Tallinn

Tallinn, what a city!!!!!

Why? Because it is an amazing Medieval Town! I always could see the town center from the ship but never went out, now I finally made it together with my good friend Eddie Thomas who is sailing with us for a cruise. He is the corporate culinary trainer and we do some amazing training with the chefs here on board.

The city has so much to offer, there are plenty of very good restaurants, there are bars, coffee shops, museum, actually plenty of them, the castle, medieval towers, it is just so nice to walk through the city. OK, there were plenty of cruise ships, so it is a bit crowded, but it is not too bad, there is plenty of space.


I have a lot of photos and just want to show you a couple, it is really an amazing town here. It is worth spending more than just a couple of hours here, the town really has so much to offer, I just love it here.

Thank you

Just a quick not to say thank you to all the readers of my Blog. Last month was the first time since I started the Blog 2 Years ago that I had over 1000 hits in one month.

I know for many that might be very little, for me this is big and I am very happy to see that having started so small it has now so many hits. I never expected that it would go that far and it motivates me to write even more.

So again, thank you for reading my Blog and you will see, there is plenty more coming!!!!

Cyclone in Philippines

As you can see, I am back in Philippines which mean that I am hopelessly behind in posting my Blogs, but I promise that I will try to catch up. There are still 3 or 4 blogs from my Baltic and Norwegian tour with Celebrity.

By the way, Celebrity is past as well, yes unfortunately we have parted ways and Celebrity has to sail without me……I am sure they will be able to manage somehow, lol! Ah, yes and of course there are already new adventures in the pipeline, no worries; I am just waiting to sign a contract for the next two month….on a ship again.

But now, while I am here in Philippines and waiting for my Fiancée to join me as she is still working on a ship, I lived through my first cyclone! What an experience, not something one wants to do every day and we were lucky too. We live in Cavite, in the mountains close to Tagaytay, so even with the heavy rain we had no flooding like many parts in northern Philippines had. But it was still a bit scary with the wind gusts we had, the roof nearly taking off and then for next 12 hours without power.

Now everything is good again, the huge cyclone with a 650 km diameter has passed and is on the way to Vietnam, I hope it won’t get any worse. The destruction is terrible, ten thousands of people had to be evacuated, many lost their homes and some unfortunately even died. Manila was basically under water and many other provinces in the North too, especially the places close to the sea. There were mud slides and with the river being so high many roads and houses have been washed away.

I will be hopping over to Switzerland, in my new favorite airline, Qatar Airlines, I will tell you another time why I like it so much, apart from having really good prices. I will be catching up with the Blogs from the Baltic and yes, I have been cooking too so there will be more recipes

See you all around!

Beef Stroganoff

Now, there is of course more to Moscow than just seeing the city and like I wrote in the previous Blog about my fantastic day in Moscow there is a lot to write about food. The variety in GOM was amazing and all I wanted to do is cooking, then having dinner at the writer’s club, I just have to give you the recipe of the Beef Stroganoff, a classic not just in Russian Cuisine, but as well in the French Cuisine. It is easy to prepare and everybody will simply like it.

While I was in Russia most dishes are served with potatoes. You think Ireland is the land of potatoes? Think again, Mother Russia serves as much potatoes as they do in Ireland!

I give you the fancy version with Beef Fillet/Tenderloin. Of course you can take lesser cuts, but don’t forget, and then it has to be simmered in the sauce till the meat is tender. The color of the dish might vary a little, depending on how much demi glace or Paprika you add.

Here is the recipe

1600 G Beef Tenderloin
75 G Butter, clarified
10 G Salt, pepper
5 G Paprika
100 G Onions
100 G Gherkins
100 G Mushrooms
100 G Peppers
200 Ml Red wine
500 Ml Demi glace
100 Ml Sour cream

Cut tenderloin in cubes
Cut onion in Brunoise
Cut gherkin and peppers in julienne
Cut mushrooms in slices

Sauté the meat quick in clarified butter, season and dust
with paprika
Take the meat out, then add mushrooms, onions and peppers
Dust some more paprika, then add red wine, reduce a bit
then add demi glace. Cook for a short while
Season and add sour cream.

Add meat again, boil up quickly and serve immediately

Garnish with sour cream and cooked beetroot julienne



Serves 10 friends


Enjoy it, you will see it is simply delicious.

One Day in Moscow

Mocsow

What an amazing city this is, a city of about 17 Million inhabitants. I was very fortunate that I could join a one day tour to this beautiful city on my last cruise on the Constellation before going on vacation. I will of course write a story about St. Petersburg as well.

The tour started very early in the morning, the moment the ship was docked and cleared we had a bus that took us to the airport, 40 minutes one way, and we could see some new parts of St. Petersburg, then a fairly quick check in and off we went on a 45 minute flight to Moscow, I was so excited.

Like I said, Moscow is huge and it took us good 40 minutes to get to the city center. I could see the first high rise buildings from the Stalin era, wow, they are like huge monuments and then the first big moment came, we saw the Kreml and St. Basil’s Cathedral. We stopped on the other side of the Moskwa River and had a great photo opportunity. The Kreml was closed as every Thursday the Parliament is there.

Then we went to the Red Square. They are busy with a huge Military Music Festival, so one couldn’t see the huge size of the square, but one gets the hint. It is amazing to stand here, imagining the huge army parades that they hold at this very same spot.

Next to the Kreml and the St. Basil’s Cathedral is the number one shopping center in Russia, it is called GOM, even so it is written differently. Of course I went in there quick, we had only half an hour free time and wow, what a shopping center, it is not huge, but stylish. Only the best shops are in there, jewellery, fashion designer that sort of shops. Then there is one food shop in it, called Gourmet No 1. What a treat for a chef, I could have gone absolutely wild, the cold cuts, the cheeses, the pastries, everything was just amazing. So I spent most of my free time in there.

After the red square we went for a metro ride. The Metro is huge and absolutely beautiful. The two stations I saw had bronze statues and white marble and beautiful mosaic. They were both built just after the second world war, but still look like new. Even today the government is still expanding the Metro which makes travelling in Moscow a lot easier, free from traffic…….just that I don’t understand the names written everywhere, no there is no English!

Quick tea break in one of the nicer hotels, not one of the top 5 star hotels, but just nice to have a little break, the day is long, it is already early afternoon. We are now on the way to Smolensky Cathedral and Monastery. The Monastery is still functioning today and is one of the richest and most beautiful monasteries in Moscow. The reason for it is that the Tsars were not allowed to divorce or have another wife, so if they had enough of their wife or just wanted another one, they put them in a monastery, this monastery and of course they made generous gifts, just that they could continue with their lives as nothing has happened. It sounds a bit harsh, but I know that in history many wives were just killed and disposed of, I think that is a better option, still not nice so.

Then we went off on the bus again, the day was still long and we still had more on the program. Now we went on a river cruise to see the sights from a ship, loved it, it was so relaxing and we did see a lot, like the trainings place for the ski jumping, even to be used in summer, the famous Gorki Park, you have to read the book (or watch the movie) then further towards the university with the center of science.

Then we went on the bus again, this time along the old walls of Moscow, built in the 15th century to the restaurant where we will have dinner and wow, how wonderful that restaurant was. It is called “The Writers Club) and has been built as a house of a rich Muscovite in the 19th Century. The interior was absolutely beautiful as you can see on the photos. The food was nice, but could not match the interior of the restaurant. The main course was the traditional Beef Stroganoff…… but still the entire evening in the restaurant was absolutely amazing.

After that we went off again towards the airport. Now the long way home started, 45 minutes to the airport, check in, waiting, flying, another bus trip and then finally we arrived at Constellation at…..2 AM. This was a very long day, but so memorable and amazing. I found another city in the world which belongs now to my favorites, yes I know I only saw so little, but then again, I saw so much in just one day!

Cherbourg, France on a beautiful market!!

We are on the way to the Baltic, but of course with a couple of stops on the way. Today we are in Cherbourg in Normandy, France. It is still early in the year and the weather is fresh but we are lucky and it is another sunny day. The highlight for me was the market, it was totally unexpected and so enjoyable, especially all the cheeses like on the photo abofe. I was totally in heaven here and enjoyed every minute with all the smells finding their way in to my nose!

I have to be honest, I have seen nicer ports in my career, but then again, it is not too bad. A short bus drive brought us straight in the city center, one could even walk. Then there are plenty of shops and of course restaurants. For me the city itself is not the tourist magnet, but close by there are the famous beached of D-Day, when the allied forces landed on the French Coast to fight the German Army.

I didn’t go there, but just walked around town a bit and looked at the local attraction. One of them was just next to the ship; it is the Cite de la mer, a museum of submarines. This is definitely worth going to see, very interesting and interactive, especially if the weather should not be that great.

Anyway, it is nice to be here, it is not a place I would have driven especially, but as the ship is stopping here, it was worth going outside, like I said, there is plenty to do in the region and it is a perfect place to explore the history of the second world war, something everybody should stop and start thinking if it was really worth all these lives…..of course not, so come here to Cherbourg and get a taste of this terrible time in human history

Ponta del Gada, Azores

OK, I am back on the ships, this time on the beautiful Celebrity Constellation and I can tell you, it is a real pleasure to be on board this ship. The Constellation has been “Solsticised” which means when she went to dry dock last year to get a face lift, Celebrity put some extra restaurants and bars on the ship which one can find as well on the Solstice Class ships, our flag ship ones who in my opinion are the nicest big ships on the seven seas at the moment.

So I joined in Fort Lauderdale and we had 6 days at sea before finally we saw land again, to be exact we are now in Ponta Delgada on S. Miguel Island which is part of the Acores Islands. It is still a bit fresh here but summer is just starting.

I went out a little bit and made some photos of the town, it is just so beautiful with all the restaurants and little shops. The Island itself is amazing too, worth making a week’s holiday here and explore everything. I just had a bit more than an hour and just went to town a bit. Funny enough the churches very much reminded me of the churches I have seen in Philippines, it is a bit the same style and they have been built at around the same time.

So after this wonderful day here we will be back at sea for a day before coming to mainland Europe and you will read many great stories and recipes from the places I will go. Just to say that much, I will start with a couple of cruises in the Baltics!!!!

Lufthansa, flying the new Airbus A380 to Frankfurt

I am flying back to work, this time to Miami and will then join the Constellation to go over to Europe, so yes, you will have many new interesting Blogs about the travel in Europe starting with the north, and then later going to the Mediterranean.

To get to work I was booked from Cape Town to Johannesburg, then on the A380 to Frankfurt and then further to Miami, a long flight again, but that is normal. So I am flying for the first time on the new Airbus A 380. Looking at the plane in the airport it is just huge, this a little fat big bird sitting there waiting to be filled with all the passengers. And now of course the big question, how was it?????

Just another flight to be honest. When one sits inside one doesn’t feel the size of the plane, the only difference is, one waits a lot longer for everything, the check in is slow, there are long queues, the food is slow, both dinner and breakfast and if one needs something special, my neighbors wanted more water, one waits forever and best goes and fetches it oneself.

I was flying Lufthansa, so one must not forget, Lufthansa doesn’t give the nice night bags with the socks, tooth brush and eye pads, I asked for the eye pads and got some delivered fairly shortly afterwards. The Cabin Attendant went to business class and got me one. Service was excellent considering the size of the plane, imagine there are 420 passengers in tourist class alone, that is a lot. Food was very good, it did not look that appetizing as you can see on the photo, they just called it beef, but the taste was delicious, it was a red wine braise beef steak, so flavorful, one could taste the red wine, the meat was marinated before it got braised, it was really a dream. OK, a bit difficult to cut, even so tender, but wow, the taste was outstanding, one of the tastiest meals I had on a plane.

The one main difference I could feel is how the plane sets off and lands. With this huge size one doesn’t feel the pull during the start and the landing was very soft too, that was very nice.
I was very unfortunate to be seated in row 60, which is next to where they prepare the food, it is a lot going on there and difficult to sleep (that is why I needed the eye patches) but it is still better than sitting close to the toilets, wow, there is a lot more happening and I don’t want to go more into it......so be careful when you book.

But otherwise it is just another normal flight, movies were disappointing as there was just a very small choice, but service was excellent, so if you have to fly the A 380 do it, but don’t expect too much.

I think this will be the future in flying, bigger and more passengers, so we better start getting used to it, it is more economical for the airlines so of course they will go the economic way. Overall the flight was good, but then I had nice neighbors as well, an Indian couple with their 2 year old son going on holiday in Italy, we had a nice chat and then after dinner I had a good nap. Now I am in Frankfurt waiting for my connection to Miami....... will get back to you from the ship