Food Journal Feb 12, 2009

At sea between Curacao & St. Maarten

breafast in Vivaldi

• grits
  
• tea
  
• eggs benedict (I'm hoping to do better than this version)
  
• croissant

lunch @ Bistro 30 (basically just Vivaldi main dining room)

• freshly tossed salad w/ bacon, corn, asparagus
  
• antipasti
  
• chicken vegetable soup
  
• pulled pork sandwich (barely 2 bites - I'd filled up on the excellent salad)

dinner @ Portofino

• bread basket (good foccaccia & great crispy flat bread crackers) w/ 3 tapenades & roasted garlic (this time done right, very spreadable)
  
• smoked duck (tasted like excellent ham) on arugula salad (needs a little lemon juice & salt) w/ mushrooms
  
• fried calamari (a little underseasoned)
  
• penne w/ beef ragu (al dente w/ pleasant tartness of sun-dried tomatoes)
  
• papardelle w/ mushroom sauce & truffle butter (rich and earthy, stellar)
  
• spiedino of seafood - salmon (overcooked), shrimp (ditto), lobster (near perfect) & scallops (almost perfect, needed more sear)
  
• tiramisu (done right in a chocolate bowl)
  
• a quartet of desserts (our best meal of the trip, though the presentation was a little 80s)

snacks in the Crown & Anchor Lounge

• canapes
  
• vegetable crudite