I’ve decided to share the exciting life of a Soren cook with you.
The galley is the center, or the heart of the ship. It’s where people come to eat, drink and get the latest gossip. Stacey and I spend the majority of our days behind the counter and infront of the stove preparing meals to feed the troops. We have a great system which works as follows: I get woken at 0645hrs to prepare breakfast for the 8-12 watch who then relieve the 4-8 so they can come and fill their hungry tummies. After brekkie is out of the way I crack into preparing an afternoon “smoko”, or tea time, treat; I also begin preparing lunch.
At 0945 I put the kettles on for morning smoko and cut up fruit and lay the tabel once again for the congregation, for they will soon be praising the galley goddesses for yet, another wholesome meal. Now after tea is cleared the final prep is done for lunch. The 12-4 watch will eat at noon, followed by the 4-8 and then the 8-12. By this time my day is drawing to an end and Stacey will enter the arena for round two- dinner and dessert. If we are on the ball we will prepare dinner in the morning and then have the afternoon off, but at 1530hrs it’s time to EAT, again! The generator only runs from 0700-1200 and 1700-2200 so nescafe it is! Our baked goods are devoured and yes-it’s only ONE EACH! Little ship joke, every day we are faced with this question, “how many cookies/cakes can we have?”
By 1830 the dinner table is set below and at 1900 Stacey and I work together to serve the evening meal below decks (weather permitting) to the 8-12 and 12-4 watches. With usually 20 minutes to spare we regroup our thoughts and get ready to feed the 4-8s. By 2100 clean up and the day is done! The following morning is the same routine, except Stacey starts the morning and I do the evening. Exciting-YOU BETCHA! So that’s a brief outline of our job on board, we love it and bring a lot of energy to the galley, entertaining as we go!
noreen, on guitar, nic and james watching easter island get. |
nic fishineg. |
rock pile jamming session. |
paul working aloft. |
sarah working on the windlass. |
sailing north. |
soren galley band. |
stacey and i. |
stacey standing proud in the galley. |
the parade on st paddys day. |
the green st.paddys day bread. |
the soren pub on st. |
The majority of our days are very routine, there are the rare exceptions though. We had the “Pacfic”Olympics with fine agility displayed in the pin and orange exchange! Quick thinking with the Name that Line provided Voyage Crew the opportunity to show off their stuff. Claus, Chris’monkey along with his friends were subject to the make shift fishing game, great fun but only because we haven’t been able to catch any real fish! If only the cameras could have displayed the finely tuned athletes in motion.
On St. Patrick’s Day we managed a parade, which Elain attempted to organize days in advance, but in the end fell together in 10 minutes. Jason led the way on the tin whistle followed by jugglers, cheerleaders, green men, recorder players leading baggy wrinkle sheep and even a pint O’Guinness! What a crazy lot we are, but always havin a good time! Peanuts and Guiness were drunk enthusiastically in the Southern Ocean Pub after the event mmm…
Continued page 3 here
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