cinnamon bun sunday in windsor
I love the clouds in this photo and rising suns gives a beautiful backdrop to this ship which still has her lights on. I took this on Lake Erie
Monday has come around again”....(Supertramp) That song always plays in my head when I think about it being Monday again. I have mentioned that this ship is keeping me very busy and the days are passing so quickly. The second cook, Nancy, says every day at around 15H45 "Where has the day gone?" We both laugh because I always answer with the same response. We both wish the time would slow down so that we could savour each day and the beautiful surroundings. She said yesterday that this is the nicest galley she has ever worked in. She loves having a back door in the galley and how much space there is. She works a lot like me, using every square inch and spreads her work area from one end of the galley to the other. There is an advantage to that, she understands me as I do the same. She also shares the same philosophy that she focuses on the food and putting as much care and love into everything she makes and the clean up can wait until later. We finish in the galley later than usual, but we are both happy and leave with a contentment about our day. I took two Turkeys out to defrost in the fridge. The American Thanksgiving is this week and I thought I would do a Thanksgiving dinner Tuesday and make a video going through the steps that I take preparing this special meal. We have Turkey more often on the ship throughout the year so it is a more familiar process for me. Every one loves Turkey and I thought it would be fun to make a little video to share with you. I hope to have it ready for viewing Wednesday morning. I am having fun making the little videos of my life on a ship. After I post a video I wait to hear from Lorraine (my sister, best friend and publisher) about her thoughts of my latest little creation. Lorraine knows me so well and when there is a criticism she delivers it gently knowing that I may have spent hours on it. We always agree that a project is better after we have worked on it together. The internet is not very good on board the ship so I often have to send my videos out before she sees them so I am extra happy when they get a stamp of approval. She did remind me to read over my stories/blogs before posting. I missed a lot of errors in my last stories and when I looked back she was right. I am going to add "editor extraordinaire" to (my sister, best friend and publisher acknowledgment) Lorraine and I make a great team. I am hopeful to see her this week. We are coming down the seaway and are either going to Morrisburg or Johnstown. I like being on the salt run. It's a clean cargo. It's a nice spot to load at Windsor Salt. You can watch the ships pass by and we can enjoy the sun coming through our back door in the afternoon and then the beautiful setting sun in the evening. It's really beautiful.”
The Windsor Salt dock offers the perfect spot for watching ships and seeing the setting sun. It’s so nice having a galley door and this is my view through the door.
It usually takes 24 hours to load the salt. I took the opportunity to sit outside after lunch and it was so warm in the November sun. I often think about the early years when I sailed and we would go ashore after lunch and after supper. Of course back then in the 80’s and 90’s we were four in the galley so the same work we are doing with two now was distributed between four people. Three worked during the day and one worked at night. Back in the early day's of sailing we had a lot of free time, leaving me the energy to run ashore at every opportunity. When I think of those days I remember the 1st mate calling after me as I scampered down the gangway in Marquette, Michigan. His words and booming voice carried away in the wind... "This isn't a cruise ship" I have always treated my job onboard these lakers as my cruise ship, only I am being paid to cruise.
I found a nice sunny spot on the starboard side of the ship to sit after lunch. Usually I don’t sit on the same side that we are loading, but the salt is a fairly clean load and there is just a very fine salt dust that travels, unlike other loads. I love shadows, so if you look at the deck, you can make out the shadow of the ladder on the right and the afterhouse is laid across the deck.
We will be in the canal later Monday, offering another fun day to look out the porthole. I look forward to the trip down through the seaway and the opportunity to wave at Brockville along the way. I will have a better idea when we will pass through the seaway after we clear the canal. The trip through the canal is always dependent upon traffic. I will keep you posted. Before I go to start my day I will share the meals that I made over the weekend. Saturday I made Italian wedding soup. At the end of the day there was only one bowl left. It came out really nice. For lunch I made pizza. I like serving pizza once a week. I used to serve it on Fridays but pizza Day seems to have found a permanent spot on Saturdays now. For supper we had the usual steak, mushroom, onions, fresh asparagus and I made mashed potatoes. (I wanted to use the leftover mashed potatoes for my sundae brunch.) For a second choice I made the faux fillet cabbage steak. Out of the five people who tried it, four really liked it and the fifth said once was enough. I thought the 80% - would eat it again rate was pretty good!
Italian wedding soup. My dad loved barley and loved this soup.
Pizza day has found it’s way to Saturdays. The leftovers are wrapped up individually for the crew. We leave it in their night lunch fridge and there is never any left over.
Faux Fillet Cabbage Steak
I was thrilled that four out of the five crew who tried this loved this Cabbage Steak. It will make it’s way into the next book.
Cinnamon bun Sunday started off of course with making the dough for cinnamon buns. I like to serve Sunday brunch and for a special treat I defrosted smoked salmon. I offered smoked salmon on a bagel with cream cheese, sliced red onions and a boiled egg. ( This reminds me of Germany. Our dad took us to Darmstadt to the Nordsee kiosk. He would order herring and I remember having the lux brotchen mit zwiebeln und eier - smoked salmon bun with onions and egg) my second choice was corned beef hash with the option of poached eggs. One crew member said he would pay $100 for the corned beef hash. He said it was so good. That made me happy. Third choice was a breakfast casserole from the cookbook. I made it with leftover homemade buns for the crust, and used fried onions, peppers and mushroom in the egg mixture. I offered an experimental fourth choice which I was trying out for the new book and it was very well received by those who tried it (I also ate it for my lunch and loved it) I seared romaine lettuce hearts in butter and then laid slices of smoke salmon on the charred leaves, followed by sliced hard boiled eggs, onions and then homemade ranch dressing or olive oil. I tried both versions. After finishing my dish, I thought it probably would have also been good with a poached egg on top. Will try that next time. For supper I made chicken wings everyone's favorite, except for one crew member, so I made a chipotle rice and sausage one pot dish. The rice dish went really well. I surveyed the crew earlier in the day offering deep fried or baked chicken wings and it turned out that it was 50/50 so I did both and offered my Cathy's hot sauce which some crew members were encouraging others to try because they tried it before and said it was so good. That made me smile. It was the finish to a nice day. I hope you had a nice weekend and I will see you tomorrow. Have a wonderful day.
Cinnamon bun Sunday. Everyone loves cinnamon bun Sunday and you can’t hide that you are making it because the cinnamon aroma travels through the entire afterhouse, from the wheelhouse down to the engine room.
My cinnamon buns are often different shapes because I am always in a hurry on Sunday mornings preparing the other items on the menu, but the crew like when some are a little smaller, so that they can indulge without blowing their regime. If I were eating one, I would chose the biggest and the one that was baked in the center surrounded by other cinnamon buns. Others like the outside cinnamon buns with the edge that has a little crisp to it. My mom would chose the outside one.
A new creation
I was really happy with how this came together. It will definitely be going into the next book.
I like the memory that comes with making these smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel treats. Being in Darmstadt with our dad eating at the Nordsee
The second cook steams her eggs now. She saw me steaming eggs and I showed her the method, that I share in the book. When I go out for my coffee in the morning she often tells me how easy it is and she will never boil eggs again.
One crew member couldn’t decide what to have for his Sunday brunch so he said a little of everything. The corned beef hash with a poached egg, the breakfast casserole and the new creation: charred romaine hearts with smoke salmon, boiled egg, red onions and homemade ranch dressing.
I found a case of chipotle peppers in the dry store. This is like finding a really nice surprise. I have never seen them on a ship before. I emulsified two cans, added thyme, adobo and beef stock and added it to the pan that I had sauteed the peppers and onions in. I poured everything over the leftover rice and popped it into the oven to heat through. It was delicious.
Chicken wings, baked or deep fried is a popular night. My Cathy’s hot sauce added to the experience. Two crew members said they were the best wings they ever had. I soak my wings to be deep fried in buttermilk for a few hours before dredging in a seasoned flour mixture and frying for 8 minutes. I marinated the baked wings in olive oil, vinegar and spices and they came out really good.
Lorraine has been mailing out books and Ship to Shore Chef Merchandise. It is fun to know that someone will find a cookbook, children’s book or Ship to Shore Chef item under the tree this year. You can order online at www.shiptoshorechef.com or visit the stores listed on the website.