A taste of the exotic with Princess Cruises

I have spent most of September pouring over images of far off, exotic destinations. Princess Cruises launched their 2011/12 exotics brochure and it features some amazing itineraries as well as additional tours to bolt on. I've always fancied travelling South America so some of the itineraries really appealed to me.

I have had a taste of South America. Last year I went to Brazil with a group of friends just before Christmas for a wedding and visited the iconic Rio de Janeiro and Iguazu Falls.
Rio is a city like no other that I've seen. Walking along the streets the locals just ooze confidence (occanssionally boardering on arrogance!) and they are all so proud of their nationality. 'The Brits' unfortunately brought the rain with us but the monsoon weather didnt stop us exploring.

Rather that write down everything I did, here is my Top 5 things to do in Rio:
- Drink a Caipirinha from a hut along Copacobana or Ipenema beach (or any beach really, Caipirinha's are almost cheaper than water to drink out there)
- Take a cable-car up to the top of Sugar Loaf Mountain. I actually hiked up the first mountain which was amazing but I would only suggest it if you are fit and have a guide, it would be easy to get a bit lost along the trail, especially if its wet.
- Eat at a comida à quilo (literally meaning food by the kilo). Here you pile your plate with as much food as you can cope with. They work out the price based on the weight of the plate. These were the best places to eat for the vegetarians in the group.

- Take the tram up Cocorvado to visit Christ the Redeemer. This has the best views of the city on a clear day but if the clouds are in then there is no point. I didn't make it up during my stay because every time I tried the clouds came in. At times it was so thick I could barely see a couple of meters in front.

- The Lapa steps. I loved Lapa. It was one of the only areas in the city that had any history. The beautiful building were run down but still had so much about them. In this district, down a few random streets, there is the Lapa Steps; a set of steps decorated using old baths covered in tiles from around the world. The artist still lives half way up the flight and is more than happy to stop an chat with passers by, my friends and I had our picture taken with Selaron. Lapa is also the place to go for a visit to a Samba club. They get hot and sweaty, and there is no such thing as personal space but that is the beauty of the places. They are all about getting together with friends and letting go. There's often food and drink to help re-fuel after an attempt at Samba.

The Worlds Best Brownies

If you love cruising then, like me, you love food! I recently stumbled across the worlds best brownie recipe and thought I would share it with you. It's not the height of sophistication that you would find on board a cruise ship but give it a go. Brownies can be notoriously hard to get just right but this recipe has produced great treats everytime! Enjoy.

Ingredients
• 2 free-range eggs
• 130g/4¾oz caster sugar
• 20g/¾oz butter
• 200g/7oz plain chocolate, broken into pieces
• 30g/1oz plain flour, sifted
• ¼ tsp baking powder
• pinch salt
• 50g/2oz chopped nuts
• And/or 50g/2oz chopped white/milk chocolate

Preparation method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
2. Whisk together the eggs, sugar until it becomes thick, well combined and lighter in colour. Put this to one side
3. Melt the plain chocolate in a bain marie (or a microwave though watch you don’t over cook it). Stir regularly to avoid burning the chocolate and until it is all combined. Allow to cool.
4. Once cool add the egg and sugar mixture to the chocolate mixture and stir until well combined.
5. Fold the flour, baking powder and salt into the mixture until well combined.
6. Then add the nuts and chopped chocolate.
7. Line a baking tinwith greaseproof paper and pour the mixture in.
8. Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes, or until the brownie biscuits have risen and cracked slightly and are crispy on top but soft in the centre and the tops have.
9. Set aside to cool and harden on a wire rack before serving.

Hint!: As irresistable as these treats will look after they come out do leave them for at least 15 minutes if not longer. If you dive in too early they wouldn't have set and you'll end up with very gooey fingers.

The best meal I've had on a cruise ship was on board Azamara Journey. We ate in the Aqualina restaurant and I died and went to foodie heaven. The waiters were the best, offering advice when my fellow diners and I couldn't decide and bring out additional dishes for us to sample throughout the courses. The cover charge is $15 and I would have happily paid that to eat there every night.
If you are interested in sampling this fine cuisine on board these beautiful boutique ship visit Ideal Cruising.