Food! Glorious Food!

This is my long-overdue post-full-of-food-pictures from our Alaskan Cruise in July. So, what other title could I come up with other than what I did? I saw the musical Oliver when I was about 10 and fell in love with it. The title made me go hunt for this video:





My hubby's cousin wanted to know all about the food on the cruise, so I attempted to photograph almost everything we ate. I won't post all of the photos, but believe me, there are enough ahead to make me hungry all over again.

This was undoubtedly the best steak I have ever eaten. Tucked behind it there is a stack of au gratin potatoes. Mmmm.

Chocolate dessert. Yes, it was as good as it looks.

Salmon and asparagus my hubby had, I lost count of how many times he ate salmon.

This was a shrimp and crab salad sandwich. And really different, but oh so yummy chips.

These? Oh, these were my weakness. Soft pretzel bread sticks. Heaven.

Our breakfast feast one morning. I loved everything that was in that bread basket. I was so hungry I ate half my omelet before I remembered to take a picture.

One evening we decided to go find a snack. I started out with good intentions. Some cucumber slices, bleu cheese crumbles, caraway cheese slices. Then I saw The Breadsticks. Oh there was some Ham. And that Macaroni and Cheese looked good. And who could walk by a Chocolate Chip Cookie?

We signed up for this special meal the day we were cruising in Glacier Bay National Park. The Salmon was amazing.

And the special meal was complete with, what else? Baked Alaska!

A Shrimp Spring Roll appetizer. So pretty!

Milk Chocolate Mousse. Oh wow. Had this more than once.

Chicken and Mashed Potatoes. That gravy was amazing.

Cheesecake. 'Nough said.

Some fish the hubby had.

Warning for the photos ahead. One evening on the cruise they offered a ..... ready for this?????  CHOCOLATE BUFFET!!! Oh my. It started at 10pm. Enjoy the chocolate loveliness.

Look! Chocolate as far as the eye could see!

I think that's a great place to end this post. Somehow I wish there was a way to eat yourself silly on a cruise and then make the food last so you wouldn't have to eat for the next three weeks to balance things out.

I wrote this before breakfast. Now I am starving.

A Fun Video For Your Wednesday Viewing Pleasure

No Random Dozen today. I just didn't have it in me to sit an answer all those questions.

Oh, but I came across this video that you will like even better than my randomness.

Enjoy!

Brain Dump

I've been trying to come up with a theme for a blog post. I just keep coming up with unrelated, random thoughts, so I guess I'll just go with that and have a brain dump.

1. Last Sunday as we were driving to church (in another town), a bird flew across the highway and I heard a thump. I turned to the hubby and said, "I think you hit that one." THREE days later I happened to see this as I walked towards my car in a parking lot:

I wasn't sure if I should laugh or be grossed out. (It was a combo of both.) At home,  I left the car in the driveway so my man could dispose of it like a man should do. (Which made total sense to me even though it had been in and out of the garage since Sunday.)

2.Sometimes I like to go out to eat by myself. (Like for lunch when my hubby is working. I don't just randomly go out for a meal and leave him home alone.) I've noticed that when I tell the hostess I'm a party of one, they most often respond with, "Just one?" I've never heard them say, when I'm with more people, "Just four?" Just an observation.

3. I may or may not have mentioned that we recently moved to a smaller town. I once thought an advantage to moving was you'd leave all the junk mail behind. Nope. It follows you. Seriously. Somehow, there must be an agreement with the post office to give some places your forwarding address. Annoying.
 
4. Have I mentioned we live in a small town? No? How neglectful of me. ;) I've noticed that the town seems to not be very updated in a lot of areas. There are a lot of old houses and crummy looking businesses. I came across this sign on the back side of the JCPenney store. I remember that logo from when I was little. I Googled it and this logo was used from 1963-1971. Sheesh!

5. The season is changing. I fear winter in the Great White North is not far away. Time to dig out the warmer clothes and put the summer things away. But, that will likely involve throwing away some of my most comfortable PJ bottoms. I. Can't. Do. That. Easily. I've had them for over 10 years. Have I mentioned the are comfortable? What's the problem? There is less space holding the waistband on than not. In other words. Holes. I guess that's what 10 plus years of use will do. **SIGH**

6. I feel I must revisit the classy PizzaHutCarWash that represents the weirdness of this town.

7. I have a problem. I can't cut straight. Whenever I make bars or a cake, I ask my husband to cut it up. Don't believe me? Check out this pizza I tried to cut up myself for supper one night:

 I guess there is a choice of sizes for each person.



8. This just makes me laugh.

9.  Speaking of laughing. This blog, (Cake Wrecks) is always good for a laugh! (Oh, except on Sundays, they actually have a serious post. But every other day is great.) Check it out.

10. Try as I might, I can't come up with ten things to dump out of my brain. Oh well. Deal with it.

Random Dozen

1. Do you do garage sales? If so, tell me about one great find. If not, tell me why not.

I really don't like garage sales. I don't like sorting through other people's junk on the hopes of a great find. I have had a few, and really don't want to do another, but we do have lots of things to get rid of...

I haven't been to a garage sale for years. I do have a really great find story. I bought a coffee maker for $2.50 that I used for over 10 years (and only had to buy a new one because the carafe got broken). We are not coffee drinkers, but have friends and family who are. I think I got my money's worth out of that.

2. Name the last thing you fixed.

I fixed dinner for my husband! (I think that counts, even if it was leftovers.)

3. Name your A)Favorite item of makeup OR B)Favorite tool

I'd have to say my eyelash curler! It fits both A & B! I won't show you a picture of it, because it's well used and kind of icky looking. I have tried and tried to find a new one, but they just aren't the same.

4. Which room in your home needs organizing more than any other?

Which one room needs organizing more? There's a debate between the garage, the shop or my sewing room. Then there's the living room that has all my decorating things all over it. (moving will do that)

5. Which room could use re-decorating?

Ummmm... seeing as we have been in this house less than three months, all of them. It's slowly coming together. I tried to talk an interior designer friend into helping me, but she's too busy, so I guess it's up to me.

6. Share something unique about your town.

If you look close, you can see that this is a picture of what I like to call ThePizzaHutCarWash. Yes. In the same building. I'd say this was very unique.

7. If you could send a one-sentence message to your great-grandchild, what would it be?

Love and serve God. Follow the Bible. Nothing is more important. (I guess that's three sentences.)

8. Do you Facebook?

Yep! (I love that it's a verb...) It's been kind of fun. I've enjoyed being able to find old friends and keep up with others. I have several Scrabble games going with different people on Facebook. (I don't know why I keep playing with my hubby, he always beats me by more that 150 points.)

9. Describe your favorite shoes.

It depends on the season. This summer it has been my Croc flip-flops. Sadly, I think their days are numbered here in the Great White North.

For the winter I have some slip-on sneaker-type shoes. (I'll admit they're not very cute.) I'm all about not having to tie my shoes. Living in Asia for three years did that for me. I've had the same dressier clogs for close to 9 years. They are showing their age, and I've been trying to find some to replace them for three or four years. I have some on order right now. Hopefully they'll be the ticket!

10. Do you listen to more talk radio or more music radio? What kind of station is it?

I prefer music radio. I enjoy listening to Christian radio. In this part of the state, there really aren't any good stations to listen to. There are two Christian radio stations I've found, but I'm not a total fan of the type of music on either one. I try to listen to talk programs on one of them.

11. How far would you travel for a really good (favorite) meal?

Well, seeing as we live in a small rural town in the middle of rural-ness..... we do drive a distance to go out to eat. It's usually an hour to an hour and a half.

12. If you were totally honest with yourself (and us) what should you probably be doing right now instead of blogging?

Decorating? Organizing? Sleeping? But wait, blogging is important...!

Seattle -- 2

Following is a ton of pictures, wrapping up our visit in Seattle.

Snoqualmie Falls. East of Seattle. So pretty!

We had to make a trip to Pike Place Market along the oceanfront in downtown Seattle. It's a place that sells all sorts of things including flowers and oodles of seafood.

 

The very first Starbucks. I'm not a coffee drinker, but had to take a picture of this.

 We headed north of Seattle and found this beautiful beach with so many sailboats in the water.

There's that photographer guy again! I like following him around. :)

This guy was keeping an eye on us...

I had to stick my toes in the Peugeot Sound. It was quite chilly.

We had fun going to the top of the Space Needle. (Except for the 45 minute line we had to wait in.) It was built for the 1962 World's Fair. When it was completed it was the tallest structure west of the Mississippi River. (Just a little trivia for you.)

The Seattle skyline from the top of the Space Needle.

Look who was up there taking pictures! (I think he's cute...)

I have a couple more posts before I wrap up this trip. I know it's long and drawn out. I've enjoyed looking through my pictures and organizing them into posts. It will be fun to be able to look back and remember our wonderful trip.

Seattle -- 1

When our wonderful, relaxing cruise to Alaska was over, we spent a few days seeing the sights in Seattle.

This post is purely for memories/entertainment for us and the kids. One of the things we purposely did was go to the grocery store in Chinatown. Since we lived in Singapore for three years, it held much interest for us. I felt a little silly taking pictures in the grocery store, but it brought back fun memories.

Just a few choices of soy sauce. I remember being amazed at the amount there was to choose from! The American grocery stores seem do pitiful with their two or three brands.

Every time I went into a jewelry store, I was offered either a bottle of water (which I took) or Chrysanthemum Tea. (Yuck.) It always made me laugh. For a time, it was even offered as the free gift for "topping up" your gas tank at the filling station. It sounded just weird enough I never tasted it.

Now that's a bag of rice....

The ice cream choices where sure, um different.... (can you see it says: Green Tea & Red Bean Milky Ice Bar?)

One of the famous dishes in Singapore is Fish Head Curry. (I never had that either. Not a fan of curry or fish heads.) (Especially with those eyes looking at me.) I had a Singaporean friend when we lived in Missouri and she commented once how she could find any fish heads. I told her there was a good reason. (ick)

Prawns anyone? Butter Prawns? Drunken Prawns? Mmmm. I'm hungry!

We found a very good Chinese Restaurant to eat lunch at. We did not order anything off of this page.... (the Twice Cooked Pork Szechuan Style and the Pork with Hot Garlic Sauce sound good.) (And why is there a chicken dish on the list of Pork dishes?!)

We really did have fun reminiscing about food shopping and eating in Singapore