The Daily for Monday May 31, 2021

[richwmn]

 

Today is Memorial Day, National Macaroon Day, and Save Your Hearing Day

"Life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating. - O. Henry"

Meal suggestion for today - Hamburgers - Hot Dogs - Brats on the grill!

Drink of the Day - Doug Lamings' Margarita

Wine of the day - Archery Summit Arcus Pinot Noir - Oregon - Red

Port of the Day - Marseille (Provence) France

At Sea Pacific
Nieuw Amsterdam Destination Los Angeles eta 6/1
Westerdam Destination La Paz MX eta 6/5
Zuiderdam Destination La Paz MX

Bahamas
Nieuw Statendam Anchorage

Corfu GR
Volendam
Zaandam

La Paz MX
Koningsdam Anchorage
Noordam Anchorage

Limassol CY
Eurodam

Torquay UK
Oosterdam

Venice IT
Rotterdam

 

 

 

 

[puppycanducruise]

Good morning.  Thanks for the Daily Report.

Happy Memorial Day to our friends in the USA. 

I'd love some macaroons.  And it's very important to save our hearing.

Thanks for the meal suggestion, but we had honey garlic sausage on a bun for dinner last night.  Maybe hamburgers or cheeseburgers!?

Interesting quote.

Looking forward to reading about the wine and the drink of the day.

Someday, we'll visit Marseille, but I'll be happy to see pictures until then.

It's Monday, the start of a new week.  The last day of May.  Have a great day.

Sending prayers for all.

Stay safe.

[kazu]

Thanks for the Daily, Rich and our morning smile 🙂 

 

Happy Monday and Happy Memorial Day to all of our American friends 😄 

 

 

Love Macaroons.  Especially those in France.  How appropriate that the port of the day is Marseille on Macaroon Day 👍 

 

Great quote by O. Henry.  I hope everyone has more smiles than sniffles  🤞 

 

The meal suggestion sounds perfect for Memorial Day.  It’s raining here but if it stays drizzly and not a cold rain, I’ll be working in the rain transplanting so I can bbq too.

 

We have been to Marseille twice.  I’ll have to hit the old Ipad for my pics.  They won’t be as sharp sadly as this one produces but I’ll post some nevertheless.

 

Today’s Care List:

• Welfare of furloughed crews
• Garlictown recovery from arm surgery
• StLouisCruisers’s DS in hospice and needs our prayers & DB’s struggle with insurance to pay for operation
• St. Louis Sal’s drug trial & weakness in legs and wrist
• Mary229’s 2 sisters with lymphoma.
• NextOne’s loss of her DH, Ron
• smitty34877’s DD’s half sister Tana struggling as a long haul covid victim and in hospital with pneumonia & breathing issue
• bennybear’s SIL diagnosed with aggressive cancer awaiting surgery
• RIP Gavin MacLeod known to many as Captain Merrill Stubing of the Love Boat
• Prayers for them all

Garden Club participants - since it’s raining here today....If it’s a mild day and not a cold rain and, assuming you don’t melt, it’s absolutely one of the best times to transplant your babies.

 

I have an early morning appointment tomorrow for step one of my final procedure so I may be late posting tomorrow and a bit more broke 😉 

 

 

Prayers for everyone on the Care list & for those that need them and 🥂 to those on the Celebratory / Shout Out list.

 

Have a great Monday everyone.  

 

 

Stay safe and don’t forget your masks 😷 

[rafinmd]

Thank you for the Memorial Day Daily, Rich.  I enjoy macaroons but tend to prefer other cookies.  Hearing is precious and I've been pretty fortunate on that while it caused my mom great difficulty.  I think O Henry was a pessimist.  I've been to 2 French ports on BHB's but not Marseilles.  Hamburgers sound great; I think many of us would prefer to get them at Dive-In.  I'll go with that and defer my planned alternative for the coming hiatus.

 

Celebrations and Shoutouts:

Those who gave their lives for our freedoms

Welcome aboard the2ofus

Happy (unusual) birthday Pat

Teachers, school workers and at home surrogates

Front Line Health Care Workers

Cease fire in Palestine

Jabs for HAL crew (While we haven’t heard specifically I suspect Ft. Lauderdale and Los Angeles besides San Diego)

smitty34877 supporting half sister Tana and her son

Dosmomx5's family together for a week

Healing for Seasick Sailor’s friend Ron

A loving and compassionate home for Nan

Celebrating the life of Ron, NextOne DH

My continuing improvement

and Sabine, HAL’s likely first female Captain(I know this is a repeat but she’s worth it)

 

Wishing Pat a happy birthday in spite of his colonoscopy prep.

 

Roy

 

[Mary229]

Good morning and thank you for the updates.  

[dfish]

Good morning, everyone.  

 

It is looking like it will be a very nice day today.   Sunshine and low 70's in the forecast.  I'll take that!  I may go out and battle some weeds today.   

 

First and foremost, Memorial Day deserves a solemn recognition for all those who didn't make it home while in service to our country.  

 

I love Macaroons.  When my sister lived in France they were a regular treat.  I really like the chocolate macaroons.   Macaroons are often confused with macarons.   

 

 

Macaroons are made with coconut and are easy to make.  

 

 

Macarons are made with almond flour and one website says they should only be attempted by an experienced baker.   I'd like to try making them.  

 

Here's a history of the two and links to recipes for all those adventurous bakers:  https://www.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/recipes/2013/05/macaroon-vs-macaron-history-and-recipes

 

Now, burgers, dogs and brats.   I usually parboil the brats in beer to reduce the fat content and prevent burning on the grill.   And, all three of these must be done on the grill for Memorial Day!   We all search for the Ultimate Burger, so perhaps these tips will get us there:

 

https://boulderlocavore.com/ultimate-burger-grill-guide/

 

[portofrome]

Thank you for the Daily Report.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for the info ..

[summer slope]

Good morning.  Happy Memorial Day, love Macaroons, and always try to save my hearing.  I love the quote.  What else on a holiday but today's meal. 

It rained most of the night and will continue today.  Rainy season is upon us.

Prayers for all of us and toasts to the celebrations.

Stay safe, social distance, and wear your mask.  We still need to be cautious.

Today's drink required alot of research and I never could find the recipe.  Below is what I found.

Don Lamings' Margarita:
Ever had a margarita in a solid form? We were sure it was impossible till Sydney's Doug laming perfected his vision with manmade caviar spheres filled with Souza Tequila. Placed on a lime and doused with syrup, the piece is then dusted with salt to complete the balance of flavours.
If you love the taste of decadent caviar, why not put it in your drink? That was the logic at the Australian bar that created Doug Laming’s Margarita. This cocktail’s ingredients start out just like any other upscale margarita with Tequila, simple syrup, and Cointreau. But to give that extra dose of strange, caviar is infused with the margarita. The added caviar produces bursting “pearls” of alcohol as you drink it, making Doug Laming’s Margarita perhaps one of the most interesting Tequila cocktails out there.

[StLouisCruisers]

Good morning everyone!  It still seems like Sunday to me but it seems that way every three day weekend.  We'll be off all week I suppose.  Thanks to @richwmnfor our Memorial Day edition of the Daily.  Thanks also to @rafinmdand @kazufor keeping of the Lists which are quite long so a lot of work to keep up with.  It helps to keep us all centered and updated in case we miss a post with news.  Much appreciation for the work you do each day.  

 

We enjoyed grilled burgers, corn on the cob and baked beans for dinner last night, so I doubt we have the same menu tonight.  Just a little too early for the Memorial Day menu.  But it was delicious!

 

@kazuthank you for the Memorial Day meme.  More of us need to remember those who served and gave their lives for our country. 

 

Thank you @dfishfor the explanation of the difference between macaroons and macarons.  I had no idea!  I'm most familiar with macaroons but we've seen macarons in Europe, especially in Estonia because our friend was on the hunt for them there.

 

We've been to Marseille in 2008 (Emerald Princess), 2012 (Crown Princess), and 2019 (Emerald again).  The last time there was on our family cruise celebrating our 50th anniversary.  What an fabulous experience that was!  I will check out photos in my Shutterfly account and post some in a little while.  

[cat shepard]

Thank you for today’s Daily, Rich! I choose to celebrate Memorial Day today. The sacrifice of the fallen and the Gold Star families has never seemed so important to me - and I honor them.

My community will have a small ceremony this morning. I have a Gold Star family on one of Bindi’s and my long walk routes. Their dog, Wallace, has the deepest bark I have ever heard. Even as a puppy. He so wants to be friends with Bindi, but she just ignores him. 

Thank you for keeping our lists Jacqui and Roy. Morning Dailyites and my Sisters. I will pass on the drink! Burgers might be in my future.

 

Prayers for all who need our support. Cheers to all who are celebrating! Stay well everyone!
 

**************

Another excellent Willamette Valley Pinot, but this one is outside of my budget.  A good number of online distributors with prices starting at $88.89. All vintages share the same excellent rating, so you can just look for the one with the lowest price. 

Winemaker Notes

Electric notes of raspberry jam and muddled rhubarb weave into hints of dried herbs and baking spice. Never a truer expression of the rocky, fireorange soil of the Dundee Hills with its multilayered mineral mouthfeel. Fresh marionberry and ripe raspberry mingle with dried blueberries, blanketed within mouthwatering acidity leading to an incredibly long finish. A wine as complex as the diverse vineyard it comes from.

WS92 Wine Spectator: Refined and vibrant, with expressive rose petal and raspberry aromas that give way to multilayered cherry and dark tea flavors, building tension toward fine-grained tannins. Drink now through 2028.

WE92 Wine Enthusiast: From one of the top sites in the winery’s portfolio, this was treated to almost 60% whole cluster fermentation. Deep flavors of black cherry fruit match up to dark chocolate notes, along with hints of stem and skin tannins. The wine is well structured and should develop nicely over the next half decade or longer.

Edited May 31, 2021 by cat shepard

[TiogaCruiser]

1 minute ago, StLouisCruisers said:

Thanks to @richwmnfor our Memorial Day edition of the Daily.  Thanks also to @rafinmdand @kazufor keeping of the Lists which are quite long so a lot of work to keep up with.  It helps to keep us all centered and updated in case we miss a post with news.  Much appreciation for the work you do each day.  

 

 

 

So well said. And adding additional thanks to all who participate. I’m always amazed how our “Food and Beverage Department” are able to find recipes/reviews of the wine and dinner suggestions and the drink of the day.

[kazu]

8 minutes ago, summer slope said:

But to give that extra dose of strange, caviar is infused with the margarita. The added caviar produces bursting “pearls” of alcohol as you drink it, making Doug Laming’s Margarita perhaps one of the most interesting Tequila cocktails out there.

 

Now that’s a drink I would like to try although I fear it would be pricey with the caviar 😉 

 

@Vict0rianna very happy birthday to Pat today 😄 

[cat shepard]

@Vict0riann

 

This is for Pat - may the start of his new year be the most unpleasant thing he has to deal with all year!

[sassy~one]

Good morning.  Thanks for the Daily Report. Enjoy your freedom!😍

[summer slope]

Just now, kazu said:

 

Now that’s a drink I would like to try although I fear it would be pricey with the caviar 😉 

 

 

Jacqui one of the sites said $30 AU.

[puppycanducruise]

@Vict0riannHappy Birthday to Pat

[jimgev]

It's a beautiful morning here but the forcast is for much needed rain this afternoon. The menu and drinks are perfect for today. Tryin to maintain hearing is not an easy thing when you are in a band but it's a trade-off that I am happy to make. O'Henry was a bit of a pessimist. For me, life events are just that - events. It is only we that put value judgements on them.

[TiogaCruiser]

Good Morning All,

It’s still dark here, but the weather report calls for upper 70s today. Am planning some yard work and a ride on my bike. I’m hoping DH will hook up the awning over our potting bench today. 

Looking forward to reading the articles on macaroons, macarons and burgers.

[rafinmd]

Today's sunrise is from another Blount cruise, this one from Chicago to New Orleans in 2009.  May 31 was a sea (river) day from Joliet, Illinois to Peoria:

 

Roy

[kazu]

24 minutes ago, summer slope said:

Jacqui one of the sites said $30 AU.

 

Somehow, I am not surprised!

[Mr. Boston]

Good morning, thanks for the Memorial day daily, Rich.  Today we solemnly remember those that their gave lives for our freedoms.  A macaroon sounds tasty.  Our hearing is sense that often gets taken for granted until it’s too late.  I agree with Roy, today’s quote is a bit pessimistic.  Not sure what’s for dinner but burgers sound good.  We have close friends that live in Provence and have visited them there many times, just not to Marseille.  Prayers to all on the Daily list, including Gold Star families.  Cheers to everyone celebrating a happy event.  

Edited May 31, 2021 by Mr. Boston

[cunnorl]

Good Morning from a very overcast and windy day at the beach.

      Memorial Day is certainly a day to  stop and think about those that fought and died for our freedom. It is a special day.

       I love macaroons, one of my favorites.  I tend to look on the brighter side so dont much agree with todays quote.

     We are planning on hamburgers on the grill but the weather right now is not promising!

     Have not been to todays port, so looking forward to the pictures.

 

Stay safe and enjoy today

     

[smitty34877]

Good  morning  to  all  and  thank you  to  Rich  for  the  Daily. I  appreciate  the  list  keepers  and  the food  and  beverage department(!) . DD  has  the  baking  skills  to  try  the  French  macarons. I  stick  to  making  the  entrees  and  side  dishes. It works  well  in  our  2  family  home.

 

Memorial  Day  is  so  important and  I  salute  all  of  those  who  never  made  it  home. I  especially liked  the  beach meme, Jacqui.

We have good  news  today  as  DD's  half  sister Tana  has  been  released  from  the  hospital  and  is  recovering  at  home. She  will  have  one  more  diagnostic  test  this  week  and  from  there  the  specialists will be  able  to  make  a  plan  for  treatment. We  don't  know  exactly  what  the  lung  issue  is yet  but  her  fevers have  stopped  and  she  is  responding  well  to  antibiotics  for  the  pneumonia  they  found.We  are  all  so  relieved  that  she  is  home.

 

Today  we  will  hopefully  grill outside  as  the  rain  has  stopped after  3  days of  duck  like  weather.

It  is  still  to  cool  to  sit  outside  comfortably. I  am  looking  forward  to  burgers.

 

We  have  not  been  to  the  port  of  the  day  and  look  forward  to  seeing pictures.

Hearing  loss  is  very  personal  for  our   family. DH  has  worn  bilateral  hearing  aids  for  15  years and they  provide  very  little  assistance  for  him. His  hearing  has  worsened  with  time.  He  used  to  say it  was  years  of  Rock  concerts that  caused  it....           Terry

[kazu]

We have been to Marseille twice - once on the Prinsendam and again on the Rotterdam.  Marseille has 2 ports.  The Vieux (old) port which is lovely and the new modern port (industrial).  Most cruise ships have to dock at the new one.  As small as the Prinsendam was she was around 10 feet too big for the Vieux port so both times it was the modern one.

 

 

 

 

You need to take a cab or a shuttle to get to the good part of Marseille from the port.  The first time we went we had the good fortune of a fabulous guide from Marseille greeters.  She’s helped us use the bus to get to the Basilica of Norte Dame before all the crowds and tours arrived.  Fabulous to explore with great views.  Once done she took us on a major walking tour everywhere showing us the “real” Marseille and a wonderful spot to eat.  She was only supposed to be with us for 3 hours - it turned into 6.  We happily tipped her very well and bought her lunch (no charge for the tour).

 

The next time we went we felt very comfortable on our own and took our dear friends around Marseille.  The old port is so beautiful.  You could spend the day there if you were so inclined.

 

 

 

I’ll be back with more pics.