Kitchens of August 2024

Dining from the Ship’s Kitchen for One Week

The ship’s kitchen.

From August 17-25, our meals came from the excellent kitchen of the Lindblad-National Geographic Endeavor II as we were touring the Galapagos Islands. Beginning with a wonderful and varied breakfast buffet, we enjoyed each day’s food. Except for one barbecue buffet (originally planned to be on the deck, but the wind was too high) we sat down and had excellent table service for lunches and dinners. Despite the sometimes-frantic pace of multiple excursions to shore, the meals were always very relaxed, and we were happy with the companionship of other passengers onboard.

The kitchen viewed through a window (with reflections).

Every morning I ate the fruit from the breakfast buffet — especially the papaya.
Several counters were loaded with amazing choices of cereals, eggs, Ecuadorian pastry, and much more.

Desserts from the kitchen

As we entered the dining room we would see the beautifully plated desserts waiting to be served at the end of our meal.

Flan and chocolate lava cakes. MMMM! Dessert buffet after the barbecue meal.

Chocolate mousse cup served with an edible spoon made from white chocolate.
Ecuadorian chocolate is the best in the world, and the taste is unbelievable.

Tropical flavors: coconut, lemon, pineapple.

Len’s birthday cake — another beautiful creation from the ship’s kitchen.

And more…

The food was very flavorful but never hot-spicy. However, hot sauce was always on the table.

Salads were part of most meals. This one with flowers was especially pretty.

Another salad with an interesting crisp garnish.

Carrots, broccoli, and palm hearts.

Somehow by the time I received my main course I was always so engaged in conversation with my fellow diners that I never took photos of the plates, but believe me, there was always a wonderful local fish option and a meat or chicken option with many different vegetable and starchy side dishes. Potatoes, which are native to Ecuador and the Andes mountains were often on the menu. Yucca or casava was also used, as was a wide variety of sweet corn. Interesting fact: popcorn is used as a garnish for ceviche. 

We had a beautiful week on the Endeavor II.

In My Kitchen At Home in Ann Arbor

Now for my normal report on what’s happening in my kitchen — shared with the other bloggers at Sherry’s blog. And with the bloggers at Deb’s Sunday Salon.

Magnets from Ecuador on my refrigerator.

New napkin holder from the Quito Artisan Market.

Using Michigan’s great local produce in August…

Figs aren’t local but they are in season in August.

Plus one barbecue in our back yard: served with the lingonberry jam we bought at Ikea.

Since we came back:

Blog post and photos © 2024 mae sander

Ecuador Chocolate, Sugar, and Coffee

 

Delicious treat and interesting agricultural product.

During our trip on the Lindblad-National Geographic Endeavor II last week (August 17-24), we found the housekeeping extraordinary — our room was cleaned two or three times each day, and during dinner, our bed was “turned down” and a tiny wrapped chocolate placed on each of our pillows. Wow! Ecuadorian chocolate is the world’s best, they say. We found it delicious, especially in the fantastic cakes and candy that we ate.

Growing and Processing Cocoa

Besides eating quite a few delicacies made from Ecuadorian chocolate, and enjoying Ecuadorian coffee every day, we also enjoyed a visit to a very small and low-tech farm where chocolate was produced along with sugar, coffee, and a few other things. The rather primitive technology used here began around 60 years ago when the original owner started the farm. He and his family are still running it, and he described how things are done — one of the ship’s guides translated his explanations.

I’m sure the cultivation methods and food processing used on the mainland of Ecuador is much more sophisticated. There’s something very special about life in the Galapagos, which has a very small population and limited land for agriculture.

After the cocoa beans are extracted from the pods, there are many steps to the final production of chocolate — we saw only part of the process.

Another low-tech part of the process: melting the chocolate with sugar and coffee to create a
special product that can be used to make a beverage. These men are members of the extended family
that still runs the farm after two generations.

Low-tech Sugar Refining

The man in the blue shirt is the founder of the farm, who has worked there for around 60 years.
Just as I was about to take another photo, the beam came around and hit my leg… OUCH!

Sugar-cane juice can be made into coarse sugar or used in the chocolate-coffee mixture.

Q. What else can you do with sugar cane juice? 

A. Ferment it and make moonshine or rum.

Processing Coffee Beans

Coffee beans must be hulled, aged, fermented, and subject to a number of processing steps.

While shaking this open container, the person roasting the beans must watch carefully to get them just right.

A very interesting farm

Besides coffee, sugar, and cocoa, the farm produces torch ginger, bananas, and other plants.
It also has a few pigs and chickens. We totally enjoyed our visit.

Blog post and photos © 2024 mae sander

Birds

Three Species of Booby

Birding in the Galapagos Islands is an adventure, as every bird seems to have something remarkable about it. Everyone is of course charmed by the boobies and especially remembers the blue-footed boobies because of the funny name and very unexpected color of their feet. The bluer they are, evidently, the healthier and better-nourished they are.

According to the World Wildlife Fund, the name booby “originates from the Spanish word ‘bobo,’ which means silly or foolish. These birds tend to have a lack of regard for possible danger, making them vulnerable at times.”

Red-Footed Boobies are Just as Funny

This one was carrying a stick. Maybe nesting material?

Not to mention the Nazca Boobies

Also Nesting: a Great Frigatebird

The Chicks

Water Birds

Flamingos are found on one lagoon, far from their usual habitat throughout South and Central America.
We saw three of them while kayaking, but out of their usual locale.

The oyster catcher is a familiar bird from seashores on the East and West Coasts of the US.

Brown Pelican

Striated Heron

Yellow-Crowned Night Heron

Gulls

The Red-Billed Tropicbird

We had really wanted to see the Red-Billed Tropicbird — a new one for us.

Land Birds

A mocking bird.

Darwin observed that there were several species of mockingbirds, differing from island to island.

This is a Darwin Finch, known for its adapted beak.

The Yellow Warblers hang around the sea lions, hoping for insects that are attracted to the mammals.
It seemed a bit surprising that this familiar bird from home is also so well adapted to this strange place.

Another finch.

Galapagos Doves

We were happy to see some owls hunting on the lava beach.
This is a short-eared owl which makes itself at home in every continent except Australia and Antarctica.

We saw many other birds on the various islands we visited, and particularly enjoyed the nesting colonies where birds are incredibly tame. On our previous trip to the Galapagos, we also saw the nesting albatrosses and the mating displays of the Great Frigate birds. 

Photos © 2024 mae sander