President Bush Getting His Groove On in Monrovia Liberia!

U.S. President Bush's visit to Monrovia, Liberia: (disregard the old website watermark)

He was gettin' his groove on!

The difference...

The difference between soup or sauce is usually the difference between lunch and supper. (or dinner if you want)

The round pot containers that we usually serve soup in for lunch are occasionally used for sauce at the evening supper/dinner.  There is hardly ever a time I will use the pots to serve a soup at supper/dinner...so rest assured it is a sauce of some sort.

A refresher - Please do not put pressure on our dining room staff to 'produce' a hot meal for you during lunch time.  Lunch time usually has hot foods (leftovers or re-creations) but the default when hot foods disappear during lunch is still the sandwich options and cold salads & fruits (and soup if it is still available).

If you feel you have a valid complaint send it to me thru the comment option/venue, if you would like a personal reply be sure to include your email.  Please respect our dining room staff & galley workers by directing your concerns to Peter or myself.

Once again, thanks to all the wonderful comments  to food service and continue to encourage our cooking groups and dining room staff!  It makes for a more enjoyable meal for all!

It makes...

The Difference!

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf & U.S. President George Bush

This week (and some of last) has been pretty non-stop for me in the galley.  We have had stores from a container (cargo day is what its called) come in thru our cargo hole by crane on pallets so the galley has been busy making time to help with putting the stores or sundries up..as some might say. 

Our special function food preparation has gone something like this:

Operations Director and family went back to New Zealand to head up office there, going away party with plenty of 'finger foods' appetizers...

Don & Deyon Stephens (President and Founder of Mercy Ships) dinner on board with the Liberian Vice-President and guests (Don even made a little call to the galley to make sure he could get last minute guests, no problem)...

Last Tuesday Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf came for a visit and we prepared 'function food' for the Civic & Media event (100+) and still put dinner out a little late (no-ones fault, these events take time and we only have so much space on board, the President already had a full entourage)

Last Wednesday was a Pastor's event for which we also prepared 'function food' (100+) and put dinner out after that was over...

And tomorrow, Saturday, Solfrid our Executive Director is also leaving (it is the completion of her time here) so we will once again pull out all the stops and work together with hospitality to make it a party to remember and enjoy the food.

And of course we had the usual galley and meals to run during this time.

Our usual food menu is what we have to draw from in order to put out our fancy finger food and/or appetizers so it really helps if we have (and helps produce) a creative mind to put together some real nice stuff, thats right I said it, 'stuff'!  I will talk about food, menu's, and function food another day...so back to the two (or possibly three if you considers the Mercy Ships President) Presidents...

Don & Deyon, and Solfrid were invited to the Executive Mansion on Thursday (yesterday) for the dinner with President Bush and President Sirleaf.  When President Bush took off his jacket and was going down from the gazebo type dinner setting to dance with the woman (who was dancing as part of the whole event) Don & Deyon, and Solfrid moved in to get pictures...And apparently someone else got some video which shows Deyon and Soflrid in the background getting closer to take the pictures while President Bush was dancing.



I personally can't view the video yet, probably has something to do with slow computer or bandwidth, but enjoy!  Don actually did get called up later to meet with President Bush and have a few introductions and President Bush thanked Don & Mercy Ships for once again helping out.  We heard and saw pictures of some of the event Don & Deyon Stephens attended when they later spoke in our Thursday night community meeting on board the ship.  Don said a few times...'it was a long day' or 'it was quite a day'...

I second that thought with, 'Its been a busy time since we hit the ground here in Liberia!'

News to wet the appetite...pt.1

According to information sent in by our on the Internet Search Reporter (codename: Mama) under the Associated Paparazzi Service the following is indeed a true and factual report (unless otherwise updated by the USDA):

"The Food Insects newsletter reports that 80% of the world's population eats insects intentionally, but almost 100% of the world's population actually eats insects , because they are ground up in such things as peanut butter, jam, canned spaghetti sauce, applesauce, frozen chopped broccoli, etc, etc. We eat about a pound of insects per person in America.

A 100gram serving of weevils provides 562 calories, 6.7 grams protein, 13.1mg. iron, 3.02mg thiamine, 2.24 mg riboflavin and a tiny bit of niacin.

I am not making this up.   People study such things, because, if people would tolerate more insects, then less pesticide could be used, and experts say that it is better to eat more insects and less pesticide residue.

It's the thought of it that might make us sick, not the insect, itself!"

*exceptions may be made to a certified allergy to the specific bug contained in the food, otherwise your claim to allergy is purely a farce.

Today's the day

Yesterday was orientation for all of the translators and ward day workers (Liberians that work on the ship as translators, housekeepers, kitchen help, etc...) and in the afternoon we had a get togetherz(I mad 3 types of cookies for 100 people) with all the nurses. It was so incredible. We were all paired up, and were to ask each other questions and get to know each other and then introduce them to the group. It was so neat to hear them all say their favorite thing about Liberia. They said thing like " I love the ability the Liberians have to forgive each other", that statement wrenched my heart, knowing that the woman who said that lost most of her family in the civil war. I can't imagine knowing that the person that killed my whole family lives down the street from me and I don't know if I could ever have it in my heart to truly forgive the person who took the lives of my family. Praise God for the Liberian people who choose to forgive. At end of the gathering we closed with singing a song about the goodness and grace of God, it was incredibly moving.

Today is our first day of surgery. I am working evening shift today, and I am so excited to get back to bedside sursing. Please pray for us as surgeries continue and the ward fills up. Please pray against emergencies and pray for more ortho patients and more maxoficial patients. We have plenty of surgical openings left in these 2 areas. Thank you.

Weevils

Yes, it's true...there are still some weevils in pasta. I never promised they would be weevil free, actually here is my original quote:

"I have used a few techniques that have cut down the amount of weevils that appear in my pasta (that is what its most prevalent in right now, except maybe besides the cereal but I don’t deal with that) but I must warn you, when we get on outreach and its a full-on rush to get the food out, this may fall by the wayside because it can get time intensive.

So when it comes down to not getting fed, or getting fed with weevils…the lesser of the two will be chosen. Bon Appetit!"

Remember that? It was in the post titled The lesser of two weevils…

Please do not point out to the dining room and galley staff that there are weevils in the pasta, we know there are and we are trying what we can to get them out without wasting food AND we are trying to be good stewards with our supply. Some things take time to remedy.

And for any Vegetarians out there, Michal our very own 'in-house' vegetarian has certified Weevils as being 'Vegetarian Friendly' and a small part of your daily protein intake.

Vegetarians worldwide, Bon Appetit!

Screaming Day

Yesterday Febuary 18th, 2008 was officially the most intense, over whelming, and challenging day of my whole life. The day started at 5 am with my alarm clock going off and wondering how in the world am I going to get through this day. About 70 crew members piled into our Land Rovers and headed off to the Samuel K. Doe Stadium. Once we arrived there was a line of MANY people snaked around the parking lot. Some of them had obvious physical ailments (some we can help and some we can't), some people with stomach problems or lung problems, and some that just came to see what was going on.

I spent the day in the lab and specifically I drew the blood of the children that were selected for surgery. Please forgive me if I don't describe this well,  for there are no words to describe what I experienced yesterday. I am still processing it and shedding lots of tears. I received my first kid at 7:30 am and  my last at 8:15 pm. Most of the day I was hunched over children (my youngest 7 weeks) drawing their blood. Some looked healthy and some looked so sick, but all of them looked up at me with there big brown eyes not understanding why I was sticking them with a needle and taking there blood. Some of them kicked and screamed and one even bit me, while others just sat very still and stoic.  So many children sat across from me all with there own stories and problems. Some had club feet, some cleft lip and palate, some had burns, one boy was born with out an ear, we had so many women with goiters the size of a cantaloupe, lots of hernias and an assortment of other problems. Mostly I just saw their veins or lack there of. But in the near future, when they come to the ship for their surgeries I will get to know them as people. I will learn their names and know their stories. As the day went on and I felt like my head was going to explode from all the screaming, I started to think about all the hugs and loves I will be able to lavish on these beautiful children of God and how their surgery and treatments that they will receive on the Africa Mercy will impact the rest of their lives.

Today I was talking to a fellow nurse and he told me that he talked to a family member of one of the patients that he was drawing blood from and the guy said "Thank you for holding this Screaming day". Yes lots of patients were screened for surgeries, but in the room that held the lab it was definitely Screaming day.

The Ward Nurses and ship pics

Starbucks Cafe

Response #7

I have two statements based on the comments entered recently:

I am trying to monitor the 'spice' = heat that is being applied to the food,  I still want it to be 'spicey' as in herbs and spices, but not as 'spicey' = hot!  Yes, I also want to control or decrease the heat in some of our food items.  We are trying to be more conscious of this.

Also, we are talking about and discussing the need NOT to feel like everything needs to be cooked to 'death' so to speak...one of the things that really hurt us in this area is cooking foods that will sit on the line or warmer for an hour and a half!  But we require these mealtime hours in order to cover everyone that needs to eat and the dining room space for all who are aboard.  So in essence, we cook the food, it goes downstairs and continues to cook in the warmer and on the line...the faster we can move people thru the line at dinner the better chance of having a fresher and faster rotation of food that has not cooked as long.

I am also working with the idea of cooking in two waves but I am not sure right now how well or feasible that is with our cooking equipment and 'human' resources...working in the galley can easily become an all-consuming

job and my guys(and gals) need their breaks and dinners too...so there has to be a balance in this, and rest assured we are looking at and working on one!

Beefy friend

This morning in the breakfst line, one of the nurses said "I heard you are allergic to beef, so am I. I have never met anyone else with an allergy to beef." So there it is. I am not the only one in the world with an allergy to beef.

Power tools

Happy Valentines Day!!! I have yet to spend time with my precious hubby yet today, but I hope to later in the evening. I feel like it has been so busy lately. Last night we had a medical reception the us nurses had to serve at and Tyrone had to make some of the food. They invited many nurses, Dr.s and hospital personnel to let them know what we do and don't do so referrals will be handled properly. My friend Vera and I stood at the top of the gangway and greeted our guests. We even wore official uniforms (mine was borrowed). It was nice outside too. We got to watch the sun set and there was a nice breeze. We were sure we had the best job.

 Today we had our official ward nurse picture and then we played games on the dock with all the nurses to get to know each other. There are about 50 of us form 30 countries. In the afternoon Maria and I got handed a power drill and were instructed to drill holes in the metal walls to hang the glove box holders. After a few errors ( one was hung sideways and one was hung upside down) we mastered the skill and placed most of them up on their respective new homes. We were very proud of ourselves.

General Response - Clarification

In an earlier blog post I stated that "I don't usually have foods out at the end of a meal that were different at the beginning of the meal" if I could help it, and if it wasn't a 'leftovers' meal.

BUT what I failed to mention is I was ONLY pertaining to dinner/supper NOT lunch.  Lunch is a great way to use up leftovers, recreate new dishes from cooked foods we already have, or even use multiple items of small quantity to 'push thru' so to speak. So in that aspect yes, you will get different foods from time to time at the beginning and ending of lunch.

Thats the way it is...but what food is actually considered 'the best' is purely speculation, now isn't it?  I have complaints both ways...I got something so/so or that I hate at the start of dinner only to have something better come out at the end, and vise versa.  But hopefully we are moving along for others to eat and not eating in the dining room during the whole time...prefering others!

Crew Galley is still open to all!

Many families come to the line and pick out what they want for dinner and then take it back to the Crew Galley and recreate something they like, or use it in another dish...thats initiative!

Open House Fun on the Ward

Tonight we had about 20 different activities set up on the ward for the crew to come down and participate in. We had a photo booth to have your pic taken as a surgeon or patient, you could learn to suture, intubate...etc. There was also a really funny relay in which the crew could pretend to be a nurse and had to complete some tasks to graduate from the Africa Mercy School of nursing the pics are of the clowns part taking in the relay.