6 weeks of fun!

The six weeks I have been on the ship in the Aegean Islands has come to an end. It has been a great time, learning and seeing loads of new things, tasting wines, sweets and other delicacies, meeting and working with new people, making new friends, but now it is time to go back home to the family for a while. It is not easy to be away from my loved ones and it is not easy for them, but is is just something we have to do at the time being.

The galley team was fantastic, we had a great time and I was able to implement a couple of new dishes, train the baker and up the standards by a bit.

Then of course I started to write the Blog and it is actually a lot of fun, I had to learn first how everything works, but now I am getting organized and learn more and more about all the things one can do with a blog. Sometimes the blog is published too early and I have to change things and re-publish, sometimes the photos are not the way I like it, then I missed the first comment from a "stranger", wow, how did she find my blog?, but I think it is all slowly coming together.

Here is a photo with my guys in the galley, they are very hard and dedicated workers, 7 days a week, 6 to 10 month without a break. The only time they really can take off is when the ship is in Istanbul as then there is no loading and everybody has a couple of hour time to go out. In Piraeus we have major loadings getting food on board for the 150 guest and 95 crew, for 14 days, that is a lot of food. We usually have a little top up in Rhodes, especially on the way back for the lettuce and berries. It is then as well when we get the local wine on board

The menu is always the same, a 7 day cruise and then one starts again from day one. I am glad that I do it only for 6 weeks, it does get a bit boring after a while and I have started doing specials to keep the cooking interesting.

Then of course I did a lot of bread, mainly because I wanted to get into the baking, but as well to train the baker here with some different bread, not just the pre-mixes which are just not as nice as a proper artisan bread. It was amazing to see how my bread has evolved and how I was able to learn what is happening, what difference it makes if there is a little more water in the dough or less, proving in the cold galley over hours or in the proving cabinet withing 30 minutes, all these little things which make a difference. I am by far not a master baker, but find it very enjoyable to bake fresh bread every day.

My last day here is in Piraeus, loading for another 14 day journey. All the fridges are empty and ready to be packed again, it is three hours of hard labour to get everything in, as the loading is all done by hand. One big truck and a couple of special deliveries. It fits all and will be used over the next 2 weeks, then everything starts from the begin again!!!

I wish you guys all smooth sailing and good luck in the future, it was a pleasure working with you! God Bless!

Now it is off to the airport, flying tonight at 11 PM. Lets see what the airports on the way home have to offer and of course the "delicacies" served on the planes!!!!