Rare Keith1010 Posted August 19, 2023 #4251 Share Posted August 19, 2023 We're having the wine this evening. Keith 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare rafinmd Posted August 20, 2023 #4252 Share Posted August 20, 2023 Today's sunrise is from my one cruise on the Empress of the Seas. August 20, 2019 was a sea day from Key West to Costa Maya: Roy 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare rafinmd Posted August 21, 2023 #4253 Share Posted August 21, 2023 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare May B Posted August 21, 2023 #4254 Share Posted August 21, 2023 7 minutes ago, rafinmd said: It was a dark and stormy night. Ok, maybe not stormy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenzSailing Posted August 22, 2023 #4255 Share Posted August 22, 2023 Tales from the Chez: I smoked some short ribs yesterday. Let me rephrase that: Yesterday, I cooked some beef short ribs on the smoker. Now, the BBQ community calls short ribs "brisket on a stick" and they are not wrong. A RoT an on-line wise man likes to say is "before you tackle brisket, nail short ribs three times." I think this is sound advice. This was my second attempt. Earlier this summer I tried attempt number one. The results were...edible. There was much noise coming from the Chez's kitchen that day, most of it unprintable here. Yesterday was pass two. The kitchen was determined to have learned lessons, sought redemption, retained customers. Mission accomplished. After hours of tending the flame, fretting over temperature, dealing with the fickleness of live fire, a BBQ meal was presented to an intimate crowd that makes the Vintage Room look like Grand Central(ie, OLoPP and me.) Having learned a thing or two, it was served Texas style(Wonder bread, pickles, coleslaw, potato salad.) My Kansas City born and raised spouse still used the sweet BBQ sauce. Sigh. Love means never having to say "no sauce for you!" Anyway, the meat was transcendent. Good bark, flexible but not fall apart, moist, succulent with the fat fully rendered to liquid gold. It is intensely satisfying when one's hours of effort transform, with a little luck, into a meal that puts a smile on everyone's face. I feel like the Aaron Franklin of Maryland(it's not a huge competition up here.) 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare rafinmd Posted August 22, 2023 #4256 Share Posted August 22, 2023 In 2010 I was one of the very last passengers to leave a Cruise West ship before the line went our of business. I got to the ship by train and ferry. On August 22, 2010, the sun came up as the Canadian was in Eastern Manitoba closing in on Winnipeg. Roy 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BWIVince Posted August 22, 2023 #4257 Share Posted August 22, 2023 12 hours ago, KenzSailing said: Tales from the Chez: I smoked some short ribs yesterday. Let me rephrase that: Yesterday, I cooked some beef short ribs on the smoker. Now, the BBQ community calls short ribs "brisket on a stick" and they are not wrong. A RoT an on-line wise man likes to say is "before you tackle brisket, nail short ribs three times." I think this is sound advice. This was my second attempt. Earlier this summer I tried attempt number one. The results were...edible. There was much noise coming from the Chez's kitchen that day, most of it unprintable here. Yesterday was pass two. The kitchen was determined to have learned lessons, sought redemption, retained customers. Mission accomplished. After hours of tending the flame, fretting over temperature, dealing with the fickleness of live fire, a BBQ meal was presented to an intimate crowd that makes the Vintage Room look like Grand Central(ie, OLoPP and me.) Having learned a thing or two, it was served Texas style(Wonder bread, pickles, coleslaw, potato salad.) My Kansas City born and raised spouse still used the sweet BBQ sauce. Sigh. Love means never having to say "no sauce for you!" Anyway, the meat was transcendent. Good bark, flexible but not fall apart, moist, succulent with the fat fully rendered to liquid gold. It is intensely satisfying when one's hours of effort transform, with a little luck, into a meal that puts a smile on everyone's face. I feel like the Aaron Franklin of Maryland(it's not a huge competition up here.) LOL about the sauce, but bravo on the production! That advice about brisket sounds really solid. On a basic level I think most people understand the cuts that are high in collagen and reticulin and the basic techniques that help break them down, but to really establish the same kind of muscle memory you get from cooking leaner cuts takes some repetition... And it's better to start with the smaller and more manageable examples before you try to tackle a bigger challenge. Looking forward to hearing about pass three! Vince 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Keith1010 Posted August 22, 2023 #4258 Share Posted August 22, 2023 Gelato is the new ice cream. Keith 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare rafinmd Posted August 23, 2023 #4259 Share Posted August 23, 2023 I'll post a sunset today rather than a sunrise. It's from my 2014 Alaska cruise on MS Statendam. August 23 was the last sea day before disembarking the next morning in Vancouver. Roy 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare rafinmd Posted August 24, 2023 #4260 Share Posted August 24, 2023 (edited) Roy Edited August 24, 2023 by rafinmd 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare rafinmd Posted August 25, 2023 #4261 Share Posted August 25, 2023 Today's sunrise is from the Panama segment of my 2018 Grand Alaska/Panama trip. August 25 was Crystal's maiden call to Bimini, back before there was a dock there: Roy 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare May B Posted August 25, 2023 #4262 Share Posted August 25, 2023 49 minutes ago, rafinmd said: Today's sunrise is from the Panama segment of my 2018 Grand Alaska/Panama trip. August 25 was Crystal's maiden call to Bimini, back before there was a dock there: Roy Yes! I had forgotten that. The tender ride was long! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Keith1010 Posted August 25, 2023 #4263 Share Posted August 25, 2023 This was so good. Keith 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare rafinmd Posted August 26, 2023 #4264 Share Posted August 26, 2023 Today's sunrise is another from the 2018 Crystal Symphony Panama Canal cruise. August 26 was a sea day from Bimini to Charleston. Roy 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Keith1010 Posted August 26, 2023 #4265 Share Posted August 26, 2023 Leaving Bordeaux. Keith 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Keith1010 Posted August 27, 2023 #4266 Share Posted August 27, 2023 July 31 the first night of the inaugural cruise. It was also our wedding anniversary. So the question is were the fire works for the inaugural cruise or for our wedding anniversary or for both? We couldn't have asked for a better day. Keith IMG_2318.mov 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare rafinmd Posted August 27, 2023 #4267 Share Posted August 27, 2023 I don't have a travel sunrise for August 27. This was taken this morning on my street about 500 feet down from my house. Roy 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare rafinmd Posted August 28, 2023 #4268 Share Posted August 28, 2023 Today's sunrise is another from my 2018 Crystal Symphony Panama Canal cruise. August 28 was a sea day from Charleston to New York: .Roy 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Keith1010 Posted August 28, 2023 #4269 Share Posted August 28, 2023 Front row seat. Keith 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Keith1010 Posted August 29, 2023 #4270 Share Posted August 29, 2023 Someone thinking which cruise they will book. Keith 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare rafinmd Posted August 29, 2023 #4271 Share Posted August 29, 2023 This is my final sunrise from my 2018 Grand Alaska/Panama trip. On August 29 Crystal Symphony arrived in New York after a cruise from San Francisco. Roy 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Keith1010 Posted August 30, 2023 #4272 Share Posted August 30, 2023 A special dessert prepared by the wonderful pastry chef's which was on the first formal night menu. Keith 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare rafinmd Posted August 30, 2023 #4273 Share Posted August 30, 2023 Today's sunrise is from a 2012 Queen Mary 2 transatlantic. August 29 was the second sea day out of New York. Roy 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenzSailing Posted August 31, 2023 #4274 Share Posted August 31, 2023 The Chez takes a couple nights off: Local DC restaurant reviews(in case you're planning on visiting. Fall is lovely here.) L'Avant Garde: Georgetown, French(like with a French Mich two starred chef.) Yeah, it lives up to the hype. They had me at the appetizer: foie gras beignet. Sounds crazy but they pull it off. Lovely delicate puff pastry with a decadent, unctuous, almost melting foie gras center. Swoon worthy. Followed by the sweetbread. Now, it's hard enough to get sweetbreads, but here I was confronted with the largest thalamus gland I've ever seen. I may have ordered from rich to richer, but I was brave. OLoPP started with the smoked salmon followed by the scallops, sensible person she is. She nodded in approval. There was dessert. I fell asleep in the Uber home. BTW, French cuisine is back big time in the area. Here at the Chez, it never went out of style. (PS: way back in my college days, when I was occasionally flush, I drank in this very same space, then a Brit themed pub called The Guards. From The Guards to L-Avant Garde. Clever.) L'Ardente: glam Italian(that's how they bill themselves. You can't miss it, it's stenciled on the back of the food runners t-shirts.) Serious chef, former right hand man to the great Michel Richard, rest his soul. Extravagant, boisterous space. Lots of young, pretty, thin customers(as OLoPP observed, we are not their target clients.). The neon sign over the archway to the restrooms reads "Please don't do coke in the bathroom." They're kidding, I think. We split their already famous forty layer lasagna and the veal(yes veal, not chicken) parm. They were very good. There was dessert. As we were celebrating a birthday we had to dissuade them from sticking a sparkler in dessert(we had already seen half a dozen or more lit that evening.) Very good but a bit overwhelming. Here's the interesting thing: we had plenty of food for leftovers. A few nights later at home we polished off the lasagna and the parm. Both of them were no longer just good, but excellent. No, it's not that they had gotten better with age, it's just that, free of the distractions of our previous "glam" environment, we could fully appreciate the food and it was fantastic. Increases my fondness for minimalist dining rooms. Part two to follow. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Keith1010 Posted August 31, 2023 #4275 Share Posted August 31, 2023 New Year's Eve, 2014. Keith 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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