Silversea Water Cooler: Part 3, Welcome!

[UKCruiseJeff]

 

 

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[Camillus112]

Yummy, yummy! And I love peas...

[mysty]

Thanks for the welcome back Miss S. So glad you are enjoying the Muse (mostly). :) Seems like lots of hoops to jump through for dinner on the Muse. Permutations and combinations abound!

 

J.....I must confess that I did not read the bylaws of the Cooler in depth and therefore I missed Rule 16e Subsection 9. I will have to be more studious of the Cooler Code. :)

 

I have chosen some food pictures from our cruise as a lead in to my photo sharing. This was lunch at the Barracuda Grill in Bermuda. Myster and I started with Bermuda Fish Chowder:

 

 

I had a Grilled Fish Sandwich:

 

 

Myster had Pan Seared Hogfish:

 

 

Our meal was delicious!

[TLCOhio]

Hi Terry, I will be sailing on the Whisper and the itinerary is much like yours, except we end in Southhampton. Barcelona, Cartagena, Málaga, Gibraltar, Lisbon, Lexioes/Oporto, La Coruña, Bilbao, Bordeaux (overnight), St. Malo and Southhampton. I have been to all Spain port cities and to Gibraltar and Lisbon. We will be spending four days in London post cruise. My least favorite port was Gibraltar, but many people enjoy the monkeys and the caves. The rock is impressive, though. I'll surely share comments.

 

YES, appreciate your nice follow-up and offer to share more after your return from these great locations in Portugal, Spain and France. I have highlighted in bold those cities of special interest. Have never been to Gibraltar or Cartagena in Spain or Malaga. Hope you can share some pictures, plus lots of other details, likes, etc.

 

THANKS for all of the nice-looking food pictures and fun! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Did a June 7-19, 2011, cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Dozens of nice visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc. We are now at 223,683 views for this live/blog re-cap, including much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

[ShotsnCruises]

Morning coolers. I'm making my Much requested cheesecake for Easter dessert tomorrow.

Not sure what today's meals will consist of, but we have lots of leftovers that need eaten up. That pasta will probably be dinner.

I booked 2 excursions for when we are in Roadtown, BVI next year. We stop there beginning and end of our B2B, so hoping the AristoCats are as good as the reviews!

 

 

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[mysty]

Greetings Coolers! Happy Easter!

 

During our adventure last year we followed one of Jeff's great suggestions (thank you J!) and we requested a special meal to be served course by course in our suite. We asked that the Executive Chef pick one of the "bright lights" in their galley to make us a meal like what they would serve to their family back home. We had a wonderful meal prepared by Chef De La Cruz of the Philippines. We decided to make the same request on this past cruise. We gave our butler the menu from the last cruise and requested something different from what we had last year. Once again we were thrilled with our meal created by Executive Sous Chef De Leon, also from the Philippines.

 

Here are some pictures. First is the menu:

 

 

1st Course - Ginataang Hipon - (Sauteed Shrimp with Coconut Milk):

 

 

2nd Course - Ginisang Monggo Sopas (Mongo Beans with Bacon Bits and Crackling Crust):

 

 

3rd Course - Insalatang Talong - (Grilled Eggplant Marinated in Bagoong and Vinegar):

 

 

4th Course a - Pakbet - (Sauteed Vegetables with Prawn and Pork):

 

 

4th Course b - Mechadong Baka - (Beef Stew with Carrot, Potato and Steamed Rice):

 

[mysty]

Here is the continuation of my post. It exceeded the 6 picture limit so I needed to cut it down.

5th Course - Turon - (Banana Spring Roll with Jack Fruit and Mango Ice Cream):

 

 

It was a wonderful experience!

 

Have an awesome day all!

[UKCruiseJeff]

Good Morning Coolers,

 

M, I'm so pleased that you not only took my advice, but posted back the details as well. You not only gave yourself and Myster, plates of pleasure but I'm sure you gave Gerardo lot's of pleasure as well, as well as giving him the opportunity to showcase his craft to his management. in the normal course of life, you'd probably never get the opportunity to experience Phillipino food much and possibly never to that quality. I think the pride shows through when you see that he even sat down and tapped out the menu for you to savour on the day and to keep as a keep sake.

 

The first time I did this was on a cruise on Whisper, when we were fortunate to have all the space of 801/2 which we used for a touch of pretend work entertaining clients as we wound our way around some mediterranean ports almost all of which we had clients based or could get their easily for a day on Whisper. We alternated lunches with their off-menu creations ie simply told them that we wanted to impress our clients with some laid back but subtle original eating in the suite. The only downside was that a few clients then started booking cruises to tie in with the other ones we had that year which we'd booked three others, a year not ever repeated. But we were lucky in that our clients all became friends.

 

I'm surprised more people didn't take up my suggestion as pretty much all the best food I ever ate on SS was under this arrangement and I think everyone felt better as a result.

 

You reminded me of that trip ... so thanks! Memories of 801 below, 802 was simply cleared of bed and replaced with a board table which was cleared at lunch time when we went to the pool bar and they set that suite up for our private lunches. I really enjoyed that work and miss it badly. Happy days.

 

Thanks again M, you gave a scruffy bloke lot's of pleasure!

 

 

 

 

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[frantic36]

Thank you Mysty for posting this idea and your photos.

 

I will definitely like to try this on our cruise in January especially since we will be doing quite a few Philippine ports of call.

 

Julie

[mysty]

J...it is an absolute pleasure to give you lots of pleasure! :) Your suggestion resulted in two magical meals that were each highlights of our two recent cruises. There are not enough words to express our thanks for that!

 

Julie...you are most welcome! Consider following Jeff's suggestions and you will not be disappointed!

[UKCruiseJeff]

J...it is an absolute pleasure to give you lots of pleasure! :) Your suggestion resulted in two magical meals that were each highlights of our two recent cruises. There are not enough words to express our thanks for that!

 

Julie...you are most welcome! Consider following Jeff's suggestions and you will not be disappointed!

 

M, sometimes ideas emerge that no one else seems to think of ... and they sort of work.

 

That first trip came out of me hankering after my own boat. We were visitng clients in Monaco .... (no name .....) and I'd been looking at boats at Beaulieu Sur Mer - thought it'd work for pleasure and work ... and was about to take the jump when wifey said "have you any idea how much this bleedin' boat is going to cost us each year just to store down here empty for most of the time....." and she convinced me to try SS on the basis that a suite several times a year would be a lot cheaper than the boat. That is how it started. The "ask the most promising chef to create stuff" idea started when I complained that if I had my own boat I could eat what I wanted to the Captain ... and he said "tell us what you want and we'll do it". So I hatched the plan I shared with you. I always asked that the chef was a junior talented one and asked that he came when he wasn't busy for me to say "thanks". I use to keep a stock of international phone cards to give staff as "thank you's" ... Not being a smartly dressed gregarious mix-in sort of person it gave us the privacy and space of a really good private boat experience with relatively little expense compared to owning. I miss those SS high quality days ....

 

Julie, glad you like the idea, but I suggest you to eat off-ship when in places like Manilla and go for the street food rather than high-end places to eat what locals eat. They know best and long queues means good food. If you are visiting the Philipines then speak to the head chef about stars he is bringing on from other places that you might not be visiting for example Bangladesh, or Thailand or ......... ;)

 

Anyway - just finshing the cottage pie for daughter's visit today. She is my favourite drinking buddy and I don't see her enough.

 

Happy Sunday all.

[mysty]

J....for the first dinner we sent a thank you note to De La Cruz and we asked him to come to our suite to have his photo taken with us in front of our world map (we were tracking our journey). He signed the map for us next to the Philippines and our butler took our picture. For this past cruise we sent a thank you note to De Leon but because this cruise was much shorter we did not get to meet him or take his picture.

 

Enjoy the visit with your daughter!

[frantic36]

Thank you for the idea Jeff re the international phone cards as a gift.

 

Whenever we get to a port we usually eat onshore. As we are frequent visitors to Asian shores we are careful but adventurous eaters when onshore. I suspect some would be horrified at the gamble we take with street food in places like Myanmar, Thailand etc ;).

 

This will be our first visit to the Phillipines but have learnt a few basic words from the Philippine crew on Seabourn.

 

I hope everyone enjoys their meals today. I did a slow cooked roast turkey as that is what my sons like. Finding a reasonable sized turkey at this time was a challenge but luckily my local butcher came through for me.

 

Julie

[TLCOhio]

Greetings Coolers! Happy Easter! During our adventure last year we followed one of Jeff's great suggestions (thank you J!) and we requested a special meal to be served course by course in our suite. We asked that the Executive Chef pick one of the "bright lights" in their galley to make us a meal like what they would serve to their family back home. We had a wonderful meal prepared by Chef De La Cruz of the Philippines. We decided to make the same request on this past cruise. We gave our butler the menu from the last cruise and requested something different from what we had last year. Once again we were thrilled with our meal created by Executive Sous Chef De Leon, also from the Philippines.

 

WOW!! Yes, these are great pictures and details from mysty about this wonderful meal options. Looks excellent. Super idea and suggestion from Jeff. Like that special suite set-up that Jeff had. Excellent sharing.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

AFRICA?!!?: Lots of interesting and dramatic pictures can be seen from this live/blog at:

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2310337

Now at 31,214 views for this visual sharing including Cape Town, along South Africa’s coast, Mozambique, Victoria Falls/Zambia and Botswana's famed Okavango Delta area.

[UKCruiseJeff]

Thanks Terry and M ...

 

.....and Julie! It's great you've taken the trouble to learn a few words to help you into the Philipines. That is brave and thoughtful.

 

The phonecard idea was a work around for me. I wanted to tip spontaneously on occaisions but being a Brit (I guess ....) I found the whole tipping thing of handing over cash uncomfortable as I feel it changes the relationship from fun and being equals and to me there is a dignity issue I can't explain easily but feel it. Handing over cash feels like a servant master thing and all this silly butler pretence makes it all worst although I think that they could wait to the end of a cruise when some cash in an envelope with a personal thank you note is fine. So I have a bit of a British cop-out and had this cunning plan. If someone causes me and wifey particular joy and I want to say thanks I'd simply raise the topic and say "do you get to call home often ....." and normally whatever the answer I say "Hope you don't mind ..... I have a card that has something left on it ..... can I give it to you so it isn't wasted ....." in which case although they might work out it eventually when they see a whole number round figure on it that it might have been a white lie I feel that dignity and the banter has been preserved. That's why I liked keeping a few phone cards in the wallet. I use them in Singapore as well where so many staff are immigrants away from home and calling home takes up a chunk of their income. I think it makes it easier.

 

It was lovely having some drinking time with daughter today .... she says that she only get's cottage pie from me.

 

:)

[ShotsnCruises]

Happy Easter!

I love the idea of a personalized dinner in the suite. I will have to remember that for next year.

 

 

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[ShotsnCruises]

Meat coming out of the smoker now.

Ribs and brisket

 

 

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[UKCruiseJeff]

Nice and smokey Shots ..

 

For those that enjoy me posting a link to the weekly dose of Clarky,

 

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/make-your-award-speech-sing-add-a-poor-aunt-a-bleeding-heart-and-a-jailbird-father-jeremy-clarkson-hdfmrlmbg?shareToken=94ef4553d56ef204c30212c7515fdc13

[Camillus112]

Happy Easter Coolers, from New York City! We are here for a concert, and stumbled into the modern version of 5th Avenue Easter Parade. Lots of city folk dressed in theatre versions of opulence and huge, flowery hats. I loved that it was partly a parody and partly a desire to keep up with traditions. Alas, I don't take photos; you all would have chuckled.

 

Wonderful display of food, friends! We ate at our favorite Greek restaurant, Molyvos. Most people in US eat ham in Easter and we had lamb. It was delicious!!

[mysty]

Greetings Coolers! I was up with the birds again this morning (what birds there are this early in the spring season). :) So I thought I would post some pictures from our last adventure.

 

From Cadiz, Spain outside the Centro municipal de arte flamento la Merced:

 

 

From Cartagena, Spain, an interesting mural on an underpass below the old city wall:

 

 

From Porto Mahon, Spain, sausages at the local market:

 

 

From St Remy de Provence, France, wares at the village market:

 

 

Have a great day all!

[ShotsnCruises]

Wow Mysty, beautiful pictures. Those sausages looks amazing.

 

 

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[mysty]

Thank You Shots! :) The markets were amazing! Really wish we had access to some of the wonderful fresh produce, fish and meats here.

[jpalbny]

I know. I'd move to Europe just for the markets.

 

We were away for the weekend so not much cooking. We did bake a birthday cake for Chris' Dad though, and it came out very nicely.

 

The layers are made with ground walnuts and almonds, eggs, a little sugar, and leavened with beaten whites.

 

Between the layers, a butter-mocha filling, and some raspberry jam.

 

Frosting is chocolate ganache.

 

The finished product.

 

 

We have leftovers so I'll try to remember to post a picture of a slice, to show the layers. This is an old family recipe that Chris' grandmother brought from Austria. We modified it by using the chocolate ganache instead of the original frosting recipe.

 

It's good to carry on that tradition but luckily we made 2/3 of the recipe... No low-calorie cooking in those times!

 

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[mysty]

JP...that cake looks amazing! I'm sure it was savoured! :)

[TLCOhio]

Wow Mysty, beautiful pictures. Those sausages looks amazing.

 

YES! YES!! Appreciate these great and wonderful visuals. Looking great and so much fun. Local markets can be such great fun to better connect with the "real people" in varied communities around the world. Excellent sharing! Keep it coming.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Enjoyed a 14-day, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure, getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for more info and many pictures of these amazing sights in this great part of