Daily Journal

July 1, 2010

By David M. Lawrence

Obviously, I'm not out in the dory – but the map of Las Vegas is nice.

It is hard work being the junior steward, but it is even harder being the steward. Our steward, Lillian Corbin, works hard at keeping us well fed and happy. Her day began at 0330 hours. She baked biscuits and prepared pie crusts for me. I joined her at 0500.

Lil got me started making the things I wanted to make today. The first item was pecan pie, something of a specialty for me – but never on this scale. I mixed eggs, sugar, corn syrup in a bowl, and was ready to put the pecans in the pie shells and pour the filling over them when Lil pointed out something I had overlooked.

We were on a ship, rolling with the ocean.

What I wanted to do wasn't safe under the circumstances – a roll could have spilled the contents of the pie shells into the oven where they might pose a fire hazard. Lil, an old hand in the galley even though she is quite young, had me mix the pie filling and pecans, put them on a stove where they could cook and thicken, and when they thickened sufficiently, we would pour the mix into the pie shells and bake them as usual.

Not content with doing one thing at once, however, Lil was multitasking the galley. While I was cooking the pie mixture, she was scrambling eggs for breakfast, baking potatoes, bacon, and chicken wings for lunch, roasting pork for part of tonight's dinner, preparing Buffalo wing sauce on spare counterspace, working around me as I began to chop up vegetables for my contribution to tonight's dinner – red beans and rice – and restocking supplies from storage spaces squirreled away all over the ship.

Later that morning, she found time to bake several loaves of bread. All of this activity took place, takes place, in a galley that offers about 100 square feet of floor space.

Once my works were in the oven – on the stove, actually – she had me begin to help her prepare for our first breakfast at 0620 hours, snack about 1000 hours, and lunch at 1220 hours. Most of my contributions were minor: chopping this, slicing that, grating something else, and general gofer work. At breakfast and dinner, I got complimented for Lil's work (quite embarrassing). I made it a point to give credit where it is due.

Lil took a break after lunch for class time, which isn't really a break for her. But she returned to prepare an afternoon snack (goldfish and peanuts). She finally had a break for an hour or so after that, but by about 1700 hours it was time to prepare for dinner. Most of the cooking had been done, but drinks had to be mixed up, butter and side dishes (such as corn) prepared. Lil had it under control, and there was little for me to do but put the dishes out on the table.

The main event (for me) began at 1820 hours with the first sitting for dinner. By then I had sampled my work with the rice and beans and, with a confirmatory second opinion from Lisa Ballard, who was the assigned dishwasher, I was feeling a bit more confident. I needn't have worried. Lil's roast pork was getting compliments, my red beans and rice were getting compliments – even better, people were going for seconds or thirds. (Hey, Ramsay and Bill, Thank you!)

At the second sitting, I finally relaxed enough to sample Lil's and my work for the day. I was happy, so far. Lil selected my pecan pie for tonight's midnight snack. The pies have already been deployed, and pieces are starting to disappear...