Monday, October 27, 2008

Alaska Cruise Pt. 5 - Well documented meals, lunch and dinner

Our next stop was Skagway, and we were taking our time, because we didn't have an excursions on this port. So we had time to go to lunch and dinner on the boat.
Alaskan Cruise - Dawn Princess - Grandparents 61st Anniversary
This appetizer was a cheese quesadilla, with guacamole and salsa. The salsa was quite fresh and spicy - they put a lot of jalepenos in it! This was a good quesadilla, very crispy edges and tasty, and went well with the guacamole.
Alaskan Cruise - Dawn Princess - Grandparents 61st Anniversary
Minestrone soup, alright, but nothing special.
Alaskan Cruise - Dawn Princess - Grandparents 61st Anniversary
Owen's carbonara pasta - a decadent pasta dish with tube pasta, eggs and panchetta and cheese and cream. I'm not much of a fan of tube pasta (too much carbo bite to them) but cover anything in cream and butter and stuff and I guess it's good. I tried one tube, it was very rich.
Alaskan Cruise - Dawn Princess - Grandparents 61st Anniversary
Here's a dish of the beef shortribs. We were pretty excited to order this, but were disappointed when we started eating it - it had way too many hard pieces of tendon, lots of chewy parts that should have been cooked down. The sauce was ok, good and hearty, the mashed potato was good, the root veggies were eh.

Seafood Cioppino was the dish I ordered after not finishing the beef shortribs. This was much better than the ribs, good portions of seafood, I think the mussels were the best. The seafoody broth at the bottom was a delight to soak up with the garlic toasts.
Alaskan Cruise - Dawn Princess - Grandparents 61st Anniversary
I got a slice of carrot cake for dessert. Tasty, but I was too full at this point and only took a few bites.
Alaskan Cruise - Dawn Princess - Grandparents 61st Anniversary
In Skagway, we hung out at an old cool bar called the Red Onion Saloon, which used to entertain the gold miners before their treacherous journey for the search for gold, to get rich quick. The place had a really old timey feel, with saucy stuff on the walls. We had a few drinks (cranberry soda for me) but we also ordered some nachos with the works for the table. I remember there being bell pepper, onion, jalepenos, sour cream. The nachos did not include any kind of meat, but they were pretty decent, albeit expensive for what they were (do you think this plate should cost 12 dollars?)

Back on the boat for dinner, my brother had been trying to save his appetite all day for the main course...but of course, appetizers first..
Alaskan Cruise - Dawn Princess - Grandparents 61st Anniversary
"Poached Baby Leeks with Smoked Salmon Julienne, Champagne Vinaigrette" was my brother's choice. This looked pretty good, more smoked salmon, sign me up! Most of us were "fooled" by the first part of the description, we thought it would be mostly baby leeks but ended up being mostly smoked salmon. Eh, it's okay, plenty of other things to try...

Alaskan Cruise - Dawn Princess - Grandparents 61st Anniversary
"Citrus Fruit selection with toasted brioche and apple butter" - Owen's choice. He liked the apple butter a lot, it was really good with the bite of brioche he gave me. The usual awesome fruit deliciousness. This plate represents the best parts of the cruise food, heh.

Alaskan Cruise - Dawn Princess - Grandparents 61st Anniversary
"Tomato cream soup with a basil crouton" - just okay. As much as I try to like tomato soup, I think it's too acidic for me. I need this ladled over some pasta or something to make it palatable for my tastes.

Alaskan Cruise - Dawn Princess - Grandparents 61st Anniversary
And now, the thing my brother had been waiting for the whole day - "Aged Rib Eye Steak of Beef - Grilled Texas beef in a grain mustard sauce with corn muffins and garden vegetables". I also got a baked potato on the side. This was okay, again, needed to be salted properly. This cruise is very stingy with seasoning meat, as I have said before. I really liked the baked potato, as they gave us as much green onion and bacon bits as we liked. Mmm. I didn't eat the corn muffin, but Owen liked it a lot, so I guess it was tasty.

Alaskan Cruise - Dawn Princess - Grandparents 61st Anniversary
One of the desserts - chocolate creme cake with coconut shavings on top. I don't remember who got this, but I guess it was okay. (??)
Alaskan Cruise - Dawn Princess - Grandparents 61st Anniversary
This is what I got - the BEST sorbet I have ever had, which was this black cherry sorbet, which was made on the boat. The flavors unfolded on the tongue...complex...really cold and not melted by the time it got to me (one of the complaints that I always had about the frozen confections on this cruise), this was perfection. I wish I could buy this at the store.

This lemony cake was okay, I had a taste but I'm not really into lemon desserts unless they are in sorbet form. Good presentation though, the color of the cake really pops against the white of the dish, and the different pastel colors of cream are way fun.
Alaskan Cruise - Dawn Princess - Grandparents 61st Anniversary
And now I present to all, Owen's favorite dessert, hands down, of the whole trip - a chocolate "pudding" of sorts (pudding in the British sense, like bread pudding, not Jello Pudding cup pudding), but the show stopper was the dark chocolate sauce that was drizzled all over it. He was so in love with this sauce that he wanted to fill a thermos with it and drink it straight. Yes. I guess it was that good.

More Alaska to come? Why yes there is...

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