LAST FEW DAYS BEFORE LAYUP
Monday was my last full day onboard the Spruceglen. When I got the job call for this chief cook lay-up job cooking for the small crew, which started out as 8 and now we are down to 5, the Union said it would be three weeks and that is exactly what it is. Three weeks! As usual I look around at all the things I need to do before I go and think to myself that I will wait. I bring a lot of my own things: food processor, emulsifier, kitchen gadgets, knives, spices etc. I always think what if I start packing and I need something and it's already packed away. I will wait until after breakfast Tuesday morning to pack all my galley things. The rest of my packing is easy, the last load of laundry will be done Tuesday morning. I discussed with the chief engineer and I will get up Tuesday to make breakfast and then I am done with the cooking part of my job. I will do a final clean-up in the galley which is always easy once my personal things have been removed and it gives me one last chance to see if I left anything behind. Earlier this summer I was here on the Spruceglen for the months of July and August. In August there was a second cook that came for a relief job. She came directly from completing a job on the Paul Martin and when she saw my whisk, she commented that they have the same on the Paul Martin, only smaller. I laughed and told her that was my whisk that I forgot on the Martin. I'm sure I leave a trail of items on the ships I have been on. I noticed when I came here and went into the fridge, I saw my handwriting on the lid of the banana peppers. I always date a new containers when I open it the first time. I also date all the leftovers that I put into the fridge/freezer… everything. Time goes so fast and then before you know it, something has been in the fridge too long. The other day I was guilty of looking at a bowl of leftover honey garlic sauce that I had made on the Korean ribs that I made for supper. I found the box in the freezer and was excited to read “short ribs” I took them out to defrost in the fridge and looked forward to enjoy them while Lorraine (my sister best friend and publisher) was visiting. Short ribs are so tender and delicious but when I broke the seal on the box, I discovered they were sliced thin, and not the usual thick meaty ribs. I have seen the thinly sliced short ribs referred to as Korean ribs in the store and on cooking sites and thought it would be the perfect opportunity to make them. I made a sample the first night, to make sure they were good and they passed the test. I took the traditional recipe and adjusted it eliminating the sugar and soya sauce. I sweetened them with honey and maple syrup and they were delicious and I will definitely put them in my next book. The next night I made them for the crew. I made them the traditional way with sugar and soya and I have to say there was not much difference from the batch I made the night before without sugar and soya sauce. They were delicious, the crew really liked them and I served them with shrimp and rice. There was a lot of sauce leftover and I knew there was a lot of grease in the sauce so I put the sauce in a bowl and into the fridge so that I could skim the congealed fat off the top the next day before putting the sauce down the sink. I try really hard not to wash any grease or fat down the sink. The sinks drain really well here and I'd like to keep it that way. For a few days I looked at the bowl in the small stand up fridge in the back galley thinking to myself I'm sure the fat is congealed making it easy to remove before pouring out the sauce. Our family home in Brockville had a well and a septic tank. We were taught to never throw grease down the drain . I knew I should remove the bowl, but each time I had something else that I was reaching for and said....later. Well as I knew it could happen, the bowl tipped and the sticky honey garlic sauce spilled out. Lesson learned until I do it again.
It was so much fun having Lorraine visit. The time went too fast but we had lots of fun.
I especially like the honey garlic sauce poured over the rice (haha not the fridge)
Lorraine peeling the fresh beets she boiled. She made her famous beet salad and the crew loved it. It will have a place in the new book.
The crew also loved the beet noodles that I had with the greek inspired pork souvlaki meal. I am working on the pork souvlaki marinade for the next book and of course there will be the tzatziki recipe and the Greek salad recipe and dressing
I love Greek salad. I will share the recipe in the next book. I have a few vinaigrettes that I have been using, depending what ingredients I have onboard.
While Lorraine was visiting, one of the crew came to me at lunch and mentioned that he and four others were driving over to Buffalo for the hockey game and wouldn't be in for dinner. He asked if I would mind making them some sandwiches to eat in the car. While answering him that I didn't mind I was also changing my menu for the night and the small crew of three I would be cooking for. I enjoy to challenge myself and thought for a moment what would be easy to eat in the car, be tasty and satisfying. I had some leftover pizza dough in the fridge and decided to make a kind of calzone but shape it more like a sub bun and fill it with the beautiful beef chopped in the food processor, sauteed onions and peppers, mushrooms fried in butter and cheese. They came out beautiful and the next day one crew member reenacted the comments coming from the car of how good the sandwiches were. He said that was way better than a sandwich. I made one for us to try and both Lorraine and I agreed it was delicious. The other day I made a mistake and was disappointed with my lunch. I made homemade hamburger buns for the crew of 7 (one other crew member went home, or tried to go home. He was stranded in Toronto with the flights being cancelled because of high winds). I had run out of my own dehydrated beef soup base which I use to season the meat and used the ship's brand. It was much saltier than the brand I bring myself and my hamburgers came out far too salty. I wrote on the menu board "too salty hamburgers/cheeseburgers" When the crew returned their plates, some said they weren't that bad but I was disappointed with the outcome. When something doesn't turn out I am always so grateful that in general, things usually turn out. It's very difficult to serve something that I am not happy with.
Homemade hamburger buns
I think the homemade hamburger buns helped to take the focus off the overly salty hamburgers.
On the final day before Lorraine left I made an all-time favorite. My famous chicken enchiladas. They are on the cover of my cookbook “Recipes and Stories as I Sail Through My Day. She had never had my homemade nachos and said, they were far better than she could have imagined.
I made some of Lorraine’s favorites while she was here and of course the crew always love a roast beef dinner.
The most delicious baked Philly steak sandwiches which I made with the leftover roast beef and they were a huge hit.
I used the leftover pizza dough for the dough of my baked philly steak sandwich
I enjoyed my time here but had hoped I would have a little more free time but as I've mentioned before, I find getting up early to make breakfast doesn't leave a lot of extra time or energy to do anything else so most of my afternoons were spent relaxing and after supper I did the same. I go to bed early and always set my three alarms for 05h30, 05h35 and 05h40. Thank you for the messages asking if all is well with me(because you haven't heard from me in a few days) I was just more tired than usual and often had someone come by to chat when I was writing to you during my morning break. Lay-up is more relaxed so some of the crew have time to stop. Thank you also for the messages about the weather coming our way. It was very windy and although we were tied up to the dock, there was some movement. I am always glad that I live at my job. When the weather is bad I don't have to worry about cleaning off the car or bad driving conditions. My commute is simple, I walk out my door, turn right, take the first right to the stairs, descend the somewhat steep stairs holding on to the creaking handrail (since I broke my ankle 12 years ago, I am always very careful going up or down stairs, in case my ankle gives out), make a sharp right, then sharp left and then stepping over the first of two 5 inch door jams. The chief engineer pointed to them one day saying that he wished they could cut them out because people trip over them all the time but he said it is the structure of the ship and not allowed to touch it. The one stepping out to the hallway to get the fridge is even higher but I look at it as an opportunity to get some extra exercise and take special care. There is also a step up to get into the fridge which I take extra care of, especially when I am leaving the fridge because I am usually carrying something from the big walk-in fridge.
The step-up to the walk-in fridge
The step-up into the galley (or as I like to refer to them as the senior hurdles)
One of the things I look forward to when I am finished here is going for walks. Not long after we laid up here the 24 hour security guard was replaced with a lock and key. The problem was that not everyone got a key, it had to be shared so going for a walk was more complicated. I always have to motivate myself a bit more to go for a walk if it is cold out and adding the complication of getting the key for the gate tipped the scales to no walk today, or the next day or the next day. The other thing I look forward to when I am off is working on my next cookbook. I am getting messages asking when the next cookbook will be done. I plan to have it finished this spring. We will do a pre-order like last time so that we have an idea how many books we need to print and we can prepare the shipping labels in advance. I received a comment from someone that they didn't think it was a good idea that I was writing a cookbook focusing on recipes that had no sugar, flour or grains in the recipes. After sharing the message with Lorraine (my sister, best friend and publisher) she helped me understand that this person is perhaps not aware that we all, in general, eat too much sugar, and that there is sugar in foods that you would never expect to find sugar. In the next book I want to share the delicious and easy recipes that are prepared without sugar. The Korean ribs that I made for Lorraine had no sugar in them and she said they were delicious. Normally there would be a lot of sugar in the recipe but I replaced the sugar with maple syrup. The book will also have more sailing stories with lots of photos. I have been going through my photos and there are so many. Over the past year I have kept notes about questions you asked and will address some of them in the book too. The internet is not great here so I look forward to having access to high speed internet. I tried working on my "Highlights of my 2023 Shipping Season" but it was taking far too long to download the longer videos for editing. I got through January 2023 and enjoyed the process. I was reminded of the beautiful January weather last year and the walks I took on the decks of the Rt Hon Paul J Martin. The video will be a fun project to work on when I am off the ship. I did however, make a little video of making breakfast sandwiches. I made it while Lorraine was here. Just click on the following link to see it. https://youtu.be/jhmiZ_vCw8E
We always have so much fun together!
I was finally able to finish this post this morning (17th) that I started on the 14th. I got off the ship last night and will share the last few days, meals I made and some beautiful photos of the Spruceglen resting for the winter with you tomorrow. I am enjoying the high speed internet and free time this morning. I will keep in touch with you over the winter. On Thursday there is a trip to the US post office planned. We have books in stock and we will be happy to mail you your copy. Have a great day.
You can see a list of stores where the books are available on our website or order online. We will be happy to mail them to you.