Fresh Maine Lobstah!! :)

They say the best lobsters come from Maine. Time to check out and see for myself how much truth there is in that statement. weeee!! :D

So we were in Bar Harbor yesterday and fortunately, it wasn’t too busy in the kitchen. This meant I had some time to take the tender from the ship to the mainland and get me some real deal Maine lobster!

As soon as we docked, there were already several touristy restaurants which offered a lot of fresh seafood but picky picky me, I wanted to find a place where a lot of locals hung out (tried and tested AND tasted, right?). After walking around a bit, we saw a busy tavern called the Thirsty Whale. Ambience was lively, it looked clean and there were a lot of people inside as compared to the other restaurants in the area. Score!

I ordered the Lobster Roll (Fresh Maine lobster touched with mayonnaise, served on a grilled hot dog bun). It doesn’t sound too glamorous but boy did it taste awesome. The meat was juicy and cooked juuuust right, and the grilled bun was drenched in butter, need I say more? Heehee. :) I mean, the fare wasn’t fancy but who says simple can’t be just as good? It was simply one of the best meals I’ve had in a long while. Mmmm-mm.

Which got me thinking, every time I start whining about my job, I think I’ll just need to remember that awesome lobster roll and hopefully it’ll be enough to remind me why I’m doing this: for a chance to see more of the world and taste the food it has to offer.

Okay, I’m feeling much better, the aches are gone and I’m in love with my job again. :D  

me and my kuya rocky on the tender to the mainland. he's a hoot to be with. sad that he's leaving in 2 weeks. :c

:D

check out the phil flag on that yacht!

what to order??

FOOOD!!! yaaay!

mmmmmm good!!

at the dock with my friend, Aisa.

don't they look like a rock band in this pic? Aegis, maybe? heeeheee. :)

me and two more of my Bisaya homeboys. Juvany and Armand.

what's a visit to Maine if you don't have a photo op with a lobster? :)

Siopao buns from Chinatown, Montreal

All the Filipinos onboard rave about the awesome food in Montreal’s Chinatown. At this time (almost three months in!), I’m already missing food from home so maybe some Chinese food from Canada could cheer me up some.         

It was like a 15 minute walk from the dock to Chinatown but oh the scent of Chinese food wafting around! They made the long walk up and down the streets of Montreal definitely worth it.                         

We got these HUGE siopao buns at 2.75 a pop and let me just say that after all that walking around, I still had trouble eating half a bun. Heehee. Yes, they were that huge, and more importantly, they tasted mmmmmmmmmm good. It was almost as good as my favorite siopao from Harbour Dimsum in Cebu. Just thinking about that siopao is already making me uber excited for the next Montreal trip.

Here are a few pictures of Ian, Randy and me during our day out. Sadly, I wasn’t able to take photos of the food before it disappeared from my mouth. :) I’ll make sure to remember next time. Oh yes, for sure there will BE a take two. ;p

Boston, take 2. :)

It’s great to go out of the ship and wander around with some friends, even if there’s really nothing on the agenda.

Take Boston for example, it wasn’t planned. My chef just turned to me after I got back from lunch and said, “Ann, if you want to go out, you better leave now otherwise you won’t be able to get back here in time.” Gangway (or the time the ship refuses to let people in) that day was at 3:30, relatively early because usually, it isn’t until 4:40pm or 5. Anyway, I didn’t want to take a cab by myself ($$$!) so it was fortunate two of my homeboys from Cebu (lol. That sounds really awkward.) were planning on going out as well. We headed for downtown Boston and when we got there and I saw all the great shops, I kept wishing we had all day to shop instead of the hour and a half that we had. Rey, John and I hurriedly hit CVS for some necessities, Lids to look at baseball hats, FootLocker and TJ Maxx to window shop, and DSW for some cheap shoes (hurray for my new fitflops!). After that, we sadly had to head back to the ship. It was fun though. Short but sweet. :)

Here are some pictures taken from my camera. I only have a couple because we were really, desperately pressed for time. Boo that. Hopefully, there'll be a next time before we head down to Florida. 

shopping!!! :)

arepas!! i miss orlando! :) we used to snack on this after a night out. :)

meet john. he doesn't want to take a pic with me. jealous wife kuno.

this is rey, aka bai to all the Tagalogs on the ship. :)

:D

The Old and New Quebec

Finally, yesterday I was able to buy my chips! :) Yaaay! And in the process, I got to explore a bit of the new Quebec. I think it’s really cute how they have an old and new Quebec. See, the last time I was here, we only walked around the old city. This time, since we were looking for a grocery store in the newer part of town, it was all tall and modern buildings as opposed to the quaint and charming houses from before. I just remembered that I haven’t been able to post pictures from the last time I was here. Now’s a good time to do it, I guess.                      

Check these out and see which part of Quebec you like better. :) Me, I like ‘em both.

 The Old:    

The New: