UKCruiseJeff

Must 2nd JP’s Gruner. But it must be frozen and in a glass mug. 🙂 You’re so wise making your schnitzel with chicken. I always feel a bit like I’m not behaving when I don’t use veal or pork, but veal is tasteless and the ratio of meat to crumb isn’t right and pork can be tough. Our now very clear favourite is turkey schnitzel - because you can make them quite big and it has taste and texture and in panko crumb. And it must be bratkartoffln or a cheats Austrian potato salad. Instead of all that Styrian oil palaver, boil up some waxy potato cubes and when done and still hot add chopped dill and red onion and pour over some French dressing. I hope you post a piccy of your schnitz.

Great post DW. I think a further mitigating factor is that I like my white wine extremely cold. We have a white wine fridge and I think it’s 2c’ish. It’s basically just above freezing. At that point they seem to lose individuality and I like young dry uncomplicated white. With that,every day is summer. No “fruit” or anything like that. I love Provençal Rose, and if I splash out it might be Ott. But I hate any hint of fruitiness or fragrance. It m ust be blush or very light. I hate that thick dark stuff. So far as reds are concerned I will own up to sometimes buying something more expensive but only when something from an under-rated varietal or area catches my eye. So you might get a better bang per buck for spending £30 on a Penedes rather than say a Rioja. I’m glad to read that there are others not swung by price for the sake of it. Jeff ps I also have a house Pilsner and a British beer! Staropramen Premium Czech and London Pride!

Quite Right! This is not going to win me any points from the real wine hobbyists. I really think of wine more like the way I think of tea rather than the way I think of cheese. I rarely explore tea as we've found what we like and I love exploring cheese, but I only ever explore relatively inexpensive wine because I drink it every day and we ask ourselves why change what you know you really like at a really good price. The idea with the ups and downs of trying a never ending variety is in my later years lost on me. I don't like disappointments and I need impress nobody. I like really great inexpensive wine. So in general times I have a house red (a really great Cotes du Rhone) and a house White (Parellada, Grenache Blanc) and a lot of champagne I'm still getting through when I cashed in my stash of BA miles at the start of covid. I've also found a lovely Cremant which as we all know is Champagne but not made in Epernay. Cremant is under-rated and champagne is often over rated. You clearly have to reach a certain price point that gets you something of quality that you really enjoy but past that we really only bother to sometimes try something new that is well reviewed. Unlike others, to me expensive wine is simply of no real interest. I've always felt that too much of the price is in the cost of the label, or the hype and sometimes perhaps rarity, but a rare or an expensive or hyped wine doesn't mean a more delicious wine. We're all different and that's what makes the world go around! Jeff

Lucky you … nothing this far south but watching it live on Youtube from an East Midlands back garden. You can run the feed back to see some earlier highlights. Hope the link works …

Good Evening Coolers, An unsuccessful day on the cake front! 🫣 The boss declared she was in a cake mood this afternoon so I set about making an almond cherry Madeira cake. But even with the proper precautions the cherries sunk. 😞 So I’m too ashamed to post a piccy. Last night was another heavily sleepless night and at around 3am I had the yearnings for some bread and butter and a little jam. The great thing about always having a couple of boxes ready in the fridge is that you can be eating some slices from a well developed dough in less than an hour. The new oven proves bread in 20 to 30 minutes and then I can bake it with a few steam squirts in another 30 for a lovely crisp fresh baton. So last night was a lightly malted onion ficelle with butter and house red in a lovely silent kitchen. Always keep a box of dough ready for emergencies. Have a great evening all. Jeff

If you ever “Ocado” you might like to try the M&S Cremant De Bordeaux Brut. It is quite a stunner and on offer now at £8. It is much better than many champers.

I’m sure you are right. I have unintentionally had a Chardonnay that to me tasted like a Sauvignon. But all that did is convince me to choose a really cheap young non-glycerine Sauvignon in future. Origination being better than impersonation. If you get my drift. Jeff

I have a theory about Chardonnay. I suspect I am misguided but until reguided I’ll stick with it. I suspect that for some period at some time in the past that the word Chardonnay became a really attractive word. It rolls off of the toungue and sadly out of the mouth. If forced to elaborate I’d say it was Californian ladies who like to lunch. “Can I have a glass of Chardonnay?” It was then on soap TV and everyone by association all over the world aspirants thought they were being fashionable by association if they ordered it. The sudden consequence of that was that vineyards then dug up their precious ancient vines and planted Chardonnay over energetically. When the penny eventually dropped and decent wine drinkers were force-fed Chardonnay there was a wine lake that there was a relatively limited market for. This osmosis happened earlier with Chateauneuf-du-Pape. This was the very first label name in the early days of aspirational wine drinking that people could use a name to make themselves appear knowledgeable. Piat Dor doesn’t have the same cache. Now we all suffer. Except those that refuse to drink the stuff. Jeff

Hi, I think that it is often bewildering to find that what others might find disappointing when it is simply pretty unimportant to ourselves. Therefore I think it useful to remember dear old Lucretius's observation that "One man's meat is another man's poison". Bless him! 🙂 As a recently mentioned example, one poster stated that the only wine on board was Chardonnay and if I remember correctly they were told that if they didn't want the Chardonnay then the all-inclusive promise was to be ignored and they would have to purchase an alternative off of the wine menu. To a Chardonnay drinker that would probably not be too much of a disappointment but to those that hate the stuff (like us) it would likely make them pretty grumpy. Human nature being what it is, then what almost inevitably then starts to happen is that being disappointed you then start noticing further things that displease. We're mostly the same about products, services and even people. That's why we place in life some importance on first impressions because it often that first impression that too often guides our further inclinations. It it starts badly it then often seems to progress badly. And vice versa to a lesser degree as disappointments are often noticed more emotively than simply having our expectations adequately met. For a company to discharge it's obligations to all or at least most of it's customers it should meet their reasonably expectations consistently. Reasonable expectation could be created both by the company's promises it chooses to make and by more generally what one should reasonably expect perhaps taking account of what has been paid. It's interesting to note that this obligation is the law in some countries but not in others. So in the UK, EU and Oz and other places it is clearly set out in consumer legislation but in other countries there is virtually no protection as law-making is more corporation biased than consumer biased. Some would say that we get the laws we deserve depending to a small degree on who we appoint to govern us. To make life difficult for some who try to guide a corporation in what is required they often hide behind the country their are headquarters are in, in the misguided belief that it is only their home countries laws that they need respect. But in fact organisations are often obligated to comply with the countries laws in which they operate. The consequences acadmeically can be bizzarre. For example in the Chardonnaygate scenario, a Brit sitting at the table might reasonably expect the wine waiter to open up a normally chargeable non-Chardonnay wine at no charge but some non-Brits ( 😉 ) may expect to pay. The further issue is the Brit arging his case but being refused. But that's another topic. 🙂 From a personal point of view, I think it positive and useful that all people can access all opinions/comments both negative and positive. We can then make up our own mind as to how likely we are to be confident in receiving an acceptable level of our own personal expectations met. That's why I think we should be a little careful about commenting too harshly on other peoples' disappointments in case we might not then get to hear about something THAT IS personally important to ourselves. Like being force-fed Chardonnay with no other choice for example. Jeff

🙂 Don’t be fickle, make some ficelle.

I do like it when you talk dirty! 🙂 When my wife catches me watching bread stuff on Youtube (yes I know it’s sad) she says “Have I caught you watching that smut again!” I have a 11 day light malted ficelle for tomorrow. I like rehydrating dried fried onion and adding it. We have a very old established Salmon smoker in the UK called Formans. We buy their London Cure and I have a pack. https://www.formans.co.uk/our-story/london-cure/ I have to make a few batches of dough tomorrow as I’ve been a bit lazy. When I add a touch of malt with a white and rye mix (80/20) and add a fair dose of steam in the bake it tastes fairly close to a traditional bagel without all of the palaver. Jeff ps. They were nigella seeds!

I so hope my post didn’t put you off balance in any way. It was my general observation. For what it is worth, I think (I know) you are on the right track and suggest you push on and enjoy things. Your main obligation is to enjoy yourself. Just drink a bit more and worry an awful lot less. It’d be great if you posted back about your experience.

I’m bewildered by the obsession by how angry people get about what others are wearing. There is enough to compromise holiday enjoyment without fretting about what other people are wearing. And trajectory is with me. Everything that everybody has said is currently correct for themselves but isn’t sensibly sustainable. The reason why all this debate is heading for an obvious implosion is simply this. Halfway through the last century when I was a toddler, mumsy imposed on me everyday what I must wear. As I progressed in life, I took over those choices and in the end I was sufficiently confident, irritating and empowered to decide on any given day what I would wear. Except for school uniform when I submitted and gave up for a few years until I was thankfully expelled. After this I decided where and what I might wear and spend my money on and what I might eat. So when eating out and when not going on an over-priced ship with extremely disappointing food I sort of left it at the point that others would wear what they want and I would never be too perturbed by what they were wearing but simply enjoyed that what cemented us all together in common food suffering and what we commonly enjoyed at the moment was the meal we were all eating. I would never “tut” or judge others unless they smelt of something. I liked that we were all happy in our own way and laughing and being happy and getting to know each other. And at the same time I ensured as best I could that I wouldn’t smell of anything ie perfume or anything bodily. So why on earth going forward should sensible people claim that the enjoyment of their meal on a ship has been compromised by someone else who isn’t wearing a tie on a table somewhere away from them. If I like them dressed up as a Christmas tree then why should they object to me being unsmelly and casually lovely as I always am. Everyone can rationalise why I am wrong but what they might better need to confront is that it might better to shrug and accept the trajectory of life. If the response to this opinion is anger .. well so be it. But if I’m an ill-informed idiot and you wish to educate me then be kind and explain. Jeff

Fletch, I so loved your post. To expect inevitable daily disappointings but to be completely blindsided by the unexpected positive surprise is like banging your head against the wall and then enjoying the experience of stopping. To truly experience the full “Austrians” your Gruner Veltliner must be in a mug. A big mug. And it must be bottomless. A bit like ‘er indoors. Your description of your meal today is the first time for a long while I have read of an SS meal and wished I’d tied the napkin around my neck and been at the table. Knife and fork akimbo. Did you by any chance left a morsel for us two? Jeff

Good Afternoon Coolers, particularly those in the “Sleepy Do” sub-committee! 🙂 It is a sad example of how low my life has sunk that I have been looking forward to this small box of 10 day “sleepy dough” in the fridge that I made into today’s light lunch ficelle . To explain ficelle is simply a much thinner baguette and is our favourite bread. it’s less crumb and more crunchy crust. It is a glorious bread and seems to be overlooked by many who would love it. So today was a bottle of house white with previously mentioned ficelle and live TV of two KC’s on the Post Office enquiry live feed taking bits out of each other. I’ve enclosed a picture of the dough to hopefully show how it’s time rather than kneading that gives sublime open texture. It ended up as a Milanese salami ficelle with tomato and mayo. The confusing thing to me and has always been how simple peasant eatings often offer so much more pleasure than so called “sophisticated” eatings. Jeff

WWfT, Great looking loaves. I bet they’re fragrant. Are they soft and sweet? S, If you prefer sourdough can keep for between 3 days and a week or so - helped if you add a little olive oil do it doesn’t dry too quickly. Hope you post some piccies. Jeff

Lola, I now "turn-in" at roughly 4am. I cannot make sense of it but it improves slightly with some Absolut Vanilia. Sleep is a really weird thing. You have a greatest day. Jeff

Thanks WWfT - that is a great precis of pragmatism and I enjoyed it. Forgive me being a clutz with multi-quote but more and more technical stuff seems to defeat me. But you'll get my reply I'm sure to both of your bits I'm sure. I so wish I had chickens. My life would be a touch more complete. We get fresh eggs every few days or week or so and my wife's first decision is to dump whatever I had planned for supper but to have a lightly boiled egg and have some bread. I do not begrudge that. They are fresh Burford Browns. And she must what she wishes. 🙂 My own overall personal direction is to continue to simplify. If there is anything remotely like the words " ...... with a twist ...." then I develop a twitch and go back to simplicity. This is true of stuff like the orange cake and my bread. What I want is the taste of orange and almonds - so that is what I distil down to a cake. As you might detect I need not too much of an excuse to add the effluence of incohol to anything, but I'm trying to relearn. So I eat the cake and drink the incohol. I'm so pleased to read of your dough journey. I think that bread is sort of visceral and prime-evil. If you think about it, there has never been a moment in our worldly development that all of us need to find common ground. And if I had to pick one thin it is "our daily bread". Rice cements less people. So does potato. But "give us our daily bread" is the largest common denominator. If I was calling a peace summit for those in conflict I'd invite them for breakfast and give them some bread and talk about bread for a while. 99.999% of the world that make and eat bread have got on for thousands of years and probably none of them have ever looked at a bread recipe book. Because it is actually simple. the other 00.0001% (I think!) consult clever peoples recipes and mess it up. Hence my backward journey to first principles. Anyway. I'm always going backwards and it is what keeps me going forward. WWfT, do you actually make Tiramisu? How about some pictures of that and what else you make? Jeff

Phew …. ! All I’ll say is “Mayport Shrimp” Jeff

Good Grief ….. I must have inadvertently switch on Cooler invisible mode! 😬 Jeff

There cannot be anything worse than losing one’s identity and nothing sweeter than getting it back again. Jazz is sweet. 🙂 Jefff

Chundered chowder.

Where do they get their entertainers from? Maplin!

Lirio, Such a shame to hear about the cancellation. Reading what happened it sounds like you have had a narrow escape to what sounds like almost certain disappointment Those platters are impressive particularly with the cheese knife set and is that walnut loaf … with a touch of honey perhaps? Tonight’s supper was Mortadella and salad with mayo in focaccia panini and a mug of house white.

Mange tout mon cher petit pois.