On Marina Day, before the water sports began, Chef Andre did a cooking demo for a group of 16 people. He made lobster risotto, and I learned a few things about cooking the finicky rice dish, and he made a fois gras creme brulee. Who knew creme brulee could be made as a savory appetizer? I am inspired to try some variations of my own. We’ll see how they turn out, or when I might have a moment to experiment with, say, smoked salmon creme brulee.
During the demo, Chef Andre invited those in attendance to go shopping with him to the market at the next stop, Corfu. Naturally, I was all over that. Even Florida Keys Guy was interested. A bus picked us up at the ship and took the group of 20 to the market, where Chef Andre bought some provisions for the next couple of days – 10 kilos of swordfish, some John Dory for particularly picky passengers, and Sea Bass. All those on the trip got a special meal made for them in the dining room that night. The conversation went like this:
Koen: What will you be having for dinner, Ms. Keys Girl?
Me: Whatever Chef Andre bought this morning and has decided to make for us, Koen.
“Whatever” it was turned out to be perfectly cooked sea bass, and we turned out to be very happy campers.
Earlier that same day, we went on a tour of the galley. I thought it would be interesting to see the inner workings of how I am constantly fed on the ship. The tour (mainly the same people that would later go on the shopping adventure) was greeted with Champagne and caviar and then taken through the entire, spotless galley, with explanations along the way. Apparently they make everything from scratch except the cookies and the ice cream – there is way too much consumption of those items to be able to produce it all by hand. On the Odyssey, one of Seabourn’s larger, 450-passenger ships, there is a guy that makes ice cream all day long. That is his job, making ice cream. Which strangely reminds me of a Weird Al video of him in Amish garb, churning butter, but I digress.
