The Global Grandma: When it's Time to Forget About Diets. Japan, Celebrity Millennium cruise.

When it's Time to Forget About Diets.

From the series, "Japan, or Extreme Vacation for an American Senior Citizen."

This is probably—I don't even know how to describe it—the most boastful story, or so it might seem from the outside. No, I'm not boasting. Honestly. What's there to boast about? That I went somewhere and ate something? It's ridiculous. I just want to share it with everyone. Although, how can you share the memory of a taste? How can you describe the taste of an exotic fruit if the reader hasn't tried it? Or a specially prepared dish if there's no recipe or ingredients? So what if I wrote about it?! You can't really share it. Or rather, I can only share photos. But I also can't not talk about the food on the cruise. Because why would you even go on a cruise ship if you're not planning to eat there?! And I mean eat in the restaurant, at the buffet, early in the morning, during the day, late in the evening, eat salty, sweet, fatty foods, forget about healthy eating for the entire vacation, and just enjoy life!

I've written about food in other cruise stories, but it seems to me that this time everything was even more magnificent.

I'll have to start from the beginning, in order. We sailed from Osanbashi, the port where ocean liners dock.

The pristine white city is beautiful, and the port, built of wood—how does it not rot here?!—is so impressive that it makes me regret not being able to walk around there. It's completely unrealistic to fly to Japan a second time (a feeling that would repeat itself at least once a day afterward)... We looked at the port and...

... naturally, we hurried to the buffet, since we hadn't had breakfast yet.

Delicious, delicious...

But for now, our thoughts are not on the food, not on the taste, but on the vastness outside the window, the view of the bridge, and the boats sailing in front of us...

For now, all my thoughts are about sailing away and all that's still to come...

For those who haven't read the previous stories, we are three brave travelers sailing around Japan on the cruise ship Celebrity Millennium.

The buffet was fully prepared for us: you name it, they had it! (And most importantly, they always had plenty of everything, and it was all varied.)

I'll start with something simple: bread and buns.

Assorted sliced meats and cheeses...

Over the entire cruise, each of us probably had only two or three slices...

Why eat sausage when there's so much other, freshly prepared food?

Salads you can build yourself and dress with your choice of oil, vinegar, or sauce...

Salads that are already prepared—just put them on your plate...

Meat.

No, it sounds more like: "Me-e-e-a-a-a-t-t-t..."

Under the red light of the heat lamps warming the me-e-e-a-a-a-t-t-t, it looked even bloodier... and somehow more appetizing because of it.

Here is another photo (the meat, as you can see, is different).

A wide variety of hot, pre-made dishes in abundance.

This is hummus...

I liked the beetroot one, more for its cheerful color than for its taste.

Desserts and fruits... A cruise is a paradise for anyone with a sweet tooth. No, not just for people who love sweets, but for all food lovers!

How do you make anyone happy? Feed them something delicious! How do you leave the best impression of a cruise? Welcome them on the first day and send them off on the last with the most lavish breakfast! On Celebrity, though, this is the rule for every day and every meal.

You grab whatever you want, as much as you want (and maybe a little more...), pick the table where you want to sit, and enjoy the food with an ocean view for as long as you like!

The buffet greeted us not just with food, but with Japanese decor as well.

It was surprising on the first day, but then we got used to the Japanese flair.

The decorations in the buffet were changed and rearranged, with different displays made of fruits, sweets, and spices... It was a nice touch.

(Wouldn't you have been delighted by that and hurried to take a picture?)

With such beautiful presentation, everything seems much more delicious, because we eat with our eyes first. We choose by size and color, then the smell kicks in, and the taste—well, whatever it turns out to be, since it's already in our mouth!—is the last thing we experience.

As I mentioned before, the buffet always had everything, but each day was dedicated to one of the world's cuisines. In other words, dishes from a specific national cuisine were added to the general selection. There was a day for Japanese, English, Italian, and other cuisines.

Here's a little more detail about that.

Japanese Cuisine Day

Traditional Japanese soups, salads, and pastries.

Italian Cuisine Day.

With pasta, tiramisu, colorful desserts, and incredibly delicious cannoli tubes with vanilla cream.

***

Indian Cuisine Day

With not-so-"photogenic" rice, chicken, and fish in curry sauce, along with "tikka masala" — pieces of marinated chicken in a wonderfully fragrant sauce...

Sigh, you can't describe Indian spices with words. People often think that Indian food is very hot, but it can simply be aromatic and full of spices, with a whole bouquet of sensations as you eat what seems like a simple dish of rice and chicken.

The fruit, however, was presented in an exceptionally beautiful way on this day. See for yourself, here's a photo:

The small spheres are lychee fruit. To me, they taste like grapes, with a hint of wine. (Online, they say it has a hint of strawberry.) You can find them in stores, but they're expensive, just like dragon fruit (a cactus fruit). I like the taste, but in my daily life, I'd prefer the familiar blueberries and raspberries - which didn't stop me from going back for seconds.

The way fruit is presented on a cruise is a true art form. And on other days, even without the exotic lychee and dragon fruit, the regular oranges, kiwi, and grapes were still a feast for the eyes. (Oh, is kiwi a common fruit or an exotic one? When I was a kid and a young adult, I didn't even know it existed! How life changes...)

The quality of the fruit was exceptional.

Oh, I almost forgot about the chocolate fondue!

You ask for fruit or sponge cake to be dipped in chocolate, and then you go to watch the sunset over the Sea of Japan.

And then - what the heck, you only live once! - you go back for more fruit, sponge cake, meringues, pistachio cake... and you drink your tea...

English Cuisine Day.

This is a traditional English pot pie—a stew of meat and potatoes served in a pot (well, here in ramekins).

This is "Salmon Wellington" (it was so delicious that I'm committed to making it at home. Especially since I've looked up the recipe—it's simple, quick, and the ingredients are easy to find).

English puddings.

My favorite traditional fish and chips - fried fish with potatoes. (I couldn't resist! This was after the Wellington, but I enjoyed it just as much!)

I took a little bit of each of the different puddings.

On the plate, they looked awful and unappetizing, but with tea, it was very pleasant to try all of it.

On the American food day, there were some extraordinary burgers with black buns.

Rosely (there were three of us on the trip: me, Meire, and Rosely) really liked them.

American donuts - donuts (very sweet, too much).

Dessert day is every day. But profiteroles were only available once.

Ice cream. Too rich. Too sweet. Available on the cruise almost any time of day.

Eat whenever you want, as much as you want, with your choice of: vanilla, strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, pistachio, mango...

You can also pour honey, jam, or syrup on top, and sprinkle it with chocolate...

Temptation...

I couldn't resist the mango and raspberry.

Well, the ice cream comes with a view of the Ferris wheel in Osaka.

The Oceanview Cafe was open from 6:30 AM to 1:00 AM.

Actually, tea, coffee, and juice are available 24/7, but food is served until 1:00 AM. To be more precise, everything is available until 10:00 PM, and after that, until 1:00 AM, it's "only" pizza, pasta, and salads...

When you get used to such abundance—to the idea that "everything is there"—"just" pizza, salads, and pasta can feel like "there's nothing to eat." Just kidding, of course.

We never did try the pizza, though, and they make it to order right there in front of you...

There were a lot of people in the buffet almost all the time (except for maybe the early morning).

Having food available around the clock is so relaxing, because you don't have to "get it" or "make it on time"... (that's my past, it won't let go). You don't have to go to the store, buy, cook, serve (even if it's just for your beloved self, you still have to serve it), clean, or wash up (that's my daily reality, I'm not complaining, just stating a fact, but why am I even writing this, you know exactly what I'm talking about)...

Here, you don't have to do any of that.

And that's when you really start to RELAX...

How nice it is to remember those days...

I would get up early, still at five in the morning, a work habit of many years. The girls were still sleeping.

I would usually go to the upper deck to meet the sunrise, and how could I not have a cup of tea? Or coffee? Sometimes I would even have breakfast...

It was great to have breakfast sometimes at a table, sometimes at the counter, and sometimes at the cafe on the balcony... By the way, the balcony—my favorite place—was too hot (or rather, it wasn't the heat itself, but the combination of heat and high humidity).

Here is another morning.

Pure poetry.

Solitude.

The ocean.

And a cup of coffee.

Where this big wave suddenly came from is unclear.

And then you can even have a second breakfast!

But, honestly, this was a few hours later and with company!

Especially if the view is wonderful, especially if the food is delicious, you have a walk around the city ahead of you, and there's still time before you disembark...

Done?

Full yet?

Well, we're on a cruise!

Time to go get some more coffee!

And don't forget a pastry!

And add some fruit...

To be honest, because of the heat and humidity, we preferred the indoor, air-conditioned spaces. We found a favorite spot very quickly: "Where should we meet?" - "At the cafe with the green chairs!"

It's interesting, but even abundance and variety can get tiresome! You find something you love and start eating it almost every day. I love poached eggs (that's just a simple egg cooked "in a bag" without the shell, just a little reminder). Have you ever tried to make them? I have. More than once. I've watched videos from Julia Child to modern-day bloggers! So what? My "poached eggs" are a runny mess with flakes of egg white all over the place, oh! ... There's no talking about "creamy yolk consistency"; you just have to close your eyes and eat them quietly.

The pinnacle of culinary art for breakfast, however, is eggs Benedict.Take a toasted bun - or even better, half of a lightly browned, warm English muffin - and place on it a thin slice of salted red fish (don't overdo it, don't overdo it, everything in moderation). Add some soft avocado sliced into wedges, maybe a tomato slice, a little red onion for a pop of color... and then, on top of all this magnificence, crown it with that very poached egg...

...and then we pour Hollandaise sauce over it - how could we possibly do without that...

Well, for a beautiful finish, "sprinkle" it with capers...

Would you bother with all that at home?! Not to mention you have to buy all the ingredients!

But here, a whole station in the buffet was making nothing but these different kinds of Benedicts every morning!

Do you want it with avocado, with red fish, with ham, you name it...

I wanted it with everything except for spinach!

Well, of course, one Benedict for breakfast isn't enough.

And you greet the morning with your favorite breakfast already made, only the ocean views change.

Almost every day we would dock at a new port, a new city, and have new experiences. I probably should have talked about Japan first and saved the stories about food for last, but that's just how it turned out. Besides, the food was a big part of the cruise experience, too.

When we went into the city, we would come back for afternoon tea or dinner. The only exception was Hiroshima, when we returned earlier than planned due to a tsunami threat.

We returned from the festival in Aomori after dark (I promise I'll share photos from the festival!). It was too late to go to the restaurant, so we headed to the buffet and, as always, it didn't disappoint.

We're sitting, eating, and outside the window, there's a view just like this!

Was that really me?!

The last day greeted us with a surprise (I'll keep you intrigued - you can read about it in another story!). Because of it, the buffet didn't close at the scheduled eight o'clock in the morning, but continued to operate until around noon. This meant that the buffet staff had a double workload: they had to feed us longer than planned, while also preparing the food service for the new passengers, and the time for cleaning the buffet was getting shorter!

And we were still greeted just like every other day, with smiles and a full selection of various foods...

Of course, I had to eat one last Benedict—until the next cruise!—and admire the farewell cake...

Thank you to everyone who worked there. Oh, their work is so hard: day after day, they cook, serve, and clean up after us! For us, it was a fairy tale...

No, I'm tired of talking about the buffet. But there's still so much to tell about the food on the cruise... Can I finish writing tomorrow? I'll send it to you right away! I promise. I just need to take a break; you can't write a post like this on an empty stomach. Okay, tomorrow I'll tell you about the restaurant, see you then.

P.S.

I'm just sitting here looking at photos, looking back...

My dear traveling friends, maybe we should do it again next year?!

It is said that New Zealand is a wonderful place...

I'll just post some photos for you without comments. I took a lot, but I couldn't include all of them in the story, as I didn't want to make it too long.

This is the day of different fruits: