Emtbsam

Beware of the mint taking over not just your planter but your lawn too. I learned the hard way.

just add alcohol and a good dose of imagination,

Years ago I made faux crab cakes. I used grouper with Old Bay seasoning and on top of each one I put a piece of lump crabmeat prominently displayed. No one complained,

By the way, it is so nice to be comfortable dropping names here on cc.com. With so many of our friends and acquaintances, we dare not mention that wonderful little restaurant in... fill in the blanks. Cc.com and the water cooler have been a wonderful respite recently! Thanks to all,

I am not a rare fish person although back in 2005 When I was in Santa Margherita for my birthday I did have my first rare tuna and actually enjoyed it. I do like rare beef but prefer medium lamb. Sorry no photos to post since our meals are not photo worthy. I did pair the lamb with a nice mixed rice from Wegmans. By the way, if you ever get to Santa Margherita, there is a store you would love called Seghezzo which has an amazing assortment of things including wonderful dried porcini. By the way, your herbs are doing really well. I watered ours yesterday, and it seems to have made a big difference. Our cherry tomatoes are coming along nicely. One of the unintended consequences of the isolation for us has been the rewards of beautiful flowers. Hope yours is the same.

JP - we are so impressed, our marinated lamb skewers cannot compare.

We are just trying to keep up with JP and Chris! I forgot to mention Bob is walking 8 miles almost every day in under 2 hours! And we live in a hilly area!!

My to do list is almost finished! We spread 40 yards of mulch after weeding everything. I pressure washed the whole house and pool area. I sanded and varnished the front door. The inside of the house is cleaner than ever. BUT I miss planning travel more than I realized. I never knew how much time I devote to planning trips, and now we do not have one until next year.

That would be interesting. We could still visit or stay in Venice pre-cruise. It is a bit more complicated since the first night of the cruise is an overnight in Venice. Oh well, a lot will change between now and September 2021!

Yes! We are booked on the 2021 Grand Mediterranean cruise Venice to Lisbon.

We get a bottle of Dom and an OBC every time we pay for a Silversea cruise with Amex Platinum. I am shocked to say I have had the card since 1978. The perks have been great although this year since we are not cruising the card is less useful. I travel with bubble wrap to fill out the voids in my suitcases and sometimes, we use the bubble wrap to cushion a bottle for the trip home. Thank you all for your good wishes. Mary Ann - it is good to see you on cc.com. Terry - hope you had a great anniversary. JP - hope your anniversary was happy despite not being in China. Stumblefoot - thanks again. As an aside, the Dom was a 2008 and we thought the flavor was a bit light.

Yesterday was our 15th anniversary. We popped a bottle of Dom 2008 courtesy of Amex Platinum and had a lovely dinner at home.

We frequently lose internet and electricity. Thank goodness for the generator and the cell phone!

We took a 10 day charter on the CLoud. The National WWII museum chartered the whole ship for the 70th anniversary of D-Day. It was a very different experience. There were none of the usual daily events or entertainment. Our days were filled with lectures and shore excursions. There was music in the evening, but although the Voices of Silversea were on board, they did not perform in the evening. We were able to convince them to do a small cabaret one evening in Panorama. We had to make a special request for our “free laundry” perk to be available to us and also had to request that we get our days credited. Food and service were the same as usual. Some evenings we could not sit at a table for 2 in the dining room since the organizers had arranged for large tables. I assume that the pace on board a Caribbean charter would be much more laid back than was ours in Normandy. Also, our per diem was significantly higher than a normal cruise. Will the ship be fully chartered or only part of it? That makes a difference if some passengers are not in the charter group. hope that is helpful.

Great idea!