1812 Privateer Lynx

Iris and I toured Privateer Lynx yesterday.
It's actually a 2001 replica, used to teach history to children.
Below decks in the main hall.
The other side of the hall. Iris is getting ready to take off her shoes and climb into one of the four berths.
Imagine embarking and disembarking on a staircase on wheels with the dock, the boat and the staircase all moving independently. Exciting!
We didn't stay for the afternoon sail out into Santa Monica Bay for a mock battle with this ship.
I felt safe taking Iris for a free tour (kids are free and they suggest adults put something in the donation box) because Iris had a soccer game later that afternoon. If she hadn't, she would have wheedled and begged to be allowed to set sail for the mock battle, which is not free.

We parked at the northern end of King Harbor at the Redondo Beach Spectrum Club. Didn't the sky look beautiful yesterday?
I meant to take Iris for family swim this afternoon at the pool with this harbor view, but the fog rolled in and neither of us felt up to braving the 65F air. That's frigid, by Los Angeles standards. It would have been nice today to have taken her to play in the sand and surf at Hermosa Beach, then walked over the the Spectrum Club RB for a swim and a shower, then stroll down to the RB pier for lunch--but it didn't happen. I shopped at Target, Trader Joe's, and Mark and I cooked up a storm. We have gigantic pots of cream of mushroom soup and minestrone soup, fruit salad and two types of home-made salad dressing. Two more persimmons are ripening on the windowsill and I will be able to bake apple-persimmon cake with them soon.

Last Tuesday, coworkers lured me to the Manhattan Beach farmer's market at lunch with promises of pupusas. I had never heard of a pupusa, but one Latino coworker raved about the ones from this booth. He's an experienced in-demand engineer so he usually works through lunch. If he makes time for this food, it must be something. Unfortunately, remember this image (from the MODIS image of the day website)?
The pupusa vendor could not make it that day due to all the fire-related road closures. At least I got the ingredients for this weekend's cooking frenzy. I will have to go back and try again next week. I must try to remember to bring my sewing scissors because there was a man sharpening knives and scissors at one booth.

Aside:
Apple Persimmon cake is make in much the same way as the Swedish Apple Cake recipe I posted earlier. Just substitute one apple and the pith of two soft persimmons (I prefer the pointy and sweeter Hachiya ones) for the 3 cups of chopped apples. Perhaps I should just repost it.

Swedish Apple (& Persimmon) Cake

1. Mix
• 1 1/3 (1) Cup salad oil,
• 1 1/2 (1) Cup sugar
• 2 eggs
2. Add
• 3 Cups peeled (unpeeled) finely chopped apples or 3 Cups of chopped apple/persimmon mixture (about 1 apple and 2 persimmons)
• 1 Cup raisins or other dried fruit, chopped up to raisin-size pieces
• 1 Cup chopped nuts (I like walnut pieces).
• Stir thoroughly.
3. Add
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda (use more if your batter is wet and you like a fluffier cake)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp vanilla
4. Stir in 2.5 to 3 cups of flour until batter is stiff.
5. Grease a tube or bundt pan with salad oil, spread the lumpy batter as evenly as possible. Bake at 350° F for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

As you can see, I cook improvisationally, using my senses rather than adhering strictly to a recipe.