Palau: above the water?

Steve <SPAMTRAPglawackus@hvc.rr.com> wrote:

> > I love most sushi and sashimi but uni tastes like licking the bottom of
> > an acquarium to me.
> >
> > I gather it is an acquired taste.
>
> What is it that posesses some people to go to the trouble of acquiring a
> taste for something they don't like the first time or two?

Methinks that is how I recall my first taste of beer...

--
Matt
matt@gol.com

On Sat, 27 Mar 2004 04:04:41 GMT, Steve <SPAMTRAPglawackus@hvc.rr.com>
wrote:

>
>
>chilly wrote:
>
>
>> I love most sushi and sashimi but uni tastes like licking the bottom of an
>> acquarium to me.
>>
>> I gather it is an acquired taste.
>
>What is it that posesses some people to go to the trouble of acquiring a taste for
>something they don't like the first time or two?

Many years ago on Kaui (it was our 10th anniversary, we celebrate 24
this year) we had dinner at a great little sushi bar. The chef
offered me uni for free. Had one taste and decided I paid too much.

The rest of the meal was great. They had butter smooth unagi and the
ahi had just come off the boat.
--
dillon

Life is always short, but only you can make it sweet

"Steve" <SPAMTRAPglawackus@hvc.rr.com> wrote in message
news:Aw79c.7841$DV6.764@twister.nyc.rr.com...

> > Night diving wasn't an option for me on the last trip - too many
drinking
> > companions and I succumb easily to peer pressure. Next time I'll have
to
> > give it a shot.
>
> Just drink twice as much on alternate nights, and none on the nights you
go diving.

On that trip I drank twice as much every night.

> As of early March (we flew back on the 6th), Bill Munn was cooking
apparently
> inconsistent tuna sashimi at The Reef. Our friends had eaten there a few
nights
> earlier than the night we all went, and Bill had come out and talked with
them for a
> while, as he did the night we went. I guess he's never eaten a hamburger
at the Rock
> Island cafe, since he mentioned that it was essentially impossible to get
a good
> hamburger in Micronesia (something about big chunks of frozen ground beef
being
> shipped in and needing resuscitation in the form of something that would
render the
> cooked product less leathery). Oddly enough, the chef at PPR, James Lin (I
think)
> looks oriental and has an oriental sounding last name, but apparently
comes from
> Delaware. We talked with him during the Wednesday cocktail hour but didn't
here
> anything about any future changes in who would be cooking.

Bill Munn certainly wasn't at the Reef when I was there. His presence would
explain the improvement in the food. As for the burgers, I thought I ate a
pretty decent one in Yap except that they substituted cabbage for lettuce as
it doesn't wilt as fast.

> Then I know you weren't in the room we were in. With vacation lodging,
like real
> estate, the three most important criteria are location, location,
location, and PPR
> has a very good location. As for claims that it is a first class resort,
I'd have to
> say some people are delusional. The grounds are very nice, but I've had
better rooms
> and better bath towels for $60 a night at Super 8's.

That's a real shame. Our rooms were quite decent, about the equivalent of a
$250-350 a night room in Hawaii. I can't say I remember the towels (two
years ago) but I don't remember complaining. And I'm fond of complaining.

> The service was mostly on island
> time, and we're lucky not to have died of thirst sitting in the (casual)
restaurant
> with empty water glasses dessicating in front of us.

Palauan service is remarkably quick compared to Truk Lagoon, so it could be
worse. We had a large group so our meals took forever. Some people would
be served dessert before others even got their appetizers. So we made a
game of it. Everyone throws a couple bucks into the pot and the last one to
be served wins.

"Steve" <SPAMTRAPglawackus@hvc.rr.com> wrote in message
news:uTi9c.5513$1C1.4167243@twister.nyc.rr.com...

> You've got your priorities screwed up. When you have a couple of hundred
nights to
> drink at home and ten nights to dive in Palau, it seems clear that the
drinking
> should be weighted heavily towards the nights that you're at home. On the
upside, at
> least the drinks at PPR weren't overly expensive.

I have a couple hundred nights to dive at home and I only had six nights to
drink in Palau. It was a quick trip and we needed lots of liquid
fortification to survive it.

> Wasn't he at Manta Ray Bay until fairly recently? I thoink we probably
mentioned that
> we had just come from Yap, but I don't recall any mention of how long he'd
been in
> Palau. Our burgers in Yap at least had a hamburger-like consistency,
whereas the one
> at PPR was more like meatloaf on a bun. Out of three hamburgers during the
whole
> trip, though, I wasn't asked once how I wanted it cooked, and even at home
a burger
> cooked that thoroughly is going to be a bit durable.

I didn't even know he left until I checked the MRB website and found a new
chef on the restaurant page. Surprised, I asked Bill Acker about it at the
Scuba Show (Long Beach, CA) last June and he informed me that Munn was back
at the PPR where he had worked prior to his extended MRB stint, this time as
executive chef. Apparently that didn't last very long.

Not having sampled a PPR burger, I can't compare. But the burger at Rock
Island was definitely better than that at MRB. I had the wahoo fish & chips
most lunches at MRB and in Palau we did 3-tank dive trips that included box
lunches.

> Perhaps you had one of the suites? We had a mere garden view room, but for
$200/night
> (of course I'm basing this on a guess from their website since we had a
package and
> never got a specific breakdown from Trip 'n Tour) I expected more, but it
was just
> aconvenient place to stay and we didn't spend a lot of time trying to
enjoy the room
> instead of enjoying what wasnt in the room. Other than the value for the
money, that
> the room was far smaller than the (very nice) room at Manta Ray Bay wasn't
much of a
> concern. OTOH, there were numerous cracked tiles, and one fo the chairs on
the patio
> had a 6" tear, and that's inexcuable in a resort that bills itself as a
"luxury
> resort". When Super 8 buys inexpensive towels, I expect it, since they
work on a
> small margin. Bathrobes, slippers and chocolates on the pillow are fine,
but don't do
> squat to add real value. They're spending a few bucks on the wrong things
and
> scrimping where it matters.

According to the PPR website ours must have been a "ocean view" room since
the "ocean front" rooms are on the second floor. But I wouldn't put it past
the hotel to book Trip N' Tour fam group in the nicest, perhaps most newly
renovated, rooms. After all, they're trying to make a good impression and
they did. I don't recall the towels, though I do remember that the room was
a bit small since I tripped over my dive bag several times on half-asleep
late night runs to the bathroom. I had brought a Pelican and the open
buckle gashed up my leg pretty good. Honestly, we spent so little time in
the rooms on our rush-rush trip that I can't recall too many details. I
just don't remember anything much to complain about other than the fact that
the pool was too small, the breakfast too expensive, and the bar not open
late enough. When I return, hopefully next year, I'll probably just stay at
the PPR a night or two after a week on the Aggressor where I can really do a
lot of diving.

> That said, on a future trip to Palau it's likely we'd be back at PPR due
to the
> location, though I'd make it clear ahead of time that I expected our room
to be in
> good shape. OTOH, while your companions wanted to drink, mine wanted to
relax and go
> to sleep early, and getting them to go snorkeling or diving in the evening
was like
> pulling teeth. For the amount of time we actually took advantage of the
property it
> woulds probably have been a better financial decision to stay at the
Palasia or even
> one of the West Plaza hotels and be close to the restaurant options.

Maybe. Since I don't get out to Palau all too often, I'd spend the extra
dough to stay at the PPR in an ocean-view room. But I don't always make the
best financial decisions when it comes to traveling.

> Good game. We figured out early on that feeding everyone at the same time
isn't much
> of a piority in that part of the world. As for Truk, we've known for years
that's a
> destination where a liveaboard is the way to go. Of course I'm only
assuming that the
> service would be better on a liveaboard. If it isn't, that 10% tip they
recommend is
> at least optional, unlike the one added to meals at PPR.

The service was great on the Truk Odyssey. We ate at the Blue Lagoon
restaurant the last night when they kicked us off the boat for dinner in
town and then at the Japanese restaurant just outside the Blue Lagoon the
next night before our 3 a.m. flight out. The Blue Lagoon had good food, but
horrible service. The Japanese restaurant was even worse. They only had
four cold beers for our group of seven and then they started pouring warm
ones over ice, this over a half-hour after we ordered them. I stuck with
cold sake. Then they declared they had no fish. What kind of Japanese
restaurant on an island in the middle of a lagoon teeming with fish could be
out of fish? They were hardly busy that night, with only one other occupied
table IIRC. We ordered beef instead, their house-special garlic steak.
That was tasty, but they somehow charged us for one more than we had ordered
and the language barrier prevented us from explaining the situation. Three
of our party had already throw down cash and left. The three besides me
were another guy in his thirties, and two [much] older gentlemen. I eyed
the other thirty-something and we reached an unspoken agreement, estimated
the distance to the safety of the Blue Lagoon's guarded chain link gate, and
made a run for it after leaving the correct amount on the table. The two
poor old guys didn't catch on quickly enough and ended up paying for the
mystery steak.