Tag: food

St. Croix

Celebrity Constellation, Day 6, Thursday, December 3, 2015

We docked at Frederiksted, which at a quick glance, had nothing much for tourists except for a few native market stands and uninviting streets.

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Rather than take one of Celebrity’s island tours for $80 or more, we opted to hire a cab on the pier. We found a booth offering $25 island tours, with a $8 extra fee if we wanted to stop at the Cruzan Rum Distillery. Add in a $5 tip, and it would cost us $38 each. That’s a lot cheaper than the cruise line’s price. We wouldn’t stop at the botanical garden like their tours, but we’d still drive through the rainforest.

Twelve passengers fit inside the air-conditioned van that came with seatbelts and commentary by the driver. We bumped along roads that needed fixing up into the hills with trees surrounding us, until we reached a smoother section of asphalt. Long vines hung down from trees through the rainforest. We drove along hilly roads with scenic views.

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Our first stop was the Renaissance Resort, a beautiful beachside hotel with elegant amenities and clean rest rooms. We admired the breathtaking views from here before scampering back inside the van.

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Our next stop, for a full hour, was in the larger city of Christiansted. Here we scurried around to the souvenir shops, admired the view from the water, and wished we had more time.

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Our final stop was the Cruzan Rum Distillery. I was fascinated by the nooks and crannies in this place, my imagination sending Marla and Dalton here while being chased by a killer. What a perfect complex for an action sequence. I’ll have to set a similar facility in a fictional location for a future book. This place was so interesting that it’ll be my blog post for tomorrow.

During our drive back through the forest-lined roads, I spotted the rear end of a horse sticking out from the trees. Liberated by the rum I’d had to drink, I shouted out: “Look, there’s a horse’s ass.” My fellow passengers were not amused. Wish I could have gotten a picture to prove my point, but we drove by too fast. The scenery was lovely as we headed back toward the ship.

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Once again in Frederiksted, we grabbed lunch at Pier 69 on Kings Street. The native markets didn’t hold much of interest, so we waddled our way back onto the ship for a much needed nap.

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I don’t remember what we ate for dinner that night, but here are the photos from our repast after the sun descended:

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Coming Next: Cruzan Rum Distillery

St. Maarten

St. Maarten
Day 5, Wednesday, December 2, 2015

I needed to fortify myself with a good breakfast in preparation for shopping, so I ate another omelet with roasted potatoes, bacon, rye bread, and fresh pineapple.

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St. Maarten is my favorite island to visit. I went out on deck to watch our approach.

 

We took the water taxi from the pier into Philipsburg, the Dutch side of this island. It costs $7 cash for a round trip. As you see, many other ships were in dock that day. We went into town early so as to beat the crowds.

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The water is a vibrant jewel green. At the other end, you can shop, dine out, or lounge on the beach, all within walking distance.

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The shops beckoned to us, so we picked up our freebies with coupons from the ship and couldn’t resist many of the other wares. We stopped in the Guavaberry liquor place but didn’t buy anything as we still had a supply from previous cruises.

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We ate lunch at the Barefoot Terrace where I’d been before. I had coconut shrimp, which was six huge butterflied shrimp fried in batter, along with a choice of two sides. Mine were fried plantains and rice with black beans. Janice had coconut curry chicken. Now I have a craving to cook that dish at home.

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By the time we finished shopping, we were tired and ready to return to our cabins. Having visited the island before, we’ve already taken the excursions to the French side and seen the sights. There’s a nude beach somewhere if you’re interested and it still exists. But why pay for a taxi to a beach when there’s one right there where you land in Philipsburg? My conclusion: I still love St. Maarten, and it remains a favorite port.

Dinner in the dining room that night was spinach and cheese turnover, roasted turkey with accompaniments, and a moist chocolate sacher torte. Are you hungry yet?

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Coming Next: St. Croix

St. Barthelemy

Gustavia, St. Barth (Saint Barthelemy)
Day 4, Tuesday, December 1, 2015

St. Barthelemy is a tiny French island in the Caribbean. All prices are in Euros and the language is French. Here we are on the tender ride from the Celebrity Constellation:

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We strode along the main street lined with shops, which are mostly expensive boutiques. However, you can pick up souvenirs for a decent price. Check out the supermarket. Here’s where you can buy coffee, cookies, candy, and more for gifts. This is along the main street off the tender pier and toward the right. There is a drugstore to the left side of the dock, but their items are pricey. Fancy toiletries are available if you’re willing to pay the price.

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Red sloped roofs abound on attractive housing scattered up the hillsides. Streets are narrow and very steep.

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Strolling toward the right, we passed a harbor with boats and an open-air restaurant. We’d hoped to walk to Shell Beach, but it was too far and too hilly. Along the way, we passed some old churches. The scenery is charming with lovely views of the water.

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For lunch, we chose a restaurant called Le Repaire across the street from the pier and toward the right. My husband and I shared a plate of grilled mahi mahi with rice and vegetables for $24 Euros. I had a Planter’s Punch that packed a punch for 10 Euros. The total cost came to 41 Euros, which included one liter of bottled water for 7 Euros. This comes out to more in U.S. dollars. Despite the cost, my cousin Janice and I sure enjoyed our drinks!

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My conclusion? Attractive, upscale island but too limited for sightseeing tours and shopping opportunities. It would not be on my must-revisit list.

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Back on the ship, we relaxed for the rest of the day. For dinner in the ship’s dining room that night, I selected shrimp cocktail, Caprese salad, and Braised Lamb.

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Coming Next: St. Maarten

 

Celebrity Constellation: The Food, Part 2

Celebrity Constellation: The Food, Part 2

Eating while someone else cooks and does the dishes is the best part of a cruise. We are continuing with Day 3, when we dined at the Ocean Liners specialty restaurant, courtesy of our travel agent (Adam Wolf at The Cruise Web). The three of us (I traveled with my husband and cousin Janice) soaked in the elegant surroundings while various waiters attended us. Paintings decorated wood-paneled walls, and the lighting was dim enough so everyone looked good. See that pyramid? It’s butter.

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As a starter came scallops in sauce:

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Next I chose a phyllo baked Anjou pear with Roquefort cheese. Janice had lobster bisque as her appetizer. She went on to order the lobster tail for dinner, which the waiter prepared at a side table. Look how excited she is to dive in:

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My husband and I ordered Chateaubriand for two that came with vegetables. This was prepared tableside as well and served with Bearnaise and Cabernet sauces:

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We were all presented our dinners with the silver covers as above, and then three different waiters lifted these tops from our plates in unison. The service was impeccable, better than any we’ve experienced on land in recent times.

For dessert, I ordered a dark chocolate soufflé with vanilla sauce. We also received this bon bon dish with more sweets. None of us could eat another bite.

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This meal was a highlight of the cruise. Definitely book a meal here if you are on this ship. The Tuscan Grille is another specialty option, but we eat enough Italian food at home that this choice with the extra cost didn’t appeal to us.

By my estimation, I gained two pounds on this cruise. I climbed the stairs and walked around the ship for exercise, plus we did quite a bit of trekking uphill while in the ports. And coming next are the ports of call, including what we ate on those days.

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Coming Next: Ports of Call

 

 

 

 

 

Celebrity Constellation: The Food, Part 1

Celebrity Constellation: The Food, Part 1

The coffee on this cruise was the best I’ve ever had on a ship. It was hot and strong with flavor and body. Since I’m a Starbucks fan, this is how I like it. The initial creamer cups they put out were skimpy little things that were hard to open, but about halfway through the trip, they put out decent cups of half-and-half, for which I was grateful. You could get milk in pitchers but not creamer. The fruit juices were too sweet for my taste, including apple juice; orange juice; and fruit punch. Iced tea in the dispenser was unsweetened. Lemonade was another choice.

Free ice cream and frozen yogurt was available at the buffet along with various toppings, otherwise you had to pay at the gelato bar on deck five. There was often a line at the free ice cream station, which was near the exit to the pool. You could get the dessert in a cone or a dish. Flavors varied daily.

Cookies were available here, too. These cookies were crunchy and not chewy. When they are hard, they don’t seem as fresh, and I prefer chewy cookies that melt in your mouth. You could get the same cookies at the buffet, or for free at the coffee and gelato bars on deck five. The specialty coffee lounge also had an array of fresh desserts like a different kind of éclair each day, various cakes, and other treats. There was no additional cost for these food items.

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Portion sizes at dinner were miniscule. For example, a side dish for one entrée was Brussel sprouts. You got one and a half sprouts. Rack of Lamb came with three pieces. Ditto for the shrimp scampi with linguine. You got four shrimps in a spicy sauce. However, when you added in the appetizer course, soups and salads, plus dessert, the meal turned out to be adequate. The presentation was attractive, but the portions always made us grin in disbelief. The food was very tasty with appealing choices each evening. And you could always get the Caesar salad (crisp but no anchovy flavor); French onion soup; shrimp cocktail; or steak.

My only objection was the bread. You got a basket on the table with plain bread sticks or slices of French bread every evening. Butter, cream cheese, and hummus came as accompaniments. We would have liked more variety, like different breads each night. These choices were offered at breakfast but not at dinner. We got tired of the French bread after the second meal.

The dining room service was wonderful. Despite our having no fixed seating, we didn’t have to wait in line to get into the restaurant, and we got the same table each night. So here is what we ate from what I remember:

Day 1, Saturday–Departure

Lunch: Buffet; Rum Cake with Pina Colada Ice Cream
Dinner: Shrimp Cocktail with Guacamole, Salad, Prime Ribs, Apple Pie a la Mode

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Day 2, Sunday—At Sea

Breakfast: Omelet made to order; turkey sausage; croissant, fresh fruit

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Mid-morning, we attended the Cruise Critic roll-call party where they served pastries and coffee.
Lunch in the Dining Room: Teriyaki Duck Breast with rice and sautéed bok choy. The warm peach cobbler was to die for but gave me my dessert calories for the day.
After lunch was the Captain’s Club member party with cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and desserts.

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At 4pm, you could get little sandwiches and desserts at the buffet like for afternoon tea. If you’re still hungry, the pizza or pasta stations in the aft sections of the buffet always seemed to be open, and the outdoor grill by the pool serves hamburgers and hot dogs.

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Dinner: Tender Beef Tornadoes with accompaniments.

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Day 3, Monday—At Sea
Breakfast: Green onion and mushroom omelet made to order, nova salmon, roasted potatoes with bell peppers, sautéed mushrooms, fresh pineapple. Later, I snitched an almond croissant from the coffee bar. (And you wonder why I gained weight?)

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Lunch: Roast carved turkey with gravy and cranberry sauce, French Fries (thin and crispy without being salty; mashed or baked potatoes were also available). Spinach cheese dish was very good. Look at the whole chickens below at the buffet. Later I tried the Dulce de Leche éclair at the coffee bar.
Afternoon Snack: Vegetable pizza

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At 5pm, we gathered in the Reflections Lounge for the Elite Captain’s Club free drinks and skimpy appetizers (waiters brought them around and gave you one or two bite-sized hors d’oeuvres on a napkin)
Dinner this night was at the amazing Ocean Liners specialty restaurant, courtesy of our travel agent (Adam Wolf at The Cruise Web). And now I’m hungry, so we will have to continue this in the next blog.

You can see more photos here: https://www.facebook.com/NancyJCohenAuthor

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Booklovers Bench, Dec. 1-18
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Coming Next: The Food, Part 2

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all my online friends. I am thankful for your follows and comments throughout the year. Your feedback and support are immensely important to me, and I just want to take this time to let you know how very much I appreciate each one of you.

Turkey

Here is wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday,

Nancy

Bradenton

I was invited to give a talk for the Manatee Arts and Lecture Series in Bradenton, Florida, followed by a high tea, on Wednesday, October 21. https://youtu.be/_hRX_Pt18LY

We arrived the day before at this surprisingly large town on Florida’s west coast just north of Sarasota. After crossing a bridge spanning the Manatee River on Business Route 41, we swung left to the Palmetto Riverside Bed and Breakfast. This lovely historic house was built in 1913 and later expanded as a wedding venue. It has six bedrooms, each with private bath. The rooms are decorated with many interesting knickknacks. From the moment you enter, the host and hostess greet you warmly and see to your every need.

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Here’s the house next door:

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Drinks and appetizers are complimentary pre-dinner. We enjoyed hors d’oeuvres and chatting with other guests before heading over to the Riverhouse Reef and Grill for dinner. This was a lovely setting on the river, and we enjoyed our meal of salmon with a lemon dill sauce. Here we visited with my former critique partner, author Sharon Hartley, who’d made the trip to join us. Our appetizers, besides a bowl of green olives and another one of a strange orange fruit:

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In the morning, our B&B hosts served us a sumptuous breakfast on the sunny enclosed porch. The choices were too many and highly tempting. A cart was rolled over to our tableside. It held a bread basket (croissants, nut bread, French bread slices); yogurt parfait; fruit cup; selection of cheeses; orange juice; watermelon smoothie. Who could eat all this? But that wasn’t all! Our host brought over a plate with scrambled eggs and a panini sandwich. More weight gained!

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Barely able to move after this enormous meal, we staggered to the car and headed into town. Free until the afternoon, we visited the South Florida History Museum before moving on to my first engagement of the day at the Manatee Performing Arts Center. I gave my scheduled talk, which was video recorded for an educational TV station, fielded questions from readers in the audience, and signed books courtesy of Bookstore One from Sarasota.

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Then we moved on to Latte Luna, a delightful café in town, where we and other guests were treated to a high tea. More food! This meal started with scones and jam, then proceeded to a plate filled with some sort of spinach and cheese concoction, plus three little sandwiches. We finished with desserts including an iced banana cake, oatmeal cookie, and iced cupcake.

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If you’ve been following my blogs, now you know why going away from home is a sure way for me to gain weight. A couple of Halloween events coming up will be fun but won’t help in that regard. Then I MUST focus on losing the extra pounds before our upcoming cruise.

Since we got out of the tea room late, we stayed for a night at the historic Hampton Inn in downtown Bradenton. I liked the décor and architecture of this hotel that is on the National Register of Historic Places.

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Epcot Food and Wine

We had a great time as usual at our annual excursion to Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival. As it’s their twentieth year anniversary, I bought the hardcover cookbook. Here’s the cranberry bog, back again.

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Here is what we tasted this year.

Scotland: Potato Pancake with Smoked Salmon $4.25 (my favorite!)

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Dominican Republic: Grouper $4.75

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Canada: Beef Filet Mignon $7.50

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Belgium: Potato Leek Waffle with Beef $4.25 and Fruit Waffle $3.75

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Germany: Apple Strudel $3.50

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South Korea: Raspberry Wine $3.50 and South Korea Vegan BBQ $4.75

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Coming Next: Our Trip to Bradenton

 

The Trip Home: NC to FL

Coming home from Bouchercon, we took the western route as I-95 hadn’t fully reopened after the flooding in South Carolina. This gave us some lovely hilly vistas before we descended to the lowlands with their cotton fields and other crops.

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I got to shop for pecans along route I-75. I use pecan meal to coat tilapia, after dipping the fish into egg substitute, and then pan fry or bake it. The ground pecans are healthier than bread crumbs and give it a nice, crisp flavor. You can’t buy this in Florida, so it’s only on trips through Georgia or South Carolina that I can get them. I put the bags into my freezer until use.

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We were lucky to spot a southern country buffet along the way. I stuffed myself with the bounteous feast that included a salad bar, soups, breads, fried chicken, nut-crusted mashed sweet potatoes, veggies, and I forgot what else I ate but it was mostly comfort food. And the dessert bar had peach cobbler plus many more sweet choices. This meal probably accounted for the extra weight I gained.

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Doesn’t this make you hungry? Then stayed tuned for the Epcot Food and Wine Festival Coming Next!

Baked Egg Rolls

Ingredients

1 pound package frozen broccoli stir-fry vegetable blend
1 cup shredded cooked chicken
41⁄2 tsp. low sodium soy sauce
2 tsp. sesame oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1⁄2 tsp. ground ginger
8 oz. all-purpose pasta or egg roll wrappers
1 egg, beaten
1 jar of duck sauce

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a bowl, combine ½ package chopped, defrosted vegetables, chicken, soy sauce, sesame oil and spices. Place 1⁄4 cup mixture into the center of each wrapper. Fold bottom corner over filling then fold two sides toward the center. Moisten flap of remaining corner with beaten egg and seal.

Place egg rolls seam side down on a greased baking sheet. Spray tops of wrappers with nonstick cooking spray or brush with beaten egg. Bake for 15 minutes or until browned. Makes 8 servings. Recipe may be doubled. Serve warm with duck sauce.