Cruising the Arabian Sea

-
3rd September 2018

With another at sea day ahead of us, we have planned to do a Greek Cooking Class with Sharon and John, to fill in a good part of the day.

At 10am, we report to Manfredi's restaurant where the participants are assembled, before moving on to a special room next to the main kitchen, called the Chefs Table. There are 10 of us in the group including another Aussie couple, with the rest Americans.


Briefing by the Chef who will be instructing us

Equipped with menus, aprons and knives we are divided into groups of 3 and given different parts of the menu to prepare. We are having a Greek Salad, Lamb Koftas with Couscous and Cod Livornese. It looks like a lot of food !


Chef demonstrating the technique for cooking the fish course

Finally we have all done out part, and it is time for the meal to be assembled and served. We all sit down in anticipation as the chef does the plating up and serving. 


Soon the food is served, wine is poured and we enjoy the fruits of our labour. It was actually very good, but there was far too much food.



Lamb Koftas with Coucous

We finished off with a cup of coffee, packed up us aprons (which we get to keep as a souvenir), and head back our cabins. 

The seas are up a bit, so there is a bit of rock and roll of the boat, but nothing that makes it uncomfortable.

A few lectures fill in the afternoon, before it is meal time again. Given the size of our lunch, we opt for a late dinner in the main restaurant. It was good, and the serving sizes are such that you don't overindulge (unless you wish to).

Tomorrow we are in Muscat, and we have another included shore excursion. It will be interesting to see how it differs from Salalah. The highlights sound very similar.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Cooking Demonstration

-
Image
17th September 2018 It is an early start for our trip to the Taj Mahal, which only about 10 minutes away, because it is best viewed at sunrise or sunset. We agreed on a 6.30am start from the hotel and got there in plenty of time. The crowd was also a lot less than we expected. Once you arrive at the carpark, you then have to catch an electric golf buggy to the ticket office and mani gate. I think it is to make room for all of the souvenir stores, restaurants and annoying hawkers near the gate rather than use the area as a car park. We had the same experience at Fateh Sikri yesterday, although the golf carts here were considerably more comfortable than the beaten up buses yesterday. As soon as you see the main gate you can tell this place is special. Main Entry gate Built on the South bank of the Yamuna River, the Taj Mahal (Crown of the Palace) is an ivory white mausoleum built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. ...
Read more

Muscat, Oman

-
Image
4th September 2018 Arriving in Muscat at 8 am this morning, we are now very close to Abu Dhabi, where we stopped over on the way to Greece to start our holiday. It is going to be a very hot and humid day. Fortunately, we only have a morning tour planned and most of the time we will  be in an air conditioned bus. The port at Muscat is much smaller than Salalah, better suited to the arrival of Cruise ships, and has limited container and bulk freight facilities. Large wheat silos dominate the shore, and there is a large flour milling company in town. Once a Portuguese settlement, the main visible reminders left are a number of forts, located on hilltops around the harbour. A couple of small coastal dhows are berthed at a nearby wharf and are transporting bags of cargo, and other loose items, along the coastline. We saw them depart this morning and they were back again at around 3pm. Our bus is ready at 9am to take us on our tour, and disembarkation in Oman ...
Read more

Day tour of New Delhi

-
Image
19th September 2018 We went down for breakfast this morning at just before 8 am, and the restaurant was full. It seems quite of few tour groups stayed last night and must all have decided to have breakfast at once. There was a bit of a queue up, but within 10 minutes we had a table. Our guide for today was waiting in the foyer for us at 9 am, and our new driver was also on time. So we headed out from the hotel as planned. There are a few sites to see today, and our guide advised that we are going to start at the Southern most attraction, then to the most Northern and finish in the middle of town, near where our hotel is located. The first visit is to the oldest monument in New Delhi, Qutub Minar, the tallest minaret in the World made of bricks. It was completed around 1192 Ad, and was built by Qutab -ud-din Aibak,  the First Ruler of the Delhi Sutanate. At 240 feet tall, it is the centrepiece of a larger complex including the ruins of a mosque and many other buildings. It wa...
Read more