Chris and I continue to tick things off of our to do lists.  And it is now
official - both Chris and I have resigned (as you know).  Chris will leave
later in May and I will leave end of July-ish.  We have our vaccinations,
radio licenses for foreign travel, me with HAM radio, mail forwarding
service, water maker to install, radio to install, Chris completed a
two-day engine mechanics course and lots more.  We are trying to take it
just one day at a time but we are definitely feeling pressure to do, do,
do.  It still feels a bit surreal since the weather has been cold and rainy
and the boat is not yet in the water - soon.

I ticked a cuisine item off the list last night - try something in the
pressure cooker.  The pressure cooker is for the trip because it takes less
fuel to cook things because it cooks under pressure and speeds cooking time
up a lot.  Supposedly, modern versions are not as fickle as "your
Grandmother's pressure cooker."  I made a white bean/rosemary soup.  The
soup was only so-so and I was pooped at the end - I was reading two
cookbooks, conversion tables and figuring how not to explode soup all over
the kitchen.  It took me about 20 minutes just to figure out how to secure
the lid - picture book type instruction booklets are for the birds.  But I
will keep trying.  Apparently, people cook all kinds of things in the
pressure cooker - even bread!