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!
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!'
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.
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.
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!"
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.
