Frozen Dishes : life after the ice
Tuesday, March 30, 2004
Had a fantastic weekend. Per usual a greenhouse shift started my Saurday. I love being in there. Later that night my hall hosted a party. Several residents, of the16, opened their doors and provided beverages for the guests. My room featured two options. One could either enjoy a vanilla martini or if that wasn't one's fancy the other option was the ole 7-up & vanilla vodka fallback drink of love. Luckily for me the head chef located some olives for me earlier in the day. If he hadn't done so I was going to have to bag the martini option, which of course would've been tragic. I put my vokda on the roof outside my room and when I got home from work I discovered it was frozen solid. Left it out a bit long, felt like a dumbass. After a quick thaw in the sauna (about 20 minutes) it was good to go. I mingled at the party for most of the night then headed to the bar to hang out. I once again had the pleasure of bartending. Enjoyed it emmensly. A fine night indeed. Spent the entire next day being lazy. Read a bit, played some video games with a buddy and took some naps. It was nice to catch up on some Z's.
Friday, March 26, 2004
Thursday is always a good day in me book. So close to the weekend you can taste it in the air. After work I chilled with a friend listening to some sweet tunes & chatting. When I showed up I was surprised to learn that tonight he would be playing the part of mr. motivation. During the evening he managed to blue board his windows & at one point I swear he lapsed into a frenzy of festoon hanging in the back room. I must admit though the joint looks awesome, more comfy for sure. Not totally dark yet. Twilight for a fortnight more then finally night skies will be upon us. I'm betting I'll see a star in less than a week. The beloved ice cream machine has but two more days of perfect performance to make this a flawless week of handing over the frozen goods. These are indeed uncharted waters of reliability in our relationship. Speaking of relationships I have a head count for the station, but need to get the definite number of ladies to answer the recent inquires of ice romance. Soon will I pass on my findings. This much I can pass on, the numbers do not bode well for this kid.
Tuesday, March 23, 2004
Got up early today to attend yoga. I haven't done yoga in a few years and my already aching muscles are a testament to that fact. It's a good way to start the day and after the short class I plan to continue my morning aerobic workout routine. I am probably the most unflexible person in the world, next to my best friend, so this class will be a good thing for me. Made some white chocolate / chocolate chip cookies for the masses and they liked them. I'm enjoying making cookies, but am looking forward to doing some more involved cooking as well. Honing my culinary skills was one of my reasons for working in the kitchen this year. Ice cream macine starts off the week working perfectly, but the week is young.
Sunday, March 21, 2004
I'm happy to report that a lovely evening was had by myself. Bartended at casino night for a bit, then met up with some freinds and went on a fun hike. Always good to spend some time with quality souls. Keeps one happy & healthy. Stopped by the bar later and cut a rug. Dancing, also always a good thing. Took some photos of the setting sun and hopefully they will turn out well. Goodnight.
Friday, March 19, 2004
-68, -133 w/c. For what seemed like an eternity it has been cloudy out and we haven't been able to see the sun. It is quickly slipping away now. But, we've gotten lucky these past few days with clear skies. The colors and shadows have been beautiful. Best guess is that our friend the sun will be totally gone by Monday. Everyone seems excited to see the night skies once again. Of course if someone is not excited, then they will have to get used to it real quick. I can't wait to step out of the dome and see all those stars. Hopefully I'll be seeing some auroras as well. Tomorrow eve is casino night and I've signed up to be a bartender / server. No craps, so no reason for me to gamble and I figured it would be fun to serve drinks. Should be a good evening.
Thursday, March 18, 2004
Happy St. Patty's day to all. Last night a few folks gathered in the local pub to toast the occasion. Some people had even saved some Guiness beer for the big night. Me, I'm not a beer drinker anymore but I did enjoy some Irish whiskey. We listened to Irish ballads for a bit then transitioned into dance music. There is one Irish guy here and we toasted him all night. He has a mohawk that he dyed green. Good times. I had thoughts of dying the vanilla ice cream green, but seeing as how the machine is working so good right now I didn't want to tempt fate.
Monday, March 15, 2004
Today when I arrived at my lovely dish room I discovered that I had a helper. The station manager of all people was back there washing pots and pans. That was a pleasant surprise to say the least. You see I start every day in the weeds, or behind for those not familiar with restaurant lingo. When I get to to work I have all the breakfast pots and the beginning of the lunch pots awaiting me. Thanks to P my helper I wasn't so far behind. With his help I managned to cut an hour off my usual morning load. So, I used that gift of extra time to make some cookies. I decided to bake some chocolate chip morsales, seeing as they are the majority favorite. I timed it so they were hot out of the oven right at lunch. Perfect treat on a cold day. On my hour break I started watching Resevoir Dogs, a classic. An incredible cast for srue. And what a tasty soundtrack that tickles the ears. Speaking of ears, I had to jet back to work just as the infamous ear scene was starting up. Then towards the end of dinner P once again gave me a hand and did some tidying up of the dining room. Got to love volunteers. Awoke the sleeping ice cream machine from its Sunday slumber and it worked flawlessly. A good start to the week indeed.
Friday, March 12, 2004
-57 ambient, -123 wind chill and 20 knott winds, perfect time to go on a 1/4 mile hike right? Well if you wanted to attend tonight's party you would do just that. Slushy parties are held every Friday night a little off station. Good times, good friends and good drinks. I've started to wear my parka now and am noticably warmer. Still holding on to just wearing the cotton pants to and from work, but that too will end soon. Time to start wearing long johns under them pants I think. It is definitely starting to feel like winter. There has been some interest regarding the love scene down here and I promise to discuss that soon. I just need to get the official female to male ratio. This much I can tell you though: no action for this kid. The girls here that catch my fancy in are either already dating someone or are not romantically interested in moi. C'est la vie I suppose. It's not as if I didn't see this coming. I can't complain too much though because I've been quite lucky during past seasons at McMurdo. Met some incredible ladies and had some great love affairs. But this time around it looks like I'll be flying solo. Alas, my main love this winter will have to remain the ice cream machine. And right now she is treating me just right. No problems to speak of. Although, recently little flakes have been appearing in the chocolate side. Looks like I added coffee grinds to the mix, but I assure you I've done no such thing. Everyone still eats it and no one is getting sick, so I guess it won't be an issue.
Saturday, March 06, 2004
Today was a fabulous day. Started the day with my greenhouse rounds, which always puts me in a good mood. Burgers for lunch and pizza for dinner. Good eats. I found out that tomorrow another Clint Eastwood westren is being shown. Looks like I'll be wearing my pauncho and smoking cigars at the bar again. That is the only thing I have planned for my day off. Besides finding time to nap. Should be a banner day. The girls are getting together for a ladies day as well. Naturally I've been joking with some of them about the proverbial pillow fight that is sure to break out.
Last night was cinco de montho. Every month on the fifth there is a party at the bar. This grand south pole tradition started up this past December. Due to my night shift schedule during the summer I never had the oppurtunity to attend any of the previous festivities. So, after hanging out with some friends after work I headed up to check out the scene. Lots of tequila had been consumed before I arrived that much was obvious. I was in a mellow mood and ventured into the room next to the bar that is currently being turned into a lounge. Played a few games of backgammon and called it a night. The machine of ice cream is working again after that cleaning. It gets a day off tomorrow, so that shouldn't hurt.
Thursday, March 04, 2004
Just got back from chilling out with a couple of really good friends after work. Listened to some quality tunes, laughed and swapped stories. A nice way to end the day. -96 wind chill when I went to work this morning. That made for a chilly walk. Mind you my stroll from the dome to the new station is a short one, but I felt the cold today. For now I'm only wearing my thin cotton galley pants as I make that jaunt, which doesn't help. Zero protection from the wind those pantaloons are. So, I can't cry, because I'm freely choosing to not wear my warm stuff just yet. Once at work I cleaned up my dish room and then ventured into the dining room to see what was happening out there. Immediately I noticed the ice cream machine had been shut off. That never bodes well. Sure enough once I had gotten the machine back into standby mode the vanilla side got up to its old tricks. Lots of loud squeeking as the cylinder froze up. Before the lunch hour I tried various procedures, taught to me by our valiant and not forgotten summer tech, to bring it back to ice cream giving health, but to no avail. At lunch it miracously dispensed a few bowls of vanilla then quickly froze up. I was forced to turn it off the vanilla and attach a "chocolate only" sign to it. Always hurts hanging that type of sign. It didn't stand a chance at dinner. So, I cleaned it out and tomorrow will hopefully be a better day for it. I must admit though, it had quite a good run for a bit.
Wednesday, March 03, 2004
The two day weekend was fantastic. Friday after work I got to once again bartend for a spell and had a blast. Saturday was a lovely lazy day complete with a nap and a late movie with some friends. Saturday night was also the unvieling of the vanilla vodka I'd been brewing for a couple of weeks. The cool baker from this past summer showed me the stash of vanilla pods before she left and I put a few into each bottle. It turned out great. Mixed with 7-up it made for tasty creme soda-esc cocktails. Soon I'll have a vanilla vodka martini, which is my favorite. Sunday was a nice day as well. We successfully made our one day movie. It turned out pretty good. It was only the two of us, no recruits could be mustered up, but it still worked out. We were indeed rusty. The movie was an orientation video to the south pole. A fun way to spend the day if nothing else. Made some more cookies yesterday, so the natives are happy. They are also happy with the ice cream machine. It continues to play nice giving out its frozen love.
