At Sea

December 23^rd, 2024

Four sea days before we get to Cape Town.

The excitement of the morning was the Great Cook Off. I love TV cooking shows so I got there early in order to have a front row seat.

Three teams who were not from the food department competed to prepare a meal using the ingredients provided, plus an extra special surprise ingredient. The winning dish will be on tonight’s dinner menu as the chef’s special.

Things didn’t start well as several of the contestants had problems putting on their aprons. They were clearly not at home in the kitchen.

Then the chopping, cooking and arguing began

and Nick went to get a fire extinguisher as things were getting a bit smokey.

The contestants worked hard to prepare their meal in 20 minutes while Nick and chef Ainsley kept up a running commentary on the proceedings.

The secret ingredient turned out to be baked beans much to the horror of the amateur chefs. One team chose to just use one bean.

Then the dishes were plated and the tasting began.

We are enjoyed the competition but the winning team seemed to have had a bit of help with their dish. However,  it was all in good fun, and a reason to celebrate.

Strangely enough, the winning dish was not on tonight’s dinner menu………

We went on the engine control room tour this afternoon and learned all about our 4 diesel generator engines. There were hundreds (well not really, there were a lot) of controls and screens all focused on making sure the ship ran smoothly, and keeping us and the environment safe.

It was fascinating, if not a bit overwhelming looking at all of the things that need to be monitored to ensure that everything works well.

We had missed Christina Johnston’s first show, which was a real shame because her performance tonight was wonderful. She has a beautiful voice and connects so well with the audience. She finished tonight’s performance with an aria from La Traviata, my favorite opera. Perfect.