This morning we went to the Lido buffet for breakfast. We love the servers we usually have, Jonathan and Suresh, who are always smiling and helpful.
Today I chose an expertly cooked 5-minute egg, fresh berries, muesli, and smoked salmon.
After breakfast, we went to our bridge lesson. Our instructor gave us a book at our last class and of course, Ross had almost finished reading it before our second class.
For lunch today, there was the once-a-cruise Grand Gala Buffet in the Crystal Plaza. There was a massive amount of beautiful food.
Here I am in front of the dessert table.
A better view of the desserts:
Ross was standing in front of a 3-tiered tray of lobster tails. Also note the lovely ice sculpture. Many of the tables had similar sculptures on them.
Ross was at the salmon table here. They had freshly sliced smoked salmon that was amazing. It was just salty enough with a silky texture.
These cute penguins made from eggs and olives among other things.
After lunch, Ross needed a little rest. :)
I went to my art class where we painted whales with watercolors with a wax crayon resist technique today. And I remembered to take a picture this time. My painting isn't done yet, but is coming along nicely.
One of our favorite things on the ship is afternoon tea. After my class, Ross came to pick me up and we walked over to the Palm Court for tea. Ross stuck with the Darjeeling again, but I tried the decaf Ginger Twist.
This evening we attended a lecture by the mixologist, H. Joseph Ehrmann on the history of cocktails. He also demonstrated how to make an old fashioned, and both a gin and vodka martini.
We had time for another round of San Juan. Ross won this round. So it is now 1-1 now that we are playing by the right rules.
Tonight, in addition to the regular menu, we had the option of a special dinner prepared by guest chef Raphael Lunetta. Usually Ross and I each try to order different items so we can sample a wider variety, but we chose to stick with the entire guest chef menu this evening.
The appetizer was a tomato tart with camelized balsamic onions, pesto and an olive tapenade. It had a very complex yet balanced sweet-tart-salty flavor. Ross and I both enjoyed it.
Yesterday, while we were dining at Silk Road, the main dining room served soft shell crabs, which are one of my absolute favorite foods. Ross had spoken with the wonderful Maitre d’ Mario Gallo and he arranged for us to have the soft shell crabs today instead. I am so happy about how accommodating everyone is.
Our pasta course was a very nice sweet corn ravioli with 3 cheeses, snap peas and shaved black truffles. I thought the snap peas were especially tender and sweet. This was one of Ross's favorite dishes so far.
For dinner, we both had the halibut with baby leeks, artichokes and dried tomatoes in a lobster broth. The fish was perfectly flaky and delicious. The broth was rich and interesting. I liked getting the chef's menu because this dish is not something I would normally order and I was happy to try some new flavors.
Last we had a Meyer lemon soufflé with blackberry sorbet and blackberry sauce. The soufflé can only be described as exquisite. It had a very balanced sweet-tart flavor and a luscious light and creamy texture.
After dinner, we set our clocks back one hour to Alaskan time. Moving the clocks back to Pacific and then Alaskan time has made it very difficult for us to stay awake at night, especially since we have a late seating for dinner. We haven't gone to a show since that first night. Although, it is nice to be able to wake up early every morning.
Tomorrow we will be spending the day in Sitka, Alaska.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone.
No comments:
Post a Comment