Kaimusailing

There was a contingent of boaters from the boatyard signed up to attend the Oyster Roast at the town of St. Marys Thanksgiving Festival. We had to bring an appetizer, not chips, they said. I decided to make potato salad which had gone over well at other parties. This was egg and potato salad with some bacon and green onions. Now I had the idea to make a loaded potato salad, put some cheese into it.
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I needed to shop for ingredients, but first there was boatwork to do, epoxy all the holes I had made in the cabin tops when I removed the old solar panels, winches, and rope clutches. It seemed like the day was shot, I did the work, but time went by, I took Jakob out on my shopping trip for potatoes, etc. By the time we got back it was only about an hour before the Oyster Roast was to start and I had to cook 5 lbs. of potatoes and all the rest. Jacob was making some sort of lemon finger dessert over at the communal kitchen.
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I set up the Harbor Freight two burner propane cook top on top of the cast off cabinet that I was using to house my epoxy. This was too high to see what was happening in the pots as the eggs and potatoes were cooking.
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I guess I ought to include the recipe of what I was making, a variation on potato salad. I had some good feedback on a potato salad I made for a dock party that included eggs and bacon. Now I wanted to include cheese as well, a loaded baked potato salad.
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This would be a dozen hard boiled eggs, 5 lbs, of diced potatoes, one diced onion and one diced green pepper. I added about a quarter pound of diced black forest ham, because it was near its due date and had to be used. If I had used bacon I would have used Canadian bacon, and not fried to a crisp. With regular bacon, it is best to fry it under cover and maybe with some water to make it leathery, not crispy. In a salad, the crispy bacon can be an irritant, like sand. I used mayo and some mustard along with black pepper for seasoning. One comment was about using salt, but I added a package of shredded cheese, which is salty.
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The eggs got a boil, then 15 minutes rest in the hot water. At the same time, the diced potatoes were cooking and tested at the end and were well done by then. They were both drained, eggs put into cold water, potatoes given the shredded cheese, mixed while hot, then diced onion and green pepper, continue mixing, add diced ham (or bacon), then chop the hard boiled eggs fine and add them, mix with mayonnaise and a little mustard. Don’t forget some black pepper and salt to taste.
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We were running late, the Oyster Roast was scheduled at 5:30 and we were not going to be there before 6:30. We set off and got there about an hour late. Jakob was the designated driver and I ordered a large drink at the bar. We put our potato salad and lemon bars on the food table and began to mingle. I had a small plate and dropped a dab of my potato salad on it. I had not tasted it yet, plus, it had been made mostly after sundown with no light, made in the dark. I described it as a shot in the dark. It was good, with crunchy onion and green pepper. When I returned to have some more, it was all gone. Also Jakob’s lemon fingers were gone. Good cooking from the boatyard.
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It was nice to run into fellow boaters and discuss things that only we would care about. One objective for me was to find out who had the large 63 foot Wharram catamarn out in the harbor, surely they must be at this party or someone here must know who they are, but it turned out that no one knew who they were.
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The next day was of course Thanksgiving and we went back for the feast. It was four large banquet tables crowded with all sorts of food. I never had pomegranate salad before. Cherry, pumpkin, and lemon meringue pie for me for dessert.
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The photo is of Seagle’s, the restaurant that hosted the Thanksgiving feast.