We sailed on Celebrity Silhouette, which has a multitude of dining options. Cruising has come a long way from the days of a fixed meal with 8 strangers in a banquet hall, thank goodness! On Silhouette, there is a dedicated restaurant for suite passengers, a dedicated restaurant for “spa class” passengers, and five other restaurants that can be booked by anyone, in addition to the main dining room and buffet. We generally book a cheaper room and spend money upgrading our dining to specialty restaurants, which is what we did this time.
The menus at these venues rarely change so this can get repetitive, but with five places to choose from, we didnt really get bored. Highlights were excellent veal (with a rich mushroom reduction) and venison (five spice and lingonberry) dishes, all the warm water lobster I cared to eat prepared in various ways, fabulous ramen sliders with ginger tobiko mayo, limoncello cheesecake and marvelous almond croissants. Most of the photos are on DH’s phone, but here are a couple from our night at the sushi/Japanese place:
The only true clunkers of the trip were a few buffet items, one ill-considered room service meal and a really bad ribeye. I have no idea what they did to it but it tasted as though it had been brined in sidewalk salt.
Tonight was a very simple meal of a hamburger and potato salad. There was supposed to be some cole slaw but clearly being sick has modified my sense of time. I could have sworn I made that cole slaw a day or two ago but it had gone way bad. It might have been as much as 10 days ago. Unfortunately, I didn’t notice this problem until it was too late, so no vegetable on the table.
Turns out we only had one hamburger bun in the freezer. So, my burger was served on today’s bread experiment. I am using a tried and true French country style formula and playing with non-white flours. My goal is to have a “house” multigrain mixture to enhance the flavor of my breads.
Stayed home from work today, spent significantly more time asleep than awake. Lots of very green juice and kombucha, but wanted legit food and went with some veggie dumplings from the freezer plus some more greens and random broccoli i had on hand. Generous bit of soyaki over everything. Not as hideous as most of my meals so i took a photo!
Cayannade kombucha sipped as dessert, no nyquil since i have to go to work and function in the morning
Shrimp Fra Diavolo over penne pasta with grilled asparagus on the side. The recipe was loosely adapted from barilla. Cut back on the chili flakes and black pepper, since I don’t care for spicy food, and topped it with parm.
Very simple …chopped tomato, thin sliced red onion, chopped cilantro, lime juice, a few drops of sesame seed oil, a splash of tabasco, EVOO, some s&p…let it sit for at least 2 hours in the fridge. I serve it with chopped red onion on the side, sliced bread, such as French Baguette or toasted challah bread. Tabasco, if needed.
I seriously neglected my vegetable eating on the cruise, so tonight was salad night! Taco salad, to be exact - romaine, avocado, olives, and pickled cabbage, jalapenos and radishes, all topped with seasoned ground beef, sauteed poblanos and onions, and a bit of fresh chevre. Delicious, but would have been SO much better with a pina colada!
I butterflied a chicken breast, pounded it even and seasoned. Pan seared and cut it into 4 medallions and made 2 chicken sandwiches tonight. Oven fries as a side
I’m continuing my “cook the books” project and last night was a Char Siu recipe. I’m not sure I can call it a true cook the books challenge because I modify nearly every single recipe and usually don’t like cooking with recipes but set a resolution this year to actually utilize the few books I’ve been gifted. This recipe was a hit and super easy. I used chicken breast instead of pork shoulder and it was perfect for this chicken lover but I’m sure it’s even more fantastic with pork. No veggies for me bowel rest but the good news is that it seems sweet potatoes were my issue, now just have to get things back on track
I buy Costco’s chicken breast, use my filleting knife, while breasts are semi frozen, sliced it horizontally into 3 to 4 pieces / breast. I do not have to pound it since I have been doing it that way. I then marinade it overnight in buttermilk, use Kenji Lopez’s recipe in SEE , that is I season it with garlic powder and salt, dip in eggs, then dust with flour( I use sweet potato starch instead of flour as I believe it gives it a crispier crust as well as not messing up my oil. This also is from my mother’s technique which was a plus when my husband was alive, as he had gluten enteropathy) then panko/parmesan at 80/20, pan fry , add cubed mozzarella and parmesan , then to the oven for a short time till cheese melted served with Lopez’s best tomato sauce ( recipe in SEE , 6 hours oven time, but I make a lot, freeze them in container to be used as needed)
It is great !! Just had it but did not take pictures
It has been one of my favorite dishes
Good technique. I rarely buy parts these days and prefer to buy whole chickens and break them down. This way I get the benefit of the carcass for stock. My freezer runith over with containers of stock
I pounded lightly more for texture than thickness in this prep
Much of my life is based on having freezers. Wednesday found us with a stomach virus. A bad one. I still haven’t eaten, but I have pulled out some chicken stock which I will try to keep down later today. Who can make stock while sick? We MUST plan ahead!
My mom use to have an upright and chest freezer as well as a second refrigerator fully loaded at all times in the garage. I guess the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Except I only have the one additional freezer but do have a 2nd fridge
bowel rest but the good news is that it seems sweet potatoes were my issue, now just have to get things back on track
