That Tuscan cooking has remained so simple is a long tribute to the abilities of peasant women who cooked so well, that no one, even now, wants to veer into new directions . . . Frances Mayes (author of Under the Tuscan Sun)
Archives
Recent Posts
Currently Reading
Here are the tastingspoons players. I’m in the middle (Carolyn). Daughter Sara on the right, and daughter-in-law Karen on the left. I started the blog in 2007, as a way to share recipes with my family. I’m still doing 99% of the blogging and holding out hope that these two lovely and excellent cooks will participate. They both lead very busy lives, so we’ll see.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
BOOK READING (from Carolyn):
Music of Bees, Eileen Garvin. Absolutely charming book about a woman in midlife, lonely, who raises bees, also makes unlikely friends. Heart-warming and very interesting about beekeeping.
A Postcard from Paris, Alex Brown. Really cute story. Dual time line, 1940s and present day about renovating an old apartment in Paris, things discovered.
Time of the Child, Niall Williams. Oh such a good book. Very small village in Ireland, 1960s. A baby is left on the doorstep. The town all whispers and helps. I listened to an interview of the author, which made me like him and his books even more.
Sipsworth, Simon Van Booy. If you like animals you’ll swoon. An old woman who really wants to die finds a tiny mouse in her house and befriends it and finds a reason to live. Utterly charming book.
The Forger’s Spell, Edward Dolnick. True story. For seven years a no-account painter named Han van Meegeren managed to pass off his paintings as those of Johannes Vermeer.
If You Lived Here, You’d be Home by Now, Christopher Ingraham. Could hardly put it down – about a journalist who takes on a challenge to move to small town in Minnesota and write about it. He expects to hate it and the people and place, but he doesn’t. Absolutely wonderful true story.
The River We Remember, William Kent Kreuger. 1950s, Minnesota. A murder and the aftermath. Could hardly put it down. Kreuger has such a vivid imagination and writing style.
How the Lights Gets In, Joyce Maynard. An older woman returns to New Hampshire to help care for her brain-injured son. Siblings and family, lots of angst and resentments.
The Filling Station, Vanessa Miller. Every American should read this book. A novelized retelling of the Tulsa massacre in 1921. Absolutely riveting.
The Story She Left Behind, Patti Callahan Henry. Love this author. Based on a true story. A famous author simply vanishes, leaving her husband and daughter behind. She had invented a mystical language no one could translate. Present day, someone thinks he’s solved the riddle, contacts the family. Really interesting read.
The Girl from Berlin, Ronald Balson. Love anything about Tuscany. An elderly woman is being evicted from a villa there, with odd deed provenance. Two young folks go there to help unravel the mystery. Loved it.
The Island of the Colorblind, Oliver Sacks, M.D. Nonfiction. The dr is intrigued by a remote Pacific island where most of the inhabitants are colorblind. He also unravels a mystery on Guam of people born with a strange neurological problem. Medical mysteries unveiled. Very interesting.
The Bookbinder, Pip Williams. Post 1914 London. Two sisters work at a bookbindery. They’re told to not read the books. One does and one doesn’t. One has visions beyond her narrow world; the other does not. Eventually the one gets into Oxford. Lovely story.
The Paris Express, Emma Donoghue. 1895 on a train to Paris, a disaster happens. You’ll delve into the lives of many people who survived and died in the crash.
A Race to the Bottom of Crazy, Richard Grant. This is about Arizona. Author, wife and child move back to Arizona where they once lived. Part memoir, research, and reporting in a quest to understand what makes Arizona such a confounding and irresistible place.
The Scarlet Thread, Francine Rivers. A woman’s life turned upside down when she discovers the handcrafted quilt and journal of her ancestor Mary Kathryn McMurray, a young woman who was uprooted from her home only to endure harsh frontier conditions on the Oregon Trail.
A Place to Hide, Ronald Balson. 1939 Amsterdam, an ambassador has the ability to save the lives of many Jewish children. Heartwarming.
Homeseeking, Karissa Chen. Two young Chinese teens are deeply in love, but in China. Then their families are separated. Jump to current day and the two meet again in Los Angeles.
North River, Pete Hammill. He always writes such a good story. A doctor works diligently healing people from all walks of life. His wife and daughter left him years before. One day his 3-yr old grandson arrives on his doorstep.
A Very Typical Family, Sierra Godfrey. A very messed-up family. Three adult children are given a home in Santa Cruz, Calif, but only if the siblings meet up and live in the house together. A very untypical scenario but makes for lots of messes.
Three Days in June, Anne Tyler. The usual Anne Tyler grit. Family angst. This wasn’t one of my favorites, but it was entertaining and very short.
Saved, Benjamin Hall. Author is a veteran war reporter. Ukraine, 2022, he nearly loses his life to a Russian strike. Riveting story – he survives, barely.
Grey Wolf, Louise Penny. Another Inspector Gamache mystery in Quebec. She is such an incredible mystery writer.
All the Colors of the Dark, Chris Whitaker. A missing person mystery, a serial killer thriller, a love story, a unique twist on each. Could hardly put it down.
Orbital, Samantha Harvey. Winner of 2024 Booker Prize. I don’t usually like those, but I heard the author interviewed and she hooked me. This is not a normal book with a beginning, a story and an end. It’s several chapters of the day in the life of various astronauts at the ISS (Int’l Space Station). All fictional. She’s been praised by several real astronauts for “getting it” about space station everyday life.
The Blue Hour, Paula Hawkins. An island off Scotland. Inaccessible except when the tide is out. Weird goings on. An artist. A present day mystery too.
Iron Lake, William Kent Krueger. A judge is murdered and a boy is missing. Riveting mystery.
Tell the Wolves I’m Home, Carol Ricks Brunt. 1980s. A 14-yr old girl loses her beloved uncle. Yet a new friendship arises, someone she never knew about.
Four Treasures of the Sky, Jenny Zhang. 1880s, a young girl is kidnapped in China and brought to the United States. She survives with many hurdles in the path.
The Boy Who Fell out of the Sky, Ken Dornstein. Memoir, 1988. The author’s brother died in the PanAm flight that went down in Lockerbie, Scotland. A decade later he tries to solve “the riddle of his older brother’s life.”
Worse Care Scenario, T.J. Newman. Oh my. Interesting analysis of what could/might happen if a jet crashed into a nuclear plant. Un-put-downable.
Song of the Lark, Willa Cather. Complicated weave of a story about a young woman in about 1900, who has a gifted voice (singing) and about her journey to success, not without its ups and downs.
Crow Talk, Eileen Garvin. Charming story which takes place at a remote lake in Washington State, about a few people who inhabit it, the friendships made, but also revolving around the rescue of a baby crow.
The Story Collector, Evie Woods. Sweet story about some dark secrets from an area in Ireland, a bit magical, faerie life, but solving a mystery too.
A Sea of Unspoken Things, Adrienne Young. A woman investigates her twin brother’s mysterious death. She goes to a small town in California to figure it out, to figure HIM out.
The King’s Messenger, Susanna Kearsley. 1600s England, King James. About one of his trusted “messengers,” and his relationship with a young woman also of “the court.” Lots of intrigue.
In the Shadow of the Greenbrier, Emily Matchar. Interesting mystery in/around the area of the famous resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
Isola, Allegra Goodman. Hard to describe, survival story on an island in the 1600s.
Save the Date, Allison Raskin. Rom-com, witty, LOL funny. Clever.
The Sirens, Emilia Hart. Numerous time-lines, Australia. Mysteries abound, nightmares, abandoned baby, weird allergies.
Red Clay, Charles Fancher. LOVED this book. Mostly post-Civil War story about the lives of slaves in Alabama during Reconstruction.
Stars in an Italian Sky, Jill Santopolo. Dual time line, 1946 and recent time. Love stories and a mystery.
Battle Mountain, C.J. Box. Another one of Box’s riveting mysteries. Love his descriptions of the land.
Something Beautiful Happened, Yvette Corporon. A memoir of sorts in Greece, tiny island of Erikousa, where the locals hid Jews during WWII. All elusive stories told by the author’s grandmother.
The Jackal’s Mistress, Chris Bohjalian. 1860s Virginia, about a woman who saves the life of a Union soldier. Really good story.
Song of the Magpie, Louise Mayberry. Really interesting story about Australia back in the days when it was mostly a penal colony. Gritty strength of a woman trying to thrive with her farm.
The Boomerang, Robert Bailey. A thriller that will have you gripping the book. About a lot of secrets surrounding the president (fictional novel, remember) and his chief of staff and about cancer. A cure. Such a good story.
Care and Feeding, Laurie Woolever. Really interesting memoir of a woman driven to succeed in the restaurant business. She worked for Mario Batali and then Anthony Bourdain. Gritty stories.
Everything is Tuberculosis, John Green. Maybe not a book for everyone. A real deep dive into the deadly tuberculosis infection, its history. I heard the author interviewed and found the book very interesting.
The Book Lovers Library, Madeline Martin. Fascinating read about Boots’ drug stores’ lending library. And the people who worked in them.
The Arrivals, Meg Mitchell Moore. LOL funny, about a middle-aged couple whose children (and their various family members) return to the family home and the chaos that ensues.
My Life as a Silent Movie, Jesse Lee Kercheval. About grief. A big move to Paris, finding herself a new life with a new set of real blood family.
Escape, Carolyn Jessop. Another memoir about a woman really in bondage in Utah, Mormon plural marriage.
Tasting Spoons
My blog's namesake - small, old and some very dented engraved silver plated tea spoons that belonged to my mother-in-law, and I use them to taste my food as I'm cooking.
Scroll down to the bottom to view my Blogroll
Posted in Uncategorized, on July 14th, 2009.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait until this movie comes out in early August. This is the one that chronicles part of Julia Child’s life and Julie Powell’s one year of cooking Julia Child’s recipes. Meryl Streep plays Julia Child – the trailers I’ve seen are amazing with Meryl’s rendition of Julia Child.
So anyway, I was reading some of my blogs and there was this very interesting one . . . Amy from Cooking with Amy has written up a very fascinatig post about the food stylists who made all the food for the movie. So, do go on over to her blog to read all about it.
That’s Meryl Streep there in the picture.
Posted in wine, on July 13th, 2009.
We have friends of ours, who live most of the time near us in Southern California, who also own a well-respected winery in the southern Willamette (that’s pronounced wil-LAM-ett) Valley of Oregon. We knew we’d be driving within a few miles of their winery, so we went to visit them yesterday. Indeed, the winery is about 30-40 miles off Hwy. 5, near Salem. What a gorgeous place it is. And I have no pictures of the scenery because it was raining the entire time we were there.
Dan and Nancy raise pinot noir grapes (well, they also make some pinot gris and rose), but it’s the pinot that has put Cardwell Hills wines on the oenology map. We were so thrilled for them when the Wine Spectator named one of their pinots as 75th out of 100 best wines in the world for 2008.
They started it all with a dream about owning a winery in the area, eventually purchased an abandoned vineyard and really started from scratch. Some of the original vines were rejuvenated, and they have 30+ acres planted now. Dan designed, then had built a winery, then he designed a custom country French house nearby (see photo right). Is that house not gorgeous? It’s every bit as beautiful inside as you could think it would be.
What a lovely time we had. Cardwell Hill wines are available at Total Wine stores on the East Coast, and at some selected wine stores in the West. Or, at the winery, of course.
There was the dining room table, all ready for the tasting. I should have taken photos of both Dan and Nancy to include.
Cardwell Hill Cellars
24241 Cardwell Hill Drive
Philomath, Oregon 97370
(541) 929–WINE (929-9463)
Directions (it’s near Corvallis)
Posted in Travel, on July 12th, 2009.
We’re on our way home. The car’s nose is headed south, like she knows where she’s going. We got on the 5 fwy and have been on it for two days. And we’re still only in southern Oregon as I write this. Here are some photos I’ve snapped along the way. Above is a small lake just below the Olympia (Oregon) State Capitol building. We had dinner at a restaurant almost in its shadow.
The Peace Arch at the U.S. – Canada border. We sat in line for about an hour to get back onto U.S. soil and during one of the long wait periods I hopped out of the car and took this picture. There were hundreds of people having family picnics near here. It’s a lovely park. Just not much fun when you’re waiting. And waiting. The cars are at a dead stop. They allow cars through in groups of about 40-50, then you crawl forward car by car.
See the small Canadian flag done in flowers over on the right side?
We spent the night in Olympia at a fairly nondescript B&B. Not memorable enough to even mention. But they recommended dinner at the Waterstreet Cafe. Very nice food. I had a bread salad (picture right). And I had a glass of delish prosecco (sparkling Italian wine).
This morning we headed out to visit friends of ours who own a winery near Salem. Stay tuned for more info and photos about that. We have been in solid rain all day, but will be breaking out into the hot California sunshine tomorrow.
Posted in Books, on July 11th, 2009.
We’ve spent countless hours on the ship this week. We did take a tour – in Juneau. The other shore excursions were excessively expensive, we thought, so since we’d been here before, we decided not to partake of others. Am so glad we had a nice verandah stateroom, though, as we were able to enjoy sitting there for many, many hours enjoying the scenery. The photo above is one I took in the ship’s library.
I brought along my Kindle, with several books loaded on it. But since the Zuiderdam (pronounced zeye-der-dam) has a very extensive library, I decided to utilize theirs. And read some books I might not normally have done.
Testimony (Anita Shreve) – almost like a Jodi Piccoult book, I thought. Shreve took a very volatile subject (rape . . . or was it rape, the reader questions from about the 3rd page?) and tells each chapter from the point of view of the many different people who were profoundly affected by the event (not just the 3 barely adult boys having sex – and videotaping it – with a 14-year old girl at a private school) It was a fascinating read.
It Ain’t All About the Cookin’: a memoir (Paula Deen) – hmmm. Well, more like a tell-all of Paula Deen’s life. She said she didn’t hold anything back, and I learned things I almost wish I hadn’t. Certainly learned more about her sex life than I ever wanted to know. She did pull herself up by her bootstraps, and definitely knew how to stretch a dollar to feed her children. Until she met Michael (her current husband) she made some really bad choices in men. Until recently Paula didn’t have a very good self image. And her language? Oh my goodness. What a foul mouth she has, and makes no apologies for it.
The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet (Colleen McCullough) – You know Colleen McCullough, the author of The Thorn Birds, The Ladies of Missalonghi, the 7 books in the “Masters of Rome Series,” the first one was The First Man in Rome, and one of my favorite books, Morgan’s Run. She’s a prolific writer. This book is so off the normal track for her. It’s about Mary Bennet – you remember her? The younger, lesser sister from Pride & Prejudice, Jane Austen’s classic? McCullough takes that singular character, skips 20 years and has written a book about a year of her life. Mary spent those 20 years caring for the Bennet mother until her death, and where the book starts she decides to become an agent for change. She knows children are being exploited in the workforce. It’s very much in the Jane Austen style. Cute book.
Are You Somebody? An Accidental Memoir of a Dublin Woman (Nuala O’Faolain) – actually this book was one I brought along with me. For my book group which meets the day after we get back home. I’d never heard of this author. And obviously I’m not all that well-read in the classics. O’’Faolain drops names (author’s names) like bread crumbs on a nature walk. Mostly Irish and English authors I’ve never read. And most I’d never heard of, either. She grew up poor, although she did get a very good college education by great happenstance. Learned more about her sex life than I wanted to know, too, which started at a frighteningly young age. (What IS it about women baring their sex souls?) She grew up in an era when being Irish was nothing to be proud of, but later in life, when she finally makes a name for herself in the world of journalism, she finally accepts her Irish-ness and moves back home to Dublin. Single. Lonely. Unhappy, mostly. And still looking for the right man. But at least she’s on her own and financially independent. In a second edition of this book she adds an “afterword” which was perhaps more revealing than all the rest of the book. She was just overwhelmed with notes, calls and letters from people who had lived a similar Irish life (who read her first edition). It seemed to give the author some kind of character validation, I think. I liked the book better after reading that part, but I don’t think I’ll be prompted to read any of her novels. After attending my book group, I heard that the author lost her life to lung cancer last year. She’d finally found a man in New York and had been living with him for awhile before her cancer diagnosis, although she went home to Ireland before her death, and she’s buried there.
Tell Me Where It Hurts: A Day of Humor, Healing and Hope in My Life as an Animal Surgeon (Dr. Nick Trout) – Another memoir, this one from a veterinarian. The cover was what got me – it’s a photo of a very adorable Boston terrier with the doctor’s hand and a stethoscope pressed to the dog’s chest. Wouldn’t be interesting to anyone who doesn’t love animals. Medicine has always fascinated me, though I don’t suppose I could have been a physician. But reading this book, a compilation of stories about a day in the life of a veterinarian, convinces me I probably wouldn’t have what it takes to be one. Interspersed amongst the stories are chapters and paragraphs about veterinary philosophy (pet insurance, euthanasia, even the wisdom or lack thereof, of some cat and dog names. Very interesting read, though.
Posted in Travel, on July 10th, 2009.
It’s a cloudy, overcast and foggy day. But no rain. We’ve had phenomenal weather on this 7-day cruise. Can’t complain about that one bit. Today we’re at sea all day, between Ketchikan and Vancouver, to arrive tomorrow morning (Saturday). At the moment it’s cool outside, probably about 55 or 60 degrees. I snapped several pix this morning as we cruised by some islands in the Inland Passage.
I was enamored with the little topknot on that one pine tree. These islands are just barely above sea level, all covered in trees.
Here was another little bitty island. Cute as a bug, eh? I thought so. There are some homes (few and far between) on an island or two – much bigger islands than this one. All accessed by boat since we’d see a tiny dock and one or possibly two small boats with outboards. One with a small wind machine. There has been zero wind today
Tomorrow morning we get off the ship early. Very early, actually. We have to put our suitcases outside our stateroom door by 1 am. We exit the ship at about 7:30 am, then will take a little minibus to where our car has been parked all week (a short distance, maybe not more than a couple of blocks, actually) and off we go. Hoping the waiting line at the U.S. border crossing will be short.
So I’ve written up a blog post about all the books I’ve read these past 7 days. Many more than usual. Tomorrow we’re driving south and I will likely write up something about it the next day. We’re headed towards home, but won’t get there for a few more days yet. Thanks for coming along on the photo ride with me.
Posted in Travel, on July 9th, 2009.
This is the Margerie Glacier, deep in Glacier Bay National Park, as far into the Tarr Inlet as you can go, with Mt. Quincy Adams (13,650 feet) and Mt. Salisbury (12,000 feet) in the center distance. In the foreground is the face of the Margerie Glacier, but it continues up with the river of ice through the center of the picture. The temp was about 50 most of the day, but very pleasant sitting in the sunshine.
When we took this cruise last time, years ago, we didn’t have a whole day in Glacier Bay. We came into the Bay during the night, woke up to the massive face of one of the glaciers (not sure which one), hung around for a couple of hours waiting for the glacier to calve. It didn’t, even though the captain sounded the ship’s horn, which sometimes will cause one (and likely the Park officials have laid down the law about trying to cause calving anymore, because the glaciers are receding at such a rapid rate). Back then, we saw some of the whale breeding grounds and did see whales off at a long distance, then we left in order to reach Sitka by early afternoon.
This time we spent the entire day there, from early morning when we picked up some Park Rangers who gave us mini-lectures on the ship’s radio periodically during the day. We “hung out” at the Margerie Glacier (pictured above) for about an hour or so. During that time we could hear the glacier cracking – sounds like gunshots or as rumbly as thunder). An eerie sound. Then hung out a shorter time at the less attractive Grand Pacific Glacier.
This looks like a rock wall, but it’s all glacier. Just black because of all the dirt and rock the glacier picked up when it was growing. Now it’s receding, so it drops small chunks of ice, but when this one calves it looks the same, because it’s so full of dirt and gravel.
This was as close as we were allowed to go in the Johns Hopkins Inlet (Johns Hopkins Glacier is right there in the center as it meets the sea). Harbor seals give birth (the Park Rangers call it pupping) on small icebergs way back in there (the safest place they can birth because of land predators like bears). Except for the ship’s engines, it was ever so quiet.
The Park Rangers spent some time talking about the glaciers. Their makeup, their history, and about the known evolution of them. The map they gave us shows the glacier masses over the course of the last 100 years. They have ebbed and grown, both. But she said that the glaciers receded PRIOR TO the Industrial Revolution, too. That likely thousands of years ago the glaciers did the same thing – receded dramatically. Not that man (and the burning of fossil fuels) hasn’t contributed to it, but they do believe it’s a natural phenomena.
As I’m writing this we’ve actually just docked in Ketchikan (after a long 8 hours or so at sea, when my stomach was not happy because we were actually out in the open ocean). We did see a few killer whales cavorting just beside the ship last night as we were eating dinner. That was fun! But I didn’t have my camera with me. I was concentrating on keeping my stomach under control as we were lightly rolling. Seasickness is just a fact of life for me. Hard to believe I married a man who is a sailor. He’s incredibly patient and understanding with me, though. Even he gets seasick occasionally, although I’ve never seen it happen to him, and we’ve been married for 26 years.
It’s overcast, foggy and cold here in Ketchikan. So don’t know that I’ll have many photos. Stay tuned.
Posted in Travel, on July 7th, 2009.
Ohhh, is that a postcard picture, or what? I think that’s the best photo I’ve taken so far on this trip. That’s the Mendenhall Glacier – well, the glacier is below the trees. We were on a nature walk near there, and just beyond the flowers is the Mendenhall River (the runoff from the glacier). It was a picture perfect day too.
That’s the Mendenhall Glacier. Receding at startling rates, the experts say. We watched half a dozen calfing icebergs as we stood and watched. A young fellow waded out into the river (on the right side near the icebergs) and hugged one of the icebergs, then quickly (shall I say – very quickly) waded back out. He was in the water up to his waist. Brrrrr. The forest ranger said the water temp was about 50. The outside temp was about 83.
In this picture you can see beautiful downtown Juneau. Did you know that Juneau is only accessed by air or boat? There is some bit of town beyond that hill on the left (the road to the glacier), and residential areas across a bridge to the left. But really, that’s it. The governor’s official mansion is here, although I think most state business is conducted in Anchorage. The folks in Juneau were stunned by Sarah Palin’s resignation. Juneau boasts just one fast food restaurant (a McDonald’s), a Wal-Mart (where our guide says a dozen tortillas cost $10 – a form of highway robbery he thought, and he had a few words to say about Wal-Mart’s “discount” shopping vs. truth in advertising), and a Costco. Our guide, Patrick, a young native Californian, moved permanently to Juneau about 2 years ago (he’s a junior high history teacher) after having worked in Denali National Park for 2 years and deciding that the close proximity to nature was where he wanted to be. About the only thing he misses about the lower 48, he said, is Mexican food.
Before we reached Juneau yesterday we went into Tracy Arm, a fjord here in Alaska. This was new territory for us as we did not see it on our previous Alaska cruise. It was really beautiful. It didn’t hurt any that it was a sunny, clear day!
Some buttercups. At least that’s what other people said they were. I’ve never lived in buttercup country, so I wouldn’t know.
Some other people knew they recognized these flowers, but couldn’t name them. However, they said they were the biggest ones they’d ever seen. The picture covers about 18 inches, if want some perspective.
Posted in Travel, on July 6th, 2009.
Remembering this from our last cruise along the Inland Passage to Alaska, it was no surprise that we were sailing in this huge ship within almost a stone’s throw of islands. The ship’s draft is only 26 feet. Amazing that this floating hotel actually floats. They’re so ungainly. But anyway, back to the scenery. These islands are pristine, uninhabited land masses, except for wildlife, I’m sure. But we sailed close enough that even I, as out of shape as I am, could probably swim to shore. The pine trees grow right down to the water’s edge, and all of these islands are just dense with pine trees. Occasionally I spotted a stream or very small waterfall. But mostly just pine trees and more pine trees. Some of the islands are about a 1000 feet high (a guess) and a few had dots of snow at the top. Some are steep, some more gently sloping. But all are covered in trees. It is so awe-inspiring to see the beauty of nature. This gorgeous land that God made.
This one above was taken from our verandah with a bit of the ship’s superstructure visible. It’s cold out there today, although earlier it was warm enough to sit there for half an hour or so. There are two pools on this ship (one inside and one outside). They’re quite protected from the wind, so people were swimming and sunbathing earlier in both pool areas. Uh, not me. Glancing out the window, I could see snow right down to the water’s edge the further north we got. In a shadowed north facing crevice.
Yesterday we had a sit-down breakfast (we eat less that way than if we visit the buffet lines), and a sit-down lunch too in the dining room. I ordered a chicken Caesar salad. It was not memorable, sad to say. We were hoping to find wild salmon on the menu, but so far they’ve only had farm-raised. Why would they DO that? Here we are in salmon country and they serve transported farm-raised Atlantic salmon on the menu. I took the opportunity to tell the other guests at our table 2 nights ago about why I wasn’t ordering the farmed salmon. Nobody really seemed to care.
Later . . . They did offer Coho salmon on one of the outdoor decks yesterday, grilled. But they were rather puny pieces, with lots of bones, so we opted not to have any. One of the waiters told us that we will have an opportunity to eat wild salmon on the cruise. I hope that wasn’t the only chance. Last night we had dinner in the Pinnacle Grill (an extra $20 apiece, and it wasn’t full of people). Best meal we’ve had on the ship. I had filet mignon and Dave had salmon (troll-caught). I would have ordered the salmon, but the waiter there also assured me I will be offered troll-caught salmon later in the week, so I got the prime beef instead. Lovely meal.
I managed to get on the internet well enough yesterday. Took just 6 minutes to upload my post, click a few buttons, add tags and check categories before clicking the button to post. Then I checked email and logged off. This sunset picture was on Saturday night as we were headed directly west.
Posted in Travel, on July 5th, 2009.
Perhaps this photo is a bit blurred? It’s not my picture, so can’t take credit or derision for it.
Late yesterday we boarded the Zuiderdam in Vancouver, BC, and are doing a 7-day Alaska cruise. It’s always fun watching the events as a big cruise ship leaves the dock. There were 3 ships leaving, all within a few minutes of one another. All carefully choreographed so we arrive in the next port at the exact time for tours and shopping. I snapped a bunch of pictures as we departed.
The Vancouver Skyline at the big cruise ship docks as the Zuiderdam backed out of its slip. It was another gorgeous day. We’ve been blessed with clear, sunny skies on this whole trip. Knock on wood!
That’s the Vancouver skyline in the center distance.
There’s our stateroom before we got it all messed up with “stuff.” I’m sitting at that desk over in the far left corner. See me? (Just kidding.) We have a big verandah (the cruise lines are really offering huge deals this summer). Out on our verandah we have 2 reclining chairs with ottomans plus a table and 2 chairs. And room to walk around. I do have internet access (for a fee – $55 for 100 minutes) but their connection is extremely slow (like dial-up, not high speed in the least). So, depending on how I do for this first upload, we’ll see whether I do much blogging during this next week. I compose the posts on my laptop in Live Writer (beta), even all the photo resizing, etc. So when I upload, all I have to do is tell it when to publish and add tags and categories. But accomplishing all that may take a lot more time than I’m used to. But, from the stateroom I have to go to one of the wi-fi hotspots on the ship to log on.
Today we’re cruising all day, mostly in Tracy Arm, with sightseeing from the decks and our verandah. Probably no animal sightings today. It’s overcast today. So far. When we did this trip 10-15 years ago it rained a couple of the days. We heard it poured rain for 2 straight days last week when this ship made the same journey.
Leave a Comment!