Made Eggs Benedict + Food Photos From Cruise Vacation

On the cruise, I had Eggs Benedict for breakfast a couple of times and just really loved it.  I’ve never had it before so I had nothing to compare it to.

This is what I had on the cruise (taken with an old Nikon Coolpix).

CRUISEFOOD0429When I got home, I looked for Eggs Benedict and hollandaise sauce recipes.  I found a recipe on the Food Network website for both but didn’t want to try my hands at the hollandaise sauce yet so I went with a powder mix instead.

EBSAUCEMIX0065_640I’ve had bad experiences with powder mixes before so I was already prepared for this sauce to taste nasty.  To my surprise, it was really good.

EGGSBENEDICT0067_640It was the perfect consistency and had a buttery slightly sour-ish taste to it.  It tasted so much better than the sauce on the cruise (which didn’t taste like anything).  Now, I just need to make some from scratch so I can do more comparing.

KIDA0075_600My daughter tried the sauce but didn’t like it.  She said it was too strong.  Husband said the same thing and only used a little bit.

My favorite dish on the cruise was the home style Cuban chicken and rice.  While we were on Half Moon Cay Island, I had three plates of it and still wanted more.  I just found a recipe for it via Pinterest so I’m going to try my hands at it one of these days.

I ate a ton of food on the cruise.  It was almost like a 24 hour all-you-can-eat buffet.  For dinner, sometimes I would order one or two starters.  Once I ordered two main courses!  This was simply to taste the different variety of food and not because I was just stuffing my face because I could.  Here’s a collection of most of the food I ate and/or tasted.  I apologize for the horrible photos.  I used an old Nikon Coolpix that I really shouldn’t be using.

PADTHAI0138{Dinner on our first night in Miami.  This was a couple days before boarding the cruise ship.  The group (excluding 2 members) ate at a Thai restaurant.  I don’t remember the name of the restaurant but the food was beyond delicious!  I fell in love with the Pad Thai and couldn’t get enough of it.  The papaya salad, although not exactly my flavor, was very good in it’s own way.  In the photo, from top clockwise: Pad Thai, rice with yellow curry, sweet and sour beef (?), and papaya salad with shrimp.}

Day 1

CDAY1_0258 CDAY1_0259 CDAY1_0261 CDAY1_0262Day 2

CDAY2_0387 CDAY2_0388 CDAY2_0389Day 3

CDAY3_0395 CDAY3_0396 CDAY3_0399 CDAY3_0401Day 4

CDAY4_0403 CDAY4_0404 CDAY4_0405 CDAY4_0416 CDAY4_0419 CDAY4_0420 CDAY4_110203{Above, eating a bit of fruits before heading out.}

Day 5

CDAY5_0446 CDAY5_0447 CDAY5_0451 CDAY5_0452Day 6 – While during our lay over in Chicago, we caught eye of a Dunkin’ Donuts, and couldn’t resist getting some donuts.  I had a very tasty Boston Cream!

DUNKINDONUTS20130713

Memorial Day and Amazing Clouds

It’s been a long week but somehow it managed to pass by quickly.  Memorial Day, I was in Wisconsin for a dear cousin’s funeral.  It was heartbreaking but it was also really wonderful to be with extended family.  It’s been almost a decade since I’ve visited cousins out of state, and with life being busy with everyone on different schedules, it has always been difficult to plan visits.  If I could, I’d definitely plan more visits.  Returning home was hard.  There wasn’t much time to catch up on life during the time we (Mom, my sister, and myself) were there.  I always find Facebook too harsh and abrupt for catching up on things so it’s rarely an option.  I’d much prefer the presence of those I love.

Back home husband and Kida ran the Bolder Boulder in Boulder, CO.  The Bolder Boulder is a 10K race that takes place every year on Memorial Day and has been going on for 35 years.  This was the first race Husband and Kida ran and they really enjoyed it, especially Kida.  She loved it so much that she wants to run it again next year!  I had planned to be there to cheer them on (this was planned in April) but sometimes things just don’t work out so perfectly and that’s okay.  I’m just glad that Kida had a great time.

Today, the family took a short trip down to Colorado Springs to visit the Cave of the Winds.  It was awesome but I think I was more fascinated by the clouds on our drive there.  We also stopped by Dunkin’ Donuts where I had a sugar coated raised donut, a Boston Kreme donut, and an iced coffee.  The donuts were my favorites since I was 16 working at a Dunkin’ Donuts as a cashier.  It’s been about 17 years since I’ve walked into a Dunkin’ Donuts but the memories flooded back as soon as I saw the coffee shop.  I had so much to tell husband about the years I worked in one that I think he zoned me out.