The Ducor Hotel

Today my friends (Lisa and Katie) and I went to the old Ducor Hotel. It used to be a five-star hotel back before the war. After the war people squatted in the ruins of the hotel. Now it is empty, but they are starting renovations soon, so they say.

This hotel is anything but a five-star hotel, but I have seen pictures of it in its prime and it was definitely nice. Now there is a shell of a building and pool, but the view from the top is amazing. Monrovia looks so much prettier from the top of the Hotel on the hill than it does down on Broad Street.

Hamburgers, real ones...

There coming tonight!

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Wheelbarrow Entrepreneurs in Monrovia

Going to the market is definitely an experience...but the wheelbarrow business is here to stay!

I have been told that you can actually rent a wheelbarrow to put your goods on to sell for a day AND I just assumed each person owned their own.  In addition to that, I have heard recently that they even had a union you can join?!?

I leave you with a few pictures and a link to the photos in case you would like to see them all!

Click to see all the pictures HERE!

The Culinary Challenge Has Begun!

Dear Crew,

The Culinary Challenge has officially begun! The three teams/participants entered are:

- Tatyana Silva

- Mark and Peggy Shrime

- Josh Becker and Peter Fullerton

These contestants, using ingredients available onboard, will create a full meal (main entrée, side dish, and vegetable) and submit it for tasting and judgment on Saturday, April 26th in the Dining Room at 13:00 (1pm).

The judging panel will be decided this week but all crew is invited to come to join in the fun!

The judges will decide the top two entrants who will then move on to assisting the cooking teams in preparing their meal for the entire crew. This will happen back to back on Saturday, May 10th, and Sunday, May 11th (this is the Saturday and Sunday of the 4 day ships holiday). You, as a crew, will then be able to judge for your favorite of the two meals to determine the ultimate champion by voting on the AFM Menu blog that is accessible from the Intranet Main Page. You will have until Monday night to vote. The winner will be announced Tuesday morning at the 07:45 Community Prayer and Communication Meeting.

Please feel free to email or call me if you have any questions.

Blessings,

Peter

Potatoes, what it takes...

Freddie brings up usually at least 100 kilos (220 pounds) of potato for 400 plus people.

Hand-picked over by several galley staff. Rinsed. Then the potatoes are machine washed. Yes that's right, machine washed. (no not the potato peeler, we do have an automatic one of those which we may discuss in another post)

Then picked over again. Rotten spots cut off, eyes gouged out, panned up in steamer pans, and then baked. It takes at least an hour maybe more to bake them all. The steamer pans are used so the air circulates more fully when baking the potatoes.

Can you guess which kind of machine we use to clean hundreds of kilos/pounds of potato in one afternoon in order to make a lovely dinner? (leave an answer by commenting)