Silversea Water Cooler: Welcome! Part Five

[mysty]

WOW!  That camera sounds amazing!  When does it arrive?  Your review would be much appreciated.  I will stick with Frances though.  She has performed magnificently!  I'm sure Frances 6 will also be a gem!

 

Your meal looks awesome!  🙂  

[jpalbny]

Delish Jeff! And the new video equipment too. Enjoy!

 

For the first time in almost 3 years I have not had to go in on a Saturday when I'm on call. Will be home doing a bunch of fall preparations. Might have to blow out the sprinkler system to get that ready for winter, get the pool ready for closing next week, and see what plants I should pick now vs. leave out a little longer. Here is a picture of my sage plant for Davey. Right next to the rosemary and mint, both of which are thriving in this cold weather. The basil is toast, though.

 

 

So we made some blueberry scones for breakfast. I made the dough last night and had it chilling in the fridge, ready to roll out and assemble this AM. Was in the oven quickly and tasted delicious!

 

[UKCruiseJeff]

Hi M,

 

I ordered it an hour ago ... and it should be here tomorrow.  I’ve just bought a rather thick Kindle guide to it which I’m wading through. If you have a 4k tv then there is some films uploaded on Youtube which I think shows why I decided to do,it even though Frances is a perfectly adequate stills camera.  The Japanese films are quite decent.

 

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=sony+rx100+vi+hdr+video

 

The combination with the new Sony TV I just couldn’t resist.  Wifey has been understanding!  🙂

 

Edited:  Thanks JP.  🙂

Edited October 20, 2018 by UKCruiseJeff

[TLCOhio]

1 hour ago, UKCruiseJeff said:

The piggy bank has just taken a hit.  I have just ordered the Sony DSCRX100 MVI ie model 6 to replace Frances which is the model 3.  I wanted 4k for the new TV and the Youtube flims taken with this new model are sublime.  

 

Just looked up the details for this Sony camera.  Very impressive technical details and capabilities.  Plus, very light.  Only 301 grams or ten and a half ounces for the folks on our side of the Atlantic.  Sony has been rising very fast and gaining great ratings for their cameras.  Did see the pricing and it is not a "cheap" camera.  BUT, us "boys need our toys!"   Looking forward to seeing the visual results. 

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio

 

SE Asia/Mekong River, Etc.!  Completed a Jan. 21-Feb. 20, 2018, first adventure through Southeast Asia with stops in Hong Kong and Bangkok, before traveling all over Vietnam and Cambodia.  This includes seven days sailing on the Mekong River. Now at 37,392 views.  Lots of fun, interesting pictures!! See more at:

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2591474

[mysty]

JP...enjoy your "stay home"!  Scones look delish!

 

No 4k TV here J!  Thanks for the link though!  🙂  We tend to use things until they can't be used anymore.  And sometimes even then we cobble together a fix.

[UKCruiseJeff]

11 minutes ago, mysty said:

JP...enjoy your "stay home"!  Scones look delish!

 

No 4k TV here J!  Thanks for the link though!  🙂  We tend to use things until they can't be used anymore.  And sometimes even then we cobble together a fix.

 

I perfectly understand. 

 

It was a leap of faith to buy the TV without ever seeing the particular model or even having seen any 4k UHD TV.  I just feel that at our stage you have to sometimes make a leap of faith with stuff.  The TV has far surpassed my expectations from every respect and by some distance.  It really is stunning and has effectively become a sort of time and travel machine offering us the chance to revisit places via Youtube to see whether we want to return and see new places.  I hadn't understood how they improve standard HD as well as producing really stunning 4k UHD, and the camera to me was a logical consequence of buying the TV.  Wifey will use the M3 and I'll try and get into the disciplain of taking 4k.  It had to be a pocket camera for all the reasons we've already discussed and this was the logical one. 

 

Sadly it also comes during a week where Helga has been having an extended day in the garage for rather landmark service which has become eye-wateringly costly  .....

 

Lovely scones JP.  You can't beat a scone.  🙂

Edited October 20, 2018 by UKCruiseJeff

[mysty]

So glad that the TV is meeting and exceeding expectations!  I'm sure the new camera will be awesome with the TV!  Sorry that Helga needed "medical" care!   

[Tothesunset]

Our son has some modern 4k then lots of letters TV and the picture is amazing. Unfortunately his father is far too tight to buy one! 

[UKCruiseJeff]

11 minutes ago, Tothesunset said:

Our son has some modern 4k then lots of letters TV and the picture is amazing. Unfortunately his father is far too tight to buy one! 

 

My rationale is  relatively straightforward.  If you believe that if the remaining partner is likely to pop their clogs with a bank balance then any purchase that gives you pleasure now whilst you are together to enjoy it is cash extremely well spent. 🙂 

 

Additionally it would be extremely  irresponsible and a dereliction of duty to leave cash that would trigger inheritance tax because you hadn’t spent enough.  🙂

[mysty]

I am having trouble responding because our daughter is visiting and is currently sitting much too close to the computer.  🙂  We have no inheritance tax here.  We do have probate fees though.

[Tothesunset]

Agree, Jeff. But remember I'm an Ulster protestant and would rather have my wisdom teeth removed without anaesthetic than part with cash! 

[UKCruiseJeff]

12 minutes ago, Tothesunset said:

Agree, Jeff. But remember I'm an Ulster protestant and would rather have my wisdom teeth removed without anaesthetic than part with cash! 

 

errrrrr .... you’re on a bleedin’ expensive cruise!  At least I’ll still have the TV and camera in a couple of weeks time, burglars willing!

 

ps.   shouldn’t the menu say “From the Freezer” rather than “From the Sea”  or  “ .... Fields”!

 

🙂

[jpalbny]

Productive weekend so far. Finally got to try a new recipe that I've been looking at for a week or two. It was a ragu made from pork, and the sauce used cocoa powder as one of the base ingredients. It's supposedly an Italian recipe called cocoa suga. Since the cocoa powder is unsweetened it adds depth to the flavor and lots of umami, but the final dish doesn't taste chocolaty.

 

I decided to try to do the whole thing in the Instant Pot. It worked great! And I got to use 4 of the 5 herbs that are still alive in the garden.

 

Start with a few pieces of pork shoulder, and a mirepoix of vegetables and herbs. Onions, garlic, carrots, and green peppers (my substitute for celery, since Chris detests that vegetable). Add some fresh sage and rosemary.

 

 

 

Once the meat is browned on all sides, saute the vegetables and herbs in the same pot, then add cocoa powder and tomato paste for depth of flavor.

 

 

Scoop up the browned bits with wine and broth, then add the pork pieces. The recipe said to braise in the oven for 2.5 hours. Who has that much time? An hour in the instant pot on the pressure cooking setting was good enough, I figured. So I set the pot and we went out for a run.

 

 

When we came back it was almost done. The pork was falling apart and easy to shred. There was more liquid than there would have been, had I done this in the oven, so I reduced the sauce before pureeing it in a blender. Then the shredded pork went back in. The sauce was finished with fresh parsley and mint, plus a little bit of butter.

 

 

Final dish, served over a whole wheat pappardelle, with fresh Grana Padano shredded on top.

 

 

It was perfect with a Barolo - the hint of chocolate flavor in the wine went well, and there were also a few herbaceous notes too which tied it all together. Now off to relax in the hot tub after all that work!

[mysty]

Greetings Coolers!

 

JP....that meal is a tour de force!  Yum!

 

Today's funny.....

 

 

Have a great day all!

[TLCOhio]

4 hours ago, mysty said:

Greetings Coolers!

JP....that meal is a tour de force!  Yum!

Today's funny.....

Have a great day all!

 

YES, great food pix's/details from J.P.  Super funny visual from mysty??  How did you know about my butt being so big??  However, NO, I do not wear such a thong as shown in your illustration.  A thong would not look pretty on my butt.  Don't want to go there!!

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio

 

Barcelona/Med: June 2011, with stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Great visuals with key highlights, tips, etc. Live/blog now at 241,530 views.

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

Edited October 21, 2018 by TLCOhio

[UKCruiseJeff]

Excellent funny M ... and lovely looking food JP.  Only one thing .. I cannot bring myself to think of cocoa as something one adds to meat.  I know it’s quite a thing in some South American cuisines but I guess it is just a step too far ... all in the mind!

 

Today, I made a rather rustic country loaf for tonight’s supper. It has mostly Canadian white flour but around a third is mixed rye and malted bran.    We’ll have it with some ham and some  cheese and some red wine.  

 

[jpalbny]

Jeff, that's a tasty looking artisan loaf! I made a rather plain loaf on Wednesday because we had a craving for sandwiches for lunch, and hadn't bought bread. So I used 2/3 white flour and the remaining 1/3 a blend of whole wheat and semolina. Tasted better than it looked.

 

The cocoa powder mixed with the pork dish really gave me pause too, but I did it and it turned out great. It added richness and depth of flavor without any chocolate flavor per se. Remember that what we think of as "chocolate" is quite modified from the original form of cocoa powder. Fat and sweetness are added. The plain cocoa powder just added umami, I think.

 

It's the same principle as adding soy sauce to ground beef to amp up the flavor. The burgers don't end up with a taste like soy at all. Or, adding achovy paste to osso bucco. It just adds richness.

 

Lucky me, we get to try it again because I managed to save a portion for a lunch serving this week. 😁

 

The next thing I want to try in the Instant Pot is the duck leg ragu. I was disappointed in the duck ragu on board Silver Wind last month. It used ground duck and wasn't very flavorful. I like my recipe better but it takes almost all day. Thinking that I can cut out a few hours of oven braising with the pressure cooker. 

 

I am starting my Australia blog on Google's Blogger site. I will post a link to it when I get a little more of it done. I really only have the first day in Sydney completed now. Not sure I like the website's format but will play around a little more. It seems as if there are a lot of custom options I can play with.

[Lois R]

Hi friends...…..wow, that bread looks FANTASTIC Jeff

 

Question for you (all of you)……..I am looking at the Douro River.  I have never been to Portugal and the places looks beautiful.

and I love a River Cruise.  Do you know if this area is usually having to take a bus for each excursion? I am going to call AMA tomorrow as that who I used for my first River Cruise back in 2016 and really loved them.

 

Any information from all you world travelers would be welcomed!

[UKCruiseJeff]

Good evening all .... and thanks for the kind comments about the bread. Wifey says it was wonderful and I caught her nibbling the crust whilst she was supposed to be making me my evening tea.

 

As you know I am completely obsessed by bread.  I have a complete library of books on bread and recently I read an odd approach to bread making from a professional baker that is completely different to most of what I had learned so far but basically it elaborated on a few bits and pieces I'd read about and it makes the most remarkable bread, with no mixer or mixing, no kneading, no flour thrown all over the kitchen, no poolish or biga and no sourdough starter to be cultivated and babysat - and it is all made in the day whilst you potter around and the timings are all so lax and forgiving you virtually ignore it.  In fact if you accidently forget it, which I often do,. it benefits and improves.  I've basically adjusted that approach for my own lifestyle and I guess it involves in round terms around 5 minutes effort over the day ie around a minute or so at a time.   And there's no mess to clean up which is normally what happens when I use to make bread.  Flour everywhere. And it is perfect for non-bread makers and breadmakers alike and is always perfect for an evening loaf.  It is so easy and so straight forward it hurts that I found it so late in life. All the recent breads you've seen including the baguettes, rolls flatbreads and tonights loaf made the same way.  No, it isn't a breadmaking machine.  It is the best bread I have ever eaten or made. Honest.  🙂

 

But if I gave you the secret of  how to make a loaf I'd have to kill you. 🙂

Edited October 21, 2018 by UKCruiseJeff

[Daveywavey70]

26 minutes ago, UKCruiseJeff said:

But if I gave you the secret of  how to make a loaf I'd have to kill you. 🙂

Jeff, Some things are worth dying for.

Evening  all, thanks for the sage pics JP ours is finished until the spring now. 

‘Great food pics all round. Why do I always check the cooler when I’m hungry? Silly boy. Anyway, Hope you’ve all had a great weekend.

[jpalbny]

1 hour ago, Lois R said:

Hi friends...…..wow, that bread looks FANTASTIC Jeff

 

Question for you (all of you)……..I am looking at the Douro River.  I have never been to Portugal and the places looks beautiful.

and I love a River Cruise.  Do you know if this area is usually having to take a bus for each excursion? I am going to call AMA tomorrow as that who I used for my first River Cruise back in 2016 and really loved them.

 

Any information from all you world travelers would be welcomed!

 

From what I've heard, yes, all of the excursions involve a bus ride. Fuel Science has just done a day by day review of his trip from a few months back which might have more info. It is a fairly popular itinerary from what I see on these boards, very scenic, and interesting.

[Lois R]

Hi JP, thanks...….I will look at that review.   I did use my friend Google and that area of the world looks beautiful.

[57 varieties]

Lois we travelled on the Scenic Azure from Porto to the Spanish border and back last July.  Apart from Porto, where we had a walking tour, all the tours are by bus.  The drive was usually 20-30 minutes. On the day we went to Salamanca it was about 2 hours in the bus but the countryside is lovely and Salamanca is breathtaking.

Our only river cruise so far, and we loved it.

[mysty]

Greetings Coolers!

 

Off for a short 3 day visit to family.  I will leave you with a funny courtesy of Miss S.....

 

 

Safe travels Spins!

 

Have a great day all!

[Lois R]

3 hours ago, 57 varieties said:

Lois we travelled on the Scenic Azure from Porto to the Spanish border and back last July.  Apart from Porto, where we had a walking tour, all the tours are by bus.  The drive was usually 20-30 minutes. On the day we went to Salamanca it was about 2 hours in the bus but the countryside is lovely and Salamanca is breathtaking.

Our only river cruise so far, and we loved it.

Hi, thanks for the reply.  I will (hopefully) have some time later today to give AMA a call.  The photos on line of the area look lovely!