Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean.

Last Sunday we finally arrived home from a 14 day journey from Los Angeles that took us through the Panama Canal to Miami with plenty of stops in between. Those who have experienced time on a cruise ship know that the great food is one of the major attractions of this popular vacation mode. How fitting that it matches this week’s photo challenge. Patti Moed put together this week’s challenge where she shares some of her favorite “foodie pics”. You can read the entire challenge post here.

I am not much for photographing the food that I plan to eat, though heaven knows that I had plenty of opportunity to capture many images of delicious food during the cruise. I prefer a ‘sit down’ dinner rather than the buffet for two reasons. We have plenty of time to enjoy the company of friends and family and it’s harder to overindulge when there is  no buffet. On the last evening of our cruise, we elected to visit the Teppanyaki restaurant where the chefs put on a show as they prepare your meal in front of you. In the opening photo, the veggie appetizer is on the grille and the chef is preparing the eggs for the dish of fried rice that will soon be served. Of course, he created two flower designs with the frying eggs. The “petals” were drawn with egg white dripping from the spatula. Oh, yes… the rice was delicious, as was the main course of filet mignon and grilled shrimp.

My final image for this challenge was captured in the old port city of Cartagena, Colombia. We spent a very warm afternoon wandering the streets of old town Cartagena. To cool off, we ducked into a Juan Valdez Coffee Shop where we found ourselves more interested in a cold drink than a cup of coffee. I settled on this pineapple, banana, coconut beverage. It went down cold and very quickly. It met every requirement of the challenge, not only cold and refreshing but very delicious. On a side note, that photo in the background is of Juan Valdez, the spokesman for Colombian coffee. I didn’t get out of the store without buying some for my wife. In the interest of full disclosure, Juan Valdez is a fictional character. Since 1958, the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia put together the advertising campaign that is designed to focus on pure Colombian blends that use only beans grown and harvested there.

I brought home over 2400 photos on our trip. In the next few months, I will be sharing my best images from the places we visited including two countries where Lynn and I had never been before.

John Steiner