December 8th Update from Diego Garcia

[tyde]

Boil your eggs with a teaspoon of baking soda to have them peel without taking egg with it.

cool tip, but all you really have to do is rinse them with cold water and let them cool down before trying to peel them

i'm guessing tyde (or willie) got short on time and just had to make it work

and food looks good tyde - not easy to put out that much food on a deadline by yourself (if dinner is supposed to be at 5pm and it's not ready exactly at 5 you have a bunch of pissed off crew)


edit:
question(s) for marty:
does the crew have money taken out of their check for food or is room/board/food included with their contract?

also, how have you been doing with your budget? are you just making it, or are you ending up with a surplus?

Meals and accommodations are included in the contract for all officers and crew.

As far as my monthly budget goes, the company has allotted me $9600.00 per month for all produce, frozen goods, and incidentals like paper cups, bleach etc. Actually keeping stores in line is one of the most challenging aspects of my job.

The orders are split up between stops in Diego Garcia and Singapore.

I'm currently running well under budget which the captain is very pleased with. My last stores order in Diego was only $3100.00.

The Chief Steward I relieved was a total fucking gimp who obviously just copied and pasted the same order over and over...which explains why I have like a year and a half supply of sausage and literally a 4 foot high stack of frozen vegetables.

I actually pissed off the Chief Mate when I declared that I was going to dump a lot of crap that had obv been in the freezer for months and other shit like surplus bread.

His argument was it would 'cost the company money'....I'm thinking you fucking retard the money was already spent by the last stew, and will have no effect on the funds I dedicate to future orders.

He is eating his words now considering my last 3 orders have run over 25% under my monthly budget.

I terminated my entire bread order from Singapore because the quality is shit, and replaced it with bread from a local baker in Diego for half the cost, and infinitely better freshness and quality.

I'm shaking things up a bit, but for the better.

Oh and today the base commander for the British Navy was on board for lunch, and raved about my food. The captain was obviously stoked and gave me mad props

Uploading several new videos to YouTube as we speak and will post as soon as they are available.

[WillieMcFML]

cool tip, but all you really have to do is rinse them with cold water and let them cool down before trying to peel them

i'm guessing tyde (or willie) got short on time and just had to make it work

and food looks good tyde - not easy to put out that much food on a deadline by yourself (if dinner is supposed to be at 5pm and it's not ready exactly at 5 you have a bunch of pissed off crew)


edit:
question(s) for marty:
does the crew have money taken out of their check for food or is room/board/food included with their contract?

also, how have you been doing with your budget? are you just making it, or are you ending up with a surplus?

As far as my monthly budget goes, the company has allotted me $9600.00 per month for all produce, frozen goods, and incidentals like paper cups, bleach etc. Actually keeping stores in line is one of the most challenging aspects of my job.

The orders are split up between stops in Diego Garcia and Singapore.

I'm currently running well under budget which the captain is very pleased with. My last stores order in Diego was only $3100.00.

The Chief Steward I relieved was a total fucking gimp who obviously just copied and pasted the same order over and over...which explains why I have like a year and a half supply of sausage and literally a 4 foot high stack of frozen vegetables.

I actually pissed off the Chief Mate when I declared that I was going to dump a lot of crap that had obv been in the freezer for months and other shit like surplus bread.

His argument was it would 'cost the company money'....I'm thinking you fucking retard the money was already spent by the last stew, and will have no effect on the funds I dedicate to future orders.

He is eating his words now considering my last 3 orders have run over 25% under my monthly budget.

I terminated my entire bread order from Singapore because the quality is shit, and replaced it with bread from a local baker in Diego for half the cost, and infinitely better freshness and quality.

smuggle it off board and sell it to local contacts - tell them to ship to your stars account

and were the foods past their expiration date per your training?

[tyde]

The whole reefer was stacked with shitty bread going moldy and getting stale.

I have a very small walk in freezer and reefer and need to maximize my space, but the CM seems to think he is an expert in managing my inventory.

I think I'll make a video of my clusterfuck of a freezer tonight just to show you what I'm talking about.

I'm only about 50 days in to a 120 day contract, and still trying to clean up the mess left for me by the previous fuck up Chief Stew

[Hockey Guy]

Boil your eggs with a teaspoon of baking soda to have them peel without taking egg with it.

cool tip, but all you really have to do is rinse them with cold water and let them cool down before trying to peel them

You do that too but if the eggs are too fresh(under 2 weeks old) rinsing them with cold water does absolutely nothing to help the peeling issue. If you don't know how old your eggs are & you know you're gonna peel them using baking soda isn't gonna hurt anything & will most likely help the process.

I wouldn't recommend peeling eggs like this if you were serving them to others but this is how I do it for myself:

[hongkonger]

Had to laugh when you mentioned the bread from Singapore. Bakery and dairy in Asia are very hit and miss, mostly miss. Forget finding a real bagel, ever.

[Tegnation22]

Always been curious with a merchant ships defense protocol. Is there a small armory in the ship and crew members that are responsible for her defense from pirates or terrorists? Dangerous being in the middle of an ocean unarmed if there isnt.

[Texter]

Being in the middle of the ocean isn't the problem, cutting close to land to save time is the problem.

Ala capt. Phillips, what a putz.

[tyde]

Always been curious with a merchant ships defense protocol. Is there a small armory in the ship and crew members that are responsible for her defense from pirates or terrorists? Dangerous being in the middle of an ocean unarmed if there isnt.

I think I mentioned this in a previous thread, but I took a class in San Diego called VPDSD (vessel personnel with designated security duties) which was essentially an anti piracy course.

I was rejected by MSC (Military Sealift Command) because they had a separate anti piracy course which I hadn't taken.

Ironically, that ship was based in Cape Canaveral with no stops in foreign ports, and sailed only in American waters and just off the coast of Cuba where there is little to no risk of a piracy incident.

The company I was hired by operates my vessel smack dab in the middle of the Malacca Straits, which is arguably one of the riskiest parts of the world in terms of piracy for merchant vessels.

Our ship is lined with razor wire on all accessible areas on the stern, port and starboard sides.

When transiting the Straits, we go into a full 'dark' operational status, meaning no external lighting, and all crew is required to keep their portholes covered and lights off after sunset...this is to simulate a Navy vessel which is obv a deterrent for any pirates.

Piracy is no joke and happens more often than you might think, especially in this part of the world. We have weekly drills and training sessions on a regular basis.

And no, other than a few small rifles on the bridge, there are no arms kept on board. Its a huge liability issue in international ports.

And also yes, Captain Phillips was a huge fucking moron. He tried to cut time and fuel costs by sailing way too close to the Somali coast

[tyde]

Yesterday on the beach in Diego Garcia

[tyde]