Silversea Water Cooler: Part 3, Welcome!

[UKCruiseJeff]

Good Afternoon all ...

 

Have a great trip Terry and Spins.

 

I had just installed a new Android / Kodi streamer box - the world of viewing is now our oyster .. .. and the Oscars were thankfully streaming extremely well ... all HD ..... and a sleepless night left me with the Oscars. To be honest it was my first tme with the full event and I was really impressed with the organisation and gloss of it all and the slickness and had just started to semi-doze when the train crash happened. The host had been ribbing people all through so it looked like it was part of the joke.

 

Personally whilst I am into nostalgia to a degree for the golden years of Hollywood, La La Land left me a bit cool. Not as good as the classic style but I guess that's Hollywood for you.

 

Today is home made shepherds pie.

 

Jeff

[TLCOhio]

Have a great trip Terry and Spins.

Today is home made shepherds pie. Jeff

 

Appreciate Jeff's quick follow-up, but NO, Spins is not on this Panama Canal cruise. Unlike my wife, Candy will not have to put up with me during this "adventure". Hopefully, Spins will give us an update on her husband's dental fix and recovery.

 

Look forward to seeing the shepherds pie pictures.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Enjoyed a 14-day, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure, getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under? before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

 

for more info and many pictures of these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 172,140 views for this posting.

[UKCruiseJeff]

I am afraid it will be a touch difficult taking piccies of the shepherds pie due to it's current location ....

 

Jeff

[jpalbny]

I could procure a scope to take that picture, Jeff... ;)

 

Sent from my SM-G930T using Forums mobile app

[TLCOhio]

I could procure a scope to take that picture, Jeff... ;)

 

Is this a case of . . . T M I ??? Too much information??!!

 

Are all boarded on our ship in Fort Lauderdale. Smooth and quick for the check-in. Super enjoyed our time here in this area of Florida. Much more to come later.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

For details and visuals, etc., from our July 1-16, 2010, Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. This posting is now at 210,118 views.

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

[spinnaker2]

Bon Voyage Terry.

 

Sorry we couldn' t have dinner at Il Mulino. DH has been to the dentist and properly attended to, and is ok. I managed to catch a cold during our quick weekend turn around and foray to Manhattan. All those people sneezing and coughing on the planes...it was a mist of germs looking to land. I was the lucky petri dish.

 

Jeff, I think I will wait for the visual of your meal until the next time. I am not familiar with the device that you mentioned that allows you to stream... but sounds wonderful.

 

JP, no scoping! It would never look like what it did before it was chewed up and churned up.

 

Soon, very soon, it will be March!

[UKCruiseJeff]

Good Afternoon Coolers,

 

Her favourite Singapore dish is Hainanese chicken rice which I scratch made today ..... or to be completely accurate - over the last couple of days as it is quite a stock/soup base ....

 

It looks very plain but it has bags of flavour.

 

Jeff

 

 

Camera

iPad

 

Focal Length

4.28mm

 

Aperture

f/2.4

 

Exposure

1/17s

 

ISO

50

 

[jpalbny]

Hi all,

 

Jeff, the chicken does look plain. I'm not familiar with the dish. What gives it the flavor?

 

A relatively quiet week, after working pretty hard the first week back from vacation. We're off for the weekend before I go back to another week on-call starting Monday.

 

Terry must be having too much fun to post. :cool:

 

Spinnaker2, glad all is well with the spindoctor's teeth. Jeepers, retirement is dangerous! Hope you're feeling better after the cold. I think we sat near a tuberculosis patient on the first of our three flights home but we managed to avoid anything too nasty...so far!

 

Mysty, can you please keep that cold Arctic air to yourself? It has become decidedly colder here the past two days, and tomorrow will be even worse. The predicted low is near zero tomorrow night - and that's Farenheit! What the end of February gave us, the beginning of March is making up for.

 

We met with a contractor yesterday as we're thinking of a sunroom on the back of the house. We'll meet with another one next week and see what they offer. Hoping to get that done by early summer. We've been talking about it for a few years and it's exciting to think that we might get it done finally!

 

Will be interesting to see if we need a visa for our upcoming trip to Europe in May. That would be quite a shock if I have to do that! Here's hoping cooler heads prevail on both sides of the Atlantic...

 

Have a great weekend!

[Camillus112]

JP, glad you and Chris are safely back home and enjoying the arctic weather we both share. I'm at a loss! What do you mean about visas for Europe? Haven't heard anything to that effect yet. We are doing a SS northbound crossing from Barcelona to Southhampton in May... Hope you may be joking!

[spinnaker2]

Hello all.

Still fighting a cold. Looking for warmth...

Decided to make the black bean soup from new York Times food section.

It is beautiful to look at but so spicy my lips are still tingling.

I can't eat it.

Tried everything to salvage...sugar, lemon juice, sour cream, dark chocolate cocoa powder.

Not help.

All that work for naught.

Any of you cheffies out there have a idea to salvage it?

Otherwise I will melt the plumbing when I pitch it.

 

JP

I had heard about the potential for usa citizens needing visas...can't find out if required...

[mysty]

Greetings Coolers! Hope all are doing well! Special thoughts for S!

JP... Terribly sorry about the nasty frigid air that is freezing everyone over the last couple days. Maybe there should be a cold air wall erected to keep the chill from descending? :) However, we do get Colorado Lows here so I think our countries just like to share weather patterns.

Have a great weekend all!

[mysty]

Sympathies on the searing heat from your spicy soup Spins. I have no recommendations but I do send my sympathy!

[spinnaker2]

Mysty.

So much capsaicin.

OUCH.

Searing describes it.

[mysty]

Recent article about visas for US citizens.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-usa-visa-idUSKBN1691Q9

[jpalbny]

spinnaker2, I don't know of a remedy other than dilution. The things you've already tried can sometimes help, but not here. Sorry.

 

Bread with a generous spread of butter can relieve the burn on your lips post eating, or avocado toast, or basically anything fatty. Capsaicin is fat soluble, so something with fat content will wash it away more quickly. Cold water dulls the sensation but doesn't remove the stuff from your mucous membranes. Same with cold Riesling, though the latter tastes much better!

 

It's definitely a red wine kind of day here. We had an impressively intense snow squall on the way home from work a few minutes ago. Terrible visibility but it passed quickly.

 

Hi Camillus12! Glad you're here on the cooler too. No joke, I'm afraid. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-03-02/europe-votes-impose-visas-americans

 

RE: visas for Europe, the problem as I understand it is that the US still requires visas for citizens of some EU countries (mostly former Eastern Bloc countries) because we claim that their countries' security and other procedures aren't adequate for our visa waiver program. The EU therefore voted to suspend the visa waiver reciprocity program with the US, since some of its member countries are not part of our visa waiver program. Apparently the US was put on notice back in 2014 that this could happen if they didn't comply with reciprocal privileges for all members, and now it may happen.

 

The EU commission has two months to reinstitute a visa requirement for Americans, though from what I'm reading there is a chance that this recommendation can be rejected by "Parliament and the European Council." I'm sorry but I don't know enough about the political structure of the EU to comment further, because I don't really know who else needs to vote on this issue. Hoping someone knows more.

 

We too are keeping an eye on it, as we travel to Prague, Berlin, and Copenhagen the second half of May. So two months will end a few weeks before we travel. Should be interesting!

[jpalbny]

Mysty, your article is more optimistic than the one I posted. Cool. Hope yours is right! Considering that most NORMAL governments don't impose travel bans without careful thought...this may take longer than two months! :rolleyes:

[UKCruiseJeff]

Good evening all ...... a frenzy of activity here!

 

Spins, yoghurt for chilli burns I reckon is best.. Re the cold .... this sounds like an old wives tale but I suggest you give it a try. Every three weeks or so I have a chicken soup week. Basically I buy and chop up a couple of corn fed chickens. Really good quality, cheap chickens make nasty soup. Fry the pieces and caramelise them, add a great biug heap of sofritto ie diced quality carrots tha have taste in them, red onions, celery and parsley and then add lots of water and bring it so a simmer and boil it for hours - say around seven or eight. The whole house smells of wonderful chicken soup. Drain it and seive the contents. Whatever you do do not skim off the fat, there is so much goodness in that fat. Don't clarify it leave it cloudy. I believe this soup cures colds. Basically I start the soup of a Monday and I keep it going until it is gone normally round about Thursday or so. I just use a coffee cup and scoop out a cup as I'm passing or doing something in the kitchen. If I have a cold or sore throat I might but a slug of red wine in the bottom of a bowl and top up with the soup. It really soothes and relaxes.

 

JP, the rice was vooked in the Zoji with the chicken soup. Because the Zoji is so precise you use exactly the right amount of liquid and end up with dry seperate long grain rice bursting with chicken flavour in each grain. When making the soup I reserve the breasts and simply poach them in the soup thirty minutes before we eat.

 

Heard from Soapy a couple of days back, she is fine and sends her thoughts. I'm sure she'll pop back soon.

 

Today the musselss looked so good it was a Thai green curry mussels lunch with some nice crusty baguette made from the pizza biga. It had to be done.

 

Last night was a lovely pizza (with 60gms of mozarella JP!) and hers without cheese and our first bottle of wine in two months!

 

Jeff

 

 

 

 

 

[Tothesunset]

Many (many) pages ago Jeff recommended an Australian TV show, Rake.

 

We are half way through the first series and I have to say it is really good - well written, well acted and has taken an old, hackneyed format and made it bright, funny and, at times, quite touching.

 

I know it's fashionable, in the UK at least, to claim that there is ever only rubbish on the TV but I just can't agree. There are some marvellous series out there from all sorts of geographically diverse sources.

[mysty]

J...those meals look scrumptious! The soup recipe is really enticing. I'll pass it on to Myster. :) Glad to hear that S is doing OK.

 

TTS....We complain about the paucity of interesting TV options here as well. My absolute favourite these days is This Is Us. Good acting, good writers, interesting and realistic story line.

[UKCruiseJeff]

TTS, so pleased you reminded me of Rake. Time for a rerun here I think.

 

I'm filled with admiration for a lot of Ozzer TV production. Just finished watching the last series of "A place to call home" which I think is one of the finest and best written series on TV.

 

Jeff

[jpalbny]

Chris and I have been watching reruns of Hogan's Heroes on YouTube. We are enjoying them immensely.

 

Here is another article on the visa kerfuffle. http://www.cntraveler.com/story/americans-may-need-visas-to-visit-europe-this-summer?mbid=nl_030317_Daily&CNDID=24244038&spMailingID=10551094&spUserID=MTcyOTc3Mjk1NDM0S0&spJobID=1120279019&spReportId=MTEyMDI3OTAxOQS2

 

It implies that nothing will likely happen until at least June. That would work for us, but hopefully we can play like adults and work it out.

 

Jeff - thanks for the additional info. It does sound flavorful!

[UKCruiseJeff]

TTS,

 

Just on Rake #2. Who would have thought that cannibilism wasn't aganst the law in Oz?

 

Jeff

[jpalbny]

Freezing cold tonight. Luckily I'd thought ahead and prepared some short ribs yesterday.

 

Salt pepper and flour coating, then browned in a frying pan. I put them in the crockpot overnight with carrots, mushrooms, and onions. I added one bottle of dark beer and some beef broth.

 

This morning I put the pot in the garage to cool. When I got back from work today I skimmed the fat and reheated.

 

Once everything was warm I cut some red potatoes and crisped them in the air fryer.

 

 

The ribs were removed from the broth and seared to a brown crisp in the frying pan. Then I poured the broth and vegetables in to let the flavors meld one last time.

 

 

 

The ribs got taken out and put on the potatoes. The sauce and veggies were reduced. Just before serving I stirred a few tasty bits into the sauce for extra flavor. Grated garlic, lemon rind, chopped parsley, anchovy paste for umaumi, and a little parmesan cheese. Broth and veggies went over the potatoes and meat.

 

 

So much flavor!

 

We raided the bottom shelf of the wine fridge for something special. I had a bottle of 2013 Hermann J. Wiemer Cabernet Franc single vineyard that had been aging for just such a special occasion. Out it came.

 

 

Great meal for a cold night!

 

Sent from my SM-G930T using Forums mobile app

[mysty]

JP....That meal is just beyond words! I could actually taste the deliciousness from your description! Yuuuuuuum!

[spinnaker2]

JP.

That meal rocks.

 

Decided to save my soup to take corrosion off battery.

 

Last night our neighborhood had a rash of car burglars.

Very creepy.

Mine was one of them.