Food, Glorious Food

Courtesy Fellow Cruiser

If you have been on a cruise, then you are well aware of how wonderful the food is.

And how much of it there is to be found.

If you desired, you could really eat 24 hours a day.  There are the basic sandwiches and pizza, to sushi, buffet, exquisitely prepared dishes, and on our ship, the Steakhouse.

The food is phenomenal.   You can have it prepared any way you choose, in any combination.

I took the trip as an opportunity to expand my culinary horizons.  I chose dishes that I might otherwise pass up.

The one meal that fell most outside my comfort zone was Seafood Newburg.  It was touted as a wonderfully rich seafood stew with a side of saffron infused rice and broccoli.

As a note: I love seafood.  If it lives its life under the water, it is highly possible that I will eat it.  The exception in the past has been mussels (and non-sustainable seafood).  I have tried to eat the large version. The chewy, funky texture was just more than I could handle.  I had sworn them off forever.

So, Seafood Newburg seemed like a fantastic idea.  With the ingredients listed as scallops, shrimp, and lobster, I thought I was safe.

Imagine my surprise when the plate placed before me not only had two small mussels in their black shell homes circling the plate, but also had them nestled in the creamy sauce along with the plump shrimp, succulent scallops, and juicy chunks of lobster meat.

There really were only two choices here:  1.  Eat around them.  2. Let go of the past and dig in.

For a brief moment, I considered option number 1.  The idea of eating the little slugs really almost did me in.  But, I figured in for a penny, in for a pound.  When you are surrounded by wait staff who have given up eight months of their lives to earn money for their families in poor, 3rd world countries, wasting food just seems wrong.  Unless it is really inedible or there was an allergy concern, I couldn't even consider wasting a meal.

So, I dug in.

And they were awesome!  That slug-like texture of the larger mussels was absent in the smaller version.  They complemented the other seafood wonderfully and were just amazing.

From a ship perspective, it was one of my two favorite meals.

Rich, decadent, and adventurous.

Food, glorious food.