Monday, October 31, 2011

Vietnam

Hello!!
As you can guess from the title of the Blog, I am in Vietnam. I will be here for about two month and will be sailing up and down the coast and I am sure I will be able to post a couple of ineresting Blogs, there is just so much to see and eat here!
But let's start from the beginning, I am not working for Celebrity anymore and must say that I am very happy about it. OK, I will always be grateful to elebrity as I have met my Fiancee there (and I am really happy about that) and I got the experience on big ships, I mean really big, so big that even so I wanted to be more hands on, one is just running the whole day, tasting, putting out fires, organizing and actually loosing a bit touch with what one really loves, being in the middle of it and cooking and enjoying it.
So while I am looking for a new job I had this amazing opportunity to work again for Orion Expedition Cruises. I have done that before I started at Celebrity and really loved every minute. There are a lot of Blogs from my time with Orion, being in the Kimberleys in North Austalia, in New Zealand, Sub Antarctic and Antarctic, it is a great company with great crew and fantastic destinations. Check it out http://www.orionexpeditions.com/ it is just amazing. I am now on Orion II, the new ship in the fleet and having great fun till mid December here along the coast of Vietnam

We actually came up from Singapore, we meaning the ship, me, and of course Poala, my Fiancee, as she is travelling with us as a guest (Supernummary in the crew list) but after a tough contract she needs a bit of a rest and Orion was happy to have her with me on board which is really great!
So the first stop is Ho Chi Minh City where we had loading and our guest all arrived. I was very lucky to meet again with a supplier I have worked about five years ago, when I was here with a different ship. It was so nice seeing each other again and we went out for lunch to a Pho Noodle Soup place. It is a fast food chain, but the soups are still delicious, I will supply a recipe with my next Blog.

The city has changed a lot and there are not that many Bicicles around anymore, just plenty of Bikes, pity, I miss the sight of thousands of bicicles. The rest is still the same, the same market, the friendliness of the people, just amazing to be here!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Risotto

Ahhhh, I just have to make a post about Risotto, I love Risotto and I love cooking Risotto, it is just such a wonderful dish, either on its own or served with meat or fish. Yes it is a rich dish whn made properly but at the same time so versatile and it is even gluten free as the creamyness of the risotto comes from the rice starch
I found some wonderful Chanterel Mushrooms on the market and thought of making a wild mushroom risotto, one of my many favorites as every risotto is a favorite for me.
It is important that a risotto is creamy, but that doesn't mean that there is cream in it. Most chefs in Italy would not speak to you anymore if you ask if they use cream in a risotto, no way! But butter at the end, yes that must go in, plenty of it!
I have added the recipe for you, enjoy it and have a glass of wine while cooking it, I usually cook risotto with friends, it is entertaining, fun and one has a lot to talk while watching the risotto cook.
50 Ml (2 oz) Olive Oil
100 G (4 oz) Butter
600 G (1.25 lb) Risotto Rice
500 G (1 lb) Chanterel Mushrooms
250 G (0.5 lb) Brown Button Mushrooms
150 (5 oz) G Parmesan
200 G (7 oz) Onions
1600 (1.6 quart) Ml Water or a light chicken or beef stock
200 (7 floz) Ml White Wine
Salt

Cut the onions in a fine brunoise
Shallow-fry the onions in olive oil without color
Add the rice and shallow-fry some more
Add the white wine and water
Add Mushrooms
Season and simmer for about 15 min
Just before serving add the parmesan and ice
cold butter

The risotto must be slightly al dente and creamy

Serves 10 pax

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

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.



Saturday, October 1, 2011

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!!!!
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