Day 61 ~ Food for the Mind & the Belly

 March 11, 2022

We're at sea so it wouldn't matter what the temperature is except I convinced the DH and our friends to eat our lunchtime dessert on the fantail. Big mistake! It was seriously cold outside, and we huddled there in the blankets the wait staff had draped across the backs of chairs, eating our gelato. (I had a dish of humble pie on the side!)

NAUTICAL TERM OF THE DAY ~ Clear the decks

The removal of all unnecessary things from the deck. ( I need to incorporate this into my decorating plan once we get home. I seem to be collecting stuff like a ship's hull collects barnacles!) 

Breakfast in the World Cafe. I usually have an omelet, but this scrambled egg & salmon ramekin with dill and capers was a nice change. The English bangers are nice little sausages.

Viking is justifiably proud of its lecture series and we've enjoyed most of the ones we've attended while on board. The first group of speakers left us at Malta and a new faculty came aboard. 

Our new resident historian is Michael Hicks, who presented an enthusiastic talk about Ancient Greece and its culture. Since we're going to have several stops in Greece, it's a good way to prepare for what we'll be seeing. Then when we view a place, suddenly the history we've learned makes sense. 

At eleven, Barbara Ferguson presented "The Olive--Ancient Mediterranean Glory!" I had no idea that olives were inedible straight off the tree. They have to be soaked in lye (like Norwegian lutefisk!) and processed before they are fit for human consumption. But all throughout the Med, olives, along with almonds and grapes, are a main cash crop. 

The shards of pottery with names on them in the right hand photo are evidence that the spirit of "mean girls" was in full bloom in the ancient world too. Except in this case, it was men who were carving the names of their adversaries onto pottery. When a name was offered too many times, the person was singled out to be ostracized!

In the afternoon, we attended a talk on Corfu since we're going to be there tomorrow and learned why it can be considered a "royal" island. Prince Philip, the recently deceased consort of Queen Elizabeth II, was born there (on the dining room table of his family's summer palace!) We visited Corfu on our 2018 WC with Princess (here's the blog post from then!) But though it's a return visit for us, we will be seeing different things than we did then. 

For supper, the Viking Food & Beverages Team put together a special meal called "Souvlaki & Baklava" for us on the pool deck. 

Kristy with two of the drinks flavored with Grecian liquors. Blue & white are colors of the Greek flag. 

This is our appetizer tray designed to be shared by the DH & me. Spring rolls wrapped in grape leaves, prawns, and some kind of patties of indeterminate origin (sometimes, it's better not to know...) along with sauces for dipping. Delicious!

The main course! Skewers of pork, beef, chicken & prawns. along with grilled zucchini, tomato, a wickedly hot red pepper, and diced veggies & olives to use in the small pitas. We gave the diabolic-looking pepper a wide berth, but the rest was lovely! 

Then, despite my best efforts to take photos of all the courses of this delightful taste of Greece, when the desserts came, we dove in head first without recording our indulgences for posterity! So I started watching the nearby tables, and when I saw a waiter deliver the three tiers of goodies, I leapt into action! 

This is Connie and Dave from Ohio who were gracious enough to let me take a picture of them and their dessert tray! Baklava, a flaky pastry treat and lemon gelato with sliced strawberries! Yum!

Our evening entertainment was Jeff Stevenson, the comedian we'd heard earlier in the week. He seemed to adlibbing most of his set and was pretty funny. It has to be a daunting task to stand alone on stage and try to make a large group of people laugh. I ranked him as several notches above the ventriloquist!

Tomorrow we revisit another port from our 2018, but I'm not worried we'll be bored. There's always more to learn and enjoy.

More soon...