World Cruise Day 59/152 – Sea Day – The galley – or why we can’t lose weight

Cruise day: 59/152

Ports days: 18
Sea days: 41
Countries: 6
Continents: 2
Ports: 11

 

First - dang, we're tired.  We jumped ahead again last night and are now on Cape Verde time, UTC -1, or four hours ahead of US Eastern Time.

Let’s start with the regulars.   Bridge continues to be challenging and we feel like we are learning every day.  Playing a few more hands with our partners, Kathy & Steve really helps to reinforce the concepts.

Trivia found us in our typical position just out of the points again.  Today’s topic was all about product slogans. The close-but-no-cigar answers:

• Have a break.  Have a …?
• Kit Kat – we talked ourselves out of that because of the current, Gimme a break…commercials
• Quality never goes out of style
• Levi Strauss – we really had no idea
• Open happiness
• Coke – again – clueless

I looked outside and saw a ship we were passing.  The seas are a little choppy but nothing bad.  I was amazed as I watched this other ship how high the waves were splashing against it.  Hull design really makes a difference.

Arlona was back in the painting studio today.  Her project was to replicate an image of a turtle. 

Her effort – she was a little disappointed but had to keep reminding herself that they are very limited on time and have no way to spend extra time to perfect things. I think it’s great and is considerably better than anything I could ever produce.

I attended another magic workshop given by guest entertainer, Greg Moreland.  We learned more tricks – mostly card tricks today, and one mental trick.  His presentation and instruction are great and certainly designed for the novice.  He does a terrific job.

Later this afternoon, we got the opportunity to take a brief galley tour.  This is the home base for the 80 chefs that are part of the culinary team here on the Viking Star. 

The galley is located on deck #1 behind Manfredi’s and The Chef’s Table.  Both of those specialty restaurants have dedicated galleys right behind each of them.  Right behind The Chef’s Table galley is the room service prep area. 

Behind that and then between the two sides, we find the rest of the main galley that preps all the food for The Restaurant and World Café.  

Here are the variety of pots, pans, mixing attachments and so on that are used daily.

Chef Thomas is always working on planning our amazing cuisine.

Some of the 80 chefs on the crew were starting to work on dinner preparations.

Some of the giant soup tureens.

We are guessing these might be pot pies ready to be baked.

Every cruise ship seems to have a hidden escalator and the Star is no exception.  This allows waitstaff to bring trays of food from the deck #1 galley to The Restaurant on deck #2 reducing the risk of tripping on stairs or waiting for an elevator.

The main washing station.

Varieties of bread were baking and smelled terrific.

They have plating diagrams for everything, including how to assemble bread baskets for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

All of the freezers needed to store frozen food are located one deck down on deck #a. They source most food in major ports but do try to get local foods from smaller ports when the quality and quantity available allow.

We joined Jim & Nancy and Steve & Kathy in The Restaurant tonight for a nice meal and better conversation.  Then, it was time to blog, but that proved nearly impossible because the internet continues to degrade.  It is almost impossible to do anything online now.  I can’t believe it will be this bad for another week and a half until we get to Cadiz, Spain. If it gets any worse, I'll write blogs daily and will post once we have working internet.