Towel Origami – How to Fold a Towel Frog

Posted on February 18, 2012 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Towel Frogs at the Towel Hut on Carnival Liberty

Most of the time, cruise ship passengers find towel animals in their room when they return in the evening. On the Carnival Liberty, we also found some frogs at the towel hut on the Lido deck.

The frog uses the standard body, same as the rabbit and many other towel animals.

Start with a bath towel. Roll each side to the middle from the short ends. Start the roll by folding just a small amount of towel over.

Once both rolled sides reach the middle, fold towel in half with the rolled part on the outside. The rolls each end up folded in half when this gets done.

fold the rolled towel in half

Pull the tips of the corners out of each roll. Take the tips of both corners of one roll in one hand and both corners of the other roll in the other hand. Pull corners tight like you are playing tug-o-war with yourself until the towel resembles a body with four legs.

pull the corners of the rolled ends to make legs

For the frog, pull the legs tight enough to leave a good gap between the two rolls. Set body aside until you make a head.

fold hand towel in half to start frog head

Use a hand towel to make the frog head. Start by folding it in half crosswise and then folding it in half again. Set it so the open edges of the towel are on top and toward you.

fold towel in half again

Take the top corner on one side and fold it to the center so that side makes a triangle. Repeat with the other top corner.

fold corners into triangles

Fold the bottom corner up over the triangle so one side of the towel becomes a double layer of half sized triangles. Repeat with the other bottom corner.

fold first triangle into double triangle

Fold both sides down at the center as you fold the towel in half with each double layered triangle as one of the halves.

fold down the middle with one double triangle on each side

Shape the loose ends into frog lips.

shape loose ends into frog lips

Place the head in the center of the body between the two sets of folded legs.

place the head in the center of the body

Fold the legs toward the center while sitting the frog up.

pulling frog up to sitting position

Position the arms and legs of sitting frog as desired and add colored bits of cloth or paper for eyes. If desired further adorn your frog with a tongue or other embellishments.

how to fold a cruise ship towel frog / towel art

the key to folding heads is a towel in the right proportions

Ta-da, a finished towel frog.

finished towel frog

I didn’t quite get all the photos I wanted on board, so obviously I had to make a few fill-ins at home. I discovered why I had issues with the heads in my original towel folding blog, How to Fold Cruise Ship Towel Animals. My hand towels aren’t the right shape to fold into triangles and have the folds line up with the edge of the towel when folded from the center. This time I tried a smaller sized bath towel for the frog head and it worked quite well. There’s an important lesson in that, it only works if you have the right size towels.

The frog is third in a series of individual towel animals which so far includes a seal and a rabbit. There’s also my own invention, the crab, or how about a towel cake or snake? Now there’s an elephant, a gorilla a hanging towel monkey and more. If you want to be sure not to miss any upcoming animals, it is easy to make sure you can find this blog again. You can like it on facebook, follow it on twitter or networked blogs, or sign up for an email subscription.

towel gorilla

Posted in Carnival, Liberty, Towel Animals | Tagged #towelfrog, cruise ship towel animals, entertainment, photos, projects, towel animal folding, towel art, towel frog, towel origami, video | 8 Comments

Choosing Your Cruise Ship Cabin

Posted on February 11, 2012 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Suite on Carnival Liberty

How do you find the best cabin for your money on a cruise ship? Cabin selection is one of the most important things to do before embarking on a cruise. People have different needs in their cabin, so choose the one best suited for you. Besides the obvious stateroom categories, other factors in cabin choice can greatly affect your cruise.

The categories are assigned to various rooms depending on their size, whether they have windows or balconies, and their location within the ship. Not all rooms in a given category are the same. Some hold more people, some have special features to make them more accessible. Prices go up with each jump in category classification.

Carnival Liberty standard inside cabin

Cabins on higher decks often have higher prices for the same room as one found lower down for a bit less. Centrally located cabins cost more than those closer to the bow or stern on some ships. Not all cabins are alike, and even the interior cabins range in size. For families traveling with more people than one room will hold, some cabins have doors adjoining them to the next room.

On the Carnival Liberty, the inside cabins in rows of just interior cabins at the middle of the ship were larger than the ones across the aisle from outside cabins. With both the interior and verandah, some cabins (or balconies) out at the very front or back ends of the hallway were just a bit bigger, yet in the same category as the ones next to them.

It always helps to look at the ship’s deck plans before booking so you can find the best cabin in the category you can afford. All the major cruise lines have deck plans to all their ships on their websites. The cabin categories are color coded so you can tell at a glance which cabins are in your preferred category. Some cabins are really hard to get though. Even booking nearly a year in advance we’ve never been able to get one of the ones at the end of the row with the extra large balcony as they are always already taken.

Veranda stateroom on Carnival Liberty

I normally prefer a cabin on a deck that has nothing but guest rooms, and that both the decks above and below have nothing but guest rooms as well. Usually the nights are quieter that way. People with motion sickness problems might want to pick a cabin on a lower level of the ship and as close to the center of the vessel as possible because both those things reduce the amount of motion felt. The higher up and farther to the bow or stern the room sits, the more exaggerated the motion of the ship becomes. Except on very small ships where the stern has more stability.

Sometimes noise comes from unexpected places. On the Liberty, we had a cabin on deck 6, right near the middle. Deck 5 had public areas, decks 7 and 8 did not. So we would have expected noise to come from below. Up on deck 9 though, the Blue Iguana and Red Frog bars are located about the center of the ship as well. They had a tendency toward having loud parties late into the night, and we could hear the music in our room, where we never heard anything from deck 5, which had shops below us as well as a casino. Luckily I always bring ear plugs when I travel.

Theaters normally sit near the bow or stern and can get noisy. On the first cruise I ever took I had a room directly underneath the stage and found zero chance of sleeping during a show. Most vessels do not have rooms under theaters though.

Megasuite on Carnival Liberty

If you can afford it, suites are spacious and some have amenities such as a whirlpool tub. Suites come in a variety of sizes, with the price escalating as the room grows. Larger suites on some cruise lines such as Holland America come with added amenities such as concierge, free laundry service, and a private lounge for suite guests only.

Balcony rooms are quite comfortable. In warm climates the balcony gets a lot more use than when cruising to a colder place. Window rooms on the Liberty were a bit bigger than the standard balcony room, although the added space from the balcony probably gave those rooms a little more space overall.

Inside rooms are always the cheapest way to go, but you can’t tell night from day without turning the television to the bow cam channel. Standard inside rooms are quite small, so look for side halls or corners where larger rooms of the same category might lurk.

bathtub in the megasuite

Window (or porthole) rooms get you out of the dark hole of an interior room without the cost of a balcony, though they do cost more than the interior rooms. When I stay in an interior room I like to turn the TV on to the bow cam channel with the sound off at night. As long as it stays dark outside, I don’t even notice the TV is on, but when the sun comes up I know it’s morning. Sort of like an electronic window.

window room

Other considerations for room choice include what parts of the ship you like to visit most. Going up and down from one level to another usually takes less time than walking from one end of the ship to the other. If you choose a room above or below the places you go most you can get there more quickly than if you book at the opposite end of the ship. Then again, maybe it’s a better idea to book at the opposite end of the ship from your preferred hangouts to walk off some of the abundance of delicious cruise food most passengers eat.

porthole cabin

top bunk drops down from ceiling

The amount of people staying in a room also affects room selection. Within a given category, some staterooms may sleep only two people while others sleep three, four, or even five. When I took a cruise on the Norwegian Sun with my son and grandson we had to make sure to choose a room that slept three. That room slept the third person on a couch that folded into a bed, but some cabins have one or two beds that pull down from the ceiling. Those add sleeping space without taking up floor space, a nice feature when cruising with kids.

If you aren’t particular about your room location or amenities, try booking with a category guarantee rather than a specific room. You will get at least the category you booked in, and often get upgraded to a higher one at no extra charge.

Accommodations on other ships: Arcadia, Breeze, Breeze odd cabins, Divina, Ecstasy, Infinity, Legend, Pearl, Ruby Princess, Splendor, Veendam, Westerdam, Wilderness Adventurer

For a complete list of blogs about cabins see My Cruise Stories Ships and Cabins page.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2011

Posted in Carnival, Liberty, Shipboard Life | Tagged cabin selection, cruise, cruise ship staterooms, pictures, reviews, travel | 11 Comments

Mahogany Bay, Isla Roatan Honduras

Posted on February 4, 2012 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Flying Beach Chair passes Carnival Liberty at Mahogany Bay

Carnival Liberty glided slowly backwards through the deep channel which appears to have been dredged through a shallow bay. Through our balcony window we saw the rusty hulk of an old shipwreck poking through the water, so of course immediately the cameras came out. A definite advantage of having a verandah room. Soon we spotted a much larger wreck. The rusty skeleton of half a ship towered over the water. Odds are anyone present when these ships went aground made it the few yards to shore without drowning.

wreck at the channel into Mahogany Bay at Isla Rotan, Honduras

The ship came to rest with the larger wreck nearly in front of our room, although not knowing we would dock there since the dock was on the other side of the boat, we had taken pictures on the move.

Large Wreck next to the dock

Sea Mail with towel monkey hanging around

We had no specific plans for this port, figuring just to get off the boat and see what Carnival had to offer us at their beach because a cruise line owns this bay. They did have an interesting way to get to the beach though, a ski-lift type conveyance called the magical flying beach chair. Tickets for this chair count as a shore excursion.

Purchasing shore excursion tickets gets easier and easier. If you haven’t bought them online before boarding, in addition to the shore excursion desk, you can also buy them right on the television in the cabin. Someone will deliver the tickets to your room, either by slipping them under the door or putting them in the mailbox. All cabins have a bin for ship mail just outside the door, which we initially dubbed Tree Mail as on the TV show, Survivor. Later we decided Sea Mail made a better name for the mail bin.

I recommend buying the shore excursion tickets online prior to the cruise if you know what you want to do as the prices sometimes go up a bit if you wait to book on the ship.

I had not bought the tickets for the “Magic Flying Beach Chair” in advance, so I tried the thing where you buy shore excursion tickets through the stateroom TV. It took less time than it took the people I was waiting for at the moment to change their clothes. They do have a footpath to the beach, but we wanted to try the chair because it was there.

Naturally they route everyone through a gift shop at the entrance/exit to the island. A short walk up a hill brings you to…….more gift shops. And of course the usual jewelry stores. As we left the ship they handed us cards for a free necklace at one of the shops. Since that shop was right on the way to the chair lift we stopped in. “For just $10 you can have these earrings to match the necklace,” the girl at the counter said. I declined while noticing that the stone was significantly smaller than in the picture on the free necklace card. Oh well, can’t really complain about free stuff.

Magical Flying Beach Chair next to foot path

As we boarded the chair we noticed someone starting down the footpath pushing a wheelchair. The footpath wound through the trees a bit so we lost sight of them as we took pictures of the lift, the ship, and interesting things on shore like the rental station full of toys to rent. We saw kayaks, paddle boats, and some sort of giant three-wheeled water bike in or near the shed at the water’s edge.

water toys for rent

The chair sailed slowly over the water and we watched people on the footpath crossing a bridge. The person pushing the wheelchair who had started out the same time we did emerged from the trees and crossed the bridge, reaching the other shore before the chair lift got to its destination. For anyone who has plans for a cruise that includes a stop at Mahogany Bay, if you want the fastest way to the beach, walk.

beach at Mahogany Bay

We scouted around the beach a bit, traded our lift tickets for wrist bands, and asked the lady at the booth where to find the best snorkel area. She had snorkel gear for rent so we figured they must have one. She recommended snorkeling off the dock on the side outside of the swimming area. We brought our own gear, so passed on the rentals. Well I should say I brought mine, John left his on the boat. We took some pictures around the beach and then decided to go back to the ship to trade his big camera in for his snorkel gear. We took the lift back and again the people on the footpath got there first, but we paid for it, might as well use it. Good photo ops from the lift as well.

Heading down the dock back toward the ship, a sea of humanity walked away from the ship through the Caribbean sunshine, the coconuty smell of sun lotion wafting down the path in their wake. Nobody but us went in our direction. After a switch of camera for snorkel gear, we noticed in our brief absence sunshine gave way to a cloudy overcast sky.

Properly equipped for snorkeling now, we set off back toward the beach. The chair lift seems designed for continuous movement, but if people are not fast enough getting on or off they will stop the chair for them. Doing so stops the entire system as it is on a continuous cable so it makes frequent brief stops along the way. We still took the chair again anyway, preferring to save our feet from the rubbing of beach shoes that aren’t good walking shoes, but are the sort that we don’t mind getting wet and sandy.

beach at Mahogany Bay

We walked down the beach passing people swimming on one side and lounging in lawn chairs on the other. Then we reached a fenced off area containing private cabanas. We turned away from the water and found a trail behind them. The trail led to a lively bar in front of another small section of beach with lawn chairs. We parked our things on chairs near the dock and got our snorkel gear out of our beach bags. At the end of the dock, they had a platform on the water with ladders leading down for easy access for snorkelers. People snorkeled on both sides of the dock, but as the lady in the rental booth advised, the best stuff to see is on the outside, not in the enclosed swimming area. We went on the outside and found several different types of coral and quite a few small colorful fish. Chris and Liza came out later and not having talked to the rental booth lady, went on the inside where Chris said they did see a couple large fish and a school of squid.

fish I saw snorkeling on the reef

About the time we settled in on the lawn chairs after snorkeling the weather decided to dump a sudden downpour on us. Everyone scurried for shelter. Heading up the beach back toward the lift we giggled a bit at a covered playground full of adults sheltering from the rain and not one child at play. By the time we reached the lift, the volume of rain had already decreased, but we got on anyway. Over the water the lift lurched to a stop. Not its normal brief stop to let someone on or off, but a long oh-no-the-lift-died sort of stop.

not so magical beach chair stuck over the water

While we dangled above the water, watching people on the footpath getting somewhere and fish swimming beneath us, it eventually stopped raining. Finally the lift lurched forward and began to move. We made it across the water, but not much farther. Then it stopped once more. This time we sat over land watching a guy with a cane hobbling slowly up the footpath and reaching the end while we dangled in the sky. Finally the lift moved again. This time we reached the end.

Because dangling in the air for long periods of time in the rain is not what we paid for, we asked for a refund on our lift tickets at the booth, but they said since we had bought them on the ship to ask there. I asked there and they said they would email the operator and see what they said. We never did get a refund. Good thing it didn’t cost much. Carnival staff treated us like royalty during our entire cruise, so we can forgive them this minor mishap.

Assuming it works, riding the lift is good for great views and photo ops, or people who can’t walk far. Also for those like us who want to ride it just to ride it. For the fastest way to the beach, definitely take the walking trail. When people with canes and wheelchairs get there first, you know for sure walking is faster.

Funny though, soaked to the skin as we were, we never really felt cold until we got back on the ship where stepping through the door brings about a 30 degree drop in temperature. OK possibly a slight exaggeration, but for some reason people always seem to keep air conditioners turned up way too high. I always need sweaters and sweatshirts and things for inside the ship, yet the outdoor spaces feel pleasantly warm.

lifeboat drill

Back in our cabin, I stepped out on the balcony and saw crew members having a lifeboat drill. A whole row of lifeboats just under our balcony, each with two crew members poking out of hatches at either end like so many jack-in-the boxes. The lifeboats went down to the water and back up. Sometimes the levels from one boat to another varied, but at the top and bottom they all were the same.

I got some interesting photos I never would have taken had we not got rained on and come back early. You just never know what random things might come in useful later. Some of these photos got reposted all over the internet in John’s guest blog on cruise ship safety.

Chris' underwater picture from snorkeling

Shore excursions on Isla Roatan include an island tour or a variety of adventures at Gumbalina Park including zip lines, birds, or pirates. Other choices include private island or resort excursions, several snorkel or dive options, snuba or semi-submarine trips, kayaking, dolphin encounters, and beach options. There’s also golf, but I can’t recommend that no matter how nice the course is because fertilizer from oceanside golf courses increases the growth of coral-killing algae on nearby reefs.

Isla Rotan is the largest of eight islands that make up Islas de Bahia (Bay Islands) about 30 miles off the northern coast of Honduras. The temperature averages 75 – 85 degrees farenheit year-round. Although the island’s official currency is Lempira, at the cruise ship port in Mahogany Bay all the shops accept American dollars. Some stores on other parts of the island happily accept American dollars as well. Tourism is currently the island’s main industry.

Occupants of the island speak a wide variety of languages in addition to English and Spanish. Their ancestries vary widely, as the island’s history included native populations as well as Spanish and English settlers, pirates, and African slaves.

After many years of Spanish, British, and pirates fighting over the island, with various settlements and populations coming and going, the island finally ended up as the property of Honduras in the mid 1800’s.

Locals tell tales of legends of ghosts, known locally as duppees. They say pirates burying gold would kill a man and leave his body with the gold so his ghost would guard it. After centuries of vigilance, the ghosts tire of watching the gold and will give specific directions to willing listeners, who then can find the gold by following those directions exactly.

really tall coral I almost ran into while taking pictures of smaller coral when snorkeling at Mahogany Bay

Isla Roatan and the other Bay Islands boast the world’s second largest coral reef, called the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef. It is outsized only by Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Many locals depend on the sea to make their living, whether from cruise ship passengers, or fishing for delicacies such as lobster and shrimp sold world wide. Many fly-in vacationers staying in land based hotels also boost the island’s economy, often visiting for water-based activities.

The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef extends more than 450 miles from Cozumel and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula past Belize and on to the Bay islands. It hosts inner, middle and outer reefs, separated by sand bars and each with their own populations of coral, fish, and other sea life.

fish Chris saw snorkeling at Mahogany Bay

Coral reefs worldwide currently face difficulties due to increased acidity of the oceans, caused by the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. They have a harder time finding the components they need to build their shells, and when erosion exceeds growth the reefs die off. Other factors such as pollution, bacteria, and increased ocean temperatures also have led to a decline in the number of living corals. Coral reefs create habitat for many other species, so their loss brings about a loss in a great amount of sea life. In some places in the Caribbean, up to 80% of life on the reefs has already died. Since the 1960’s, many square miles of coral reefs in the Pacific have died, with the rate of die-off doubling in the 1990’s. Overfishing also contributes to coral loss because fish eat the algae that can otherwise suffocate the reef.

Coral loss is yet another reason we should all do our part to recycle, use sustainable resources, and help decrease pollution. While this may not directly affect the coral, recycling plastic bottles to ensure they stay out of the great garbage patch in the north pacific gyre is one small thing we can all do to help stop the decline in the overall health of our oceans. The north pacific gyre is nowhere near Roatan, but plastic from all over the world makes its way into the ocean and ends up in the north pacific gyre or in other smaller garbage patches elsewhere.

On a behind-the-scenes tour of the Liberty, we found out that Carnival recycles everything to take back to port so nothing harmful goes into the landfill or the sea.

Bales of recycling on the Liberty waiting to go to port

Posted in Carnival, Liberty, Ports of Call, Shore Excursions | Tagged beach, coral reef, cruise, cruise ship ports, Honduras, Isla Rotan, magic flying beach chair, Mahogany Bay, nature, photos, reviews, snorkeling, travel, underwater photos | 15 Comments

Carnival’s Bitter and Blanc Brioche Bread Pudding

Posted on January 28, 2012 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Bitter and Blanc on Carnival Breeze

Decadent and delicious, Carnival’s rich warm Bitter & Blanc pudding served with vanilla sauce makes a fine end to a meal, whether served on board the cruise ship or at home. It has a lot of steps to making it, but the results make it worthwhile. For a quick and easy yet tasty dessert, try the chocolate melting cake.

fresh baked bitter & Blanc, before adding the vanilla sauce

Finding Brioche bread may not be as easy as a trip to the local supermarket. I could not find any at the ordinary grocery stores near my house. I’m guessing upscale grocery stores or bakeries, which I don’t live near, might be more likely to carry it. Since I couldn’t find any, I looked online for recipes and made my own. I used a recipe from a site called Group Recipes, but other sites offered recipes as well.

Brioche Bread

fresh baked brioche bread

1/2 cup whole milk
2 large eggs
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 package active dry yeast (= 2 1/2 teaspoons)

Directions

Bread machine recipe:

Add all ingredients in order to your bread machine. Set on the dough cycle. When cycle is done (usually 1 1/2 hours for most bread machines) proceed to cooling rack instructions.

By Hand Recipe:

Heat the milk in a small saucepan over low heat until it’s just warm (110-115F) Remove pan from heat and pour milk into a small bowl. Stir in the yeast and 1 cup of the flour. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rest for 10 min.
Combine the butter, sugar, salt and eggs in a mixer bowl with a paddle attachment (or food processor). Add the remaining 1 1/2 cups flour and process until smooth. Add the yeast mixture and process again until smooth. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead 5 minutes, until smooth and elastic.
Shape the dough into a loaf and place into 8 1/2 or 9 inch non-stick loaf pan. Cover the pan with a clean dish towel and allow rising for about an hour.
Preheat the oven to 375F. Using a sharp knife, score the loaf length wise with a sharp knife. The score the loaf 3 times at equal intervals across. This makes a professional looking loaf and helps it bake evenly.
Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until golden. Remove from pan and place the loaf on its side on a cooling rack. Alternate side after 5 minutes (this prevents the loaf from compressing)

Once you have some Brioche bread, whether baked or bought, you can make the Bitter & Blanc pudding. This recipe makes 4- 5 servings of the Bitter & Blanc. It doesn’t take the whole loaf, but the leftover bread makes great French toast.

GANACHE

3 oz Dark Chocolate

1/4 cup Heavy Cream

PUDDING

3 cups Brioche Bread, crusts removed and cut into cubes

3 egg yolks

2 Tablespoons sugar

1/3 cup heavy cream

4 oz white chocolate

3 Tablespoons butter

MERINGUE

1 egg white

1 1/2 Tablespoons sugar

VANILLA SAUCE

top the bitter & blanc with vanilla sauce

2/3 cup whole milk

2 Tablespoons sugar

1/2 tablespoon cornstarch

2 egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla

DIRECTIONS

Heat oven to 325 degrees farenheit. Grease 5 individual souffle cups or 2/3 cup pyrex bowls with butter and sprinkle lightly with sugar.

Ganache: break dark chocolate into squares in small bowl. Heat heavy cream to simmer in small saucepan. Pour simmering cream over chocolate. Stir until chocolate melts. Let cool slightly, then spoon into prepared cups.

Pudding: Put bread cubes in mixing bowl. Pour cream over bread and let soak. Melt white chocolate and butter in small saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently. Let cool slightly. In mixing bowl, cream sugar with egg yolks. Add white chocolate mixture slowly to egg mixture, beating constantly on slow speed to prevent egg from cooking on contact with warm white chocolate mixture. Stir in the cream-soaked bread by hand.

Meringue: Beat egg white with sugar until white and fluffy and stiff enough to form peaks. Fold into bread mixture. Spoon into bowls over ganache.

Bake at 325 degrees farenheit for 30-45 minutes until pudding sets and tops brown. When pudding looks nearly done, start cooking vanilla sauce.

Vanilla Sauce: Boil milk and sugar in small saucepan. In small bowl, cream egg yolks with cornstarch. Whisk the hot milk into the bowl a little at a time, whisking while pouring to prevent scrambling the eggs. Add vanilla and pour back into saucepan. Cook on low heat stirring constantly with whisk until desired thickness is reached. Remove from heat.

Carnival's Bitter & Blanc brioche bread pudding

Bitter & Blanc on Carnival Liberty. Sorry about the blurry photo. I didn’t get any good ones.

Poke holes in center of pudding and pour vanilla sauce into and over top of warm pudding before serving.

Croutons

Carnival serves theirs topped with some croutons that look like they are probably made of toasted, sugared brioche bread. It didn’t look as fancy without them, but tasted quite good. Their recipe didn’t include their croutons, but I made some one day by cutting the bread into cubes, rolling the cubes in sugar, and then baking them at 250 degrees for about 25 minutes and flipping once to dry out the bread. Then broil them just until lightly toasted, again flipping once. This may not be how they make their croutons, but it works fine if you want some.

Easier Recipe

If this recipe seems too difficult, try my Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding recipe, which tastes similar to the Bitter & Blanc and is a whole lot easier to make.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2012

Posted in Carnival, Cruise Food, recipes | Tagged Bitter & Blanc, bread pudding, brioche bread, cooking, cruise ship food, dessert, food, recipes | 8 Comments

Are Cruise Ships Safe?

Posted on January 21, 2012 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Yes, Cruise Ships Are Safe!

Guest Blog By Capt. John L. Beath

Costa Cruise Line’s recent disaster has many wondering if cruise ships are safe. Blame for the terrible and avoidable accident has been squarely blamed on Captain Francesco Schettino – a captain with the cruise line since 2006. This tragedy could have and should have been avoided by simply following company protocols. Schettino’s decision, for whatever reason, to deviate from pre-programmed routing put the 951-foot Concordia far too close to Italy’s Giglio Island. After hitting a submerged reef the captain steered the ship toward shore but failed again to follow proper safety procedure and protocol. Schettino’s complete lack of procedure, common sense and poor leadership led to his cowardly act of abandoning ship long before his guests.

While this disaster points squarely at this captain, aka “Captain Coward” it should not reflect on the hundreds of excellent captains who regularly pilot their cruise ships safely throughout the world. Carnival Corporation owns Costa Cruise Lines and will no doubt have a say in future safety protocols and back up plans in the event of an emergency.

crew of the Carnival Liberty conducting lifeboat drill

On a recent back-to-back cruise aboard the Carnival Liberty, my wife and I went through a safety drill before leaving the dock on each seven day cruise. Some passengers hate these drills but they are mandatory and familiarize passengers with their muster station. The muster station is where you should report in the event an abandon ship order is given. Reports from passengers of the Concordia say they did not have a muster drill before leaving port. Once again, this indicates poor leadership and bad safety procedures by one man, Captain Schettino.

Carnival Liberty crew conducting lifeboat drill

While in port during our recent Carnival Cruise, the captain of the Liberty conducted several safety drills for his crew which included lowering the lifeboats. This drill took place when guests were ashore enjoying their “port time.” The efficiency of the drill impressed me, as crew members methodically went through the safety drill. These drills keep crew members practiced on safety procedures and help to ensure each lifeboat works properly.

Captain on the bridge of Carnival Liberty

The bridge offers a view of where you've been as well as where you're going

More than 100 passengers have joined a lawsuit to be filed in the U.S. and Italy against Costa Cruises. These passengers are reportedly asking for more than one million each, which seems unreasonable to me unless they were injured. Yes, this was a horrific accident, but should passengers who made it safely to shore receive one million dollars each? I don’t think so. Costa Cruises says they will give a full refund to passengers aboard the Concordia and will offer 30 percent off future cruises if they stay loyal to the brand. This too seems a bit unreasonable to me. In the end the lawyers and the courts will decide these claims and lawsuits. Costa Cruises will also pay for all valuables and personal items lost during the disaster.

The question remains, “Are cruise ships safe?”

Without question I believe cruise ships are safe and will be safer as a result of this avoidable accident.Carnival Corporation is the largest cruise company in the world and has the ability to effect change in safety policies and procedures throughout the industry. My wife and I will continue cruising and have already planned a Trans Atlantic cruise with Carnival Cruises.

Cruise Ships are safe and one of the most fun and affordable vacations in the world. We should not condemn Costa Cruises or an entire industry because of the mistakes of one captain.

About the author: John L. Beath holds a United States Coast Guard Master’s License, has gone through numerous boating safety courses and is a freelance writer focusing on the outdoors, travel and cruising. His website is www.MyTravelTastes.com

Captain by the control panel, which extends the full length of the bridge

Captains with Carnival Corporation have modern, sophisticated bridges with high-tech electronics. There’s always more than one officer on the bridge and the captain is ALWAYS close by in case of emergency.

The bridge has a window in the floor

The captain of the Carnival Liberty shows the port wing station where the captain can dock the ship and look straight down through the Plexiglas floor.

Posted in Guest Blogs, Shipboard Life | Tagged Costa Concordia, Costa Concordia accident, Costa Cruise Accident, cruise ship safety, lifeboat drill, news | 5 Comments

How to make a towel rabbit

Posted on January 21, 2012 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Carnival Towel Rabbit

Every night cruise ship passengers around the world return to their cabins to find a towel animal sitting on their bed. Stateroom Stewards fold these animals with ease, while passengers puzzle over how it’s done.

new Carnival towel animal folding book

Carnival has a new edition of their towel animal folding book, available for sale to passengers on their ships. The book includes photos of numerous animals with line drawing pictures of the how to steps of folding each one.

Carnival Towel Book Rabbit Instructions

Many animals, including my own invention – the crab, use the same basic body, placed in ever changing positions for different animals or even variations of the same animal. Our rabbit for instance started out lying down, but on the second folding for the video became a sitting rabbit instead.

For the main body this rabbit and many other animals use, start with a bath towel. Roll each end into the center. Astika said the secret is to start the roll with just a very small bit folded over.

roll both ends of towel to center

Fold the rolled towel in half crosswise with the rolls to the outside of the fold.

fold towel in half, rolls to outside

Pull the corners of the towel out of the center of each roll.

pull the tips out of each roll

Grab the pulled corners of both ends of one roll in one hand, and the pulled corners of both ends of the other roll in the other hand. Pull them tight and stretch into animal body with four legs.

pull ends of rolls tightly into body with 4 legs

Position the body the way you want it for the animal, whether sitting or lying down.

Make the head. For the rabbit head, use a hand towel. Either hook the center of one long edge over a wall hook, or hold it to your chest with your chin, leaving both hands free.

rolling towel corners toward end held under chin

Roll both sides from edge to center at the same time until they touch in the center and it resembles a long triangle.

With the rolled part to the outside, fold in half and push the tip end between the two rolled sides.

fold in half, bringing tip between the two rolls

While holding tightly to the two rolled ends with one hand, curl the tip end around itself and tuck it in between the rolls.

roll tip end around itself

Pull head tight, position on body and decorate as desired using colored paper to make eyes and nose.

finished towel rabbit

This is the second in a series of individual towel animal folding blogs, which started with the easy towel seal. Other easy animals include the penguin and the crocodile. You can also check How to Fold Cruise Ship Towel Animals for more towel animal folding instructions. Up now: Towel Frog, towel gorilla, hanging towel monkey, pig, snakes, elephant, my very own towel crab, the really easy to make towel cake and many more including my favorite, the fire-breathing dragon.

The easiest way to find other towel animal folding instructions is go to the towel animal page and click the picture of the animal you want to make.

If you want to make sure you don’t miss any future animals you can easily find this blog again by liking My Cruise Stories facebook page or following this blog.

towel frog winning at poker

Posted in Carnival, Liberty, Towel Animals | Tagged cruise, cruise ship towel animals, how to fold towel rabbit, photos, towel animal folding, towel origami, towel rabbit, towel rabbit folding instructions, video | 4 Comments

Zip Line in Belize

Posted on January 14, 2012 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Belize shore excursion on Carnival Cruise

Chris on the zipline in Belize

After getting out of the water and dropping off the tubes from our excellent cave tubing adventure with cavetubing.com, we headed straight for the zipline. At the fork in the trail where one way went to the ziplines and the other back to the bus, the guide said if we really needed anything off the bus we could get it quickly before heading down to the zipline. They said NCL built the zipline, but apparently they let other people use it.

I had worn fast-drying shorts over my swimsuit and hiking shoes for the cave tubing so I just wanted my tank top, which I could have lived without. Liza though had no proper shoes as she’d hiked to the tubes in flip-flops and then rode through the caves in snorkel socks (with the flip-flops tied to her tube in a plastic bag.) Neither would work for the zip line and she didn’t travel very fast so I more or less ran to the bus and back and grabbed the bag we’d left on the driver’s seat for easy access. I got my tank top, she got her shoes and a tank top. The zip line ended and started at the same point so leaving the bag there would not have been a problem, but our cave-tubing guides offered to bring it back to the bus, an even better option. They claimed Belizians are afraid of heights, and said we’d have Mexican guides on the zipline.

Belize shore excursion, Caribbean cruise

Liza on the zipline

Zipline guides outfitted everyone with helmets, thick leather gloves, and harnesses. All the zip lines have double cables with a separate pulley on each plus an extra clip. It would be pretty hard for all of that to fail at the same time. They also keep everyone clipped to a cable wrapping around a tree at each landing area. Of all the clips each person has on, they are never all undone at once. If anyone somehow managed to find a way to fall off the platform, there would still be a clip holding them to at least one cable.

Liza on the platform waiting for her turn

We hiked the first set of stairs to the first zipline. A short easy zip, great practice for inexperienced zip liners. We went with the same people as our cave-tubing group, mostly adults and one little girl. She had no fear and a great time. Some of the adults seemed a bit more nervous, but they quickly got over it and had a great time too.

This course had 7 ziplines. The landing platform on some also served as the take-off platform for the next run. Others had a bit of a hike in between them. A much needed water cooler awaited at the top of one long steep hike.

me on the zipline

This course offered a variety of ziplines, some longer, some steeper. The guides had only two commands for people to watch for while on the line, brake and stop braking. Still there’s always that one person who doesn’t pay attention and then can’t stop in time and hits the well-padded tree. That’s why it’s a well-padded tree. Said person had a bit of a sore shoulder after hitting the tree, but still finished the course just fine. She just asked for a bit of ice to put on it afterword.

When we arrived back at the starting point, the guides helped us out of the harnesses and we hurried back to the bus. The group that had done just the cave tubing had already boarded, so once we all got on it quickly left. Just down the road the bus stopped at a thatched hut where the ATV tours originate. Inside they provided a free lunch, a homemade tamale for everyone. Drinks, chips and sodas cost extra.

Lunch Stop

On the bus, Speedo said we’d know the tamale had real chicken because of the bones. At the time I thought he was joking, but the chicken inside the tamales did indeed have bones. They offered a variety of hot sauce choices, but it tasted fine without any of them.

Following our tasty lunch, we all boarded the bus for the trip back to the terminal in plenty of time to catch the tender to the Carnival Liberty. On the way they collected payment for the tour and tips. We had a great time on our tour with cavetubing.com. I’m quite comfortable recommending them.

Normally if the schedule says a cruise ship leaves at 5:00 and you arrive at the dock at 5:05 you will just get there in time to watch the stern of the ship as it sails away. In fact this ship left 3 people behind at Cozumel, who then had to find transportation to the next port at their own expense. However they do make one exception. If you take a shore excursion purchased through the cruise line, the ship will wait.

In Belize departure time came and went. About an hour past the scheduled time for the last tender, one finally arrived with around 200 people on board. I’d imagine they felt quite lucky to have booked their tour through the ship.

Posted in Caribbean, Carnival, Liberty, Shore Excursions | Tagged Belize, cruise, fun, jungle, photos, travel, zip line, zipline | 1 Comment

Cave Tubing in Belize

Posted on January 7, 2012 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Cave Tubing in Belize

This is no cruise ship tour. And I mean that in a good way. We really wanted to try the cave tubing in Belize. Riding an inner tube down a river through a cave sounded like lots of fun. We first discovered this adventure in the list of Carnival’s shore excursions for Belize. Looking online for reviews, I discovered a variety of outside companies also provided that tour. The reviews ranged from use an outside company for a longer ride at half the price to don’t go with an outside company because you might miss the boat.

We definitely did not want to miss the boat and have to provide our own transportation to the next port. We eliminated any company with a complaint of guests missing their boat from consideration. We deliberated for awhile if we wanted to take the risk of booking with an outside company for what sounded like a better, cheaper tour. After much researching online, checking websites, reading reviews, that sort of thing, we settled on booking our excursion with cavetubing.com. In fact, since their price was actually slightly less than half the price through the ship, we added the zip line for a combo tour and still paid less than the ship’s price for the cave tubing alone.

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Finally the day came, our second port day for this cruise. We badly needed to catch the first tender, and not having the priority of a ship’s tour, we went to the lounge to get our tender tickets half an hour before the scheduled time for it to open, fully expecting to sit out in the hall behind a locked door. Through wide open doors, we found only a couple other people in the room. When it got to about 20 or so the cruise ship people said they would give us all our tickets before anyone else got there. Everyone rushed to the table, I managed to push my way into third, and since we were the second ones there (and the first ones made it to the table first) I did not feel one bit badly about crowding past people who got there after I did.

crossing the river

We sat happily with our Tender 1 stickers as the room filled. And filled. Turns out the government of Belize picked that day to delay clearing the ship by an hour. No idea what for, but the longer they keep the passengers out of port the more money their citizens lose. Finally the ship cleared and they called up tenders 1-6. All at once, no sort of order. So we felt a bit miffed that some of the people who strolled in long after us ended up well ahead in line. We all got on the same boat though. One other tender left before ours, probably full of passengers on shore excursions purchased through the ship since they get priority.

hiking through the jungle with tubes

Once the boat landed, we hurried down the pier through the terminal specified on our instructions to the street on the other side and found the guy from cavetubing.com holding up their sign with my name and many others on it. They showed us to their bus where we found seats. People with tender sticker numbers as high as 4 joined us, so had they not put us all on one boat we’d have been waiting on the other side for the slow people who didn’t follow the instructions to get on the first tender.

Chris, me, and Liza starting our cave tubing adventure

They took us for a short bus tour through town, driving past the fancy rich houses by the beach and the not so fancy houses on the other side of town. Our hilarious guide, Speedo, kept us entertained the whole way with his lively talk. As we passed the phone company (their one and only choice for phone service) he said its initials of TAL stood for Try Again Later. Gas, he said, cost about twice what we pay in the USA, so everyone drives a BMW. Which stands for Better Me Walk.

Once we reached the highway toward the caves, he announced party time. And he meant it. After offering free bottles of water if anyone would like them, one of the other guides brought out a jug of punch, followed by another guide with a bottle of cashew wine. Big cups for the punch, little for the wine, both for anyone desiring both. My son, Chris, took both and when I just said punch got a wine cup for me as well saying we’d find a use for it. I normally don’t drink alcohol, but drank the punch anyway even though it tasted a bit spiked.

heading toward the mouth of the cave

What the heck, I had a cup of spiked punch last year on an Alaskan cruise, a drink once a year probably doesn’t hurt. Took a taste of the wine too, which I thought had a bit of a nutty taste, better than most wines. I never did like wine even before I stopped drinking any alcohol many years ago. (And no, I was never an alcoholic, just didn’t have any reason to drink.) After everyone had a taste, the guides awarded the rest of the bottle to the person most vocal about wanting it. He stood right up and guzzled the whole thing. I’d be willing to bet the people on the official cruise ship tour did not get any offers of free alcohol on their way to the jungle.

Once we arrived, they took all the people who had the zip line as well as the cave tour in the first group, and those just doing the cave tube in the second after a very brief option for a pit stop or clothing change. The hike to the river comes after the clothing change, so for anyone considering this excursion there’s no need to bring most of the things you think you want because you won’t have access to them until you get back to the bus anyway.

Wearing a swimsuit underneath fast-drying shorts along with good walking shoes you don’t mind getting wet works best. Those who don’t mind the exposure could go without the shorts. There’s not much time between the cave tubing and zip line, but a shirt or something left on the driver’s seat can be grabbed quickly if needed. Anything else stays on your own seat on the bus for later. We had a backpack full of towels and things that we never used. By the time we got back from the zip line we had already dried. It’s possible the group who just did the cave tubing used theirs, but no-one from our group did. We never used the passports or credit card we had stashed in the backpack either, but those things need to come along because if you ever did miss the boat you would definitely need them to get to the next port.

guide pushing a string of cave tubers

For those without water-proof cameras, they passed out ziplock bags. A small booth in the parking lot offered disposable water proof cameras for sale, but anyone stopping to buy one would not have time to visit the bathroom or changing room as there was time enough only for one thing.

Once everyone in our group had an innertube (with life jacket attached) and a head light (as in a light on straps that you put on your head so you can actually see something in the cave) we set off down the trail carrying our tubes. They offered helmets if anyone wanted them, but nobody did. They said the official cruise ship tour requires everyone to wear the helmets, but depending on river conditions they make them optional when they can, something we all appreciated.

First we crossed the river where a rope stretched from one side to the other all the way across. Little minnows swam around our feet. Then we walked down the trail a bit and crossed the river again. Busy taking pictures, I had not noticed my tube rotated a bit so that the corner of the life jacket got a bit wet. I put that back to the top again, but by the next river crossing it had migrated to the bottom and got wetter still. Luckily, since the water was low they did not make us wear them if we knew how to swim, although I did not know that until we got to the starting point of the float.

rock formation in cave

Liza did not have good walking shoes, so she had a bit of trouble and one of the guides carried her tube for her. Another saw me taking photos and said he’d carry mine to make the picture-taking easier. A bit farther down the trail when I offered to carry Chris’ so he could get some good pictures the guide said no problem, he’d take that one as well. Once we got to the starting point, different groups hitched up together, feet under the person ahead of you’s arms. Chris, Liza, and I had our own little group with a guide just for us, although the three sections of our group stayed more or less together through the caves.

our cave tubing guide

“This cave has bats,” said the guide, “so keep your mouth shut if you look up.” We saw a few hanging upside down and Chris saw one flying around. Nobody actually got guanoed that I know of though. The cave had lots of interesting rock formations and some crystals. A couple really pretty spots had light-filled openings big enough for some plants to add a bright touch of green to the view. While we lazily floated on our tubes, the guides worked hard steering them through the cave, often calling “butts up” in places where shallow water or tall rocks posed a threat to low-hanging derrieres. The guides had little black inner tubes, but mostly seemed to walk or swim, each bringing along their column of bright yellow tourist-filled tubes.

other tubers leaving the water near cave exit

Just past the exit from the cave, we saw people from other groups leaving the water. “That’s were the people who booked through the ship get out,” the guide said. We floated quite a way downriver from there before we had to get out. When we came near the exit point, the guide let us float freely on our own to the end. We floated on down back to where we first crossed the river at the place with the rope across the stream. Most people used it for an aid in that first river crossing. I decided to let my tube float to the rope, which I could then use to pull myself to shore. He did say not to go past it, but not that we couldn’t go to it. Easy way to get to shore I thought, no paddling required, just grab the rope and go hand over hand until the tube touches bottom. Worked great.

me free floating back to the beginning of the trail

We had a wonderful time. I totally recommend cavetubing.com. In spite of the late start, they got us back to the dock with about 45 minutes to spare before the last tender. They kept us all entertained from the time we stepped on the bus for the first time until the time they let us off safely back at the pier. We all loved both the cave tubing and the zip line as well as the free tamale for lunch. This was definitely one of the highlights of our Carnival cruise.

Posted in Caribbean, Carnival, Liberty, Shore Excursions | Tagged Belize, cave, cave tubing, cruise, fun, inner tubing, photos, river float, travel, vacation | 5 Comments

Belize

Posted on December 31, 2011 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Tender port in Belize City

Nestled between Mexico and Guatemala along the coast of the Caribbean Sea, Belize enjoys temperatures ranging from 66-88 degrees Fahrenheit. As the only English-speaking nation in central America, Belize makes a great port stop for ships from the USA. Though they have their own Belize dollars, they happily accept American dollars from tourists.

Inside the cave tubing cave

Belize has many attractions including the unique cave tubing experience, Mayan ruins, jungle adventures including zip lines, diving and snorkeling on the second longest barrier reef in the world, and historical sites such as St. John’s Cathedral in Belize city, the oldest Anglican church in Central America. This church dates back to 1812, built from bricks brought as ballast on European ships. The former governor’s house built in 1814 now houses a museum.

Belize jungle canopy over the river

Costal areas of Belize have islands, mangrove swamps and cays. Much of the inland area remains heavily forested with hardwood jungles and home to numerous species of birds and many varieties of wild orchids.

Once the capitol, Belize City sustained severe damage in a hurricane in 1961. The capitol moved inland to the new city of Belmopan, but Belize City remains the largest city in a small country. Many people in the lowland area build their houses on stilts to protect them from flooding during hurricanes.

While on the bus on our way to our cave tubing and zip line, the guide pointed out things such as a sports field donated by an American Olympic athlete with Belizian roots, and a hospital donated by and named after a German. He assured us we did not want to end up at that hospital. He also said they had a bridge paid for by China and one from Canada (I think, might have been somewhere else.) He said they’re still waiting for one from America, but I’m guessing they’ll have a long wait on that.

Formerly known as British Honduras, Belize gained independence from Britain in 1964, although it did not change the name to Belize until 1973. British soldiers still remain, mostly to prevent trouble from Guatemala, which did not recognize Belize as a country until 1991 and still would like to claim ownership of some of Belize’s land.

Belize Jungle

The colorful history of the New Hampshire sized patch of ground now called Belize includes early occupation by the Caribs and Arawaks who inhabited much of the Caribbean long before the Spaniards came. Mayans spread to Belize from Mexico’s nearby Yucatan Peninsula and flourished in the area until the arrival of the Spaniards many centuries later.

Europeans were drawn to the area in the late 1600’s, attracted by mahogany and other woods growing in the area. Over time English settlements arose and following a war with Spain, Britain won the right to claim the territory, which eventually became an official British colony. Pirates played a roll too, its shores after all are on the Caribbean.

In most tender ports the cruise ships anchor fairly close to shore, but in Belize they stay quite a distance from land. Perhaps they can’t get any closer because of the world’s second longest coral reef. The Carnival Liberty arrived at the scheduled time, but the Belizean government officials took about an hour to clear the ship, so departures on the tenders got quite a delay. Not everyone can get off the ship at once in a tender port. Each boat has a limit to how many people it can hold. People on shore excursions board according to their scheduled departure times. People without excursions go to a lounge where they get stickers indicating when they will be allowed to board a tender on a first come first served basis.

tender approaching Carnival Liberty

We sat in the lounge sporting our tender #1 stickers for quite some time anxiously awaiting our planned cave tubing and zip line adventure.

In most tender ports, even water based excursions require a tender trip to shore to catch the boat. In Belize though, that would require a trip to shore followed by passing the ship on the way back out. They allow boats from their official shore excursions to pick people up right at the ship. They also had to wait for clearance to leave though. When we finally boarded our tender we saw John at the other door getting on the fishing boat for his reef fishing excursion. People who did not have plans in Belize don’t seem to find much to see within walking distance of the tender pier. When visiting Belize on a cruise ship, make sure to schedule some sort of excursion. It was my favorite port of the whole trip with the unique cave tubing experience and zip line adventure.

With the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef extending from Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and Cozumel past Belize and on to the Bay Islands of Honduras, diving and snorkeling make excellent options. Other excursions include Mayan ruins, jungle or city tours, horseback riding, kayaking, cave exploration and beaches on a private island.

nut pod on cohune palm

Normally a cruise ship leaves port on the dot of the scheduled time. Time to leave Belize came and went, and still the ship sat at anchor. Finally, nearly an hour past departure time a very full tender arrived from shore. People must have had an all-day excursion that did not finish on time due to the late start. That is an enormous advantage of scheduling excursions through the ship because the one thing they wait for is people on an official cruise ship excursion. I’d imagine that whole boatload of people felt quite grateful for booking through the ship.

our guide called this a monkey no climb tree because of the spikes

Posted in Caribbean, Carnival, Liberty, Ports of Call | Tagged Belize, Caribbean, Central America, cruise, photos, tender ports, travel, trees | 1 Comment

The Amazing Rollable Gluten-Free Pie Crust

Posted on December 24, 2011 by LBcruiseshipblogger

apple tart alamode

Merry Christmas everyone. This pie dough recipe took a long time and a lot of experimentation to get it right. It is my Christmas gift to all my gluten free readers, and to anyone else baking for gluten free friends or relatives. For other gluten free recipe ideas, try the coconut-lime muffins, chocolate melting cake, brownies, or pavlova.

Last Thanksgiving my sisters, who both have gluten-free diets, whined about the lack of a good gluten-free pie crust recipe for their Thanksgiving pumpkin pie.

“We can make a gluten-free crust,” they said, “but we have to pat it in the pan like you would a graham cracker crust. If we try to roll it it falls apart.”

Not being on a gluten-free diet myself, I hadn’t really given it much thought since then until I started experimenting around with other recipes for my blog. If I can’t find the recipe I want, I invent it, and for gluten-free recipes the trick was in learning a couple of key ingredients.

The problem with gluten-free baking is that gluten is the substance that binds flour together so the things you make hold up. Pie crusts made with wheat flour roll out in one piece and breads don’t dry up within a day or two after making them (or in the case of store bought bread, opening the package.) Gluten-free baked goods on the other hand seem to have a tendency toward being dry and crumbly.

I learned of two key ingredients that replace the gluten in gluten-free baking so things will hold together. With my coconut lime muffins I found a way to make baked goods that don’t go bad the next day. One key ingredient, xanthan gum, I learned from a friend from work who bakes his own gluten-free bread. The other I learned on a Holland America Caribbean cruise on the Westerdam.

Westerdam Cooking Demonstration

The Westerdam had daily cooking demonstrations. My husband probably attended all of them, but the ship had so many other things to do (like computer classes) that I only made it to one. There a large Austrian chef showed us all how to make a traditional apple strudel from his home country. Not a sugary breakfast strudel, but something they would eat for dinner. The dough was similar to pie dough, and he said one of the most important strudel preparations included stretching the dough ever thinner without making any holes in it. The key to that he said is to add some vinegar to the dough.

I noticed my friend’s gluten-free bread recipe also listed vinegar as an ingredient, and the gears in my brain began to turn. I tried adding both to my gluten free coconut lime muffins and they turned out wonderful. Next step: pie dough.

The first batch I tried I used shortening and just a little vinegar. It rolled out fairly well, but was a bit on the delicate side. The taste would work for pie where you have a much larger ratio of filling to the amount of crust, but I had just made small tarts, and the taste of the shortening came through a bit too much for those. For lactose intolerant folks who need to eat dairy free and are also on gluten-free diets, it would work, but for better flavor anyone who can eat it would do better sticking with butter.

The second batch I doubled the vinegar from what I tried the first time and used butter instead of shortening. Again I made small tarts and the crust not only rolled out much easier, it also tasted great. This one would easily roll big enough for a pie. I use Bob’s Red Mill gluten free all-purpose baking flour because it is a variety of flours all in one bag, and gluten-free baking works best with a mixture of flours rather than all one kind.

I tried making a full sized pie, and found that while it rolled out fine and tasted good, a fork would not go through it. The only way to eat the pie was to pick the piece up and bite it. I went through several more versions of dough, finding each one to either not taste good, not roll well, or be either too tough or so soft it fell apart. I tried different flours in different proportions and adjusted the amounts of butter, vinegar, and xanthan gum making all sorts of different pies and quiches along the way. Thanksgiving came and went and I noticed my sisters again had a pie with the crust patted into the pan.

rolled dough

Just after Thanksgiving, I made a pumpkin pie with yet another version of my gluten free pie crust. This time it turned out right. At least I thought so. Wanting some other opinions, I took some to work and shared with a couple co-workers. The one on a gluten free diet asked for the recipe. The one not on a gluten free diet said she would not have known it wasn’t a regular pie crust if I hadn’t said it was gluten free. Even my husband, who had grown wary of my experiments and avoided the pie until the very last piece liked it. Those on dairy free diets can still substitute shortening for the butter, but it tastes better with butter so use it if you can.

Pie Dough

This recipe is for a one crust pie. Double it for a 2 crust pie.

xanthan gum

1/3 cup Bob’s gluten free all purpose baking flour

2/3 cup Bob’s sweet white sorghum flour

1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1/2 teaspoon vinegar

3-4 Tablespoons water

Mix flour with salt and xanthan gum in a bowl. Cut in the butter until dough is crumbly. Use a pastry blender if you have one. A fork works fine if you don’t. Stir in the vinegar, then add the water a little at a time, stirring after each addition until all the flour is moistened and it reaches the consistency of normal pie dough. Roll out on waxed paper with a generous amount of Bob’s gluten free all purpose flour (not the sorghum flour) top and bottom to prevent sticking. Use a couple pieces of overlapping waxed paper to make sure none of the crust runs over the edge. Add more flour as needed to insure the crust does not stick to the waxed paper. Place pie pan upside down over dough and flip over, easing dough gently into pan and then carefully remove wax paper. This dough is a bit more delicate than regular pie dough, so handle it with care and be sure to use plenty of the all-purpose flour to keep it from sticking to either the wax paper or the rolling pin.

apple tart topped with whipped cream

apple tart filling

Gluten-Free Apple Tarts

Apple Filling

The filling shrinks down considerably when it cooks, so make sure to pile it up really high in the tart. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

Bob's gluten-free all purpose baking flour

Gluten Free Flour

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 Tablespoon Bob’s gluten free all purpose baking flour

3 – 4 apples

Stir everything except the apple together in a bowl. Peel the apple, slice into quarters, and slice out the core. Chop apple into medium size pieces. Put apple bits into bowl of other ingredients and stir until well coated. Makes 3 tarts. (Use 1 crust recipe for pie dough.)

dough ball generously floured & ready to roll

Divide crust into 6 portions, roll 3 for bottoms of tarts

onto waxed paper as directed in pie crust recipe. Fill each with 1/3 of apple filling. Roll 3 remaining portions for tops. Seal and flute edges and poke a few holes in top crust for steam to escape.

topped and folded

Place bowls on cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes or until tops appear golden brown.

ready to eat

If you pre-heat the oven to 425 and then turn it to 400 just before you put the tarts in it makes up for the heat loss of opening the oven to put them in.

Eat as is, or top with ice cream or whipped cream.

Shrimp and Spinach Quiche

6 eggs slightly beaten

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup milk

1 cup frozen chopped spinach

2 tablespoons chopped onion

3/4 cup shredded cheese

1/2 cup small shrimp, cooked, peeled & de-veined

Paprika

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Blend pepper, sour cream, and milk into slightly beaten eggs. Stir in spinach and onion. Sprinkle cheese onto prepared crust in pie pan, coating bottom. Dot shrimp around on top of cheese. Pour egg mixture over shrimp. Sprinkle with paprika. Bake 15 minutes, then turn temperature down to 350 degrees and bake 40 minutes more or until center of quiche sets firmly.

Posted in recipes, Westerdam | Tagged apple tarts, gluten free, gluten free baking, gluten free pie crust, pie crust, quiche, recipe | 6 Comments

Cruise Stories

Towel Origami – How to Fold a Towel Frog

Choosing Your Cruise Ship Cabin

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2011

Mahogany Bay, Isla Roatan Honduras

Carnival’s Bitter and Blanc Brioche Bread Pudding

Brioche Bread

Directions

GANACHE

PUDDING

MERINGUE

VANILLA SAUCE

DIRECTIONS

Croutons

Easier Recipe

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2012

Are Cruise Ships Safe?

How to make a towel rabbit

Zip Line in Belize

Cave Tubing in Belize

Belize

The Amazing Rollable Gluten-Free Pie Crust

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