fish, fishing supplies and a fifteen cent book

A half cup each of salt, sugar and brown sugar mixed in two quarts of water.  Marinate a 2 1/2 to 3 pounds salmon filet, in this case organic farm-raised salmon from Ireland, for 4 to 6 hours.  It is not part of recipe, but I coat the salmon with fresh ground pepper and then add some thin slices of lemon and jalapeno peppers.  Put on the smoker for 2 and 1/2 hours.  It is good hot off the smoker, might even be better chilled the next day as leftovers. 

The salmon is in the smoker right now, should be ready about six tonight.

We finally got some warm weather so I'm daydreaming about sailing - but that is still two months off.  It was warm enough to get another coat of varnish on the mast, there are five coats on there now.  Two more to go.

And I've started to focus on the Spring trip a little bit more, looking at distances, anchorages and weather.  I haven't cruised on the Chesapeake Bay in the Springtime for about four years now, so I took a look at the wind rose for May, below.  Looks pretty good, winds out the the SSE to SW, average 12 miles an hours.  Should be just right for a northbound trip.

My friends Jim and Jim dropped by yesterday to pick up the Nissan 3.5 outboard.  The mechanically oriented Jim is going to rebuild the carburetor, change out the fluid in the lower unit, put a new water impeller in place and give the outboard a general cleaning and lubrication.  It is about eight years old and is due for some work.  This past summer I noticed it was running warmer than usual, and late in the summer it idled very rough.  Both the temperature and the idling indicate that the carburetor needs some work.  I can change out the spark plug, impeller and lower unit fluid, but that is about my limit.  After several years of use I'm glad to have an expert like Jim give it a complete tune-up.

Browsing Amazon.com for used books - about the only kind of book I can afford these days - I came across a used copy of With Hemingway, A year in Key West and Cuba by Arnold Samuelson.  At 15 cents it was my kind of price.  Of course there is the $3.99 for shipping but I can live with that, any good book for under $5.00 is ok by me.  I'll tuck it away for one of the cruises.  I've been a longtime fan of Hemingway and have particularly enjoyed The Old Man and the Sea, To Have and Have Not and Islands in the Stream.  I think this will be a good read.

And below are the fishing supplies for next weekend's trip.  You didn't expect hooks and sinkers did you?  The Archer Farms dried tropical fruit is a staple as snacks when I'm out on the boat.  I get it for about $7.00 at Target.  The fruit is great and the plastic jar makes for great storage on the boat.  I've got four of the empty jars now - they'll eventually replace the taller gallon jars that I've used for food storage in the past.

And the Maker's Mark, that's for the cookout the night before fishing.

steve