'Twas the Cruise During Christmas - Zuiderdam 2018

[POA1]

Holiday Cocktail #3: Have Yourself a Berry Little Cocktail

 

I was skeptical of this one because I had a dismal experience with the "Maker's Marktini" at Blue Martini in the Galleria Mall in Fort Lauderdale. I have since avoided all pun-based drinks. They were ruining perfectly good whiskey with a bunch of unneeded ingredients. I got away with ordering the drink as "hold everything but the Maker's" for a while, until they realized that I was just ordering a big glass or chilled bourbon. The bartenders would simply double up on the Maker's Mark to compensate and get enough liquid to fill the enormous Blue Martini glasses. It was a glorious time, but I digress.

 

This cocktail isn't as sweet as you'd expect, It's very refreshing. It's the number two choice of my sweet babboo*.

 

 

Cold. Pouring. Action!

 

 

 

Have Yourself a Berry Little Cocktail Recipe

 

• 5 Raspberries, muddled
• 1 oz Vodka
• 0.5 oz Creme de Cassis
• 1 oz Cranberry Juice
• 0.25 oz Simple Syrup
• 2 oz Sparkling Wine**

 

In a cocktail shaker: Combine all ingredients except for the sparking wine. Add ice. Shake. Pour into pint glass. Do not strain. Top with sparkling wine. Garnish with 2 raspberries on a pick.

 

Notes:
 

          * - This is what Lucy calles Schroeder in the Charlie Brown holiday cartoons.
 

          ** - For the love of all that is holy, don't use good champagne here. Use Prosecco or something inexpensive. Neptune Suite dwellers: That's your complimentary bottle of sparking wine in the photo.

Edited December 27, 2018 by POA1

[frankc98376]

56 minutes ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

 

Those "stand-up crackers" (my relatively small brain can't come up with a better name) with the "open sesame" seeds were good. Don't believe you see those anymore 
 

Lavash 🙂

We buy it at Trader Joe's- Spray lightly with Olive Oil and sprinkle on herbs then bake at about 350 until crisp. Haven;t figured out how to get sesame seeds to stick to it

[POA1]

6 minutes ago, frankc98376 said:

Lavash 🙂

We buy it at Trader Joe's- Spray lightly with Olive Oil and sprinkle on herbs then bake at about 350 until crisp. Haven;t figured out how to get sesame seeds to stick to it

 

If you have a pasta roller or a pasta attachment for a KitchenAid, that's how it's done. I used one of my phone a friend credits to reach out to a baker. 

 

Now that you mentioned it, lavash is a much better term. The pasta roller embeds the seeds into the very thin dough. You can't add them after the fact apparently. (Although it appears that the PG ones are topped.) 

[POA1]

20 minutes ago, frankc98376 said:

Lavash 🙂

We buy it at Trader Joe's- Spray lightly with Olive Oil and sprinkle on herbs then bake at about 350 until crisp. Haven;t figured out how to get sesame seeds to stick to it

 

I have a recipe from the King Arthur Flour company if you want it. It's supposed to be pretty easy to make if you have a roller. 

[POA1]

Holiday Cocktail #4: Jingle Bell Julep

 

This one should have been my favorite because the base liquor is 1.5 oz of Maker's Mark bourbon. It's a good drink, and if you like juleps, it's a tasty Christmas version.

 

 

 

Jingle Bell Julep Recipe

 

Fresh mint leaves, muddled

1.5 oz Maker's Mark

0.5 oz Chambord

0.5 ox Triple Sec

 

After muddling mint leaves, combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker.  Add ice. Shake well. Pout unstrained into a rocks glass. Garnish with a sprig of mint.

 

Jingle Bell Julep vs. the embryonic version.

 

 

 

[Stratheden]

1 hour ago, POA1 said:

Holiday Cocktail #3: Have Yourself a Berry Little Cocktail

 

I was skeptical of this one because I had a dismal experience with the "Maker's Marktini" at Blue Martini in the Galleria Mall in Fort Lauderdale. I have since avoided all pun-based drinks. They were ruining perfectly good whiskey with a bunch of unneeded ingredients. I got away with ordering the drink as "hold everything but the Maker's" for a while, until they realized that I was just ordering a big glass or chilled bourbon. The bartenders would simply double up on the Maker's Mark to compensate and get enough liquid to fill the enormous Blue Martini glasses. It was a glorious time, but I digress.

 

This cocktail isn't as sweet as you'd expect, It's very refreshing. It's the number two choice of my sweet babboo*.

 

 

Cold. Pouring. Action!

 

 

 

I had that cocktail on the Noordam on Christmas Day. It was really enjoyable. Not too sweet. 

[frankc98376]

1 hour ago, POA1 said:

 

I have a recipe from the King Arthur Flour company if you want it. It's supposed to be pretty easy to make if you have a roller. 

Yes- please email to me.  We live in Washington- every house has a roller. Lazy people buy pre-rolled 🙂

 

Thanks!

[POA1]

Just now, Stratheden said:

I had that cocktail on the Noordam on Christmas Day. It was really enjoyable. Not too sweet. 

 

Agreed. It's very refreshing. It's not overly strong. You could make it with strawberries or blueberries as well.

[NRFBQN]

Thank you so  much for all of your intensive research and documentation on our behalf!  Your "LIVE" thread has been wonderful and has me very excited for our next cruise in just over two weeks!

[POA1]

57 minutes ago, NRFBQN said:

Thank you so  much for all of your intensive research and documentation on our behalf!  Your "LIVE" thread has been wonderful and has me very excited for our next cruise in just over two weeks!

You're welcome. I hope you have an excellent trip. 

[sppunk]

I see no Wang Wangs in this thread. I’m officially revoking your “minister of fun” moniker!

[ski ww]

All that live research must be hard on the liver. Thank you for all your hard work & dedication. 

[puppycanducruise]

Thank you for all your hard work and research.

Happy New Year!

[POA1]

Christmas Cocktail #5: Winter Wonderland

 

This was one of the "meh" ones in our opinion. Michelle said it tasted like espresso with lots of milk, which it kind of is.

 

 

Winter Wonderland Cocktail Recipe

 

• 1.5 oz Vodka
• 1 oz Cold Espresso
• 3 oz Cream
• 0.5 oz Vanilla Syrup
• Pinch of nutmeg

 

Combine all ingredients except nutmeg in a shaker. Add ice. Shake. Pour into pint glass. Do not strain. Top with pinch of nutmeg.  This one can also be made as a blender drink.

 

Michelle's advice is that if you find yourself wanting an espesso drink, order an espresso martini from the Crow's Nest or whichever bar is closest to the Explorations Cafe. That way, you'll get the drink with a proper head of froth.  On many of the ships, you can also get an espresso martini with fresh espresso from the Pinnacle bar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kazu]

52 minutes ago, POA1 said:

This was one of the "meh" ones in our opinion. Michelle said it tasted like espresso with lots of milk, which it kind of is.

 

 

It sounds very 'meh' to me, too.  Not my cup of tea 😉 

[ger_77]

20 hours ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

 

Those "stand-up crackers" (my relatively small brain can't come up with a better name) with the "open sesame" seeds were good. Don't believe you see those anymore 
 

It's called "Lavash" and I love it; you can still get it in the Pinnacle at dinner.  You're welcome.  😉

 

Smooth Sailing! 🙂🙂🙂

[POA1]

Bonus Holiday Cocktail A: Christmas in a Glass

 

This one was another of the not-so-impressive ones. The taste was fine, but it was a little boring visually.  It might be a decent substitute for Bellinis at brunch. I'd be inclined to throw a cranberry in or something to give it a little holiday flair.

 

 

 

Christmas In A Glass Recipe

 

• 0.75 oz Gingerbread Syrup (They were using Monin brand)
• Prosecco

 

Pour gingerbread syrup into a champagne flute. Fill the rest of the way with prosecco. Be wowed by the fact that it looks exactly like prosecco in a glass.

 

 

Edited December 28, 2018 by POA1

[POA1]

Bonus Holiday Cocktail B: Gingerbread Cookie Cordial

 

Our second bonus cocktail is a cordial. It's served in a Holland America cordial glass, but you can use any of the larger shot type glasses in your arsenal. It's pretty tasty.

 

 

 

Gingerbread Cookie Cordial Recipe:

 

• 0.75 oz Frangelico
• 0.75 oz Bailey's Irish Cream
• 0.75 oz Gingerbread Syrup

 

The official recipe says to combine the ingredients , shake, and pour into glass. The person who mixes this went for a layered effect. If you have a cordial glass with a red rectangle around it, you can use that, but it's not a strict requirement.

 

Edited December 28, 2018 by POA1

[Classynfun1]

This entire thread has been so wonderful, we are seriously considering sailing on the January 6th voyage! Not sure I could ever do as great as you on a live thread, but if we book it after all, I might try to do so (I blog, but it isn't usually in real time...) 😉

[POA1]

Just now, Classynfun1 said:

This entire thread has been so wonderful, we are seriously considering sailing on the January 6th voyage! Not sure I could ever do as great as you on a live thread, but if we book it after all, I might try to do so (I blog, but it isn't usually in real time...) 😉

 

Thanks! I hope you decide to go. Don't worry about the real-time posting. I still have a bunch of photos, menus, drink lists, and so on to post. I used to be able to do a better job of keeping up when CC had a mobile app or let you use Tapatalk. The mobile browser version of the site has a lot of extra overhead, so phone-based posting takes quite a bit longer.

[richwmn]

This has been a very good thread, Brian, thanks for letting us join you!

[POA1]

Caviar in the Pinnacle Grill

 

A few cruises ago, we decided that it would be nice to have a caviar "snack" in the Pinnacle before dinner one night. Normally we'd order it with our PG dinner, but Michelle's father isn't a caviar guy, and we hate to have him sitting there watching us and having to wait for dinner. If you want to do this, make arrangements in advance. I don't think many people stop by the PG just for caviar, because they seemed to have a hard time getting their heads around the fact that we weren't having a whole dinner, just sturgeon eggs.

 

We decided to have our little treat on Christmas eve, which happened to be a gala night. We scheduled it for 5:30 when the restaurant opened, because our dinner in the MDR was at 7:45 PM.  We had an ounce each and it was $70 per person.  You could theoretically split an ounce, but I can tell you that we will not do that, even in theory. We decided on Champagne (Nicholas Feiullette Blue Label)  as our beverage. We've done chilled vodka, in the past, and it's or preference. However, we had a long night ahead of us, so we decided on the bubbly.

 

The once ounce portion of caviar is served in a domed chiller.

 

The accoutrements are buckwheat blinis, red onion, capers, hard boiled egg white, hard boiled egg yolks, chopped pickles, and chives.  Michelle did a much better job of stacking her blinis than I did. I kept telling her that they must have given her extras, but looking back at the photos, I can see that's not the case. (If you are a less-skilled caviar scooper and stacker like me, ask for extra blinis or get some bread.)

 

The mother of pearl spoon was pretty large. It really called out for a 500 gram container of caviar.

 

This is our official formal night toasting photo. Shoot one-handed, through the glasses. (I'm drinking lefty because the camera is in my right hand. I tried photographing with my left hand a few years back but it did not go as well.  We had to refill our glasses and try again, shooting right-handed. That meant refilling glasses and a second, emergency back up toast, but you do what you gotta do.)

 

 

 

@Krazy Kruizers, this is the post you were waiting for.

 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2018 by POA1

[POA1]

9 hours ago, ski ww said:

All that live research must be hard on the liver. Thank you for all your hard work & dedication. 

 

7 hours ago, puppycanducruise said:

Thank you for all your hard work and research.

Happy New Year!

 

Just now, richwmn said:

This has been a very good thread, Brian, thanks for letting us join you!

 

Thanks for coming along. These are always fun to do.

[POA1]

In case you're reading this and trying to figure out why it's so out of sequence, it's because I got behind on posting some things.  Despite the fact that I could work from the cabana, it wasn't really practical since there isn't room for a mouse and mousepad. It's also pretty bright up there. So the order is pretty screwed up, but the flavor is locked in.

 

 

 

[KY Deb]

Loved your posts!  So looking forward to our Zuiderdam cruise in February.  Against my better judgment, our group has decided to do the early seating dining.   Do you recall what time it is?   I didn’t see the times on any of the daily programs you posted.