Indian Dinner

Finally got 'round to making Indian dinner with the peeps from the Severn Seven. We're not too good about blogging our recipes anymore, but it was an epic dinner. Here's a quick rundown:

Homemade samosas (James)
Salad with avocado, mango, and nuts (Jen)
Raita (Jen)
Naan (Susan)
Dal with spices (and crack...Luke)
Date & Raising Chutney (Susan)
Mango & Mint Chutney (Susan)
Papadums (Susan)
Yellow Rice (Luke)
Paneer Makhani (J)
Lamb Vindaloo (J)
Chicken Tikka Masala (J)
Mango cheesecake with lemon and raspberry sorbet (Alon & Elyse)

Wine (Dorian and Will)

It was epic. The kitchen was chaos. I mean 4-alarm pandemonium with me, Luke, and James cooking on all 4 burners, in the oven and the broiler at the same time. Dishes accumulated like bottle caps in the cockpit after sailing. There was a lot of yelling, but it was all in good fun. I think we might have stressed Suze out a little as she had to leave and go sit in the dining room with the normal people. But overall it was just awesome. Lots of food coming together all at once. Messy, but we got the job done.

Yeah, we had some leftovers. But not much!Barely were able to fit 10 people around the Drueck's old beater table. But we got'r'dun.

New Winch Bases

One of the innovations I added to Calliope before the NOOD is some new winch bases. Here are some shots of them on the boat. Both the crew and I LOVE them. Oetzi wants to know why I didn't get bronze winches. He felt that he'd be much more comfortable with bronze. But since he is from the bronze age I guess that figures. I am too corny. But these winches are su-WEET.

Thanks a bunch to Christina who helped me install the winch bases (as well as the new stanchions and pulpit), and to Parrish and Tim Williams who helped me laminate them. I couldn't have gotten it done without y'all!

A Sweet Shot

The sailmaker came out and helped us adjust the settings for the jib on Saturday of the NOOD. He took this shot of us going upwind with the sail in pretty good trim. I thought it's a pretty sweet shot.

NOOD

We did the NOOD (National Offshore One Design) regatta last weekend. It was Calliope's first day out sailing for the season, and we had an awesome time. It was also the first use of the new jib which was disappointing on day 1 but once we got some adjustments figured out we had some game on and it turned out pretty sweet. We rounded one mark in 2nd on day 3 and we got a 3rd place finish on day 2. I got a comemorative cup for the 3rd place. We went and got dinner at Cantler's on Friday night which was awesome. The season's inaugural Cantler's trip is always special. I was up till all hours the week before the regatta getting electrical panel finished, new winches installed, and new taffrail, but in the end it all came together and pretty much all worked. It was a great first event of 2008. Hopefully our performance will continue to improve from here.