Vacation Food Photos

I did have some cell service on land, just no time to post anything.  We were going nonstop from breakfast to midnight most days.  We got back on Sunday, and I'm still tired.

The real world did intrude when we returned.  Linus the cat died the day before the cruise ended.  He was 16 and had been obese for years.  It was just hard to hear at the end of a busy week.  Also, because he was my parents' cat, which created a little added loss.  The rest of the pets were fine, except Princess had severe abandonment issues for several days and kept yelling if she was in a room alone.  I hardly ever go on vacation, so she just has to deal.

I did weigh myself when we got back, and had only put on two pounds.  Then we ate out a lot the next few days and I put on another.  I've gone on an excellent and highly effective diet called "only eat if you're hungry", which routinely drops as much as half a pound per day for a week.  After that, the appetite tends to kick in and I have to make proper choices again.  Drinking only water helps a lot, too.  It washes away the accumulated salt and retained water.

Holland America did a lovely job on the food again.  Dining room portions were right-sized again, and you can see above the small plate selection at one of the lunches.

When we arrived, there was a buffet open, and tiny bites at a reception.  I took a picture of one bite made on a spoon.  I've heard of it done before, but haven't done it myself because of the silverware involved.  In this case, they used Asian soup spoons to serve a salmon mousse topped with sour cream and garnished with lettuce.  I could do something with plastic cutlery if it looked nice enough.  If I ever do a tasting party.

At the end of the week, one of the diners at our table got a similar salmon mousse that was plated with garnishes.  Aha, what we got at the send-off was the leftover mousse from the night before, repurposed.  I tend to find it amusing that desserts near the end of a cruise trend towards the fruit on board that has over-ripened: bananas, pears, and similar fruits that can't be stored very long.

Next year, we're going to the Caribbean.  The menu will probably be heavier in Jerk and other local styles, instead of leaning towards Mexican.  They did have a lot of South Asian, Indian, and other regional offerings.  One breakfast, I tasted the Scandinavian fish offerings.  It was annoying to have to pass up things I wanted because of hot peppers, but that led me to other choices I might not have made otherwise which were excellent.