2013-12-13

【Aiden in English】

        Today was my second day at sea, so I still had nothing to do. Because of this, I tried to spend some more time in the restaurant.

        My favourite dish of the day was an Italian plate of delight. I expected it to be awesome because Italian food, in general, is very popular, featuring dishes like pizza, pasta, bologna, and ravioli. If my dish were anything like that, I'd be happy.

        The dish I ordered was pasta called Penne al Ragu d'Anatra. The tube pasta was served with tomato and onion sauce, as well as duck ragu. A duck was marinated with wine and multiple dressings, including black pepper, rosemary, bay leaves, basil, cloves, nutmeg, lemon, garlic, and turmeric powder. Later, it was cut into pieces. Freshly grated Parmesan cheese was also added to the top of the dish. It had a salty flavour with a slight tinge of sourness. I ate every bit of it. This was cooked perfectly and became the best pasta I've ever had. So, when I was finished, not a crumb could be seen. One could even see one's reflection on a plate.

        Compared to the noodles in China, this pasta was ridiculously easy to make. It's better than all the other noodles I've ever eaten. But strangely, my pasta was remarkably similar to the Chinese noodles. If only the pasta had a bit of sweetness, it would be almost impossible to tell the difference between the Chinese noodles and the Italian pasta. And it's so funny to see how two very different nations in different parts of the world have very similar food tastes. Therefore, food can act as a bridge between two distinct cultures.

【紅霞譯】

       今天又是一整天在海上航行，我無所事事，因此準備拿出大把時間鑽研餐廳食譜。

       最吊人胃口的當屬意大利菜餚，對此我報以厚望，因為意大利菜系風靡全球，像披薩意式麵餅、意式麵條、豬牛肉熏制意式香腸、意式餃子餛飩等百吃不厭，所以只要能飽餐上述其中一種可口美食，我定會心滿意足。

       我點了一份手工自製的意大利香鴨通心麵，拌麵滷子為切碎的洋蔥末與打爛的番茄塊爆炒而成的醬汁，鴨子經料酒、黑胡椒、迷迭香、香葉、羅勒葉、丁香、豆蔻、檸檬、蒜蓉、黃姜粉等醃製紅燒後切成丁，並澆在滷麵上頭，就餐前再撒上薄薄一層新鮮削磨成絲的帕爾馬“硬質磨碎奶酪”，吃起來咸中帶酸恰到好處，這是我有生以來所嘗到的最棒的意大利麵條，絲毫捨不得留下任何殘羹剩渣。說真的，從一個人的飲食習慣上不難看出他們的性情愛好。

        與中國麵條相比，意大利麵條做起來出奇地容易。儘管如此，在我心目中，它仍然占據重要地位，其味道甚至可與中國麵條相媲美。除了意大利麵條略帶甜味之外，我幾乎嘗不出兩種麵條之間的區別。極為有趣的是，兩個底蘊不同的東西方國家竟然英雄所見略同，人們的口感味覺如此相似，就這個意義而言，飲食的確可以成為架在兩種文化之間的橋梁。

Today in History(歷史上的今天):

2010: 二年級語文(2nd Grade Language Arts)

English Afternoon Tea (英式午茶 12-13-2013)

Dinner @ Grand Dining @ Nautica Oceania

(“大洋·航海”號遊輪主餐廳·晚餐)

Signature Salad of Nautica Oceania

(“大洋·航海”號遊輪——招牌沙拉)

Olive Oil (橄欖油)

Crosslink(相關博文):

Across the Indian Ocean(穿越印度洋)