River Cruising Water Cooler

[Daisi]

18 hours ago, notamermaid said:

I love puff pastry in a roll from my local supermarket. So versatile. I have used it for finger food, baking with leftover fruit, cheese parcels.

 

Planning to try Spritzgebäck (that is dough pushed through a machine or piping bag that creates shapes) again using an older recipe with rum. Problem I have is that it requires egg yolk. So what to do with the egg whites? I am not good at making meringue. Macarons? Or German coconut biscuits? I am seriously out of practice...

 

Around this time of year we eat Martinsgans - Saint Martin's legend says that he was hiding so he would not be appointed bishop but the geese betrayed his hiding place - but I have never cooked goose. Have only had it in a restaurant many years ago. It is on the specials menu at many places in November.

 

By the way - has anyone had goose on a river cruise?

 

notamermaid

 

 

My Mom always made Spritzgebäck, usually just the crescent shaped ones dipped in dark chocolate, not sure if the rum was in them, but I'll have to put in a request. 🙂

 

We didn't have goose on our cruise, but we did have pigs cheeks. We were gutsy, and they were quite tasty.

[CaribbeanIsland]

On 11/11/2023 at 1:00 PM, Coral said:

It probably is. I broke my wrist recently on vacation. So I am not making much right now. I can say a lot about Canadian healthcare and trip insurance though.

 

I did save the recipe for later but didn't look too closely at it.

I hope you are feeling better! Sorry your vacation was cut short.

[notamermaid]

19 hours ago, UDChE89 said:

My Lidl normally has pasteis de nata in the bakery section on a regular basis.

I tried the frozen ones from my local supermarket (REWE) after having heard good things about the tasty original in Portugal. Well, the frozen ones were almost inedible, not sure what went wrong with defrosting, if anything. When I had the opportunity recently at a market stall to eat them and heard that they were made at a special bakery I tried them again. Much better! But I think I need to declare them to not be my favourite bakery stuff.

 

notamermaid

 

[jpalbny]

Hi from Botswana! We're having a great time with the big cats. This guy from the Kalahari is named Blondie.

 

 

Seeing a cheetah in the wild was a definite highlight.

 

 

 

Leopards galore in the Okavango Delta. 

 

 

 

A wild dog for good measure. Definitely a lucky sighting. We saw a pack of 25+.

 

 

And more cute kitties.

 

 

He's missing a tooth. Not so ferocious with only three!

 

 

Nap time!

 

 

Botswana is highly recommended based on our experience so far!

[pontac]

On 11/9/2023 at 5:49 PM, pontac said:

Now in UK the ceremonies take place at 11am on the first Sunday after 11/11*. I will be at  the War Memorial in my city on Sunday morning.

 

 

Here is the Remembrance ceremony I was at yesterday morning

 

Afterwards the Mayor spoke to each Flag Bearer

 

 

[notamermaid]

On Sunday we have Volkstrauertag coming up. A remembrance day. Our government is thinking of introducing a remembrance day for veterans of the army. Have not looked into details yet.

 

A typical November day and I am busy with household and work (reduced work due to low tourism in November) and checking the flooding in Germany. Which you will have noticed. 😉

 

Have had time for a bit of cooking out of the ordinary though, so made bread and butter pudding with home-made custard. So worth the effort.

 

Have a good weekend everyone.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[Canal archive]

Congrats Australia great first hour of cricket to win the WC cricket.

[ural guy]

JP- Looks like a very neat adventure, good you got to see so many animals.

 

My last day of work was 2 November, and started 'terminal leave', using up the last of my annual leave until 30 November.  That evening the spouse dropped me at the local airport, and 1 flight connection, subway followed by train, then 5E taxi, hello Coimbra Portugal.   Spouse and I were there in April.

 

I figured if I was taking leave, I needed to do something with it.  I wanted some sun, and easy.  That's Portugal to me.

 

Just a few notes:  Lisbon to Coimbra: 4 stops of red line subway to Oriente station, train is around 3 hrs and was 22E. Hertz has a rental office 1 km from main square.

 

From Coimbra, an hour north to Aviero, the 'Venice of Portugal'.  It's a stretch, but they do have 45 kms of canals with gondolas.  13E for an hour tour.  I enjoyed my time here.

 

 

Took a day trip up to Porto.  Google lists it as a 35 minute train ride from Aviero, its closer to an hour with rail work.  The train got up to 230 kms/hr for just a small stretch, mostly it was 40/50 km/hr.  6.5 E for the 'fast' train, others are cheaper.  I just mention that as a day trip in either direction would be nice.

 

The Douro Serenity and Elegance were in port along with VIking Osfrid and Helgrim.  Amavida had the outside third spot and couldn't catch her name.

 

 

Lastly, I know some of you have been to Tomar for the convent, which is amazing.  Just a few kms outside of town is Aqueduto dos Pegões, which feed water to the convent.  400 years old, remarkable engineering, and I was lucky enough to get great weather that morning.  This was a revisit for me, still jaw dropping...especially the last bit that doesn't have a curb along the walkway.  In the shadow pic, I'm the little bump on top.

 

 

 

 

 

Another nice trip to Portugal.  Just try to get out of the two big cities if you can.

 

 

[jpalbny]

That aqueduct was a highlight. Scarier (to me) than Devil's Pool though! 

 

Congratulations on your retirement! I'm hopefully just a year behind you.

[hihandycap]

On 11/13/2023 at 5:47 AM, jpalbny said:

This guy from the Kalahari...

Do you know of a TA that might rebate some of the commission for booking southern African game tours? 

[jpalbny]

I'm sorry, but we are not allowed to provide the names of travel agents on CC.

[CPT Trips]

5 hours ago, hihandycap said:

Do you know of a TA that might rebate some of the commission for booking southern African game tours? 

Not naming names or even hinting at a particular website,you might just want to ask Mr. Google. Choose your keywords. 

[Canal archive]

ural guy what an exciting way to start the next stage of your life and on your own. Enjoy, my DH and many friends actually consider that now the hard work starts. Evidently it can be very tiring to  make the most out of retirement, enjoy.

[ural guy]

JP-  Great for you and Chris, 'pull the pin' when you still have health and obviously a sense of wonder and adventure.

 

CA-  Thanks, but I'm guessing the hard work is now of our husbands choosing.  That freedom is what I'm after.  

[Kristelle]

On 11/20/2023 at 2:22 AM, Canal archive said:

Congrats Australia great first hour of cricket to win the WC cricket.

 

was an interesting day at work Tues as my boss is Indian and a cricket fanatic.......

[Canal archive]

Bet he felt just a little outnumbered.

[CPT Trips]

For those of you of a certain age, where were you and what were to doing when you got the news 60 years ago today? 
I was in Mrs Alexander’s high school history class when the Principal came on the PA and announced school was dismissed and that evening’s prom was cancelled. That and the several days that followed are forever etched in my memory. 
 

[Canal archive]

I was at our brand new Youth Club we were all convinced WW3 was about to start. 

[capriccio]

i was in 5th grade (10 years old) at an elementary school in suburban Boston (home of the Kennedy family).  Our last class of the day was music and our teacher told us the news at the end of the class.  When we went to get on our bus home the school principal, a wonderful woman who did bus duty on Fridays to wish everyone a good weekend, was distraught and could barely speak.  It was the first time I had ever seen adults so upset.  Unfortunately it wouldn't be the last; I can also tell you where I was when I heard the news that Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King had been killed.

[Kristelle]

60 years ago today,  I was exactly 4 months old.

 

for ignoramuses like me, can you tell us what news we are talking about?

[jimmymac613]

8 minutes ago, Kristelle said:

60 years ago today,  I was exactly 4 months old.

 

for ignoramuses like me, can you tell us what news we are talking about?

John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

[Kristelle]

Thank you.

 

I have heard of that event of course but date wise is not commonly known in Australia.

[TheKingD]

I was in the 4th grade, and our school was trying to figure out what to do about telling us, and the mother of one of my classmates called the school and insisted on having her daughter called to the office, so that girl knew and came back to class with the news.  I think they let us out of school early, and by the time I got home, my mother was distraught.  She never watched TV during the day, but she had the TV on, and the draperies were closed so the picture would be clearer in the otherwise bright room.  It was a very sad day.

[sharkster77]

We sat there in third grade and the principal piped the radio feed into the classrooms so that the nuns could listen in.  We sorta knew what was going on, but I wish someone had explained to us what a motorcade was.  Stupid me, since I was only 7 and it was in Dallas, Texas, I had pictured a cowboy-style ambush of the president.  Later when I got home and watched on TV it all made sense.

 

At one point we were restless and Sister Daniel could not hear.  She told us to be quiet because "it was the voice of God on the radio(!)"   You could hear a pin drop for the rest of the afternoon.

[Canal archive]

I suppose because of my age and verging on my really rebellious period I joined (I’m proud to say) the very last Ban the Bomb march much to my mum’s horror, she had wanted to join ( how did I know!). How I got my future security clearance is debatable.