Europe 2010: Athens

Posted by Katie

Athens was strictly a tourist day. We were on the bus for most of our time in the city which meant that we didn't get to sample much of the local cuisine aside from the hour or so of free time for that we had for lunch in the Plaka, the oldest part of Athens. Our tour guide recommended a restaurant called Hermion, so we decided we might as well try it out.

We had been told that we had to have greek salad while in Greece, so we ordered it as our appetizer.

The veggies were super fresh and the feta was nice and tangy. Yum.

Since I liked my moussaka so much in Mykonos, I decided I wanted to try it again in Athens.

Sadly, this time my moussaka was only lukewarm and the cheese on top was not nearly as creamy and delicious. Kind of disappointing.

Nick ordered the pork kebabs, which were much more tasty (and warmer) than my meal.

Isn't it weird how big french fries are in Greece and Turkey? I think we had them with every meal we had in those two countries. Not something I would have expected, but not something I can really argue against either...

 And now some touristy pictures:

Coming up next: We spend the day in Italy's "floating city" and say goodbye to the Ruby Princess.

Europe 2010: Istanbul

Posted by Katie

Istanbul was truly like no other place I have ever been before.  

And while the sights and sounds of the city are what I'll remember most (particularly the call to prayer blasting from every mosque and the uncut Ottoman rubies and emeralds the size of apricots a Topkapi Palace), Nick and I also had some very enjoyable dining experiences while in Istanbul. 

It was very hot that day and so you shouldn't be surprised that our very first taste of Istanbul came in the form of Turkish ice cream, or dondurma. Dondurma is very different from American ice cream or even gelato in that it is very stretchy and sticky.

This constancy makes it very easy for ice cream men to play tricks on unsuspecting tourists like me. The servers use a long metal rod with a flat paddle at the end to pull up the ice cream and press it onto the cones.

This guy liked to do a little trick where he would pass me an ice cream cone using his rod, only to pull the ice cream off the top of the cone with the rod, leaving me holding an empty cone. This happened enough times for a small crowd to gather around the stand to laugh at my misfortune before he finally decided I had earned my cone, ice cream and all. Here's what the finished product looked like:

I was expecting the ice cream to be chewy because it was so stretchy, but the consistency was actually pretty smooth and more like gelato once it hit my mouth. Unlike gelato, however, I had no desire for two cones in one day. The flavors (vanilla, caramel and chocolate) were a little off from what I was expecting and, for some reason, the thought of how stretchy the ice cream could be made me a little queasy. Good thing Nick and I were sharing so I could pass our cone off to him to finish. 

For lunch, we ate at a little restaurant somewhere in the vast Grand Bazaar. 

Our waiter seemed to speak English well so I asked him what his favorite item on the menu was. This confused him a lot but he ended up pointing to the "meat roll." This turned out to be a large tortilla rolled with tomatoes, french fries and some sort of unidentifiable but tasty meat. (Ok, so it doesn't look that great in the picture below, but it was good, promise.) We also ordered some freshly squeezed orange juice, which apparently is huge in Turkey as there were orange juice stands everywhere. 

After lunch, we headed to the Spice Bazaar, where I received my favorite salutation of the trip. 

While I was taking the picture above, I noticed that the clerks (you can see one in the blue polo) were all elbowing each other. After I put my camera down, one of the brave ones came up to me and said "Hello, beautiful angels." Love it. 

Turkish delight was everywhere at the Spice Bazaar, and like anyone who has read The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Nick and I were eager to try some samples. Too bad I'm allergic to pistachios though (sad, right?) because they are a main ingredient in most turkish delight. I ended up sampling some sad-looking candy similar to turkish delight but it was tasteless and boring I just know the real thing has to be so much better. 

Our last stop before heading back to the ship was at one of the many corn-on-the-cob stands. The corn is either steamed or grilled. Nick and I went the grilled route. 

Tasty, but I swear, Turkish corn is like 10 times more sticky and hard to get out of your teeth than American corn. Maybe that was just Nick and me though. 

And now, some more pictures from Istanbul! 

But first, did you see this Monday's episode of The Bachelorette? If you didn't, watch some of that too. We didn't have time to go to a Turkish bath or to the Bascilica Cistern so it was cool to watch them go to those places on the show, though I was kind of disappointed I didn't get to see them in person.

 Topkapi Palace

One of the Harem rooms in the Palace

Hagia Sophia (basilica turned mosque)

Inside the Blue Mosque (the first picture in this post is the outside)

Coming up next: Nick and I drink too much wine and argue over whether our Athens tour guide will get fired by her company. (Yeah, no Kusadasi post. All I ate there was a Magnum Gold?! bar, and you already know about those.)

Europe 2010: At Sea

Posted by Katie

Although it might not seem like it, Nick and I actually spent quite a lot of time on the ship as we had to be back on board by at least 6pm everyday. We also spent 2 days "at sea," meaning that we stayed on board the whole day as the ship sailed to our next destination.

In case I didn't mention it before, we sailed on Princess Cruises' Ruby Princess.

I'm lucky enough to be able to compare our experience with Princess to three other cruise lines: Disney (family trip when I was about 12), Royal Caribbean (family trip when I was 18), and Carnival (graduation trip with the girls last summer.)

Princess definitely targets an older crowd. There were way less families with kids than were on Disney and Royal Caribbean and there was definitely no waiters dancing on tables in the dining room like on Carnival. That being said, we had a great time on board.

Here's my top 6 activities/people/places from our cruise:

6) Movies Under the Stars- The Ruby Princess has a huge movie screen on the top deck by one of the pools and they show movies there in the afternoon and at night. Nick and I probably chose the windiest and coldest night to actually do this...but the flannel blankets and the warm chocolate cookies delivered recliner-side definitely helped the situation.

5) Hutch, the port lecturer- Ok, so he was a huge jerk when we actually talked to him, but the ship played his lectures on every port on TV the day before we would dock, and they were super helpful.

4) The endless pool- This was more of Nick's favorite, but I'll admit it was pretty fun. For like 2 minutes. 

3) Ballroom dance lessons- Yes, Nick and I can now Rumba, Cha-Cha and Waltz (sort of).

2) Bartending/cocktail competition- I won! Well, the girls' team won. Same thing.

1) The International Cafe- It's almost embarrassing how often Nick and I stopped by this little dessert cafe, but hey, it was right near our stateroom and if you had the peanut butter cup (peanut butter mousse topped with chocolate mousse with a dollop of fresh whipped cream) you would have been there everyday too.

And now a few more pictures: 

Champagne waterfall on formal night #1

Top decks

View from our stateroom window

One of the ship's many galleys

Performance in "The Piazza"

Formal night #2

The ship docked in Venice

Coming up next: sticky Turkish ice cream in Istanbul

Portland Restaurant: Oswego Grill

Posted by Kelly

What: Oswego Grill
Where: 7 Centerpointe Dr, Lake Oswego, 97035
Honeys Heart: Steak!

Recently Adam doubled as the "handy man" at his work and for his much appreciated multi-tasking he received a thank you gift certificate to Oswego Grill. We decided to use the gift card to splurge on a tasty anniversary dinner.

Locally owned and operated, Oswego Grill is located just of I-5 in what used to house an Applebee's (...or similar chain). The food is great and since we didn't feel a need to hold back we ordered cocktails, an appetizer, salads, steaks, wine, and dessert.  We also ended up with about 7 take home boxes (seriously).

To sip on while we read and re-read the menu we each ordered a cocktail and the "cheesy bread" my aunt suggested. I chose the Rising Sun martini ($7.50) with Yazi ginger vodka, fresh passion and mango and Adam went for the Island Tea ($7.50) with mango and guava puree, gin, rum, vodka, triple sec and a splash of sprite. Both were good...but I think mine was better!

Actually the "cheesy bread" is Focaccia Tillamook Bread ($6.95) topped with provolone, mozzarella, and Tillamook cheddar. Cheesy and delicious! 

After enjoying our appetizer we moved on to salads, which unfortunately were so delicious I forgot to get a picture before we ate them. We both chose the Iceberg Wedge Salad ($5.95) with bacon, red onions, roma tomatoes, bleu cheese crumbles AND bleu cheese dressing. I can resist the bacon, Adam can't resist the bleu cheese...

It was time to order steak, and therefore also time to order wine. I ordered the Clos du Bois Cabernet Sauvignon and Adam chose a favorite among the regulars, the 14 Hands Cabernet Sauvignon. They were both great, but I'll admit I switched to the 14 Hands. Good pick Adam!

To go with our wine (or maybe it's the other way around) we ordered steaks. The 7oz Filet Mignon ($25.95) caught my eye, and Adam wisely chose the "most flavorful of all steaks" the 18oz Bone-In Rib Eye ($29.95).

My steak was tender, melt in your mouth, delicious. But I will agree with the statement on the menu, Adam's had incredible flavor.

As if we hadn't had enough...(though we did take home most of the cheesy bread and half of our dinners)....we both had to order dessert (and more wine.) One thing Adam and I don't agree on, and likely never will, is desserts. I like cheesecakes, cobblers, pies, flan, custard whereas Adam will pick anything with chocolate. On this particular night we were feeling frivolous and each ordered or own. I went with the Individual Apple Pie ($5.95) and Adam waited 17 minutes for fresh baked chocolate chip cookies.

They did smell great, but I stick by my choice. My apple pie leftovers made a tasty breakfast...

We had a great experience at Oswego Grill. The food was wonderful and our waitress, Amy, was really friendly and attentive. We had a chance to glance at the happy hour menu and I think we will need to return. The prices range from $2.95-$3.95 and include the cheesy bread, fish tacos, sliders and more! I'll let you know how it is!