How do menus change in AUS cruises?

[Jean C]

My two cents worth. I think a lot of US food is over sweetened. Having said that, we seem to be going the same way in NZ, some packaged biscuits, muesli/granola etc are far too sweet for me.

[windsor26]

If you North American cruisers have tried Marmite in the European area  Vegemite is very  similar just a little harsher  but still yum

[mr walker]

2 hours ago, Jean C said:

My two cents worth. I think a lot of US food is over sweetened. Having said that, we seem to be going the same way in NZ, some packaged biscuits, muesli/granola etc are far too sweet for me.

In my experience, most Americans don't like the taste of actual food. Their tastebuds are attuned to very sweet or very tart tastes. They order the most expensive steak on the menu & without tasting it, smother it with any condiment they can find. I travelled with my American boss a number of times & he could not eat food without drenching it in Tabasco sauce and then a covering of Chilli flakes. He offered the condiments to me and was surprised I didn't use them.

[Jean C]

On 10/17/2024 at 3:03 PM, OzKiwiJJ said:

 

 

Be nice, you two! 🤣

 

Ignore them. Vegemite is very much an acquired taste. It's savoury, not sweet.  If you like umami things like miso soup you'll probably like Vegemite once you get used to it. Start with lots of butter and a small amount of Vegemite. 

They had me conned too, I thought maybe thick Vegemite was an Aussie thing! I rarely have it, but what I do like is a thin spread of Vegemite on a thickly buttered Cruskit - yummm 😋 

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, mr walker said:

In my experience, most Americans don't like the taste of actual food. Their tastebuds are attuned to very sweet or very tart tastes. They order the most expensive steak on the menu & without tasting it, smother it with any condiment they can find. I travelled with my American boss a number of times & he could not eat food without drenching it in Tabasco sauce and then a covering of Chilli flakes. He offered the condiments to me and was surprised I didn't use them.

That is a bit general, and I don't tend to notice this around cruise ship dining rooms so much. I do know Aussies that can't eat a quality piece of steak or lamb unless it is beyond well-done and lathered with salt and tomato sauce. When travelling overseas, the commentary is that most Aussies burn their steaks, but that is clearly a generalisation too.

 

The sweet bit I do notice though. Anything artificially sweetened with corn sugars has a "sharper" hit and that tends to condition the palate of a sweet tooth.

[JohnGc]

On 10/19/2024 at 7:40 AM, 2022cruisey said:

Not just you.  Last 5 messages from Jose are black.

Regarding the black screen problem I have an app on my Mac called Dark reader that darkens my screen that I can turn on or off.  I prefer a dark screen and with the app turned on dark it shows up Jose post very well. As an  experiment I turned Dark reader back to a light screen and can confirm that Jose post were virtually unreadable. I have had times where I have to go to the light screen mode as I cant read writing on a black screen.

 

Cheers John   

[Jose Zalfadilla]

On 10/18/2024 at 3:40 PM, possum52 said:

Me too. If you highlight Jose's messages, you can read them. For some reason, the background is black and the writing is white but very faint.

 

Hope you -- or anyone else -- get this. I have no idea what that black screen is all about. Not knowingly coming from me, I assure you. I've never seen that before. No clue how to stop it since I can't tell why it's happening. If anyone can see this post, I kindly ask you repost it under your name and credit me for having been the author, so that others who get the black screen will know. Again, sorry. Still looking for the cause. 

Edited Sunday at 03:23 PM by Jose Zalfadilla

[colourbird]

4 hours ago, Jose Zalfadilla said:

 

Hope you -- or anyone else -- get this. I have no idea what that black screen is all about. Not knowingly coming from me, I assure you. I've never seen that before. No clue how to stop it since I can't tell why it's happening. If anyone can see this post, I kindly ask you repost it under your name and credit me for having been the author, so that others who get the black screen will know. Again, sorry. Still looking for the cause. 

 

This one is normal and readable.

[Kristelle]

yes that last post of yours Jose is normal for me too.

[arxcards]

The issue was only arising when quoting/replying to a post. There have been a few CC gremlins and maintenance breaks over the past week, and it might have just been bad timing.

[arxcards]

7 hours ago, Jose Zalfadilla said:

 

Hope you -- or anyone else -- get this. I have no idea what that black screen is all about. Not knowingly coming from me, I assure you. I've never seen that before. No clue how to stop it since I can't tell why it's happening. If anyone can see this post, I kindly ask you repost it under your name and credit me for having been the author, so that others who get the black screen will know. Again, sorry. Still looking for the cause. 

Might be a CC issue, as there have been a few over the past week. I was going to copy and paste your messages, but anyone that wants to read your comments only has to click and drag over your black texts to highlight and easily view your posts.

[Jean C]

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

Might be a CC issue, as there have been a few over the past week. I was going to copy and paste your messages, but anyone that wants to read your comments only has to click and drag over your black texts to highlight and easily view your posts.

Good tip, thank you, I probably wouldn't have worked that out on my own, except maybe by accident 🤔

[CCC's]

On 10/19/2024 at 7:59 PM, OzKiwiJJ said:

I prefer Devondale butter these days unless I can get a good NZ one.

My favourite true butter is Mainland (NZ ?).  Excellent taste and slightly easier to spread..... but does not contain any oils to make it soft.  Urgh!

[arxcards]

6 minutes ago, CCC's said:

My favourite true butter is Mainland (NZ ?).  Excellent taste and slightly easier to spread..... but does not contain any oils to make it soft.  Urgh!

That is high praise coming from Norco land.

[arxcards]

One of the Aussie breweries has bought out a kangaroo flavoured beer, but I am not a fan.

 

Way too heavy on the hops.

[Jose Zalfadilla]

13 hours ago, arxcards said:

Might be a CC issue, as there have been a few over the past week. I was going to copy and paste your messages, but anyone that wants to read your comments only has to click and drag over your black texts to highlight and easily view your posts.

 

GREAT! Not going to touch a thing around my PC. Glad to read that all's good with my posts and all are now readable. 

[Bubbeh]

14 hours ago, CCC's said:

My favourite true butter is Mainland

Lurpak unsalted for me but, hey, I'm not that fussy and I'll buy whatever is on special but not the softened variety.

[OzKiwiJJ]

17 hours ago, CCC's said:

My favourite true butter is Mainland (NZ ?).  Excellent taste and slightly easier to spread..... but does not contain any oils to make it soft.  Urgh!

The Buttersoft variant. Yes, it is nice. I think they just remove some of the butter solids so it doesn't harden so much. I like the Westgold regular unsalted butter too but it's only available in the bigger (500g) packs these days. I used to be able to get it in 250g packs. 

[joejoe 59]

On 10/17/2024 at 6:56 AM, lyndarra said:

You will also find Chicken Salt is prevalent on shore but maybe not on board. Have it on fries, fish and chips, even on fried chicken. You may want to take some home.😁

But don't eat chicken salt if you have a problem with MSG ( I do) you will end up with an almighty migraine.

[Mareblu]

I’m feeling left out:  I’ve never tasted chicken salt (knowingly) in my life.

[OzKiwiJJ]

46 minutes ago, Mareblu said:

I’m feeling left out:  I’ve never tasted chicken salt (knowingly) in my life.

Imagine chicken stock cubes mixed with salt and probably a few other things like MSG.

[Mareblu]

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Imagine chicken stock cubes mixed with salt and probably a few other things like MSG.

Thanks, Julie.  In that case, I’ll pass😵‍💫

[arxcards]

2 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Imagine chicken stock cubes mixed with salt and probably a few other things like MSG.

One difference is that chicken stock cubes contain chicken fats, chicken salt does not contain chicken. Chicken salt is salt, rice flour, vegetable powders, spices and MSG "flavour enhancers", originally concocted as a flavouring to jazz-up roast chicken. Prior to this great Aussie "invention", there were brands of vegetable salt around that were of a similar flavour, less the MSG.

 

Either way, when the take-away asks if I want plain or chicken salt on my scallops (NSW name), I will always opt for plain.

 

A couple of other Aussie food delicacies. For a quick meal, get away from Maccas and find a fish & chip takeaway. Instead of just chips/fries, anyone visiting Oz should try a Chiko Roll. I can't explain the ingredients much, but they tend to work together. Another is a scallop. There are two types, and the way your order them differs from state to state. A NSW scallop is aka a potato scallop or a potato cake, depending on which part of Australia you are in. A nice big slice of potato approx 1/8 inch, dipped in batter and deep fried. Once drained, a nice sprinkling of salt and malt vinegar - sensational. I have started doing these at home in an air fryer, which makes them a bit healthier. Definitely not to be confused with the seafood version.

[OzKiwiJJ]

26 minutes ago, arxcards said:

One difference is that chicken stock cubes contain chicken fats, chicken salt does not contain chicken. Chicken salt is salt, rice flour, vegetable powders, spices and MSG "flavour enhancers", originally concocted as a flavouring to jazz-up roast chicken. 

 

I know but that was the easiest way I could think of to describe the basic flavour. 

[ceeceeDee]

18 hours ago, Mareblu said:

I’m feeling left out:  I’ve never tasted chicken salt (knowingly) in my life.

In my humble opinion, Linda, you're not missing a thing!