Silversea Water Cooler: Welcome! Part Five

[Daveywavey70]

Merry Christmas Terry 😀

[jpalbny]

Davey, no it was by boat. We did see some seaplanes come in and out though. That looks fun too!

 

Terry, great stuff. National Geographic had a big article on the archaeology of Jerusalem in an issue late last year I think - maybe December 2017. I have it saved somewhere in case we every get there.

[Lois R]

JP, I have been to the Misty Fjords as well..…..great photos and it is an awesome trip.

 

Terry, good to see you and my sis and bil sailed to those places earlier this year...…..wonderful photos too. 

[UpstateJan]

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays fellow Coolers!   Hope everyone is having a fun and peaceful day, and looking forward to a fresh start for 2019.

 

Busy day, we were up at 3:30am to help fill in for Mr. & Mrs. Claus, you know they are getting older and a bit forgetful, so my neighbors asked us to fill in, just in case.  We have twin 4 year olds next door, needless to say, yes, yes we would be happy to help out the Claus couple.   We ran across the yard with two wagons of presents to display in unusual places all over the porch and yard.   This year, no snow to deal with (last year we had to cover our tracks, LITERALLY, and I even figured out to leave some "reindeer" tracks).   We were back in our nice warm house by 4:30am, and snuggled back in until we got the hilarious 7:30am call "Wanna come over, Santa showed up?".  We went over for a little bit, I brought over breakfast empanadas, it was loud and crazy, but a good time.  

 

Next, I drove 5 miles over to my brother's house to deliver Smudge's present from Santa Paws.  Instead of buying more toys for him to rip apart, I spent the last 3 weekends resurrecting some well loved stuffed animals.  My favorite was Mr. Possum, I had to reconstruct a snout and nose, opted to not put legs back on him since those are too easy to rip off.  He looked pretty good, for a 'possum.   There were 3 little stuffed animals ready to rough house with an overly energetic 9 year old English Setter.   

 

Back home, just pulled the leftovers from yesterday and had lunch - bbq brisket, corn bread, roasted carrots, rajas de poblanos, and a nice crisp green salad.  Enough left for either tonight or dinner tomorrow night.  We're thinking about going for a nice long walk while it is so gorgeously sunny.   Tomorrow is back to work, ready for the rush for month-end/year end.  Fighting the impulse to get a little done to make my short week less hectic....

 

Jan

[silkismom]

Mysty, LOL, I check in everyday, just for your funnys always cheer me up.  Thank you. Also thanks for the sympathy with our Sassi, she seems almost normal, if we didn't know better. Giving her special Fancy Feast food and lots of love. Unfortunately our other kitty has decided that hissing is needed whenever they get close to each other. I think she knows that Sassi is sick.

[mysty]

Jan, that is one very hectic Christmas!  Your meal sounds delicious!  And I can understand the urge to get a start on what may be a very busy short week!

 

Silkismom....I'm so glad you are enjoying the funnies.  I'm having a great time finding them!  🙂 

[TLCOhio]

2 hours ago, jpalbny said:

Davey, no it was by boat. We did see some seaplanes come in and out though. That looks fun too!   Terry, great stuff. National Geographic had a big article on the archaeology of Jerusalem in an issue late last year I think - maybe December 2017. I have it saved somewhere in case we every get there.

 

Appreciate these nice follow-ups and the added background from the always helpful J.P.   When we doing our touring in Jerusalem last month, our guide had mentioned some details from those findings by the recent archaeological research at this important historic site.  I remember National Geographic covering that story a year ago.  BUT, I need to go back and dig out that copy.  Much interesting that was discovered and confirmed about this unique location by these in-depth scientific efforts.  In the current National Geographic, their cover story is about the Dead Sea Scrolls.  We visited the Israel Museum and saw the unique part of this sprawling facility focused on these ancient writings.  All wonderful and interesting history!!   Great to see so much "up close and personal"! 

 

Like the fjord pictures!!  We are getting ready and now focused on our next major trip.  In July 2019, we will be doing, for our first time, Jasper/Banff, the Western Canada Rocky Mountaineer rail adventure, Vancouver, Alaska via Silversea's Silver Muse, Denali, etc.  Like the idea of doing some seaplane exploring of these super scenic locations.

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio

 

Barcelona/Med: June 2011, with stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Great visuals with key highlights, tips, etc. Live/blog now at 243,312 views.

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

[jpalbny]

Busy two days of cooking. It takes my mind off being on call though so it's worth it.

 

Last night was a few traditional Ukrainian dishes for Christmas Eve. Borsch from scratch (no bottled stuff here) and pierogy. We made both sour and sweet cabbage varieties. The sour ones are easy, just cook some sauerkraut with butter and onions, chop, and stuff. The sweet ones involve cooking down fresh cabbage for a few hours so they are a little more work.

 

End results.

 

The steam made it hard to get a clear picture.

 

Ready to go! I make the dough from scratch (very easy) and then roll it in a pasta press to get it thin and even. Then I cut out the dough rounds and Chris stuffs them with filling. I get to do a few at the end, but hers look prettier. She has a few years more experience.

 

Boil for 3 minutes. Hope that none of them break! We had a 100% success rate this time. 

 

 Ready to eat! The butter and onion sauce keeps them from sticking together. 

 

 

Today we wanted something special so I found some duck legs in the freezer, left over from the duck that we made a few weeks ago. I prepared them simply by first searing the skin, then cooking some assorted vegetables in the duck fat. All went into a pan with potatoes, then chicken broth, and then it was slow cooked in the oven for about 2 hours. The skin was incredibly crisp and the meat was tender like confit. It was so good!

 

Random vegetables. Carrots, mushrooms, onions, shallots, and bits from the tough end of asparagus spears. No worries; duck fat makes everything taste better.

 

Vegetables covered in broth. Seared legs and potato halves on top. Now into the oven to get extra tasty.

 

The smell was intoxicating!

 

Merry Christmas to all! This was a great dinner. I can't believe how easy it was to prepare. I will definitely make this recipe again and again.

Edited December 25, 2018 by jpalbny

[mysty]

Your creations look delicious JP and Chris!

[Daveywavey70]

Wow JP. That takes me back! My ex was from Sevastopol so recognised a lot of the food there.

[Lois R]

JP, everything looks so good.  My Dad's family (I only knew my Grandma) came from Russia and Borsht was a staple.....I love beets but never really liked Borsht.....but my dad LOVED IT...…..

[mysty]

Greetings Coolers!

 

Today's funny.....

 

 

Have a great day all!

[Lois R]

Good morning Mysty, that is very good LOL

 

Back to work today,,,,,,,,,,,sigh.  Short week though.

[jpalbny]

Only one week of work left for us! Regular days today through Friday. For the weekend our hours are variable. However long it takes.

 

Next Monday is a regular day but finally not on call! Tuesday we are off for New Year's Day. One last day of work next Wednesday then vacation! 

 

For the first time in decades we have no New Year's Eve plans. Mixed feelings about that.

[besberry]

On 12/24/2018 at 6:01 PM, mysty said:

besberry...it looks like a lovely place.  In fact I found 50 reasons to love Milton Keynes!

 

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/jan/20/50-reasons-love-milton-keynes-concrete-cows-wd-40

 

I kind of love #3 especially since there is a Canadian connection.  🙂 

"Among the city’s 220 works of public art is this 1978 sculpture by Canadian artist Liz Leyh consisting of three cows and three calves, roughly half life-size and so, you’d think, confusing to wandering livestock. Shortly after former culture minister Kim Howells raged against modern art’s “cold, mechanical, conceptual b******t” in 2002, concrete cow pats appeared beneath the sculpture."

 

Mysty, the concrete cows are one of the reasons Brits take the p*** out of MK.  That and the roundabouts.  I was born here and predate the place and I love living here.  BTW, I visit Vancouver often, about 12 visits now, as a very good friend of mine lives there.  We met when I drove a bus to India and she was one of the mechanics.  That was way in '74!

[mysty]

4 minutes ago, besberry said:

Mysty, the concrete cows are one of the reasons Brits take the p*** out of MK.  That and the roundabouts.  I was born here and predate the place and I love living here.  BTW, I visit Vancouver often, about 12 visits now, as a very good friend of mine lives there.  We met when I drove a bus to India and she was one of the mechanics.  That was way in '74!

OOOPS besberry!  I guess the lovely folks of Milton Keynes are not best pleased with Canadians on that score.    You drove a bus to India?  Where did you start the journey?  Sounds like a fascinating adventure!  I really enjoyed the 70's!  Before all the being adult and responsible nonsense began.  I graduated university in 1974 and started working as an statistician.  Still had fun in those years.  Fond memories!  And Vancouver is lovely!  Pricey to live there now though!

[Tothesunset]

The only time I ever got a parking ticket was in Milton Keynes in 1984. It scarred me deeply. 

[mysty]

15 minutes ago, Tothesunset said:

The only time I ever got a parking ticket was in Milton Keynes in 1984. It scarred me deeply. 

Oh TTS......the first and only always sticks in the memory queue!  🙂 Especially if it was not something to remember fondly.  For some reason when I lose bits and pieces of the past, the unpleasant doesn't seem to want to go along.   Have you made any decisions about leaving Deepest Lincolnshire?  You had mentioned a desire to "go home".

[Tothesunset]

5 minutes ago, mysty said:

🙂 Have you made any decisions about leaving Deepest Lincolnshire?  You had mentioned a desire to "go home".

Funny you should ask that now. We are taken with a splendid house near Athlone in Co Westmeath, about 80 miles West of Dublin. But, and it's a big but, our elder son and his family have just moved to the local village to us so can we justify moving to another country? Plus we have the problem of what to do with the house we now live in. Why can't life ever be easy? 

[mysty]

40 minutes ago, Tothesunset said:

Funny you should ask that now. We are taken with a splendid house near Athlone in Co Westmeath, about 80 miles West of Dublin. But, and it's a big but, our elder son and his family have just moved to the local village to us so can we justify moving to another country? Plus we have the problem of what to do with the house we now live in. Why can't life ever be easy? 

 I do understand that dilemma TTS!  As I age I'm becoming much less tolerant of the cold.  I would dearly love to move somewhere warmer.  Our daughter lives 2.5 hours away by car and she would not be happy unless we moved to where she is.  Not going to happen!  Our son lives 4 hours away by plane.  He wants us to move to the west coast of Canada where the weather is more temperate and also closer to him.  I would have no problem with the idea of selling this house.  The difficulty is where to go after that.  Life is not easy!  

 

I used to have social media "friends" from Scunthorpe.  It seemed like an interesting place.

Edited December 26, 2018 by mysty

[Tothesunset]

58 minutes ago, mysty said:

 

I used to have social media "friends" from Scunthorpe.  It seemed like an interesting place.

It isn't. I promise you, it isn't! 

[Bill B]

mysty,

 

I'm originally from Victoria, B.C. While the 'left coast' of Canada is temperate, it's WET - the 'Rain Coast'. Temperatures rarely go below freezing in winter or above 23 degrees C in summer; however, you can easily go three months (any time of the year) without seeing the sun.  Victoria (and the southern tip of Vancouver Island) is 'better' than most of the coast because it's in a rain shadow produced by the Olympic mountains in Washington State. It has a 'Mediterranean' climate - cool, wet winters and warm, dry summers - but you can still die (very quickly) of hypothermia at any time of the year if you don't have your rain gear or an umbrella with you. Move to Vietnam.  Here in Vung Tau, it never goes below 24 (at night), and rarely goes over 32 during the day... except in April & May when highs will be around 35 during the day. 

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

 

[mysty]

33 minutes ago, Bill B said:

mysty,

 

I'm originally from Victoria, B.C. While the 'left coast' of Canada is temperate, it's WET - the 'Rain Coast'. Temperatures rarely go below freezing in winter or above 23 degrees C in summer; however, you can easily go three months (any time of the year) without seeing the sun.  Victoria (and the southern tip of Vancouver Island) is 'better' than most of the coast because it's in a rain shadow produced by the Olympic mountains in Washington State. It has a 'Mediterranean' climate - cool, wet winters and warm, dry summers - but you can still die (very quickly) of hypothermia at any time of the year if you don't have your rain gear or an umbrella with you. Move to Vietnam.  Here in Vung Tau, it never goes below 24 (at night), and rarely goes over 32 during the day... except in April & May when highs will be around 35 during the day. 

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

 

Thanks Bill!  I do love the idea you have presented!  The temps you describe are near on perfect for me.  I don't know how Myster would react let alone how the kids would feel.  It's not easy having multiple strings attached.  I do keep thinking of the movie with Dame Judi Dench ..."The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel".  I loved that movie for so many reasons!  One major one being the move to an exotic location, fearless in the adventure and living life to the fullest until it comes to its natural conclusion.

[Daveywavey70]

I can picture you being flung around Jaipur in a tuktuk M. 😀 think you might be able to find a more climatic retirement a bit closer to home though. 

Bill, are you familiar with Cobble Hill then? 

[Daveywavey70]

Well I wish you all a very merry Christmas from sunny Wales. Fabulous friends, old and new. This year has been the best ever. 

Edited December 27, 2018 by Daveywavey70