Michael R. Osborne, CEC Joins the Adopt-a-Chef Program

The adventure of a life-time came true me this November when I had the pleasure of joining the men and women of the US Navy aboard the missile cruiser, USS - Leyte Gulf (CG-55). They had been on a 10 month long deployment and were scheduled to return to their homeport at the Norfolk Naval Shipyards in Portsmouth, VA. I was whisked away to meet the ship at the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea at Rota Naval Base in Spain. After a lengthy flight and a couple of extended layovers, I arrive at my destination. I was meet at the Jerez, De La Frontera Air Port by the ships Food Service Officer (LTJG. Ty Hoang). Ty escorted me to the ship in Rota and checked me in. After getting my room together, I accompanied Ty on his liberty call, down town to eat dinner and enjoy some of the local sights. We had some of the finest and most tender beef at the Argentinean Steak House. I noted how good the fresh olives and olive oil was.

My first evening in Rota ended after meeting up with a couple of Oakland A’s baseball players. They were in Rota as part of a military (MWR) morale, welfare and recreation visit. The ball players were Nick Swisher and his teammate Joe Blanton. Ty and I played a couple of games of darts with Nick and called it a night. I ran into Nick and Joe the next day at the ship and got them to sign some autographs.

That morning, I went down to Rota again on a liberty call with my new roommate for the next 10 days, Lt.Cmdr Nick Viera. Nick is the ship’s Chief of Engineering, or CHENG for short. I found out quickly that this meant Nick was called at all hours of the day or night whenever something went wrong on the ship. Nick speaks fluent Spanish and had been to Rota before, so he knew his way around. He gave me the “Grand Tour”. Any of you that have traveled to a foreign country before and have been fortunate enough to have a translator/tour guide with you, knows how important and fun it is. Nick got us taken care of like we were regulars at every place we went. It was an absolutely amazing experience. We sampled cured hams, dried sausages, aged cheeses, fresh baked breads, special olive oils, coffee drinks and pastry. That evening we visited a local Bodega and purchased some of the best Spanish Sherry I have ever had. The bodega owner was probably a little disappointed when Nick told him I didn’t want to drink his finest sherry, I just wanted to cook withy it, but when I gave him my business card and he saw my last name “Osborne” he was delighted. The name Osborne is huge in the wine, sherry and brandy making business of southern Spain and has been in the business there since the early 1700’s. I couldn’t help but buy a couple of souvenir bottles with my name so proudly displayed on them.

The next morning we were underway, you could tell that there was a great deal of excitement aboard ship because this trip was heading home. We were just outside the coastal waters when we came upon the USS Enterprise. The Enterprise is the reason we were there. The Leyte Gulf is part of the Enterprise Carrier Group and performs as an escort for the carrier. The mission of the Leyte Gulf is to protect the Enterprise from attack by submarines and missiles. The USS Enterprise loomed ominously on the sea with her deck covered in F-18 hornets and other various aircraft. I stood proudly knowing that this was “Our Ship”. The size of the Enterprise alone will make your hair stand up. The carrier was traveling attached to an “Oiler” refueling ship. The two of them were waiting for us to join them and travel in tandem. There we were three abreast doing about 30 knots slicing through the water. Cables strung between each ship as we took on fuel and the Enterprise took on other supplies.

The USS Enterprise is a nuclear powered Air Craft Carrier and it only requires fuel for the planes on board. We were still topping off our fuel tanks when the Enterprise made her move to the outside and did what they call “Peeling Off”. As she move away a familiar sound came to my ears, over the Enterprise’s loud speakers was playing “Ozzy Osbourne’s, Momma I Coming Home”. Chills went straight up my backbone and a tear came to my eye, as I knew that this moment was going to be one of those I would remember forever! We would see the USS Enterprise several more times over the trip, but none of those meetings would have a greater impact on me than this one.

Our ship, the Leyte Gulf is named for what many consider the most important and largest naval battle ever fought. Lasting from 23 to 26 October 1944 this World War II battle was fought around the Philippine island of Leyte. The battle saw the loss of 5 Carriers, 3 Battle ships, 2 destroyers, 8 cruisers, some 15 other support vessels and more than 13,500 lives lost. It shattered the Japanese Imperial Navy and all but ended their Naval presence in the Pacific.

My job on the Leyte Gulf was to assist and train the culinary specialists that were responsible for preparing 3 meals and a snack everyday for the more than 400 aboard. I was not mentally prepared for what I encountered, but I am very fortunate that my prior military / culinary training did prepare me for what lay ahead. While attached to the US Air Force I had attended the Navy’s “A” school for culinary arts training at Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland and also Armed forces culinary academy at Randolph AFB in Texas. I was going to be very glad I had paid attention in class. there is a big difference between restaurant cooking and mass feeding. The skill sets are still pretty much the same, but the concept is entirely different. You have to get the right mind-set together with the skill set or you are going to be in for a rough ride. In a restaurant the emphasis is on sales and in mass feeding the emphasis is on subsistence. The culinary specialists on the Leyte Gulf gave me a first hand demonstration of food production geared toward subsistence. I rolled up my sleeves and jumped right in.

I found myself working along side some very skilled workers. I was very impressed with their abilities and the depth of their training to that point. I found that my biggest benefit to them was going to be shown through a series of hands on demonstrations, while under fire. I enjoyed great success with this training approach and found the culinary staff watching and practicing new techniques that I had shown them. They were very attentive, asked lots of questions and shared with me some of those valuable little kitchen tricks that each of us have acquired over the years. I feel that I came away from the experience with a much deeper appreciation of mass feeding and certainly a whole new series of skill sets. (What kind of skill sets you might ask?)

Have you ever thought what it would be like to cook on a roller coaster? Well it’s not quite that challenging, but it’s close. There were days that the ship twisted and turned like a bucking bull and many pots and pans literally flew off the worktables. I found myself developing a sense of timing for the center of a series of waves that would allow me the chance to move with grace through the kitchen without falling on my hind end. I was told that I had acquired my “Sea Legs”. Before that, it was one hand to hold on and the other to cook with. My productivity doubled when I was back to using two hands. Then there is the ability to slide to your destination instead of walking. The floor in the kitchen was always wet and if you used it to your advantage, you could gracefully slide across the kitchen when the ship listed to port and make your way back when she went to starboard. I guess I would have required more time on board before I could master the art of the swinging utensil rack to find my favorite tools, or the automatic oven door slammer. Let’s just say that the motion of the ocean is not something you want to have in your kitchen. It makes everything harder!

Highlight of my trip: I was invited up to the bridge to see the control center for the ship. When I arrived, the ship’s captain asked me if I would like to take the wheel! I took over steering the 567 foot, 9,800 ton vessel. I must admit I felt BIG! My 440-Cuda is KOOL but this was AWSOME! I got to plot our course and stood by while they fired the 5-inch gun. With a range of up to 13 miles, a 75 pound bullet, the bang was worth the buck. There isn’t a whole lot left that can top this…. or is there? Life is good, but maybe the best is yet to come?

Being a veteran myself, it was a special treat to spend November 11 th, Veteran’s Day aboard a US war ship. I felt the “espirit de corp” coming up from deep down inside me. I was flanked on all sides by the service men and women that let us all sleep better at night. Being surrounded by these real life heroes’s is special on any day, but today…. it was special. God bless our troops, and God Bless America!

Winterlude

Every winter, for a couple of weeks in January, Ottawa becomes a center for celebrating the season. Home to the world's longest outdoor ice-skating venue, Ottawa hosts Winterlude each year, featuring snow sculptures by local teams, ice sculptures, concerts, and ice-skating along the canal.

Thousands of visitors come from all over to take part in the fun, and the canal, well frozen by this time, is packed with people skating along the 9 kilometer skating lane between the Hartwell Locks and the Downtown area. Along the way there are snow sculptures, heated change rooms, huts selling "beavertails" and hot-chocolate, and special performances.

Pull on your hat and mitts and come play outside with thousands of fun-worshippers at North America’s greatest winter celebration!

That is what the PR material says, but the thing most interisting to chefs is probably the Ice Sculpture and Snow Sculpture, so I thought we would show some of the entries for this year. A fascinating world of ice!  By day, or by night, this spectacular garden of ice comes to life. Some of the best carvers in the world create masterpieces that will take your breath away.

In the courtyard of the Congress Centre, a garden of ice sculptures forms one of the nicest Winterlude attractions. Different countries participate in the exhibit with beautiful ice sculptures sponsored by the various embassies in Ottawa.

The ice sculptures don't last for long, however. A few days of warmer weather, and the ice sculptures will have melted. And in the spring, after warm sunny weather has melted the ice off the canal, it's hard to believe that this was all a white winter wonderland just a few weeks before.

Snow sculpture is a sculpture form comparable to sand sculpture or ice sculpture in that most of it is now practiced outdoors, and often in full view of spectators, thus giving it kinship to performance art in the eyes of some. The materials and the tools differ widely, but often include hand tools such as shovels, hatchets, and saws. Snow sculptures are usually carved out of a single block of snow about 6 to 15 feet on each side and weighing about 20 - 30 tons. The snow is densely packed into a form after having been produced by artificial means or collected from the ground after a snowfall.