What's the most ambitious thing you've cooked in a timeshare?

[amycurl]

My mother is, at this very moment, taking out four loaves of homemade, made-from scratch with family sourdough, bread. We also just made our own cinnamon sugar to top the first slices with.

Of course, we've also made Thanksgiving dinner in a timeshare, but I think the bread is more ambitious.

What's the most ambitious/impressive thing you've cooked in a timeshare?

 

[Sandy VDH]

Christmas dinner complete with Turkey and a Ham, for 18 people. We had the 4 BR Presidential at Bonnet Creek booked, we had enough seating and space. We did wish we had a second dishwasher LOL, but we would not have had one at home either.

 

[spirits]

About 10 years ago we happened to be at our timeshare in Banff at the same time as our good neighbors. We had a 2 bedroom and they were just below us in a 1 bedroom.
Gloria was a timesharer before us and it was actually their letting us use their timeshare week one year that got us interested in the timesharing life. Their son was staying at the Banff Springs Hotel with a group of his work friends at the same time. This was New Years week. Now, Banff is never exactly a low cost place to stay but at New Years' it is really expensive. And so Gloria decided to host their son and friends at the timeshare on New Year's day. I offered to give up our place and made two appetizers and Gloria and her husband did the rest. She did a turkey in the oven, dressing in the crockpot and she did a pot of mashed potatoes on the stove and made a great salad. We had about 15 people over and it was a great meal. Best part was I had about 7 young ladies who did all the dishes in about half an hour. What a great time.

I learned one important lesson. The hardest part is deciding to do something. The rest is to make a list and just get er done. Gloria is a great person and a wonderful neighbor. And that was a great meal done in a loving manner. The best kind.

 

[wackymother]

We took our waffle iron to Williamsburg once and made homemade waffles (from scratch, of course) for about twelve people. How's that?

 

[pittle]

In 1994, we went to Kauai and there were 13 in our group - we had 3 two-bedroom units. It was difficult to go out with a group that size, so we decided that each unit would cook dinner one night - Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. On Thursday we went to a Luau and Friday we had left-overs. After the first day (mine) of homemade vegetable beef soup and peach cobbler with ice cream, it became a competition for the other 2 units! One made homemade lasagna, garlic bread, tossed salad, caprese and some other appetizers. The others did Mexican with homemade beef and chicken enchiladas, refried beans, spanish rice, Rotel dip & chips and guacamole from scratch plus sopapillas! It was great fun and we all just knew which unit to appear at on which night. We also saved quite a bit of money.

One brother was bummed that he did not get to make gumbo, but he has done that on later vacations. He learned that okra is hard to find in Mexico - so now he brings a can of Blue Runner Gumbo veggies.

 

[VacationForever]

I am not sure if any one thing is "most ambitious". I regularly make gumbo, crab cakes, garlic bread, rack of lamb, ribeye caps, caprese, salad.... everything tastes good. Friends and family travelling with us are always happy.

 

[x3 skier]

Peanut butter sandwich

Cheers

 

[easyrider]

Peanut butter sandwich

Cheers

Fried, grilled or baked ? Maybe sushi style ? lol

 

[Panina]

I cook quite a bit at timeshares if I can get fresh seafood but out of the norm this last time I made gluten free pizza from scratch. I brought my grandmothers rolling pin with me.

 

[bluehende]

For my wifes birthday. Prime rib ,sweet potato fries. fresh asparagus, macaroni and cheese. and home made apple pie

 

[amycurl]

Homemade pie is ambitious, so is the gluten-free pizza with homemade dough. I think things that require specialized equipment are always the most ambitious....bread pans, pie pans, waffle irons...things that don't normally appear in timeshares. We make a lemon sponge dessert that requires a zester and a hand mixer (which we've now put in our timeshare box, because not all timeshares have hand mixers.)

 

[AnnaS]

Scrambled eggs and maybe pancakes once????

 

[VacationForever]

Homemade pie is ambitious, so is the gluten-free pizza with homemade dough. I think things that require specialized equipment are always the most ambitious....bread pans, pie pans, waffle irons...things that don't normally appear in timeshares. We make a lemon sponge dessert that requires a zester and a hand mixer (which we've now put in our timeshare box, because not all timeshares have hand mixers.)

We bring mini and regular muffin pans along to timeshare to make cheesecake bites, as I call them.

 

[Glynda]

Breakfast. That's the only meal we prepare at a timeshare unless we eat leftovers from lunch or dinner the night before. I don't go on vacation to eat my own cooking!!!

 

[VacationForever]

Breakfast. That's the only meal we prepare at a timeshare unless we eat leftovers from lunch or dinner the night before. I don't go on vacation to eat my own cooking!!!

We used to eat out every meal except for some breakfast. After we retired when we do not need to be on working vacations anymore, we have time to cook. We still eat out for our lunches. However we find that in general our own prepared dinners taste better than even what top restaurants serve us, so we prefer to eat in for dinner except for a night or two out to give us a break.

Tonight we are home and we will be having homemade crab cakes and Costco prime grade ribeye cap with grilled asparagus and golden crowns (tater tots). We just cook the same whether we are home or away to a timeshare.

 

[b2bailey]

My story is not so much the 'what' of it but the 'how' of it.
We were going to stay at Gaslamp Plaza Suites in San Diego. We own there but had never stayed before.
Because we got into town early, we went grocery shopping first. Lesson #1 learned.
Don't shop before you know what is in the kitchen.

So, here we were with more groceries than would fit in the mini fridge and nothing more than a microwave.

Went to Walmart and bought a small George Foreman grill. You would be amazed at what can be prepared.
And...in the bathroom, no less. Only room with a fan and there were 'warning signs' about not creating
smoke in the room because the detectors were sensitive.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Maui is the place we make a lot of big meals. We are here now. Corned beef and cabbage, chicken taco soup from Allrecipes.com which is basically opening a bunch of cans and throwing in some frozen chicken breasts (favorite of mine), and beef stroganoff. Those all come to mind. We bring spices with us. Crazy amount of small containers.

Rick also baked a nice big cheesecake and we bought cherry pie filling to put on top. He made green chile in the crockpot here (those crockpots are things you cannot get in big resorts), so we have breakfast burritos, smothered in chile every morning. We brought two cans of chiles from home (big cans from Costco). You cannot find stuff like that here.

We have done quite a few pot roasts on vacation, but that is pretty easy.

We have seven of us this trip. We were able to get three units this trip, so our little granddaughter could be here. I was able to get two units at Westin Ka'anapali. Those studios, even island view, are amazing.

We bring a griddle, electric, and a pineapple corer (Pampered Chef one).

Rick baked the cheesecake in a 9 X 13 pan here. This place is very well equipped. I love it at Hono Koa, but it's not for everyone.

 

[WinniWoman]

The most I have done is baked ziti as part of a XMAS dinner in our NH timeshare. The local supermarket leaves a lot to be desired in terms of ingredients and so on.

And also made pulled pork in the crockpot. That was easy and that is about it. I really keep it simple because I am on vacation.

I find it too much of a hassle to cook fancy stuff when I don't have all the conveniences of my home kitchen and ingredients.

We are having Thanksgiving at out VT one this year and I was either going to cook the meal or get a supermarket order but my husband already said he wants to eat out at the local place there that has the best turkey dinner- a VT specialty.

 

[bluehende]

My idea of cooking at a timeshare

 

[jlp879]

I once took the challenge of making every single meal in a Marriott Desert Springs II studio for a cheap summer getaway week. My (now ex) DH didn't really want to go, saying that all that eating out would be too expensive for our family.

So, with a lot of planning, we ate in for every meal at that Marriott studio for the whole trip. Just a regular toaster and a microwave for in room appliances. Luckily, the barbeque area was right off our building. Every dinner was cooked on the grill; breakfast was bagels, fruit and cereal all week, and lunches were a combination of sandwiches and prepared foods heated up in the microwave. We went through a lot of foil for all that barbeque cooking, but you can really do anything on it. I baked a cobbler and brownies on the bbq that trip.

 

[WinniWoman]

When we go on an airfare trip, we will usually just get frozen dinners for the microwave and some lunch and breakfast items, which are easier.

And- yeah- if we have an efficiency type kitchen in an exchange timeshare with no oven or burners- we do the frozen meals to keep expenses down. Maybe eat out once or twice. I bring our plug in tea kettle also.

 

[Timeshare Von]

<<SNIPPED>>

Of course, we've also made Thanksgiving dinner in a timeshare, but I think the bread is more ambitious.

What's the most ambitious/impressive thing you've cooked in a timeshare?

I did the full turkey dinner at Wyndham Patriot's Place in Williamsburg many years ago. Dinner for 10 in such small confines, especially the kitchen, seemed like an ambitious undertaking at the time. LOL

 

[Conan]

The national dish of Madeira is Black Scabbardfish.
We saw them at the fish market. I brought one back to the timeshare and somehow cooked it. (That's the fishmonger in the picture.)

I checked Wikipedia just now to get the name right. Hopefully I cooked it well enough!

"The black scabbardfish is a suitable host for the parasite Anisakis. This is mainly due to the fishes’ diet of infected hosts such as crustaceans (euphausiids, copepods and amphipods), fish and cephalopods. This parasite is a nematode that is capable of entering the hosts stomach wall or intestines....Consumption of raw or under cooked black scabbard fish can result in health complications for humans. The only reliable treatment for a human affected with Anisakiasis is the removal of the nematodes through endoscopy, or surgery."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_scabbardfish

 

[VacationForever]

The national dish of Madeira is Black Scabbardfish.
We saw them at the fish market. I brought one back to the timeshare and somehow cooked it. (That's the fishmonger in the picture.)

I checked Wikipedia just now to get the name right. Hopefully I cooked it well enough!

"The black scabbardfish is a suitable host for the parasite Anisakis. This is mainly due to the fishes’ diet of infected hosts such as crustaceans (euphausiids, copepods and amphipods), fish and cephalopods. This parasite is a nematode that is capable of entering the hosts stomach wall or intestines....Consumption of raw or under cooked black scabbard fish can result in health complications for humans. The only reliable treatment for a human affected with Anisakiasis is the removal of the nematodes through endoscopy, or surgery."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_scabbardfish

You get my vote for being the most adventurous! When I see an ugly fish with scary teeth, I definitely would not want to have anything to do with it. Eew...

 

[wackymother]

The national dish of Madeira is Black Scabbardfish.
We saw them at the fish market. I brought one back to the timeshare and somehow cooked it. (That's the fishmonger in the picture.)

I checked Wikipedia just now to get the name right. Hopefully I cooked it well enough!

"The black scabbardfish is a suitable host for the parasite Anisakis. This is mainly due to the fishes’ diet of infected hosts such as crustaceans (euphausiids, copepods and amphipods), fish and cephalopods. This parasite is a nematode that is capable of entering the hosts stomach wall or intestines....Consumption of raw or under cooked black scabbard fish can result in health complications for humans. The only reliable treatment for a human affected with Anisakiasis is the removal of the nematodes through endoscopy, or surgery."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_scabbardfish

I am very impressed. The possibility of parasites just makes it more impressive!