Holiday Party at Moshulu

Lockheed had this year's holiday party down in Philadelphia, at Moshulu. That was really exciting for us, since we've driven by the place a ton of times, since you can see it from I-95.
The Moshulu is a restaurant inside a ship. But not just any ship, the only four-masted sailing ship still afloat. It launched in 1904 and had all sorts of great adventures hauling coal and copper and lumber and grain all around the world. In 1975 it opened as a restaurant here in Philadelphia. From 1989 to 1994 it lay dormant, because a fire destroyed quite a bit of the ship. The current owner and restaurateur has been in charge since 2003, and it has quite the list of accolades. (Fun fact: you can see the ship in 1976's Rocky.)
Anyway, parking was a bit of a pain, but after we found a lot that wasn't over-crowded we were good. We went in and the entryway was very crowded, as people were picking up their nametags, checking their coats, and dropping off canned goods for the charity collection. We did all that and then went exploring for a while. Multiple floors and sections made for a lot of different areas, all with something else going on. Asian appetizers were in one area, the main buffets in another, dancing with a live band somewhere else, another area for dessert and drinks in another place. It was neat overall, and the floors were slanted and definitely well-worn.

Rob and a few other people arrived, so I went to hold a table (open seating all over the place, so it was hard to find seats) and the guys went to bring back appetizers. The fried shrimp was average, the chicken satay was strange, the wok-fried veggies were boring, the stuffed peppers were good, the Korean beef was GREAT.

After sampling the different appetizers, I pioneered our table's trip to the buffet line. It was a long wait, and there weren't many choices (prime rib, carved turkey, salmon, orzo, roasted vegetables, sliced potatoes in a cream sauce, and ciabatta rolls). I tried everything but the prime rib (which the guys definitely had plenty of)... the salmon was very plain, the turkey was fatty, the rolls were fresh, and the potatoes were delicious.

Dessert was a chocolate fountain with a bunch of dippables (no pound cake or bananas tho) and some petit fours. The chocolate mousse was good, the white gingerbread was strange, and the tiramisu went heavy on the Kahlua. Otherwise, nothing notable in the petit four department.

We spent a little time dancing, but it was rather crowded up there and the night wound down fast. We both meant to have someone take our photo (Jonathan was in suit-and-tie, I had a new holiday dress on), but we forgot until we were home and I had already changed clothes and taken down my hair. It was a good time, and quite a bit more fun than the last holiday office party we went to. The only strange thing was that, since the place was so sectioned, there were no overall announcements or door prizes or anything like that.