November 13th, 1998....................... we docked at Bermuda for an overnight to shrug off some of the bad  and ugly moments from our mind to prepare us for the greater voyages that awaited us. We wandered around the city and went to quite a few local bars and had a lot many number of drinks, thanking Lord Almighty for getting us safely back on land. Drunk to core and feet slipping away, we found out way back to ship by early hours of morning. Next thing we knew, the ship had already sailed out of Bermuda towards New  York. As we entered the bay and went past the Statue of Liberty towards the Manhattan pier No: 86 where the ship was supposed to dock, local people were already cheering for us,  as they had already heard of the S.S. Rembrandt getting battered in the hurricane the evening and night before. Anyways, the ship smoothly docked @ Pier 86 and the crew were all impatient for the gangway to be cleared by the U.S. Customs, so that they could get out and call home. Remember, in 1998, the cell fones were not prevalent and the only way to call home was using the pay fones with coins and then using the calling cards. One had to stay on queue for a long time for the person on fone to leave the receiver and then get on the process till one's turn is arrived. Those days now seem lucky now, as one could see the twin towers of the World Trade  Center, rising over the skyline to full glory which is now just brazen land until lately till construction began in late 2005 for the new World Trade Center.

Hi there....................

Guess I could not stay away from this blog for long. I have been keeping myself away from this thing for so many years now,coz I never knew how many ppl would love to read my experience and happenings in the course of my hospitality industry from land to sea and back to land spanning from 1995 till now as I write for you all to read and njoy.

After passing out from Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology & Applied Nutrition, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India under the National Council for Hotel Management, Pusa, New Delhi..in 1995, I joined Hotel Cidade de Goa Beach Resort, spanning around the Vainguinim Beach, Dona Paula, Goa. I was working in the Food and Beverage Production @ Butchery and Barbeque as a Commis 1 trainee and soon got confirmed as one.

Within six months of confirmation, I got my promotion as Demi Chef de Partie. I soon reached 1998 and got my first assignment on cruiselines with Premier Cruises and my assigned port of joining was the port city of Southampton, United Kingdom onboard the S.S. Rembrandt (formerly named Rotterdam V of Holland America Line.)

 I was so very relieved and excited to be a part of the cruising industry. I had to go to Mumbai (then called Bombay) to the United States Consulate to get my C1/ D visa for seamen, my ticket to cruise round the world.
To say about the ship that I was going to join......  The fifth S.S. Rotterdam also named " The Grand Dame",was launched the Queen Juliana in a gala ceremony on 13th September, 1958 and completed the following summer. She was the last of the Greatest Dutch Ships built by artisans from The Netherlands.With a career spanning over forty years, She was  the most successful passenger ships of her time till she finally retired in September 2000 following Premier Cruises' financial meltdown. She ran her part as S.S.Rotterdam with Holland America Line who was bought by Carnival Cruise Lines and went on till 1997 before she was declared old ship and sold off to Premier cruises who later ran it as S.S. Rembrandt till September 2000 when they went bankrupt.With this ship I sailed from Southampton from 28th October, 1998 to New York and from there to South America, where our home port was San Paulo, Brazil. The voyage from U.K. to New York was memorable.......... my first cruise with a GREAT Hurricane round about when we reached the edge of Bermuda. This ship had tilted almost 50 degrees and caused all crockery and stuff around the ship to break and scatter badly around the ship.  The crew reached Bermuda and was forced to stop overnight to pacify each other and thank the Lord as He had decided to keep us alive. What a great way to start sailing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What next?????????????? keep guessing guys.....................later

Fruit Cream:
Fresh fruits, Vanilla extract, Whipped cream and Icing sugar.

Red chilly Thecha- a dry chutney made with roasted and skinned peanuts, raw garlic, dry red chilly or chilly powder, a little jeera and salt. Common in Maharashtra, it is super spicy and comes in a fresh green chilly version too. Eaten with jowar/bajra roti or dal-chawal, i sprinkle it on sandwiches, eat with vada pao,toss with boiled potatoes or even make fried rice with it. Simply love it and have been making it for 15 years now!

This is a very good snack for beer. Just dip your finger into them and lick it.

FOOD AND TRAVEL

                                                        OM GANESHAYE NAMAH.


Praise The Lord who has given so much to cherish and enjoy in the last so many years of my life and travel, especially the last eighteen years from 1995 to 2013, with my cruiseline industry related travel and experience.
We shall go ahead and try to know more about my detailed travalogue @ various parts of the world ranging from North America to South America going through Central America and Panama Canal crossing.........all the way through to Alaska via the British Columbia with various food and beverage recipies and feedback, then moving to Europe and Africa. Moving to and fro to my homecountry India and various parts of India.

So, stay tuned to get more updates from me as it is vacation time soon. Ciao for now bella.

Till  I upload more, take a look at this foto above. It shows you how different dollar bills ranging from 5USD to 100USD  tells you the different stages of twin tower burning and then slowly disintegrating to ashes and the new tower that was eventually planned..... coming up (LOOK @ 100 dollar bill).
COINCIDENCE OR CONSPIRACY?????????