30 May, 2000

Life Aboard the Healy

May 30, 2000

Tuesday

Today we’re steaming back to St. John’s for refueling before we head up north to the ice on Saturday. We thought this would be a good time to take a break from the science and tell you what it’s like to live on an icebreaker. The Healy is really like a small town. Everything you need to live and do your work is there. Sometimes the ships are out at sea for months at a time. They can’t just run down to the store if they forget something!

One of the most important things is food. The food on the Healy is really good! It’s prepared in the galley (kitchen) by 6 crew members who cook in shifts. Every day they cook 3 full meals for over 100 people! They also cook a meal at midnight (called “mid rats” which is an abbreviation of “midnight rations”) for the crew members who have to stay up all night on watch. The galley crew also orders all the food for the ship. That’s quite a tall order! Every day we go through more than 70 gallons of milk and 100 pounds of potatoes. When we’re in port, the cooks will buy 300 dozen eggs! (How many eggs is that?) The refrigerators can hold fresh fruits and vegetables for up to 2 weeks. After that, the crew eats a lot of canned and frozen food.

This morning the cooks served a typical breakfast: eggs (cooked to order), bacon, home fried potatoes, grits, 4 different kinds of cold cereal, pop tarts, pancakes, yogurt, and fresh fruit. You can take as much as you want, and even go back for seconds!

All of the food is delicious, but the best part is dessert. Every night there have been at least 3 different desserts to choose from, such as cookies, cake, ice-cream, and chocolate pudding. Try this recipe for our favorite cookies. You might want to cut it in half, though; this recipe makes 100 cookies!

Sylvester’s Cho-Oat-Chip Cookies

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed

2 cups butter, softened

1 cup sugar

4 eggs

1/4 cup milk

3 teaspoons vanilla

5 cups quick cooking rolled oats

2 cups pecan halves, chopped

4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Beat brown sugar, butter, and sugar until creamy. Beat in eggs, milk, and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in oats, chocolate chips, and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 10 minutes for chewy cookies or 12 minutes for crispy cookies.

To find out what we do for fun on the Healy, click on Susan’s page.

Susan’s Entry Today.

More later. Bye for now!

Chief Scientist Dr. Kelly Falkner orders her lunch. It's hard to decide with so many wonderful choices!

This is the mixer that mixes the cookies that feeds the crew that run the ship that we call Healy!

This is Lee. He has been cooking in the Coast Guard for the past 4 years. Today he is making soup for lunch!

We have lots of choices of things to drink on the Healy. You can have milk, soft drinks, coffee, or juice!