Shari.com: Carnival Splendor: The Food

Shari.com: Carnival Splendor: The Food:

"One event that we missed the first day (went to see the Newlywed Game-style show - hilarious), caught and loved the second day, and forewent the last day (being lazy and not wanting to mar our memories) was Tea Time.

On Carnival Splendor, Tea Time is held on the upper level of the Golden Pearl dining room, near the large aft windows looking over our wake, by the grand piano. On some ships it is held in the library, but I have to tell you, the Splendor's 'Alexandria' library (they wish) is a pitiful little room compared to the spacious, windowed 'Mark Twain' library on Elation. (Splendor's library overlooks a lifeboat. Nice.) We got one of the few tables for two (okay, so we're obsessive, but there are worse hobbies) and I talked Mike into taking some tea as a prop. We both chose something orange; I'll have to find the wrapper. (It's a scrapbookable!)
Then the trolley came around and, oh, how I will always regret not throwing myself bodily upon the thing. But no, we were dainty, taking a thinly pressed cucumber sandwich and a couple of bite-size scones each.
Again with the incredible cucumber moments! Even Mike has since wondered aloud how we might make such little sandwiches on our own.
But the scones. Oh. my.


'This is a scone,' said Mike. 'None of that big triangle business that you get here.' And he was right. I've only been to England once, only had scones there once, but this was a scone. Full of real cream and so moist... and I don't really see how I'm supposed to carry on, maybe never having such a thing again, and yet I bravely do. Although sometimes, around three p.m., I have to have a bit of a lie-down so I can weep quietly until the loss passes."

Sooooon...

Ok, so no haircut yet. I'm over that hump and I guess I'll wait for spring. It's just too cold here. We leave Saturday for our cruise! Yahooo! I can't wait to get away from Spokane and work and hum-drummity. Tomorrow will be full of packing, laundry, and cleaning, and then away we go!


Ever have days where your plans just get swallowed up? Today was like that (as was the past week). I was going to clean the house and decorate for Christmas to surprise Jesse when he got home from work. But I spent all day trying to make this template for frosting windows. Dang Martha Stewart and her "simple" crafts. I went all over town today looking for two things: spray-on, washable glass paint (which apparantly I made up? Seriously, I swear that's a thing, right?) and a black half slip to go under my cruise dress. No one carries those either. Anyway, instead of a happy, Christmasy house, Jesse came back to a grouchy wife who just wanted her dinner. Oh well, such is life. Poor me. And now they're making me go to a tropical place where they will force-feed me delicious things while I lie in the sun. Sigh. There must be more than this provincial life.

Ok, I was just googling "carnival splendor (our ship) food," looking for a picture to post here. I stumbled upon some funny lady's blog. I was excited to get away, but now, I'm officially really excited! Listen to this woman: (read above post)

Haircut?

I made the mistake of watching French Kiss, and I now want to cut my hair. I swear, I'll never get past this in-between stage. I desparately need some input...


Short-Hair friends.

Cruisin' Together...

We leave for our cruise in 5 days! I'm very excited. VERY excited!!! Mostly for food and sun, but also to see the whole fam damily. Also--get this--I don't have to cook or clean a single thing this Thanksgiving.

But I'm also excited to come home and be all cozy and cold again. We had just a few flurries of snow, and now I'm in the mood. For snow. Jesse and Neil are downstairs doing the dishes and Bing Crosby's singing Silent Night. Little wiener dog sleeping on my lap. It's a great ending to a Sunday.

I can't wait for Christmas. I'm sad that I won't be able to see my family like we had planned (our work schedules are keeping us here for Christmas), but the more I think about it, our Christmas alone might be pretty nice. This will be our first Christmas we don't have to drive to! Doesn't that sound peaceful? We have a great sledding hill here, and we'll have yummy food and open presents together in the morning and listen to Julie Andrews and Harry Connick Jr and run-on sentences be darned! Anybody got any favorite Christmas albums? Besides Mannheim Steamroller (Annie and Sav)? And I'll make cookies. Ooh, and there's this amazing looking pumpkin flan (ok, it looks more like caremel pumpkin creme brulee) in the new Martha Stewart magazine that I think I need to try. And this just might be the season wherein I master the freezing process for apple pie, and that's what our friends and family will get instead of cookies. Yes, I think so.

A friend recently reminded Jesse and me to keep our hopes up, something we have a lot of practice in not doing. But if you guard against the bad, how can you celebrate the good, right? I don't know, Christmas seems sometimes to be a sweet, wonderful day, with just a twinge of a disappointing finish for some reason. But this year, I'm going to really look forward to it. That may mean a little extra sadness, but my Christmas season's going to be long, caloric, and childlike/ish this year. Here's to getting our hopes up!

Anyway, I hope everyone's feeling snug as bug tonight. Good luck with your hooligans this week, Mom.

Appointment...

Isn't it funny how certain people just recharge you? I don't what the exact combination of character traits is--integrity, love, positive attitude, sincerity, humor--but today I was lucky enough to have encounters with two of these people (well, three if you count Jesse...I know, I know, sappy, ew, barf.) This morning we were just about to head out the door to our doctor's appointment, and in comes Kelly with breakfast from my favorite bakery! Not only did I love the flaky croissant, but her visit really pulled me out of my little nervous trance. What a gal.

Then we got to Dr. Hardy's office. I already was fond of him--he's our home teacher, after all--but man. What a nice guy. As we were telling him about our struggles getting pregnant, he literally got a little teary-eyed. He listened to everything we said, and exhibited such a good bedside manner. I left immediately from his office for work, and I felt so ready to face my coworkers who can be a bit, shall we say, draining. Ready is not even the word. I felt like my priorities were straight, and M's employees be darned.


So results: exam looked normal and healthy. Dr. Hardy thinks I probably have endometriosis based on my symptoms. The next step in diagnosing that would be surgery (hmm.), but while we decide about that, he's going to look at my bloodwork from my last doctor. Jesse is also having fun tests again. If we decide the surgery (a very minor laperoscopic procedure, but still spendy) isn't an option, he will do a dye test with an ultrasound to see if there's a blockage somewhere. So, no big answers, but we have a direction now. And we have a really good doctor. I'm feeling very positive.



Last night's dinner: sauteed chicken with a shallot, marsala, caramelized onion, sour cream sauce.



Tonight's dinner: French toast made from Great Harvest cranberry orange bread. Did you know eggnog is an excellent addition to French toast batter? This is my gift to you.

Not much to write tonight... Did a little cooking (non of which turned out as yummy as I'd hoped, but had fun with Jess) and will post pictures later. Miss Kelly came over and we went running--our chatting did wonders to distract me.

We have our appointment on wednesday, and I'm a bit nervous, but can't wait to find out something. Like, really. Can't wait.

AHHHH!

So we're going on a cruise. In two weeks. My passport still has my maiden name on it. But that's ok, I can use my birth certificate (which I have in my posession) and my driver's license. Only, I have just noticed that my driver's license is expired... ... ... AAHH!

To obtain a Washington license, I must retake the written test. And the driving test. And then they send you your new license in a few weeks.

So I go to the US Postal Service website, and they tell me that in order to expedite my passport renewal, I must go to the Post Office in person. So we do, and the incredibly unhelpful man who wanted to go to his lunch shakes his head at us and tells us to "fill out this form, pay the extra for overnight when you send it in, but it probably won't get there in time."

We try a different approach. We go to the licensing office (I don't understand why this isn't done at the DMV here in good old Washington!) and it's closed because it's Monday.

So I called the cruise line, and they said I could board with my marriage license and my passport and my birth certificate. Progress.

Then I call South West Airlines, and I have to say, after all of my stupidity and others' stupidity, I finally talked to the nicest lady!

("Aw Girrrlfriend! When's your cruise, Baby?")

She then proceeded to warn me that drinks on the cruise cost money, but that they're goooood drinks, and that they'll have me all juiced up. She tells me to bring all of my documents (and lots of film) and that they'll let me on the plane. Then, when I get home, I need to go straight to the DMV and get everything worked out, cuz my documents are all "out of wack."

Thank goodness for people who don't just take their jobs for just jobs and pass you off to the next guy. I thanked her for being a person, and hung up. Carribean, here I come.

Criss Cross...

Applesauce! I had a bunch of apples that needed to be eaten. Our cruise is coming up, so I didn't necessarily want to make a pie or a crisp, so I made applesauce. I love this recipe, as it requires no time over a stove, and it makes the house smell like Christmas.

Peel, core and cut about 4 pounds of apples (I used Braeburn, Granny Smith, and Jonagold) into good-sized chunks. Reserve a few red peels. Add about 1/2 tsp lemon zest, and a good squeeze of lemon juice (Ina Garten zests and juices 2 whole oranges and 1 whole lemon into hers, but she likes a lot more citrus in her apples than I do.) Throw into a Dutch oven.

Add about 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1/2 tsp. brown sugar, 1/8 - 1/4 tsp all spice, and some butter. However much you like. (I like 2 Tbs) I also added a Tbs apple juice concentrate. Mix.

Place red peels in Dutch oven. They will add a touch of rosiness to the applesauce.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for about an hour. Remove and mash with potato masher until you get your desired consistency. I like texture in my applesauce. Next time, I'd probably only add a pinch of all spice, as I like spice to be just noticeable. This is, as always, inspired by an Ina recipe, but is so tweakable. You can play with pretty much all the ingredients.

Our grocery store finally has ripe pears! Jesse had made steaks with Gorgonzola for dinner, so guess what I'm eating for my bedtime snack? By the way, did I mention the cruise is in two weeks? During which I will be donning a bathing suit?! Sheesh. Well, I did run two miles today (my first run of the week [yikes!])

We found out yesterday that the reason Jesse's been feeling so tired lately is this: he had mono! Which might explain my dizzy spells and the reason we both had a cold that just wouldn't quit. Apparently, my running faze helped me fight it off, and poor Jesse got monotonized!

So because Jesse didn't feel up to running with me this afternoon (when I sorely needed some motivation), he hopped on the scooter and rode along by my side. We got some laughs when a school bus went by. He's pretty rare.

In other exciting news, I finally cleaned out the fridge tonight. Also, work was fine. Also, in order for me to obtain a Washington license, I must take the driving test again. Bollucks. Also, my next project will be a pear, blue cheese, walnut crostata. Stay tuned...

Mischief Managed!

After the Disappointing Pastry Incident, I am happy to report that Jesse, Neil, and I went out to breakfast at Le Petit Chat bakery, and we were very, very satisfied with our chocolate croissant, sausage and scallion croissant, and ham, cheese, and caramelized onion croissant (irrespectively). SO good. Coincidentally, I'm feeling rather sluggish today, and my little nap didn't help.


And by the way... I got into the University of Kent! Into the Canterbury/Paris program! Provided my letters of recommendation from past teachers get there and say more than, "Good luck with her, maybe you'll have better luck than I did." So, yay!!! Jesse and I discussed (more than just yippee! yippee! yippee! this time) the situation, and the OFFICIAL Jesse and Kathleen Plan is that yes, we shall be attending. We are sending in our letters of acceptance of a place tomorrow! Anyone want to join us over there? Or come to our graduation ceremony in the Canterbury Cathedral? We'll be 2 hours from Paris and Brussels, and 1 hour from London! And when we're in Paris, well, then the world is our toaster!

And, if I decide not to get my Masters, it is because I will be swollen with child. So there, I finally have a future!


Here, for your perusal, are pictures from our new home in Kent.


Yes, this is our new apartment...


And here's our backyard... (we've had to let several of our groundskeepers go. It's so hard to find good help.)



And this is Dover, where we shall summer.


And this is just pretty. And now that I look at it, might be a golf course. This must be our club.

Trees I Sees

This tree lives in Kent, and I'm going to meet it. It's name is "Majesty," and it is the "mightiest tree in the British Isles." Apparently, it is at least 500 years old and has a circumference of 40 feet. There is a hole in the trunk, and it is completely hollow--this is where Jesse and I will hide all our treasure. I can't wait!

Ode to French Pastries and Sad Story

Here I sit, a hungry, broken woman. I was image-searching French pastries. Because that's what I do. And Tara (my little sister-in-law) and I decided we absolutely could not spend one more moment without holding one of these buttery, flaky, buttery, crispy, buttery creations in our hot little hands. We hopped in the car, and headed for this great little bakery nearby called Le Petit Chat. I'd been there once before, right as they opened, and the croissant I tasted there was unlike anything I've ever eated. I meant to type eaten, but eated better reflects the childish delight this thing evoked. So we get there, and it's 4:00 pm, and of course they have nothing left. So Tara says "I know this great bakery!" (Never trust a fourteen-year-old who salts her Ramen. Just saying.) So off we go to Rocket Bakery. $7 later, Tara is mindlessly gnawing on her lump of wheat dough smeared with white icing they call a danish, and I have purchased 2 dusty scones--items which instead of the warm, romantic streets of Paris for which I long, call to mind Washington state strip malls and jerky. How sad. Oh well, I have my dreams to keep me going. That and Google image search.

Next item on self-improvement agenda: learn how to produce homemade croissants en masse...

So, the night before Halloween was way more eventful than the holiday itself. I was going to force Jesse to go to the ward harvest party with me, but we ended up just having a relaxing night at home with a yummy late dinner and pumpkin carving. On Halloween, Jesse was working, Tara went to a party, and Neil went to the temple, so I was the candy hander-outer. I killed time between trick-or-treaters by making cupcakes and roasting pumpkin seeds (and cleaning the kitchen). Finally, Cousin Kelly came and rescued me from boredom.

I need a better camera to fully capture the joy that is this roast chicken. I swear, it's the best, easiest roast chicken you'll ever make, and it makes the house smell like heaven while it's cooking. I think it's the ideal company dinner: it's a make-ahead deal, it smells so good, and best of all--it's cheap! Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 (5 to 6 pound) roasting chicken
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 large bunch fresh thyme (or rosemary), plus 20 sprigs
1 lemon, quartered

1 head garlic, cut in half crosswise
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted
1 large yellow onion, thickly sliced
4 carrots cut into 2-inch chunks
1 bulb of fennel, tops removed, and cut into wedges (I use potatoes, squash, or sweet potatoes--whatever fall vegetable I have)
Olive oil

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pin feathers and pat the outside dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, both halves of lemon, and all the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place the onions, carrots, and fennel in a roasting pan. Toss with salt, pepper, 20 sprigs of thyme, and olive oil. Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken on top.
Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove the chicken and vegetables to a platter and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes. Slice the chicken onto a platter and serve it with the vegetables. (I like to present it whole at the table, then let someone else do that carving.) I use thyme and rosemary almost interchangeably in this recipe. I also add a few slivers if butter to the veggies to help them brown and enhance the potatoes.

This, of course, is an Ina Garten recipe. You can watch her make this dish herself here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/perfect-roast-chicken/24509.html

Watch for her great chicken impression on this video. I like to think we're friends, Ina and I. She seems to feel about food the way I do: it should be prepared with love, skill, and butter, and should always be shared with friends. And I think her relationship with her husband is so sweet!

In other news, I finished my application to the University of York last night. I'm still voting for Kent, but if it's free, we might as well throw our net wide. I was looking at apartments in Paris last night (like ya do) and I realized that we have a serious problem! Anything we'll be able to afford won't have a kitchen! I can't live in Paris and not be able to cook! Yeeps! We'll see about that...

I start week 7 of my couch to 5k program today: run 25 minutes, or 2.5 miles, without stopping. I already did this on Saturday, and it was pretty tough. Hopefully it'll be easier this time. It's so fun being able to observe how fast our bodies adapt to this sort of thing. I've never stuck with running consistently enough to notice before.

I can't believe there are only 3 weeks until our cruise! And Disneyland! Yippeeee!