On Baking

Eddie, the baker, is on vacation for the next two weeks...and this being the volunteer organization it is, well, I guess I'll be covering that position the next two weeks as well as mine.

We are down a few people in the galley but a few more are coming in. Although you lose a lot in transition because of the experience that just left and the new training that needs to be done for new crew.

I fully expect to enjoy myself baking though...I'll be taking pictures and discussing technique when I get a chance.

It

Have you ever had a conversation and all of a sudden things clicked in you head? The kind when you say "I get it. I finally get it."

When I was 19 I felt the Lord call me to be a nurse with Mercy Ships in Africa. I had such clear direction from the Lord which helped me get through some large obstacles along the way. I felt like I had this carrot in front of my face the whole time urging me to continue on the journey to get to my destination.

When I arrived I went through the honeymoon phase then passed into the hostility phase that they warn you about. But the third phase, home, eluded me. I have been here 6  months and have been waiting to feel this amazing sense of home and it never came. I have been stuck in this rut wondering when the feeling of fulfillment or the sense of home was going to come flooding in.

I was talking to some friends on Monday and one of them asked if we had ever been called by God to a certain place to serve. They both had agreed that they had never felt or heard a calling to specific place. This caused a feeling of shame to rush over me. They are both content where they are and I who have felt very called to exactly where I am have been struggling fiercely. We continued to talk and Becky said "Have been looking for the feeling of this is it?". My answer was yes and at that moment it clicked. Being in Africa on Mercy Ships is not going to fulfill me. I know that sounds obvious but it took so long to get to that place. It took me going deeper in my relationship with the Lord and then being able to hear to the Lord's gentle voice saying "I AM IT."

Minced Beef - what's in it?

I was under the impression and education of books and colleagues that minced beef was just the English term for what North Americans call ground beef.  But lately, my intrigue in figuring out why my minced beef seems to be so strange to cook, stay pink in the center, and not quite taste exactly like any ground or minced beef I have ever tasted has led me to ask you, the reader, what's in your minced beef?

Here's what's in mine ~

*Beef, water, (ok so far) breadcrumbs, soy, salt, fermented rice (WHAT?!), pepper

Breaking Free

Bendu is a rare gem. She is sassy, funny, wise, and witty. I wish every one of you could have the privilege of knowing her. I wish you could see her smile when we tease her or the look she gives me when I sneak a piece of chocolate without offering her some. She has been through so much but still is full of life or shall I say spunk.

We think she might have had a seizure that night and knocked over a lantern she was using to read, which may have been the culprit for the flames that engulfed Bendu. She has received some surgery on her burns and will come back in August for more.

I have spent many hours just chatting with her. She asked me one time if I had any books she could read while she was in the hospital. I brought her "Breaking Free" by Beth Moore. Yesterday before Bendu went home, I asked her what she is learning from the book. She flipped to a list of the chapters and pointed to the chapter entitled "Learning to Trust God in the hard times." She then told me that it will be hard going home but she will trust God.

Pizza!

I thought this post worthy of copying over to this blog from AFM menu, plus it might inspire you to try and make your own pizza at home

Well, we have finally done it!  We have the cheese, extra pans, time, and oven space all at the same time so now we can finally get a 'Pizza! Day' underway...

Last Friday night we had pizza on the menu and I made sure I had enough crusts not to run out!  We make our own crust and par-bake them beforehand, freeze them till we need them, then pull them just hours before we use them.

Another excellent way to try and get that 'pizza oven' quality crust is to take & make the par-baked crusts into a pizza by adding sauce and all the toppings you want then use a peel, tray, or rack to slide your pre-made pizzas into the oven.  But don't put them on pans!  Cook them directly on the racks of a preheated oven...makes for a great crispy and chewy crust. (if you do try this at home, the caution I would give is to put a tray under the pizza on a lower rack if cheese melting off the side is in danger of falling on your heating element, it will smoke and possibly catch fire)

If you have steam wells or heated chafing dish holders (or more commonly known as a buffet line) we cut the pizzas and slid them on the chafing dish lids.  Because then you can put the sliced pizzas directly over the heat source without making the pizza soggy (This tends to happen when putting them in chafing dishes).  Another good tip is to slide the pizza off of the peel, tray, and/or rack (after taking it out of the oven) slide it straight onto your stainless steel table, and quickly cut it with a cheap round wheel cutter, then slide it back on the lid.  You can use a cutting board if you want, because I know some would argue dulling the pizza cutter or damaging the table (its stainless steel commercial quality, you aren't going to damage this table.  We clean/disinfect the table before getting started and at the rate, we cut and slide pizzas back on the lids you're going to have a hard time with that cutting board staying in place or slowing down the 'flow' of the work.  Plus we have found cutting fresh pizza on the table with a cheap round pizza cutter has the highest success of a 'full' cutting at 'top' speeds. (I recommend using the cutting board at home)

Pizzas done in 10 minutes at 350 Fahrenheit. (the only additional caution I can think of doing this at home is if you do have the heating element that is visible at the bottom of the oven then check and make sure this doesn't burn the bottom of your crust before the 10 minutes expire, if you have a pizza stone then you probably don't need these tips)

The way we come up with these creative ideas that work is by thinking beyond 'this is how we used to do it' and/or  'we can't do it because we don't have the proper equipment ...you would be amazed how much we do with what we have.  And each one on our Galley team has contributed to ideas that have become possible.

A couple of delicious pictures for you to think about...

Good Question

Steve, over at Round The Chuckbox Observations of Life and Faith from a Camp Cook (also linked here under culinary minds) has a wonderful blog and I think I am just going to use HIS self descriptive text for it -

For 37 years I've had two culinary careers -- one that paid the bills and the other imagined. Growing up in Fresno in the 1960s, I attended Camp San Joaquin in Sequoia National Forest. To me the cook and his assistant had the best job. Where else could I pursuit my passion for cooking and my love of the mountains at the same time, I reasoned? With retirement nearing, ambition may soon turn to gold, Lord willing.

Great insights, personal views, and some great recipes from another 'foodie' & cook...check it out.

ANYWAYS, Steve asks a good question:

Hi: What do you run for breakfast and lunch (and night meals?).

Well let me explain first that the menu shown on the 'menu' page is always the Evening Dinner or Supper listng.

Dinner (or the Lunch meal), is usually a homemade soup, meat and cheeses cut for sandwiches, and different fresh veggies and fruits with the salad 'bar'. Leftovers from the night before are 're-packaged' as a new dish or just heated up (some foods just don't re-package well)...if there are not a lot of 'hot'foods left from the day before we default to the above mentioned items. Meaning that hot foods (excluding soup) are only a bonus for lunch but are not guaranteed.

Breakfast is usually 'do it yourself' Mon-Fri which can include several different things: several different cereals, breads, oatmeal, jams, jellies, yogurt...but also we have cold cuts, cheeses, and a few other options for teams that work off ship during the day can 'bag' a lunch. Although the Europeans (and others) also eat these things for breakfast. There are toasters, juice, coffee, tea, hot water...all the condiments you could think of. The set-up for this is done by the Dining Room staff/crew every day.

Saturday breakfast is usually pancake day that is ran by volunteers who come make the pancakes.

Sunday breakfast is usually the above Mon-Fri with the addition of scrambled eggs, bacon/ham/corn beef hash (pick one) and sometimes other things like surprise cinnamon rolls or things like that.

The breakfast meal is done like this because of the nature of the job. Cooks (or the whole galley crew) work from 8am to 7am (or there about, give or take an hour) just to produce all the meals during lunch and supper, then a massive clean-up of the galley at the end of the day...so a hot breakfast everyday made by our crew would pretty much be 'out of the question' without trying to run a morning crew which we don't have 'bed allotments' for...plus its hard to have full staff when you rely on being fully volunteer.

On a further note, Saturday and Sunday you must pack your lunch at breakfast time because we do not cook lunch those two days. Saturday the galley crew still works but the first part of the day is reserved for cleaning and then on to cooking supper (evening dinner). Sunday its up early to cook a 'hot' breakfast, then a quick clean-up of the galley then on to church or back to bed (depends on how you feel inclined) then back again after 1pm to start dinner/supper.

May sound hectic or weird, but it works good...and has been for years.

Recovery

When babies wake up from surgery the reaction is universal. They are mad, confused, and hungry. As soon as the child even starts to wake up we get the mom to come and comfort/ feed her baby. Sometimes the child just screams and screams after mom is there, after they have been fed, and after they have had pain medicine. So we have to become creative and try to figure out why they are so upset. Sometimes they are just plain obstinate and want to scream. Other times they are just uncomfortable and will only be satisfied in a lappa on their mom's back. So we grab a surgical drape and mama uses it as a lappa. Her child suddenly stops crying as they are being bounced around, close to the oxygen saturation machine of course. Us nurses are happy that the screaming has finally stopped.

Off the ship... For the weekend

We spent Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon at a guest house on the beach. The house itself is very bare-bones, but it has running water and electricity and air conditioning in the bedrooms in the mornings and in the evenings. The house is hostel style. There are 7 rooms and most of them were full this weekend. All of the other guests worked for other NGOs and are very interesting people.

The house is right across the street from the beach so we were back and forth, weather permitting. Tyrone and I spent the whole weekend just relaxing, reading, listening to music, and enjoying each other's company. It was wonderful.

Happy Birthday Tyrone

deeper

For about two weeks I have had an uneasy feeling in my core. In the depth of who I am I have felt unsure. I truly hate this because it can rob my joy, the joy that the Lord has given me. The joy that has come as the result of Jesus' blood on the cross.

I have prayed, I have prayed so much that I have prayed my way to a deeper relationship with Jesus.  While I hate this unrest that I feel in the marrow of my bones, I will rest in the hands of my friend, Jesus.

Methods for moving up...

Some friends of mine used to be in a couples cabin, then they had a child (and a cute one that we have babysat a few times for).  After the child was born they stayed for a while longer in the couple's cabin till the time came they could move into another bigger family cabin.

Well, that day has come!

The best way to move from one cabin to another is illustrated below.  You borrow the rolling rack/basket from laundry, ask permission to use the cargo elevator (if the cabin is on a different deck/floor), and then get a babysitter or take your child for a ride!

*  Just in case you didn't quite figure out the other 'methods' of moving up, here it is:  If single you will need to get married (to someone who also fills a position on board preferably) to 'move up' to the next size cabin. if married a baby will allow you to be put on the waiting list to 'move up' to a family cabin.

Disclaimer:  Of course, I don't suggest using these last two methods just to get a bigger cabin.  And I don't work for HR, so don't quote me on these methods.

But aren't the pictures cute?

Dumbwaiter Modifications

Our elevators that run food and dishes between the dining room (one deck below) and the galley was having some major issues.  The main issue being the sliding doors behind the opening door to the dumbwaiters were getting stuck and malfunctioning.

During service (putting the food out for a meal) one of our carts got jammed between the floors in the dumbwaiter.  Below are pictures of the damage...AND a very good reason for people not to play with the equipment.  You know those people who always think it's fun to squeeze into an elevator that's not supposed to carry people, then jump out at the other end and say BOO?

This cart was fairly new, and the elevators seem to go fairly slow (they only travel between two floors) and it seemed to crumple it up pretty bad.  Look especially at the handle.

I used to do this

Sometimes you have to go back to things that work.

In my early (and lighter) years with my current organization I used to 'religiously' get up early every morning and run. Or walk and run. Then it was on to a shower and reading, journaling, meditation, and/or prayer.

A year at home, a year of enjoying being newly married, and now back on the ship again sure tends to shake up ones 'system' of things.

Now pounds heavier and not feeling fully my 'charismatic' self (of course I have always been a big person per se) I have looked back and realized, that worked!

My wife (not then) and other people used to say, 'man I am glad you get up early and use up some of that energy I couldn't handle you full throttle'. I realized thats what made me full throttle. You are alive and awake, blood has been pumping vigorously for 45 minutes or more. Those chemicals in your body kick in and kind of give you what they call a 'runners high'...then after that shower you feel refreshed and new.

Now don't misinterpret this as saying I love running, I don't particularly do. And actually right now I only half run, half walk my exercise time in the morning. I need to lose a little (fat) weight, gain a little muscle, and work the soreness out of the muscles I already have that have gotten lazy on me. Oh man, breathing and sweating...its quite possible I could set a world record for dehydrating the way I sweat while simultaneously sucking down whole squadrons of bugs while trying to breath or catch my breath.

Don't start getting worried about me, I am only trying to put it in a humorous and dramatic portrayal.

Its hard. Plus its the rainy season here in Liberia. So you really have to discipline yourself to get up and do it no matter what. Drenched in rain, or drenched in sweat, whats the difference? Probably a shorted out ipod shuffle (which I couldn't live without) its hard for me to do activities like this without some good motivational music. But I can switch days around. I am committed to at least 4 days a week, but pushing for 5 all the time. So there is a little room to run/walk on dry or less rainy days as compared to downfalls drenching your every move and running with your ipod shuffle in a ziploc sandwich bag.

But I got to tell ya, I feel so much better. And my energy level (and my level of being a more positive person surprisingly) has increased.

Later down the road schedules, jobs, life will change but hopefully I can find and maintain this type of routine again.