We are sailing between Taiwan and mainland China today on route to Shanghai. It is getting cooler on this part of the trip, so it’s time to put away the shorts! Last night when we returned to our cabin after the show, we found another Holland America gift – two giant rolling duffle bags. Had we known this, we would not have bought our extra suitcase in Hong Kong! Is this a sign we need to make more purchases!?!?!?!
It was a bit hard to get up this morning after two big and long days in Hong Kong, but if there is a bridge lesson, I’m up! Doug went to the lecture about living and coping with change in your life and in the world. This was given by a new speaker on board, Peter McGugan. He said the auditorium was packed, and it was an interesting lecture. One of the main messages was the key to happiness – finding it within rather than outside possessions. Studies show that the US is among the least happy whereas Bangladesh is among the most happy.
Afterwards, I went to Paulette’s last cooking demonstration where she made two healthy Asian dishes – a soup and an appetizer.
Look for this very healthy appetizer at my next cocktail party! I love the garnish!!
I stayed afterwards because she found these necklaces I had been searching for since Cape Town. She had found some and picked some up for me in Hong Kong. We got to talking and ended up having lunch together (Doug joined us.) It was fun and an interesting conversation. She makes videos (in addition to writing cookbooks) for learningexpress.com They are related to food in other countries. She is also working on a book about markets around the world.
After lunch, did some organizing of all the stuff that is starting to accumulate in our room while Doug was downloading on the computer. I also went to the lecture on tea, but only stayed a little while since I was falling asleep sitting there!
Tonight’s dinner is another theme night in the Pinnacle Grill – Indonesian food! We are eating with Diane and Craig, so if the food is not good, at least the company will be!
THE BEST themed dinner in the Pinnacle – that is what many others are saying and we totally agree. We started with a sweet cocktail with fruit in the glass. Then we began the five course dinner itself. While I’m not a big tofu fan, our first course was their version of slightly fried tofu pieces. I could become a tofu fan with a dish like that! This was followed by a chicken broth with tomatoes, chicken pieces, bean sprouts, egg, and lettuce. It doesn’t sound so good, but it was delicious. [I have the menu with the official Indonesian names for all these dishes!] Our salad was a plate of warm vegetables with a peanut sauce. I could have made a meal of all of the above before the main course was even served.
The main dish, called Rijsttafel, is a Dutch term for rice table. While it is a Dutch idea, its origins are clearly Indonesian. The main thing about this is you get a plate with rice (we had two styles) in the center of the plate. Then you get lots of little dishes to go around it, like beef, chicken, veggies, etc. They are little pieces in different sauces or spices, etc. It was very interesting.
Everyone's favorite was the chicken that was slowly cooked in a banana leaf for at least twelve hours with an array of spices – on the right on this plate.
Dessert was a crepe with grated and cooked coconut and palm sugar.
The rich vanilla ice cream scoop was a great compliment to the warm crepe.
We tried Indonesian tea, and that had a great flavor as well. They always give guests a little gift at the end of these themed dinners. Tonight’s was the most interesting of all – a small Indonesian musical instrument made out of wood called an Angklung. I don’t know if you will see what it looks like if you google it.
After dinner we went to hear the keynote speaker for this section of the trip – Sam Donaldson, a veteran journalist who was the co-anchor of This Week with Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts as well as ABC’s chief White House correspondent covering Presidents Carter, Reagan, and Clinton. He talked about politics in Washington in general and then opened the floor for questions. He would have continued on long past his hour slot had the ship’s cruise director not ended the presentation. Donaldson was just getting on a great roll! But he speaks tomorrow morning, so we have another chance to hear him. It was a great way to end a wonderful evening.
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