For so many of our guests, the enjoyment of food and wine is so closely linked with creating special memories, and that is especially true when it comes to travel. Rudi and I pay a lot of attention to this aspect of river cruising and work very closely with our Executive Chef Primus Perchtold to ensure our menus have the perfect balance of flavorful healthy choices, surprising regional dishes and time-honored gastronomic favorites.
We get our inspiration from many sources and we are very happy when we get an opportunity to work with someone like James Beard Award-winning cookbook author, international cooking teacher and renowned chef Joanne Weir. AmaWaterways is the proud sponsor of her new PBS series Plates and Places and Joanne herself recently brought her love of cooking with fresh ingredients paired with regional wines to share with our guests on board the AmaKristina. Between filming episodes for her show, she shared recipes, personal stories and cooking demos with our kitchen team and guests.
As you can see from the photos below, Joanne joined right in our Halloween party and while I’m told it wasn’t all fun and games for the film crew all week (apparently the camera equipment was a little heavy carrying around Heidelberg Castle), I think our guests and team onboard would agree that it was a pleasure to host her for the cruise from Amsterdam to Basel. Joanne’s show starts in February 2018 and we are excited to see how she will highlight the culinary gems and wonderful personalities of local chefs and winemakers from Amsterdam, Cologne, Strasbourg, Riquewihr and Rudesheim. Our AmaKristina kitchen team assisted with preparation and filming of two episodes and while the cameras rolled, some of our guests watched the process and later joined Joanne and Primus to taste the dishes prepared.
We look forward to welcoming Joanne onboard our July 26th Bordeaux Culinary cruise and know that she will once again share her love of cooking (and fine Bordeaux wine) in her warm and engaging manner.