HungryChris

As a matter of fact, I made the solemn pledge to bring some Crystal hot sauce on the next one (March of next year). We still have a few days on the ship to go. "Going ashore" referred to a day on the private NCL island called Harvest Caye. We had a great time, starting with a cool little electric powered pram for two, with a canopy, on which we traveled around in a small lagoon with zip liners zipping by over head and manatees swimming by underneath. We spent the rest of the day in and out of a huge pool and cabana. Had some great fish tacos. Unfortunately, my new underwater camera needed to have the lens cleaned so the picture taking was a bust. HC

Dinner at Cagney's Steak House on the NCL Pearl tonight. Deb had a rib eye steak and I had an absolutely fantastic bison strip steak, rare. We picked from all the available sides, and ended up with crab salad, roasted mushrooms, sautéed spinach, garlic mashed potatoes and just could not address them all. I hate to waste food, but also hate to leave the table feeling too full. HC

This is purely a guess, but the base is butter, heavy with garlic and a dry sherry flambé with Romano cheese added after the alcohol is gone, then combined with the snails, in that special dish and returned to the oven until bubbly hot. Crusty bread is a MUST with this dish! HC

Deb chose pan cakes, with walnuts, and I opted for poached eggs and crab cakes with hollandaise on an English muffin this morning, before going ashore. HC

Escargot, cream of mushroom soup, fillet of beef and lamb chops at Le Bistro on the NCL Pearl. HC

The fruit is remarkably good, especially the berries, my favorites. HC

Waiting to hear about the snowstorm back home as we get ready for a day at the beach in Roatan. Here is the view from our table, on the ship, this morning. My usual smoked salmon, cream cheese, caper and red onion starter. Normally we only have a cocktail with breakfast on "sea days", but our excursion, today includes everything, with very little decision making, so caution to the wind! Steak and eggs, rare / over easy, for me, a small omelet, for Deb, and 2 bloodies, please. HC

Breakfast in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. In addition to the breakfast menu, we get this great little buffet spread, that I could be quite happy with, by itself. HC Give me a little roll or 2 , some smoked salmon, cream cheese, capers an a bit of red onion, and I'm good. OK, I added a bit of brie, just cuz it was there. When my poached eggs in lobster and scallop sauce arrived, it was all I could do to eat around the bread. Next time, all I want is the little buffet. HC

We agree that the oysters at Drago's are awesome. Last time we were in NOLA, we each had an order of char-grilled oyster and split a fried shrimp po-boy there. There is a good possibility that we will hit Drago's again. We checked the price of shrimp and grits at Mr. B's Bistro and it's just not in the plan. We do have a bunch of must do's when we return that includes another visit to the Blind Pelican for some boiled crawfish and more oysters. We also want to visit Bevi Seafood Market for their renowned crawfish boil. There is also a market just a few steps away from our hotel, Rouse's, which puts out big, hot coolers full of freshly boiled mud bugs from 11 am to 7 pm every day during the season. I happened to be in there when they put the first one out on our last visit and they smelled great! They have a nice little food court area where you can grab a beer and chomp on crawfish by the pound (about $3 pp) to your hearts content. I would like to try and document that experience. HC

We flew to New Orleans yesterday, for a cruise that departs on Sunday. We hit The Blind Pelican for happy hour and dinner. We each had a dozen chargrilled oysters for starters which were good, but took a while because of the large crowd of St. Patty's day Irish parade participants. They were worth the wait. I followed up with a dozen raw ones, which were wonderful. Hard to believe during happy hour, a dozen raw oysters are $3. Pretty hard to beat. We were up at 2 am so we were pretty beat and called it a night. I think under other circumstances, I would have had another dozen and some boiled crawfish. We will stay another three days after we return from the cruise, and have plans for those days that will more oysters and crawfish.. HC

I am interested in carbonating wine, but like the idea of using a 5 LB CO2 bottle, regulator and hose system. It looks like you could put one together using parts from Amazon or eBay for about $100. Anyone tried it? It seems like you could do thousands of bottles from 1 tank and the cost about $20 to refill. HC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLFvw4CVKgY

small salami, provolone cheese, tomatoes and shredded cabbage sandwich. The cabbage is mixed with S & P, a little good olive oil and a splash of red wine vinegar. HC

Canadian bacon, egg, American cheese on a English muffin with a side of home fries and a bit of fresh salsa. Can you tell I like salsa? HC

Seasoned panko, pork tenderloin schnitzel and leftover Greek salad sandwich. In light of the weather and terrible road conditions, an adult beverage seemed appropriate. HC

That is a very unusual looking steak. The only ones I have ever seen with that kind of size have been in Italy and come from the Chinana breed. It is not unusual for the strip portion to fill the plate on its own and the fillet portion to be just about as big. The meat also has little apparent marbling, yet is quite tender. I wonder what breed of cattle your steak is from. HC

Looks like a small sacrifice. Just saying.

Had this thing about making Shepard's pie. Yesterday, I finally did it with a small Greek salad. At the last minute, I chose to use shaved potatoes instead of mashed, so shoot me. It turned out pretty good and Deb liked it, so it was a win. HC

Toasted English muffin, over easy egg, American cheese, scrapple and fresh salsa HC

Since Deb still works, I can live in both worlds, being free to innovate during the day, but cook to please her, on nights and weekends. It works for us. HC

Pork tenderloin schnitzel, baked potatoes and peas. HC

The filling starts with a 15 oz. container (by weight), of part skim milk ricotta, 2 eggs (beaten), 1/4 cup each of freshly grated Romano, mozzarella, and Swiss (just because I had some), 1 tsp. garlic powder, S & P to taste and a mixture of dried and chopped fresh basil. This is all blended well. Cook the jumbo shells just until they are flexible. This makes stuffing much easier than if they are fully cooked. For that size container of cheese, I will cook up about 16 shells (allowing for some breakage). I have thought about making a meat stuffing and will probably give it a try. As far as lasagna goes, I like to do up a good sized pan, have a meal when it comes out of the oven, then cool the rest. Once it's cool, I cut it up into single servings and freeze them on a sheet pan. Wrap each serving in aluminum foil and bag them up and keep them in the freezer. They do well in the microwave. HC

Stuffed shells with a quick and easy salad made with Campari tomatoes and some perfect looking pickling cukes. I used to struggle trying to get the shells to line up and level off for a decent presentation, and discovered, quite by accident, that a little spray of olive oil, in the bottom of the dish, and a tip of the dish (having one end propped up to allow a bit of gravity assist) helps getting them to behave. The sauce is thinned out with a bit of water and added in, in stages as the shells are added. HC

Fried haddock Fillet-O-Fish sandwiches HC

Some moderately good, take out sushi and some sesame oil pan seared ahi tuna from Aldi. All washed down with a cold Dogs & Boats DIPA. HC

Thanks, Anna. Some years ago, I had a falafel sandwich that had pickled turnips in it and I loved it. I have been making them ever since. They are at their best when they are nice and crunchy and that means you have to use them up quickly. HC