It always amazes me to see where we have been on a map! 15 years of travel - we have done well, beyond blessed that is for sure!
Hoping to see Africa next year .. time will tell!
2019
2019
Category Archives: Europe
Let me help you plan your next adventure
So last year I became a travel agent, it made sense to us as I am always planning things for others! Expedia offered excellent training and I was certified within a very short time. Now the fun begins. Planning, which as you know I am very good at, budget travel, oh yes! And working on how to get from here to there by ship – why not?
I surprise myself about the knowledge I have acquired about the many places we have visited around the world and I love to share things to do and see.
Sign up for a free cruise on my Cruise Ship Centers Web Site
Palma de Mallorca Spain – A great Tapas Class and place to visit
Six of us got off the ship Mallorca and headed for the dock where Sergio picked us up and took us to the Yacht Club Cala d’Or. After the pleasant drive we arrived to find everything all setup and waiting for us. What a beautiful place this Yacht Club is. You can check out their Web Site at http://www.yccalador.com/english/index.html. After introductions we were showed the menu of what we were going to make in class. Following is a the Menu with pictures of the finished dishes that were made:
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- Chicken Kebab with Iberian Pancetta and Chorizo Crust
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- Spanish Omelets
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- Chicken Kebab with Iberian Pancetta and Chorizo Crust
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- Majorcan Pudding
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- Clams in Green Sauce
One, of many, very nice things about the class was the discussions we had about the ingredients. Many times we have taken cooking classes and they used things that were not local to us or very hard to find. This was very different as we talked about substitutions and the characteristics that made them different, as you can imagine that sure makes it easier to reproduce the dishes at home.
I think these pictures speak for themselves as far as how much fun we had in class.
All in all it was a fabulous day and cooking class as well. Great people, good food, fun and entertainment – what more could you ask for? I know what we are going to be doing the next time we are in this area.
If you are curious about the recipes, I put them all up in the “Cook with Dave” part of the site.
Status Mile
What is a STATUS MILE? I understand a mile is 5280 feet, or 1609 meters, or even 945 Smoot’s. But I never heard of a STATUS MILE. Perhaps this is why an unnamed Cruise Ship, (Carnival Breeze), had trouble getting to most of it’s Ports. This is the sign on the walk around deck. Click on the picture to make it big enough to read.
They say a STATUS MILE is 2.5 laps where a lap is 2,044 feet. Therefore a STATUS MILE would be 5,132. Sure seems like an odd measurement.
Espana – Spain – Well Barcelona to be exact
Although this is going to be about cooking, I thought I should put it in the main part of the Blog. The last couple days we have so been enjoying the Market and even more so; the tastes of Spain. But let me back up a bit…
We are staying in a great little apartment in the old part of Barcelona just off La Rambla, so we are in the center of a lot of action. As a side note, Ireland, Celtics, are playing Barcelona in Soccer and with all the white and green around you would think you could be in Ireland. But I digress…
We have been doing the “Hop on, Hop off” bus the last couple of days and doing a little shopping as we go to bring home to cook in the Apartment. Last night we made Carbonara using white wine, garlic, some lemon, egg yoke and the crown jewel, Serrano Ham. This isn’t the prepackaged store stuff this is the real deal. We bought a little sampler for 2.5 Euros that was the perfect size to make the dish and my the flavors…Mouth is watering just talking about it – but hey that was last night.
Tonight it will be a pasta dish with Fresh Porchini’s. This is a picture of what we are going to use…
That pile cost us 3 Euros too, so you know we will spared no expense in making this dish. It will be a simple dish but I don’t get a chance to use fresh Porchini’s often as they are so bloody expensive if you can find fresh ones. These were bits and pieces is why they were so inexpensive, but why spend more for whole perfect Porchini’s when these are perfect for what we are going to make.
While at the market we decided to have a quick lunch and ordered Shrimp and Calimari – look and see what we ate…
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- Fresh Grilled Calamari with Garlic
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- Fresh Shrimp – Grilled
Both dishes were cooked perfect and were tender, juicy, and mouth watering good. It was just what we needed to head over to the wine store and then pick up our Porchini’s
Well time to get to work in the kitchen and see what this Porchini Pasta dish is going to be like…
