last morning in camp

Guess it is finally home time for me. Guess it was sort of uneventful out here in camp this time out. Not sure if these are situational funny moments, you know those moments where you had to be there for them to be amusing but when you are told them you scratch your head and go 'ummm, ok...guess you had to be there'.

One thing that gets on the cooks in camp nerves, and trust me there are a lot of things that get on our nerves, are people that 1) don't use the tongs that are provided to the dish that is set but use anything that they can grab and 2) those that can't wait to stand in front of the item but instead reach across someone and grab something to put on their plate. One case happened for the first point where I think it was Saturday night junk food night. We had burgers and fish and chips on the line. The way it was set up was that the first steam well pan had toasted burger buns, next were the burger patties, then the battered fish and finally the home cut fries (just like NY Fries potato fries). So this one guy comes in and looks at the four items, which all have a set of tongs set in front of them in plain view and sight, and he picks up the tongs for the burger buns and grabs a bun...then moves down with the same tongs and grabs a hamburger...then with the same tongs grabs a couple pieces of fish and then, yes again with the same tongs, grabs a load of fries and looks down the line and feeling that he has enough puts the tongs in with the fries (now there are two sets in the fries and none in the burger buns) and starts to walk away. I look at the 1st cook totally stunned and he moves forward in time so that the guy was in ear shot and said, not shouted, so that the guy couldn't miss it "don't worry, I will get those tongs and put them back". The best part that got me laughing, and this might be the 'you had to be there' part, was when the 1st cook looked at me when he was walking back from the line and in a very good Goofy voice impersonation said "I am in charge of flight details, yuk yuk". This was the Saturday after the Friday grocery plane was diverted and then Saturday when no groceries were flying in and the whole plane booking was a fiasco.

Allergies and food preferences were on the rise this time in camp. We had a lactose intolerant guy, guy allergic to soy and a few vegetarians that wrinkled their noses at all the meat dishes that we served (though one of them actually tried 1/4 of a steak). I learned that soy has got to be one of the worst things to be allergic to on the planet. Not because of the lethality (if that is a word...is it? well, if it isn't it should be) of the allergy but because soy has to be in nearly every single thing that we have out here to cook with. Nothing deep fried since the oil has some soy in it (we fry in vegetable oil and supposedly that is iffy cause there is a 90% chance that the oil has soy in it); since margarine is cheaper than butter the bosses prefer that we use margarine in place of it when possible. So our vegetables have a bit of margarine on them for taste, bit of it in the rice for shine, some in the noodles for shine as well as taste. So no noodles, rice or vegetables for the guy. All the salads when I had a Ceasar out were dressed/creamed so no salads. I mean, some days the only thing that we had on the line for him to eat was the bread and pickle tray. Though once we became aware of the allergy we started getting a little more helpful to him. I started having a tossed salad out every night, even if it was just a 1/2 a container so that 5 salads were out instead of just 4, the vegetables started being sauteed in olive oil or steamed and just put out with some seasoning but no oil/butter/margarine and before each meal I was briefed by the 1st cook on what he could or couldn't eat so that when he came through we could warn him about potential dangerous items. When he left camp he thanked us for our consideration to his allergy needs and hopes that he returns to camp for the great food.

Our groceries did arrive on time on Friday this week so we were happy. However, since we can never be 100% satisfied with anything, we were ticked cause it came on steak night as well as right in time for lunch. By 'in time for lunch' I mean 10 skids of groceries came to the back loading dock as soon as we opened the doors to feed 70 people for lunch and there was only 3 of us in the kitchen, plus the camp manager helping out. Though it evened out since we lost our dishwasher from time to time so that he could keep up with giving out silverware and clean plates/bowls. Now our fridge and freezer are packed to the brim. So packed that we have stuff piled on the floor waiting for room on the shelves to be put away. No worries now about running short on something.

Not that it matters to me, cause in 7 hours I am going to security to board a plane to fly to Yellowknife. In 12 hours I will be in Yellowknife doing odd jobs and chores at my parents place and then in 23 hours I will be on a plane to Edmonton and then in 26 hours from this moment (8:10am) I will be walking in the door to the condo to hug the Mrs...