Wow, a lot is happening in the galley right now.
Our new twin convection oven has landed (literally from the cargo hold that dead ends in our galley) and now they are working on getting it put in properly. And bolted to the floor since we are on a ship.
Part of our wall paneling was put back together (where previous water leaks were suspected coming from the pipes in the walls) so that has helped the galley look better.
Our dumbwaiters are being fixed (lifts/elevators) for food. One is extremely hard to open and close and the other has a slide door jammed. Its mechanical.
We still have square holes in the floor where a water leak is still being tracked down. The water actually comes up thru the floor. Right now a small water pump is siphoning it out and dumping it into one of our drains.
Three of our six electric hot plates are now operational again after it was discovered a breaker flipped.
And some smaller stuff like hand dryers have been worked on.
[oh yeah, my boss is leaving for awhile *PARTY TIME* and we'll miss him dearly]
Yep, all this week. Work goes on, the food keeps cooking...and sometimes blogging has to take the 'back burner'. (pun intended)
Community Struggles: Food
On Another blog I found this short post about weight gain on the ship and how well everyone gets fed and it was refreshing to read because I often don't feel that sentiment. But I wanted to go a step further because food is a touchy subject on the ship. Everybody has their own opinion on what needs are, and what wants are, and what they think 'they' are entitled.
I am in a cache 22 (as some may call it).
I feel the need, my duty to do the best I can with what I have...so that in turn produces good food and usually helps increase the abundance when you know how to use all the products and produce more options...
But on the other hand it creates an expectation that breeds complaints and anger when some feel they don't get what they 'deserve', which is nothing...whoever figured out that the crew fees pay for their food OBVIOUSLY has never fed themselves and cleaned up after their selves for 3 dollars a day or could find somebody that would do it for that little...(its more realistic to say that your crew fees pays for 'other' things).
That is the approximate food budget alloted for an adult - somewhere between $3 to $3.50 a day (last I checked or was told), NOT A MEAL, a day...
Another funny thing is people complain about eating healthy and eating right, then they try to blame it on the ship and food service...We create good food options with what we can obtain and prepare, from there its the crews JOB to pick whats best for them, and to control their own will for eating in moderation. This responsibility is not ours, or Food Service.
[OH, by the way, usually peanut butter and a hazelnut chocolate spread (nutella or nusco) is out at every meal, BUT even though you may think the nuts are good protein the sugar in the peanut butter is outrageous, AND the first 3 ingredients of the 'Nutella/Nusco' substance is SUGAR, VEGETABLE OIL, & FAT so keep that Hazelnut addiction going, you'll have to eat a lot to get at the less than 10% a jar nut intake]
It even becomes stressful for my wife to be in line to eat dinner because she over hears the people around her criticize the food while she's standing in line with them. Her instinct is to let them know that her husband works hard to put good tasting food out there for them. She wants to defend me. Now thats a GREAT wife!
Its very difficult to field and deny special requests from people who come to Food Service and it takes up a lot of valuable time to have to explain over and over again why things can't be done, and/or reminding them its the rules. It doesn't sit well with people who think their situation is a unique or special one.
Basically what we are looking at between 830am - 1130am (with break) there is 2 hours and 45 minutes to get lunch ready for 400+ people. Between 1:00pm - 4:45 (with 15minute break and minimum 30 minute trash time) we are looking at 3 hours to get dinner ready for 400+ people. Then after that, our crews go back to the galley/kitchen/dining room and clean up the aftermath of feeding people this many meals a day.
Now thats a struggle. And then add 400 individual judges to the food panel...
I keep convincing myself I must at least be a halfway decent human being or I would serve (weevil) rice & beans, and boiled meats & pink sausages till everyone would come back to their senses...but I haven't been able to bring myself to punish the few complainers by punishing the many who don't.
I am in a cache 22 (as some may call it).
I feel the need, my duty to do the best I can with what I have...so that in turn produces good food and usually helps increase the abundance when you know how to use all the products and produce more options...
But on the other hand it creates an expectation that breeds complaints and anger when some feel they don't get what they 'deserve', which is nothing...whoever figured out that the crew fees pay for their food OBVIOUSLY has never fed themselves and cleaned up after their selves for 3 dollars a day or could find somebody that would do it for that little...(its more realistic to say that your crew fees pays for 'other' things).
That is the approximate food budget alloted for an adult - somewhere between $3 to $3.50 a day (last I checked or was told), NOT A MEAL, a day...
Another funny thing is people complain about eating healthy and eating right, then they try to blame it on the ship and food service...We create good food options with what we can obtain and prepare, from there its the crews JOB to pick whats best for them, and to control their own will for eating in moderation. This responsibility is not ours, or Food Service.
[OH, by the way, usually peanut butter and a hazelnut chocolate spread (nutella or nusco) is out at every meal, BUT even though you may think the nuts are good protein the sugar in the peanut butter is outrageous, AND the first 3 ingredients of the 'Nutella/Nusco' substance is SUGAR, VEGETABLE OIL, & FAT so keep that Hazelnut addiction going, you'll have to eat a lot to get at the less than 10% a jar nut intake]
It even becomes stressful for my wife to be in line to eat dinner because she over hears the people around her criticize the food while she's standing in line with them. Her instinct is to let them know that her husband works hard to put good tasting food out there for them. She wants to defend me. Now thats a GREAT wife!
Its very difficult to field and deny special requests from people who come to Food Service and it takes up a lot of valuable time to have to explain over and over again why things can't be done, and/or reminding them its the rules. It doesn't sit well with people who think their situation is a unique or special one.
Basically what we are looking at between 830am - 1130am (with break) there is 2 hours and 45 minutes to get lunch ready for 400+ people. Between 1:00pm - 4:45 (with 15minute break and minimum 30 minute trash time) we are looking at 3 hours to get dinner ready for 400+ people. Then after that, our crews go back to the galley/kitchen/dining room and clean up the aftermath of feeding people this many meals a day.
Now thats a struggle. And then add 400 individual judges to the food panel...
I keep convincing myself I must at least be a halfway decent human being or I would serve (weevil) rice & beans, and boiled meats & pink sausages till everyone would come back to their senses...but I haven't been able to bring myself to punish the few complainers by punishing the many who don't.
Jitta
This is Jitta. She has been nick-named Jitta bug. I wrote about her last week. She was back in the recovery room after her dressing change in the OR today. We love her.
Ultra High Temp
How do we keep dairy products, better yet, what do we buy and how do we keep enough of it to feed our crew?
Most of our dairy products don't even need to be kept in a cooler, reefer, or refrigerator. Nope. Its called Ultra High Temp products and after you get used to them, they do quite well.
We buy them by the pallets: Sour Cream, Whole Milk, 2% Milk, cooking cream (with about 2 or 3 version of fat content), whipping cream, etc... Of course our cheese still needs to be refrigerated but that frees up a lot of space until you need it. And refrigerator space is regarded as a vary valuable commodity. Yes, these products taste better or work better once they are chilled, but you can keep them in dry storage on pallets and move them into refrigeration a little at a time.
You probably wouldn't believe the milk we go thru just as an additive to coffee and/or tea...So why refrigerate it just for it to be heated back up? Why use chilled dairy products to build sauces that go out hot? No reason, room temperature is good enough.
Here's a picture of a few of the items:
Most of our dairy products don't even need to be kept in a cooler, reefer, or refrigerator. Nope. Its called Ultra High Temp products and after you get used to them, they do quite well.
We buy them by the pallets: Sour Cream, Whole Milk, 2% Milk, cooking cream (with about 2 or 3 version of fat content), whipping cream, etc... Of course our cheese still needs to be refrigerated but that frees up a lot of space until you need it. And refrigerator space is regarded as a vary valuable commodity. Yes, these products taste better or work better once they are chilled, but you can keep them in dry storage on pallets and move them into refrigeration a little at a time.
You probably wouldn't believe the milk we go thru just as an additive to coffee and/or tea...So why refrigerate it just for it to be heated back up? Why use chilled dairy products to build sauces that go out hot? No reason, room temperature is good enough.
Here's a picture of a few of the items:
Nasty Taco Sauce
Some people who don't know any better will buy this taco sauce and think, 'Man those Americans eat the nastiest stuff' (because I have only seen this stuff in Europe). This IS NOT anything similar to our Taco Sauce except maybe that it has some tomato product in it. On another ship I worked on they ruined 'Mexican Night' by putting this stuff out. Everyone would come along and heap it up on their delicious nachos, tacos, burritos, enchiladas...or whatever, and then it would just ruin the taste of the dish.
On this ship, we specifically asked for NONE of this, but somehow they managed to squeeze it on our container again. But thankfully it's not that much and we just put it out at mealtimes as a 'condiment' not taco sauce.
Maybe you are thinking, 'What's so bad about it?' well let's just look inside the ingredients list and see...
First, it starts off like a simple syrup, sugar first then water. Then, uh-oh, it looks like we are starting to build a sweet BBQ sauce (vinegar, tomato paste, paprika, salt). And then...what the heck is all this stuff? I can make taco sauce from stewed tomatoes out of a can tastier and with way fewer ingredients than this, and certainly NOT using all those particular ingredients.
What's even funnier is that further down the label it says,
'Pictures do not reflect ingredients of this product'
(emphasis mine).
They seriously need to quit insulting people worldwide by calling it 'taco sauce'.
Blah...
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