Last Saturday, hubby and I went on a dinner cruise through a livingsocial deal with Accent Cruises. It was originally supposed to be a two-for-one deal for their sunset cruise, but the reservation office managed to convince me to tack on their dinner cruise as well. I was REALLY hoping that the fantastic weather we'd been having would hold out until the Saturday, but it was for naught. It wasn't raining anymore, but it was quite brisk once we were out on the water.
We checked in at their office just past Bridges restaurant in Granville Island. We were then directed onto the boat, the Burrard Queen. The main area of the boat has the bar and the seating area, and the upper deck has a small bar and seating as well (I believe this seating is for those for the sunset cruise only). Once we were seated, we were offered drinks from the bar (which we had to pay for, as drinks weren't included with dinner). The cruise itself takes us up False Creek towards English Bay and past Stanley Park, and then hugs the shoreline of North Van as it makes a U-turn back to False Creek. It offered us lovely views of downtown and the North shore.
Dinner was a buffet of salmon, chicken, tortellini in tomato sauce, salads, roast potatoes, vegetables, and buns. The cruise director chose tables to go up to the buffet and as we were quite close to our buffet (they had two buffets on opposite ends of the boat), we were able to eat quite quickly. It wasn't five-star dining, but definitely not bad for food on a boat. Their chicken was quite tasty; they cooked and coated it in some kind of BBQ/teriyaki sauce. Once everyone was served, you could go up for seconds if you wish (which hubby did).
Unfortunately, because we were seated inside, we missed the "sunset" part of the cruise. However, after dinner, the cruise director did point out a few houses of the rich and famous along the North shore (and made some jokes about one of the houses belonging to him). As it had gotten quite dark already when he started doing this, it became clear that this is more of a summer activity, because we would have been able to see more. It didn't take away the enjoyment of the cruise, but the extended light would have been nice and we probably would have seen the sunset.
Once we were served our cake for dessert, we ventured outside to the upper deck. It was quite nice, though a little chilly after a while. We stayed and watched the city lights get brighter as we made our way back to Granville Island. The director had made a little hint about the possibility of dancing on the main deck, but everyone seemed pretty content with exploring the boat and sitting and socializing. All in all, it was a lovely dinner cruise!
Here is the meal plan for the upcoming week. Not much happening this week due to me being out on Wednesday and hubby and I going to BC Place to see the Lions play Edmonton on Friday. Since this is the Lions' first game at BC Place, there's going to be lots of fanfare and extra goings-on. I have, however, uploaded the recipes for the chicken curry and the cheese souffles from the previous week's plan. Enjoy the rest of the week and happy cooking all!
September 25th-30th
Sunday: Beer-braised pork ribs, mashed potatoes, veggies (new recipe)
Monday: Butternut squash soup with apple, buns
Tuesday: Fish n' chips
Wednesday: Dinner with co-worker at Browns SocialHouse
Thursday: Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, veggies
Friday: Lions game at BC Place