Another highlight of our recent cruise and part of our chef tour was a tour of the galley. We have done galley tours before on numerous cruises, but ordinarily they are held in the morning, and the most exciting thing you see is someone making gravy! For this tour we were taken through the galley during dinner service, and it was quite an experience!
Chef Stephen on Celebrity SummitGalley tour on Celebrity Summit
It’s been a long time since I worked in any kind of restaurant environment, and I’m not sure I actually qualify to say that I worked in any kind of restaurant! But the things we found most impressive were how clean and organized things were, and how friendly everyone was, especially while they were busy. I took a lot of photos on this tour, and these are just a few, to give you a “taste” of the experience!
Escalator from the dining room to the galleyExecutive Chef Kuldeep Singh on Celebrity SummitDessert station!Dessert station!Dessert station!Galley tour on Celebrity SummitGalley tour on Celebrity SummitGalley tour on Celebrity SummitGalley tour on Celebrity SummitGalley tour on Celebrity SummitGalley tour on Celebrity Summit
In my earlier post about the Conch Guy I mentioned that we had taken a tour in Nassau with one of the chefs from our ship. In addition to the fish market, we visited a roadside vegetable stand, a couple of guys cutting up coconuts for juice and meat, as well as a distillery. Here are a few more photos from that trip.
Chef Stephen at a roadside fish market
Our guide was Chef Stephen from Jamaica, and he explained a lot about the different things we saw and how they were used in island cooking. While we or the chef weren’t permitted to bring anything back to the ship due to health regulations and ship policy, Stephen used many of these same ingredients and themes when preparing the meal that we had back on the ship that evening.
Roadside produce standRoadside fish marketRoadside produce standRoadside produce standRoadside produce stand
In a separate post I’ll share photos from our galley tour. But unfortunately I was too busy enjoying the food to take any photos at dinner!
Sampling fresh coconut and coconut waterSampling fresh coconut and coconut waterSampling fresh coconut and coconut waterJohn Watling’s DistilleryJohn Watling’s DistilleryJohn Watling’s DistilleryJohn Watling’s Distillery
I just published a gallery on my website of photos from our trip to Scotland last year . Check them out, and feel free to explore the rest of my website too! I’ve been trying to keep things fairly fresh and plan to do more in the near future, including more vacation photo galleries.
One of the ports on our recent cruise was Nassau, in the Bahamas. We did a shore excursion there that involved touring some of the island’s fish and produce markets with one of the chefs from the ship. One of the stops on our tour was at a roadside fish market where fishermen brought in their fresh catch. Coolers after coolers with fish of all types – including snapper, grouper, mahi and lobster.
Roadside fish market stand during our Chef’s Market Tour shore excursion in Nassau, BahamasRoadside fish market stand during our Chef’s Market Tour shore excursion in Nassau, Bahamas
Also at this stop was a tent where a man was shelling conch for conch salad. If you aren’t familiar, a conch is a sea creature that grows in those beautiful pink shells that everyone likes to collect. He used an ax to punch a hole in the shell in just the right spot, then dug the conch out of the shell with a knife. The conch was then chopped up, marinated and mixed with veggies for a salad. Delicious!
The Conch GuyThe Conch GuyThe Conch GuyThe Conch Guy
Watching the conch man work the shells was as interesting as eating the conch. Kathy asked him if he ever cut himself. He just smiled and said, “sometime, mon, but not in a long time!”
Cedric commented on my last post about how the lack of people contributed to the “Tranquilidad” of the scenes. Of course not all of my photos were devoid of people, as the people are a large part of what makes San Juan special. Here are a few photos “with” people as a counterpoint against those without.
Painting a Fine LineAfternoon WalkThree DimensionalWrong WayRandom street scenes in San Juan, Puerto Rico during our cruise on Celebrity SummitScenery near El Morro Fortress in San Juan, Puerto Rico during our cruise on Celebrity SummitLunch at Barrachina, allegedly the birthplace of the Pina Colada. In San Juan, Puerto Rico during our cruise on Celebrity Summit
Kathy & I recently returned from a cruise to the Caribbean. We’re getting pretty good at the cruise thing – this was our 23rd cruise – but we’re still practicing!
An Address I Could Live With!
This cruise was on Celebrity Summit. Celebrity has become our favorite cruise line, mostly because they just know how to do good food and good service. While all of the lines are good, we’ve come to really like Celebrity.
Random street scenes in San Juan, Puerto Rico during our cruise on Celebrity SummitRandom street scenes in San Juan, Puerto Rico during our cruise on Celebrity Summit
Summit is one of Celebrity’s older ships, but we chose it because it is one of their smallest, at just 2,000 passengers. The ship we were on last year was over 4,000 passengers, while we saw a ship this time that was over 6,000! While I would love to experience one of those ships, that’s just a shipload of too many people!
Random street scenes in San Juan, Puerto Rico during our cruise on Celebrity SummitRandom street scenes in San Juan, Puerto Rico during our cruise on Celebrity Summit
This cruise was supposed to stop at Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, but Punta Cana doesn’t have a dock for the cruise ships so it is one where they need to take passengers ashore using tenders. The seas were too rough there for tendering, so we ended up in San Juan, PR instead. While we looked forward to Punta Cana, we love San Juan and were not at all disappointed to end up there.
Random street scenes in San Juan, Puerto Rico during our cruise on Celebrity SummitRandom street scenes in San Juan, Puerto Rico during our cruise on Celebrity Summit
Kathy & I spent our time in port walking around Old San Juan. We had lunch (and Pina Coladas!) at a nice restaurant that claims to be the birthplace of the drink. More to come on that, but for now, here are a few random photos from our time walking the streets of the old city.
Random street scenes in San Juan, Puerto Rico during our cruise on Celebrity Summit
Views of uptown Charlotte from the Seventh Street Station parking garage, Charlotte, North Carolina
Nothing to say today, important or otherwise. I just processed a few more photos from the same folder as the last post and thought I would share. Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend. Staying warm where it’s cold and dry where it’s wet. 😉
Views of uptown Charlotte from the Seventh Street Station parking garage, Charlotte, North CarolinaViews of uptown Charlotte from the Seventh Street Station parking garage, Charlotte, North CarolinaViews of uptown Charlotte from the Seventh Street Station parking garage, Charlotte, North CarolinaViews of uptown Charlotte from the Seventh Street Station parking garage, Charlotte, North CarolinaViews of uptown Charlotte around the Imaginon Children’s Library in Charlotte, North Carolina
Views of uptown Charlotte from the Seventh Street Station parking garage, Charlotte, North Carolina
One of the many advantages of not being a television watcher is that I don’t have to put up with all the commercials and mindless programming, including the so-called news. One of the disadvantages of not being a television watcher is that I miss out on a lot of the sayings and expressions that come from both the commercials and the programs themselves.
Views of uptown Charlotte around the Imaginon Children’s Library in Charlotte, North Carolina
Case in point – last week I sent an email to a co-worker about something good that had happened, and he replied, “dilly dilly.” I was puzzled but figured if he wasn’t making some obscure reference to my name that it was probably something I missed from television. I get pretty good at recognizing things like that. 😉
Charlotte Transit Lynx Light Rail at the Seventh Street Station in Charlotte, North Carolina
Just today I came across an article about a guy with Charlotte roots who had found recent fame by being the “dilly dilly” guy, and it turns out he is the actor that plays the king in a series of Budweiser commercials where he replies “dilly dilly” whenever someone brings him beer. Little did I know, but “dilly dilly” is this year’s version of “WHASSSUP?” 🙂
The things I miss. Sigh….
Views of uptown Charlotte around the Imaginon Children’s Library in Charlotte, North CarolinaViews of uptown Charlotte from the Seventh Street Station parking garage, Charlotte, North CarolinaViews of uptown Charlotte around the Imaginon Children’s Library in Charlotte, North CarolinaViews of uptown Charlotte around the Imaginon Children’s Library in Charlotte, North Carolina
The photos – by the way – are more from 2012. I took this during an outing with a digital point & shoot class I was teaching. Although it appears I “cheated” and was using my then-new Canon 5D Mark III. 😉
Views of uptown Charlotte from the Seventh Street Station parking garage, Charlotte, North Carolina
Beach at Sunset, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina – Canon 5D
As part of my project to recover drive space by deleting photos that didn’t make the cut, I get to go through those folders again, looking for photos that made the cut but that I had never processed. The year I’ve been looking at most recently is 2012. These photos were from a trip to Hilton Head Island that year. It’s interesting to see that I used three different cameras at that time.
Beach at Sunset, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina – Canon 5D
Beach at Sunset, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina – Fuji X10Beach at Sunset, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina – Canon G12
Today we’re having a pretty rare occurrence here in NC – a snow day! I won’t get into all the hyperbole about how we’re a bunch of weather wimps that don’t know how to drive in the snow, because everyone else has that covered. For me, I’m just glad I have a job that allows me to stay home and watch it out the window. There are few things more frustrating than having to make a decision about going to work. Although one of them would be being at work and having to make a decision about when to leave! Fortunately, Kathy & I both have computers that allow us to work from just about anywhere, and managers that are willing to let us. We have about 5 inches of snow on the ground here, and although the road in front of our house was plowed earlier, it’s going to be dicey going for a few days.
I seldom feel inclined to get out and take pictures in the snow, although once it is finished and the sun comes back out, I might decide to get out for a walk. I’ll admit to being a wimp when it comes to snow…why freeze my a$$ when I don’t have to! 🙂
