Time is flying by

Hello! I sat down to write to you the last three mornings to share my stories about lay-up and tell you about the meals that I made for my little crew of eight and each day I just got my laptop open and someone stopped by to chat to Lorraine (my sister, best friend and publisher) and I. On Sunday, it was someone from the office. We started with the casual conversation, he mentioned that he has read my stories online. He pulled up a chair and I took the opportunity to ask about the real story about Starlink and will we see it on the ship. He went on to explain about the delay of the new internet. I was really pleased to find out that I can expect to have a better internet connections when I sail next season. He asked a few questions about my experiences on the vessels which he manages (17) and I was able to share that I had worked on 8 of the ships and went on to share my thoughts.  I am a relief cook so I have the opportunity to visit many different ships, mostly CSL. Being a relief cook means that I am only on the ship for 30 days giving the regular cook a vacation before moving on to the next job., to give the next cook a holiday. I shared that I am always surprised that the simple basics are not available on the ships which is why I bring a lot of my own things. We discussed how things could improve and before I knew it, it was 15 minutes past the time I should have started lunch and although I didn't have quite enough time, I started the dough for cinnamon bun Sunday. I make bread dough and cinnamon buns so often that I can put it together really quickly and before long the bowl of dough was sitting in a warm spot to rise.

It’s so nice having Lorraine here with me and she spread the cream cheese frosting on the Sunday cinnamon buns

I had planned on making a different soup but when I looked at the time I decided to switch the soup and make something fast. I made an egg drop soup. It is going in the next book and will probably get a full page because it is so delicious. It's the first time Lorraine had the egg drop soup which had mushrooms and spinach in it and she loved it. I had cuban sandwiches for lunch and she took some of the pork meat which I had for the sandwich and added it to her soup. I thought it was a fantastic idea. I usually make cuban sandwiches after I make pork loin or pork tenderloin. I take the cold pork and chop it fine in the food processor. I was inspired to do this after we had the most delicious cuban sandwiches in Ogunquit Maine.. They made their sandwich with chopped pork, sliced ham, cheese and mustard. I do mine the same now and like mayo and mustard on mine. I serve a pickle on the side. When I save the pork for the sandwich I always make sure to save some of the drippings to mix into the chopped pork so that it has a little extra flavor. I had a nice sourdough bread and got a nice grill on my cuban sandwiches.

The egg drop soup, which Lorraine loved and the cuban sandwich

My second choice was a seafood casserole which I built using the leftovers from Saturday night's supper. I had found some fillet mignon in the freezer and thought it might be fun for a change on steak night to offer the little bacon wrapped fillets. They were kind of small and I didnt have enough for everyone to have two so I decided to offer pasta with scallops. I made a bechamel sauce. I used the bechamel recipe that we made for 24 years at the restaurant for the crepes and smelling and tasting the sauce reminded me of the restaurant years. I took the leftover scallops, bechamel added shrimp, tuna, parmesan cheese and cooked pasta and Voila...seafood casserole. It was delicious! My soup of the day was roasted red pepper. We have lots of peppers in the fridge and I wanted Lorraine to try my recipe. It is going into the next book and it got a two thumbs up from her and she said she loved it. I made pork tenderloin for lunch and made potato pancakes, sauerkraut to go with it. I also made sweet potato pancakes because I know Lorraine likes them and as I so often like to do, tried combining two things that I like to make something even better. I put some of the crispy sweet potato cake on my red pepper soup and took a bite. It was so delicious. I was inspired to combine these two ingredients because I remembered years ago making sweet potato cakes with a red pepper salsa for my mom and dad when they were in their winter Florida home. I still remember how good it was. The two go extremely well together and the potato cake laying on the red pepper soup was so delicious it will go into the next book. I have a lot of food photos to share with you.

The peppers roasted beautifully in the convection oven

The roasted red pepper soup was exceptionally good with the sweet potato pancakes

Seafood casserole. The ship keeper loved it and I put the leftover in the freezer for him to use when we are all gone

On the Friday I made meatballs in gravy with noodles. I made a pot of my famous fish chowder and Lorraine commented how good it was. Friday, the weather was beautiful and we went for a walk. It was the first time we had seen the sun in days and it felt so good. There was a little breeze but it was so nice to go out for a walk. We passed our new neighbor, the Capt Henry Jackman. They were just securing her for her winter lay-up berth. We walked to lock 8 and found a cute little coffee shop called Sophias and ordered a tea. We were served by Sophia herself. It is perfectly located to sit and watch the ships in lock 8. I recommend stopping by. It's interesting when you name your business after yourself as we did (Creperie Catherine). I didn't realize when I did that how many people would come in and ask, who is Catherine. My waitresses would say that every day people would ask them if they were Catherine and the waitress would point over to the crepe grill where Lorraine and I would stand spinning out delicious crepes and they would say "that's Catherine making your food" We didn't stay long so that we would make it back in time to make supper.

Our neighbor Captain Henry Jackman

fish chowder. It’s a popular choice

Meatballs in gravy with roasted carrots

Our fist and only day of sunshine. We enjoyed a little walk to lock 8

We stopped for tea at Sophias. Its a great spot to watch ships. Lock 8 is right behind us.

Lorraine and I playing tourists in Port colborne

It was an easy supper menu: fish and chips. Lorraine made a broccoli slaw that was so delicious it will go into the next book. I also made the deep fried frish for her and I that was made with an almond flour batter. It was so crispy and good. It is so much fun having Lorraine here. She has helped with organizing as she always does when she visits. There are contractors who come on board and Friday they were here to check and test the fire extinguishers. It is a rainy windy day today since I have been here we have had one day of sunshine.

Lorraine always helps me organize the ships I work on. She is a great organizer! She also did my dishes for the week.

this dessert went really well. I used my moms cake recipe, real whipped cream and strawberry pie filling

Friday night fish and chips night

We have contractors come on board and this day they were testing the smoke/heat detectors and the fire extinguishers.

Lorraine and I making homemade springrolls.

We had chinese food one night. I used the rest of the pork to make pork chop suey. Lorraine suggested adding cashew nuts and it was delicious. We thought the spring rolls we made came out beautiful. They were baked so the crew that avoid deep fried items were happy to try them

My forward facing window.

No need for the life boat during layup, it is packed away until the spring

Today Lorraine will leave but I really enjoyed having her here. I think I may be done the middle of the month. We can't believe how fast the time has gone but we are both in agreement that it was fun! I have just enough time to load the photos to my story. I will write again soon. I miss when I don't have a chance to write to you. I hope you have a lovely day. See you soon. 

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