le jardin

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Some of you may remember my past blog entries about the mini garden I have started on the bridge.  There is good news and bad news.  The bad news is that all my plants died.  The good news is that I have sprouted a sweet potato and it's thriving!  I also acquired some basil plants (we ordered basil for the galley and it came potted).  The basil is struggling a bit.  If all else fails I'll just have a jungle of sweet potato vines on the bridge.

Who is Voldemort?!

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I recieved an e-mail first thing this morning that said: 'You kinda lost me in today's blog, I got confused with titles and cover names and really what was going on... But I enjoyed the creativity of it all!'

That is like parent teacher conferences....your teacher has just told your Mother that you are lazy and stupid and then to soften the blow she says you have a great imagination.

Here is a brief recap (because I really don't want to be so creative you don't know what I'm talking about!):

Voldemort was the evil wizard in Harry Potter.  He was soooo evil that people didn't say his name and called him He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named.  Our Steward (who is the person in charge of the galley....which includes all the ordering and cooking....as well as hospitality....linens and cleaning) was fired.  The Steward reminded me of an evil wizard so I named them Voldemort for the blog....because I don't want to get in trouble for blogging about people.  Our Chief Cook (who is directly below the Steward in the hierachy of things) had quit about a week ago because they were tired of working with the Steward (probably becuase they reminded me of an evil wizard and I don't even work in the same department!).  That meant that there was no one to cook!  The Bosun (he is in charge of the unlicensed deck department) and I did all the cooking for three days.

The cooking turned out to be fun but required a little creativity (which apparently I have spades of).  For example there were four boxes of Pollock and four boxes of Tilapia not one box of Salmon!!  I mean really...I've never bought a filet of Pollock in my life and in Hawaii Tilapia can live in sewers and gutters. 

Having to think of something reminded me of Lemony Snicket because there is always something.

To make a long story short:  I had fun in the galley.

Little Miss Sunshine....the fact that my Harry Potter analogy got lost on you is soooo disappointing....

Everyone's got their something...

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Last week our Steward got the boot.  Our vessel was already short a Chief Cook.  Going to the Captain’s office and behaving like a bafoon so that our vessel sails with no one in the galley puts you in my ‘Voldemort Evil’ category.  While many things were said aboard the vessel about the state of affairs very little was said about ‘He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named’ (referred to from here on out as Voldemort).  Having Voldemort aboard was a traumatic event for almost the whole crew.  Talking about how psycho Voldemort was just dredges up painful memories.  Buh-bye.   When Voldemort first left the vessel we were still at the lay berth in Fujairah.  That worked out pretty well because we could get to the Seaman’s Center for our meals.  However, for the last three days we’ve been on our own.

The Bosun would get up early and cook breakfast an then start prepping lunch.  I’d join him at around 0800 and would mostly cut veggies or make a side dish.  I couldn’t get too much done because I needed to be on the bridge by 0945.  I’d stand my morning watch and then head back down to the galley.  I’d cook dinner with the Bosun from 1200-1700 and then I’d hightail it to the bridge for my 1800-2400 watch.

Like I wrote earlier we served oriental chicken and a stir-fry our first dinner.  Lunches consisted of a taco / burrito day, grilled cheese sandwiches, burgers and other relatively simple items.  However, I’m going to make a bold statement and say we really went all out for dinners.  Our second night was pasta with a meat sauce (made by the Bosun) and eggplant parmesan (made by me).  Last night was roast turkey in a light gravy (made by the Bosun) and baked tilapia in a mayonnaise pesto sauce (made by me).  We got rave reviews!

I’ve said over and over agina that I’d love to be Steward for one rotation.  Food on ships is something that I complain about NON-STOP.  Every time I come back to work I gain 10 pounds – and I’m not being overly dramatic.  At home I eat so well!  I strive to fill my fridge with as much locally grown and organic foods as possible.  I consistently eat delicious and wholesome fresh foods.  I’m not the kind of person who can have a bag of cookies in the house and not eat them.  The ship is a constant challenge for me.  Fried foods, deserts at every meal, huge portions – the list could go on forever.  Plus, I stand watch in the cargo control room – right across from the galley!  The mess deck has a constant supply of chips, cookies and other fattening munchables.  Where was I going with this?  Oh yeah…I’ve always wanted to prove that a steward could bake the fries – not fry them….could  roast the veggies – not steam them in butter….could have a dynamite salad bar….you get the idea.  After my brief stint in the galley I really feel that it’s simply a matter of truly caring.  Caring not only about your job performance but also about your shipmates!

I can also say….it’s physically exhausting!!!  My body aches!  My back is creaking and groaning.  A day later and my dogs are still barking!  I feel like I’ve been tank cleaning and bilge diving for a week straight!

While it was a little stressful to not have a menu plan it was also a little fun to figure out what we could ‘whip up’ (I use this term lightly because cooking for twenty-one was more like ‘quickly mass produce’).  The freezers and pantry were well stocked (albeit with some staples missing…and really, do we need four boxes of Pollock?!).  Voldemort left us in a weird veggie state….tons of hearty’s with no lettuce.  All in all it turned into a fun (not to mention hot & sweaty) learning lesson.

During the past few days I've been thinking of the movie Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Misfortunate Events- one of my all time favorites.  This movie fell into my lap by accident about two years ago when I didn’t think things could get any worse….and then they did.  (Actually, it was here on this same good ship…)  Lemony Snicket gives a brief narration that I go back to over and over again:  “Dear reader, there are people in the world who know no misery and woe. And they take comfort in cheerful films about twittering birds and giggling elves.  There are people who know that there’s always a mystery to be solved.  And they take comfort in researching and writing down any important evidence.  But this story is not about such people.  This story is about the Baudelaires.  And they are the sort of people who know that there’s always something.  Something to invent, something to read, something to bite and something to do, to make a sanctuary, no matter how small.  And for this reason, I am happy to say, the Baudelaires were very fortunate indeed.”

There is ALWAYS something!  I love it.

back online....

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The internet has been down for two days.  I'm not lying when I say this has felt like the end of the world.  I think I'm addicted to checking my e-mail.  It is pretty insane to think how far we've come.  Considering that we're a moving vessel....say on a trip from Djibouti to Fujairah....and we can just blog away.  When I was a cadet (7 years has flown by!) I remember two ABs getting into a fist fight on the pier because one thought the other was taking too long at the pay phone.  E-mail was shared by the entire ships crew.  Captains would scold you if your e-mail was too long or contained any attachments.  Now I'm uploading photos onto my personal website!  It does feel ridiculous to be attached to something as nebulous as satellite fleet broadband.  I'm going to keep this short and sweet because I'm exhausted.  We are sailing without a Steward or a Chief Cook and I cooked dinner (that's a story for a different day).  Special shout out to Won Duk Kim (or is that Yummy Duck Kim Chee?!) for the mad oriental cooking skills!  I made shoyu chicken and it was a hit!

*I did not proofread this post....please forgive me....