Yachting Cazalea: San Diego to Seattle: Stomach's View

"We ate like kings" is overstating the quality of our food. Perhaps "we ate like state senators" would be an appropriate phrase, although we didn't have any constituents paying for our meals...

Since my family puts some real emphasis in good, home-cooked, attractive meals, I wanted to show some of the food we ate on our journey. A few of these images may be duplicates, but if you're a foodie, you will forgive me.

First day's meal, when we thought the trip would be easy ...

When we realized it was NOT going to be easy, out came the Sapphire

Showing off for the camera

Shore crew ate well too

We tried to buy this fish from the guys next to us on the dock but it was their prize

So we ate our own fish

Fish chowder

Potato & Pork pancakes (leftovers for breakfast)

Another take on the same thing, another day

Hard-boiled eggs easy to eat for snacks

Fish chowder, using up last night's extras

Typical breakfast unless the water was rough

The popcorn breakfast

The Spam Sandwich with chili and cheese on top!

Artful displays at dinner, because we could

Typical lunch or afternoon snack (no beer for the Captain on duty_)

Take-out fish and chips in Morro Bay

Twice we had F & C

And twice we went out for Crab Pad Thai

Once we got a dozen oysters

(opened with screwdriver because I forgot where the oyster knife was kept)

Often we had snacks after our cruise, but in this photo, where were the crackers?

Sloppy Joe sandwich

We didn't neglect our greens

Lunchtime or snacks

A rare lunch for all of us, on top in the sun at Newport, OR

Afternoon tea, feet up

Midnight watch "keep the blood sugar up" rations

French toast, freshly-made blueberry compote, bacon

Our mascot, the basil plant from Trader Joe's in San Diego

It went up to Seattle on the boat and came back down in the car

Real FRENCH Roederer Champagne to celebrate turning the corner

Jim with his bib to mimic James Bond. But sadly, no silver tankards.

YOU DO REMEMBER A SCENE IN GOLDFINGER, DON'T YOU?

A bustle of waiters round their table saved Bond having to think up a reply. With ceremony, a wide silver dish of crabs, big ones, their shells and claws broken, was placed in the middle of the table. A silver sauceboat brimming with melted butter and a long rack of toast was put beside each of their plates. The tankards of champagne frothed pink. Finally, the head waiter came behind their chairs and, in turn, tied round their necks long white silken bibs that reached down to the lap.

Mr Du Pont, with a gleeful ‘Every man for himself’, raked several hunks of crab on to his plate, doused them liberally in melted butter and dug in. Bond followed suit and proceeded to eat, or rather devour, the most delicious meal he had had in his life.

The meat of the stone crabs was the tenderest, sweetest shellfish he had ever tasted. It was perfectly set off by the dry toast and slightly burned taste of the melted butter. The champagne seemed to have the faintest scent of strawberries. It was ice cold. After each helping of crab, the champagne cleaned the palate for the next. They ate steadily and with absorption and hardly exchanged a word until the dish was cleared.

With a slight belch, Mr Du Pont for the last time wiped butter off his chin with his silken bib and sat back. He looked proudly at Bond. He said, ‘Mr Bond, I doubt if anywhere in the world a man has eaten as good a dinner as that tonight. What do you say?' Bond said, ‘I don’t know about that, but it was certainly very good.’’

How could we not attempt to match that?