This tasty treat is  so welcome when we are at sea sailing south.

Not sure if its just me or everyone feels this way but once the boat moves I eat everything I can get my hands on, I blame the fact that it takes more energy for my body to keep balanced in the motion of the ocean! What I do know is the more I eat the better I feel and the better I travel so thats all I need to know!!

Beach body starts once we arrive!!

 

So here is the recipe for this tasty treat, I have no idea where I got the recipe from I want to say Its from what mum used to make for us as kids.

 

your going to need

 

200 g butter

1 1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla essence

1 1/2 cup plain flour

4 tsp Baking Powder

2 TBSP Cocoa Powder

4 cups Boiling Water

THE SAUCE TOPPING

1 cup brown sugar

2 TBSP cornflour

1/2 cup cocoa

 

What your going to do is take the butter at room temp or just softened and beat with the butter sugar, eggs and vanilla all together until creamy.

Sift in the flour B. P and Cocoa together and fold into wet mix.

Spoon the the mixture into a 6-8 cup dish sprinkle the mixed up sauce topping over the top and then pour the 4 cups of water over the back of a spoon on top.

Bake in  a moderate oven for 35 mins or so until pudding springs back and is looking delicious.

 

Serve with Vanilla ice cream and Enjoy!!

 

Happy days!

cupcake. x

Some of you will already  know that I am working towards a  holistic health coach certification currently with Integrative Nutrition out of the USA.

Health and Nutrition has  always interested me, especially as a chef taking care of people via food has been my life. On boats I understand that the crew are eating what I cook for them and that is  the only option they really have so it needs to be a balanced and healthy menu.

After watching The Game Changers recently a lot of the crew have moved to a more plant based diet, eating a lot less red meat and noticing the effects with weight loss, higher energy levels just to name a few.

 

Through this course I have to conduct some health history surveys and practice what it will be like to work with clients in the long run, so if any of you reading this would like to do a health history for free to help me get some experience please send me a private message with your email address and I will be in touch.

My first exam is this week so thats going to take priority, then the boat getting ready to leave the USA heading south for the Caribbean for the season!

But I will do my best to get back to all of you with the forms to take a look at and then we can find a way to chat either online or if your near me we can meet in person, it will take about 50 minutes to complete the session.

 

Happy Monday to you all and I hope you have a beautiful week.

 

Cupcake. xx

 

 

 

As usual there has been radio silence again, all my plans to update this while on vacation went out the window  as I was just too busy living my best life with the people that mean so much to me.

 

I’ve found myself reflecting on how amazing it is to be able to travel as I do, all over the place. To have friends in multiple places and the fact that we can go years without seeing each other and then pick up right where we left off.

The yachting industry attracts the gypsy souls that love the adventure, so to be able to move around an catch up with dear friends over cups of tea, a few glasses of cava or playing cards can just be the best idea ever.

I flew out of Boston a few weeks ago to Barcelona then onto Palma then Cannes before a trip to Ireland then into London before flying back to Miami to work. (Miami airport is still one of the worst to fly into in terms of lengthy delays to get through immigration so avoid at all costs if you can!!!)

There were a few catchups with friends that weren’t planned but due to the powers of the magic social media we saw we were in the same place and managed to connect.

So once again I am so grateful for the powers of those avenues that bring people together especially when your phone number is never the same for long!

Another reflection was that as I went to places that I had already been to I was content just to sit and read books, rather than rush around exploring so it was a true filling the cup kinda trip.

The fresh markets in Cannes were also a highlight, being in the states the fresh markets are few and far between compared to Europe, I indulged in fresh juicy figs, got myself a baguette with that flakey salty butter and it was all delicious.

 

 

The last week I’ve been feeling a bit, some would say blah! I don’t even know the words really!  When I thought about it I realised how it was this time a year ago when I left France and a job that I had been in for probably on reflection a bit too long. 

So I took some time and looked back on the last year and where my journey has taken me, well! I’ve only been at work for 4 months of the last 12. There was a lot of travel, oh boy was there a lot of flying and adventures, new friends, old friends in new places. Its truly been so amazing, I based myself out of Ireland this time last year and then I went to Scotland, Iceland, London explored Dublin and west cork more, then I flew home to NZ to spent time with my family before teaching some yoga at a retreat in the far north of New Zealand, an area I’d only visited when I was about 12 years old!!

My travels then took me to India, this was a life changing moment, maybe its the yoga and the journey of getting closer to myself and figuring me out, or maybe its mother India, if you’ve been to India you will know what I’m talking about. I did a 200hr ashtanga/vinyasa teacher training there and it was so good, lotus group from Sampoorna in Goa are always going to hold a very special place in my heart.

After India it was back to NZ to then find a job that sounded too good to be true, well it was thanks to the moroccan navy for that short lived moment of being rotation chef! After that I moved on to Palma with some beautiful friends and my biggest cheer leaders, thats when this job showed up, I wasn’t sure about the returning to the USA,  but saw it as a sign that if it all worked out and I got another B1 B2 visa then I was meant to go back to where this yachting dream all began for me, Newport Rhode Island.

So here I am, after almost 6 weeks here back where it all began for me, seeing old faces in the place that seems so much like home. Exploring with new friends and feeling all very nostalgic about this journey. Its our last week here and were all longing for a few more weeks in this beautiful town,  if you’ve been to florida you’ll know that south florida is one of those very special states that you can’t explain unless you’ve been there and lived it! Newport you’ve got soul and we love you for that.

Its amazing how coming back to this place after 12 years the experience is different, I’ve shifted in my focus and where and who I put my energy into, I never knew how many yoga studios were here when I was here in 2006! to be fair I probably had no idea really what yoga was back then!! 

Summer of 2019 has definitely made me realise how strong my love for food is and its my true passion theres no doubt about that. I will never tire of feeding people nourishing food made with love. To the new adventures and the beauty of Mother Nature in places that I never thought I’d get to by boat. 

I would like to encourage you all to take a moment and reflect on where you are compared to where you were, life changes, people come and go, we are constantly on a journey and moving around out there in the big wide world, actually its a pretty small world after all!!

happy reflecting to you all

cupcake x

 

This weeks post while I sit here on watch pondering life is going to Social Media.

 

 

Isn’t it amazing how it can bring so many people together who have not even physically met before, now I know this is not always the case for every one.

Summer of 2019 has definitely shown me the power of social media and everyone coming together to help one another out especially in the yacht chef network.

It was a couple of summers ago now I think…hard to say…. when  I met Lauren from @sailingfooddiaries, I got a private message via instagram asking where I was and if I was actually in St Tropez as my latest post quoted, I was and so we met on the dock for a quick chat and ice cream. Since then you could say we have been chatting almost every week about food and ideas, tips and tricks. Along with surviving the life of sole chef, when all you want is that magic fairy to come along and clean up your galley for you so you can make it to your bunk quicker.

My instagram is a collection of foodie, yoga, travel inspired people and posts, what started as a way for me to use the platform as a portfolio for my food is doing just that.

Back in 2006 when I first started working on boats I didn’t even own a smart phone had probably only just figured out what Facebook was, we used to go to the bar to get wifi to send some emails and thats where my nights went.

I set up my instagram page in 2016 I was very late to the party, technology isn’t always my friend. Since then however it has grown into a hugely useful networking platform with lots of other yacht chef, yogi enthusiasts and travellers from all over.

Given this year so far I’ve not spent more than 8 weeks in one place its so useful to be able to keep in touch with people via the platforms of social media, I don’t always have a fixed phone number, neither do a lot of the people that I meet, we change locations so often that its just easier to message via instagram to keep in touch.

Its also a great way to keep up with people given our nomad lifestyle.

Coming back up the East Coast I’ve been back in touch with a lot of people I haven’t seen in a very long time and thats only possible due to the powers of face book and instagram as I’m talking like 10 years ago!!

 

So if you have the chance to pop over and have a cup of coffee with your mates then do so, if your connections are more like mine via the magic of the inter web, please drop them a message, in this day and age we are all so connected its almost scary, but nothing better than alittle note from a friend.

 

Happy Friday Eve to you all, I hope the weekend brings good things.

 

cupcake x

 

 

 

 

 

A week ago now I found out about a local open air movie that was on.

The Game Changers, safe to say its been a game changer alright.

We went along as a crew with very open minds and not a lot of idea what this was going to be about except looking at the views of protein.

Well out of 10 crew we now have 6 who are either pescatarian or vegetarian.

The impact of this film on the boys has been rather interesting to watch, maybe it was in the delivery that got them to think about the amount of meat they are consuming, I’m not sure but it has definitely made them think twice about the amount of animal protein they are eating.

 

I have over the last few years also cut down in the amount of red meat I have been eating, in India earlier this year I was vegetarian for the 6 weeks that I was there, more so to avoid the deli belly than anything but it did get me thinking and made me realise that I didn’t miss meat all that much.

Returning to NZ I didn’t feel like the pile of lamb chops I would have normally eaten once I’m home with a bbq at hand.

Changing eating habits takes time and what suits one may not always suit another, its a process of trial and error.

What I do know is that I have changed my view on vegetables and create more salads that I now feel like eating over avoiding.

Salad to me used to be lettuce tomato and cucumber, now it can range from pumpkin to beetroot to couscous, theres so many options with some many delicious combos.

Being in the Usa there are also a lot of plant based protein products available, meatballs, burgers, sausages etc.

Meat free Mondays are slowly making a take over… I still cook some chicken or a little meat as there are a few who won’t let go completely and live on vegetables just for one day, but were are making progress one meal at a time!!

 

So maybe give it a go, meat free Monday or if thats easy cut out another option later in the week, try have one meat free meal a day, so many options and its really not that difficult once you get started.

happy veggies!

cupcake. x

 

So once again I have been so bad at keeping this updated but I’m back and we are on land with some super speedy wifi so I don’t really have any excuse now do I!!

 

We are back in the yard in Newport RI, for those of you that don’t know this is where my yacht chef journey began about 13 years ago. So to come back in here has been rather nostalgic for me.

Im in a very different place and different job to when I was here the first time around, but Newport is still just the same and its been  ever so special to catch up with some old friends from my early days here.

The more I travel around the USA the more I realise why some people don’t ever leave the country, each state is so unique in its own way that you really don’t have too!

This summer took me to places and to see things I would only have dreamed of, thats for another post later on!!

 

I wasn’t sure on returning to the Usa as my love for Europe is so strong, but here I am, and its safe to say its been emotional and a journey of coming full circle.

I’m now working on one of the white boats I only looked at with dreamy eyes back then, I have the big galley, the continuous hot water and the air con! small things in life!

So stand by to see whats coming up, theres been a lot of investment into myself after this summer season, I’ve started a holistic health coach course also and I can’t wait to share with all of you what comes my way with this.

Big Plans, Big Dreams!

cupcake. x

 

Fried chicken Waffles….what is such a thing you might ask, well It seems its breakfast here in South Florida!

 

It’s been 7 years since I was based on a Boat out of Florida, to say the adjustment has been overwhelming  after so long in France would be correct.

Its taken me some time, the convince factor of the USA I had forgotten about.

You can send your photos online to CVS – Pharmacy and then pick them up in person an hr later, maybe this happens elsewhere and I’m just behind the times but I’ve found this quite entertaining.

Pretty much everything is open on a Sunday, apart from post offices banks etc, you can do what you want to do even on Sunday!

Amazon is definitely a way of life here, its so heavily used by everyone! I’m still a bit old fashioned and prefer to go the shops and pick up what I want to buy, touch it decide if its what I actually want, rather than at the click of a button throw things in my cart, get free shipping and have them arrive on the doorstep the next day!

Now don’t get me wrong, amazon has become rather useful for things I can’t find in the shops, like the French text books I was after, Yes I am learning French in the USA after so long in France and not getting it, for some reason it seems to making so much more sense here! Don’t ask me why!!!

The USA was home to me for so long in my first years of yachting that its almost rather nostalgic to be back here, in a different place than I was all those years ago.

I still struggle to understand people and vice versa. The portions of food on your plate in a restaurant are just way to much for me to ever eat. Don’t even get me started on the size of the fizzy drinks at the movies, its almost like they are giving out buckets of the stuff!

Heres to the land of half and half and dunkin donuts.

your growing on me slowly.

Cupcake. xx

 

Boston Creme always has and always will be my fav!

Today I’m feeling the love for the amazing community online that day in day out support each other no matter what is going on.

Now I know this doesn’t happen  all the time, there can also be some really awful things go down via keyboard warriors.

However in the Chef world of super yachts at the moment I feel there is a fabulous support network for all chefs, every one is asking questions and getting answers helpful tips and so on.

There are quite a few groups on facebook and instagram.

The Superyacht Chef is new amazing platform that is sharing pics/posts and creating new inspiration and relationships through someone seeing the pic then following that person.

I’ll never forget the first person to reach out to me via instagram was the lovely Lauren from @sailingfooddiaries we were both in St Tropez at the time, I received a message saying if your around be cool to meet up and put a face to the name. I was so excited to meet the person behind this, it seemed such a foreign concept to me to just reach out to a stranger and get in touch, so I’m ever so grateful to Lauren for doing so in creating conversation and even though we have only met briefly on the dock in St Tropez we are in touch often and its so nice to have the support just a message away! I’ve since then done the same to others and met some beautiful souls along the way.

Recently I have  been in touch with a few other Chef friends via the social media channels about recipes/ ideas etc and its nice to see the change in the industry of one of sharing and helping each other out. I remember a time when getting recipes off Chefs was like getting blood out of a stone!

I was told by a crew agent that the nature of the head chefs currently is more along the lines of  sharing ideas and grooming the sous chef to become there own head chef down the line rather than what we saw in the past of the sous chef being just for crew food, often now the sous chef will be responsible for canapés and guest dessert while assisting the head chef with the starters and mains. This is so exciting!!

 

So please keep sharing and inspiring each other, its just amazing I know myself I gain so much from seeing others posts and trying new recipes that I see posted from other chefs.

 

Bon weekend.

Cupcake xx

 

Well once again a epic fail in the keeping this blog up to date!!!

The last 6 weeks have been a whirlwind to say the least.

In trusting that everything is how is should be and what will be will be, I’ve ended up back in the mighty USA with a job!

Who would have thought after all those years in Europe I’d relocate back to where It all began…I didn’t think so anyway!

I flew out to the Bahamas joined this new boat prior to a boss trip with new owners, stressful to say the least!

I realised how all my work with yoga, meditation and breathing to keep me calm came into play and how I no longer had time for these in my days, but don’t worry I’m back to finding that flow now.

I’ve taken the last 8 months off from the world that is yachting to focus on travel yoga and some serious me time, reading books, googling random things I’ve always wanted to know about, drinking tea and watching the days pass by dreaming.

To come back straight into a boat gearing up for a boss trip was a snap back in to the reality that is this world, the long hours the stress we place upon ourselves and the lack of time and space for ourselves during this time.

I’m feeling very lucky to have got another visa for the USA and to land this job taking me back to where is all began for me, Newport RI is our next stop, I started on boats there 13 years ago on Sailing yachts, I would look at these big white boats and wonder.

So its going to be a emotional and nostalgic time to return back up that way.

Until then I’m making the most of south Florida the excitement of the USA the abundance of being able to do anything and every thing when one feels like it.

To try all the different foods, create meals with all sorts of ingredients.

As long as I don’t melt in the heat and humidity, theres a reason people avoid Florida at this time of the year!!

as always I’m going to make more of an effort to keep this updated and share with you my life here in the USA.

last night was Hootie and the blow fish concert, my first live concert in I’m not even sure how long! theres a video in my instagram! they were amazing !!

hope your all having a wonderful Sunday funday! here’s to surviving my first week back in the USA!!!

cupcake x

 

Waffles with buttermilk fried chicken and bacon…just your casual Sunday brunch!

 

check out that sunset behind the stage at Hootie and the blow fish. AMAZING!!!

Celebrating my return to the USA and over 10years of friendship with these absolute babes. Thats one of the biggest things I love in this industry its been years between catch ups but it feels just like yesterday!

BBQ flavoured ribs, coleslaw and potato salad, so American, so delicious!