Saturday October 1 – The Food

This is the Dessert Bar . . . . feel my pain

The food here is amazing. We get three meals a day if we want, plus a fourth if you make it to the midnight meal. At every meal there are at least two main dish options, two vegetarian options, veggies, soup and always, always, always bread. Every time a meal rolls around I go into panic drive hesitating between the pot pie or the mahi mahi with fruit salsa. Should I have a salad or steamed carrots? Do I want to add soup or should I wait to see if I’m full?

Every meal is a challenge to get it right and I joke that I don’t know what to eat until I’ve already eaten. People combine, add and mix together such creations that I find myself looking over shoulders to loaded blues trays and saying “Ahh man, I wish I’d done that,” or “I should have mixed that together too.”

Now desserts, well that table is the plague of my existence. There are always at least four desserts ranging from cupcakes and cookies, to brownies and bread pudding. Each lunch and dinner there are new ones to try and sample and I am drawn to it like a camel to water. Each day I vow to myself, while looking in the mirror, that I will be good, I will avoid the disastrous dessert bar, but then each meal I happen to glance over and . . . . Oh what’s that? Suddenly a bowl of pudding or a slice of hummingbird cake appears on my plate and I have no idea how it got there.

We will not starve here at McMurdo. In fact I would be more worried that we will weigh more then the plane can carry back at the end of the summer. There is one thing that I have been able to avoid so far that is the addiction of the base. Frosty Boy as it is called is the frozen yogurt/ice cream that is available any time of day or night. Flavors are chocolate and vanilla, with his sister Frosty Girl giving the option of vanilla custard and a custom flavor that changes upon the completion of the precious flavor. (The flavor now is Peanut butter Banana) I have heard that once you are given a sample of this sugary nectar you will be hooked, running to get a bowl at late hours, hearing it calling your name as you read in your room. I have watched many a good friends succumb to the call of the Frosty siblings and all I can do is shake my head and look away. I will not give in. I will not become a Frosty addict. I will stay strong.

Something you should know on the food topic is that “Freshies” are fresh fruits and vegetables that get delivered not often enough. Apples, bananas, lettuce and more all come and go as fast as they are put out. We are down to salads now which I love because they have that creamy ranch dressing that is just perfect dribbled over . . . . . Sorry I digress. The arrival of “freshies” is a celebrated occasion where apples win over cookies, and kiwis become the dessert of choice. I value theses shipments and I will never take for granted farmers markets or local produce. Now if we could just get real milk over powdered . . . . .