Blog #12 Random Thoughts
It's another beautiful day in Juneau and I'm currently enjoying my weekly indulgence - the BEST latte of any port and a freshly baked marionberry danish at the Rookery Cafe. This adorable coffee shop serves Stumptown Coffee, a Portland roastery that has an almost cult-like following among coffee lovers. I know it's been almost a month since my last blog post (!) so it's about time I wrote an update! However, now that we're in this weekly routine with the exact same schedule every week, living a semblance of the movie "Groundhog Day," I haven't been as inspired to write. So, I thought it would be fun to write a little more about our life here on the ship and a few highlights of the past week's adventures.
First of all, with each day that passes, I become more aware of the blessing that is the food here. For instance, at every meal in the Lido Buffet, there is a wide assortment of fresh fruit and a beautiful salad bar. Even though the majority of the prepared dishes are insanely high in fat and sodium, there is the possibility to have far more fruits and vegetables than I would ever eat at home. For instance, this afternoon I had a ridiculous amount of fresh pineapple and mango along with a Salad piled high with fresh raw vegetables. Granted, I rarely resist the bread pudding with vanilla custard topping, so I suppose it cancels out the benefits of the vegetables, but still...I feel like I'm actually eating more vitamins and nutrients than I would at home. And then there's the fresh fish!! I just might have mercury poisoning after this summer because fresh Alaskan Salmon abounds on this ship. There is always a fish option at lunch and dinner, and it's not always salmon, so we're also eating far more fish than we can afford to eat at home. It'll be hard to adjust to normal life after having this wide array of ready-made food available 24 hours a day!
I do miss cooking and just today discovered another gem on the ship - hands-on cooking classes. These are available to guests at a cost of around $30 per person. I've seen the cooking classes on the schedule but didn't think we were allowed to participate. However, after making it known to the right people on board that I'd love to be involved in any of the Culinary Arts Events, I got a call this morning that someone dropped out of the class and a complimentary spot was open for me. So, I ventured to the demo kitchen, met my classmates that consisted of a wonderful family from Houston, donned a super cute Holland America apron (that I'm happy to report I get to keep) and proceeded to make a delicious gourmet lunch! We have a guest chef this week, Nicole Aioli, and she made sure our menu had the best of fresh, in-season Alaskan ingredients. So this was the lunch we prepared in a chaotic, sometimes stressful but incredibly fun class: Cream of Morel Soup, Cedar Plank Salmon, with a maple ginger glaze, served over roasted fennel, fiddlehead fern and pancetta sauté, and mixed berry bread pudding. First of all, who's ever heard of a fiddlehead fern? Apparently they are native to the Pacific Northwest and are only in season about 6 weeks out of the year. These exotic vegetables look like a coiled green bean and are extremely flavorful. However, since I'm quite positive I'll never be able to find fiddlehead ferns unless I'm willing to pay $20 a pound at Whole Foods, I think I'll substitute asparagus in this recipe :). The salmon was delicious but the Cream of Morel soup was the highlight for me. Again, morels aren't exactly cheap but they are soooo decadent and rich. Puree them with sauteed leeks in a broth and cream soup base and you have a little bit of heaven in a bowl. I definitely plan on making this soup at home. And of course, as latter mentioned, I LOVE bread pudding and this pudding with blueberries and raspberries was excellent! After we cooked all the food, we ate it, with complimentary wine, in the fancy restaurant on board, the Pinnacle Grill. What an amazing afternoon. I'm hoping they call me every time there's an opening in the cooking class!
When I consider our life right now, I can't help but think we are, in a way, living an early retirement. With so much down time, I want to take advantage of doing all the things I wish I could do in the busiest times of life. For instance - the gym. Jeremy is in the best shape of his life as he has embraced the easy access to the gym. I am so proud of his discipline. I wish I could say the same for myself... I have actually lost weight rather than gained pounds, but I could stand to stick to my workout schedule a little more regularly :) Another goal is reading books I've always wanted to, and re-reading classics I've forgotten over time. I just finished re-reading "Little Women" and officially declare it in my top 3 favorite books. It is music to my soul. The day I finished being engrossed in the lives of the March family, I moved on to a Dan Brown book from my other mom, Shelley (thank you again - I literally don't want to put this book down! I love it.) I also finished the Stieg Larsson books "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and "The Girl Who Played With Fire." I plan to read "Gone With The Wind," since I have the time, and possibly "Les Miserables." Jeremy downloaded the audiobook of David McCollough's "John Adams" so I'll be listening to that after he's finished. The library is our favorite location on the ship and we make it our daily afternoon routine to spend a significant amount of time taking advantage of it! A few other goals I have for this contract are learning Spanish with the Rosetta Stone, taking tap twice a week with our fabulous dancer and my good friend Kassie, and learning to knit. You all just might receive knitted scarves and hats for Christmas :)
On a random note - I've had my hair roughly the same length and color since I was a senior in high school. Back home, I have to be concerned about matching my headshots for auditions. Plus, I use that as an excuse because I've always been terrified to make a drastic change. Well, something came over me and I realized that I am stuck here for 4 more months without the worry of auditioning. And if I'm going to make a change, when would be a better time than now? So I had the ship's hairdresser cut about 7 inches off my hair and died it dark! Every time I look in the mirror, I don't even recognize myself. I've always been slightly envious of people with cute and sassy short hair, but I never thought I could pull it off. Well, sometimes you have to face your fears by jumping in and embracing them! I had a bit of a breakdown upon leaving the salon, but then my good friend and cast-mate Kassie decided to have a photo shoot around the ship with my new look :) She gave me a complete Vogue-style make-over and dressed me in different outfits for our Cosmopolitan photo shoot. I have to admit that I miss my long hair, but it is a refreshing change.
We've been taking advantage of signing up for shore excursions as crew escorts and I think my two favorite to date were the Photo Safari and the Chilkoot trail hiking and rafting in Skagway. On the Photo Safari in Juneau, I went whale watching and saw at least 10 humpback whales, including a cow and her calf - mamma and baby whale :) - plus I saw sea lions and about 15 bald eagles. After the catamaran marine adventure, we went by bus to the Mendenhall Glacier and hiked right up to the base of the glacier! Being a photo safari, our human encyclopedia of a guide, Stacy, gave photography tips and lessons on how to capture the best pictures. Having only my Iphone 3G, yet wishing I had a Canon, I couldn't take advantage of this aspect of the tour, but the sightseeing was incredible. On the trail excursion in Skagway, We hiked 2 miles along the actual historic Chilkoot trail that led so many brave and or/foolish men to their gold rush dreams in the late 1800's. Hearing the stories of what these men went through was amazing. For instance, by law, they had to travel the 30 miles of narrow, rigorous and steep-elevation climbing trail with 2,000 pounds of food - to ensure they wouldn't starve. Only 10% of men conquered the trail, the others turning back or tragically "not making it," and of those 10%, maybe 1-2% discovered gold. Along the trail, I learned all about Western Hemlock, Sitka Spruce, and Cottonwood trees. We ate Spruce tips, that gave natives and travelers their daily dose of Vitamin C, and I also ate the melon-flavored berries of a twisted stock plant. After the hike, we floated down the river and were met with freshly baked cookies, cider and tea. Jeremy has been on both of these tours, along with a lot of others like snorkeling and the salmon hatchery, but I don't know what his favorite would be. He signed up for the Wilderness Crab Exploration in Ketchikan this Monday, and if he gets that, I'm venturing to guess it will become his favorite since he'll get to learn how to crab and then indulge in an all you can eat crab feast!
I love you all so much and even though I know how fortunate I am to have this experience, I miss home and the family that represents home more than I can express. I'll try to write blogs more readily so they aren't this painstakingly long :). Much love!!
J & J Bernard
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