From the cow kings to an Empress, Norton goes on a little Sojourn

[Emperor Norton]

The following day dinner was in the

 

Oh that was pre dinner with a side of flame. For years I'd been requesting that Seabourn step up their drinks game. Powdered sweet and sour mix over fresh fruit juice and not doing anything mixology related (eg: flaming the essential oils in the citrus zest). When Sebourn brought Thomas Keller on board they also brought along his mixologist. Yay.:cool:

 

In this video Artem makes a Cosmo that wouldn't have been possible a few years ago. It had fresh citrus juice as well as a bit of flame.

[YOUTUBE]eGKJhovLLpY[/YOUTUBE]

 

If they had Graham crackers I could've made a giant S'more out of dessert.

[Isklaar]

That cheese in the Colonnade TK dinner is Humboldt Fog. I haven't seen it on my last couple of cruises so glad to see it back. Absolutely delicious.

It's from California but my sense of geography isn't good enough to know, without consulting Google maps, whether or not the area it comes from is close to the Bay area. I seem to remember it's from pretty far north.

The beef looks perfect.

That's one of my favourite of the TK menus that are served in the Colonnade.

[Isklaar]

I think that the bartender in the pic with Artem is called Mattias or similar. Was he from Peru?

 

 

Edit - I can't watch any more videos or look at any more photos until I've booked another cruise. Desperate for a holiday! :o

[Emperor Norton]

I need to keep better track of seadays.

 

Dinner tonight was going to be the Ad Hoc fried chicken. People were apprehensive about this as on previous segments and cruises the fried chicken had come out alternatively rubbery/raw or blackened and dripping grease. It seem that at least when one of Kellers chefs is on board there's nothing to worry about.

 

The chicken had been fried and seasoned perfectly. Crisp, moist, tender and flavorful.

 

I'm not normally a grits person but I had a few servings of the cheddar grits.

 

Biscuits, cheese and jam

 

Dessert was a butterscotch pudding (I think another local chefs version was a step up, but this was nice)

 

Ah napkins, I would miss you.

[Emperor Norton]

I think that the bartender in the pic with Artem is called Mattias or similar. Was he from Peru?

 

 

Mataios and he's from Peru. He had one cruise to go before going home for his vacation.

[Emperor Norton]

That cheese in the Colonnade TK dinner is Humboldt Fog. I haven't seen it on my last couple of cruises so glad to see it back. Absolutely delicious.

It's from California but my sense of geography isn't good enough to know, without consulting Google maps, whether or not the area it comes from is close to the Bay area. I seem to remember it's from pretty far north.

The beef looks perfect.

That's one of my favourite of the TK menus that are served in the Colonnade.

 

 

It's from Pt. Reyes which is N/W of San Francisco in Marin county (just across the Golden Gate from San Francisco).

[Isklaar]

Mataios and he's from Peru. He had one cruise to go before going home for his vacation.

 

Hope he's enjoying his hard earned vacation now!

[Isklaar]

It's from Pt. Reyes which is N/W of San Francisco in Marin county (just across the Golden Gate from San Francisco).

 

Is that area interesting for a road trip? I've been planning a 4 week visit to California for when I retire (years from now) and keep adding in new places.

Is it a wine producing area?

[Emperor Norton]

After an excellent meal in the Colonnade Mataios had a surprise for me in the Observation bar. He'd located the last Cock and Bull on the ship.

 

I saved that for a later day and ended the night with a (perfectly crafted) perfect Manhattan.

 

The following night I had a disappointing entree in the TK grill. It was supposed to be a succulent Kurobata pork chop. Instead it was a cross between bacon and shoe leather. After speaking with other passengers it seems that this and the veal chop were always massively overcooked. The sauce was nice.

 

No green flash that night.

[Emperor Norton]

Is that area interesting for a road trip? I've been planning a 4 week visit to California for when I retire (years from now) and keep adding in new places.

Is it a wine producing area?

 

The coastal portion along Highway 1 is for the scenery (also the Pt. Reyes lighthouse is a popular destination). Once you go north up Highway 1 you'll run into the Russian river. Follow that east and you'll get to the Russian river wineries (they seem to do best with Pinot Noir). Go east even further and you'll be in Napa.

[Emperor Norton]

After a short crossing we were in sight of land again, Kodiak island in Alaska.

 

lUBSMqgAydI

 

I do like the scenery in Alaska.

 

 

It seems that while we were the beneficiaries of good weather (locals said something about previous 40 days/nights were rain) we lost out a bit because of our extended stay in Aomori. We still made the local Crab Festival.

 

A visitor center and fish processor right next to each other - and odd combination.

[Emperor Norton]

I guess all the locals were at the festival as some of the more touristy spots were closed (or festival + our being a day late)

 

 

During World War Two the island was a big military base. Post war the Coast Guard inherited it.

 

 

Due to our day late/dollar short arrival the World War 2 museum on the island was closed. I wonder of that was the "operational reason" that put the kibosh on my tour. The upside was in less than 15 minutes I saved 15% on my car insurance. Not really but I did save a bit of money by finding others and sharing a cab to/from Fort Abercrombie.

 

We have old military emplacements around where I live which I was surprised to see how free of graffiti the ones here were.

 

Apparently the method of demilling the emplacements here was "pack it full of dynamite and see what happens".

[Emperor Norton]

 



 

 

It had a nice view (yes I'm terrible with iphone panos)

 

I wasn't sure if the eagles were nesting or feasting

 

[Emperor Norton]

Galleries:

 

Sea days part 1

Sea days part 2

[Emperor Norton]

Back in town day two of the Crab festival was underway.

 



 



 



 

 

This one must've been lost.

[Emperor Norton]

 

 

I'm not sure what cause(d)(s) this but it wasn't so pretty.

 

The shuttle bus between town and the ship had a sign I'd never seen before.

 

It beats walking

[Emperor Norton]

Back on the ship the weather was starting to cooperate again.

 

 



 

 

An interesting juxtaposition between the sun worshipers and the blueberries.

 

The pool had recovered from its illness and was no longer green.

[Emperor Norton]

A little off topic. This is why I shoot raw.

 

Original (I erred) image

 

Adjusted (what I was able to recover from the raw file)

 

Soon enough it was time to depart for ... another sea day (good thing I like sea days)

 

[Emperor Norton]

Dinner tonight was in the Colonnade and the theme was Spanish.

 



 



 



 

[Emperor Norton]

After dinner it appeared my stewardess decided to beautify my bathroom.

 

She also left behind the only towel animal of the cruise (and I'm not sure what it is).

 

Kodiak Island Gallery

[Jay23]

A snail perhaps ?????? :D

[Emperor Norton]

That’ll make the next shot of the critter interesting.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Isklaar]

Superb pictures. Love the eagle.

 

I believe it's a snail.

 

And off topic,thanks for the information about that area of Ca. I've noted!

[Robisan]

The coastal portion along Highway 1 is for the scenery (also the Pt. Reyes lighthouse is a popular destination). Once you go north up Highway 1 you'll run into the Russian river. Follow that east and you'll get to the Russian river wineries (they seem to do best with Pinot Noir). Go east even further and you'll be in Napa.

Isklaar, just to add on, Highway 1 north of Russian river up through Mendocino is also just beautiful, spectacular coastline. It rivals or betters the more famous central CA Big Sur to Cambria portion of HWY 1 IMO. There are some mountain roads (read slow and indirect) from the Mendocino area over to just north of the Sonoma and Napa valleys, but the entire circuit will require at least 1 (better 2) overnights. Also beware winter storms off the Pacific can make coastal/rural driving treacherous, with possible mudslide closures.

[Covepointcruiser]

I will definitely lodge a complaint with Seabourn! We were told on the first day we were only allowed one dinner in “the Grill”. Perhaps we should complain more often. We also received no towel animals from our stewardess! Thought all passengers were “equal” on Seabourn, but obviously some are more equal than others.

 

Didn’t you realize we visited Kodiak on Memorial Day weekend. It is a significant national holiday in the U.S. to memorialize those who lost their lives defending our country. Hope this wasn’t too much of a disappointment for you, after all, it was all Seabourn’s fault.