Cruise 2012: Endless Eats

Where do I even begin when describing to you my culinary experience on the Carnival Dream?  First, a brief look at the many dining options.

• Gathering: This is the main buffet section located on the Lido Deck.   Multiple sections included a theme section that changed daily (Italian, American, Caribbean, French), Tandoor Grill (Indian), Mongolian, Make Your Own Pasta, Salad Bar, Pizza, Grill (hamburgers, hot dogs, french fries), Fruit, Frozen Yogurt, and Desserts.  Breakfast was also served in this area and was probably my greatest disappointment on the food front.  Choices included omelets, eggs, multiple greasy meats, yogurt (filled with HFCS), pancakes, fruit, and sugary cereals.  By the end of the week we were all missing our usual whole grains and fresh berries.
• Wasabi Sushi Bar: Each night from 5-8pm they served snack plates of fresh sushi.  Each plate featured 3 unique pieces along with a mix of sides (Japanese applesauce, aoili, pickles, ginger, and wasabi).  Combined with a cocktail, it was the perfect plate to wet our appetites before heading to the dining room.
• Crimson Dining Room: We elected the 6pm reserved dining and enjoyed waterfront dining each evening.  The nightly menu featured several items that were always available and then a separate page of appetizers and entrees that changed nightly.  On the daily menu there were 6-8 appetizers, an equal number of entrees, and 3-4 desserts to select from.  I was impressed with the variety and complexity of the entrees, as well the inclusion of a vegetarian selection each night.

Without further ado, let's get to the food!  I'll let the pictures do most of talking.

Lunch Buffet Day 1:  My favorite way of dining - lots of little bites.  The Indian entrees and fresh salad were a hit!

Baked Corvina and an Assortment of Steamed Veggies

Vegetarian Chile Relleno, Mexican Rice, and Veggies

Caribbean Buffet Lunch
A huge salad full of fresh veggies, falafel, chickpea masala, coconut bread, and a sampling of desserts.

Mom and I all cleaned up and ready to enjoy dinner

Herbed Parmesan Polenta and Mushroom Ragout

Warm Cinnamon Raisin Date Cake and Rum Raisin Ice Cream

Lunch at the Mayan Ruins
Marinated Farm Raised Chicken (thankfully not the iguana they initially said they were serving),
Rice and Beans, Slaw, Salad, and Watermelon.

Cream of Asparagus Soup

White Fish, Pumpkin Mash, and a Caribbean Fruit Sauce

Roasted Pumpkin, Sweet Potato, and Squash Pot Pie

Pumpkin Pie and Vanilla Ice Cream
This sounded really good, but was a huge disappointment.  Sugar free desserts are just not worth the effort.

Black Bean and Vegetable Enchiladas with Guacamole and Sour Cream

Tropical Fruit Dessert

Chilled Bing Cherry Soup
So good, but would have made a better dessert rather than appetizer.

Seafood Delight
Tiger Shrimp, Smoked Salmon, and Ceviche

Mixed Vegetable Salad with Marinated Tomatoes

Giant Prawns, Pesto Cauliflower, and Mustard Mashed Potatoes

Amaretto Cake

Marinated Mushrooms and Greens

Zucchini and Eggplant Lasagna

And last but not least, lunch at the airport while waiting for my flight home.
Spicy Tuna Sandwich on Multi-grain Bread from Au Bon Pain

Pretty great spread of food, right?  It was certainly a week of indulgences and large meals, but when you travel with the Perkins family, we are all about the food!

Cruise 2012: Welcome Aboard

All good stories start from the beginning, so let me back up to where my journey began.  After a frustrating day (or more like days, or better yet, frustrating weeks) I gladly dashed out of the hospital and hit the road for the airport.  Despite a brief delay on the runway, a super short flight had me arriving in the ATL by 8pm. Aside from being greeted by my parents at the airport, the most exciting part of the evening was being reunited with Bailey.  Let's just say her reaction included lots of tail wagging, leaping out of the car in the middle of the airport parking lot, and clobbering me with kisses!

Friday evening, after Royce was able to leave work, we packed the whole family in the car and hit the road. We arrived in Gainesville a little after midnight and promptly passed out.

Saturday morning we were up bright and early to make the 3 hour drive to Port Canaveral.  As we pulled off the interstate, this beauty came into sight.  The Carnival Dream - our home for the next week.  Check in and boarding were remarkably simply, and by 11:30am, we were on board.

Our rooms were still being cleaned, so we took a stroll up to the Lido deck and set our sights on a buffet lunch.  I'll give you all of the food details in another post, but suffice it to say, it took little effort to build plate full of delicious eats.

With full bellies, we set out to explore the ship.  The Lido deck on the tenth floor featured the buffets, two pools, TONS of lounge chairs and tables, and a projection screen for showing movies.

I was anxious to check out the Serenity deck, an adults only area that promised cushioned lounge chairs and a peaceful retreat from the party atmosphere on Lido.  I quickly spotted a lounge chair perfectly placed in the sunshine and planted myself there.  The warmth from the sunshine felt incredible and I could tell right then that the trip was going to be wonderful.

I considered anchoring myself in that chair and not moving a muscle for the next week, but after a short nap, pried myself up to explore the rest of the ship.

After the mandatory safety briefing, we set sail.  From the Serenity deck, we watched as the ship gradually pulled out of port and made a path towards the Atlantic Ocean.  

Here we are at the mouth of Port Canaveral, pulling away into the ocean.  Good-bye North America, see you again in seven days!

Our room was a cove balcony located on the second floor (main deck) near the rear third of the ship.  The low position on the ship placed us just twenty feet or so off the water and made for a spectacular view.  I'd definitely recommend spending the extra money and splurging on the balcony!

Having grown up in Florida, owning a boat, and spending many an early morning on the water fishing, Dad has a great appreciation and love for the water.  The balcony was a great addition that allowed us to spend mornings and evenings watching the ocean waves as well as our arrivals and departures from port. 

After an awkward first night dinner at a table of 10, including two drunk obnoxious brothers, a crying girl, and angry parents, Dad managed to negotiate a water side table just for the five of us.  The picture shows the waterfront dining we enjoyed for the week.  We couldn't have asked for a better view!

Here's a view of the dining room.  Like the rest of the ship, the dining room was artfully decorated and appeared brand new.  Our waitress and wait staff were the same throughout the week and provided excellent service as well as nightly entertainment.

The Encore! Lounge was the site of nightly entertainment.  I was really impressed with the entertainment each night, which featured singing, dancing, live music, and comedy.

A HUGE thanks to Mom and Dad for planning and executing a fantastic vacation for the entire family!  Although we seem to take at least one big vacation each year, we were discussing on our drive to Florida that our last trip including all four of us was to the lake in 2009.  We've taken lots of great vacations and each seems to raise the expectations even further.  Fortunately, the cruise was even better than we all expected and provided the perfect balance of rest, relaxation, excursions, and activity.

From Sea to Air

How is it possibly May 19th already?  Nine days ago I was boarding a flight from Charlotte to Atlanta and preparing to set sail on a week-long Caribbean vacation.  Now I find myself sitting at the Orlando Airport with six hours to kill before I fly back to Charlotte.  Coming home, I'd like to think I'm a slightly different person than when I left.  Nicely tanned, a few pounds heavier (so . . . much . . . food), well rested, and filled with pictures and memories of a fantastic vacation with my family!  On my camera alone I have 150+ pictures, not to mention the hundreds captured by Mom and Erin.  I'll share an assortment of them over several posts, but for today I'll leave you with a brief synopsis and a few pics to keep you coming back for more.

Carnival Dream
May 12 - 19, 2012

Day 1: Port Canaveral
Day 2: Day at Sea: Sun, Relaxation, and Food
Day 3: Cozumel: Playa Uvas excursion
Day 4: Belize: A Bus, A Boat, and the Mayan Ruins
Day 5: Roatan: Cloudy day
Day 6: Costa Maya:  Shops, Rain, and Reading
Day 7: Day at Sea:  In Search of Sun
Day 8: Port Canaveral

The abundance of food requires its own lengthy post.  Suffice it to say, there were certainly no food shortages on the Carnival Dream.  Overall all, I was quite impressed with the options and certainly felt as though I left every meal feeling fuller than the last.

Aside from soaking up the sun and relaxing on the ship's deck, we had a couple great excursions.  Here we all are in front of the Mayan ruins at Lamanai.

Our family Western Caribbean Cruise Vacation 2012 was a huge success!  I'll be back soon with the details.

Chicago - Fractures and Food

After a day of travel, fun, and food, it was time to get serious.  We attended the Orthopaedic Trauma Association's Comprehensive Fracture Course.  There were 6 4-hour modules spread out over 3 days.  Fracture topics included diaphyseal, articular, foot and ankle, geriatric, pediatrics, and pelvic.  The volume of material presented was enormous, and after the first day I felt as though I was trying to drink from a  fire hydrant.  I didn't capture any pictures of the conference, but it was a combination of lectures, case presentations, and saw bone labs.

Thursday night we ventured into downtown Lombard to eat at Praga, a modern Italian restaurant I spotted on Urbanspoon.  What a find!  This place was incredible!  Our whole group was so excited to be enjoying a fine dining meal and sharing great conversation.  All too often our meals are eaten in less than five minutes between consults and OR cases, so spending 3 hours enjoying a multi-course meal was very special.

Assortment of Appetizers
Oysters, Calamari, Salmon Pinwheels, Scallops

Stuffed Pear Salad
Gorgonzola, Mixed Greens, Honey Roasted Walnuts, and Walnut Vinaigrette

Caribbean Tilapia
Sauteed with Manila Mango Scales, Basmati Rice, Fresh Green Beans, Corn, and Tarragon, and a  Passion Fruit Sauce

Raspberry Grand Marnier Creme Brulee

This was a picture of someone else's dessert, but it looked incredible.
Chilled Roasted Cherries Topped with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and Fresh Whipped Cream

Check out Phil's dessert - Bananas Foster
It was flambeed table side for a very impressive presentation.

Breakfast was provided by the conference, but left a lot to be desired.  Two of the three mornings they served coffeecake and apples.  Seriously . . . does that really count as breakfast?  Fortunately, I had packed some granola bars to fuel me through long hours of lecture.  The picture below was the best breakfast of the week.  The croissant sounded good at first, but one bite was enough to tell me that it was nothing special at all.  Nothing compares to those croissants in St. Maartin, right Mom?

The conference was really good about provided mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks.  This was a strawberry smoothie that I topped with orange and grapefruit segments.  Plus a Tazo Tea on the side.

Friday night's dinner was at The Weber Grill.  Naturally, it's a very meat heavy menu.  I chose a selection of vegetable sides for my meal.  The sides included a roasted vegetable kabob, green beans with mushrooms, and whipped sweat potatoes.  I'd say the meal was just average and left me feeling disappointed after the previous night's spectacular meal.

Saturday night, all of us went our separate ways.  I was more than ready for a lazy evening.  But first, I went on a hunt for sushi.  Fortunately, I only had to walk across the street from the hotel to feast on sushi at Ra.  And when I say feast, I'm not kidding.  It . . was . . so . . good!

Vegetarian Roll
Cucumber, Carrots, Avocado, Spinach, Artichoke Hearts

Tropical Roll
Cucumber, mango & avocado rolled & topped with spinach tempura bits, spicy shrimp mixed with masago & mango salsa

The Whole Spread - Seaweed Salad and another roll I can't remember the name of.

Sunday morning it was time to head back to the airport and fly back to Charlotte.  I sipped on a Mate Tea Latte while I wrote an essay for work.

Once on board, I snacked on a Chickpea Salad from Argo Tea for lunch.  Argo Tea definitely wins the award for healthy vegetarian lunch options.  This salad was fresh, filling, and delicious.  You should definitely seek them out when you are traveling.

We lugged these saw bone pelvis models with us back from the conference.  We certainly turned a lot of heads and caused a little bit of a ruckus in security as we carried them through Chicago and Charlotte.

Ah, so glad to be back home.  I stopped by Earth Fare on my way home for a quick dinner.  After spending 5 days in the crazy 40 degree Chicago weather, it felt amazing to bask in the early evening sunshine while eating dinner.  What can I say, I'm definitely a Southern girl!

Check out that Earth Fare box of goodies!  Roasted vegetable salad, broccoli salad, oriental noodles, tuna salad, buffalo tofu nuggets, cabbage slaw, and wheat berry salad.

And with that, our ortho trip to Chicago comes to a close.  It was certainly a busy and tiring several days.  Fortunately,  I learned a lot, and more importantly, had a great time with our ortho intern class.  Next year's conference is an arthroscopy course in San Antonio in April 2013.  I foresee another week of fun, learning, and fine dining!