April 6, 2007
All at sea
Cornichon is taking time off from the boulevards in favor of a Holland America cruise aboard the ms Zaandam. A wine cruise, to be sure. Wines of Washington, in fact: Chateau Ste. Michelle, Hedges, Gordon, l'Ecole No. 41 all ably represented.
First time aboard a cruise ship! It's a floating village: 1,400 guests, 600 crew. Two city blocks long, 10 decks, 18 elevators, restaurants, cafés, bars, pools, meeting rooms, casino (poker, blackjack, slots), shops, theater, tennis court, gym, spa, more bars.
Above: Zaandam sommelier Fernando Bacsa presents CMS White, Chateau Ste. Michelle culinary director John Sarich. Below: Crab timbale at dinner, crab with avocado at culinary demo. Coincidence, coincidence!
Before all else, lifeboat drill. Might seem like waste of time, but this morning's news brings word of a Greek cruise ship sinking (sinking!!) in the Mediterranean and an unfortunate "incident" involving another cruise ship out of Florida. Gulp and double gulp! Well, gotta go: still some bars to discover on this seagoing boulevard.
Queasy at the prospect of abandoning ship.