Seamus6

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Truer words have never been spoken, my friend. You have no idea how depressing it is to be a foodie in Maryland...sigh I get excited when I can rate a meal an 8 out of 10! If it was a 9 or higher I was either in New York, New Orleans, or I made it myself. Some meals in Europe as well.

Pre-COVID, on cruises, I normally had 2 choices out of soup, salad, and appetizer and often had too many choices then my entree and often (like Eamon Chute) would have a cheese plate which would be different every night. post-COVID I struggle to find 2 good choices and end up default to every day choices like Caesar salad and french onion soup, both of which are mediocre at best. DH always has a dessert. eating out at home we generally just eat what ever sides come with our entree and call it a meal. DH has something sweet home with coffee.

I love pepperoni and but prefer the smaller ones that I used to get at a local place about 30+ years ago that cupped up when cooked and you got a little pool of grease in the cup. I don't find it often anymore and never close to home. When DH and I went to Spain, we were with a group and went to a place we ordered a bunch of smaller pizzas and flatbread of all kinds. We both really like one that just had goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic slivers and fresh basil. I still would have liked a few pieces on meat on it but it was the best non-meat pizza I ever had.

I love soup but the only two chilled soups I ever had before was gazpacho (which I didn't care for and Vichyssoise which I did like. but on cruises I tried quite a few, mostly on carnival cruises and liked all of them. I still rarely make them myself, preferring hot soups.

for me it is far from fascination.... Once or twice a month I am so busy it is a choice between eating at one of the 2 billion McDonald's, which always seems to be the closest and fastest, or not eating at all. usually for lunch if I'm driving around for work. If I have even a little more time to drive another few miles and look for something else, I'd be happier with Arby's, Quickway, or chick-fil-a. or maybe Panera or pot belly When I am going out with my DH on a Friday night we never do fast food...Maybe a pizza now and again but usually we try to do a non-chain or small-chain restaurant. 90+ percent of our dinners are made with my own two hands.

I like Arby's a lot but don't go there that often. I end up at the golden arches far more often due to convenience. I also like Quickway Japanese Hibachi

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I had to look it up myself: HP Sauce is a British brown sauce, the main ingredients of which are tomatoes and tamarind extract. It was named after London's Houses of Parliament. After making its first appearance on British dinner tables in the late 19th century, HP Sauce went on to become an icon of British culture.

It's hard to compare lines since all three cruise I have had post-COVID were Royal. I looked at the date and my Celebrity Equinox cruise was Feb 2020. It is a sad state of affairs when some of the better (but not great) food on Royal for those 3 cruise was at Johnny Rockets and yes, Sorrento's. I don't expect any better on Serenade in September. I hope I get a few cruises next year on other lines to compare.

followed by an extended visit to the porcelain throne?

I forgot to mention what I like. Although I like ketchup or mayo on some things as well as ranch dressing, Mustard is something I enjoy on a wider variety of foods. For something more outside the box, I like caramelized onion jam on things like burgers or steak. If I don't have the time, I just use A1 or Worcestershire.

I think most grilled cheese enthusiasts would agree that Kraft single are not what they want on their sandwich but there are good brands of American at the deli. My favorite American is Land-o-Lakes white...I often put sliced olives on mine but sometimes just a slice or two of deli ham also. I took my electric griddle to work and made about 2 dozen grilled cheese sandwiches with ham for my coworkers. we had American, Cheddar and pepper jack. Also if you don't have softened butter to grease the outside of the sandwich, may works great and most people don't even taste the difference. including me. I'd actually like a little tang but can not really taste it. it does serve as an easily spreadable fat to give that nice golden brown (or slightly darker) color.

something else I like from Johnny Rockets on RCCL ships

I fully understand. For most of my life I only ate well done steak and burgers. It's just been the last 6-7 years I started trying medium-well then medium then medium-rare. I like Medium best but can tolerate medium rare. I generally don't order medium rare because I can't handle if the under-cook to rare but If I order medium and they under-cook to MR, I can enjoy it. I still like a little char on the outside even when pink inside. I just need some juice inside, if possible. As I said I also like a wide variety of condiments but enjoy making my own caramelized onion jam when grilling at home. What do you like on yours?

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I like medium cheeseburgers, still hot and juicy which I can eat with nearly any of the common condiments. However, I have never had a decent burger on a cruise outside of Johnny Rockets and not even EVERY time I was at JR's.

I would gladly try your curry too but apparently I have those nasty OR6A2 receptors which means I hate coriander (it's literally in my genes) and cilantro, at least one of which is in nearly every Indian, middle eastern and many African dishes. The other common spices in curry like cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger are fine with me but I generally don't like them with savory dishes especially meat dishes...sigh.

American Chinese!

well since cheese probably isn't junk food, I'd have to say pizza with........wait for it......lots of cheese! and pepperoni

Just like my answer to prezels. Thin crispy and salty. I like Poutine as well.

Generally I like any type that is thin, crispy and salty sourdough flavored are nice too I used to get soft pretzels with warm gooey cheese sauce. I forget whee I used to get them.

How have I never heard of this? I might have to try it at home.

None of the things listed above that Americans might eat seem to compare to all the stuff commonly eaten in Asian countries! There's a reason Offal sounds just like Awful!

My Dad used to make some supercharged eggnog with a mix of Brandy, Whiskey, and Rum. I usually left out the whiskey and then I could actually manage to drink a small punch bowl cup of it. I also like plain store bought unleaded eggnog but usually only buy a quart at Christmas since it is a lot of sugar.