Yesterday we moved back into the harbor, after 2 nights enjoying the dock scene in the town of Portoferraio. We stayed out in the harbor for the day as it was so peaceful and the sea breeze was cooling on such a hot day. I made a tomato, onion and torn basil leaves frittata for lunch.
Greg "messed around in boats" and as Ratty and Mole would say "there is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats, simply messing" (from Wind in the Willows). He now feels that his docking lines are perfect after much splicing of ropes.
I read Italian recipe books to choose something to do with the eggplant, tomatoes and quail that I wanted to use for dinner. I had the quail in the freezer, bought from the market in Palma, Mallorca, which I greatly miss - the quality of the vegetables at an outdoor stall in town was dreadful, even worse than the supermarket. What has happened to Italy!
I marinated the quail in garlic, oil and lemon juice (I didn't have the fresh sage which the recipe asked for) and Greg grilled that on the barbecue at the back of the boat. He also cooked the finely sliced potatoes in olive oil, wrapped firstly in baking paper then foil.
I cooked eggplant parmigiana and very finely sliced zucchini and onions cooked in a little butter. The eggplant dish was fabulous - sliced eggplant dipped in flour and fried in olive oil then placed in the base of an oven dish, covered with tomato passata (pureed, peeled tomatoes, cooked with a little olive oil in a pot to reduce), then thinly sliced fresh mozzarella, finished with some grated Reggiano Parmigiano and baked in the oven. It's interesting to discover new recipes as I am forced to stick to the produce that is available and worth buying.
The wine was a bottle of one of the Merrema Toscana reds.
Dessert was strawberries in strawberry liqueur served with ice cream.
Today we hired a car and drove around parts of the island. What a beautiful island it is with varied coastline and central area. It's very hilly, with high mountains in places, but the best thing is that around every corner there is another secluded cove or wide gulf, with crystal clear shades of blue and aqua sea and beaches ranging from huge pebbles to soft fine sand. There are pretty seaside towns such as Porto Azzurro (built originally by order of Filippo II of Spain in 1603) and Marciana Marina (a fishing village whose harbor tower was built in the 11th century), plus older hillside villages like Capoliveri and San Piero, all of those with striking views of the valleys below and the coastline in the distance. Vineyards fill some of the valleys, where the grapes are used for red and white wines, roses and muscats. The vegetation everywhere is lush with a huge range of both Mediterranean and mountainous plants, plus many species that have come from faraway shores as throughout the centuries conquerors and merchants have visited the Tuscan islands.
The vines of course were introduced and now Elba's wines are highly regarded. We had to try a rose of course with our obligatory pasta lunch, in a cafe overlooking the marina and wide sandy beach at the town called Marina di Campo. The bread they served was so good that we asked if we could buy a loaf to take away; they use the previous night's leftover pizza dough to make it.
Everywhere we drove was extraordinarily scenic and the island was definitely inviting us back again. It would be worth spending at least a couple of weeks cruising around Elba or even renting an apartment here some time.
Back to Dream Catcher III at the end of a wonderful day. A peaceful dinner out at anchor again and watching the nearly full moon rise over the mountain to our east. We have also enjoyed watching Saturn rise in the east each night for the past couple of weeks - such a bright light in the sky that Greg had to investigate on the computer what it could possibly be, using the lat and long as his guide.
After dinner we discovered that we can watch a dvd even without the generator on so we enjoyed a little of the Dixie Chicks on their last world tour - what great musicians.
40 nautical miles to travel to the east coast of Corsica tomorrow so an early start - it will probably take about 5 -6 hours. Time for bed.