Cookie Recipe

I’ve gotten a few requests for the Severed Finger cookie recipe from the Halloween post, and I’m happy to share!  They taste a bit like shortbread and are perfect with a cup of coffee.  Enjoy!

Severed Finger Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon pure vanilla
2 ¾ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
Slivered almonds (for bones)
Sliced almonds (for nails)
Red icing gel (for blood)

In large bowl, add butter and sift in powdered sugar; beat well. Beat in egg, almond extract and vanilla. Sift in flour, baking powder and salt, mixing to combine (dough will be a little crumbly).  Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes until well chilled (I pat the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap.)

Preheat oven to 325°. Working in small batches and keeping the remaining dough in the refrigerator, roll heaping teaspoonfuls of dough into a finger shape. Smaller is better here, since they puff slightly while baking. Work quickly to form the knuckles. Then use a toothpick to create the wrinkles in the knuckles and add texture to the “severed” end. Press an almond slice firmly into the nail area and stick a slivered almond into the other end.

Once filled, I like to chill the cookie sheet again before baking.

Bake for 20–25 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheet for 3 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Immediately remove the nail, squeeze a dollop of red icing gel underneath and replace. Add small amounts of red icing gel to the “severed” end.

Keeping the water out

We’ve had a leak since we got the boat that we were finally able to fix with some helpful insight from another HC33 owner.  Thanks Steve!  The leak was coming from the hole in the deck where our diesel heater’s stove pipe passes through the deck.

To fix it, the first thing I did was remove the charlie noble (boat chimney) to get at the hole.

Next was to remove the fairing block – it was cracked in half so I used epoxy to glue it back together.  For this project I used West System G/Flex due to its greater elasticity.

We could see right where the water was coming in.  

With the fairing block removed I used a Dremel with a sanding cylinder bit to clean out the old sealant and prepare the surface for some epoxy and fiberglass tape.

Then I applied the epoxy and fiberglass tape.

I let that cure overnight and then cut off the excess with the Dremel and a cutoff wheel.  ALL HAIL THE DREMEL!  I also sealed up the holes in the deck where the fairing is screwed down.

Then I taped off the area in preparation for applying the sealant. 

I reattached the newly fixed-up fairing pad and tightened the screws just enough to that the sealant was squishing out.  Then wiped away the excess.  (With sealants you want to wait until it’s cured before you screw down the item tightly.)

I pulled the tape while the sealant was still wet.

I let that cure overnight, then tightened up the screws.

Next was to repeat the tape and sealant process with the charlie noble.

 

So after we got everything put back together all we had to do was wait for it to rain.  We didn’t have to wait long.  Fortunately the work paid off and the leak is fixed.

Halloween on Bella Star

 Trolling the Craven Farm pumpkin patch for the perfect pumpkin is an annual tradition.  As is a trip to Theno’s Dairy for their famous pumpkin ice cream tucked into a freshly baked waffle cone.

Seeing how we’re fans of all things pumpkin this time of year (and all things in the ice cream/gelato family year round), we recently tried the pumpkin gelato from Ballard’s D’Ambrosio Gelato.  One night this summer while enjoying a deliciously creamy cup with our friends, Jen & Harley, we bumped into the owner outside.  We got to chatting, and I offered up a suggestion for the fall menu: pumpkin spice.  And he scoffed!  Literally scoffed.  And with his Italian accent told me, quite directly, “In Italy, we do not do spice.”  Well, okay…  You can imagine my surprise, then, to find him advertising pumpkin (with spice) as a new fall flavor.  Pretty sure I deserve a cut.  Or at least a free pint.

This year’s pumpkin carving started out innocently enough…

But things soon turned tragic… 

Our holiday spirit just isn’t about pumpkins, though.  We have a giant spider on deck, skulls, webs and a spooky skeleton dangling from the bowsprit.  Muah-ha-ha-ha-ha.  And my severed finger cookies are frightfully good.  Aaron’s office mates request them every year.

Have a spooktacular Halloween!

Mast is vertical

We were able to finish up our work and get the mast stepped today. 

We replaced the spreader lights and wiring.  We also cleaned up some corrosion on the spreaders where the old lights were mounted.

Tada!

Removing the mast and stepping it again was a very smooth process.  The guys at the Seaview West yard do a nice job.

We were going to replace the good luck coin at the mast shoe, but decided to leave the old one in there.  Seems like it’s been working pretty well. 

We feel like we’ve turned a corner here since we’re starting to put stuff back together instead of taking it apart.  Our new sails will be ready pretty soon and we’re REALLY looking forward to getting away for a weekend, so we’re focusing on getting the boat back to sailable condition. 

Living Aboard Series

The great folks over at Three Sheets Northwest, our local online boating magazine, are profiling a series of liveaboard families this week.  Start with Liveaboards: who are they, and why do they do it? to get some interesting insights into the lifestyle.  If you’ve been following our blog for awhile, you’ll remember Al from our post about his Christmas spirit—he put us all to shame by hoisting a lighted Christmas tree to the top of his mast last year.  Just wait until this year, Al!  :)

Mast work ongoing

Had a smidge of corrosion underneath the boom vang plate.

Took the Dremel wire wheel to it and got to shiny metal.

Epoxy paint being applied:

The whole mast could use a paint job, but we’re on a tight schedule here.

Did the top while we were was at it.

Nicole prepped it up.

Nice an pretty for any aircraft flying overhead.

And this thing?

It’s shot.  Electrical connections inside are corroded and broken.  A replacement is pretty expensive.  Stay tuned – we going to try to make our own!

And the Thunder Rolls

“At least we picked a good time to be mast-less.” 

The peal of thunder that rolled through Ballard last night woke us from our cozy slumber with the loudest C-R-A-C-K I’ve ever heard.  My heart was thumping, as I waited for the next burst.  But instead, I burst out laughing—at Aaron’s quip about us picking a good time to be without our lightning rod of a mast.

Looks like lightning struck the Ballard Locks (instead of someone here at the marina), knocking out power to the large locks.

http://www.myballard.com/2010/10/11/ballard-locks-hit-by-lightning/

Powerboat Mode

We pulled the mast this weekend in order to run the cable for the new anemometer, replace some bad wiring to the spreader lights, and install a couple new halyards. Also the lens on the steaming/anchor light combo is practically opaque.   The good news is, at least for a week or two, I won’t have to be scurrying around on deck in my underwear at 3am securing noisy halyards.

The bad news is that getting wires where we want them in the mast is turning out to be fairly difficult. 

We have always been annoyed by the sound of  wires slapping around inside that mast when rolling at anchor.  One of our primary objectives was to fix this. 

We got all the wire run from the masthead, but now we’re having trouble with the wires for the spreader lights.  It’ll have to wait until next weekend to figure out.