Culinary Mystery

Here on the ship we have a smaller galley for individuals and families that want to cook their own food.  As an inheritance of small tools & devices from the 'cleaning out' of that area I have acquired a kitchen 'tool' that has been a mystery so far... (you can click on the pictures to see them bigger)

I asked (by email) a good friend Bob A Hunger Artist what did he make of the picture I sent him to which he sent out an email requesting the help of several of his food-centric friends.  In addition to this, he also posted this on his blog (which by the way gets way more traffic than my site does, by 'food' people at that!), and right away (or at last count) the first original post garnered 28 comments, mostly suggestions and humorous cracks.

Then Stephen The Foodist & Scotty Cooking In Theory & Practice also picked up the story...and later at Scotty's request, I produced another picture for him and Bob that suggests the proper 'right side up' look of the tool.

Stephen went so far as to inquire of the English (can't remember exact office) about the registered number posted on the tool...and we are currently awaiting an answer on that!  And for those of you who are curious, this is the only and exact writing on it:  REGD 911032 made in England.

So a final answer has not been forthcoming, and I am still enquiring from people here on board the ship since I have at least 30 nationalities represented on board at any one time...

Irritating as it may be (to us) it may be that this tool was really useless or does not work adequately, or maybe it's not even made anymore?  Which would explain why none of us know what it is, because we only remember the 'good stuff, the stuff that works.  And maybe sometimes the stuff that works so bad or was such a terrible idea that you can't forget it! (laughing)

A big 'thank you' to Bob at A Hunger Artist for kicking things off!  As well as The Foodist & Cooking In Theory & Practice for also helping out...BUT we are still looking for an answer out there!

Do you know what it is?

I hope Don can take a joke...

Mercy Ships founders and president, Don & Deyon Stephens were on board for some time which included the visits I blogged about earlier.  During this time there was a dinner for some distinguished guests that I was preparing for (outside of the regular 400 plus crew).  Don called the galley to speak with me about adding some guests.  Fine, no problem...having a restaurant & catering background we always plan for overage or surprises.

Thinking nothing more about the phone call we completed the meals and later that night I went back to my cabin after work. I noticed a message was left on my cabin phone (because Stephanie hasn't really gotten used to checking or retrieving messages) so I played the message for the both of us.  It was really quite simple it was basically a repeat of what Don asked me when he called the kitchen/galley only he probably called our cabin first.

After I played the message I just couldn't stop laughing and Stephanie wanted to know what was wrong with me so I explained...

Stephanie complained and voiced her disapproval of my several various attempts at being funny or informative in recording our message for the answering part of our telephone.  It was either too long, crazy, and/or she thought my various attempts were not so funny.  So finally I resorted back to a 'saying' that started on the Caribbean Mercy when we showed disapproval for something that we didn't like which is, 'Imakickyahead!' and translated to: I am going to kick your head.

So the phone answering message that Don got was:

Leave a message or Imakickyahead!!!

Don has a sense of humor, but I wonder what he thought about that!

(I am sure Stephanie was proud of me for that one too, NOT!)

Medical Screening Pictures

Caution: Medical Screening involves some graphic pictures and is exhaustive with over 800 low resolution pictures

That being said, I have completed the Screening Album and it is available on our picture page permanently or by clicking this link if you receive this by email subscription -

http://tyroneandstephanie.com/pictures/Screening

Stephanie probably appears in the album 6 to 8 times, and of course I was busy cooking on the ship so you won't see me there...screening day was actually the day before the Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf came to the ship.  And following that day was the pastors conference.  And following that day...

You can probably relate some of the pictures to earlier posts and maybe future ones, about patients that Stephanie will directly or indirectly be involved with...and for my part I have probably fed every Mercy Shipper you ever see in any of these pictures (whether they liked the food or not! [laughing]).

Benjamin

I was in the dining room last night with a plate of food, ready to sit down for dinner with my friends, when someone told me that Benjamin (the 14 year old boy that I wrote about in my last blog) had a Respiratory arrest (stopped breathing) when being transported to CT scan. He was intubated and evaluated, the CT scan showed extensive brain damage including a midline shift (meaning not good). The family was called in they said their goodbye and were going to return this morning to come get his body. The plan was to keep him alive on the Vent until the family could make it at 8:30 am to come get his body.

 This morning I woke up at 6:58am and was supposed to be at work at 7:00am, I through on some scrubs and ran down stairs. I had to take some deep breaths, I didn't know what I was going to find when I opened the doors of the ICU. The lights were dim and there were 4 Dr.s and one nurse and the captain praying for him before they took him off the Vent. The initial sight was so peaceful, so different from at home in the ER.

At 7:30am Benjamin was gone.  Ali and I washed his body and said our goodbyes. I can't express in words the connection that I had with this little boy. I only knew him for a couple days, but when you pour your all into keeping a child alive and comfortable the connections is there.  It is so hard to see a child die, to see his father grieve, and see his little body be carried down the corridor in a body bag.

Now as I am in my cabin and trying to process all of this I just thank God for letting me have the time I did with this sweet little boy.

ICUalicious

There are somethings I never get used to, no matter how long I have been a nurse. One thing that gets me every time is a kid in pain. Last night Megan and I worked in the ICU and we had 4 patients, 2 kids and 2 adults. We both had one child and one adult. I had Benjamin who is 14 years old. He was referred to the ship by a local hospital (this is quite frequent) with some swelling on his left eye, fever, and a myriad of other symptoms. When he was brought to the ship his frail little body was giving up. He was not very responsive and was rushed to the OR. When I received report (they call it "hand over" here), he had just gotten back from the Recovery room. His head was wrapped with gauze and he just looked so uncomfortable. My heart just aches for kids that are in pain or just uncomfortable. My first instinct is to try to calm them down with soft words and gentle touches (these are the times I wish I could sing better than an ear piercing sqwauk) but none of these measures help. Benjamin was still minimally responsive and gets very agitated at times (he flops around in bed) which is common with people that have brain injuries. Please pray that Ben wakes up and is able to be his regular 14 year old self. When I look at him I wonder what he is like. Does he play soccer? Is he chatty or quiet? I pray that one day I will know.

Each day that I am here I see God working in my life more and more. It shouldn't be a surprise but it is. For some reason (arrogantly I suppose), I  find myself thinking that I will give of myself but not receive as much in return. I am shocked each time when I see God work in my life, man I have so much to learn. I am currently reading Timothy and am learning how to take instruction. Paul writes to Timothy and tells him what to do and also encourages him in his ministry and personal life. Through this I am learning that instructions and encouragement is not bossiness. I have a tendency to become defensive when someone gives me instruction on something that I think I have under control. So, here I go. My goals for now will be... listen, learn, and let go.

Screening Day Pictures

Working Together

Mercy Ships Founders, Liberian President, and Executive Director of the Africa Mercy



Deyon, Don, President Ellen Johson Sirleaf, Solfrid

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!