Daylight Savings time Change
We had a great time at the Watertown Samaritan Auxiliary Hospital Gift shop, where we signed books and had a meet and greet. We enjoyed meeting new people and welcoming some familiar faces. We shared stories with everyone and enjoyed hearing some stories from a retired Seaway pilot who came with his wife to buy a book. We were also treated to some delicious Hazelnut chocolates called Turkey Joints. The couple who gifted them said they were from Rome NY and shared that they were a specialty item and were known to be a favorite of Queen Elizabeth who used to order them. Our mom would have loved that story, she loved following the Royal family. We also met a lady who has a friend who worked with our dad. It was so nice to hear about her friend working with our father. Everyone was so nice and as usual there was lots of storytelling and laughter. They have autographed books that you can purchase in their gift shop.
We had a wonderful time at the Watertown Samaritan Auxiliary Hospital Gift Shop book signing/meet and greet.
Today is Sunday and daylight savings time. I usually sail this time of the year when we set our clocks back, silently singing in my head, "Fall back, Spring ahead," to ensure I am turning the hands of the clock in the right direction. Being at home when we turn the time back an hour is a little less exciting. At home, I am on a relaxed schedule. I stay close to my sailing sleep schedule, so it is not too difficult to adapt when rejoining a ship. I function best with eight hours of sleep. I am sometimes tempted to stay up into the wee hours of the morning playing just one more episode of a binge-worthy series, but I know that getting up early to enjoy my favorite part of the day will be lost with the extra hours needed to attain my eight hours of sleep. In preparation of the time change I find myself readjusting the time in my mind a few days before the actual time change. I consider what time it will be when the sun rises and when it will become dark.
Lorraine helped to change the times on the clocks at my place. I have a few: this one in the above photo, one of three clocks that my dad received every 10 years in his 31 years in Black and Decker, I have the antique clock that mom and dad brought over from Germany in 1954. It comes with a key to wind it and I have a red bird clock with baby birds. Of course all electronics and my phone are “magically” changed, but I like the idea of manually changing the time.
When I am on the ship and the time changes, the extra hour in the morning is a celebrated event! On the ship, I count the days to the Fall-back time change with excitement like one would anticipate counting down to Christmas or another special occasion. That extra hour of sleep or "free-hour" presents itself the first few mornings because the routine of waking at the same time has not adjusted to the new time yet. The extra hour is a gift. When I join a new ship, one of the first things I do when I enter the galley I look where the galley clock is located. I cannot cook without a clock. I am always surprised if there is no clock in the galley and wonder how the cook can prepare meals and have them ready if they don't have a clock to refer to. When I set myself up in the galley, I place my cutting board so that I can face the portholes and look outdoors. Sometimes, the second cook will comment that the regular cook's workstation is in a different location, but I explain that I love looking out at the ever-changing scenery. If I don't have a ship's clock in view from my cutting board, I will ask someone to move the clock into my line of vision. I moved a clock on one ship, I believe it was the CSL Niagara. There was no place to hang the clock in my line of sight, so I leaned the clock on a shelf. It was easy for me to lift my eyes, verify my time and continue to work. Unfortunately, it fell to the floor one day. I picked the clock up and tried to secure it better so that it would not succumb to the constant vibration of the ship and fall again. I continued with the lunch preparations and, noticing that I had some extra time, decided to add another item to my lunch menu. I looked up a couple of times before realizing that the hands of the clock were not moving. I didn't know that the battery popped out of the back of the clock when it fell to the floor. I could not believe I lost 30 minutes. I then had to go into overdrive and rush to finish lunch to have it ready in time.
This is the Rt Hon. Paul J. Martin. I set up my station and face the clock and I can view the portholes on the right. I have been on the Martin four different times.
This is the CSL Niagara and it’s easy to set up my workstation because the clock and the portholes are beside each other.
I always had a clock or two in full view while cooking at our restaurant. We had our restaurant for 24 years (20 years at the Tremblant mountain location and then we moved to a larger location for the next 4 years, 8 km away from the original location). Both restaurants were decorated with my "chef collection," which I had collected during my travels and my first 13 years of sailing. The clocks which I used to keep on time and check how long it took to prepare the bills for my customers were all from my collection. The clock which was in close proximity to verify against the time stamped food orders was a chef clock from "South Park cartoon". I looked at it 100's of times each day and when after 20 years we moved the restaurant to a new location we hung the South Park Chef clock to a location in full view. It was joined by another chef clock that had a swinging carrot that swung back and forth. The South Park Chef clock was hung on the facing wall from us and the swinging carrot chef clock was set off to the left so that both Lorraine and I could see it and verify the time against the time stamped order. It was important to make sure that we were getting the meals out in a timely fashion. This clock is now hanging in Lorraine's house.
The South Park Chef Clock hung for 24 years in our line of sight as Lorraine and I made 1000’s of crepes.
We hung this chef clock with the swinging carrot off to the left so we could track the time. This is a photo of one of our popular desserts. The D-14 Catherine Crunch. I was a crepe with 3 scoops of ice cream, banana, whipped cream, chopped crispy crunch chocolate bar and our famous sucre a la creme sauce.
We would constantly be looking at the clock and refer to the time stamp on the order slip. On the right were two more popular crepes. The D-20 Nutella with banana and the Catherine special. A crepe cooked with egg, cheddar cheese, Swiss cheese and black forest ham.
The South Park Chef clock is in storage with hundreds of other chefs from my collection. It's been five years since we closed our restaurant, Creperie Catherine and I carefully packed away each chef with the help of Lorraine (my sister best friend and publisher) and Neighbor Susan. I recently shared with Lorraine that I am finally ready to catalogue the collection. I plan to make that a priority this winter. The chef figurines which I carefully collected over the years deserve to be let out of the storage boxes and find a new home to be displayed and enjoyed. While I was looking through my photos to share with you, I came across photos that I hadn't seen or thought of in years and thought I would share some of them. I love this time of year and the Fall/Halloween decorations. Lorraine always decorated the restaurant for the seasons and holidays. She also took care of the flower boxes, which added to the welcoming atmosphere of our restaurant. Halloween was always fun to decorate.
Lorraine always did such beautiful decorations for the seasons and events. I remember the day we went to Plattsburg on our day off and picked out the material for the chair cushions. She chose the fall looking material to go with the decorations and Neighbor Susan sewed them for us. She still has these cushions.
Top right, we made delicious milkshakes at our restaurant. For the fall we made a pumpkin milkshake. We also served hot apple cider and a cold sparkling cider. The painting, bottom right was hung from the wall each fall. It was painted by our friend Karen. She is an amazing artist and we are fortunate to live with her art in our homes. On the left is a peak through the window off our restaurant. (we closed the doors and served the last crepes January 2019)
We sold our friend Karen’s work from our restaurant. We enjoyed seeing her work every day and would be almost sad when a favorite piece was purchased and taken down from the wall. However, Karen somehow managed to hang a new painting that we would fall in love with. Both Lorraine and I have her art in our homes and enjoy it every day. I also carry two small pieces with me when I join a ship so that I can have something beautiful to look at in my cabin onboard.
I used season molds to make my famous sucre a la creme (fudge).
Last year I joined the Atlantic Huron on October 31st. The Captain had messaged me earlier in the day and asked if I minded picking up some Halloween treats for the crew. I happily agreed. When I am on a ship for Halloween or other special holidays, I like to make my famous Sucre a la crème (fudge). It was so popular at the restaurant and they were fun to make in the different seasonal shapes.
Atlantic Huron Halloween 2023
Halloween on the Algoma Hansa 2019. I brought my pumpkin molds with me to make my famous sucre a la creme (fudge). I also made pumpkin bread.
I hope that you are enjoying this beautiful Fall season. I have had a few job calls which I had to turn down while I wait for my Dr appointment November 4. One job/ship in particular I was disappointed that I missed out on. I remind myself that I am where I am meant to be and that the right job will come along. I look forward to sailing to finish out the season and hope that it includes a winter lay-up which is always fun. Fingers crossed. I will keep you posted. Have a wonderful Sunday and enjoy the extra hour this morning that comes with the daylight savings time change. It's a beautiful day and I look forward to going for a walk with Lorraine this afternoon. Stay tuned.
I made my version of Utica greens and served it in a baked pepper squash. It was delicious.
Ship to Shore Chef books and calendars make great Christmas gifts. We are offering a Christmas special. Buy any two books and receive a free 2025 Porthole Calendar.