In case you missed the opportunity to tune in on Zoom on December 6 for the crew’s presentation on their 2024 cruises, don’t worry. We’ve got you covered with the video recording below. Highlights from this presentation include a description of all of our destinations and a virtual tour of the David B itself. We hope you enjoy it!
It’s been really yellow here lately.
We’ve had the most dramatic autumn in memory here. There’s been so much stunning yellow foliage that the local newspaper even ran a front page story about it. On the final day of the drama we had a really crisp calm morning and as the sun was rising, I watched a huge big-leaf maple in our neighborhood drop all of its leaves.
They piled up in a perfect circular pattern under the tree, on the yard, in the street and on the cars parked below it. It was like watching enormous snowflakes. By mid-morning the tree was bare. All that remained of the beautiful show was the thick pile of bright yellow leaves in the exact outline of their tree.
Then the leaves in the street got driven over and turned to squishy mush, and the ones on the cars were brushed off so by lunchtime the whole scene was gone. Later that afternoon the weather changed, and a big wind and rain blew all the yellow away. All that remained was a fleeting memory of the yellow and my few pictures that didn’t really capture it.
I always feel like Autumn is a time to reflect on our time, our just-completed season on the boat, our families and our lives. There’s a certain sadness about the fleeting nature of everything around us and it’s particularly obvious and apparent in the fall. We have a tradition of remembering the loss of family and friends with a celebration on the Day of the Dead which fits very well into this reflection. There’s a vivid reminder in nature’s drama around us that our own time is fleeting as well.
But, it’s also a time to plan and prepare for what’s ahead. We’re busy setting our schedules for 2024, organizing and planning what we’re going to do next summer, and getting all the details taken care of so we can do it again. We’re also hard at work on the boat, prepping it for winter and doing projects to make it better for next summer. Like the tree’s dormant stage in winter, our dormant stage doesn’t show much on the outside, but there’s a lot going on that is really important when it comes summertime.
I’m a little sad that the colorful show at the maple tree couldn’t continue. I really enjoy that the cycle goes on though. That’s the most beautiful part.
Today the trees are bare, there’s frost on the grass, the sky is crystal clear and we’ve got a fire going in the woodstove at our house. We’re hard at work on boat projects and office projects and website work.
It looks a lot like winter here today.
I love cookies. I love to make them, I love to eat them, and I love the way the scent of baking cookies fills the boat. Often, Jeffrey will excitedly radio to me from the wheelhouse to ask if I’m baking cookies just moments after I’ve opened the oven door. Then guests will start drifting into the galley, scanning for the cookies. If I turn my back, cooling cookies will mysteriously disappear off the baking sheet. Cookie thieves are everywhere.
I make a lot of cookies on the David B. After the breakfast dishes have been finished, I start to think about what variety of cookies I’m going to make. Triple Ginger cookies are almost always near the top of the list and are often requested by returning guests. I think it’s because they are spicy and buttery.
I first learned to make these cookies when I was in a culinary program. The cookie section was two weeks long. During that section I learned about the Cookie Method. When making cookies you start out by creaming the fat with the sugar, then adding eggs and a flavor like vanilla. From there you add the dry ingredients, and then extra ingredients. I don’t always follow the method to the “T.” I often add the extras, such as the candied ginger in the recipe after the eggs and before the baking soda.
On a side note – I did just look up the expression “to the T” because I wondered where it came from. Apparently, there are several theories about where it came from. The first is that it comes from the use of a T-square in construction to accurately make right angles and straight lines, but it could also come from “to a tittle” which is a small point over an “i” or the stroke that crosses a “t.” Both of these theories describe an act of precision, which is something that I’ve never been very good at when it comes to baking. I often eyeball ingredients and will occasionally switch up the order that I put ingredients into the dough. I do, however, always start by creaming the butter, which for anyone who has ever been on the David B knows, I use for all my cookie recipes.
I’ve made a couple changes to this recipe over the years. I think the original one called for 9 oz of butter, but it was a pain to unwrap a third stick of butter for the last tablespoon of butter. I also recently started adding roughly a 1/8th of a teaspoon of black pepper to give the cookies a little more spiciness.
Triple Ginger Cookies
What you need:
Ingredients:
Directions:
One more note on cookies:
Even though I know you’re not supposed to eat raw cookie dough, I absolutely cannot help myself. This dough is delicious. It turns out the whole crew loves cookie dough so much we’ve had to institute a cookie dough ration. Each day when I bake cookies, I have three small ramekins that can fit two cookie dough balls each. One ramekin for me, one for Jeffrey, and one for Matt. If you too like cookie dough, swing by the galley anytime you see me making cookies and ask for your ration.
I hope you enjoy these cookies as much as I do. They are a joy to make and a joy to watch disappear.
Christine Smith
P.S.
If you want to enjoy triple ginger cookies and other amazing things this summer, be sure to contact Sarah about our upcoming trips to Alaska, the Canadian Inside Passage and the San Juan Islands. Here you can see our current 2024 and 2025 schedules: https://northwestnavigation.com/schedule-and-rates
Listen to or read the recipe that Christine uses to bake the muffins she makes on board the David B.
Hello!
I’m often asked, “Christine, do you share your recipes?”
To which I, reply, “Yes, but I don’t have many of them written down.”
So, I am beginning an effort to share some of my most requested recipes while at the same time, I’m also going to attempt to do some culinary storytelling.
I believe that one of the many elements that make a trip on the David B an amazing experience is the food I cook. Food brings us together, whether it’s at the dining table or a little something I set out to snack on, when we share food, we nourish both our bodies and our connections to other people.
So, first up on this endeavor is a base muffin recipe that works for raspberry, blueberry, blackberry, or any mix of berries. This recipe in its simplicity gives you a chance to experiment and play around with the ingredients.
I hope you’ll sit back, grab a 3×5 card and a favorite mixing spoon, and get ready to bake some berry muffins.
As the cook on board the David B I have several things that I deeply enjoy making, and one of those things is the pre-breakfast muffins. There’s a certain alchemy that happens as I melt the butter and mix the ingredients all the while the wood-fired cookstove stove crackles in the background. The unpredictability of the Sweetheart’s (Yes, that’s the oven’s given name.) way of fluctuating from fiery heat to a cool burn turns each morning’s muffin baking session into an adventure of its own. Unlike a conventional oven where you can simply turn a dial or press in a number to set the temperature, cooking with the Sweetheart requires a more intuitive touch and one that still keeps me on my toes after all these years.
On days when the Sweetheart is particularly spirited, and Jeffrey is ready to raise anchor while the muffins are still in the oven, I need to remember to shield the muffins from too much heat while I’m away and on anchor duty, or if on my way back to the galley, I’m distracted by a bear on the beach or a nearby whale and forget to hurry back to the galley. So, before I head out on deck, I move the muffins to the middle rack and maybe even turn the pan around, then take a sheet pan and set it on the upper rack. This diffuses the heat and helps to prevent burning the tops. More than once I’ve forgotten this step and have returned to the galley with an oven full of sad blackened pastries that have to be remade.
My approach to recipes, much like my approach to life, isn’t always by the book. It’s often guided by intuition and improvisation. The recipes that I began my career with have long been lost or transformed through countless voyages. My galley has become a place of culinary anarchy, where the rules of baking are flexible and the ingredients on hand become the stars of the show.
Okay so, with that, I’m ready to share the recipe for berry muffins that I use on the boat. This recipe is as close to standard as possible. I consider it a base that welcomes raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, or any combination you fancy. I have many other variations on this base, but I’ll save those for a later time.
Preheat a conventional oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
We like to think that being on the David B makes people happy. We’re not saying that passengers will break into song or anything…. or are we? Sometimes our guests say it better than we ever could. This summer we had a whole boat charter with a family group that was inspired to write this song set to the Julie Andrews “My Favorite Things” tune.
Waterfalls and kayaks 
And journals for noting
Bear cubs and mamas
And bergie bits floating
Silvery salmon
All covered with bling.
These are a few of our favorite things.
Layers of mountains
With moments of hushing.
Pistons and anchors
and green lights for flushing
Pavlov’s response
When the dinner bell rings,
These are a few of our favorite things.
When the whale spouts
There is no doubt
On this we agree
That we are the luckiest
Folks in the world
To be on the David B.
Guillemot, kingfisher,
Eagle and raven
Matt in the galley
A dishwashing maven
Watching Christine down the hatch vanishing
These are a few of our favorite things
Fathoms in oceans and
Snow covered peaks
Caramelized onions
On halibut cheeks
Trying the seaweed dip
That Jeffrey brings
These are a few of our favorite things
When the boat stops
And hook drops
In the emerald sea
We put chips of glacier
Into our mixed drinks
And toast to the David B
Come on a trip with us, and you can write your own tune.