks into position. When you are done getting your  needed items out, you can lower it, replace the lid and never once have to engage in contortionism. I initally though about gas lifts but Mark insists this would not support the weight of canned goods. He has a better idea. Since we are still in the design and engineering process of this project and are probably about 6 months from installation you'll just have to stay tuned to see how this one pans out. I do know that if we are successful, short sailors everywhere will sing our praises.

So that is how I see the galley of Ceol Mor in my minds eye. It will be a heck of a lot of work but if we've had to delay departure to get the boat finished, it would be silly to skimp on the design of the galley, something we will use constantly to save a few weeks work. Make it so Mark, make it so.

Refitting, Researching and Refried beans

I know, I know. I haven't updated the blog in a while. Its not because we aren't making progress. We are- slowly but surely the portlights are being removed, repaired and replaced. I've been remiss in updating because my focus for the past couple of weeks has been on the wee one.

Kitty had what we thought was a cold but as it wasn't improving, we put a call into her pediatrician who suggested we bring her in. We love our pediatrician who thinks the US habit of bringing in a perfectly healthy baby every month is a bit silly. Our last visit was at 6 months for a vaccination and check up where she was pronounced to be small (25-30th percentile for height and weight) but perfectly healthy and "we'll see her again around 12 months. Just keep doing what you are doing". So we kept doing what we were doing although we did start her on solid foods. She was a bit picky and not a big eater but since she was active, going through the dipes and growing, we thought all was well.

Surprise, surprise. When we brought Kitty in to see the doc, we were all shocked to see that while she was still in the 30th percentile for height, her weight had dropped to the 3rd percentile. The term bandied about for being under the bottom 5th percentile is 'Failure to Thrive'. Ouch. What a terribly scary label to stick on a  baby who seems small, but feisty. Neither Mark or I or the doctor freaked out, but we are concerned enough to do a bit more digging into the possible causes. My friend Laureen of SV Excellent Adventure was one step ahead of the doc when she suggested Kitty's issue might be a gluten sensitivity issue causing malabsorption. The doc echoed what Laureen suggested and ordered a series of blood tests to check for deficiencies and sensitivity. Poor Kitty had to endure 3 pokes in order to get the blood drawn for the tests. We should have the results in next week.

In the mean time, while Mark continues work on the portlights I spend my days chasing Kitty around with a spoon full of various foodstuffs in an attempt to get her to eat. My days go something like this- get up, make Kitty a breakfast of fresh fruit, gluten free pancake and scrambled egg. Kitty eats one bite of each and then refuses to eat anymore. Do various household, mom duties and make a second breakfast for Kitty- this time cheese grits made with heavy cream. Kitty will eat 6 bites because she likes grits. Chase baby with fruit, soft cooked veggies, cheese- baby will eat nothing but dry Rice Chex. Make Kitty a whole yogurt and fruit smoothie. Kitty acts as if I am trying to feed her liver. Then its on to two lunches, two dinners all of which are picked at. Kitty will eat cheese grits and refried beans(with LARD! It can be tough to find refied beans with lard in the US, guess we need to head to Mexico). Yes, a paragon of healthy eating but since we are willing to let her have anything she wants so long as she eats something we let her have her favorites and just keep offering fresh fruits and veggies in hopes that eventually they will be welcomed by Miss Picky.

I will say that since cutting out the gluten, she is sleeping much better and is eating twice as much as she was previously. We will have to wait to have her weighed again in a few weeks on the same scale but I am thinking that we might have found the issue and that issue is gluten.

All this time spent in the kitchen is coming at a great time. We are in the midst of figuring out what we want to do as we prepare to refit the galley. Due to the fact that we do not want to have to do this over again, we are really taking our time in figuring out what materials we want to use in the galley. I'm researching refrigeration options, counter top options and purely aesthetic issues. I'm still formulating a plan but I should have my act together and decisions made in time for a late summer galley refit. In the mean time, here's a  before photo of the galley.

So please forgive me for not updating a bit more frequently. It is difficult to type one handed while chasing a toddler around with spoon. We will get this weight thing figured out. Kitty is thanfully healthy, just a bit small. We will find out what the issue is, help her become a roly poly baby once again. In the mean time, we'll continue to offer her love, snuggles and refried beans.