On our James Beard cruise, salmon and avocado appetizer from the Wind Surf kitchen.
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he sky streaked pink and deepened to dusk as our ship headed into the Mediterranean fo a night-time crossing to the Balearic island of Ibiza, Spain. Across a table set with fine china, my husband and I clinked glasses with new friends and tucked into starters of langoustine on rosemary apple purée and a salad of beets and berries. Over splendid mains of lemon pasta, grilled corvina and beef tenderloin, we marveled at all we’d seen and tasted thus far on the inaugural sailing of the 2016 James Beard Foundation Culinary Collection. For our gala dinner, wines from Spain’s Valdeorras, Castilla & Leon and Priorat regions paired beautifully with food and
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conversation. By the time toffee apple cheesecake arrived, we all had made plans to meet again around another table at the James Beard House in New York. We were traveling aboard the sailing yacht Wind Surf, flagship vessel of the boutique Windstar line. Our cruise had taken us from Lisbon to Tangier, to Morocco, and to ports of call at Málaga, Almería and Cartagena. After Ibiza, we would travel on to Catalonia, visiting Tarragona and Barcelona. Windstar topped Conde Nast’s Gold List for 2016. After a culinary cruise with three-time James Beard Award-winning chef Michel Nischan and star sommelier Steve Olson, Windstar is also tops in our book.
WINTER 2016/17
Discovering local flavors of Spain Our travel itinerary connected the food-and-wine dots first established by Phoenicians, Romans, Moors and the Catholic Kings. Shore excursions in Morocco and Spain took us to wineries and monasteries. At memory-making stops in port, we sampled tagines in both Morocco and Spain, learned to order coffee in the way of Andalusia, and even visited an ancient Roman garum pit. With Michel Nischan and Windstar chefs, we shopped vibrant markets in Tangier, Málaga and Almería, and experienced flavor explosions from pungent fish and spiced ham, sweet garlic and olives. We tasted raisins and wine