In the middle of the galley there is a cooker, with four hot plates on it, and on both sides workspace for working. You can go around the cooker, which is quite convenient. I always loved to be in the kitchen of my mother although hers was very small compared to the galley. It always smelled good when she cooked - the thing I liked the most was when she was making cookies for Christmas. Everywhere was that smell of chocolate, honey, yeast or melted butter. Maybe that is the reason why food - especially organic food - played such an important role in my life.

Cooking on a ship means that you need long-life groceries and most of it comes from the freezer. I guess fresh food is the only thing I have been missing during the two weeks I have been onboard - and there will be more time when I am going to miss it.

Time went by so quick in the galley that I didn't remember to take a look outside. In the evening I was not sure whether the Esperanza had was still at anchor or if we were sailing again. The reason is: the portholes in the galley are barred with bottles of oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, sugar... So it is impossible to have a view of the outside. Even if I love to cook and to eat, I always feel sad about spending time indoors and not outside in the fresh air - especially when I live on a ship. But this time I discovered something special: I found a book for baking sweets like pies, tarts, muffins and cookies. I hope I can motivate some people to do some of these for Christmas. Christmas without sweets, I really cannot mention it!

Obviously it seems a little bit curious to think about such things, when the temperature outside amount to about 25ºc and we are here to protect the marine environment. In this area tourist development destroys the coastline and endangers species living here and they will go on building marinas. But small things are also part of life.

Furthermore you cannot fight when you are hungry, power and energy depends on that. So I prepared some cakes with apples and cinnamon for the next day.

[Nina's cakes were D E L I C I O U S and the whole crew turned into cookie monsters / Iréne]