Catching Up and Adjusting to 'Island Time'

It's really hard to believe that 5 days have come and gone since I landed in Maui. Here's a brief overview of events leading up to today, Sunday, February 10th.

As mentioned in the previous post, right after successfully retrieving my small bag from the airline we headed over to Costco to do some initial provisioning. To my surprise even though the parking lot was a nightmare and the aisles teaming with shoppers, we were in and out of there within an hour with the hope of making it over to Kannapalli Beach in time for sunset. We made it!

Right about sunset my body was telling me that it was about 11pm. I was quite exhausted from 12+ hours of air travel, but knew if I went to bed now, I'd be wide awake at 3am. So we hung out on the lanai and solved the world's problems while Mr. Mount Gay and Ms. Absolut came along to keep us company. I finally gave up and hit the rack about 10pm Maui time, 3am body time...I had been awake for about 23 hours!
Wednesday was a very casual, get acclimated day. Meals revolved around what was in the fridge as I compiled a detailed list of what was yet needed from the store before the rest of the family arrived.

I decided to rent a high-end road bike while on this trip. The guys at West Maui Cycles hooked me up with a brand new Specialized Roubaix. Lots of hills here and I hope to grab a few KOMs during my time. Wednesday morning we picked up the bike, came back and I immediately went for a ride. Holy hills Hannah! I was a bit bummed that my Garmin kept crapping out, so my data is incomplete for that initial ride. If you are interested in my rides, check me out on Strava.

*note the La Colombe cycling hat!

I power-shopped my way through Safeway in Lahaina and back to the condo for a cooking marathon of sorts. I actually have a structured plan this year (see Honey, it is possible!). I'm making lots of stuff ahead of time as this group is very 'in and out'. I'm hoping that this healthy, portable food will give them the energy and nutrients needed for a day of surfing, SUP, sailing and the like.

Thursday was more cooking and cycling, and preparations for new guests arriving late tonight. Looks like Friday will be a beach day for them, I'm ready with a fridge-full of food!

Friday night I got a welcome surprise, I night off! The clients' fave 'lounge act' was performing at The Hard Rock Cafe so I was invited for drinks and appys. Great time chillin' oceanside with a cold beer and some good music. Thanks Evan!

Saturday. BOAT DAY!
Very excited to get out on the water, especially here with the whales, dolphins and spectacular views. I packed the cooled and huffed my way down the beach to the dingy for the short ride out to the boat. The Lagoon 500 is a 50' catamaran, very comfortable with 4 staterooms and 4 heads. Check out my blog from 2011 for a tour of the boat.

We started the day whale watching and had great luck spotting many humpbacks. They seem to like the hull shape and color of the boat. We hugged the eastern shore of Lanai looking for a place to snorkel, but were unsuccessful as the winds were growing, making anchoring a challenge in the coral waters. One last attempt near the Four Seasons Resort was again a bust, so we turned and headed back home.
Along the way we had an escort of what seemed to be at least 300 dolphins! Enjoy the videos:

Watch for the 'spinners' in the above video.

Wave jumping dolphins!

Sunday was pretty casual, I got a ride in, climbing up to the coffee plantation (see above photo). The view was awesome and the decent was fast with a wicked cross wind. A new experience in a featherweight bike. Dinner was grilled chicken and steak fajitas with refried beans and three-chili rice, and of course MARGARITAS! Boy, did we plow through a lot of limes! Dessert was the old standby...ice cream and chocolate sauce-sprinkled with cinnamon to give it a little mexi-touch. I of course had to add some cayenne to mine! Early to bed.

Hope that wasn't too boring of a read. It's Monday morning as I write. Doorbell sprung to action at 7am, well before the 'allowed' time of 8am, so my morning routine has been thrown off. Speaking of thrown off, what I thought would be a land day has turned into another boat day. So I am rushing out the door to the market with a half written list to provision for the day. The next post is sure to be ripe with interest!

Mahalo for reading and following, tell your friends!

Theo

aka: The Nautical Chef

...And Away We Go!

The Nautical Chef sets sail to Maui!
Writing from 31,000 feet aboard USAirways enroute to PHX, then onto OGG. Today started quite early, alarm woke me from a pretty useless sleep at 4:20am, a coaxing of my eyeballs to accept contacts, brushing of the pearly-whites and out to meet Pat for my chauffeured ride to PHL Int'l.

Airport was a breeze at 5:30am, and I was pleasantly surprised to see a La Colombe Torrefaction (www.lacolombe.com) sign greeting me as I exited security. Stale muffin from Le Bus and perfect Americano in hand, I strolled down to gate C27.

What is it with airlines these days?! Shortly after boarding started they announced that, " all overhead bins are full and that all carry-on pieces would need to be gate-checked!" This is the sole fault of the airlines themselves for not being more strict about carry-on size allowed and how in some airports, baggage claim is more painful than filing taxes! The luggage industry and airline industry need to have a summit and get some standardization for allowable carry-on luggage. Simple. Million-dollar idea out there for the taking!

So we board real late, sit on the tarmac while they figure out how to fill the plane with fuel, then taxi to the de-ice zone for a lungful of glycol, finally catapulting down the runway towards the western desert. Somehow, el piloto claims we will arrive on-time or slightly early. Crazy. This is good, as my connection in PHX is tight to make the final leg to OGG (MAUI!).

So what am I doing at 8:39am? Besides drinking a bloody mary?? Planning meals and menus for the trip of course! Upon arrival in Maui I will stop at CostCo and grab bulk items, then head over to Lahaina for more shopping, a shower, dinner and a few TiKi drinks.

Mahalo for following! Tell your friends!
Chef Theo

Boat Appetite...Feasts Afloat...Galley Gourmet—The Compass

If you’ve followed to this link you must really want a recipe! As not to disappoint, I am parting with a killer-good marinade for grilling shrimp or scallops. Ideally, find real sugarcane and use them as skewers instead of the wood ones. It adds both flavor and panache to your feast afloat.

Sugar Cane Grilled Shrimp and Scallops
Chef Theo Petron

1/2 C. Vegetable Oil

3 T. Garlic—minced

2 T. Fresh Thyme

2 T. Cilantro—chopped

2 ea. Jalapenos—seeded and minced

2 t. Smoked Pimenton Paprika

2 t. Salt

2 t. Honey

2 t. Ground Cumin

1 t. Worcestershire Sauce

1 t. Cayenne Pepper

1 t. Crushed Red Pepper

Juice of 2 limes

6-8 ct. Shrimp (2 per guest)

U10 size Diver Scallops

Combine all of the above in a large bowl except the shrimp and skewers.

Add Shrimp and Scallops, marinate for 30-45 minutes.

Skewer shrimp and scallops on sugar cane.

Grill on a very hot grill about 3 minutes per side. Be careful not to overcook.

So, in a nutshell I think you get the idea that you really can cook great food on your boat, just plan ahead and keep it simple.

See you on the water!! Eat Well…Or Don’t Eat At All!

For more exciting tales of cooking on boats, check out the other entries right here on this blog.

Cheers!

Theo

A Taste of My Reality

I started this blog because there are a lot of friends out there that think I jet off to Maui and sit my bum in the sun sipping mai tai's and every once in a while bang out some food. NOT TRUE!
Case in point...
Wednesday....no, rewind to Tuesday evening. I had just finished dinner service, was cleaning up and looking forward to a relaxing evening when I was told I was going on the boat Wednesday to handle lunch for those that were going fishing. Sounds fine, right? Well, I can pretty much pull off lunch with a WITF (What's In The Fridge) approach. Issue becomes, what about dinner??
I need to make something that can be cooked very fast, appeal to all the various diets, allergies, etc.
I decide on stuffed shells with smoky marinara. Vegetarian..check, No Nuts...check, speedy...check
Problem....I have NONE of the ingredients and need to hit Safeway, then come back and cook everything, cool it and then pack for the fishing trip.

So, off I head at 8:30pm to the Safeway. If you have ever been to Maui or any island for that matter, they rarely stock shelves throughout the day as they do on the mainland. The delivery semi comes in the wee small hours of the morning, the store get stocked and looks good, then everything sells out. I am holding my breath as I drive to the store. Thankfully, I got the last quart of ricotta and last two boxes of jumbo shells. Oh yeah I forgot, pick up all the Foster's Beer and some Corona as well....Good luck finding beer at this hour!

I'm back at the condo and boiling water by 9pm, bust out a couple of 9x13 pans of stuffed shells, crack a cold beer while the pasta cools in an ice bath and finally think about some shut eye by 10:30pm. We meet the boat at 7am for fishing, that means I need to be up and ready-to-go, packed by 6:45!

Thankfully, the Captain's better half shuttles me to the boat in the car as all the beer and supplies are quite a load for the walk down the beach. All aboard, we cast off the mooring ball and head north towards Molokai. 40 minutes into the trip the seas start to build and the wind really picks up. We check the updated marine forecast and it doesn't look good for fishing. We bang into 15+ foot swells for another few minutes and then decide to head the other direction and fish off the back side of Lanai. Still pretty rough seas for the 3-hour trek at 7 knots. I started to get woozy. I am a sailor, and usually do not have problems with motion. But I could feel it coming on. Captain Mark said it best regarding seasickness, "Nothing worse than feeling hung-over when your not hung-over" Right about the time I'm realizing my condition, my other boat mates start asking when lunch is going to be ready! The LAST THING I can do right now is go below and try and balance enough to make lunch. It's going to have to wait an hour or so until the motion medication kicks in.

Did I mention we have been trolling the entire time and have not seen ONE fish!?

I regain my stability and make lunch. A protein-rich Mexican salad; romaine, cheese, grilled chicken, black beans, cucumber, tomato and salsa. Quite good, give it a try.

Mid-afternoon we are still bobbing and slamming off the coast of somewhere beautiful, the knife block is safely in a cabinet, coffee maker snug in the sink, everything that could 'fly' has been secured. Get the point? I mention all of this because the Captain has just requested popcorn as a snack. No problem, right? Just pop a bag in the microwave. Nope. He wants it the old fashioned way, with oil...yes HOT oil on the stove. In case you missed it, re-read the above conditions. I hated to do this, because as a private/personal chef 'No' is not something you ever say. I told the Captain I was not comfortable heating oil with the way the boat is rocking around. He was not happy. I hope he understood, but somehow I do not. I suggested pistachios as a stand in, and I think it did the trick.

Still no sign of fish.

Getting to be around that time where we need to start the 3-hour tour back to port before sundown. I text the Captain's Better Half with heating instructions for the stuffed shells because it's looking like we will not be in by 6pm, the usual dinner hour.

A STRIKE! Fish ON!

Click the above link for a video of Suze catching her fish and some commentary by Robin Leach of 'Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous'

Thanks if you read this far, more to come but this tropical gig is coming to a close soon.

Eat Well, Mahalo,
Chef Theo

The Flip

Valentine's Day.
Making a pan of crispy hash browns to go with steak and shrimp dinner. The prospect of my capability to flip the hash in mid-air was discussed and wagers were placed.
Watch the video by clicking below to see what happened....
:)
The $400 Hashbrown Flip

Boat Appetite

Sunday was 'Family Day on the Boat' We all took the dingy ride out to the sailing vessel 'No Wiki' for an afternoon of whale watching and snorkeling. This all sounds great, right? Sure it is, but I needed to create a move-able feast for lunch and simultaneously have a plan in place for dinner upon our arrival back at the house.



I pulled a technique out of the 1970's, The Crock
Pot!That, paired with a tried and true recipe from the Lovely Chef Melissa and before 8am I had dinner bubbling away with fingers crossed for
a 6pm service.

Unfortunately, there was not enough wind to move the Lagoon 500 at more than a few knots, so we motored out to an area where Captain Mark knew would be teaming with whales. Man, he did not disappoint!

Check out the photo to the right and the video below!
Close Encounter Whale Video

After the whale encounter we motored over to a very awesome reef for some snorkeling. On the way over, I laid out the lunch spread seen below. Also, there is a shot of the galley area.














Here is a quick overview from me in the galley:
One on One with Chef Theo

And for those sailors out there interested in a tour of the boat:
Tour of No Wiki

Aloha for now, next post is the Valentine's Day Experience!
Thanks for reading and tell all your friends.
Eat Well...Or Don't Eat At All!
Chef Theo

Cooking in Paradise, Part One

ALOHA!
February 10-11-12, 2011


Apologies for the delay in starting the Maui-Blog, jet-lag and overall time required to acclimate to the rigors of island life have stymied my intent to blog sooner.

A synopsis of my time since touchdown....

I left Philly on Thursday at 7am...actually I awoke at 4am, quietly showered, hugged the dog, kissed the lovely M goodbye and burned some rubber on I-95 towards PHL airport. A decent flight to PHX even though there was a 28 DAY OLD newborn on my left and an 8-month-old on my right! The newborn was real good, the 8-month old was OK. I grabbed a quesadilla at the airport and scored a cheap upgrade to the forward cabin for the 7-hour glide to Maui.

We landed almost an hour early. I was greeted by my client and we made the 45 minute trex to west maui and their home on Kaanapali Beach. A relaxing evening filled with laughter and adult beverages followed. I lost my ability to function at about 11pm, not from the beverages, but from lack of sleep. The first night was brutal, awakening every couple of hours. Finally at 5am I waved the white flag and got up. My client had caught some 'Jack' fish the day prior so that was the requested breakfast. I crushed some Ritz crackers and roasted the freshly caught fish. A little odd for the start of the day I have to admit, but it tasted good!

The weather was perfect for a sail and since my client had recently purchased a 50-foot catamaran, it seemed appropriate to go sailing and whale watching.

My client's daughter-in-law insisted on bringing lunch food, so I was off the hook. We took the dingy out to the boat and set out for the afternoon. Very shortly we were greeted by whales on all directions. The whale spray looks so cool, but the scent of it is nothing short of fowl. We headed towards Lanai to snorkel. We found a sandy spot within a cluster of coral to drop the hook, let the undersea exploration begin. I stayed aboard to man the vessel as everyone else checked out the undersea life. Within the hour we were greeted by a passing shower, and thus our cue to head back to Kaanapali, where the sun awaited.

I had little time to scare up dinner after we left the Cat, dinner consisted of Grilled BBQ Chicken, Salad, Steamed Broccoil (Trees) and Cauliflower. Appetizers of baguette with tapenade. All appreciated the meal and I even made extra for re-purposing later in the week! Pillow time came fast as I found myself fast asleep by 9pm (shhhhhh...don't tell anyone!)

I awoke Saturday feeling complete rest and ready to go! I made some additional fish for my client as a breakfast and then headed to the fitness center for some exercise. I also tried my hand at paddle boarding. It requires alot of balance and I enjoyed it, but I need more time before I post photos!

I ran out to the market about 11am to grab what I needed for dinner. With a side-by-side fridge, shopping every day, while not the easiest, becomes the norm. Prices were crazy, but I found what I needed.







From noon until 3pm I cooked/prepped dinner. It was tough looking out at the beach, surf and people but that is life cooking in Paradise! Dinner was a success. Tomorrow could be a tough day....

Seems the Captain want's to go sailing with the entire family. Early to rise will be the rule. I need to plan lunch for the boat and also have dinner in my back pocket ready to go as live entertainment has been hired for the evening! Geez! I best get some rest... Here is a view that I see almost every day. More tomorrow, thanks for reading and please tell others!

Eat Well...Or Don't Eat At All!
Mahalo!
Chef Theo