Silversea Water Cooler: Welcome!

[UKCruiseJeff]

25 years plus ago, there was a street in the old town of Limassol. The shops on that street sold nothing but these souvlaki grills. :) Sad to say that 21st century Cyprus has changed beyond all recognition, and not for the better....

 

Sorry for the delay with the Merc, we haven't actually collected the thing yet :eek: We're hoping to pick it up on Thursday so I'll try to get a pic in the daylight on Friday.

 

 

I know ... they sold them all over ... but if you remember in those days they were rarely blue. Most were unpainted galavanised!

 

What were you doing in Limassol. Dhekelia? Kourion Beach? ;)

[Nigella]

I know ... they sold them all over ... but if you remember in those days they were rarely blue. Most were unpainted galavanised!

 

What were you doing in Limassol. Dhekelia? Kourion Beach? ;)

 

Episkopi, Kourion Beach, Pissouri Bay... I was there a few weeks ago,and it's barely recognisable these days.

Yes I do remember them unpainted.

I actually fell in love with the place back in the mid 1980's but now my relationship with the island is more like one with an irritating sibling !

[UKCruiseJeff]

Episkopi, Kourion Beach, Pissouri Bay... I was there a few weeks ago,and it's barely recognisable these days.

Yes I do remember them unpainted.

I actually fell in love with the place back in the mid 1980's but now my relationship with the island is more like one with an irritating sibling !

 

 

We're the same! We also gave up.

 

Use to work for an American computer corp and was responsible for what they called EMEA which included that area. So I use to spend anything up to four or five trips a year with up to three weeks at a time. You could actually hear mortar fire from Beirut from The Golden Bay in Larnaca in those days. One of my guys spent 5 days trying to get across Beirut in order to get a ferry to Limassol to meet me. I'll never forget his reaction to my rather misplaced advice about running his business. He said "Jeff, I run a business with 5 offices in Beirut. I cannot talk to any of my employees on the phone because they don't work. On any day I do not know which of my employees are alive. It has taken me 5 days to get across all of the different factions to get here. What would you do in my situation ....." What an ignorant idiot I was.

 

We use to base ourselves either at Larnaca, or Limasol or Paphos and everyone use to fly in for our events. I use to take my management team for a fish meal at a fisherman owned taverna where his boat tied up at Xylophogou .... and a few years ago I went back. It use to be a creek and now it is a town with lots of "foreign" owned villas and restaurants. You chose the fish on the boat, told them how you wanted it cooked, added salad and chips and a bottle of Aphrodite and then some Keo brandy and ouzo and it would cost nothing. I was still a lunch person even then. :D

 

We eventually decided to buy a villa on Coral Bay but it was just at the moment that "Russian Money" was arriving. We were about to "sign" and I said to jean ... "this doesn't feel right .. let us just have one more holiday before we commit." By now the Russians had really taken over and actually there was a bit of a "menace" setting in. The "strip" at Limassol started to get a no go area at night with a bit of gang activity and the odd shooting and and I decided we'd not buy. I am so peased we did. Especially after the banking do dah.

 

I remember like you what it was like in the 80's. You couldn't buy anything without being offered a tea. Everywhere was so friendly. I love to simply remember what it was rather than see any more of it.

 

Sad to see a jewel disintigrate into such a mess. :(

 

EDITED: Episkopi! Were you in uniform? ;)

Edited March 4, 2014 by UKCruiseJeff

[sakaara]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sakaara

Hi Jeff, don't think we could wait until December to re-visit Vienna.

Considering a weekend a deux in September.

Will definitely Visit The SwissHouse then and also Zum Martin Sepp. Thanks for all the tips on Christmas Trees and Punch - Gluhwein. Look forward to tasting lots. We picked up a bottle of Stroh Rum at the airport, have yet to try it. I was thinking of coffee and hot chocolate.

Envious of you going to Vienna, you must keep us posted while you are there.

That's lovely.

 

Don't tempt me! Two weeks from today - at this moment - we will be contemplating lunch. I may ressurect and post my Nutcam in order to show the sorry state of Intercontinental Club Lounge nut bowls during cocktail hour ... as you may recall a crusade I have is to bring the return of the rare but beloved cashew nut to the bowl. I do have the odd cashew safari but they are unavailable in the lounge. These have been extinct for a year or so.

 

My campaign to bring the nuts and other nibbles to a narrow gap pourer has been successful or should I say more fruitfall and nutfall and crispfull. No longer can those nasty and unhygenic and selfish people take straight from the bowl and straight intoto their mouths. arghhhhh.

 

That is a battle I have won!

 

Re your September trip. We're also there from 15th and 19th September and if you happen to be around we'd love to bump into you. It's our birthdays ... I am 36 hours older than her ... and we will be drinking and eating with gusto and are determined to do absolutely nothing important other than that. I will no longer have a free IC mini-bar to invite you to in the suite as my Royal Ambassador IC membership will have just expired, IC Singapore have agreed RA benefits after my RA membership expires but we don't really need it at Vienna - as there is so many places for a beer or so as well as happy hours at the IC Club lounge.

 

It's lovely to hear you love Vienna so much. Don't get caught as we do. At least three trips per year for the last XR%$£ years ...

 

 

...................

 

Well done with the 'Nut War', it's a pet hate of mine too , ughhh yuk.

Double Trouble in Vienna in September, sounds very tempting!

Will let you know if our dates coincide.

[UKCruiseJeff]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sakaara

Well done with the 'Nut War', it's a pet hate of mine too , ughhh yuk.

Double Trouble in Vienna in September, sounds very tempting!

Will let you know if our dates coincide.

 

You can share our birthday cake in September ....:)

 

Today we have been eating for lunch my home made Beef Meatloaf Wellington with a Martini Rosso Gravy, cheese mash and peas with a bottle of Rioja. I don't like beef fillet in my Wellington ... and this has all the flavour you choose to add .....

 

[Mr Luxury]

You can share our birthday cake in September ....:)

 

Today we have been eating for lunch my home made Beef Meatloaf Wellington with a Martini Rosso Gravy, cheese mash and peas with a bottle of Rioja. I don't like beef fillet in my Wellington ... and this has all the flavour you choose to add .....

 

 

Martini Rosso gravy,

 

Are you wearing your blue velvet tux with the frilly shirt and matching velvet bow tie to eat all that lot?

 

Takes me back to the seventies

 

Does look nice though

 

I also do not like to spoil a fillet in the wellington.

Can't see any mushroom duxelles in your wellington,you know what a fussy sod I am with attention to detail.

 

Do you ever do a cobbler? savoury or sweet

[UKCruiseJeff]

Martini Rosso gravy,

 

Are you wearing your blue velvet tux with the frilly shirt and matching velvet bow tie to eat all that lot?

 

Takes me back to the seventies

 

Does look nice though

 

I also do not like to spoil a fillet in the wellington.

Can't see any mushroom duxelles in your wellington,you know what a fussy sod I am with attention to detail.

 

Do you ever do a cobbler? savoury or sweet

 

It was really good. Martin Rosso for beef gravies and Noily Prat for fish and white meat sauces. That is the procedure.

 

Sorry I didn't have all your other requirements but this is a Tuesday lunch ....

 

I've been marinading several tons of prime pork ribs for a few days in my world famous and utterly secret marinade. There will also be rostis, onion bhajis (can't be bothered to make an onion loaf) and some slaw.

 

Does anyone remember Jilly's Ribs in Atlanta? Still there?

 

A SS Senior VP travelled from Miami to that very table in the piccy for a discuss and my famous ribs a few years back .. the start of a memorable time for us both. What did they do with the CS survey and all the processes we agreed ....;)

Edited March 4, 2014 by UKCruiseJeff
ipad spelling

[spinnaker2]

Peas apparently go with everything

 

 

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[UKCruiseJeff]

Peas apparently go with everything

 

 

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Can I just make something absolutely clear! They are (and always will be) petit pois. A man does have standards you know!

 

:D

[Mark_K]

Can I just make something absolutely clear! They are (and always will be) petit pois. A man does have standards you know!

 

 

 

:D

I thought that in the UK 'pease' was the term. Or was that just in Jane Austen's day?

 

 

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[UKCruiseJeff]

I thought that in the UK 'pease' was the term. Or was that just in Jane Austen's day?

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

That use to be used but is now only used in the context of pease pudding.

[spinnaker2]

These pease looke plus grande than petit

 

 

 

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[UKCruiseJeff]

These pease looke plus grande than petit

 

 

 

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Call me a bleedin' liar ......:D

 

[spinnaker2]

Wow I thought you were out in the early morning when the dew caught the early morning light as it glistened off the tendrils which gently caressed the pea pods and

That you lovingly gathered the pods only to open them to watch the tiny green pealets fall into a bowl waiting to be quickly cooked and plunged into icey cold water to retain the color

 

 

BUT NO

 

They were frozen

 

 

EEEK

 

 

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[V8Babe]

Jeff, the Wellington and cheese mash looks yum!! I want some!

 

Not heard of (or remember) Jilly's but Houston's is everywhere in Atlanta and their ribs are pretty good.

 

 

Karin

[UKCruiseJeff]

Jeff, the Wellington and cheese mash looks yum!! I want some!

 

Not heard of (or remember) Jilly's but Houston's is everywhere in Atlanta and their ribs are pretty good.

 

 

Karin

 

 

There is some good grub in Atlanta .... I remember a lovely chap called Joe Dale .. and he had a restaurant with a train carriage in it called Joe Dale's Cajun Station. I think he had the reputation of being an ex-gangster ... Happy days. We never see Onion Loaf in the UK. I love Southern food.

 

Glad you like the Wellington. Jean says the cheese mash was a touch too cheesy (is such a thing possible? :eek: ) but considering she would not eat cheese at all until around 10 years ago - that is a result!

 

Late night crumpets and cheese - this morning at 02:30 am ..... :)

 

[UKCruiseJeff]

Wow I thought you were out in the early morning when the dew caught the early morning light as it glistened off the tendrils which gently caressed the pea pods and

That you lovingly gathered the pods only to open them to watch the tiny green pealets fall into a bowl waiting to be quickly cooked and plunged into icey cold water to retain the color

 

 

BUT NO

 

They were frozen

 

 

EEEK

 

 

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I got up ealy for the Ocado delivery though .......:D

[Mr Luxury]

I got up ealy for the Ocado delivery though .......:D

 

Now you're taking the peas ;)

[spinnaker2]

We don't have ocado in USA

I had to look it up

Judging from other posts I half expected it to be a good bottle of red

 

 

 

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[Mr Luxury]

We don't have ocado in USA

I had to look it up

Judging from other posts I half expected it to be a good bottle of red

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

 

Jeffs good bottle of red has Heinz written on it

[UKCruiseJeff]

Jeffs good bottle of red has Heinz written on it

 

 

Thanks. I think.

[spinnaker2]

Since Heinz was recently acquired by bhathaway

They may be making wine now

 

 

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[UKCruiseJeff]

New topic 70/70: 70% humidity and 70 degrees. Aging Cigars

 

Today was the first "outside" cigar of the year. I went to my Rafael Gonzales humidor.

 

Does anyone else smoke ... or even better .. "lay down"cigars for aging?

 

I'm happy to host a discussion on why you should lay down cigars and how you can legally import Cuban/Havannah cigars leg tax free if there is interest?! :)

 

Edited March 5, 2014 by UKCruiseJeff

[Nigella]

Jeff, enjoyed reading your memories of Cyprus. That wine, Aphrodite, and there was another called Blonde Lady or something. I used to drink gallons of Aphrodite, and Thisbe, I think it was called. I couldn't drink either one now.

The one area they've improved in the last 10 years is in wines. There are 3 local white wines that I can quite happily quaff now. But only when I'm there. They don't work at all in the English climate.

 

No sign of the vehicle yet. :rolleyes: He's supposed to be collecting it tomorrow.

[UKCruiseJeff]

Jeff, enjoyed reading your memories of Cyprus. That wine, Aphrodite, and there was another called Blonde Lady or something. I used to drink gallons of Aphrodite, and Thisbe, I think it was called. I couldn't drink either one now.

The one area they've improved in the last 10 years is in wines. There are 3 local white wines that I can quite happily quaff now. But only when I'm there. They don't work at all in the English climate.

 

No sign of the vehicle yet. :rolleyes: He's supposed to be collecting it tomorrow.

 

 

I think you mean Pink Lady? A rather thick and rather nasty Rose made by the smaller winery - Sodap? Sort of glycerine conistancy? No longer made. Sodap use to be based in Limassol but moved out to be in the center of their vinyards in Stroumbi. I was once driving through Stroumbi and saw a banner across the road all in Greek except for the date and decided to take all the family back on that day not knowing what was going to be "on". In fact it was a wine festival and we turned out to be the only foreigners and they made us very welcome and all the wine was free. You can tell because hire cars ahve red plates.

 

Earlier in that day of the wine festival we were driving through Stroumbi and we saw a lovely building with Keo Beer umbrellas on some tables outside on the main road into Stroumbi and so we pulled in and stopped and sat at a table in the garden beside a table full of local people. Mum came out and I presumed she asked me in Greek what I wanted so I ordered some coffees and a few beers. She smiled and off she went. We sat there for an hour so enjoying the peace and the old lady offered us some lovely home made cake. We asked for the bill. The man on the adjoining table said "no bill". It transpired that we were sitting in his front garden and his mum has been serving us and I'd presumed because of the Keo umbrellas that it was a taverna....

 

We went to a local shop and bought some goodies and took them back for mum.

 

He in fact turned out to be the Stroumbi Mayor and we sat at his table at the wine festival that evening. That rather shows what Cyprus use to be like.