...And Then I Ate

Russia -- and the way home

2010-07-04T13:53:00.000-07:00

Food on the plane home was so bad that I didn't bother taking pictures, but couldn't pass up taking a picture of this Russian Baskin-Robbins ice cream container.

Last breakfast on the ship was pretty nondescript--just scrambled eggs, bacon and a slice of bread.

Russia - Day 10

2010-07-03T13:48:00.000-07:00

The only meal I managed to photograph today was lunch, which included the usual salad, but also a "croque monsieur" and a sandwich.

Russia - Day 9

2010-07-02T13:18:00.000-07:00

Banana pudding

Cannelloni (not seen, the salad which preceded it)

From the lunch buffet: pizza, salad and a sandwich

Breakfast: more Activia, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausasge, and hash browns

Russia - Day 8

2010-07-01T13:36:00.000-07:00

And then after the "dessert," came these little cream puffs.

Before they served the Baked Alaska they lit it with sparklers and ran through the dining room with it.

This was a bacon wrapped beef filet, which was surprisingly nondescript.

I do not remember what this was. I think it was some sort of veal with a pungent sauce.

I don't know what was underneath but that was caviar on top. I didn't think I liked caviar, but it was buttery and yummy.

I was getting pretty laissez-faire about taking pictures so I didn't take any of breakfast or lunch today, but tonight was the Captain's Dinner and it was a snazzy affair.

Russia - Day 7

2010-06-30T12:57:00.000-07:00

This was some sort of dessert with cherries.

This was leg of lamb with potatoes.

Garlic Soup for lunch.

More French Toast for Breakfast.

Russia - Day 6

2010-06-29T12:15:00.000-07:00

Pear with caramel sauce.

Pork stuffed with prunes

Caribbean shrimp salad.

A selection of pastries that were offered each day in the Panorama Bar at tea time.

These were potato stuffed ravioli that were offered for a main course, but I was too full. Walt had a plate, though.

I forgot to take my camera to breakfast, so this is a lunch picture, with various salads from the salad bar.

Russia - Day 5

2010-06-28T11:48:00.000-07:00

Blini were pretty much the same as blueberry pancakes, with a diifferent sauce.

The main course was meat loaf crusted with potatoes, but the best part of it was the paper thin piece of zucchini which had been fried and laid on top of the meat.

I actually liked the borscht.

Dinner started with some sort of potato salad

Dessert was ice cream with chocolate sauce.

Here are some Russian pelmini in cream sauce--we were supposed to learn how to make these, but the lesson had to be canceled.

This was from the salad bar--a crab sandwich and calamari rings.

A little Activia!

Russian blueberry pancakes are a lot more dense than we are accustomed too.

Russia - Day 4

2010-06-27T11:29:00.000-07:00

We closed off dinner with a creme caramel.

The roast leg of lamb was very good.

This was vegetable broth with cheese biscuits.

One of the best things we had on the trip--a shrimp cocktail with cognac.

Getting full of five course lunches, so I stopped after the salad bar, but that included a Reuben sandwich and a BLT!

French Toast for breakfast this morning

Russia - Day 3

2010-06-26T11:06:00.000-07:00

The baked apple with caramel sauce and currant syrup looked better than it tasted.

The main course was veal with some sort of a potato stuffing that was very good.

This veal stew was called a "hot appetizer."

This was a Nordic potato soup...many of the soups we had seemed to have a potato base.

This starter was a salmon carpaccio and was one of the better things we had on the trip.

Lunch dessert was peach melba.

Lunch was an onion cheeses quiche, heavy on the onions and one of those strange potato thingies that seemed to grace just about every main dish!

Breakfast this morning was eggs benedict.

Russia - Day 2

2010-06-25T10:49:00.000-07:00

For dessert there was a "Swan Lake," creme puffs in the shape of swans, swimming on a sea of custard.

The main dish was plaice with tartar sauce

Then we had beet root soup.

This was our Russian dinner and started with a Russian salad with cubes of cream cheese.

The lunch dessert was an apricot roulade.

For lunch there was a potato/zucchini patty topped with some fabulous fried onion strings and then some sort of potato "bow."

Breakfast this morning was muesli with fresh fruit and a crsoissant.

Russia - Day 1

2010-06-24T10:39:00.000-07:00

Dessert was an apricot panna cotta.

However, the veal cordon bleu with potatoes was delicious.

Lunch was a box lunch that I didn't photograph, but the first course of dinner was "honey ham with melon." I suppose prosciutto with melon, but not nearly as good as in Italy.

Ths ship had a huge buffet for breakfast every day and on this first day I went a little crazy. I had eggs, bacon, sausage, yogurt, a raisin roll, potatoes and cereal with dried strawberries, but I didn't eat the yogurt and the cereal was too soggy and the strawberries too sweet, so I didn't eat that either.

Helsinki and Russia

2010-06-23T10:31:00.000-07:00

We finally settled into our stateroom on the Viking Kirov and went to a late supper that was held for us in the Sky Lounge. The stroganoff with spaetzel was much better than the stroganoff we had on the ferry the night before. There was also salad and a delicious chocolate mousse.

We had lunch at the Farmers Market by the wharf in Helsinki, just below the Uspinsky Cathedral. Char and I had raspberry crepes; Mike and Walt had chicken/papaya crepes.

This was our last breakfast at the hotel -- fruit, eggs, salmon, cheese, potatoes, cake and croissant.

Helsinki and Estonia

2010-06-22T10:24:00.000-07:00

We ate dinner on the ferry, returning to Helsinki. This was microwaved beef stroganoff and salad.

We had lunch in Old Town Tallin, Estonia (oh that sounds so cosmpolitan!). This was an Italian restaurant and I had "Ravioli Burro," which was ravioli in butter and sage...doesn't look like a lot, but it was very filling. We also had beer to go with the food.

This was all that was left of my breakfast when I remembered to take out the camera. It HAD been eggs, potatoes, bacon, and a croissant.

Helsinki, Day 1

2010-06-21T10:16:00.000-07:00

The lamb shanks were delicious and made me wonder why I've never cooked lamb shanks. They came with delicious looking potatoes, which were kind of dry, so I really just finished the lamb and was full.

We were too busy to have lunch (though had a milk shake at Helsinki's McDonald's mid-day), but we went to Belge, a Belgian restaurant for dinner and I had the first of several beers on this trip--I hadn't had beer in years, but this Belgian beer tasted really good.

The hotel had a wonderful breakfast buffet every day and I started off my 3 days in Finland with cereal topped with yogurt and fresh berries, a piece of coffee cake, a mini donut and a glass of orange juice.

Airplane Food

2010-06-20T09:56:00.000-07:00

When we got settled into the hotel in Helsinki, we went off looking for food and ended up back at the hotel. where I had a Vegetarian Bruschetta with buffalo mozzarella and truffle oil that was amazing.

We thought there were going to be no meals served for lunch on Finnair so we bought these snacks...and then when we'd finished them, they gave us HUGE sandwiches (I ended up throwing mine away)

They served us a turkey and cheese wrap along with juice and yogurt for breakfast on British Air.
For dessert we had mango/passionfruit cheesecake that was delicious. I could have eaten another one easily!
I had no way to get my camera out to take a picture of my dinner on the Brit Air plane to London, but it was a fantastic vegetarian lasagna.

This was a pannini that we had at the San Francisco airport while waiting for our plane. It was delicious!

2010-06-19T08:52:00.000-07:00

We have left for Russia.

I'll be taking pictures of meals while
we're gone, but won't be posting them
until we return in July.

Warning to would-be robbers:
there will be 7 dogs and a house sitter
in the house, so go elsewhere!

Not the same without a ball game

2010-06-18T16:59:00.000-07:00

I had such a craving for a good old hot dog. I hadn't had one in years. So I had one today. And then was sick to my stomach all afternoon (great when you're trying to pack for a trip!)

(I'm probably going to skip dinner tonight)

Breakfast

2010-06-18T09:14:00.000-07:00

I had more banana bread for breakfast, and left the rest for Ashley to eat while we're gone.

Dinner

2010-06-17T20:11:00.000-07:00

I made a meatloaf for dinner, so we could have leftovers tomorrow, and I wouldn't have to cook before going to the theatre. I added bean salad to this and it was fantastic.

Fruity Lunch

2010-06-17T14:06:00.000-07:00

Still full from banana bread, so I just had a nice juicy fresh peach for lunch, while I looked over some books about our upcoming trip.

Banana Bread

2010-06-17T08:35:00.000-07:00

We had some bananas that were going dark, so I made a big banana bread.

Yogurt for dinner

2010-06-16T19:28:00.000-07:00

I was so full of the cherries I'd been eating all day--and Walt wasn't home tonight--that I just had yogurt for dinner.

Lunch

2010-06-16T14:31:00.000-07:00

I really wanted a Swiss cheese sandwich, but we had no bread, so I made Swiss cheese biscuits and had a biscuit with the end of the cherries.

Waffle Wednesday

2010-06-16T08:52:00.000-07:00

It's Waffle Wednesday again. We had leftovers from last week's toasted coconut waffles, so I heated up one of those and topped with more freshly toasted coconut.

Huge Artichokes

2010-06-15T20:40:00.000-07:00

I got these HUGE artichokes at the fruit stand also. It was so big that's all I needed for dinner--and even then I couldn't finish it all.

A Fresh Snack

2010-06-15T16:37:00.000-07:00

I stopped at a fruit stand on the way home from Sacramento and got these gorgeous cherries...an gorged on them all afternoon!

Lunch at the Olive Garden

2010-06-15T16:13:00.000-07:00

I met my friend Kathleen for our monthly lunch at the Olive Garden in Sacramento. We always have the same thing--a bowl of soup, salad, and bread sticks.

Today I tried their chicken soup with gnocci. I think of all the soups I've sampled, this is my favorite.

Breakfast

2010-06-15T08:49:00.000-07:00

Half a bagel with a scrambled egg.

Lunch, kinda

2010-06-14T15:04:00.000-07:00

Breakfast was so big--and so late--that I just finished off my home-made raspberry ice cream when lunchtime rolled around.

I didn't actually have dinner, just kind of picked at things while I was putting Walt's dinner together.

Breakfast at Caffe Italia

2010-06-14T13:00:00.000-07:00

We met our friends Judith and Ray at Caffe Italia for brunch this morning. I ordered hash browns with my omelette, but they gave me spinach. The omelette was Swiss cheese, mushrooms...and spinach. I am very strong now! (also had a hard roll with this brunch and a glass of orange juice)

Dinner

2010-06-13T19:55:00.000-07:00

Pork tenderloin marinated in terriyake marinade, along with plain rice.

The Birthday Brunch

2010-06-13T14:54:00.000-07:00

This was a family brunch to celebrate the birthdays in Marta's family for the second half of the year. I forgot to photograph my plate, but it's there in the foreground. I had scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes, rolls, watermelon and orange juice

Bagels for Breakfast

2010-06-13T07:29:00.000-07:00

An early morning bagel, knowing we were going to Ned & Marta's for brunch in a couple of hours.

Dinner

2010-06-12T19:51:00.000-07:00

Lamb chop with creamed spinach. (I seem to cook that a lot since my trip to Costco, where I bought a big package of Australian lamb chops and a humongous box of cream cheese!)

Lunch

2010-06-12T14:49:00.000-07:00

Half a bagel sandwiched with Swiss cheese, and some fresh raspberries I picked up at the market.

Bagels for Breakfast

2010-06-12T09:05:00.001-07:00

An "everything" bagel with Swiss cheese (and the morning pills)

Dinner

2010-06-11T21:02:00.000-07:00

I made a bean salad to go along with some of those good chicken tamales from Ikeda.

Lunch

2010-06-11T14:30:00.000-07:00

I finished off the pasta casserole (with Parmesan cheese) for lunch.

A frozen burrito (thawed, of course) for lunch.

Breakfast

On the anniversary of Paul's and David's deaths, we go out for sushi. Since Osaka Sushi in Davis has closed, tonight we tried Osaka Sushi in Woodland, 1o miles away...and it was wonderful.

This was Kani Maki (snow crab) and that wonderful spicy tuna that I love.

And this was Osaka Maki, fried shrimp rolled in rice, with avocado on top. Love it!

I was going to splurge on a tempura banana, but was waaay too full.

Making a Healthy Choice

2010-05-18T15:59:00.000-07:00

This is a Healthy Choice Orange Chicken steamed lunch.