Jump to content

Silversea Water Cooler: Welcome! Part Five


CCHelp
 Share

Recommended Posts

29 minutes ago, lincslady said:

I guess it depends on whether he sang 'O sole mio' or 'just one cornetto'  A romantic gesture in any case, and no doubt you treasure it.

It was ‘just one cornetto’ Lola hence the giggles but you’re right l do treasure it thank you 😊

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just heard on our local North Wales news that some minor tremors were reported this morning off the Isle of Anglesey…..wondering if the earth moved for our very own DW as he’s closer than l am here…😊

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, lincslady said:

I guess it depends on whether he sang 'O sole mio' or 'just one cornetto'  A romantic gesture in any case, and no doubt you treasure it.

 

 I wish they’d make a song about  Caramel Magnums. 

 

Jeff

  • Like 1
  • Haha 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

24 minutes ago, UKCruiseJeff said:

Lunch!

 

Scratch cooked pork ribs Cremant and stuff.

 

Sweet and sticky.  And the ribs were good as well! 🙂

 

Jeff

 

 

IMG_6516.jpeg

Hi Jeff, that looks fantastic!!!!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Lois R said:

Hi Jeff, that looks fantastic!!!!

 

Steady on Gal …. you’re giving the game away.  You are a sticky spicey rib Gal  and it turns out that it was worth the four hours of me slow cooking and my bastings.

 

I’ll send you an e-rib. 🙂

 

Jeff

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just about my favourite food too, along with prawn tempura.  Not healthy, of course, but who cares.  Just finger-licking good.  I would ask you for some, Jeff, but they might get just too oozy in the post.

 

Lola

 

Am I right in thinking that gemutlichkeit means a sort of friendly jolliness?  Lederhosen and dirndl skirts etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

32 minutes ago, lincslady said:

Just about my favourite food too, along with prawn tempura.  Not healthy, of course, but who cares.  Just finger-licking good.  I would ask you for some, Jeff, but they might get just too oozy in the post.

 

Lola

 

Am I right in thinking that gemutlichkeit means a sort of friendly jolliness?  Lederhosen and dirndl skirts etc.

 

Hello Lola.

 

Tempura is a wonderful thing that too late in life i understood that it seemed to me that the  Japanese got and we never did.  Counter intuitively our first experience of tempura was in Nice with courgette flowers in tempura which was glorious. It’s a spring thing.  It’s only a very light batter with fresh content, why is it we rarely get it?

 

But prawn tempura has to be (and can be) made at home or at a place that does it well and that then serves it promptly.  From the fryer to the mouth. Crispiness is elusive and can only be served within seconds. Otherwise it is stodge and nasty. 

 

I have spent far too much longer than a sane person would ever spend trying to understand why the Austrians’ have been so resistant to an English translation  of Gemutlichkeit.  It is simply cosiness and happiness.  Both being an elusive imponderable.  I can only say - imagine thus.  It is in Austria, it is snowing, you are in a stübl. This is a wooden  sort of taverna. There is a wood stove. There is food served on large platters. There might be a zipher  family and there is a feeling of warmth and friendship and cosiness. It is a friendly cosy feeling of warmth and friendliness.  If you think of Stille Nacht in a stuble with the effluence of incahol and extraordinary inclusiveness and you come close. It is a condition of feeling.  There is no English equivalent.  And therefore I’m impotent in explaining. 🙂

 

Jeff

 

 

 

Edited by UKCruiseJeff
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, MissSophia said:

Just heard on our local North Wales news that some minor tremors were reported this morning off the Isle of Anglesey…..wondering if the earth moved for our very own DW as he’s closer than l am here…😊

 

Definitely no earth moving been going on around here not even a mild tremor.

 

3 hours ago, UKCruiseJeff said:

 

 I wish they’d make a song about  Caramel Magnums. 

 

Jeff

These are highly recommended too.

IMG_5427.JPG

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, yesterday started off nicely enough with these pastries from neighbors.  We give them fresh eggs, and they seem to think they have to reciprocate.   Later, the plantain I bought last week  were getting dark and wrinkly enough that they were ready to eat, so tried a recipe in "Everyone's Table", by Gregory Gourdet.  He is the Haitian Chef responsible for the restaurant Kann in Portland, Oregon, that has been causing quite a stir in the food community.  You sauté the slices in olive oil, remove from pan, then sauté onions and garlic until golden, return plantain to pan, drizzle with maple syrple, heat it up.  Really tasty.

 

Tonight, tried another dish from same cookbook.  You prepare a head of broccoli, cut into even sized florets, peel stems, toss with a bit of oil & kosher salt, then cook in a basket on the gas grill, until starting to char in places.  High heat, so goes pretty quick.  Remove and put in a bowl, then dose with a sauce made earlier - chopped green scallions & ginger to 1/8" pieces, put in small bowl and pour over them smoking hot oil and stir up until settled in bowl.  Cool off in refer, then toss with the broccoli, and drip chili paste mixed with roasted sesame oil over top.  A real summertime treat.  

 

I was making bread earlier anyway, so upped the recipe and diverted enough for a pizza.  After cooking the broccoli, flipped the basket over, put a pizza stone on top, let grill heat up to 500F, then put the pizza on, while the grill was still going.  Came out well, and didn't have to heat up the house, as grill is outdoors. My DW allowed as how I, too, could sit on the Good Boy step!  

 

 

IMG_6681.jpeg

IMG_6682.jpeg

IMG_6684.jpeg

IMG_6692.jpeg

IMG_6693.jpeg

  • Like 9
Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, lincslady said:

Just a pity it was then annexed by CocaCola, which spoilt it for me.  A bit like 'just one cornetto'.  I have to admit to a virtual hatred of Coke; tried it once many years ago and cannot understand why anyone drinks it, or any of the others with a similar flavour.

Agree, only drinkable with lots of rum in it😊

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, UKCruiseJeff said:

 

Hello Lola.

 

Tempura is a wonderful thing that too late in life i understood that it seemed to me that the  Japanese got and we never did.  Counter intuitively our first experience of tempura was in Nice with courgette flowers in tempura which was glorious. It’s a spring thing.  It’s only a very light batter with fresh content, why is it we rarely get it?

 

But prawn tempura has to be (and can be) made at home or at a place that does it well and that then serves it promptly.  From the fryer to the mouth. Crispiness is elusive and can only be served within seconds. Otherwise it is stodge and nasty. 

 

I have spent far too much longer than a sane person would ever spend trying to understand why the Austrians’ have been so resistant to an English translation  of Gemutlichkeit.  It is simply cosiness and happiness.  Both being an elusive imponderable.  I can only say - imagine thus.  It is in Austria, it is snowing, you are in a stübl. This is a wooden  sort of taverna. There is a wood stove. There is food served on large platters. There might be a zipher  family and there is a feeling of warmth and friendship and cosiness. It is a friendly cosy feeling of warmth and friendliness.  If you think of Stille Nacht in a stuble with the effluence of incahol and extraordinary inclusiveness and you come close. It is a condition of feeling.  There is no English equivalent.  And therefore I’m impotent in explaining. 🙂

 

Jeff

 

 

 

Perfect explanation👍🏻

In Bavaria there is the (sung) toast of "ein Prosit auf die Gemütlichkeit", i.e. cheers to that nice cozy feeling you get when drinking beer snd sharing food with friends. Which reminds me, must go to Munich for a weekend soon. Theoretically, it's only 4 hours by train, but then of course, with Deutsche Bahn nowadays you never know😊

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Grand Duchess said:

Perfect explanation👍🏻

In Bavaria there is the (sung) toast of "ein Prosit auf die Gemütlichkeit", i.e. cheers to that nice cozy feeling you get when drinking beer snd sharing food with friends. Which reminds me, must go to Munich for a weekend soon. Theoretically, it's only 4 hours by train, but then of course, with Deutsche Bahn nowadays you never know😊

 

Thanks!

 

And of course, the obligation with "Ein Prosit" is to constantly standup and sit down preferably with a stein in your hand.

 

Jeff

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Munich!

 

I was chatting to the wife about your mention of Munch and she reminded me of a business trip I made to Munich when I was working for The Corporation.  I had cause to make a trip to Munich on business with my then boss.  You might recall if you’ve been around long enough that I mentioned his passing a few years back because he was known mostly as having been lent to the UK government on a temporary basis but was then made CEO of the NHS and I lost him as a boss for good although we lunched together regularly during his latter career.

 

Anyway, our business meetings in Munich went extremely well, and he decided that we would have a celebratory dinner together in one of Munich’s cavernous bier kellers.  It was a lovely dinner with lot’s of pork and stuff with a lot of beers.  

 

The following morning I had to make a call to The Wife and make peace for failing to call her the previous night which was my standing instruction.  Anybody who remembers those days will know that calling home from abroad on public phones was a black art that took a rare combination of science and knowledge.  There was the number you pressed on the hotel bedroom’s phone to get a line, then the number for international calls, then the country code being 44 for the UK and then that you had to drop the 0 for the area code and then the number. It always seemed to defeat me.  I got it miraculously right and heard her lovely voice.  I ate humble pie and apologised for not calling the previous night.  There was a silence and she said “But you did call me - do you have no recall of calling me and telling me about your dinner with Len?”  I had no recall but was immensely  proud that I could make the call home in the evident condition I must have been in.  She told me what I had told her of my dinner.

 

What had happened was this.   We had went to dinner and were sitting down at a table that was overladen with proteins and beers and had a candle in the middle of the table.  For some reason I do not now fully understand, I had become fixated on my boss’s necktie.  I had evidently reached over to it and felt it and it seemed to me that it was a manmade fibre which I felt inappropriate for a man of his seniority.  I had asserted that it really should be silk.  He protested that it WAS silk, and so I yanked at it again to read the label, but it was too dark to read it.  So I announced that there was only one way of telling definitively and so I decided to yank his tie again and hold it over the candle to see how quickly it burned.  This may seem silly now in the cold light of day, but it seemed to make perfect sense at the time. In my own defence, I don’t think that I had fully thought this through.  Anyway the flame shot up his tie at a rate of knots and I managed to pull it off his neck just in time.  Evidently the rest of the meal was comparatively uneventful and we both went to our (separate!) rooms  to sleep off the effects of the celebration.  

 

I now had to go and meet him for breakfast not knowing what would be said.

 

I made my way to breakfast and saw him wave at me from a corner, and he greeted me with a cheery wave and asked whether I’d slept well. “Fine” I said .. “…. how about you”?   “Oh I slept well, but do you know what happened to my tie?  I couldn’t find it this morning” 

 

“How weird” I said innocently.  And thus my career survived for another day.   I found out  many years later that he had remembered precidely what happened but spared me the embarrassment.

 

Hope this causes a chuckle even if I go cold every time I think of it. 

 

Jeff

 

  • Like 2
  • Haha 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jeff - 'Ooh you are awful, but......'

 

Lovely story.  I once had a slightly similar though much less exciting one from Hong Kong, in the middle of the night, from my DH who had forgotten the next day that he had phoned.  This after a flight from Beijing, with much drink taken on the BA flight, all the businessmen on board cheering on leaving  China when they got on board.

  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, lincslady said:

Jeff - 'Ooh you are awful, but......'

 

Lovely story.  I once had a slightly similar though much less exciting one from Hong Kong, in the middle of the night, from my DH who had forgotten the next day that he had phoned.  This after a flight from Beijing, with much drink taken on the BA flight, all the businessmen on board cheering on leaving  China when they got on board.

 

Sometimes,  - as in my case - it might have been more charitable and less painful if we hadn’t been reminded that we had in fact made the call.  😁

 

It became known as “Tiegate”.

 

Jeff

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, UKCruiseJeff said:

Munich!

 

I was chatting to the wife about your mention of Munch and she reminded me of a business trip I made to Munich when I was working for The Corporation.  I had cause to make a trip to Munich on business with my then boss.  You might recall if you’ve been around long enough that I mentioned his passing a few years back because he was known mostly as having been lent to the UK government on a temporary basis but was then made CEO of the NHS and I lost him as a boss for good although we lunched together regularly during his latter career.

 

Anyway, our business meetings in Munich went extremely well, and he decided that we would have a celebratory dinner together in one of Munich’s cavernous bier kellers.  It was a lovely dinner with lot’s of pork and stuff with a lot of beers.  

 

The following morning I had to make a call to The Wife and make peace for failing to call her the previous night which was my standing instruction.  Anybody who remembers those days will know that calling home from abroad on public phones was a black art that took a rare combination of science and knowledge.  There was the number you pressed on the hotel bedroom’s phone to get a line, then the number for international calls, then the country code being 44 for the UK and then that you had to drop the 0 for the area code and then the number. It always seemed to defeat me.  I got it miraculously right and heard her lovely voice.  I ate humble pie and apologised for not calling the previous night.  There was a silence and she said “But you did call me - do you have no recall of calling me and telling me about your dinner with Len?”  I had no recall but was immensely  proud that I could make the call home in the evident condition I must have been in.  She told me what I had told her of my dinner.

 

What had happened was this.   We had went to dinner and were sitting down at a table that was overladen with proteins and beers and had a candle in the middle of the table.  For some reason I do not now fully understand, I had become fixated on my boss’s necktie.  I had evidently reached over to it and felt it and it seemed to me that it was a manmade fibre which I felt inappropriate for a man of his seniority.  I had asserted that it really should be silk.  He protested that it WAS silk, and so I yanked at it again to read the label, but it was too dark to read it.  So I announced that there was only one way of telling definitively and so I decided to yank his tie again and hold it over the candle to see how quickly it burned.  This may seem silly now in the cold light of day, but it seemed to make perfect sense at the time. In my own defence, I don’t think that I had fully thought this through.  Anyway the flame shot up his tie at a rate of knots and I managed to pull it off his neck just in time.  Evidently the rest of the meal was comparatively uneventful and we both went to our (separate!) rooms  to sleep off the effects of the celebration.  

 

I now had to go and meet him for breakfast not knowing what would be said.

 

I made my way to breakfast and saw him wave at me from a corner, and he greeted me with a cheery wave and asked whether I’d slept well. “Fine” I said .. “…. how about you”?   “Oh I slept well, but do you know what happened to my tie?  I couldn’t find it this morning” 

 

“How weird” I said innocently.  And thus my career survived for another day.   I found out  many years later that he had remembered precidely what happened but spared me the embarrassment.

 

Hope this causes a chuckle even if I go cold every time I think of it. 

 

Jeff

 

Priceless🤣🤣🤣

In a certain state some things do make perfect sense... 

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

During the summer I really enjoy salads.  One of my favourites is a Couscous Salad.  Here is the recipe for those interested.....

 

Couscous Salad:
1 cup couscous cooked
1 each red onion & red pepper  cut in small julienne sticks
1/3 cup each raisins & toasted sliced almonds
1/2 cup canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup Miracle Whip Salad Dressing (I use mayonnaise)
1/4 cup plain 2% yogurt
1 tsp cumin
Salt & Pepper to taste

Combine ingredients,  pre-blending dressing, yogurt and seasonings.  Chill

 

images.jpg.05b75acd9334955bae5c614f697fef18.jpg

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Today’s Lunch was baked potato and Penang Curry.

 

Too remove any doubt!  

 

There is no law against curry and potato  ….. AND this is a picture of my own cookery!  (Rather than someone elses cookery lifted from a web page!)  😁

 

Jeff

 

 

 

 

IMG_6523.jpeg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

56 minutes ago, mysty said:

During the summer I really enjoy salads.  One of my favourites is a Couscous Salad.  Here is the recipe for those interested.....

 

Couscous Salad:
1 cup couscous cooked
1 each red onion & red pepper  cut in small julienne sticks
1/3 cup each raisins & toasted sliced almonds
1/2 cup canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup Miracle Whip Salad Dressing (I use mayonnaise)
1/4 cup plain 2% yogurt
1 tsp cumin
Salt & Pepper to taste

Combine ingredients,  pre-blending dressing, yogurt and seasonings.  Chill

 

images.jpg.05b75acd9334955bae5c614f697fef18.jpg

 

Hi Mysty, sounds and looks delicious! 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • Hurricane Zone 2024
      • Cruise Insurance Q&A w/ Steve Dasseos of Tripinsurancestore.com Summer 2024
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...