No better way to get your feet wet with cruising vacations than to leap aboard the biggest ship of them all: Oasis of the Seas. The Royal Caribbean line is mighty proud of its behemoth ship – I’ll set sail today (why do they call it that if there are no sails?) from the RC Dock 18 out of Port Everglades around the Caribbean.

It’s my first cruise, and I’m honestly nervous – I’m wary of the idea of being with 8089 other passengers and crew – holed up, as it were, on the high seas where there’s no way to bail. I’m a social animal only so far – so I’ll be ferreting out the quiet corners beyond my stateroom to avoid the crowds.

But this is not the first encounter with cruise ships; only my first aboard one for more than a few hours.

On the high seas

As a girl growing up in Fort Lauderdale, I was a water baby – if we weren’t at the beach picnicking and cooking breakfast, we were out fishing on my dad’s boat. Or, if no fish, waterskiing 15 miles off the coast in my boat. (I seriously doubt I could be convinced to do that today – how dumb to be about where the Gulf Stream crosses through, with all those sharks that love the warm water.)

To get “outside” to the Atlantic and start trolling for dolphin and kingfish – or the occasional wahoo or tuna – we’d have to go out Port Everglades.

We’d often get to see all the US Navy ships, subs or other vessels in port at any given time. We’d see the cruise ships – there were several flying international flags – Holland America, Norwegian-America, Cunard and others.

I believe it was the Queen Mary that stopped over in Port Everglades on her way to retirement in Long Beach, Calif., that we saw in the late ’60s. Every boater in Fort Lauderdale was on the water that day – it was chaos with boats, yachts and tugboats, as well as all the police boats trying to control the boat traffic, trying for an up-close look.

I was as much fascinated by the tugboats and enormous lines used to tow the boats as I was by the ships. The outside of them would be all I’d know of them for many years, till the dippy TV show The Love Boat gave viewers an inside view of the ships – and probably created a huge market for singles-only cruises.

Aboard for food coverage

Only recently have I been aboard a cruise ship – a small one daytripping to the Bahamas for my son’s wedding. It was just one grade above a ferry; nothing to get excited about – but the drinks were good.

I toured a Holland-America ship last year when they introduced new gourmet dining partners and I was covering them  – friend Charlie Trotter was among those designing menus for the ship. It was impressive, as was the food – with a host of nice spaces and restaurants, decks – an art gallery – and my favorite: the captain’s bridge. Learning how they stabilize the ship on rough seas with outriggers was fascinating.

One giant ship

That ship pales in comparison to the size of the Oasis – the Titanic of the seas today, apparently.

Just the facts: It weighs 220,000 tons, has 15 decks, carries a crew of 2,150 and 5,400 passengers. It’s 213 feet high with a beam of 154 feet. It’s powered by eight V-12 engines with 17,500 hp each; it travels at 20.3 knots at cruise speed.

It’s got a mess of activities – the FlowRider (a surf simulator), a zip line, big spa, live theater (Chicago is on stage this voyage), casino (I can use my new Vegas skills – maybe), several restaurants, “Central Park” – with live trees and paths, a mini golf course and rock climbing wall – to name a few. I think, there are 22 pools – the main activity of cruisers is pool-lounging.

I’ll be reporting back sooner or later – I’m aboard to cover the food and restaurants initially, but will be writing about the whole experience.

Wish me luck.

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – The thermometer will creep close to 111 degrees, the local weatherman said. I’m staring at 86 degrees at 5:30 a.m. Las Vegas time. (A friend who failed to get the message I was away called at 5 a.m. to ask if I was on vacation yet. Note to self: Call friend back at 3 a.m. her time and reply: YES.)

We’re doing a few days in Vegas – Neon Valley – checking out other sites like Red Rock Canyon, the Hoover (Boulder) Dam, then heading to a weeklong tour of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. I’ll be taking in Lake Powell, Glen Canyon, Monument Valley, Zion National Park, Bluff, Utah, Bryce Canyon and anything else we think is interesting.

I’m with Jimmy Ford Coppola Barron, who will be shooting photos as though this is his last chance to wield a camera. We’ll reporting on this as I go along, and of course, mentioning food, but meanwhile, I’ve asked a few people to write some guest blogs for me.

Watch for pieces from Debbie Moose (Moose on Fire – Gal on the Grill); Alyson Seligman, who writes The Average Girl’s Guide blog, and gives us tips on take-out favorites; Jim Hayward, a newcomer to my blog but longtime friend, writing on tiki-culture cocktails; and Michael Bennett – a Caribbean chef in Fort Lauderdale at the Bimini Boatyard, whose new cookbook is modern in every way.

Watch for their stories in the next week.

Updated techno stuff

My blog is also on a new server that is allegedly screaming fast and ultra-secure as far as hurricanes (which hardly every happen in Hereford,  but I’m in South Florida, where we have a target painted on the state). You may not notice a difference, but maybe my page will load faster.

So once again, thanks for reading and following me – I hope to entertain you with whatever tales Vegas will let go of. Watch for my guest writers starting tomorrow.

Chef Joel Huff, Azul, Miami

MIAMI – Chef Joel Huff is new at Azul, the still stunning restaurant on the bay in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel on Brickell Key. A friend and I took advantage of Miami Spice (which runs through Sept. 30) for a $35 three-course dinner there last night.

Even in this restricted format, the chef’s talent was evident. A cuttlefish with watermelon amuse bouche was the most flavorful inch-cubed of food I’ve eaten in many months. The lovely Jonah crab salad with corn and beans was full of summery flavor, while my hamachi crudo with cherries was melt-in-your-mouth perfect.

The kicker came with the risotto with mushrooms and lamb chopper cheese – one I’d never tried. I want this risotto every time I order it, for the rest of my life. Perfection – not something I say often. Creamy, yet each rice grain distinctive; the mushrooms so fresh-tasting, I could swear they were picked two minutes before cooking. The cheese, slightly salty and tangy, made me forget all about Parmigiano reggiano.

More than one dish right

My friend’s corvina was lovely – she wanted to share. I was more reluctant, though I gave her a spoonful of the risotto in trade. The tender fish was cooked with crunchy rings of hearts of palm which stood out, along with baby broccolini. I can recommend this chef’s fish acumen – certainly.

We mustn’t forget breads and desserts – my friend, just back from France, declared the petite baguettes reminiscent of the finest European samples. Other selections included sun-dried tomato buns and jalapeno cornbread.

A coconut-lime panna cotta was paired with an ultra rich chocolate gelato and set atop a shortbread I liked best of all.

The entire meal was presented by terrific service – we wanted for nothing – not even a light for the menus or in the case of a neighboring diner, a wrap for chilly bare shoulders. The sommelier is to be commended – the wines he suggested we taste and his descriptions were spot on.

There were other choices on the menu – and it’s apt to change slightly throughout the month as foods become available. Get there, though, before Sept. 30 – prices average $45 per entree here otherwise.

Note: Parking is $11 with validation.

For Miami Spice info, go to: ilovemiamispice.com

Azul

• 500 Brickell Key Dr., Miami (in the Mandarin Oriental)

• 305- 913-8254; mandarinoriental.com/miami/azul/

Island of Burano, Italy/ photo copyright John J. Lopinot, 2010

Those of you who read me closely know that many of the photo artworks that show up on my site are from John J. Lopinot – a former colleague of mine at the daily newspaper and an award-winning nature photographer.

Another of my former colleagues, Mary Thurwachter, writes a Travel blog called INNsideFlorida – but she occasionally veers off the Sunshine State path.

Read her today, to get John’s story about his trip to Venice (Italy), and using the right lens for low-light situations. He comments frequently on travel photography there – bookmark her site, then bookmark his.

Turns out, the live guy wasn’t the owners’ dog, but a constant customer’s pet.

Frank and Debbie Lorenzo from Queens

Owners Frank and Debora Lorenzo are genial and chatty, and have fun at what they do.

They’re originally from Queens, where they had a pizza place in the mid ’70s. They moved to the Outer Banks 39 years ago, and up until a few years back, they ran a rental office for vacation homes. The economy tanked, and Frank went a few rounds with cancer. They bounced back, and opened Franks OBX Dog House.

Hot dogs – of course – are on the menu, and we calculated 22 versions just from a list and a few variants. There probably are hundreds if you’re so inclined. All have fun names – based on their dogs (great Danes) and customers who visit the bright yellow shack across the street from the Post Office.

The most expensive is only $3.95. It’s the Doberman, with the works. You can get stuff like hot sauce, relish, kraut, chili, cheese, onions, and a zillion combos of other stuff.

We love their motto: “Help us Save These Dogs from the Pound!”

They’re really good hot dogs – they use all-beef hot dogs and then make a few of their own toppings.

More than that, they’re a find as a couple and it’s a great spot to stop and chat – do go by and tell ‘em we sent you!

Frank’s OBX Dog House

• 25972 Highway 12, Waves, N.C. (across from the Waves Post Office)
  
• (No phone)
  

She asked us to lunch and we debated on either barbecue, or New Southern cooking. I wasn’t up for barbecue, so we ended up at 18 Seaboard, a red brick two-level restaurant set in a former train station.

The chef-owner is Jason Smith – an amiable man who has quite the experiences under his rather young belt: cooking for big name chefs in North Carolina and New York, running a kitchen to feed 1300 daily in Antarctica, and now, being a new father with two restaurants. (He also owns Cantina 18 in Raleigh.)

18 Seaboard’s menu is modern Southern and American fare. Each dish that we ordered – we chose several  to get a great sampling – showed finesse and control. The plates were not only eye-pleasing, but every plate had a focused flavor.

Today’s feast

I’ll share an interview with the chef in an upcoming article here, but for now, I’ll share our menu and his simple, delicious recipe for corn soup.

• Corn Soup (made from corn delivered from the farmer that day)
• Snead’s Ferry She-Crab Soup with a sherry reduction
• Iceberg wedge with big bacon crunch
• Blackeyed pea cakes with zucchini, squash, and summer vegetable vinaigrette
• Crispy Pamlico shrimp salad with Asiago dressing and focaccia croutons

We had no room for dessert!

18 Seaboard’s Corn Soup recipe

• 2 tablespoons butter
  
• 2 tablespoons diced onion
• 3 ears fresh silver queen corn, shucked, kernels removed
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 sprig fresh thyme
• Salt and white pepper to taste

Heat large saute pan over medium heat; add butter when pan is hot. Swirl butter to melt; do not allow to brown. Add onion and saute 1 minute; add corn and cook 3 minutes more, stirring. Set aside. Combine cream, stock and thyme in small saucepan; cook for three minutes over medium heat with thyme. Remove thyme. Combine corn and stock mixture in blender; puree until smooth. Add salt and white pepper to taste.

Serve hot or chilled.

Makes 4 appetizer servings.

An Ocracoke native, she had one of the biggest, fullest fig trees I’d ever seen last time I was here. She put up and sold jars of fig preserves, the old-fashioned syrupy kind, out of a shed in her back yard.

Oddly, my good foodie/Southern friend Ben Starling and I were just discussing fig preserves just before I left on this trip. We were lamenting the fact that we can’t find the dark kind of fig preserves – the ones that are packed in heavy, thick syrup, ones like my mom and Aunt Eleanor put up every year. We agreed we don’t cotton to that thin kind you find commercially.

Figs for breakfast and supper

They resemble the ones in the photo I found from McDonald’s Farm. (McDonald’s is a fruit farm in Baskin, La. — apparently with no web site — where they know a thing about figs, too. Chef Paul Prudhomme’s sister makes a cake from the preserves; her recipe is one I have dogeared from use. It’s in one of his cookbooks.)

Mostly, though, I believe fig preserves are made for one thing and one thing only: hot buttermilk biscuits. Poking a hole in the crispy top of the biscuit and filling its tender inside with a fig and its syrup is a ritual I have repeated countless times as a girl.

Licking the syrup that leaks out the sides from my fingers, swabbing up the last of the syrup on the plate with the last bite of biscuit…then wistfully looking at the empty biscuit plate and wishing I hadn’t been so polite to take only one. This is a direct brain-to-mouth memory.

You can see why it’s a mission to find these once more. I’ve been in fig withdrawal for over a decade, when I finished the last of mom’s fig and pear preserves. I’ll let you know how I fare, so check back.

Meanwhile, here’s the Ocracoke Island Fig Cake recipe, from the Ocracoke Cookbook.

Ocracoke Island Fig Cake

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup oil
• 1 1⁄2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda, dissolved in 1 teaspoon hot water
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup fig preserves, chopped
• 1 cup chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts)

Beat eggs; add sugar and oil. After sifting dry ingredients, add to egg mixture alternately with buttermilk. Add vanilla and fold in figs and nuts.

Pour into greased 13-by-9-inch pan or bundt pan and bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or in a well greased tube pan at 350 degrees just a little longer. If you use a cake tester, it may read sticky if you draw through a fig, so look instead for signs of wet batter.

*Chopped dates may be substituted for figs, but I wouldn’t.

Clark’s Inn, Santee, SC

Clark's Inn dining room, Santee, SC

For the third time, we stopped at Clark’s Inn in Santee, S.C. to eat on the road. I think I’ll let the breakfast menu tell you about its style:

Start with our Homemade Country Breakfast: Sugar Cured Bacon, Smoked Sausage, Country Ham, Southern Style Grits, Home-Fried Potatoes with Onions, Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits with Sausage Gravy and Eggs cooked just like “you like”.

Our Ham and Cheese Omelets are famous and we have the Best Pancakes and French Toast you have tasted. Try our Old Fashioned Oatmeal or sample some Fried Green Tomatoes with Chutney.

We had baked chicken for dinner with a homestyle squash casserole (recipe for one like it follows) – though those fried green tomatoes were calling, I resisted for once, and reluctantly turned away from their so-claimed “Famous fried chicken.”

Hospitality here is four stars! This restaurant has been in operation every day except Christmas Day each year, since 1946. Pretty cool. And, it’s still in the original Clark family.

Squash Casserole with Stuffing

• 2 pounds squash thickly sliced (7 cups)
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 10 3/4 ounce can cream of chicken soup
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup shredded carrot
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 cups herb-seasoned cornbread stuffing mix (about 1/2 of 8-ounce package)

Preparation:

Cook squash with onion in boiling salted water for 5 to 10 minutes or until soft. Drain well.

Combine soup and sour cream. Stir in shredded carrot. Fold in drained squash and onion. Melt butter; toss with stuffing mix.

Spread half of the stuffing in a 12 x 8 x 2-inch glass baking dish. Spoon squash mixture on top. Sprinkle with remaining stuffing mixture. Bake at 350° until heated through, 25 to 30 minutes.

Makes 6 servings.

Jan’s notes: I’d add 1/4 cup chopped bacon to the squash; add it in with the drained squash and onion. Many recipes call for shredded cheese on top instead of stuffing.

Clark’s Inn and Restaurant

114 Bradford Blvd., Santee, SC 29142-8931
(803) 854-2141; clarksinnandrestaurant.com

Open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner at 6 a.m. till close.

ORLANDO – I’m up here taking a class that I desperately hope will improve my web site. It’s a week long and for bunches of reasons, have been unable to catch up with friends for dinner. Last night I took the easy way out and stopped by Uno’s on I-Drive to pick up a small pizza and a salad from Uno’s.

Very friendly servers helped me out in a town where everyone in the hospitality industry is nervous about being laid off at any minute — thanks to a weakened tourist season, though they’re encouraged by lowering gas prices.

Still, the majority of car tags around here are local – not what they want to see. Hope that changes for them as summer wears on.

Uno’s gets around

I’ve eaten at the original Uno’s in Chicago and did a big story on them when they first came to Fort Lauderdale in the ’80s. They’re even in New York now – pretty much a ubiquitous chain.

 That pizza last night was scrumptious — and not because I was hungry. The crust was crisp on the bottom, it was chock full of ingredients and wasn’t swimming in grease. I ate the crust rim – something I rarely do with other pizzas.

I like it. It’s that simple. I don’t miss it because I don’t miss any pizza enough to pine for it, except maybe the Pizza Oven’s pizza from my childhood (Rod Campbell, are you still out there?) and only because my parents liked it and bought it for us to take to the drive-in. Even more fun.

Fight with me if you like — I’ve had this argument before many times with readers who are as passionate about pizza as I am about good fried chicken and no sugar in cornbread.

So my food friends in Jacksonville are taking the water taxi to dinner these days.

There’s a unique restaurant up there in a burg named Mandarin on the Julington Creek  called Clark’s Fish Camp. Unique in so many ways — including an owner, Joan Peoples, who’s still there after nearly 30 years at it. It was a bait shop and expanded to its current property that includes a room-long bar, outdoor boat docks, deck seating and several rooms indoors.

Are we there yet?

We had been on a vacation that landed us in Ponte Vedre Beach. Never one to settle for a lousy chain restaurant when I can eat like a local, I asked the very smart desk folks at the Hilton Garden Inn where the popular local spot was for seafood. They sent us to Clark’s with a warning that it was out of the way, and even if we thought we were lost, we probably weren’t there yet. “Just keep going,” they said.

I’m glad they warned us. They were SO right. This place is one of the toughest spots to find anywhere. It’s down and around and through several residential neighborhoods that you’re sure has to be the wrong way. At last, you hit “the street.” Suddenly, you can’t miss it — every car and boat trailer in the northeast is lined up along this narrow road trying to park or put in or pull out a boat. It’s the nuttiest traffic mess I’ve ever seen — at least before the shuttle launch snafu.

It’s all in the decor

After about 45 minutes of figuring out where and how to park along the road and avoid the tow truck, we made it to the outside deck next to the water hyacinth-filled creek. There would be a wait — 45 minutes or so, we were told. We got a drink and waited out on the dock where signs warned, “Do not feed the alligators!”

Now I imagine it’s novel for tourists to see those signs and they probably think it’s a joke for them – and probably ignore them. We natives know they’re deadly serious. You don’t feed an alligator because they really love to eat. They have big, very powerful jaws and impressive numbers of teeth. But they don’t really know when you’re through feeding them – and will keep snapping at whatever’s close whether it’s food or not. (If you are intent on cleaning the gene pool, go ahead and feed ‘em: They love marshmallows.)

It’s a jungle in there

We were called for our table, and led through the narrow passage from the bar to the back deck.  I wasn’t quite prepared for the wild -literally - decor. Years ago, the owner was given a stuffed raccoon or squirrel – I forget which — and decided it would be a nice complement to the rustic bar decor. Things snowballed after that, and it wasn’t long before there was an entire jungle’s worth of animals — stuffed, mounted and otherwise taxidermed in their finest form — all on display in every nook and cranny of this restaurant.

Fake plants and tree branches were added to create a diorama of sorts. Many of these creatures are downright scary — huge snakes, gators, pumas, lions growling and so on. They are grouped overhead in the dining room, ready to pounce if they could just come back to life. I could see little kids having serious nightmares after eating here.

So a gator in the bathroom is no big deal

I’m sure at first, it was no big deal to hear a report that there was a gator in the bathroom. Up here that could mean all sorts of things: A stuffed one, or a  two-legged variety that bleeds UF orange and blue, or even a kiddy toy left by a visitor from the Alligator Farm in St. Augustine. 

But it turns out, there was a gator in the bathroom — a live one. He (or she) had likely been driven in by the torrential rains and flooding they’ve had, and made a cozy home for himself behind the toilet. I can only imagine the poor sap who came up on the rascaly reptile. The news reports indicated it was only a 3-footer, but there’s enough power in a 36-inch alligator’s tail and jaw to get my attention. He was dragged out by the tail, rather ignominiously, and returned to the creek.

Hope the flood did no damage

The restaurant was closed at the time — they’d been closed for a week due to flooding. I hope the water didn’t do much damage, though Peoples said she’s used to floods during hurricanes. Not just from thunderstorms, though, so this may have caught her up short. She also collects fish plates and has the most impressive collection I’ve come across. To a dish nut like me, seeing this display was the best part of my visit. The plates are from the Victorian era, typically from Germany, Austria and France, and are delicately hand-painted. I hope none were damaged from the floodwaters.

A local hang-out

The popularity of the place with the locals, plus the chance to eat oddities such as ostrich, rattlesnake, kangaroo and more has made this the go-to place in the area. I can vouch for their fried green tomatoes, shrimp, fish and judging by the smiles on the diners next to us, the prime rib. Sure hope to get a chance to go back soon. I recommend it — just get good directions, and then drive till you think you might be in Georgia.

• Clark’s Fish Camp
• 12903 Hood Landing Road
• Mandarin (Jacksonville), FL 32258
• (904) 268-3474