Bermudians call themselves “60,000 drunks clinging to a rock.” They are friendly people…there is a man who stands on a street corner every morning for two hours and waves to people. He is now in his 80’s.
The ms Veendam
I spent seven days on the ms Veendam (Holland America Line). If you’ve never cruised before, think 3- and 4-course breakfasts and lunches, and 5- and 6-course dinners. It would be quite possible to be eating at all times on the ship, if your stomach could handle it. Since my return to shore, my stomach has been in revolt since I don’t normally eat that many courses throughout a day, as I’m sure you’re surprised to find out. While the courses are plentiful, the portion sizes are refreshingly un-American. If you order the filet mignon, don’t expect a 10-ounce piece of beef. It was actually about the size of a deck of cards, that standard measure we dietitians love to use.
Two of my favorite (foodie) surprises on the ship were the guest chefs on board, Sirio and Egidiana (Egi) Maccioni and Hugh Acheson. The Maccionis own Le Cirque (multiple locations) as well as Circo and Sirio.
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| Making Le Cirque’s lobster salad |
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| The Maccionis |
Hugh Acheson is a chef/partner of three restaurants in Georgia (Five and Ten and The National in Athens and Empire State South in Atlanta). He is a James Beard award winner for his cookbook, A New Turn in the South. He is also a Top Chef Master and currently a Top Chef judge. We tried to get some dirt on the new season of Top Chef, but the only thing he could tell us was that they just started filming. Hugh brought two sous chefs with him, his adorable daughters Beatrice and Clementine.
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| Hugh, Beatrice, and Clementine |
They each did two cooking demonstrations…Hugh made me realize that I like duck, and Egi inspired me to want to make my own pasta, specifically spinach and ricotta ravioli. Hopefully I’ll be sharing those recipes in the future as I try them.
Dark and stormy and the rum swizzle
As I mentioned, it seems Bermudians drink a lot, and that usually involves Gosling’s rum. We went on a Gosling’s rum cruise and got to try their signature black seal rum, gold rum, olde rum, and gold liqueur as well as the dark and stormy (Bermuda’s national drink) and the famous rum swizzle (has both black and gold rum). We were told that the more dark and stormy’s you drink, the better the weather gets…and we had some great weather. We were also told that one woman in the Gosling family bought a washing machine just to make rum swizzles…like I said, they like to drink.
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| Swizzle Inn…swagger out |
Bermuda fish chowder and salt cod fish cakes
Bermuda fish chowder is also made with Gosling’s black seal rum (surprise surprise) and served with a side of black seal rum and sherry pepper sauce to garnish your soup. I tried it on the ship and at the White Horse Pub in St. George’s. The restaurant is right on the water, and instead of throwing your food scraps in the garbage, they throw them in the water alongside the restaurang. I think there are some very happy fish living right there.
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| Fish chowder from White Horse Pub |
We were told that salt cod fish cakes are also a traditional Bermudian food, even though cod is not native to the area. Apparently they used to trade rum for salt cod from New Englanders. It all comes back to the rum.
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| Veendam’s version of salt cod fish cakes |
The rundown:
Swizzle Inn
3 Blue Hole Hill, Baileys Bay
87 South Road, Warwick
White Horse Pub and Restaurant
8 Kings Square, St. George
Kara Cooks and Eats 