Will Work for Tiramisu

Diva, Thank you. While I've gone the whole sourdough starter route (& yes, I did kill my mother...) these loaves are from a recipe in "The Best Bread Ever" by Charles Van Over. It is ridiculously simple, you just dump flour, salt, yeast & water into a standard Cuisinart food processor with the steel blade, run it for about 45 seconds til it forms a ball, let it rise, divide into 3 portions, rest, roll out, rise, then bake on a stone with a pan with water below. I've been experimenting with various amounts of letting the dough rise, more or less yeast, and using up dribs and drabs of various flours on hand - rye, whole wheat, OO pasta flour, etc.. Hard to go wrong. Also did a larger batch with the dough hook on a Kitchen Air stand mixer, was very happy with end result - lots of gas bubbles and a nice crumb that demands a slathering of Irish butter on a warm slice, with some preserves my daughter put up last year.

Meanwhile, on the US upper left coast (Oregon) we're in Winter Wonderland mode! Roads are like a skating rink, but without Zambonis. Nothing to do but stay home, bake bread and enjoy the view. Most people think that in Oregon it rains all the time. Au contraire! Sometimes, the rain freezes!!

Was the bear heard to say - "Hey hey hey, BooBoo - whadda ya got in that pic-a-nic basket?" 😁

Way back in the day, when the Interweb was new (and you'd get a diskette from AOL in the mail every other day), I joined a chat group. They were fun, like this forum. My first nom de plume was "Abs Sixpack". I thought it was a fun name, but probably violated certain provisions of "Truth in Advertising" regs.

This seems like a viable option for gentlemen - nice slacks, a collar AND bowtie, cuffs & cufflinks - should at least work for non-formal nights...😁

Heavens! I wouldna toss me caber into that maelstrom, fer love ner money!! I'll sit on the sidelines and play a dirge on me fiddle.

Jazzbeau - I have recently both watched YouTube videos of various S & E movie reviews, and read some comments about them in particular & movie reviews (and the state of the movies) in general. Did they ever try to make you think they were the ultimate highbrows as regards film criticism? No; they're both from newspapers in Chi town, fercrissakes! But between the two of them, and their frequently differing opinions, you got a good sense of what and WHY they thought something was good. They served the mass market well. I liked them both, and saw a lot of movies I would not have otherwise pursued, that they reviewed favorably. As it relates to this august forum, I agree with your position. One hopes that if you post here, you already sorta like to cruise, knowhuttamean? And, maybe you kinda like to put on some nice duds and go doff a few beverages with the missus (or the misteress), and enjoy a classy meal. I like the comparison of the Chicago movie sensibility with the midwest cruise mentality. I suspect a lot of us who have friends who always want to nitpick everything and criticize everyone's efforts as not up to their higher standards, are left sort of out standing in their field. I've known quite a few very wealthy people in my town over the years, and around town, during the day, they were often wearing (literally) overalls or faded jeans & old shirts; but they had net worth in 9 figures. (The wealthy women were/are still wearing gardening or workout clothes or pants & shirts suitable for the grocery store.) Those folks could criticize something with the best of them, if there was reason to do so, but they didn't need to impress anyone with their superior critical abilities. My kinda people. Life is short (and getting shorter). While I agree we should get fabulous service and food and such for the big bucks we fork over for SS, we should also have realistic expectations about what one can expect to get on a ship at sea. Lobsters will be frozen; root vegetables will be more common than lettuce leaves; the passenger list will include some grumpy folks who are looking for stuff to criticize. Just like on shore.

Last time I was in Hamilton, Bermuda, banker types could be seen walking with their briefcases, with suit and tie & Bermuda Shorts. Like a mullet - business on top, party below the belt!! I think perhaps a new cruise line is in order, to take advantage of an obviously growing opportunity - Slovenly Seas! All casual, all the time, with maybe a few Bubba days interspersed. Combing hair optional! Hun, where's my flip flops?? Well-seasoned greetings to my fellow watercoolers....

FWIW, I looked at the website for the train, it says the "Coastal Classic" starts running May 10, 2024. The SS train isn't the same thing (SS is chartered), but at least the June 6 date appears to be "in season". It may be that if they don't have enough pax to transfer back and forth they claim logistics and you get to take the old school bus with the squeaky brakes and near sighted driver. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we get the choo choo both ways, which we will have paid $840 for. Harrumpf!

Tvl4life - Some years ago, when researching doing an Alaska trip, I'd heard about this train, and after reading about it, definitely wanted to do it. (It had a bit to do with swaying us to take the plunge for this cruise.) I also had the impression that a transfer by train from Anchorage might be included (just the one way). I made my reservations for the cruise directly with SS (no TA) and asked that it be included, for which we paid additional $210/person each way, as I recall. We are doing P2P, ie not D2D - it may be that has some bearing on whether included in base package. I suggest you talk with who you're working with, and ask for clarity. I'm sure the view out the windows on bus is still nice, but we didn't want to bracket our cruise both ways with long bus trip.

We are flying to ANC June 4th, staying at Marriot Downtown (not as part of SS), and taking train to Seward on 6th to board S Muse. (Our first Alaska trip!) Marriot hotel, I believe, is also used by SS, so hoping maybe can get pick up by SS for trip to airport to catch the train. (Seems odd, no? - train leaves from airport?) Otherwise, guess we'll take cab. We're doing a 14 day B2B, returning to Seward, and also taking train back to ANC on our return. Am glad to hear train gets in by 1pm, as we fly out at 5pm. (We pay SS for the choo choo transfers, both ways; the alternate is a bus, which is included in base cruise price. No thanks!) While this is not the Alaska RR Coastal Classic per se, it travels the same route. My understanding is that SS pax are all in a car or cars provided by SS, other cruise lines are in other cars. It appears on both June 6th (our embark) and June 20th (our disembark), from What's in Port? website, Silver Muse is only cruise ship in Seward those days, so maybe have whole train to ourselves. Pop that champagne!!

We saw Judy Collins in a small local venue in 2019 - she was a hoot! Obviously great voice, but also a compelling story teller, with long history in the business, knew EVERYBODY, was the subject of the CSNY song "Suite - Judy Blue Eyes". One of the most enjoyable concerts I've ever been to. Probably more talking than singing, actually, but that was fine - she was entertaining almost like a Vaudeville act. I see Roger McGuinn is still making the rounds in his old age, and he is similar in stature to JC, a former session musician, a folkie before the Beatles came along, and for a while the Byrds were considered America's answer to the Beatles. He attracted a lot of wonderful musicians, and was responsible for "country rock", merging rock & roll and country, famously recording the influential Sweetheart of the Rodeo in Nashville. (Many old Nashville hands weren't too happy to see these long hairs invading their turf, by the way.) Bob Dylan's Nashville Skyline came out of the same era.

I was doing some seasonal shopping for my DW, and came across this bottle, which was pitched as a good price ($62US) for a great port, and which I bought. As a former seafarer, I've always hewn to the old saw "A little port in every girl", a variant of "A little girl in every port". I know the cooler has many sophisticated tipplers with far more expertise than I'll ever have. I'm interested in your knowledgeable opinions - is this a decent bottle? Can I expect a peck on the cheek?

That tourtiere looks suspiciously like gussied-up poutine! 🙃

OK, perhaps I should mention that I recently talked with professors at U of O Law School about my signing up to take classes leading to my getting a law degree. I don't plan on offing all the lawyers any time soon; in fact, many of my best friends practice law. Sorry if I lead anyone to think anyone should be impacted for being of a certain opinion, on this august forum. ga

Mr Luxury, As long as you bash ALL politicians, it is fine. As Shakespeare said, "First, kill all the attorneys. Equal opportunity.

As they say, "A fool and his money are soon parted." I'm sorry for those that took the plunge, but methinks a dose of caveat emptor was in order.

Aye aye!! (Salutes sharply.) Roger, Wilco!! 🤪

Our dipping of the toe into making something of our grapes is a real eye opener. This wine making business is a lot of work, and complicated. It's almost like you have to know what you're doing. I asked a friend who is long in the business if he could recommend someone to help us, during time of harvest and crushing. He said, "Are you kidding? EVERYONE who knows ANYTHING about processing grapes in Oregon is working 20 hours a day, until the grapes are harvested and initial processing is done. It is one of those businesses where long periods of limited activity are interspersed with brief periods of all-hands-on-deck. Sounds like the military! Hurry up and wait! So, we keep reading, and have a new appreciation for being able to buy a drinkable bottle of wine at Costco for $9.99! (Oregon, Acrobat, Pinot Gris; grapes primarily grown at King Estates, outside of Eugene, Oregon, in Lorane Valley).

Maybe sort of like joining the Sky High Club?? 😀 (Or is it the Mile High Club?)

For the serious oenophiles, an interesting article in The Oregonian about lots of Oregon wines appearing in top 100 lists of various Wine mags. While Pinot Noir is the current calling card here, Oregon (who shares a lot in common with France such as latitude, ocean modulated climate, variety of soils & microclimates), is host to hundreds or thousands of wineries specializing in every kind of grape. Some folks long in the local wine biz feel that Oregon will ultimately be better known for Chardonnay's and Pinot Gris's, in addition to already stellar Pinot Noir. Southern Washington is also well on its way to being a major producer of good wines. Global warming probably will make it more so. Me? I slurp it all! My DW & I this fall sprang for an Italian-made crusher-destemmer and an English hydraulic press, and are working on our first 10 gallons of wine of several varieties from vines we planted about 5 years ago. The yield shot up this year, and I'm going to have to build stouter arbors to hold the heavy load of ripening grapes. This is a back yard operation, so sorry, you won't be seeing our bottles on SS anytime soon! Oregon Wines Make a Splash on Magazine Top 100 lists:

Wink, wink, nudge, nudge!!

Smoking a cigarette, I suppose....

Not to throw too much gasoline on this fire, but I wonder what percentage of the PAX are on all day, late returning outings on any given port day?? Is the tail wagging the dog?