Silent Sunday

Chocolate-Flavored Impatience

Tonight, after dinner, I decided that I what I really wanted was a brownie.  I could have asked dearest to go down to the grocery and get me some pre-prepared brownies, but I really wanted a homemade brownie.  In my opinion, homemade brownies are nearly always better than store bought ones.  And had you asked me even as little as two years ago, I would have told you that boxed mix brownies far outshone from scratch ones.  Then I discovered Chocolate-Buttermilk Brownies.

But I did not have the necessary buttermilk for that recipe, and I really was not feeling frosted brownies tonight.  I was really feeling cakey brownies with a sprinkling of powdered sugar.  And I knew I had some M&Ms in the pantry, so my mouth was preparing for M&M brownies.

I feel incredibly indulgent, but that is exactly what I did.  After cleaning house this morning, fixing dinner, and washing the dinner dishes, I made a mess of my kitchen again, to make brownies.  The buzzer just went off and the chocolatey, cakey goodness is cooling.  This is the hardest time for me in regards to baked goods, from cookies to cakes to brownies to bread, I have an incredibly hard time waiting for them to cool.  I can smell the treats.  I can see them.  They are calling to me from the counter.  But still, it's necessary to wait to enjoy them.  It's almost torture.

To distract myself, I'm writing this post (which is not really helping, come to think of it), and then I'm going to watch an episode of The West Wing on DVD.  Then I'm having a brownie, whether they are cool or not!

It's Not MY Fault

One of the message boards I post on was having a discussion of the McDonald's Hot Coffee lawsuit.  Someone posted a link to the "facts" of the case, trying to persuade people that the plaintiff in the suit was not a greedy and was not trying to absolve herself of any responsibility in the accident.

On one point I have no argument at all.  I agree that McDonald's (and most other establishments) serve coffee that is too hot to drink immediately.  I do not know how hot the coffee was in this case, and, in truth, neither does anyone else.  By the time the temperature of the coffee would have been taken (if, in fact, it was at all -- that is not one of the "facts" from the linked document), the temperature would have dropped from the point at which it was served.  But, either way, I do not argue that the coffee is usually too hot to drink immediately upon receipt.

The issue I have is:  why was the woman holding the coffee between her legs with the lid off in a car?  Even if the car is not moving, the seats are not the most conducive to that kind of operation.  They are usually sloped towards the back, and further, they are often too soft and too uneven a surface to be stable for any real length of time.

Most people I know who add sugar and/or creamer to their coffee (and I am not a coffee drinker, so I can't really comment from my own experience), do so at the counter, or pull the car over and have someone hold the cup stable or put it in a cup-holder for stability.  And if you want to take a sip, the cups have either a slot or a sippy-spout so it is possible to do so without removing the lid.  If it's too hot to sip through the lid, let it cool a bit.  Now I know the lady in question was a passenger, and not the driver, but that is still no excuse for taking the lid off the cup of what you know to be HOT coffee in a situation as unstable as a car, moving or otherwise.

Before I left the US, I worked for insurance defense attorneys.  And even if tort reform would have put me out of a job, I still would have been in favor of it.  There is not one thing that will convince me that the woman in the McDonald's Hot Coffee lawsuit did not share some of the blame for her accident.

Beyond tort reform, and there is no question the US needs tort reform, the US needs responsibility reform.

The McDonald's Hot Coffee discussion came about from a discussion of a lawsuit by a woman who "fell" off a cruise ship.  (There is some question as to whether she genuinely fell from the ship through no fault of her own, or whether she climbed onto the railing and slipped from that position.)  Her claim is that the accident was in no way her fault because the bartenders on the ship sold her the drinks and she drank them.

I don't know all the details of that case, but why is is the bartender's responsibility to stop you from drinking?  For the sake of this argument, I am assuming that the woman in question is of majority and over the legal drinking age.  As such, why is it the rest of the world's responsibility to stop you from drinking?  Bartenders make and sell drinks.  That is their job.  In some jurisdictions, it is legally required that bartenders not sell drinks to patrons they suspect of being drunk.  I do not know if that is the case on cruise ships, but even if it is, there is no real way to police other people buying drinks and giving them to the suspected drunk patron.  But even if we assume the woman had only one drink, the bartenders have no way of knowing how alcohol would affect her.  They have no way of knowing if that one drink would produce a nice buzz, make the drinker tipsy, or send them to full-on drunk.  There must be some point, short of institutionalizing everyone who may be harmful to themselves, that we require consenting adults to take some responsibility for their actions, especially when those actions are likely to be considered foolish by the majority of adults, the majority of the time.

I cannot and do not feel sorry for either the McDonald's Hot Coffee woman or the woman who allegedly "fell" overboard.  Both of those accidents were a result of their own actions, and no one else's.  It's time we started making people take that responsibility.

A Family Favorite, from the First Time

After having it on my menu plan for three weeks, I finally made Hot Dog Noodle Casserole.

This has been a family favorite since my parents were married.  Not long before she graduated from college, Mom got a cookbook from the Campbell's Soup company.  This is the one of three recipes we have ever made from that cookbook, which has been on Mom's shelf ever since.  When I moved to Australia, she found me a copy of he book for my library.  I really love having the books I grew up with when I need comfort food.

And Hot Dog Noodle Casserole is definitely comfort food.  The original recipe is actually called Yankee Noodle Bake, but my family never called it that.  Just as we didn't make it using exactly the ingredients listed in the recipe.  Mom long ago traded the one ingredient that makes it a Campbell's Soup recipe for something different and I grew up with that recipe.  In fact, my usually by-the-recipe mother made two changes to the original recipe to result in one of our family's favorite dinners:  (1) She replaced the can of condensed tomato soup with 8 ounces of tomato sauce, and (2) she cut the hot dogs from 8 to 4.  I made it one time with 8 hot dogs.  It was not bad, but not the comforting Hot Dog Noodle Casserole I know.  One of the best parts of this casserole was always at the end of dinner and the good-natured family discussions about who got the leftovers for lunch the next day.  Leftovers are just as good, if not better.

Hot Dog Noodle Casserole

8 ounces egg noodles, cooked according to package directions
8 ounces tomato sauce (or 100 grams tomato paste mixed with enough boiling water to make 1 cup)
4 hot dogs, sliced into coins
1/4 - 1/2 onion, diced fine
1 teaspoon prepared yellow mustard
2 tablespoons butter, divided
1/4 cup breadcrumbs (Italian Seasoned if available)

Preheat oven to 350F.
Grease 1 1/2 quart casserole dish and set aside.
In medium skillet, saute onions in 1 tablespoon butter until soft.
Add hot dog coins and saute until browned.
Stir hot dog coins and onion mixture into noodles in casserole dish.
Add tomato sauce and mustard, stirring well.
Melt remaining butter and add breadcrumbs, stirring until well combined (should be a sandy consistency).
Sprinkle breadcrumbs on top of casserole.
Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes.

Adapted from:  Yankee Noodle Bake, A Campbell's Cookbook:  Cooking with Soup, 1968.

Silent Sunday

Thankful for Timmie's

Monday, October 14, 2013 (Saguenay)

The day dawned for me and we were already docked in Saguenay.  It was a perfect Lynn day -- chilly, but not cold, damp, but not raining, overcast and foggy, in fact the walls of the fjord were obscured with low-lying clouds.  It was a great day for me to explore the area.  

We had not planned to do much, having been to Saguenay before.  My brother had a tour planned, but Mom, Dad, and I had noting planned beyond walking around town.  As it turned out, Dad decided not to join us on our walk, so it was down to Mom and me to head out.

There is a lovely little cruise terminal, which usually has local craftsmen set up in booths as well as a tourist information areas.  Mom stopped at one of the booths to pick up a hand-carved wooden whale for one of my cousin’s children while I talked to the tourist information people for directions to the closest drugstore/pharmacy.

Heading out, following the instructions I was given, we walked down Mars Street along the water until we came to Bagot Street, where we turned right and heading away from the water.  On Bagot Street, we were told to walk a couple of blocks, possibly three, but we could not miss the pharmacy because it was right behind the Tim Horton’s.  And so it was; in fact it shared the parking lot with the Tim Horton’s.

We managed to get everything on our list and a couple of extra things including wiping them out of the really good Nivea deodorant I like and can use, which has been has discontinued in Australia.  The other major thing on my list was a Canadian iTunes gift card I needed.  Finding we still had a bit of cash, we decided to indulge in a box of Tim Bits since we were so close.  Timmie's is one of our indulgences while in Canada.  Yes, it's a chain doughnut shop, but it's a quintessential Canadian thing.  And I enjoy it.  It's just a little thing but I feel like I'm really in Canada when I go to a Timmie's.  Mom ordered 5 plain and 5 of the honey-puff Tim Bits she discovered waiting for me in the Quebec airport last week.  We split the order and each had a bottle of water.  After the snack, we headed back to the ship, reversing our route along Bagot Street and Mars Street.  It had gotten warmer as the day progressed, though not significantly sunnier.  We took another good look around the craft booths and I decided to indulge in some soap.  Handmade soap is my souvenir of choice while on vacation.  I prefer soap to shower gel or body wash, so the souvenirs will be used, and as I use them I can remember where I got them.  It's a win-win for me.

After the wander, we headed back to the ship to relax a bit, and get warm.  Whatever I had caught up with me and I was exhausted and sleepy, so I had a really good nap in my parents’ room, sleeping away most of the afternoon before waking just in time for sail-away festivities.  I was still a bit groggy for sail-away, but awake enough to head up to the Lido Deck for Sail-Away Festivities so Mom could get a nice big glass for tea.  It was a bit cold and damp, but I hate to miss sail-away if I can help it and bravely hung out until we were well clear of the dock and on our way down the fjord to rejoin the St. Lawrence River on our way to Baie-Comeau.

After dinner, during which I managed not top fall asleep, I went up to the Explorations Cafe (coffee shop) Crow's Nest to get a cup of the really good cocoa and then headed to my room for a very early night. The lack of sleep for a week had caught up with me and, combined with the infection I was battling, meant that the time had come for me to sleep.  And sleep I did.  I could barely stay awake long enough for the ESPN announcers to tell me which teams were playing on that night’s edition of Monday Night Football before I was out.  I woke myself a couple of times coughing, but went back to sleep immediately and was for all intents and purposes dead to the world until about 8 the next morning.

It was Canadian Thanksgiving, and I was a bit worried that would have a negative impact on the plan for the day, but was pleasantly surprised to find that as far as I could tell it had no impact whatsoever, save the increased number of locals who came to the pier to see the ship off.

Common Sense Everywhere Else

I love my hometown.  It's a crazy, funky place, full of the best of all the cultures that form the City.  It is a true melting pot.  But only in New Orleans will you hear the phrase:  New Regulations May Ban Grills from Intersections.

You'd think that would go without saying, but not in New Orleans.  The New Orleans City Council is considering new regulations, to be put in place for the 2014 Carnival Season for parade goers.

The proposed changes include:

• a uniform 6 feet from the curb distance for parade ladders (previous regulations were the ladder had to be as far from the curb as it was tall -- an 8-foot ladder had to be 8 feet from the curb, a 3-foot ladder had to be 3 feet);
• parade ladders cannot be chained or tied together (I never thought this was legal, despite the fact that it was done regularly);
• grills must be at least 6 feet from the curbs;
• ladders, chairs, grills, and/or other furniture may not be placed in intersections;
• roping or sectioning off areas of the neutral ground is prohibited (technically this has always been banned, but the new regulations are to ensure enforcement); and
• banning using unwrapped toilet paper as a throw from parade floats.

I'm pretty sure in the rest of the world, these regulations are neither needed nor written down.  Most people in the world would think the idea of setting up a fold-out couch in an intersection was a drunken college student stunt, not something otherwise sane people would even consider.  And certainly not anything that would need to be enumerated and set out as a City Ordinance.

That just proves my point that New Orleans is like nowhere else in the world.  We've got our unique kind of crazy, and as I read on a friend's Facebook Profile Picture poster "We Don't Hide the Crazy, We Parade It Down the Street."

Screaming Stunts?

Over the weekend, Chicago restaurateur, Grant Achatz tweeted his frustration at a couple who brought their 8-month old baby to his restaurant Alinea.

The story has gone viral, with the usual range of people agreeing with Mr. Achatz' opinion and people complaining that he created the issue by the ridiculous rules at his restaurant, where one does not make reservations, one purchases non-refundable, non-changeable tickets!

I kid you not.  Tickets!  The rules regarding the tickets are such that even when things happen to the purchaser, there is no option for a refund or a change in dates.  It's a restaurant!  Emergencies happen and people have to cancel reservations.  It's a fact of life when one runs a restaurant.  Yes, an 8-month old is out of place at such a restaurant, but faced with the option of losing the chance to dine at Alinea after months of waiting AND losing over $500 or bringing the baby, the couple made what they considered the best choice.

I certainly would not have been a happy diner had I been in the restaurant that night.  But having been in fancy (though admittedly not THAT fancy) restaurants, and experienced both screaming infants and undisciplined, uncontrolled children, I have to say that screaming infants have far less potential to ruin the meal.

Other than banning children under 18 from the establishment, which is Mr. Achatz's right, there is nothing he can do about people bringing their 8-month old when they feel they have no other option.

Sorry Mr. Achatz, you made your bed, now you have to lie in it.  Either way your ridiculous restaurant is getting tons of publicity, so I can't help but wonder if this was all a stunt anyway.

Silent Sunday

Fair and Fowl

This weekend dearest and I visited the Agricultural Show.  It's what I would consider a County Fair.  And it was very interesting.

When I was on Hurrication escaping Katrina, my cousins in the rural county where we sought refuge put us to work on the County Fair that was happening there.  We were drafted as judges and organizers for the elementary school art entries.  I highly suspect it was a thankless job and the Fair Committee was overjoyed to have fresh blood for that task.  But we also wandered about the Fair looking at the exhibits.  One of the highlights for me was the chicken, pig, and calf scrambles.  That was fun to watch.  The livestock exhibits also held great interest for this city girl.

The Ag Show took me back to that County Fair.  There were a few differences.  The Ag Show had far more horses than the County Fair, and fewer pigs and goats.  I think the best thing the Ag Show offered was the Sheep Dog Demonstration.  That was really cool.

We went on a whim late on Saturday afternoon, so much of the judging and exhibitions had been finished.  But even so, I had a good time wandering through.  I was particularly interested in the baked goods exhibits and the fruit & vegetable exhibits.  They were good, but I felt the displays of the baked goods could have been better.  It really seemed as though it was an afterthought.  But they all looked quite good.  I thought the sugar art (decorated cakes) were very nice and I think that could work in the County Fair as well, though to be fair, Oklahoma's Sugar Art Showcase at its State Fair is the standard for that kind of thing.

We didn't really see too much livestock, but that was okay with me.  As much as I enjoyed the County Fair, I did realize that this city girl really should view livestock from the other side of fences.  We did step into the poultry barn.  I didn't want to walk too far in because we were sharing a cone of frites, but we wandered in far enough to see a chicken who knew he was a show chicken and was truly enjoying the attention.  There was a duck who was just about ready to escape, if only he could work the latch.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Ag Show, and next year I might want to go earlier in the day to see more of the exhibits.  And I'm definitely sharing the experience with my cousins for their County Fair.

Pausing for a Moment

to be thankful for popcorn on an otherwise average Friday night.

Setting Out

Sunday, October 13, 2013 (Ville Quebec, Fleuve St. Lawrence)

First day on the ship, and I knew I needed to start it by seeing the ship’s doctor.  My cold was getting worse and I wanted to see if I could stem any further development so I was down in the infirmary at 8 am when it opened for office hours.  The doctor agreed that I was inflamed and quite possibly infected.  His official medical opinion was that my throat was “yucky.”  My throat is almost always yucky whenever an upper respiratory infection threatens.  After some discussion, we agreed that the best course of action would be a week’s course of antibiotics and a decongestant nasal spray as necessary.

After visiting the doctor, I headed up to my mother’s room to let her know what the doctor had said.  She knew I was a bit worried about my less-than-truthful answers on yesterday’s health questionnaire -- I ticked the no box when asked if I had been coughing in the last 24 hours.  I really had not, except when I was walking uphill, but still I knew it was a possibility with the upper respiratory infection I was fairly certain I had.  I was afraid on yesterday’s form that if I answered yes, I would be kept in quarantine for 48 hours or worse, denied sailing, when I knew what I had was not the norovirus that ships are always worried about.  But I reported to my mother who, always a bit dubious of Australian doctors, was pleased that this ship’s doctor dispensed antibiotics according to US standards.

We had planned to head ashore to find a pharmacy to pick up a few last minute things before sailing.  Neither my father nor my younger brother wanted to go ashore with us, so we headed off on our own.  It was cold, damp and very windy, so we abandoned our plans to head up the Funicular to the pharmacy we knew, and asked at the tourist information desk as to where a closer one would be. We found it was much closer than we imagined and set off.  Only to find the pharmacy didn’t open for another forty-five minutes.  It was far too cold to stand around waiting so we opted to head back to the ship and try again at the next stop.  We took a bit of a round-about route back to the ship, stopping at a souvenir shop where Mom and I found postcards to send to friends back home.

After a few pictures of interesting things, we were back on the ship, ready to get warm and find lunch.  Lunch was a plate of soft tacos in the Lido and then it was to my parent’s room to read a bit, nap a bit and wait for life-boat drill before sail-away.  I napped more than I read, but I needed the nap more than I needed to read my book.

(Quebec has the most interestingly named restaurants I have ever seen)

Life boat drill was at 3:00, after all-aboard time but before the ship sailed.  I always understand the necessity of the drill, but I am never sure other people do, and there is no way to make people not be people -- late, disinterested, talking, confused, distracted, etc. during the drill.  But this one was fairly quick and easy.  We waited on deck for most of the assembled crowd to dissipate before we headed back to our parents’ room for our own private sail-away celebration.  Mom & Dad have a verandah cabin this cruise and luckily, their verandah was on the side of the ship tied up to the dock.  It was a perfect vantage point for me to watch as the lines were loosed and we were off on the adventure.

Dinner came not long after sail-away and the dining room was full.  All the passengers who had not been present last night showed up tonight.  It made things a bit confusing and rushed for the waiters.  There is 2 1/2 hours between early and late seating, and the tables need to be cleared and reset after the early diners are finished.  I am pretty sure that the waiters had a hard time that first night with everyone aboard.

After dinner, I had to head up to the library to enroll for my internet package -- tonight was the last night of the embarkation special to get additional minutes for signing up.  I had no trouble signing up but I did have some issues logging on from my laptop, so I had to talk to the internet manager to figure out what I was doing wrong.  After he complained about how I had my computer set up, he finally agreed to let me know how to log on.  His attitude was really nasty and really put me off.  I know my computer is not set up the way he may have set it up, but it is MY computer, not his, and it needs to work for me, not him.  But at last I got my internet working and I was happy; happy enough to head off to bed, rocked to sleep by the gentle motion of the ship on the St. Lawrence River.

Visits from Gods

This morning when I walked out of my front door on my way to the grocery, there were two ibis perched on my neighbor's roof.  Two ibis.  On my neighbor's roof.

They flew away before I could even begin to get a camera to get a photograph of them.  But they were there.  (Yes, I know, pictures or it didn't happen.)

In the US, my street was divided by an open canal.  The canal was home to all kinds of animals:  turtles, snakes, fish, eels, nutria, and birds.  The birds were mainly cattle egrets, but every now and then, we got king fishers, and occasionally, ibis.  But even so, I never really considered ibis as anything but infrequent visitors to the canal bank.

Well, that's not true.  I knew one of the gods (demigods?  I'm not really sure on that point) in Egyptian mythology was a half-ibis creature. That particular god was the "scribe of the gods."  Yes, thank you, Mardi Gras krewes!  What do children who grow up in cities without Mardi Gras Krewes named for mythological gods do?

Sorry, waxing poetic about the ibis.  Yep, ibis.  On the roof.  I live in an amazing place.

Breakfast for Dinner

This is a happy Lynn!  For years I have been attempting fritatta without success.  In fact, my fritatta attempts have been unmitigated failures.  I have never been successful with a fritatta.  I tried cooking them in oven safe skillets, in pie pans, in muffin tins, in cake pans, and even in square baking dishes.  Nothing was successful.  I was just about resigned to the fact that I would never be able to produce an edible version of the egg dish, and I would never be able to claim a pleated chef's toque.  (Tradition holds that the tall, pleated chef's toques are reserved for master chefs who have proven that they can cook eggs in 100 different ways.)  But that changed with tonight's dinner.  My fritatta was successful!  It was a simple creation of potatoes that have been par boiled and then pan fried with onions and garlic, then placed in a pie dish with two beaten eggs poured over.  The whole thing was baked for 15 minutes in a 400 F oven and then served.  It was excellent!  It may not have been fancy, but it was a fritatta and it was a success!!!  Yippee!!!!  (Because this is the one and only time my fritatta has been successful, I am not quite ready to share the recipe particulars.  Knowing me and fritatta, it may have been a fluke.)

But I served the success with dearest's favorite Crumpet Bread, and I am more than willing to share that recipe.  Okay, so the recipe is really titled English Muffin Bread, but we both think the resulting bread is closer to crumpets than English Muffins, so we call it Crumpet Bread.  I found the recipe in Father Dominic Garramone, OSB's Breaking Bread with Father Dominic 2.  Father Dominic's books are my favorite bread cookbooks, and if you can find copies of them, I would definitely suggest you invest in them.

Crumpet Bread

3 cups flour

1 package yeast

2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

3/4 cups water

Grease one standard loaf pan and set aside.

In large bowl, thoroughly mix flour, yeast, sugar, baking soda, and salt.

Heat water and milk to 110-120F.

Add liquids to flour mix and stir well, making sure to incorporate all flour.

Allow batter to rest for 10 minutes.

Spoon batter into prepared loaf pan, spread evenly.

Cover with clean tea towel and allow batter to rise for 20 minutes or until the batter reaches the top of the pan.

While batter is rising, preheat oven to 400 F

Bake at 400 F for 30 minutes.  If the top of the loaf is browning too quickly, cover with foil.

Turn onto rack and allow loaf cool for at least 3 hours.

Source:  English Muffin Bread, Breaking Bread with Father Dominic 2, Father Dominic Garramone, OSB, 2000

My observations:

• The cornmeal in the original recipe is not necessary in my opinion.  It only serves to make the crust tough and grainy.
• This bread is excellent on its own, but a little bit of butter or jam is not unwelcome.
• It makes excellent toast, but be warned the moist crumb and large hole-ridden structure causes the warm butter and/or jam to run through the slice, not unlike traditional crumpets.
• This is an easy bread, and a perfect for a starter yeast bread recipe.

Silent Sunday

Moving, But Not Going Anywhere

Saturday, October 12, 2013 (Ville Quebec)

The morning dawned early enough, and I had a quick shower in order to meet Mom in time to head down the Funicular to pick up the souvenir t-shirt she found the day before but could not decide whether to buy.  Overnight she decided she really wanted it, so I went down the hill with her while Dad and my brother stayed at the hotel to finish packing and organize all the gear and paperwork for us to board the cruise.

Our cruise documents indicated that we could board after 1:00 p.m., but check-out time at the hotel was 11:00 a.m.  We had been on a cruise out of this port before and knew that there was ample space to sit and wait, and the port offered free wifi, so we’d have stuff to do during the wait, so we opted to head to the port early.  The hotel was helpful and got us a taxi large enough for all four of us and our luggage and we were at the port in less than 10 minutes.  We handed our luggage over to the stevedores and they attached the tags that indicated to which cabin the bags were to be delivered and headed in to wait until 1:00 p.m. for check in to begin.  We were surprised when we were allowed to check-in immediately.  Less than half an hour after arrival at the port, I was in my cabin dropping my carry-on luggage and heading off to find lunch.  My cabin was the same one my parents had on our first cruise on this ship, and it was just perfect for what I want in a cruise cabin -- a window where I can have the curtains open overnight, a bed for sleeping, a bathroom with a shower not a tub, and low enough down so as not to be too affected by motion, and forward enough to hear the anchor and docking noises.  My parents had a balcony cabin 6 decks up from me, because they love to sit out on deck chairs with their books.  I’m not an outside deck chair sitter.  I prefer to read my books on a comfortable couch or chair with a view out, rather than being outside as such.  But the balcony is perfect for them, and it gives me a great overlook for sail-away!  My brother’s cabin was a forward facing cabin 5 decks up from me, on the port side -- but interestingly even though his cabin is on the port side, he is in my lifeboat (usually life boats are on the same side of the ship as the cabin).

After dropping our carry-ons, and checking out our cabins, we headed in search of lunch.  We found the buffet was open and we took advantage.  I had a couple of shredded beef soft tacos with rice and beans.  Then I indulged in raspberry sorbet in a waffle cone for dessert.  We discussed the plan for the rest of the day and went our separate ways.  I wanted to take pictures around the ship before too many passengers came on board and made it seem as though I was taking pictures of them rather than the ship.  My parents wanted a lie-down and to read their books.  And I am not sure what my brother did.  I stopped by my cabin to get my camera (yes, I still use a dedicated digital camera rather than an all-in-one smart phone for most of my vacation photos) and headed off in a planned, yet still somewhat random, trek around the ship to take pictures.  And it being the first day, areas of the ship that are usually restricted access were open to all passengers.  That was fun -- to be in the special restricted areas.

I am not sure how long the pictures took, and in truth it didn't really matter.  I knew it was time to finish up when more people were milling about and there was no real angle to get pictures of the rooms with no people.  When I got back to my cabin, my cabin steward had just delivered my luggage.  Since I wanted to change clothes for dinner, I decided to unpack then.  While I was unpacking, my Mom buzzed up my cabin to tell me that her luggage had been delivered as well and she would be down with my new skirt as soon as she finished unpacking.  She ended up being delayed because my brother’s luggage had been delivered as well and he wanted someone to talk to him while he unpacked.

By the time the luggage was all unpacked, it was nearly time to head to dinner, so that’s what we did.   We opted for fixed early seating dinner, so that meant our dinner time was 5:30.  We were all four assigned to the same table, which is nice -- no need to talk to the maitre d’ to get us re-arranged or to table-hop during the meal.  I was hoping for a table along the window for a nice view, or at the railing overlooking the lower level of the dining room so I could look down in judgement on the diners on the level below, but as it turned out, our table was in neither of those locations.  But my position did have a view out the aft windows, so I could see the sun setting as the meal progressed.

In all honestly, I do not remember what I had for dinner that first night, other than I opted for pan-seared rainbow trout and ice cream for dessert.  My cold was getting worse and I was beginning to feel worse so I really wanted just something to eat.  I knew I wanted ice cream to help my throat feel better.  I know my parents tried the pork chops, but they were both too tough and too undercooked for their tastes, so they sent them back in favor of other choices.  That got our table a reputation, as it turned out, and the dining room manager checked every night of the cruise to ensure our meals were to our taste and there were no issues.

After dinner, I headed back to my room for an early night.  And I was happy to discover I could access the port’s free wi-fi from my cabin.  That meant I didn't have to go fight the crowds to sign up for an on-board internet plan that first night.  

The ship had an overnight in Quebec City before setting sail on Sunday, so I fell asleep in the shadow of the famed Chateau Frontenac.

One Word

A friend's blogpost today was about her One Word for 2014, as part of the One Word 365 project.  I'm not sure I want to sign up for the project, but even before I finished reading her post, I was sure what my One Word for 2014 would be.  Reading her post, and then reading the One Word 365 page, only one word kept coming to me.  It is the perfect word for me:

WONDER

In my senior year of high school, we filled out a graduate questionnaire and one of the questions was one thing you hope for the future.  My answer was that I wanted to maintain the sense of wonder I had a child.  WONDER, like belief in Santa and magic, is one of those things that you just kind of grows out of people as they age.  I truly believe we should strive to hold on to that.  Reading about One Word 365, I'm was sure that WONDER was the word for my 2014.  I want to maintain my sense of wonder.

So this year, I will try to keep wondering.  When I ask myself questions like:

• what happens if ... ?
• will I like ... ?
• can I do ...?
• is it better if ...?

the answer will be YES!

Yes, WONDER is the perfect word for me and for my 2014.

Selfish Satisfaction

Sometimes I feel very guilty when I plan meals.  I do the planning, most of the grocery shopping, and most of the cooking.  And I feel bad when what gets planned are things that sound good to me or that I know I'll eat.  Often I feel that I should ask dearest's input for my plans.  But then sometimes, I am just selfish and want things that I know and enjoy, or close approximations of favorite things.

When I saw a link to Corn Dog Dressing Bake from Taste of Home, I knew it was going to be one of those selfish meals.  But I also knew I wanted to make it, and it was going to be dinner one night very soon.

Tonight was the night we had Corn Dog Casserole for dinner.  I admit to taking the basic idea and tweaking it a bit.  Growing up, my mother made a casserole with sliced hot dogs, tomato sauce, and egg noodles we came to call Hot Dog Noodle Casserole.  In that casserole, the hot dogs were stirred through the noodle & sauce mixture before being baked.  I wanted the hot dogs to be stirred through the casserole rather than all in a layer.  So I tweaked the original recipe to stir the hot dogs and cheese through the cornbread base.  Also, I do not really care for too much sage, a spice I find has the tendency to overpower everything, so I cut the amount down.  And because I not only halved the recipe (there are only two of us for dinner), I was making the cornbread base from scratch, I readjusted the order of ingredients.

It came out beautifully and will be a go to meal for me from now on.  It was the perfect mix of comforting and yummy.  It really did remind me of corn dogs, more so after I squeezed a bit of bar-be-cue sauce on my serving.  I served it with lightly buttered carrots and some Christmas spice iced tea.  It was a comfort food meal if ever I had one.

Corn Dog Casserole

1 medium rib celery, diced fine

1/2 large onion, diced fine

2 tablespoons butter

4 hot dogs, sliced into coins

2/3 cup flour

1/2 cup yellow corn meal

5 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup shredded colby cheese

3/4 cup milk

1 egg, beaten

dash ground sage

black pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F

In medium skillet, saute celery and onions just until they begin to soften

Add hot dog slices and saute until vegetables are soft and hot dogs are light brown

Set aside to cool slightly

In large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cheese

In separate bowl, combine milk, and egg, blending well

Add milk mixture to cornmeal mixture, stirring well to combine

Add hot dog mixture and stir well

Turn mixture into greased 8x8 baking pan, smoothing top

Bake at 400F for 30-35 minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean

Source:  Corn Dog Casserole, Taste of Home, August/September 1998; Jiffy Cornbread Mix, Fake-It Frugal, March 12, 2012

Here's hoping the leftovers will be just as good.

And It Begins Again

The clock struck midnight about fifteen minutes ago and the year rolled over.  It was far quieter here than I would have thought and there were far fewer neighborhood fireworks.  Fireworks are technically illegal at home, but that never stops anyone.  I was definitely pleased at the quiet celebration in my neighborhood.

But having rung in the New Year, I'm off to bed.  In the morning, and certainly after I've slept, I'll pick the first book of the year and switch out calendars and my toothbrush.  New Toothbrush Day is one of the best days of the Year and I love to begin the new year with a new toothbrush.

…

And the new Year began for real about 10:00 am, when I woke up for the day.  I wandered out to the living room and decided that the first thing I would do would be to update all my calendars.  I love having nice new calendars, though much like clock-change night, it's a lot of work to keep them all nice and current.  After that, I turned on the tv for some noise (the tail-end of Catalyst and the Robbie Williams Live from the Palladium special) as I browsed the internet for a while, checking here, there, and everywhere for interesting things happening overnight.  Finding it was just the regular stuff, I checked to see if Jeopardy! was on the streaming service at 11:30 and it was.  Yippee!!  The year started with a fun half hour.  I would say I skunked Bill, but the truth is, we didn't keep score, so I really don't know, and neither one of us knew the Final Jeopardy question.  On balance I might have won, but only because I am a conservative better, not because I knew more.

Lunch was leftover baked spaghetti.  I had an apple a bit later and then some cruskits with garlic butter.  I watched the latest episode of Major Crimes and then one of the Flashpoint episodes I had downloaded.  I am going to be really sorry when the series end -- good thing I have them on my hard drive.  I can watch them over and over.

Then I got dinner started.  I planned a meal featuring the traditional black-eyed peas (for luck) and cabbage (for money throughout the year).  I planned a black-eyed pea & corn salad and vegetarian spring rolls.  I prepped the salad and have it chilling while the filling for the spring rolls cools before I roll the rolls.  I am still debating whether I'm going to fry or bake the spring rolls.  I'll decide when it gets closer.  While dinner is chilling, I'm going to watch an episode of Laverne & Shirley.

Dinner was okay.  The salad was very good, and I enjoyed it very much.  In the end, I pan-fried the the spring rolls which ended up needing a bit more seasoning, but were not bad; and they were a great way to hide the New Year's Cabbage.  I wish I had dessert; but then I remembered we have Vanilla Ice Cream and the ability to make oatmeal topping for a bowl of that.  And that is what I plan on doing later tonight.  Tomorrow, I'll be better with my meals and counts.  (One of my gold this year is to be better with tracking meals and counts to help ensure I'm eating healthier.)

Dishes done, it was time to relax.  There may be some West Wing episodes, but there will definitely be some reading.  It's been a rainy, grey, drippy kind of day, just the kind to snuggle up with a cup of tea and a brand new book.  It's the first day of a new year, so that means it's time for a new book.  This year I want to work on getting through the books I bought on spec as well as catching up on some favorite series.  The plan is to read two books I know I'll enjoy (either series or otherwise) followed by one book bought on spec.  I think it's a good plan but time will tell if it works the way I hope.  I have 200 books on my to be read list, not counting the books on my Amazon wish list or on my Kindle.  I have a self-imposed moratorium on buying new books until I have to read at least two of the on spec books before I buy anything new.  So I'd best get reading.

I have the tv on for noise and the innocuous noise turned out to be Mythbusters.   This is a highlights show; fan and host favorite segments.  Normally I can let most of Mythbusters' silliness go, but this time, I just cannot.  I'm sorry Mythbusters.  You can tell me until we're both blue in the face that the science is sound and the results are accurate, but the truth is FALLING BULLETS KILL.  They do.  I don't care what the experiment showed.  FALLING BULLETS KILL.  Let me repeat that:  FALLING BULLETS KILL.  I have long wondered how sound the methodology is and how accurate and reliable the results are, but the contention that falling bullets cannot kill a person cemented my belief that you the show is testing for the results it wants, not the results that are true.  I am sure that the show exists so that little boys can blow up and/or crash things -- if only because the "myths" are almost always taken to the most ridiculous conclusions.  And more often than not, I feel the show is wasteful of all kinds of resources, not the least of which is helium.  But is completely irresponsible to declare with the finality that the show did that falling bullets do not kill.  I am going to repeat the real world reality one more time:  FALLING BULLETS KILL.  But if the hosts are so sure of their research and methodology, I suggest we test it again using the hosts as the unsuspecting innocent real people beneath the falling bullets.  Now, hosts, are you sure of your methodology and research?  Are you feeling lucky?

Just in case you want something more fun and less controversial, here's my original recipe for Oatmeal Topping (for ice cream):

1 part butter

2 parts brown sugar, packed

4 parts quick oats

In small skillet, melt butter over medium heat until butter foams.

Add brown sugar and stir until sugar dissolves and begins to caramelize.

Sprinkle with oats and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until oats are coated and the mixture resembles crumbs.

Serve immediately over ice cream.

It always make me happy when Bill discovers things taste better than they sound.  I know he's not a fan of oatmeal, but this application is not really oatmeal.  So I am a bit puffed that he liked it so much.  And this is a fairly simple thing, than produces a really nice end result.