Chilling down with a 2008 Saint Emilion in an astonishing weekend apartment in Porto Cupecoy, our home for the next few days.

We had a very long and tiring passage from Barbuda to here for the past 24 hours so not much else than this to report for tonight. Bubble bath, cheese and wine and some chill music in the speakers is just what's needed. Doesn't get much better than this after an exhausting day and night at sea..

Bought home a new wine the other day. A rustic Argentinean one which I've only heard rumors about earlier and for once rumors were true. This is an excellent, robust and deep red wine, coming from the purple Malbec grape, produced in Uta Valley in Mendoza, Argentina, as far as half a mile (ca 1100 meter) above the sea level. This Finca El Portillo from 2008 had a glorious flavor and a very round aftertaste. If you prefer deep and flavorful red wines like I do, you gotta try this one out when you get the chance. We had it with a spicy lasagna last night and it was the perfect combination, also I can imagine it to be absolutely beautiful with red meat and cheeses. Would so which to have some really good cheeses around but it is almost impossible to get a hold on good (French and Swiss) ones here in Antigua, especially now when we're more on the East side far from the International supermarket of Jolly Harbor, which seem to stock almost everything (even Felix Lingonsylt), and also a few good brie and chèvre's at least. Hoping to have the time to drop by St Marteen or St Barths before we head down to Grenada in next week to stock up on some goodies. Otherwise we might squeeze in an additional cheese stop in Martinique on our way down South. /T

Are you really going to drink both whiskey and two bottles of wine, he asked with a worried look. You sober people do not understand this, she said and took a gulp of the wine. Please leave me to be at least a bit destructive in case the plane would fail and crash.

We're at home now. I never though I could miss a thing of material to this extent, but this boat - our home - most definitely have gotten me addicted. We both feel restless and anxious and worried as soon as we've been away from her for more than a day and it is hard to even imagine what strong bonds of attachment and separation anxiety one must experience when having own kids of flesh and blood to worry about, when only a boat can make you feel this much pain. Anyways, we're at home now and all is good. We'll be finalizing the last preparations tomorrow and then we're meant to be off for a long journey across the Atlantic. Can't wait to get it all started. /T

We had a drink with Kathy who told us the story about the place and her life and projects in Morocco. She is a former American diplomat and entrepreneur who fell in love with Morocco and decided to leave the government and the administrative world and instead opened up the legendary Rick's bar in the heart of Casablanca. The place was established seven years ago and have naturally received a fantastic welcoming from both visitors and locals alike. Definitely interesting that an American women, of all, are able to establish such a project in Morocco and tells quite something about the modern position and tolerance of the country.

The architecture and the interior reminds utterly of the settings in the movie with the balconies overlooking the courtyard, the white stone walls and curved arches, heavy wooden doors, the central spiral staircase and the old piano in the middle of the restaurant. To give a final touché reminiscent of the movie: the song As time goes by is frequently played and was sounding from the piano just when we entered the restaurant. Giving an instant flashback to the classical film.

Soulful live music with a mix of 40's and 50's jazz and French chansons was played by the house pianist Issam Chabaa (to the right on the photo with Kathy and me) at the 1930's Pleyel piano along with his musicians - a repertoire and feel which was above any expectations. Definitely a delightful dinner accompanied by an excellent musical performance and well worth the extra journey for. If you're about to visit, make sure to book a table in advance as the place tends to be very busy. This is a place we'll definitely get back to when in Casablanca again.

Just like an alert reader already commented on: It seems like the only thing we're doing is eating. And yes, that is almost truth. Not the entire truth but close to it. Because what would life be without delicious food, new interesting flavors, tasteful preparations and in my case: characteristic and flavorful wines. Not much, huh. 

Talking of wine: As I've understood; Morocco is supposed to have the best natural potential in West Africa for producing wine due to the high mountains surrounding the country in combination with the cooling influences of the Atlantic winds - and despite the paradox of having 98% of it's population forbidden to drink alcoholic beverages, Morocco does produce and export an massive amount* of wine each year. So naturally I had to try a couple to compare with my own preferences - and I've found some simple favorites. The traditional Medallion is an excellent everyday wine in my taste and they make it good in both red (Cabernet Sauvignon) and white (Sauvignon Blanc). Wine sampling (and drinking obviously) is a passion that grows within me more for each year and I'm trying to collect my favorites in every new wine-producing country we get to. The Italian ones I picked up this summer in Sardinia are slowly running out so new replacements will be done in form of Moroccan. Not quite comparable but still they are alright. I don't drink much white wines in general but if you like em', allow yourself to try the sweet Medallion next time you have the chance, also Alex thought of it as palatable - and he usually doesn't like the taste of wine at all. For me it was perfect when chilled  - served with the wonderfully prepared sushi we had the other night and I'm definitely going to pick up a few of the small version** for our boat.  /Taru

* Morocco grows 310.000 tons of grapes annually, ranks 30th in wine producing countries worldwide.

**375 ml comes in a stylish, thin bottle as shown in picture - perfect size for one person and takes less space in the boat.

Here's by the way a short text I wrote about my absolute favorite wine, all categories - in my other blog for some year ago or so - for the ones who're interested.

So finally comes the day when we're able to leave also Gibraltar behind us. We both were thinking this day might never come - when looking at the weather and the list of things we had to finalize. It is never ending, isn't it. To live on a boat. Especially now in the beginning of this journey. And it is most definitely a full time job. A sometimes painful but oh so rewarding job. Because what else could we do, that could possibly give us more satisfaction in life than this? Nothing.

Tomorrow there is a good weather window which we'll take advantage of and hopefully we'll be safe over in Rabat, Morocco some 25-40 hours thereafter. Cannot wait to stroll around on African land and get the hell out of Europe.

Rounding off the day today with a glass of an aromatic Ripasso di Valpolicella and some beautiful Corsican classical tunes. Alex is reading for me from an Atlantic passage guide and life is just how it is supposed to be. Us two, on our boat - our home, sweet music in the background and some rustic wine. What else could I ever ask for? Not even the cold and the rain seem to bother me in this very moment.

By the way, we are so sorry if we have been late in responding emails or comments, but we've been so extremely busy over here and at the same time super dizzy and tired from all of the vaccinations.. Will catch up on it all very soon. Thanks for taking your time to write to us!

We didn't reach Denia last night like was planned. The wind died out and we're trying to use the engine as little as possible until we'll have it fixed - so we went to Gandia, 30 miles away from Valencia. Gandia is a sleepy tourist town, empty on tourists now in late November. 

When we are too tired to cook or in a need of getting out of the boat, one of the major projects in smaller towns like this is always to find a proper place to eat. Having lived in Spain now for some years (alex 7, me 2 in total), you're pretty fed up with the traditional tapas and to find something else in off season in a small village/town like this, is pretty damn hard. Often we end up in the local arabic kebab place just to get some variation - but last night we were lucky. We had walked for maybe 20 minutes by the beach and in between smaller streets, when we finally spotted it from a far. A cozy, candle lit hole in the wall - so untypical Spanish in it's style that we almost ran to it. The Italian restaurant was owned by an Argentinean man who hosted the place with his son and the food was out of this world. Simple and nothing really special in the sense of products or even preparations, just so untypical to what we are used to when searching for a restaurant in the middle of the night in a small fisherman's/tourist town. 

We ate and we ate and we ate till we couldn't eat anymore and I think I am still full from it all this morning. Extra plus also for not serving cold red wine but normal room tempered! The average Spanish restauranteurs have normally a (strange) tradition to store their red wine in the fridge and serve it ice cold to their clients. But this little restaurant scored all right. And not to forget the typical Argentinean dulce de leche pancakes we had for dessert. So freaking tasty mmmm. Just what we needed and on top of that, we had to only pay 48 Euros for the whole gormandizing. A perfect bargain for an excellent dinner.

This restaurant in Gandia is called La Tarantella and is located on C/ Navegante nº 1, Tele: 96 284 16 51

/T

Much needed in between windvane installations, hatch mountings, teak gluing, winch installations, arch weldings and mental breakdowns. Cheers and good night. /T

What is Corsican though, is the delightful little Canistrellis (more or less like Italian Biscotti) and the smoked wild boar meat (even though the meat they call sanglier, in fact is 30% boar, 70% pork)

If you ever wondered how we can be so fit, after all we're eating. Well... I can tell you that those well shaped days are now officially over!

Along with fresh Italian pasta and a bottle of the beautiful Sardinian wine, Cabiròl, I prepare my bolognese like this. Sorry no measurements, I take what I find in the fridge:

Minced beef

Garlic

Olive oil

Fresh tomatoes, maybe 2-3-4 of them.

Pepper and Salt

Chili powder

Rucola

Mushrooms - Goes well with any type. I prefer Portobello.)

Sugar - This is very important, folks!

Some red wine.

Pour olive oil into a large sauce pan, press the garlic into it. Fry the garlic until golden. Add the meat.. some teaspoons of water, salt, pepper and chili powder. Fry the meat until it has completely changed color from red to brownish. Pour in the wine. Squeeze in the tomatoes, add the peal of them as well if you'd like, otherwise use only the inside of them. Add the same amount of sugar as you earlier had of salt. This is very important for bolognese so don't ever exclude it! Works also well with honey if you prefer. Honey goes by the way with anything and everything. When things look smooth and tastes good, add the mushrooms and let it all simmer for a while. When finished, add the fresh rucola and mix the sauce with the fresh pasta you had boiled on the side.

We had the most beautiful sleep in one of the best moorings we ever encountered. Porto Mannu can be found in the north-western providence Sassari and it provided us with a perfectly still anchorage and a 2 minutes dinghy ride to the most adorable little town. We had a beautiful day in that town yesterday and purchased the freshest Italian produce for our dinner. Basilic, pasta, Sardinian wine, fresh parmesano, salsiccias... Italians sure know how to seduce with flavors and aromas. And what a freaking wonderful dinner it turned out to be with that Barracuda! I had it oven baked with a marinade made of fresh, homemade Sardinian olive oil, basilic, lemon juice and tons of garlic - served with basmati rice. It was simply out of this world.

And to top up the already perfect day and night: exactly when we had dined and wined and were on our way to sleep, an enormous firework show erupted where we were given a front row view over the beautiful explosions. It seems like fire and explosions are following us wherever we go. If it's not frightening thunder and lightning, it's probably marvellous fireworks just outside of our boat. Thanks Sardinia, what a dramatic and extraordinary welcoming! I think we'll spend a couple of more days around here.

It's a pretty small area of the coast we're hanging around in at the moment. From Sitges a bit South West of Barcelona and along the Costa Brava coast up North. That's the area you see in the box around Barcelona.