The Last Breakfast

All winter long we've been treated to a Sunday Brunch once a month. Michael once again has been the mastermind behind this dining treat, also known as Biggest Breakfast in Antarctica, or BBIA. As we now have one month left to go this winter, we celebrated our last BBIA this past Sunday.

And it was no ordinary meal as we turned the Galley into a formal dining room. The coverings are off of the windows now and we're enjoying ambient light from outside, although a blizard is currently making it look still quite wintery and dark at the moment.

It was a sit-down dining experience complete with menus, table cloths, candles and unique candle holders.

Volunteers were recruited as the wait staff to take orders, serve the diners and attend to their every need. Here's Neal with Katie, Lynette and Dainella as they wait for the breakfast rush.

We also had a BBIA Bar serving up Mimosas, Bloody Marys, Velvet Beer (Guiness and champagne) and red beer (Bloody Mary mix and beer). The bar tenders Dan, Jordan and Paul kept the diners happy, as well as their best customer Dave (seated in front) who had been helping Michael back in the kitchen since 5am.

It was a full house that morning with hungry Polies and busy servers.

The orders came in quickly and Michael had his hands full cooking up steaks, salmon, eggs (made with frozen egg product since we ran out of fresh eggs in the shell). There were also hash browns, home fries, biscuits and gravy and an assortment of baked goods to go with the mains. That's one of my homemade bagels in the background with lox, capers and cream cheese.
Katie was busy bringing orders from the tables and lining them up for the chef.



A crowd favorite: homemade cinnamon roll with cream cheese frosting!

If Neal decides to give up his career in science, he could make a living as a waiter judging by the attention Sven got. Here he is getting some honey for his tea, one of the many drinks Sven ordered, in addition to the sampler of all of the beverages offered up by the bar. We're talkin' full service at this joint!

And one last shot taken from the Galley windows of the geographic pole with a Scott tent set up for intrepid campers. The flags are my personal ones that I'm flying for the winter for some friends. Believe it or not, the sun will be peeking above the horizon in a few days...whether or not we see it on Sep 21 will depend on the visibility at the time. Currently we're having winds of 30 knots and gusts even higher. Old man polar winter isn't quite done with us yet.