Response #3

About Roast Beef...

From ship to ship and at the IOC we have some similiar cuts of meat and some that range a bit beyond what is normally seen.  So, as you can imagine I have to learn how to work with the food after seeing its various cooking 'personalities' what it will and won't do for me, and what I may have to force upon it by method of rubs, brines, and marinades. 

I am not quite happy with the beef used for Roast Beef yet, and as you bare with me I will be applying other 'tricks of the trade' so to speak to see what I can get this beef to do for me...its much like getting old circus animals to do new tricks for a new ringmaster.

Also, we are looking into getting some horseradish for a nice sauce, we do not have any horseradish at present.

That being said, a nice meat slicer would accomodate us quite nicely...

EMT

Today I attended my first Emergency Medical Team meeting. I didn't really know what to expect. I still am not really sure what to expect. It's intentions is to be similar to a code team. We respond to all medical emergencies and are involved in the the  fire drills. All of this sounds fine, but as we were in our meeting I realized wow, we live in a hospital. Every time there is an emergency a mess of people will respond. This is good and bad. It is very hard to function in an emergent situation with too many people involved. There may be 4 anethesists, 5 surgeons, and up to 50 nurses. Oh my. So for now, I will pray there are no emergent situations and if there is one, I will do my best to fulfill my duties as a part of the EMT. I will also try to remember the famous first line of many medical schools "First do no harm".

Tears of Laughter

Last night Tyrone and I went out with Tatyana, Rodrigo,(Taty and Rodrigo are married and have baby Estevam, 5 months) and Jan (Pronounced Yawn, is married to Elizabeth and has daughter Isabella, almost 2 years) all of which we know from the Caribbean Mercy. We went out in a rental car to our favorite place to eat, we call it the Meter Place, cause all the food comes out on meter boards. We thought it would be easier to take the car than to walk, but we were very wrong. Rodrigo was driving (aka zipping) around looking for a parking space, while the other boys were telling him to slow down, turn port side or starboard side. It was a mess. The whole evening was full of laughter and tears (of laughter). Those boys are a very funny combo, I have heard that the only thing funnier is to add their Australian friend Jon into the mix.

Tuesday Night (late for AFM'rs) - Wednesday morning Surprise!

Surprise!!!  If you are reading this on Wednesday after breakfast you are too late!

Someone volunteered to make pancakes AND I showed Maria how to make cinnamon rolls (w/a glaze) she will be baking/making them for breakfast, so there is a good chance you missed them both if you are reading this after 8am...Well you know.

Back to the food for a minute...

Michael Ruhlman has an additional blog that spawned from his new culinary book 'Elements of Cooking' and his latest post is of the most under utilized fresh vegetable that most people I know never use at home, and some restaurants still don't use, the SHALLOT.

Here is a link to his post - SHALLOTS

Response #2

So I have this stuff to make custard. Yes, I know it was not as you may have liked it...but I have to learn to use some of the things on board because I am not familiar with them. Like the custard powder I used for custard tonight. I know how to make custard from scratch...but I don't know how to use some of these mixes, powders, or instant things that make life easier in the kitchen. But thats how you learn. Trial and error...it was a success with some, and a few errors for others.

During the meal I did actually reference a few people of British persuasion what they thought and they gave me good feedback: too thick, but don't make it too runny & it was too sweet.

For the Americans and others here was some feedback: Where's the whip cream? No toppings? Why was it hot/warm?

So here was/is my basic plan: Serve it hot (after I get the right consistency and sugar content) for the people that like it that way, and then prepare it 'pudding style' (cold and thick) with additional 'dessert' like additives for the 'other' people.

But please do realize when I do serve it hot it really does start out a thinner consistency then builds to a thicker one while it sits in those heated pots/dishes.  There were literally no measurements to the directions on the product.  Its all guesswork.

I would like to thank Noah Peet for his input and giving me better instructions on how to fix the custard. Thank You Noah!

[something to add? submit your suggestions to 'THE Q' or submit to the 'REALITY CHECK']

Thanks Dr. B

One of our crew members is having a medical issue. She went to a local MD and told me about here experience. We both  were concerned about the treatment plan, so I called the ER that I used to work at. Thanks be to Jesus, Dr. B was working and was willing and able to answer my questions. It is so nice to have people you trust to ask questions.

CSE

It now seems that our third older oven is working again.  Great!

animals, sunshine, and waffles

This weekend was quite eventful. Yesterday we went to this zoo full of animals. They had plenty of shows to watch with dolphins, orcas, birds, sea lions. The bird show was terrible. They let the birds zip around the room. It felt like they were going to fly into my head. The grounds were perfectly manicured and full of trees and wonderful flowers. It was so fun hanging out with Tyrone and some of our friends from the ship. Today I walked around town in the sunshine by myself  and it was wonderful. I found this cute little bakery where I got a waffle and hot chocolate, it was so tasty. Pretty much a great weekend.

I (now switching to me, tyrone) will try to get some of the pictures we took up to an album or mini slideshow as it is hard to upload large pictures of any kind.  So maybe after I resize them, and a little patience...And by the way, the Bird Show was great! I got to see the birds do tricks, fly around scaring people, and squawking...which by the way was what Stephanie was doing in between floor dives, squawking.

Now thats funny.

Response #1

We are currently able to have fresh lettuce (from what I can see for the most part) while here in Tenerife.  From my prior experience in being in Liberia I know that if fresh lettuce or spinach (if you could get that lucky) even if it were available would only come in lump sums at the most to feed 100 people (and thats probably an exaggeration).

I have not seen such bulk spinach here in Tenerife (even at the Makro, spelling?).

Mostly fries/chips will probably be fried at this point, occasionally fish.  But I think potatoes will indeed mostly be boiled or baked.  And that does include scalloped and other styles which are still baked.  One is considered the style and the other is considered the method. Occasionally I am sure they may be fried a certain way like 'homestyle' or wedges.

Reality Check

Alright!  Someone (I don't use the names publicly) has filled out the questionaire on the Reality Check page.

Let me explain a bit how it works.  You fill out a detailed questionaire on the Reality Check page (link at top with the rest) and then submit it.  AFM crew members only please. 

You do not have to enter your name, but a department or nationality helps define recognizing overall food likes and dislikes.  There is also a required question to help identify that you are an actual crew member on the ship (this helps to seperate people from outside the ship from answering it for fun and not being a 'true' participant).

Current State of Equipment

In order for you to keep a more informed look at where we are at in the galley (kitchen) from time to time I will post a CSE (Current State of Equipment). Hopefully this will help you understand and be more empathetic and/or sympathetic to our desire to truly bring you the best food we can based off of budget, manpower, & equipment.

Out of the normal 4 ovens, 2 are working. One was permanently removed not long after the sail to Liberia (originally it worked for a little while). One was being fixed and working on and off, but now currently does not work. And one of the two working ovens (these are the newer ovens with steam option) needs a part for the steamer option, but can still bake. BUT you should also know that one of the two ovens that work is also in the bakery. The ovens are really the backbone of our kitchen for hot food. We have other ways of cooking food but none are as productive, tasty, and/or as healthy as roasting/baking food. (the other options being boiling & frying the other two braising pans are really not big enough to cook meats for our crew unless it was done in batches, same with the fryers)

Out of two braising pans, one works.

About 100% of salad team & the baker are now non-food service volunteers. Thank You volunteers for your commitment to work in the food service during your department ‘down time’!

Hopefully this gives you an understanding of what it takes to produce good food and the extra effort and work that goes behind it!

One man's trash is another man's treasure...

Yesterday I was assigned to clean the boutique. The boutique is a small room on deck 2 (very difficult to find) that is where all the crew can bring their unwanted items. Also some donated stuff goes in there as well. The boutique has many great finds and even more junk. Yesterday I got some coffee mugs, a serving tray, and some facial cleanser. And the best part is that it is FREE.