The Daily for Friday November 26, 2021

[rafinmd]

2 minutes ago, nancynana9950 said:

Our first was on Carnival in2009. Followed by two on RCI and 4 on NCL. I hope you all are patient with me. I stay away from social media sites with the exception of WhatsApp. I stay in touch with a friend in the UK. I have a lot to learn!

Compared to the lines you have sailed there's quite a difference with HAL.  It is much more sedate and I would say "dignified".  You'll never see a bellyflop contest or many of the little games you see on those lines, and it sounds to me like a great way to celebrate a 50th Anniversary.    MOST room service is free. 

If you tell them you have sailed with Carnival you should be recognized as a 1-star mariner.  The benefits are pretty minimal but I think there's a welcome back cocktail party on embarkation day. 

 

Entertainment is a weak spot with just 1-step dance company in the show lounge (no singers), but do check out all the venues on the music walk.  Lincoln Center Stage is a favorite of mine. 

 

Congratulations on approaching 50 years.  I think HAL is the perfect line for your celebration.   Have a wonderful cruise.  Your chosen itinerary looks great.

 

Roy

[nancynana9950]

Thanks Graham, it’s actually in September. I remember now in UK the day appears first!

[TiogaCruiser]

2 hours ago, Vict0riann said:

I have another question for the Americans  - I have never been to Trader Joe's,  but next month  (December 6, actually), we hope to cross the border and head down to Bellingham for a couple of days for a shopping spree.  So, I plan to take a cooler and we are going to go to TJ's on the 8th, on our way back home.  What do you recommend I buy?  What are your favourite things?  Hopefully I will find some special treats that I can refrigerate or freeze or somehow keep for Christmas!  I would love to at least start out with a shopping list of ideas..

 

 

A few things that come to mind that we get at TJs:

 

Stilton cheese with apricots

 

Dried tangerine sections (I know, sounds weird, but they are really good)

 

Joseph Handler Reisling

 

Chocolate covered espresso beans

 

the 1 lb Belgian chocolate bar ( dark, milk, with or without almonds- oh my gosh)

 

pistachio pomegranate crackers, rosemary & ( I forget) crackers 

 

apple butter, pumpkin butter (seasonal), other preserves 

 

Let us think a bit more…

[nancynana9950]

Roy we are definitely ready for something more “sedate”!  

[Vict0riann]

5 minutes ago, TiogaCruiser said:

A few things that come to mind that we get at TJs:

 

Stilton cheese with apricots

 

Dried tangerine sections (I know, sounds weird, but they are really good)

 

Joseph Handler Reisling

 

Chocolate covered espresso beans

 

the 1 lb Belgian chocolate bar ( dark, milk, with or without almonds- oh my gosh)

 

pistachio pomegranate crackers, rosemary & ( I forget) crackers 

 

apple butter, pumpkin butter (seasonal), other preserves 

 

Let us think a bit more…

 

I have started my list!  Thanks so much...😀

 

And welcome to the Daily, @nancynana9950!

[puppycanducruise]

@AncientWandererWonderful  news.  Congrats.

 

@nancynana9950Welcome to the Daily.

[grapau27]

25 minutes ago, nancynana9950 said:

Thanks Graham, it’s actually in September. I remember now in UK the day appears first!

Thank you Nancy.

Pauline and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary on P&O Britannia on 22nd August 2021 Sailing out of Southampton.

Graham.

[dobiemom]

23 hours ago, rafinmd said:

Dinner will include takeout rotisserie turkey from Boston Market.

Roy, I hope you got your meal. Locally, some folks went to pick up their prepaid meals only to find Boston Market closed. 😱😡

[Sharon in AZ]

5 hours ago, AncientWanderer said:

 And DS and DDIL announced a new bun in the oven arriving next May.  Very happy news -- our third grandchild.  👶

Congratulations!!  So exciting for your family!!

[smitty34877]

@AncientWanderer,So exciting  about the new grandchild!

[JazzyV]

Good afternoon. Thanks for the Daily.

We should all listen more, a salute to Native American Heritage, and most of us not cruising have leftovers today!

Good quote.

As usual, I'll pass on fish (raw or cooked). Also pass on the drink. The wine sounds good.

I haven't been to the Fiji Islands.

 

Just relaxing today, after finishing up all the pots and dishes that needed to be hand washed. It's very cold and blustery here today, with snow flurries.

 

@rafinmd There were upset people here as one of the Boston Markets was closed when they went to pick up their meals. Supposedly due to lack of staff showing up.

@AncientWanderer Congrats on the new grandchild.

@lazey1 Sorry to hear that Kakalena  is not feeling well on her cruise.

@smitty34877 I'm glad Tana was able to spend time with her family.

@nancynana9950 Welcome to the Daily!

 

Prayers for the care list and cheers for the celebration list.

Stay safe everyone.

[rafinmd]

15 minutes ago, dobiemom said:

Roy, I hope you got your meal. Locally, some folks went to pick up their prepaid meals only to find Boston Market closed. 😱😡

Good job carrying a quote over from another thread.  I actually picked up my meal on Wednesday.  I did the same last year and then it was easy-peasy.  This time I timed it wrong and there was about a 45-minute lineup for the register but I was eventually successful.  A microwave hack I heard on TV was to put a wet towel over the meal as I reheated and it stayed pretty juicy during the reheat process.

 

Roy

[Sharon in AZ]

3 hours ago, Vict0riann said:

 

I have another question for the Americans  - I have never been to Trader Joe's,  but next month  (December 6, actually), we hope to cross the border and head down to Bellingham for a couple of days for a shopping spree.  So, I plan to take a cooler and we are going to go to TJ's on the 8th, on our way back home.  What do you recommend I buy?  What are your favourite things?  Hopefully I will find some special treats that I can refrigerate or freeze or somehow keep for Christmas!  I would love to at least start out with a shopping list of ideas..

OMG!  Just too much to mention. We do the majority of our grocery shopping at TJ’s— milk, eggs, butter, ice cream, produce, canned goods, pasta, crackers, wine, cheese, tea, etc. I could go on and on. The prices are actually better than the major grocery store chains. I usually don’t buy beef or chicken there but they do have really good ground chicken and a marinated spatchcock lemon chicken and their bone in pork chops that are really good.  Plus now they have their holiday items in you can go crazy with chocolates and stuff. The 99 cent Children’s Advent Calendars too!  
 

 I’ll take a look around and give you some more ideas later. 

[57redbird]

19 minutes ago, Sharon in AZ said:

OMG!  Just too much to mention. We do the majority of our grocery shopping at TJ’s— milk, eggs, butter, ice cream, produce, canned goods, pasta, crackers, wine, cheese, tea, etc. I could go on and on. The prices are actually better than the major grocery store chains. I usually don’t buy beef or chicken there but they do have really good ground chicken and a marinated spatchcock lemon chicken and their bone in pork chops that are really good.  Plus now they have their holiday items in you can go crazy with chocolates and stuff. The 99 cent Children’s Advent Calendars too!  
 

 I’ll take a look around and give you some more ideas later. 

I'll add their pork carnitas & Danish kringle that they have year round -- different flavors for different seasons.

[StLouisCruisers]

@TiogaCruiseryou had me at the 1 lb. Belgian chocolate bar!!!  OMG I really love chocolate bars!  We don't have a Trader Joe's in our area, but I have been to the one in Ann Arbor before to take a look.  

 

I finished writing out the Christmas cards and was cleaning up glitter forever.  Only problem is I send certain friends and extended family a Christmas letter which I will have to write and print out, then open up their darn glittery cards and insert.  More glitter mess!  DH has been giving me the evil eye over the whole mess.  Which reminds me I have an evil eye bracelet which might protect me so I'd better get it out and wear it while finishing up this project!👁️‍🗨️

[cat shepard]

3 hours ago, nancynana9950 said:

Hello everyone!  I have been following this thread for many months. I thought I would finally jump in and respond. First I would like to say how much I have enjoyed reading everyone’s posts!  Most days it’s the first thing I do after I read the morning paper. What prompted me to post is I booked the first cruise on Holland for DH and myself on New Statendam 10/02/2022 Canada- New England. We will be celebrating 50 years of marriage 9/02/22. We spent our honeymoon in Montreal and our 25th in Quebec and Montreal. We have cruised 7 times. I would welcome any information you can share that may enhance our experience of sailing with Holland America!

Nancy

 

Welcome!

[bennybear]

Enjoying the trader Joe suggestions!  I’ve gone in and been overwhelmed.  I have a friend who is Italian and she swears by their garlic salt.  
 

Congratulations @ancient warrior how exciting! 

[Cruising-along]

Good afternoon all!

We're home from my sister's house, and we had a fantastic time -- lots of laughs with DS, DBIL, and their daughter and DH.  We were up late last night playing Scrabble and then watched a movie, so I'm feeling very happy but tired today 😉  No left overs for us today, it will be take-out.  I told my sister to keep the left overs for themselves (but we did bring home some of the pie I brought) 😄 I'm trying to cut down on food in the house as we'll be leaving in a week for 2 weeks in NC and then CA.

 

Before we leave I need to finish getting the cards written and sent, and decide on the Christmas Day menu.  The decorations are done (unless I decide to pull out some more LOL!) and presents bought.  

 

Many, many cars at the malls for Black Friday sales between Bellingham and home.  I'm staying away, absolutely no desire to get into that mess.  Only about 4 cars from Canada too, and surprisingly they were all down here, none in Bellingham which is so much closer to the border. I think @Vict0riannhas the better idea to wait until early December.  The stores today had to be packed.

 

@AncientWandererCongratulations on your 3rd grandchild coming!  So exciting 🙂 🙂  

@lazey1I'm sorry to hear that Kakalena isn't feeling well, thank you for keeping us updated on her health.

Welcome to the Daily @nancynana9950!!

[sailingdutchy]

Hello Daily Friends hope you all had a great day ,  with a lot left over turkey , trimmings and hopefully you also had some pie left over.

 

For us Canadians we just look at all the Black Friday specials something we never experienced until about 10 years ago  at this scale but with all the US advertising of coarse our merchants jumped on board to sell some more stuff , we can always use more stuff .

 

We also indulged  and purchased another cruise plus I am also looking at another one while the Black Friday Special is still on, I just have to get it passed by the chief .

Today we are had our first snow in the most Southern part of Canada so we can get use to white surroundings for the next 4 or 5 months depending on where you live . 

 

I found some pictures of Suva  that I would like to share with you since I did not see many today . These are from our Pacific crossing in  April 2013 , it was a very , very hot day so we did not stay out too long 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also were “ Boosted Up “ today and received our third Moderna . Let's Go Canada , we need a little more than 76 % fully Vaxxed !

 

 Have a great evening everybody ,  Take Care and Stay Safe ! 

 

Tony 😄😁

 

 

[erewhon]

It's another grey mostly wet cool day, temperature only 11 C, feels like we are back to winter.!

Thanks for the Daily, the care and celebration lists, recipes, humour and photos.

We have been to Suva on while board the Volendam, members of the Army Band are permitted on to the wharf to play music to entertain cruise ship visitors.

@nancynana9950welcome to the Daily thread.

@AncientWanderergood news with a new grandchild on the way.

@lazey1Sorry to read that Kakalena is not so well during the cruise, thanks for the update.

 

 The  retail sector  here have embraced Black Friday sales, some folk were phoning talk back radio asking why we were having these sales as it was not Friday 13th, but the 26th, talkback host explaining it is American.

Stay safe, take care everyone.

[aliaschief]

@AncientWandererCongratulations on the new grandchild on the way. Enjoying one of our newest granddaughter’s this week who is a bundle of joy and energy! Phew!❤️

[SusieKIslandGirl]

@bennybearNot sure why we now have Black Friday sales in Canada...We laughed when we saw Black Friday ads in Barcelona a couple of weeks ago.

 

@Vict0riann-Trader Joe's has some wonderful frozen vegetable medleys, the BEST Triple Ginger Cookies and Cold Brew Latte frozen dessert bars-sort of like a coffee popsicle. 

[TiogaCruiser]

@Vict0riann

Wow! I’m making a TJs list of things to try, too.

 

A few more: Stroopwaffels, Greek honey yogurt ( which also makes a great frozen treat if you put it in your ice cream maker), they have a good frozen mixture of peppers, eggplant and another item that slips my mind, chimichurri rice (frozen), a few weeks ago they had pumpkin bagels ( but likely gone for the year), I love their frozen raspberries and frozen cherries.

[AV8rix]

15 hours ago, HAL4NOW said:

We had a friend that used to come home and tell his wife he had ordered "Yellow Salad" after having French fries. I think Chip would have also liked Bacon Salad.

Would "Chip" by any chance happen to be my good friend and pilot buddy, the late Chip D?  Don't want to post full last name here but he was a CPA, a pilot, and divided his time between Skykomish and Bothell.  Chip always used to make similar humorous statements about the food at our monthly pilots association meetings.

 

Sorry about thread creep.  Just give me a short answer, @HAL4NOW,  and we'll drop it so's not to cause too much drift.  Or use the email link in my signature.

[AV8rix]

9 hours ago, Vict0riann said:

So, I plan to take a cooler and we are going to go to TJ's on the 8th, on our way back home.  What do you recommend I buy?  What are your favourite things? 

 

I second all of the items that everyone else has mentioned... PLUS...they have an awesome liver truffle pate in the refrigerated section.  LOVE TJs!