I love this time of year

It's Tuesday my favorite day of the week and it is also the last Tuesday before Christmas. I did not get a call yet for a ship. I, like many of you, are surprised that I didn't get a call yet, but at the same time I am enjoying being off for this special time of the year. I have worked every Christmas and New Years for the last 40+ years. I cherish free time and I spend my days organizing photos, recipes, and stories for my next cookbook (featuring stories about the ship, and recipes prepared with no sugar, no flour and no grain). I like to work on the next Stowaway Adventure Children's book at the same time. Working on the children's book is light and fun and a nice break from the cookbook which takes a lot more concentration. Working on the two books is a lot of fun and my new laptop is making the job so much easier. Sometimes I go to a coffee shop, put on my noise canceling headphones, an early gift from Santa and I work a little there. It’s fun to work somewhere else. Yesterday Lorraine (my sister, best friend and publisher) went to Ogdensburg NY to mail books from the US Post office and  deliver books to the gift shop in  Claxton Hepburn Medical Centre. They had sold out and she replenished their stock. Lorraine and I are a great team and as usual she mailed me the US order numbers and items purchased so I could fill out the customs form 7523 for her and send it back to her. She then prints the forms off. One of the features that I love on my new laptop is the additional number key pad on the right hand side making this task so easy.

Lorraine and a friend taking the US book orders to the Ogdensburg NY post office.

I love the number keyboard on the side of my new computer. It makes it really easy to fill in the Customs 7523 form when taking the books into the US.

I can easily spend all day working on my laptop and going through photos. The luxury of free time allows me to take an extra moment to linger over photos that bring with them a memory. I make sure to go for a walk each day. I love going for a walk and seeing the birds along the path. 

The cardinal is easy to see but you have to look a little closer to see the chickadee

My mom loved cardinals and I think of her when I see them.

I have shared with you that I took a hiatus from sailing to operate my own restaurant for 24 years. I sailed from 1981 to 1994 and then operated Creperie Catherine in Mont Tremblant Quebec for 24 years (1994 -2014) before returning to my first love...sailing. The first twenty years our creperie was operated in a small chalet at the ski resort. The final four years we were located in our own building off site, just 8km (5 miles) from the original location. I used to love this time of year at the restaurant. We had the most beautiful Christmas decorations that we bought in Germany on one of our trips. Each year Lorraine would hang the delicate decorations from the garland around the restaurant.  She always did a perfect job. I have an extensive collection of chef figurines which I collected during my first 13 years of sailing. (I would go ashore in every port with the sole purpose of finding another chef figurine to add to my collection).  Lorraine would hang the beautiful Christmas decorations with the little chef figurines. I was looking through the restaurant Christmas photos trying to select some pictures to share with you and was finding it difficult selecting the right photos that wouldn't need an explanation of this is the original restaurant, this is the new restaurant. I also came across some fun video from December 2018 that made me laugh out loud when I pushed play. I took that particular video on a quiet winter night just before Christmas at the new restaurant when the bad weather kept the customers away. I downloaded the video to my new laptop and started putting together a video for you. After working on the video for hours I showed the clip to Lorraine. As usual, she made a few suggestions as to how it could be better. She always delivers these suggestions gently because she knows that I have spent hours on a project, and knows the creative process needs to be criticized carefully. At the end of a project we always agree that it is better after we work on it together. I will share the video with you later this week.

I loved seeing the Christmas decorations. It was my favorite time of the year to have a restaurant.

2018 Lorraine hanging our beautiful German Christmas ornaments with my little chef figurines that waited patiently all year to be unpacked and join the other chef figurines that were displayed year round.

It was fun to go through my pictures and be reminded of these beautiful ornaments and pieces from my chef figurine colleciton.

We would always make something special to eat for ourselves, especially at Christmas.

I have received some messages asking if I still plan to accept a job, the answer is yes, if the job has a second cook. Most of the layup jobs do not have a second cook and I would take a layup job by myself because you only have a crew of 6 or 7 so it is easy. I love to listen to Christmas music, and like listening to the Christmas songs sung by Doris Day, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole etc. To me it sounds more magical and festive. I also love making food that offers that warm feeling from coming out of the cold. I have made a few of the recipes from my first cookbook. I encourage you to try the beet-meat shepherds pie. (page 184/185). It really is delicious! I love beets and roasted my beets in an airfryer before chopping them and mixing them with the meat and spices. I made the kale salad  (page 225) to go with the beet-meat shepherds pie. I always smile inside when I offer the kale salad and hear "I don't like kale" I always say try a bit and once they try it they ask for more. The trick with the kale salad is to make it in advance. I made the kale salad early in the day and mixed it a few times throughout the day so that the vinaigrette coated all the leaves. By the time I served the dinner it was perfect. It is also very good the next day. While I am off I am using an insta pot and airfryer. Both make cooking and cleanup so much easier. I especially like the airfryer for reheating food and roasting vegetables. I love going through the grocery store when I am off the ship. I get so inspired when I see the vegetables or a particular cut of meat. I went through an independent grocer that had their own butcher counter. I was excited to see the shoulder blade pork chops. I like this cut of meat. I see it at the Sam's club in the US but don't usually come across it in the regular places that I shop. I picked up the pack and it did not disappoint. I made the chimichurri (page 220) to go with it. I cooked the shoulder blade chops in the airfryer and they came out beautiful. They were tender, juicy and delicious. I love the chimichurri with the pork. I served the chops with a spinach salad. I mix the homemade vinaigrette (page 223) on the spinach about an hour before serving. I added sliced onions and mushrooms to the salad and they softened in the vinaigrette. It was such a delicious meal.

Beet-meat shepherd’s pie. Worth making!

The shoulder blade pork chop with chimichurri and spinach salad

I made the vegi-vegi dip (page 221). If you are planning on making a vegetable tray for a gathering, try this recipe to dip your vegetables. I am always reminded how good it is when I make it. It keeps good in the fridge for a few days. I made some stuffed mushrooms that were so delicious and I will make a version for the new book. I had spotted a big container of mushrooms in the store, they were all different sizes and only $4.50. I could not walk out of the store without them. While standing in the vegetable department looking at the mushrooms I was already planning how I would use the big ones, saving the smaller ones for a frittata (page 111) or to add to a salad. I made stuffed mushrooms with the biggest ones. They were a huge success and delicious. They are great if you are having guests for dinner because you can make them ahead and then pop them in the airfryer for 6 minutes just before you are ready to serve.

The stuffed mushrooms before the 6 minutes in the airfryer. I wish I took an after photo but they were so delicious looking that taking a picture was the furthest thing from my mind.

I made a beef vegetable stew (page 137) and my mom's buttermilk bread (page 172). The buttermilk bread is so fast to make and goes so well with the beef vegetable stew. I made the maple flan (page 264) and the custard berry pie (page 249). It is really an easy quick dessert and you don't need a lot of ingredients. I used a frozen pie shell for the pie and it came out perfect. I made the peanut noodles (page 145). I used the sugar free GPS sauce that I am working on and it came out really good. 

Beef vegetable stew ready for the oven

Peanut noodles made with Udon noodles. They were delicious.

I tried to recreate the delicious honey sweet potatoes that I ate at Nando's Peri Peri Chicken restaurant. It was my first attempt and I made notes of what I would do differently next time. This recipe will be in the next book, even the first attempt was good, but it will be even better with a few adjustments.

the first attempt at the honey-hot sweet potatoes with crumbled feta and chopped pistachios.

Each day has been fun and although I sometimes find myself wondering if I will finish out the season with another job, I remind myself that I am where I am meant to be. I visited the Port Colborne Museum and will have my book there next season and perhaps a book signing or speaking event. It's a beautiful spot. The nice lady behind the counter had not heard of The Ship to Shore Chef but smiled when someone else in the museum came up to me with a simple "Is it you?" We had a little visit and look forward to coming back there in the spring. Lorraine reminded me to tell you that you can get a list of stores that carry our books on the website www.shiptoshorechef.com she also mentioned that The store in Cornwall, Ontario Laura's still has Porthole Calendars and the RiverWest co in Brockville still has some Porthole Calendars.  I hope you have a great day and enjoy this festive time of the year. I will keep you posted. 

It was my first time visiting the Port Colborne museum

While in Port Colborne, I stopped for a tea and was delighted to see a ship tie up at wharf 16

If you didn’t find a copy of the cookbook or children’s book under the Christmas tree, Lorraine will be happy to mail you, your copy. We have lots of books in stock.