Post the Thirty-First

Did I say that Post the Thirtieth would be the last one submitted from Davis?  Did I?  Did I?!

Well, it turns out that that was a dirty stinkin' lie.  Because here comes another one!  'ray!

Evidently I just can't help myself.  I have evolved into a Blogmonster.  Rarr.  I simply must blog.  Rarr.

That, and I felt that I really ought to document at least some of my final day in the Davis kitchen; the kitchen which had been my centre of gravity lo these last nine weeks.

So, Friday 1 February was my last day as a working chap at Davis.  And here is a random selection of photos - not too many - that I have taken.

First up - salad!  We have a salad bar in our kitchen, which is open at lunch time to offer a selection that differs from the hot food also provided.  And here it is.   We have very little fresh veg left, so there's not much of a range at this end of the summer.

Normally Hannah is OIC Salad Bar (she actually enjoys making the salads) but Hannah was off fulfilling another role today, so the task of refreshing the salad bar fell to me.   Under those lids is a large variety of preserved goods, cured meats and cheeses.  Om nom nom!

I couldn't be bothered removing all the lids to show you the contents.  Too bad.

While Hannah was away we had others assistifying us in the kitchen.  One of them was wintering expeditioner Nick Neynens (a Met Tech) who simply couldn't believe his good fortune to be spending the day with us in the kitchen.

Thrilled to be with us

And while I had my camera in hand, it occurred to me that I hadn't taken any photos of Team Davis Kitchen all together.  Time to rectify that!  As soon as Hannah showed up she popped in for a photo (after first donning an apron for authenticity's sake).  So, left to right are Hannah, Chef Rodney (Rocket) Charles and Chef Lesley Dautel.  I'm standing behind the camera - but you know what I look like.

What a team!  Go team!

 Rocket is staying on for the winter, whereas Hannah and Lesley are boarding the Aurora with me today. 

Another of Hannah's specialties (aside from salads) is the artwork on the menu whiteboard.  Every day she has spent time developing a new visual design for that day's menu.  Here she is doing her creative thang.

Menu art.

 While  Hannah worked on that, I tracked down our other helper for the day, Steffen Himsel.  Steffen is visiting from Germany, and his role will be to examine the wind turbine at Mawson (when he gets there).  He kindly volunteered to come ashore from the Aurora and spend some days in the kitchen helping out over resupply.  Thanks Steffen!

Steffen Himsel himself!

And, Hannah is now just about finished...

Scribble scribble.

 ...and proudly lifts the board to show us the fruits of her efforts.  What we have here is a drawing of each of the animals which are significant in the Davis area playing in a rock band.  Naturally!

Hannah's menu board artwork has become a bit of a feature, with many of the expeditioners looking forward to seeing what the day's theme will be when they come in for lunch.  Top stuff from Hannah!

Finished!

Except...

Much of her good work was to be undone.  By me.  Heh heh heh.

That evening was Pizza Night in the Davis kitchen, and in Hannah's absence it fell to me to deface amend the menu board.  Which I did.

Vandalism

 But Pizza Night didn't just mean changing the menu board.  Oh no.  This was the slushies' chance to shine!  Rocket had made the pizza dough, and Lesley had assembled the topping ingredients, but it fell to us slushies to turn the dough into the pizza bases and then put the toppings on.

So, we did that for 15 monster pizzas, some of which are pictured below waiting to go into the oven.

Raw pizza, freshly cut from the pizza vine.

 I would have taken a photo or six of the pizzas being assembled, but I was a little bit preoccupied making them to ensure we weren't late for the dinner gong.

We unskilled types aren't permitted to operate the ovens, so Lesley had to drive those for us.  Here she is removing a newly minted pizza from the oven.

A pizza is born.

From the oven to the bench where Steffen and I were waiting with the pizza wheels.  We busily converted slabs of pizza into slices of pizza.

Himself.  Again.

 And here they are - the fruits of our labours, all lined up under the heat lamps, while the skuas diners circled nearby.

A row of delicious.

And didn't they love them?  The gobbled them all up!

After dinner came the handover ceremony.  Bill DeBruyn, the summer Station Leader was handing responsibility for Davis over to Jason Ahrens, the incoming winter Station Leader.   We all gathered in the lounge upstairs to witness the momentousness of the occasion.

A small gathering.

 Bill (left) and Jason (right) share a joke with someone in the throng.   Ha ha ha ha ha.

Amused.

After the requisite amount of speechifying and so forth, the time comes for Bill to symbolically hand over the symbolic key to Jason.  As a symbol of the handover of responsibility.

It's all yours now mate.  Good luck with it.

And that's it.  With that handshake summer is over, and winter is about to begin.  And today (as I post this) I am getting on the ship to begin the (very) roundabout journey home.  May it be smooth sailing from here.

I'll see you at Mawson.  Probably.