Canapes

Each evening there are canapes served with pre-dinner drinks easy to make healthy,
instead of potate chips and cheesey biscuits, we offer bite size canapes of smoked salmon
and cream cheese on cucumber slices, or baby black figues stuffed with goats cheese roasted, topped with Parma ham,
mini vegetable Springrolls, grilled Halloumi cheese squares topped with roast sweet potato, roast chillied chicken sticks,
and always bowls of olives, big black as well as glossy green are both healthy and very popular.
I do believe that telling people that certain foods are sooo good for them, can actually put them off and have
them thinking that because its good for them automatically means it will not have good flavour. This is a pity
because in my experience the opposite is true. So we don't mention the healthy element, we just let the great
flavours of our food speak for themselves...and enjoy the positive reactions from our guests.
What more can I tell you... Oh yes just to finish up... Thank goodness Chocolate is so healthy and good for us,
we use only the best 70 percent cocoa chocolate in our desserts and they are always a big success.
For more on our menus there some photos on our website.
Hope this covers the subject for you...
Warm regards ienka Baker
www.absoluut2.com

more nutrition

As to the question regarding the onboard chef verses the eating out option. Well yes, for us its simply
not a question of having to watch our profit margins as it is in restaurants, because we have better control
as we know exactly how many people we are catering for each week and so we buy the best quality produce
and our costing is constant. But for the guests eating out, well before they arrive on Absoluut2 for their
cruise I suppose they will be eating out and enjoying a huge variety of good food too.
Just to give you a brief description of the Menu onboard Absoluut2 ....
We commence the day with platters of fresh fruits in season, always colourful and always favoured by our female
guests a little more than the guys. But the guys often ask for oatmeal, again Organic Scottish Oats,
which we serve with marinated prunes, cream and organic honey.
We also serve a variety of low fat yoghurts again favoured by the ladies to combine with the fresh fruits.
There is always the option of egg dishes which changes daily ...sometimes poached or scrambled, omelet
or eggs Benedict always served on delicious freshly baked daily onboard whole grain bread, or for those
who prefer it toast. Fruit Juice, tea and coffee are available for self service, and of course a variety of
Herbal teas.
Lunch is a buffet featuring a speciality dish incorporating food combining, each day and variety of interesting salads,
the salads are served without dressing so that our guest can choose from olive oil and lemon juice vinagrette
or a creamy mayonaise dressing or just Olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Or if they prefer to savour these
salad vegetables undressed, they can do so.
We have developed the evening meals to be well balance both flavour wise and, the size of the serves is
something we watch carefully. As some guests have bigger appetites so we change to accommodate these
as we recognise the differences.
More on Dinner soon.

Ienka's note on Nutritious food

I first developed my interest in nutritious foods 25 years ago, when my husband John was diagnosed
with Hypoglycaemia because he had given up the adrenalin sport of Parachuting, and the dieticians'
recommended diet changes were too boring for my husbands exotic palate.
We must all agree that exercise is a big part of maintaining our health.
Thus onboard Absoluut2 we have an elliptic exercise machine. But rather than having this inside a gym,
we have placed it on the aft deck along side the Jacuzzi. This way our guests can enjoy the scenery
passing slowly by as their exercise time passes all too quickly. We also keep Yoga mats for those who
have brought along their preferred yoga DVSs. A natural feature of decks are the safety rail which make
ideal stretching bars, again exercising outdoors. And for the guests who love to run or bike ride the
tow paths alongside the canals are perfect as there is no traffic and its often out in the countryside or
through small villages.
And getting on and off the boat at the locks on the canals offers long or short distances to run, walk or bike.
During the past 5 years we have found that most of the guests whose company we have enjoyed
have been health conscious without being fanatical. And they have enjoyed the style of food that we offer.
Firstly, we provision Absoluut2 with Organic food wherever possible.
And these days I am pleased to tell you, it is much easier to source these Organic products from the
wholesalers than it was 5 years ago. And we never buy farmed fish, only locally caught fresh fish.

Volcanos & Barging

Who would have thought that a volcano in Iceland could affect all the barges cruising in Holland & France.
And it has,
There are barges sitting ready, with their guests stuck at home.
There are barges with their guests, still on board, as they can't get a flight, home.

As Barbara Streisand said, " we are all down wind"
I am sure the world will return to normal ... one day.

Lemon Cheese cake

Lemon Cheescake Souffle

Pre heat oven to 200 deg.
Butter & sugar a 250 mm spring form.

Separate 5 eggs whites in larger bowl.

Beat Yokes in smaller bowl
Then add 150 gm Sugar
Beat till creamy
Add 50 gm sifted flour
Zest 2 large lemons + juice to taste
Mix well p
Add 400 gr fromage blanc
Blend well

Half whip egg whites
Add 25gm. Sugar slowly
1 pinch of salt.
Whip till soft peaks.

Slowly fold egg whites into egg yoke mix

Pour in spring form & bake at 200deg. C for 40 min

Perhaps cover the top with baking paper to stop burning the top.

EAT. & Enjoy

Flowers & Food

The Spring sunshine has arrived just nicely in time for the first of the charters in Holland...
The markets are filled with colourful flower stalls brimming with an
abundance of golden daffodils, narcissus and of course tulips in every colour of the rainbow.
On Absoluut2 we love to display the spring flowers and our guests, the ladies in particular,
love that we even put flowers in the ensuite bathrooms.
Just cruising slowly past the vast fields of tulips really makes the dutch holiday unique...
One could only be in Holland, to appreciate the old and the new of the Antique windmills
contrasted with the tall white modern electricity generating windmills.

And did I mention the menu... this is Holland so the fresh fish is superb.
We offer Salmon and Turbot for the fish lovers.
And as they say when in Rome...
On the buffet at lunch, there is always a selection of the typical traditional Dutch Cheeses, fresh Herring and Smoked Eel
and Rye bread to choose from along with a variety of salads.

Continued Spring Preparation

Spring has finally arrived here in Holland. It has been trying to come for a few weeks, but was unable to break through. So I took the opportunity to  work in a t-shirt, instead of a sweater, and assembled Ab2's new deck furniture.
It looks great, but I think will require a lot of attention to keep the tempered black glass tops looking smart. The new chairs are very comfortable letting air circulate & fully recline in case any one is in need of a nap after lunch.
The day before I laid the new deck carpet ( Grass). This year I opted for the traditional green astro turf, as last years trendy grey carpet seemed to gather dust & water & encourage  moss to grow.
That's it for this entry... one more good wash down & we are ready for guests.