kochleffel

If you ever need to buy Superglue in Spain, it's called Superglue there. I know this from breaking the frames of my outdoor glasses in a hill village on Mallorca in 2018, during a western Mediterranean cruise. Tonight I broke the frames of my current outdoor glasses, although not in exactly the same way, and I've just superglued them back together. In this case, it was a glued or soldered joint that broke. I didn't even consider taking them for repair, because it would mean replacing the frames, and I have an appointment for an exam next month anyway. If the repair holds, they'll be good enough for watching television, which is most of what I wear them for at this time of year.

They did on the Oosterdam. Friday, 7:00 p.m., both weeks.

Gingerbread cookies are OK. Television does not deserve a special day, and there are too many odd socks already. I'm roasting butternut squash today but it's for Thanksgiving. I would be unlikely to buy the whisky for the drink. We grow a lot of Syrah in the Finger Lakes, but it tends not to be as dark or heavy as when grown in hotter climates. I'll suggest Fulkerson's Bourbon Barrel Syrah 2021. Ashdod is no more Jerusalem than Warnemünde is Berlin, and not a place you want to be right now. I'm also having problems with medical appointments. I need to have a possible skin cancer checked, and the largest medical group here promises immediate appointments for that -- but their idea of "immediate" was October 2024. My PCP referred me to an independent dermatology practice. I haven't heard from them yet.

When I think of fudge, I think of Mackinac Island, but that isn't usually peanut-butter fudge. I would probably enjoy the meal suggestion, although I couldn't make it at home without a substantial adjustment in the recipe. Pass on the drink, I can't come up with another Sauvignon Blanc at this hour, and I haven't been to Papua New Guinea. This morning I had an appointment with my TCM practitioner, who has just moved his practice to his home. His offices were designed to include a massage therapist, but there hasn't been one for more than a year, but what really caused it was that the building is being torn up for mold abatement. His home is late Victorian/early Craftsman with the most elaborate oak millwork I have ever seen. I also had an appointment to donate blood today, but as soon as I got up I knew that it wasn't happening, so I changed it to next month. And then this evening I taught a class on Amos and Hosea, my first time teaching in a hybrid setting (room and Zoom).

New York qualifies for the offer, but I have as much already booked for 2024 as I want to.

OK on the special days. No on the ziti and the cocktail. Garnacha/Grenache has been grown in the Finger Lakes but needs a longer season, so I'll suggest Teroldego from Red Tail Ridge Winery, which has a similar character. I have been to Argostoli, Kefalonia, on the Norwegian Jade in 2022, but can't locate pictures. Our community interfaith Thanksgiving Service is this afternoon, and it's awkward. Both the synagogue and the mosque pulled out, so churches are the only sponsors. I will attend anyway.

I'd like some fresh-pressed apple cider. My favorite O. Henry story is "The Ransom of Red Chief." Indian butter chicken would be OK, but actual dinner here will be a stir-fry of tofu and bok choy. I've just set up the rice cooker to make enough for a casserole tomorrow, too. Adding whiskey to lemonade is not a very original idea. Another Sauvignon Blanc? I'll go with Buttonwood Grove Fumé Blanc 2021. (Although many Finger Lakes wineries grow Sauvignon Blanc, German varieties such as Riesling are the best here.) I haven't been to Baie Comeau.

The Eurodam was at a neighboring pier when I was boarding the Nieuw Amsterdam in January 2020. From the deck of the NA:

I live well south of Rochester, so the route is I-86 to I-81, etc. But I plan to spend two nights in Manhattan before embarking. I'll garage my car at the Weehawken ferry terminal for those nights, and then drive it to Cape Liberty.

With my injured food, I'm not going to be taking a hike today. In fact, I ordered groceries for curbside pickup rather than traipse all around the store. Also, it's raining. As much as I like butternut squash, the idea of adding it to macaroni and cheese makes me queasy. However, for Thanksgiving, I'm making a Three Sisters casserole: corn (in the form of hominy), beans, and roasted squash. No on the cocktail. For a Sauvignon Blanc (again) maybe Dr. Frank's 2022: "Classic aromas of grapefruit, guava, and wet stones perch alongside dried grass and herbs. Ripe nectarine and passion fruit round out the generous body. It's beautifully delicate and substantial with cool climate acidity cutting through." I haven't been to Pichilingue. Mona Lisa says that a computer mouse isn't a real mouse, and is totally inedible. At least I think that's what she was saying. I'm starting to think about packing for my January cruise, and having trouble adjusting to the idea that I'm driving to the port. I'll have two days in NYC before embarking, and I'm also having trouble remembering that the embarkation is from Cape Liberty, not the Manhattan Cruise Terminal.

I used to play the clarinet, both B-flat and E-flat, and the alto recorder, which is also in B-flat. I have been finding lately that too many people who promote tolerance aren't actually very tolerant. Buttons are OK but so is Velcro. I suppose I could kosherize the from-scratch tetrazzini recipe. I don't see why a mint julep needs to be made with rum; that is probably a criminal offense in Kentucky. For a Sauvignon Blanc, maybe Ravines Wine Cellars 2022. I haven't been to Saint Pierre or Miquelon.

I got home around 8:15 p.m. yesterday. I had a rain jacket in an outside pocket of my luggage and put it on before leaving the cruise terminal, but the effect was like a steam bath. I was glad to be leaving at noon, because it looked as if the FLL airport might flood before the evening (this has happened), but from the news today I guess that it didn't. I'm on record as disliking the Delta-Air Canada-Westjet terminal at FLL, but it has been improved since the last time I was there. The flight to ATL had a lot of turbulence and there was no cabin service except one quick pass with water. ATL was, well, ATL, but the flight to ROC had an empty seat next to me and no turbulence to speak of. Frederick Douglass International (ROC), in contrast, is one of the nicest airports in the country, provided that you want to fly to an airline hub.

I'm off the ship and now at the airport. It's definitely raining.

Because of all the missed ports, and the excursion credit in HIA, they’ve converted the unused portion of it to actual non-refundable credit. A net benefit for me since I wouldn’t have used all of it.

This afternoon I went to guest services to have gift cards applied to my account. A supervisor was training someone and I think was happy to have something that she could teach the new person how to do— there seemed to be many people there questioning accounts that were correct, or wanting something impossible. At lunch we were discussing the Saga ship that, when the Oosterdam was diverting to Las Palmas because of the storm, diverted from Las Palmas and tried to reach a mainland port, couldn’t dock there, and headed for Portsmouth in the UK. In a huge storm, I don’t think I would deliberately go to the Bay of Biscay. Hearing about this made us more tolerant of our captain’s choice to get the ship as far out of the mess as possible.

I needed to attend Zoom classes during this cruise. The Internet was fine whenever I needed it, but might not be as consistent at higher latitudes. Zoom’s two-way video requires a lot of bandwidth and so I had upgraded to the premium package.

It can take a long time for water in my obstructed OV, deck 4 mid, to get hot, but then it ranges from hot to very hot. DR portions seem mostly smaller than on my last HAL cruise, in 2020, except when one is unpredictably huge. Service falls just slightly short. For example, it’s almost impossible to get a refill of coffee at breakfast. This morning I had a room-service breakfast at 7:15 and they phoned three hours later to ask whether it was okay. It is painful to see the Lincoln Center Stage space, which is not being used for anything.

I approve of French dip sandwiches and of French onion dip, also of happy hour, but I hope that this is actually Anti-Pneumonia Day. For today I switched from a brandy old-fashioned to Irish and soda. Both of these drinks confuse DR servers. It’s 80+° F on the starboard side of the promenade deck, probably much warmer on the port side, and frigid almost everywhere inside the ship.

If you order it in Chicago, the bartender will ask if you want cheese with it.

@Quartzsite Cruiser I’m not sure whether the cocktail is a pseudotini trying to pass as a cake, or a cake trying to pass as a cocktail. I decided that if HRH could have a cocktail before lunch, so could I. My choice isn’t gin, but a brandy old-fashioned. This is causing confusion in the MDR, where the servers don’t recognize it. Today I was offered brandy and coke instead. The bartenders do know what it is.

I attended the cooking demonstration this morning morning, but won’t be making the Dutch pea soup since it contains pork in at least four different forms. Someone asked about cooling the pork stock in order to remove some of the fat, and the chef said not to. “It gives flavor.” The ship is now on the same time as eastern Greenland, which means that I have a Zoom class at 7:00 p.m. if Internet is still working. In case it’s not, I already uploaded the work that I’m supposed to present in class.

Penn’s guarantee of religious freedom was genuine, in that Pennsylvania welcomed Lutherans, Anabaptists, other Protestants, Jews, and Catholics, as well as Quakers. I am not sure about Anglicans, who had given him a lot of trouble in England.

Another gala dinner tonight, but the most conspicuous features were long waits for seating, and slow service. The menu was more to my taste, and the lamb chops were very good. The majority at my shared table ordered filet mignon and didn’t like it. The dessert service was confused; several people got none, or else wrong desserts and didn’t immediately notice. Mine was correct, but I could make a better and more authentic Linzertorte. It is strange, or maybe not, that the gala dinners aren’t as good as the ordinary ones.

From a crew drill this morning. They didn't actually evacuate any rooms.