Thanksgiving cruise
Heidi's parents were out of town this Thanksgiving - a family friend is heavily involved in the Mars Rover project, so they've been invited down to Florida for tomorrow's launch - and knowing it was just we three, and that sioneva's birthday fell on Thanksgiving this year, we opted to bypass the effort involved in cooking our own dinner and booked seats on the Thanksgiving Cruise. The cruise is an annual event put on by Argosy Cruises, and it's something we've done twice before, although I forget the years now. The cruise started around 2pm, so we set off downtown around quarter to one and started looking for a parking spot. Places under the viaduct were surprisingly few and far between - presumably people drawn to the various restaurants on the waterfront - so it took a while, but we found a couple who were leaving their spot once they had fed their kids.
thedoughnut was getting anxious, so I took him over to the ticket desk at Pier 56 while Sio waited to park the car. In the event we were ready in plenty of time, but Sio was unfortunate enough to be walking over from the car just when the most torrential rain of the day came down, which is why in our boarding photo she looks somewhat drenched. No matter - once we'd got our coats off we were taken to our seats on the middle deck, where we'd been fortunate enough to be assigned a semi-circular booth to ourselves. Sio's sister had also treated us to some sparkling cider to accompany the meal, which C attacked with gusto once he realized just how much he liked it.
The appetizer was potato crusted goat cheese served with a pear hazelnut chutney and a balsamic reduction. We'd had this chutney on one of the previous cruises, and it's the only preparation of pear I really liked - I polished off mine and then had the last of C's for good measure (he had one cracker with cheese, which he liked, but he was saving himself for his main course). By the time we were done we were setting off on a leisurely tour of Puget Sound, although it was foggy enough that it was hard to tell exactly where we went. The second course came, a baby Field greens salad tossed with stone ground mustard and rosemary vinaigrette, apples, dried cranberries, crumbles blue cheese and candied walnuts and cinnamon swirl raisin bread croutons. It was fairly tasty, but as someone with a tendency to like my salad drowned, it could've done with a bit more vinaigrette and lots less walnuts - they have no place in salad.
C decided the brown spots in the mustard were bad bits, but he ate the greens and apples, then slumped back in his chair holding another glass of (non-alcoholic) apple cider in a fair imitation of a drunken sot. He wanted to go out on the deck, but we prevailed on him to wait on the next course, which duly arrived. Sio and I opted for the traditional turkey and sides, but C, ever so much the PNW boy these days, got the salmon and rice. We each managed to eat about half of our serving, and then C and I put on our waterproofs and headed outside. "It's a bit blustery," was his verdict, and he wasn't wrong: we went twice around the upper deck, by which time my trousers were approaching saturation point. There were only two others who were ... brave enough to venture out in the open, and they only stayed up there a minute or so. We followed them back inside in short order.
Dessert came at a leisurely pace, a pumpkin cheesecake with rum caramel sauce. Now I'm not a fan of pumpkin - I find it much too overpowering as a feature flavour - but it's tamped down enough in a cheesecake that it's perfect. Not that I managed to eat it all, but I gave it a good shot. By this time we were bimbling back across the Bay for some gratuitous city shots as the sun set, and then we were back at the pier, which necessitated another trip out as to watch as the boat docked. It wasn't raining so much by then, and C got a great deal of inexplicable joy from hearing the ship judder alarmingly into position. The waterfront was mostly empty as we headed back to the car and, thanks to my magnificent navigational skills, drove right the way to the far side of town to get back on the freeway home.
thedoughnut was getting anxious, so I took him over to the ticket desk at Pier 56 while Sio waited to park the car. In the event we were ready in plenty of time, but Sio was unfortunate enough to be walking over from the car just when the most torrential rain of the day came down, which is why in our boarding photo she looks somewhat drenched. No matter - once we'd got our coats off we were taken to our seats on the middle deck, where we'd been fortunate enough to be assigned a semi-circular booth to ourselves. Sio's sister had also treated us to some sparkling cider to accompany the meal, which C attacked with gusto once he realized just how much he liked it.
The appetizer was potato crusted goat cheese served with a pear hazelnut chutney and a balsamic reduction. We'd had this chutney on one of the previous cruises, and it's the only preparation of pear I really liked - I polished off mine and then had the last of C's for good measure (he had one cracker with cheese, which he liked, but he was saving himself for his main course). By the time we were done we were setting off on a leisurely tour of Puget Sound, although it was foggy enough that it was hard to tell exactly where we went. The second course came, a baby Field greens salad tossed with stone ground mustard and rosemary vinaigrette, apples, dried cranberries, crumbles blue cheese and candied walnuts and cinnamon swirl raisin bread croutons. It was fairly tasty, but as someone with a tendency to like my salad drowned, it could've done with a bit more vinaigrette and lots less walnuts - they have no place in salad.
C decided the brown spots in the mustard were bad bits, but he ate the greens and apples, then slumped back in his chair holding another glass of (non-alcoholic) apple cider in a fair imitation of a drunken sot. He wanted to go out on the deck, but we prevailed on him to wait on the next course, which duly arrived. Sio and I opted for the traditional turkey and sides, but C, ever so much the PNW boy these days, got the salmon and rice. We each managed to eat about half of our serving, and then C and I put on our waterproofs and headed outside. "It's a bit blustery," was his verdict, and he wasn't wrong: we went twice around the upper deck, by which time my trousers were approaching saturation point. There were only two others who were ... brave enough to venture out in the open, and they only stayed up there a minute or so. We followed them back inside in short order.
Dessert came at a leisurely pace, a pumpkin cheesecake with rum caramel sauce. Now I'm not a fan of pumpkin - I find it much too overpowering as a feature flavour - but it's tamped down enough in a cheesecake that it's perfect. Not that I managed to eat it all, but I gave it a good shot. By this time we were bimbling back across the Bay for some gratuitous city shots as the sun set, and then we were back at the pier, which necessitated another trip out as to watch as the boat docked. It wasn't raining so much by then, and C got a great deal of inexplicable joy from hearing the ship judder alarmingly into position. The waterfront was mostly empty as we headed back to the car and, thanks to my magnificent navigational skills, drove right the way to the far side of town to get back on the freeway home.