7/6/2010 - 7/16/2010 Santana Tour and the Amadeus Diamond

I decided to do 1 post for all the meals related to our tour. on board the amadeus diamond i didn't take too many pics of the food, but there are a few scattered about. i apologize for the haphazard layout, i'm working on getting a nice photo viewer to put on the blog for posts with many images but for right now i'm working with the best i can when i have so many pics per post.

july 6: our 1st 'tour meal' was actually dinner at the meridien etoile hotel in paris.

we started with a kir. it's really cheap red wine with some club soda poured into it.	dinner menu	white whine -nope, that's     what we got, check the menu	red whine
salmon with shredded celeriac in a remoulade sauce	veal strips served with southern vegetables	chocolate and creme brulee cube with a speck of gold leaf

[note: ok, i've been corrected, or given more info on kir, so here it is.
Kir is a cheap white wine with a bit of creme de cassis (not fizzy---no water added). Creme de Cassis adds a fruity sweetness (to hide a cheap wine's flaws) and some bright color (to make the drink seem festive).
Kir Royale is a cheap white bubbly with creme de cassis (fizzy, but not due to club soda). Even more festive is Kir Royale---which is based on cremant instead of vin blanc.]

july 7: our next meal was lunch in the gardens at versailles. we biked the 12k to the palace, then biked through the gardens to the restaurant and back into paris.

salad	chicken with mushrooms and rice	chocolate mousse cake thing which was very good

july 8: lunch in strasbourg was at a place called carte terrasse. it was ok. they were slammed but there was actually a very good flute player trying to earn some $$ by playing for the crowds.

faux-filet sur le grill, pommes frites:  grilled tenderloin beef, french fries	grillade de blanc de volaille,  pommes frites:  grilled chicken breast, french fries	i ordered the chicken breast marinated  in lemon with french fries, but i guess the server knew  i really wanted the mushroom sauce!

a few very hot hours on the bike later we arrived at the amadeus diamond docked in schonau and were welcomed onboard. there was a buffet spread set out for us where many of us pigged out. dinner was later.

little quiches	if you put a salami with a cheese they made a great little sandwhich	chocolate crepes (chantilly on the side)
the chantilly	other crepes. i didn't actually have one of these so i don't know what they were

for dinner we had:

menu 1	menu 2	menu 3
red wine	pink roasted duck breast with cumberland sauce and waldorf salad	garden greens with hazelnut honey dressing
whole roast prime rib of beef w/green peppercorn sauce, princess beans wrapped in bacon and stuffed potato	the potato was stuffed into foil folded into a swan shape	amarena ice cream with cherry ragout

all of the breakfasts were pretty nice. large variety of breads, fruits, cheese, eggs, bacon (wimpy not curnchy), sausages, and what turned out to be my fav. rosti potatoes - think tater tots. there was also a choice of something from the kitchen like a pancake or omelette. i actually didn't take pics of any of these. guess i was still sleeping. all breakfasts were around 7 or 7:30am.

july 9: lunch in plittersdorf

menu 1	menu 2	menu 3	menu 4
wild berrie mousse	chilled strawberry shake	steak of pork neck, gratenated w/onion and mustard, served with o'brien potato and baby carrots. (i passed on the P and C opting for rice.

the shilled strawberry shake was delicious. it was served soup-style and really hit the spot. it was our hottest day on the bike i believe, and our longest day of riding overall (even though lunch was only 1/2 way through the ride). the pork neck - not so much. maybe i had a 'bad slice' but mine was almost all gristle and not much flavor.

dinner in speyer

menu 1	menu 2	menu 3	key lime pie with baiser

i had the cheeseburger for dinner. after 90 miles in 90+ heat, it was the only thing that really sounded good to me. i should've taken a pic of it. the burger was twice the size of the bun!

july 10: lunch in nonberwesel (snack at burg rheinfels)

worst. coke. ever. think sweet tea meets coke.	the braut-fest. yeah baby!	best lunch i think we had.

dinner in koblenz

menu 1	menu 2	menu 3	wine with dinner
marinated beef tartar with potato salad and red onion rings. the tartar wasn't like anything i've had so far - it reminded me of SPAM, actually	clear bouillon with ham biscuit. this was much better than i thought it would be	cream of chicken with ginger lemongrass and cocos. or a french version of tum ka gai	braised lamb leg in rosmarin gravy w/polenta and raratouille. YUM!
rum raisin ice cream with almond and whipped cream. glad i had the cheese curd!	curd cheese dumpling with fruit sauce. SO much better than it sounds!

july 11: lunch in Traben (-Trarbach)

menu 1	menu 2	menu 3	menu 4
menu 5	roasted pork neck with sauerkraut and potato dumpling. nope. while this was better than the 1st pork neck, it was still not so good.	cappuccino mouuse

this might've been the easiest day of biking. there was ~15-20k distance both in the morning and in the afternoon. that equates to ~11-14 miles. during lunch we joined up with 2 other tandems and did a "wine ride". please visit my travel blog.

dinner was in bernkastel (-kues)

menu 1	menu 2	menu 3	grilled mixed vegetable with sour cream, garlic dip olives and grissini
cream of tomato with gin and cream	roasted duck breast in orange sauce w/red cabbage and celery puree	chocolate cake with whipped cream

i actually didn't have any of this meal. i was a little tipsy from all the wine and beer and heat from that afternoon which is sad because the plates look great! thank you matt for taking the pics. (as it turned out i picked up a little bug somewhere along the way. i had a couple days where i wasn't doing too great.)

july 12: second breakfasts in wasserbillig, luxembourg

chocolate croissant and streusel.  Best 2nd breakfast a gal could have!

lunch in Trier. i had the tortelloni and it was quite tasty!

menu 1	menu 2	menu 3	menu 4

dinner in trier

menu 1	menu 2	menu 3	wine with dinner
pan fried fiillet of loach w/margarita salsa, broccoli and cous-cous	grilled pork tenderloin on creamy forest mushroom w/cauliflower and potato souffle	black and white chocolate mousse with strawberry sauce

now most of y'all know i'm not a huge fish fan. there are fish i enjoy eating and i'll readily order those in restaurants, but if i don't know a fish, i'm wary of it. however on a boat vacation, if you order something and really don't like it you can ask for 'the other dish'. so i decided to give it a try. it was pretty durn good! it wasn't as tender as sablefish or kobia, not as mushy (soft) as salmon, but also not 'dense' like swordfish. yes, i would order this if i find it in a restaurant in the future.

july 13: mid-morning snack in cochem and lunch in treis karden

mochas at ambient	menu 1	menu 2
menu 3	menu 4	menu 5
pasta alla calabrese, the hotel manager. it was quite yummy

dinner in alken

menu 1	menu 2	menu 3	wine with dinner
wine with dinner	veal consomme w/rosmarin profiteroles	grilled chicken breast in thyme sauce with gnocchi and mediterranean vegetable. this was quite good. the gnocchi were tender and light, not super heavy if i remember correctly	"buchtel" small yeats rolls with vanilla sauce
marzipan parfait with fruit salsa

july 14: lunch in arnhem

menu 1	menu 2	menu 3
menu 4	menu 5	mixed ice cream  with whipped cream

i actually had the cheeseburger again. while not the hottest or longest, we pushed ourselves for time on the morning's ride and nothing sounded as good as a big cheesebuger.

dinner in nijmegen

menu 1	menu 2	menu 3	louise and dennis
thyce and amy	goose liver mousse with brioche and port wine jelly	cream soup of lobster with creme fraiche and cognac	lemon sorbet with sparkling wine
"surf and Turf" tenderloin and tiger prawn on sauce bernaise with potato gratin and green asparagus	birthday boy	happy birthday with sparklers	the birthday cake
baked alaska, a.k.a. neopolitan ice cream

i should add a note here for the 14th - i was back and forth with bill trying to figure out how to be able to surprise matt with dinner guests that day. - we have a few friends who live overseas and of course limited visitations occur. when it was realized it just wasn't going to happen i had the thought about trying to get neopolitan ice cream served. the boat will of course do a cake for birthdays, and while it might not end up being chocolate at least he'd have that. but what the heck, i might as well ask. so not knowing who does and doesn't know what neopolitan ice cream is, i described it to bill and sent a picture of 1 the ice cream and 2 a box. - for those reading who don't know it's vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ice cream in layers. i hadn't heard anything from anyone and figured i'd let things go. 

while on the ship i realized they may not know who, let alone where, matt would be sitting for his cake so the day before i got with jan, robert (restauranteer extroidenaire (ok i spelled that wrong)), and petra, the maitre d' and planned where we'd sit. robert said "don't worry about it wait and see" and other than that i really had no idea what to expect.

when they sliced into the baked alaska for dessert i saw the vanilla, chocolate and strawberry layers. YAY!  thank you to all of you who helped with that. matt saw and noticed, and gobbled it up!

july 15: lunch in amsterdam (onboard the amadeus diamond)

menu 1	menu 2	menu 3
menu 4	menu 5

dinner in amsterdam (onboard the amadeus diamond)

menu 1	menu 2	menu 3
with vodka and ginger marinated salmon, orange dill sauce and straw potato	another birthday boy!

there were a lot of good meals on this ship. the kitchen crew did an outstanding job overall. as bikers we had some needs the staff wasn't familiar with, or that the cruise line wasn't so aware of. (like providing a *large* water glass with every meal and making sure the glass was filled the entire time we were at the tables.) but this is also a cultural thing in part and we did our best to work with or around it.

there were also a few meals that weren't so great. everyone had their favs and flops. but that's what happens in this type of situation. we're not eating every meal in a different place, the ship is essentially our hotel for the duration, and there's only 1 kitchen.

i do give high marks to the chef and his staff for overall taking on 75 tandems for a week. Here Here!