This is our noon position. It is overcast skies and 61F outside. Ride was good last night and today. I made a mistake in yesterday's post saying the river pilots were on board. Not so, as we pick them up at around 9:30 tonight.
LAST EVENING
Cocktail hour in Meridian Lounge complete with pigs in a blanket that showed up on time today. On the way to dinner we saw these two ladies freshening up some flowers in the atrium.
We both had escargot to start with but neither of us finished the whole thing. It was very good however.
This is the panko coated fried shrimp we had ordered special.
Apple & blueberry crumble tart. I did eat the whole thing!!
We had front row center seats for the production cast singers', "Broadway in Concert" show.
Very talented group of singers. I believe the female singers are a little better than the males.
Back to the suite and turned on the Chiefs/Chargers NFL game. Turned our clocks back an hour and half so we got lots of sleep. We are now on Eastern time for the rest of this cruise.
TODAY
The maps at the beginning of this post shows our noon position. I thought I would show this, our 8am, position as we now have two river pilots on board to help the Captain navigate up the St Lawrence River. Just as port pilots are experts and know of hazards so do river pilots know of any problems with navigating the river. At 8am it is 62 degrees and the ship's speed is only 10 kts. Speed restriction could be to protect any whales that may be in the river.
They will be televising the following college football games today:
Iowa at Iowa St---noon
Middle Tennessee at Wisconsin---4pm
At 10am I had a cooking class scheduled in the Culinary Kitchen. There were 18 of us in the class. This is my cooking station. Besides the two chef instructors there we two helpers who set up the stations for each course and cleared used dishes.
Got my apron on and ready to cook!
The chefs, Tom & Junnie (husband and wife), would call us up to demonstrate the preparation of each course before we went back to our stations and did it.
First we had a champagne toast to start the class.
Tom is demonstrating the first course preparation which was a creamy lobster salad.
Dicing cooked lobster, celery, and chives.
Lattice with cucumber strips.
His finished product. Now my turn!
Here I have diced the celery and lobster. Put in bowl with a mayo-sour cream mixture and Old Bay seasoning. Mixed everything with some fresh squeezed lemon. Set this aside.
Preparing the cucumber, I first remove the seeds center part then I had the lattice strips to put on the salad plate to start with.
Put the lobster mixture in a round press to get it on top of the salad plate. Removed press and then the lobster salad stayed in one place. Cut up some lettuce to as garnish. Chive stalks crossed on top with some more spices for presentation. Got to admit, I did good!! First course down the hatch!!
Next Chef Junnie was demonstrating how we would be making the dessert--a blueberry crostata. She first mixed in flower/cornstarch in with the blueberries and squeezed fresh lemon juice in and stirred it up.
The pie crust had been previously made for us. She rolled it into a flat circle and put the blueberry mixture in the center.
The she folded the four corners around it leaving a hole in the center.
Next was my turn to make one. It actually was very easy to do. This is mine on top a parchment and in a baking dish. They baked it while we continued with the next courses.
Next course was making a "21 Club Manhattan" cocktail.
Ingredients were: tea, bourbon, maple syrup, lemon, and ginger beer. Put it all in shaker and shake.
This is my finished product. I just had a sip or two.
Next Chef Tom made a bearnaise sauce for our steaks. Luckily we did not have to attempt to make this sauce.
Cooking it was tricky or you would end up with scrambled eggs.
Stirring in clarified butter very slowly.
Next Chef Tom demonstrated the proper way to cook a steak. Tied string around it to help keep its shape, then seasoned both sides with salt and pepper. Put some butter in pan and heated before adding the meat.
This is his finished product with the bearnaise sauce on top.
My turn. Here is meat which I tied string around. The butter and some sea salt. Sea salt to add on top after cooking. I seasoned both sides with salt and pepper before cooking.
For medium rare he told me to set heat at very hot (8 on a 10 stove setting) and cook each side for 2 minutes. Only turn one time.
Looking good.
They came around and put the bearnaise sause on. My finished product.
Can't have red meat without a red wine. This is a "R" red blend house wine. Very drinkable and not tannic.
Voila!!! Perfect medium rare.
Now time for my blueberry crostata with some sour cream ice cream. Never heard of sour cream ice cream before today. Not bad. The crostata was excellent. I brought a few bites back for Rebecca to taste.
This everything we made in today's cooking class.
Junnie and Tom were absolutely great and I hope I can get into another class next segment.
At 3pm we had an appointment with Pippa, a Cruise Consultant. We had a few questions and comments for her. Plus I wanted to purchase a couple "Return with Regent Credits". If you don't know what cruise you want now, you can get these and use anytime within the next year to book a cruise. Big benefit is reduced deposit of $1000 and also you get some ship board credit. Pippa will be heading home when we get to Montreal. Bea will be replacing her. We also know Bea well.
This evening is a formal optional dress night as it is the Farewell Reception (this segment ends in Montreal) and the Krew Kapers show at 6pm. As most of our blog readers know, Krew Kapers is a show produced and participants are all crewmembers. They practice at midnight after their daily duties are complete. They are a very talented group. Always a highlight of every cruise!!
Tonight's Compass Rose menu. Always on Farewell night is one of our very favorites, beef Wellington.
The show at 9:30 is featuring a second show of the comedian, Tom Briscoe. We did not see his first show so plan to attend this one. Not on front row however. May need a quick escape.
We are scheduled to dock at 8am tomorrow morning in Quebec City.
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