Last Two Weeks Of August
Good morning. Today is August 31st and completes five weeks on the Atlantic Huron. I will disembark the Atlantic Huron for my fall vacation within the next week. We are sitting at anchor outside Two Harbors and depending how long it will take for them to make some shore repairs at the loading dock, will determine when and where I get off. I have so many photos and meals to share with you. I also have a lot of videos. However, I will have to wait until I am home to put together the videos. We receive Hotspot vouchers for the internet with 40 GB for 30 days. I barely made it to my 30 days and now I have 7-day vouchers that offer 1 GB a day.
The 30 day Hotspot voucher gave me 1.3GB a day but the 7 day voucher only gives me 1GB. I have to budget my internet time which is proving to be a challenge.
I'm pretty good with a food budget, but the internet budget is a little more challenging. I cut out all luxury internet consumption, like watching the new episodes of "Emily in Paris," which is on Netflix. I like it because it is fun, and one of the characters is a chef, so food is often in the scene, and of course, it is filmed in Paris. (Lorraine, my best friend, sister and publisher were there in the mid 80's) I will catch up on what happens in the current season when I get home. I try to use my phone when we are in range but have received messages from Bell that I have exceeded my data package. I will have to address this when I get home. Having the internet and writing my stories and working on videos is my fun time before and after cooking for my crew, so I will have to try and figure out how to maximize my internet voucher.
These are just a few of the videos I would like to share with you. I will have to wait until I am home and have access to unlimited high-speed internet.
It would be so much easier if the internet were like food. How can I create something out of nothing? I have had a crew member go into the fridge to check the fan, and when they saw how little food there was, they questioned, "How do you feed us with nothing?" I find that when I am low on groceries, it pushes me to be more creative with what I have and try things I would have never thought of. I think the Food Network Show "Chopped" opened my imagination to what you could do with a food item that you would have never considered as an option in the past. In the show they refer to the food items as "basket ingredients." That's just an appetizing way of saying leftovers, but the inspiration you get when you see these items sends you into creative overdrive. Friday, I served hamburgers, cheeseburgers.
Hamburger day is always popular, especially on the homemade buns
I offered imitation crab salad on the homemade hamburger buns. I made extra crab salad because I had an idea I wanted to try with the extra "leftovers." After lunch, I put it in the fridge and thought of it several times over the afternoon, imagining what I would add to it and which direction I would go. I had a couple of ideas. One was to make an imitation crab cake and the second idea was to make a crab stuffed roll. I had saved some of my bread dough from the hamburger buns and thought I would roll it out thin, then add the crab salad with some curry seasoning, roll it up, and then bake it. At supper, one of the crew members asked if I had any of that delicious crab salad left. I thought of the big bowl sitting in the fridge, waiting to be transformed into something delicious, and said, "Yes, would you like some?" I have a strict rule that I stand by; if I do something for one, I will do it for all, so after serving the crew member a heaping helping of the crab salad, I started to offer it to each crew member as they ordered their supper. I said, "It's not on the menu board, but I have some leftover crab salad if you are interested." I think not having it on the board made it more appealing, like you were being offered something special, and before long, my big bowl of imitation crab salad was gone. This rule of what is good for one is good for all has introduced me to a new popular lunch choice for my Filipino crew members. We have a crew from East to West Coast Canada and also the Philippines. I often joke about putting a fried egg sandwich on the menu board, but there is one crew member who asks for a fried egg sandwich every day. It is not toasted; it is just buttered bread with a fried egg. I make it and set it aside for him to pick up during his afternoon watch. Because I make this fried egg sandwich for him, I followed my "what's good for one is good for all rule." I started putting fried eggs on the menu board. I didn't put on a fried egg sandwich because I didn't want to compete with another sandwich I was offering. I just wrote fried eggs. What a surprise when my Filipino crew started ordering fried eggs to be served on their rice. I made the beautiful sunny side eggs like my dad did. Use a hot pan and butter, put the eggs in, and put a lid on the pan. They cook quickly and come out beautiful. The fried runny eggs on rice are now a regular part of my lunch menu options, and I make sure to have at least 2 dozen eggs ready because they are a popular choice. I questioned one of the crew members if I should add something else to the eggs on rice, and he said no, they have what they need to make it taste like home. They add a little vinegar, olive oil, and hot peppers they bring from home. He said they mix it all together and it's great. I decided to try making Filipino Chicken Adobo (has nothing to do with the Adobo seasoning that I use in all my recipes). During a coffee break one day, I asked some of my Filipino crew members how they made it. I had made it once before on another ship using a recipe I found on the internet, but was told it was too sweet and "We don't put ginger in Chicken Adobo." I thought it would be best to ask. Each one I spoke to gave a tip, and before long, I had an idea of how I would do it. I recounted my method and the ingredients to the one crew member who I felt was quite comfortable in the kitchen and said "Ok, I will marinate the chicken" He said right away "No, maybe 15 minutes; marinating too long will change the flavor" I then said "Ok, I will mix together the soy sauce, vinegar, lots of garlic, onions, bay leaves, black peppercorns, cover it and put it in the oven. A "NO" shot out of his mouth, like I was about to walk in front of an oncoming truck. "It has to be cooked on top of the stove, and only after it has been cooked add a little, very little, brown sugar and thicken the sauce." I am not usually stressed about cooking a meal, but I wanted this to turn out. It smelled very good while it was cooking. I was careful only to sprinkle on some brown sugar and thickened the sauce just a little. When the crew came in, I started serving and did not have to wait long to see if I hit the mark because they tried it immediately while standing in front of me, I was happy when I got a thumbs up. It was only after the meal and the next day that they joked about the black peppercorns. Too many and they were too hard (they were in the top shelf of the dry store and had probably been there for 10 years) and I put in too many. They said they had to pick them all out. We laughed about it, but I felt good about my Chicken Adobo. As they brought their empty plates back they asked for a second plate to be put aside for later. They also said to keep any leftovers for the next day. I have added Chicken Adobo to my rotation.
Chicken Adobo with too many hard peppercorns.
As I write this, the engines have started. I wonder if we had a change of orders or if the repairs ashore were completed before they expected. I will have to go investigate. The time goes so fast and I have just enough time to add the photos and post. It is now September 1st. We made it to the dock in Two Harbors throughout the night and will load for Sault Ste Marie. I have access to our upcoming trips but am only permitted to share our current trip that is also posted on marinetraffic. I was looking at getting off the ship on the 6th but yesterday our trips were changed and I am not sure where I will get off, but I will keep you posted. I don't mind staying longer but we have an event at the Toledo National Museum of the Great Lakes on September 11th. I have listed all of our September and October Events on the website www.shiptoshorechef.com Click on the Tab "Extras" and then "Events" The Toledo National Museum of the Great Lakes is a talk that starts at 7:00pm but we will be there before to sign your books, we are just waiting to confirm the time which we will start the meet and greet. We look forward to all the events and seeing you there
These are the confirmed book signing, meet and greets. You can get more details on the website. Just click on the following link Events — Ship To Shore | Chef Catherine Schmuck | Author, Entrepreneur & Cook | Canada (shiptoshorechef.com)
I was scrolling through my photos to add to this story today and cannot believe how many photos I have to share with you. Here are some of the photos that made it to the "Worthy of sharing," "I love this photo," or "That was a great meal" list. Some of the photos date back to the August 22nd. The internet is terribly slow this morning so I hope to load the photos after lunch with the smell of cinnamon buns lingering in the air. I hope you are having a wonderful long weekend.
This was taken on August 22nd. I thought it was fun to see the tug pulling two smaller tugs. It reminded me of a duck being followed by her ducklings. "Wait for me"
this photo was taken on August 23rd. I mentioned it to you in a little video. I saw this ship in the distance while we were upbound in Lake Huron. I received a message from someone who said I got a photo of you this morning on Lake Huron. I thought to myself, they must have a super telescope lens to capture us on the lake. It turned out it was from a crew member on the Herbert C Jackson who was taking a photo of us shortly before I took the photo of them. I thought that was fun.
We were at anchor with the CSL Welland for over 24 hours. The water was so calm. I love when you look out and you cant see where the water ends and the sky starts.
Everyone loves cinnamon buns so I thought I would make a savory ham and swiss...but what do I call it? ham and swiss bun or ham and swiss roll so I wrote on the board Ham and Swiss Deliciousness. I smiled when they came up and said "I'll have the deliciousness. I trust you, whatever it is" I served them with my maple mustard dressing. I did them last year with leftover Alfredo sauce and sauteed mushrooms. Also very good.
It's always fun to wave at the Soo, especially when someone has messaged me and said "come out and wave"
They are busy working on the new Lock. I don't know when it is to be completed.
Waking up at the Soo dock is like waking up on a Sci-Fi set. It's not just the sights but also the sounds and the monster trucks.
This was taken on our second trip to the Sault Ste Marie. We got in after I was asleep and, were already gone when I woke up. I was hoping to get to go ashore but not that trip. We were not delivering a full load and discharged the cargo in about six hours.
We received beautiful smoked meat. It went really well with my mom's potato salad. I got many compliments on mom's potato salad. As I prepared each sandwich, stacking them high, I thought of my mom and dad, we used to drive to Point Claire when we had a trip to the airport and we would always have smoked meat at Dunn's restaurant in the mall. Dad loved the king size portion and mom would always say "No mustard for me".
When I am working on a recipe, I will take a picture of all of the ingredients to remind myself what I put in. I was making black bean soup. Missing from the photo is the garlic and I added lime juice at the finish. I thought it came out really well and will provide it as an individual recipe in the near future. It will be nice to eat a bowl of this on a fall day.
I usually have some steak leftover from steak night, so one of my go to recipes is steak and broccoli stir fry. I had some chicken leftover and made chicken sauteed rice. (I do not add soy sauce to my fried rice when I serve it with other items that have sauce. If I am just making chicken or pork rice I will add oyster sauce when gives a great flavor.) I don't usually use the premade frozen meatballs but this was a new brand to me and wanted to try them. I have to say, they passed the taste and texture test for me, and they were not greasy. They come precooked so I put them in the oven to let any excess grease cook out before I added them to my honey garlic sauce. There was hardly any grease. The honey garlic sauce was excellent and a few came back for extra meatballs with "some of that sauce" on their rice.
This is such an easy quick lunch choice but it always gets rave reviews. I made it days ago, and yesterday one of the crew mentioned it during coffee break "You know those pizza pockets you made a few days ago....I think they are even better than pizza. How did you do that?" I explained I make the pizza sauce from scratch. I like the pepperoni that we get. It is tasty (a little greasy, but I think that is a given when talking about pepperoni for pizza) I use grated mozzarella and I told him my secret ingredient was to add some curd cheese. I put all the ingredients into the center of a large Tortilla wrap. I fold it into a square and when I fold each side in I use a little cheese to glue the pieces together. (We used to use crepes to make these Pizza, Ham or egg pockets when we had our Creperie restaurant. The cheese melts and keeps the tortilla/crepe together.) I bake them in the oven and they are ready to serve. They were really popular
I love corn on the cob. It is such a special treat to see the large green net bag come onboard with five dozen pieces of corn inside. This always reminds me of my mom and dad coming to Iroquois lock in the early 90's, (when you could visit the ship as it made its way through the lock. )It was the doughnut stop for years as my parents put three dozen Tim Hortons doughnuts in a large bucket to be pulled onboard. One year they brought five dozen corn in the familiar net green bag and although it was a little heavier than three dozen doughnuts to pull up the ships side, it was well worth the effort. I received corn with our last grocery order and served it right away while it was still fresh. I miscalculated how long it would take to bring the water back up to a boil so the first time I served it, they got their plate of food and I said come back for your corn. I didn't want to cook it too early because it is best served right away and, in my opinion rolled in butter. The second time I served it I had my timing down and I thought it went well with hotdogs on homemade buns.
This is a photo of a new recipe "Chipotle Eggplant on Riced Cauliflower" It was delicious. I usually travel to the ship with my adobo seasoning, Red Thai chili paste, Sambal red chili paste, a little can of Adobo peppers and a few other things. I was excited to find a case of Adobo peppers onboard the Atlantic Huon in their dry store and thought it would be a great opportunity to try some different recipes. I also had a case of beautiful eggplant, so I put two things that I like together and came up with this.
I made a roasted vegetable and chicken sandwich on homemade buns for the crew with a side of pesto pasta as one of the options for lunch. For myself and the second cook, who also does not eat pasta or bread, we enjoyed the roasted vegetables with the chicken, pesto and balsamic glaze. I had roasted eggplant, zucchini, mushroom, onions, peppers, onions and tomatoes. It was so delicious.
We still have calendars available. You can pick your calendar up at participating stores (listed on the website) or you can order online. Just click on the following link. Ship To Shore Chef 2025 Calendar – Ship to Shore Chef
We are shipping the new book "More Recipes and Stories as We Navigate Healthier Eating" Have your book signed at one of our book signings. You can purchase your books at the participating stores or order online. Just click on the following link More Recipes & Stories As We Navigate Healthier Eating – Ship to Shore Chef Lorraine delivered the new books to Lock Three's St Catharines Museum and Welland Canal Center . You can pick up a copy there. She is shipping the new book to Two Harbors MN to the Superior Finds Store. I wish I could have delivered them in person when we were there loading Iron Ore.
We have both of these books in stock. Bring your copy to the book signing meet and greets and I will be happy to sign them. They are available in participating stores and online.