Today was pizza day. The first pizza I saw put together by the AM crew was this crazy french fry pizza.
Then they had the guts to use our precious Fritos and rare sour cream. Lunch break...
Outside the kitchen lots of work is going on.
Next to the back loading dock they are digging a giant hole where our new freezer will be put in. Our kitchen is made to feed 550 and we are feeding 1,100. It is too small for what we do, but we get it done.
Back inside I see Leon playing with the corn starch and water... eh Emma?
My order was to be the man in charge. I let Leon have fun playing with the chicken stir fry, Tayna did a brocolli and cheese soup with the leftover cheese sauce I made for the mac n' cheese, and Pat and I worked on the rice, sweet n' sour shrimp, Seitan stir fry. Seitan is new to our menu and they tell me it has never came out good. I poached it for 2 hours, let it set for 1/2 hour, tossed it in a simple seasoned flour batter, then deep fried it in an inch of sesame and canola oil. I put it ontop a bed of rice noodles and brocolli, sliced carrots, and green beans. Topped it with homemade sweet n' sour sauce. After the first half hour all our shrimp was gone, the rice was almost gone, stir fry was halfway gone, and soup was halfway gone. I started to sweat knowing that we had 2 more hours of service. Then the dining attendants come running with empty pans and tell me they've never see a rush this big before. Ya... and today was the Sous left me in charge. I go back to my boss boss and ask her what's going on, she tells me that a new flight has just come in with 150 people and they are starving. Much less we have no fresh stuff for the salad line, so salad line is shut down. I run slowly to the leftover shelf in the cooks box and start pulling everything off shelf.... black beans... rice... okay I'll mix that with some onions and make a terriyaki black bean n' rice medley.... au gratin potatoes.... cheese sauce.... okay I'll mix the cheese sauce with the au gratin potatoes and make cheesy potatoes... salmon... terriyaki... easy, terriyaki salmon.... 3 hotel pans of curry chicken... okay I'll throw some terriyaki on that we'll have terriyaki chicken... 3 more hotel pans of plain chicken... I put sweet n' sour sauce on those. By the end of the night I ran through 5 entree dishes (15 2''-hotel pans total) and 3 side dishes (8 2''-hotel pans total) just to have food on the line. I followed every instruction given, including measurements, and was swamped so bad that we were getting really low after only 30 min. of service. It was a blast, thank goodness for leftovers and heck for once we had no food waste. Everyone was happy
After work I attended the all-hands energy conservation meeting held by the station manager.
After that I made my way to the Crary Science Center to get my Outdoor Safety training just so I can hike the McMurdo trail system.
Those two huts are the dive huts. Scientists drop down a hole in the huts and study the marine wildlife beneath the McMurdo sea ice cover.
Inside Crary....
Science posters...
In the lecture hall I peered through a telescope to the icefield runway.
Class
After the outdoor safety lecture I decided to.... well... go outdoors.
Hey what's that...
Wind turbines :) Cool
I veered off the road onto the Ob Hill loop trail.
McMurdo Station
Then they had the guts to use our precious Fritos and rare sour cream. Lunch break...
Outside the kitchen lots of work is going on.
Next to the back loading dock they are digging a giant hole where our new freezer will be put in. Our kitchen is made to feed 550 and we are feeding 1,100. It is too small for what we do, but we get it done.
Back inside I see Leon playing with the corn starch and water... eh Emma?
My order was to be the man in charge. I let Leon have fun playing with the chicken stir fry, Tayna did a brocolli and cheese soup with the leftover cheese sauce I made for the mac n' cheese, and Pat and I worked on the rice, sweet n' sour shrimp, Seitan stir fry. Seitan is new to our menu and they tell me it has never came out good. I poached it for 2 hours, let it set for 1/2 hour, tossed it in a simple seasoned flour batter, then deep fried it in an inch of sesame and canola oil. I put it ontop a bed of rice noodles and brocolli, sliced carrots, and green beans. Topped it with homemade sweet n' sour sauce. After the first half hour all our shrimp was gone, the rice was almost gone, stir fry was halfway gone, and soup was halfway gone. I started to sweat knowing that we had 2 more hours of service. Then the dining attendants come running with empty pans and tell me they've never see a rush this big before. Ya... and today was the Sous left me in charge. I go back to my boss boss and ask her what's going on, she tells me that a new flight has just come in with 150 people and they are starving. Much less we have no fresh stuff for the salad line, so salad line is shut down. I run slowly to the leftover shelf in the cooks box and start pulling everything off shelf.... black beans... rice... okay I'll mix that with some onions and make a terriyaki black bean n' rice medley.... au gratin potatoes.... cheese sauce.... okay I'll mix the cheese sauce with the au gratin potatoes and make cheesy potatoes... salmon... terriyaki... easy, terriyaki salmon.... 3 hotel pans of curry chicken... okay I'll throw some terriyaki on that we'll have terriyaki chicken... 3 more hotel pans of plain chicken... I put sweet n' sour sauce on those. By the end of the night I ran through 5 entree dishes (15 2''-hotel pans total) and 3 side dishes (8 2''-hotel pans total) just to have food on the line. I followed every instruction given, including measurements, and was swamped so bad that we were getting really low after only 30 min. of service. It was a blast, thank goodness for leftovers and heck for once we had no food waste. Everyone was happy
After work I attended the all-hands energy conservation meeting held by the station manager.
After that I made my way to the Crary Science Center to get my Outdoor Safety training just so I can hike the McMurdo trail system.
Those two huts are the dive huts. Scientists drop down a hole in the huts and study the marine wildlife beneath the McMurdo sea ice cover.
Inside Crary....
Science posters...
In the lecture hall I peered through a telescope to the icefield runway.
Class
After the outdoor safety lecture I decided to.... well... go outdoors.
Hey what's that...
Wind turbines :) Cool
I veered off the road onto the Ob Hill loop trail.
McMurdo Station