Scandinavian anticyclone - 26 February 2018

We are now end of February, very close to the Stockholm boat show, which indicates the start of the new season for sailing in Sweden. In prevision of this event, we decided to spend our first night of the season on board Belisama for this weekend, having invited friends for the occasion...

This was without consulting the weather forecast for the weekend in Stockholm, and therefore, a bad idea. The Scandinavian anticyclone is getting established over Scandinavia, right above Stockholm, resulting in polar weather for pretty much of the coming week here... 

Waves in the making - Kloten, 9-11 February

We spent the weekend in Kloten, at Nordic Discovery "Kloten city". A very nice place for a weekend with a warm welcome and good care provided! This is a fantastic spot to release pressure from the working week in the wilderness, two and a half hours west of Stockholm.

This gave us a nice opportunity to visit next summer Baltic waves in the making...

IOR dan buoy and Silzig - 8 February 2018

I spent this winter thinking about increasing security onboard Belisama for the coming season.While I was equipped with the standard horseshoe buoy and its light, along with a 25 metre rescue line, several discussions with Fañch and evenings spent exploring Internet made me consider adding an IOR pole to the horse shoe buoy and attaching a Silzig-like floating device at the end of the rescue line...

Ice sailing - 4 February 2018

Days are getting much longer and with -6°C today in Stockholm, we go to Täby for a walk along the frozen lake. Nordic skis are in the car, but the snow is not good enough...

And we came across a small ice kart marina along the bank...!

Stockholm choucroute - 28 January 2018

After few days in Cairo for work, I made it back to Stockholm just in time to check the result of my first attempt at fermenting choucroute in Stockholm!

After three weeks of nice bubbling, we opened the kysla kapusta jar this morning...

A fermenting winter - 10 January 2018

Already four days since I prepared the first batch of sauerkraut in the kapusta pot brought back from Slovakia. The preparation is continuing to bubble regularly, but at a lower pace, with one bubble every five minutes on average. Since it was covered with juice from the preparation, I followed the instructions, resisted the temptation, and did not open the lid to look inside...

In the mean time, yesterday, I got couple of preserve jars with a clip top at Ikea, for a very low cost (amazing in fact!). Then, I followed the instructions from the amazing blog "Ni cru ni cuit" of Marie-Claire Fréderic...

Kysla kapusta - 6 January 2018

Kysla kapusta is the translation in Slovak of sauerkraut, choucroute in French. While in Bratislava over the new year period, I was struck by the importance of kysla kapusta in the local markets. You can find long lines of people waiting to get a refill of sauerkraut in a glass jar or a plastic bag, along with the juice produced during fermentation.

A few Internet searches later, I got convinced that fermentation remains one of the best way for sailors, even nowadays, to get healthy food full of vitamin onboard that do not require energy for preparation, conservation or even cooking before eating.

This post describe our first attempt at preparing sauerkraut for Belisama...