...and his girl left behind. Justin Chambers is going to Antarctica as a chef, and leaving behind all that is normal, for a whole year. Together, but apart, we will document our experiences (well, he'll give me the info verbally and I will turn that in to a blog post!!) as we live in two quite different worlds for those 12 months.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

A gorgeous shot


Justin took this photo when out for a 4 hour walk on Tuesday night.  The penguin is collecting stones for his nest.  (The sun is setting at around 10.50pm and rising again at around 12.45am.)


"Well It's been a very busy week for the kitchen with the unloading of food containers and also cooking for unknown amounts of crew............ there could be anything between 50-90 during lunch and dinner services.
The resupply went very well by everyone's standards and the ship managed to leave on Saturday just after lunch. It took quite a few hours to punch a way out of the bay and round the corner on her way back to Australia.
Meal times have returned to normal now, 6-8:30 brekkie, 12:30-1:30 lunch and 6-7 for dinner with Saturdays being 7-late .........Saturdays are deemed special nights so in the kitchen we either cater to a theme or organise food around our skills.
Last Friday we put on a bbq outside. Trestle tables were piled with salads, bread rolls and beer. Tony and I cooked from a shipping container (to keep the cold from slowing the process down). It ran for about an hour with people coming and going .......by the end most of the salads had frozen as with the sliced fruit and some of the rolls. Was a very strange experience. Though I will say the vista was absolutely amazing. Blue sky, frozen sea, islands and icebergs in the distance..............
This Saturday we will be putting on a fine dining evening starting with nibbles and drinks in the wallow (communal area/bar) then into the dining room for a couple of fancy-ish dishes. Next week it's a cocktail evening with canapés all night.
So far the meals have been varied both in style but also in fresh to frozen ratios. Hydroponics managed to get the last of their herbs to me before cleaning down for the new season. A large bag of basil which I use a little of in a lasagne, chives which have been put into a lot of dishes, parsley which has adorned a few plates and sage which went well in a chicken saltimboca .
I made one of my favourite cheesecakes the other night.....and it seemed to go down very well with the captive audience."

Mars Bar Cheesecake

Base
I used chocolate flavoured biscuits blitzed. Flour and melted butter were added until I got a lightly wet sand appearance.
You can substitute the base for any of your favourite cheesecake bases.
I lined the tin first with baking paper then put the biscuit mix in to form a base.

Filling
1kg cream cheese at room temp
150g sugar
5 eggs
30g cocoa
3 Mars bars sliced about 3-4mm thick


Combine the first four ingredients and blitz in a food processor until combined.
Fold in the mars and put into a prepared cake tin on top of the base.

The cheesecake can be cooked in a moderate to low oven until a skewer comes out clean. If the cake starts to get too dark in the oven place some foil over the top to complete the cooking.
Cool the cake completely before putting in the fridge.
I served this with large chocolate spikes and caramel sauce drizzled all over.

If you have any questions for Justin, just use the 'comments' and they will be answered. 

Mars Bar photo credit talkingship.com

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