Silversea Water Cooler: Part 3, Welcome!

Hello all.

Sitting in delta skyclub in Atlanta on way to Vermont.

Taking DD to scatter ashes of beloved dog Bromley.

A bittersweet trip.

Thoughts with you Spins....sending hugs....safe journey.

Best wishes for the trip Spins.

 

(Welcome back Bechi)

Thanks Jeff! As I rarely post, I'm quite touched that you noticed!

Cheers,

Bechi

Hello Coolers.......quite a dull and somewhat cool day here in Wales....where today the Prince of Wales visited our town to officially open the fabulous new office building where DD works....who's just reported that he stood next to her but didn't speak.....his loss 😉

Having been on garden overload l decided twas time to get some household chores done today....which results in me becoming quite grumpy as l hate the very thought let alone the task!

A very good afternoon at Wimbledon beckons and whilst l love the matches l also like spotting the weird and wonderful crowds.....

Hope all went well for you Spins........

Happy Friday

😊

Hello all.

Sitting in delta skyclub in Atlanta on way to Vermont.

Taking DD to scatter ashes of beloved dog Bromley.

A bittersweet trip.

My thoughts are with you, Spins. Our beloved pets can be more than family. Good memories will keep you smiling, I'm sure.

Kebabs and some home made hummus today .... with dipping pitta.

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Good morning:).....Jeff, I LOVE hummus:D.......I keep it in the house all the time.......with pita and/or raw veggies

for dipping.........it is so good and love your photo.

I don't know if this will work, but here is a picture of breakfast this morning. Plain unsweetened homemade yogurt with huckleberries freshly picked from the bush outside our front door.

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Hello all. Sitting in delta skyclub in Atlanta on way to Vermont. Taking DD to scatter ashes of beloved dog Bromley. A bittersweet trip.

Safe travels for Spins and DD. Our remains for black Lab Roxie that we lost a few months back are at home in a cherry-wood box that we can touch/tap each day.

Our two grandsons and son just left Central Ohio this morning after nearly two weeks here. Will post more, including pictures, later today. Am catching up!! Busy, busy with two super-active grandsons, plus a nine-hour power outage at home during storms, work duties, doing a state prison tour Thursday, doing miniature golf and bowling with the grandsons, etc. Need to rest up!! And, do more pictures and postings for Lois and others on my live/blog from our Lisbon to France adventure, etc.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Enjoyed a 14-day, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure, getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for more info and many pictures of these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 183,274 views for this posting.

Thanks L. I also love hummus but I was getting irritated with working my way through all the different supermarket stuff and binning. This converged with a programmme about Lebanon and how they eat it every meal. I also learn't to make Levante flat bread in the pizza oven which is nice to dip. . It's so easy to make hummus but shop bought is always cheap ingredients and my hummus costs much more to make than to buy but it was wonderful. Worth the few minutes effort and you get the cooks perks of fingering out and lickin what is left in the bowl. :)

ML, so much appreciate you persevering with your piccies, and you taught me something. I don't think I have ever seen hucleberries before. Thanks.

So modern comms tech is pretty slick, huh?

Got a new 'phone today but as the SIM is a different size from the one in the outgoing device I had to go to the nearest 3 shop and get a new SIM. Young lady was very efficient and got it sorted in no time. However, it took this old man about 5 hours to get it all set up - so many passwords etc to remember - but at least it's the same number and dear old Google happily restored all my apps and data as far as poss.

It's actually quite chilling to realise that the handbag-diary sized block of tech in my pocket virtually runs my life! How did we ever manage?

Greetings Coolers!

J and MLeh...your meals look delicious! Those berries seem to sparkle! And the hummus looks awesome. I used to make my own hummus as well and had to stop when our daughter snafued our food processor. We get ours from a local swarma shop. Better than store bought but not better than homemade.

TTS...I am a Luddite! A little ashamed to admit that I don't have a cell phone and I have not mastered using Myster's. I can't hear with the darn thing. I have trouble using touch screens as well since for some reason my fingertips don't register. Myster joking says that I don't have enough capacitance. At least I hope he's joking!

Have a great day/evening all!

Jeff ... I too love good hummus. Unfortunately there is such a thing as 'too much of a good thing' and hummus doesn't love me back.

Mysty ... there is such a thing as not having enough conductivity in your fingertips. My mother and my husband both cannot use touch screens due to this. Try getting one of those stylus pointers. I have one on the opposite end of a regular pen (where the eraser on a pencil would be) and it works well.

TTS ... my sympathies on your new phone. ;) I generally hold on to my electronics until they can't be used anymore for this very reason. I ended up getting a '*pity upgrade' from my daughter for my phone, even though I was perfectly happy with the old one.

*pity upgrade: they give you their old phone when they get the newest version

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Thanks for the info MLeh! So I guess he wasn't joking! I like the stylus pointer idea! :)

I got a free stylus keychain at a trade show and gave it to my mom. She uses it for turning pages when reading electronically. You should be able to find one fairly inexpensively.

Jeff ... here is a picture of one of the huckleberry bushes in our yard. They grow wild. This particular one is just tucked in beside a fir tree. If you enlarge the picture you can barely see the berries on the bush.

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Thanks ML, I'd been reading about these berries! Our garden is covered in blackberry bushes nd I love wandering around and picking and eating them. They never make it to the kitchen. This year looks like a bumper crop.

We too have blackberry vines growing wild. Unfortunately they are an invasive species, Himalayan Blackberries, and they have huge thorns that scratch and bite! But it does look like a bumper crop this year. If you can avoid the thorns the berries are sweet and delicious, especially when picked fully ripe and warmed from the sun. They grow anywhere the sun shines, so all along the roadsides and under the power lines. Local indigenous berries are thimble berries, Salmon berries, Salal, Oregon Grape and wild strawberries. Further east of us blueberries and Saskatoon berries grow wild. Our walks are punctuated by random berry picking stops, as long as there aren't any bears around! If there's a bear, we cede the berries to them.

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Thanks L. I also love hummus but I was getting irritated with working my way through all the different supermarket stuff and binning. This converged with a programmme about Lebanon and how they eat it every meal. I also learn't to make Levante flat bread in the pizza oven which is nice to dip. . It's so easy to make hummus but shop bought is always cheap ingredients and my hummus costs much more to make than to buy but it was wonderful. Worth the few minutes effort and you get the cooks perks of fingering out and lickin what is left in the bowl. :)

 

ML, so much appreciate you persevering with your piccies, and you taught me something. I don't think I have ever seen hucleberries before. Thanks.

Jeff, so you just puree chic peas and add some olive oil?..........

Don't forget tahini! And garlic, and some lemon juice. And spices... maybe some sumac for decoration?

I have some sumac that I got on the street at a market in Amman. I always remember the trip to Petra when I use it. :)

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Hi L, yes it is that simple. Use canned chickpeas. Drain can reserving liquid. Blend adding olive oil, crushed garlic a fair amount of (bottled) lemon, olive oil, and as JP says sumac or ground cumin and a little salt all to taste. Use some of the reserved liquid to loosen if it is too thick after you've added oil. The secret is to blend and keep tasting until you are happy.

To that basic blend you could adjust to flavours for example if you have a jar of red peppers some of that could be added. Or some cayenne.Or my favourite caramelised red onion. Some smoked or sweet paprika. Whatever you fancy. But plain is great. The good thing is that it is basically store cupboard ingredients and you can make it when you fancy.

Try and let us know.

As I am new here and just came across this salivating thread and love all the food cooking tips!

As I am new here and just came across this salivating thread and love all the food cooking tips!

Lovely that you stopped by! Welcome!

We are a surprisingly slim set of people considering how many food piccies we digest. :D

Hope you stay around and join the fun. :)

Very warm welcome Purplelady......feel free to join in with our banter!

Off out for lunch with the kids in a bit to one of our favourite Cheshire eateries....looking forward to their delightful cocktails......

Happy Sunday 😊

Thank you both for the welcome! This has been a fun thread to read. We are not big foodies but with all the international people here I can come up with new things and seek advice. I hope to see more and sharing our cruise experiences with yours.

Greetings Coolers!

Welcome to the Cooler Bar PL1! Grab a stool and your favourite libation and commune with the community!

We have a dust bunny rodeo on the go here! I've managed to ride my trusty steed (Mighty Mite) around 2 floors to corral the little pests. Just taking a break from the action.

Have a great day all!

Good luck with the rodeo M.

Roast lamb (from the freezer ...), mash, cauliflower cheese, and beans.

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