Mary Lee's Bermuda visit

As we know from previous posts, Mary Lee moved back north along the eastern seaboard, nearly to Cape Cod, which is where she was tagged back in September. Then, for reasons unknown to mere humans, she turned south and beelined for Bermuda.

And that's where she is now, between the Bowditch Seamount and St. David's island. St. David's is one of the northernmost of the cluster of small islands that make up Bermuda.

The Bowditch is about 20 miles NNE of Bermuda, rising up from the Atlantic depths. The top of Bowditch is at 800 meters, so it's still quite deep. Mary Lee is between Bowditch and St. David's, and slightly NE.

This time of the year the water temp averages about 63 degrees F. and visibility is usually about 150 meters. The seas tend to be rough now, so sport fishing is at a slack time. Nonetheless, wahoo and tuna are fairly plentiful.

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Update 23 Feb:

Our pal Mary Lee has seemingly kicked in the afterburner, moving from near the Bowditch seamount north of Bermuda, to ESE of Argus/Challenger in a short space-a bit more than a day.

So... while she was up by Bowditch, she seemed to be 'pacing' back and forth - a hunting/feeding pattern?

Then she hightailed it south, where she seems to be doing more of the same. Now, we know that mammalian predators expend a great deal of energy when hunting and some of them don't have a lot of reserves to tolerate failure - the cheetah being a prime example - the same would seem to apply to piscatorial predators (how's that for a turn of phrase?) - and the mammalians don't like to do that if there's little or no chance of catching the chow. See also: Prey caloric value and predator energy needs: foraging predictions for wild spinner dolphins, a PDF doc that offers some related thinkings on this.

So did she move south for the grits? Is it paying off for her?

Our lack of knowledge allows for much conjecture to be raised. This is some great stuff. So... how well can whites sense across the ocean expanses? Bermuda seems to us to be a long way from Cape Cod, but to Mary Lee, it may be just down the street. Was she up in the colder northern waters, and picked up on wahoos woo-hooing down that way?

Sour Cream Rye Bread

Oh baby oh baby ... Sour Cream Rye bread:

3/4 cup water
2 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
7/8 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons honey
3tablespoons melted butter
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 cups dark rye flour
1 1/2 tablespoons instant potato flakes
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons gluten
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander seeds
2 teaspoons salt
2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

We used light rye flour in place of dark, and whole fennel seeds in place of the ground coriander.

Place all ingredients in the pan according to the machine manufacturer's basic instructions. Set crust on medium, and use the Basic or Whole Wheat cycle. The dough ball will be well shaped, but tacky, and will spread like a puddle during the risings.

The bread is very delicate, like cake, so be very careful in removing it from the pan. Next loaf, we're going to let it cool a bit before removing it.

This bread is, like, wowsers! Possibly the best one yet. It's on page 139 of "The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook."

Bread

We have been experimenting with our West Bend dual-paddle bread machine, using recipes from "The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook."

Here's a good one: Hungarian white bread with fennel seed.

1 1/3 cup water
 2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
 4 cups bread flour (remember to use a spoon to shake the flour into the measuring cup; do not scoop)
 2 tablespoons sugar
 1 tablespoon plus 1 tsp gluten
 1 tablespoon fennel seeds
 2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon bread machine yeast

Put the ingredients into the pan according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Crust to medium

Basic cycle

When the baking cycle ends immediately remove the loaf from the pan and let it cool on a rack to room temp before slicing.

Recipe is for a two-pound loaf.

We also add a teaspoon of caraway seeds and a half teaspoon of anise seeds.

This is a very fine bread for toasting.