Meal #1:

Spanish-inspired tapas with a bit of Italian bubbly

This is one of the meals that has the longest shelf-life but is always one of our first meals because it’s so irresistible.

Our usual boat tapas line up:  Jamon de Serrano, marconi almonds, cheeses, artichoke hearts, a can of olives preferably stuffed with anchoas (which Peter likes but you can’t tell him they’re anchovies in English because he doesn’t eat anchovies!), and any other little extras you feel like adding.  If I have stale bread, I make pan con tomate out of it by rubbing garlic on the bread and then smooshing tomatoes and drizzling olive oil.  If not, a nice cheese cracker will do.

 

Here, the Italian flare is accentuated by pecorino romano cheese (a very nice hard cheese that would last a long time if we didn’t use it for salads and dinners and…) as well as some arugula.  If you’re feeling more Italian, prosciutto and regular olives would make fine understudies.

Wait…we forgot the cherries!  They went nicely with the manchego.

 

Bring out the Bubbly

All this is accompanied by cava if we’re being strictly Spanish or in today’s case, a leftover bottle of prosecco I didn’t want to leave sitting in the fridge at home.

Any bubbly helps make it feel like a celebration and we always save a little for The Moon, a nod to the seafaring tradition of sharing libations with the boat and the sea.

When we opened up this very bubbly bottle (the cork read “Life is a Bubble”) it spilled out so Moon got her sip first!