My Birthday in the Bahamas

Recently I celebrated my birthday by taking a cruise with my friends to the Bahamas. This was the first cruise that many of my friends have taken so everything we did was so exciting and adventurous. A couple of different adventures come to mind of which I would love to share with you.

There were six of us in all on the voyage, but the funniest of my guests was my childhood friend Tim, an accomplished Disc Jockey, also known as DJ Inferno. This being his first flight and cruise, boy oh boy was he excited. It was also special because I haven’t seen Tim in over 10 years. We were able to reconnect and reminisce over the good all days. Anywho, we began our adventure in Miami at a local Cuban restaurant where we ate Ox Tails and Rice with Sweet Plantains and Yuca chips. We also enjoyed Baked Red Snapper with yellow rice, black beans and homemade salsa verde. To wash it all down we drank a couple of Cuban classics, Sangria, red and white, with a side of Cuban coffee. Talk about feeling good and ready to party, we were more than ready for our cruise. Tim’s lady friend, Bird, was a lot of fun as well. She started the trip a little shy about venturing outside of her culinary comfort zone but quickly came alive when she saw all of the great food that was prepared on the ship.

On the ship we ate shrimp, lobster, fish, grits, bacon, eggs, sausage, pizza, scallops, duck, ostrich and many other things, too many options to name. I think I ate a little more than the average person would eat in a week within my three day trip. It was so awesome! Bird enjoyed quesadillas, smoked fish and white wine especially while Tim enjoyed his first Beef Carpaccio and Rum Punch. It was good to enjoy life through food and wine with good friends.

My buddy Vince, a chef I have known for several years from Washington, D.C., joined me as well. He and I took a more operational chef approach to the cruise. We wanted to find out how the cruise ships chef team provided meals for the 3500 people on board. We met the one of the chefs and he told us that they purchase about 30,000 pounds of food for a three day cruise. The team of chefs includes over 100 members who work 6 days per week and over 15 hours per day to prepare all of those gourmet meals. We also found out that the ships refrigerators are the size of small apartments. Can you believe that? It is really an intense operation on board the ships kitchen. It was fun to learn about such vast operations but we did manage to have a little fun off the ship as well. We rode mopeds through the streets of Nassau continuing our culinary expedition. We watched the local fisherman bring in their catches of the day. Large Red Snapper and Oysters are most popular. We also snorkeled and saw many different types of fish and coral in the beautiful blue waters of the ocean. Vince’s wife, Vonda, said her favorite part of the island is the popular resort called Atlantis. A beautiful fish aquarium and bountiful shopping make this place special she says.

I would recommend a trip to the Bahamas to anyone who enjoys good friends, good food and a great life! Check out a few photos from the trip.

Chef Sean