Sea Dog

The one thing I have learned from doing dinner parties is to make things that can be made the day before. It's too hard to cook everything the same day except for steaks. The other thing that I tried and it worked out incredible is pre-batching some of the cocktails. I made 6 servings of the the chocolate martini and put it in a pitcher and into the fridge. I also batched some espresso martini's. It made it so easy to just pour into a glass and hand them to guests. Actually tonight Since Jonathan's home I am going to grill some more filet's and we have left over twice baked and the salads plus dessert. I'll make sure to take a picture tonight. The only thing it will be minus of is the bacon wrapped asparagus. Here are some of the recipes I used. https://www.simplyscratch.com/greek-orzo-salad/ https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/twice-baked-potatoes-recipe-1925596 https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/228126/caprese-salad-with-balsamic-reduction/

If your ever in KC let me know I will make you the same dinner.

Anytime our store gets Buffalo Trace it's gone within minutes. I need to try the Peach Crown. I've tried the Apple and did not care for it. Thank you. I downloaded the app and looked through the shows on the Hungry Channel but did not find the particular show on cocktails. I'm such an idiot ! In all my haste to attend to my guests and make sure the food was ready and making cocktails, I did not take any photos. Darn it ! I will recap. 6 of us in total. two were coworkers I worked with longtime reporters. We started with cocktails. The ladies had Passion Aperol Spritz's while the guys had Old Fashioned's. I made the Sea Dog Old fashioned which they loved. Then we had Vieux Carre's. Dinner turned out better than I expected with Filet Mignon, Twice Baked Potatoes, Bacon wrapped Asparagus, with a Greek Orzo Salad and Caprese Salad. We then decided to wait a little for desert so we did a bourbon tasting with local bourbon from Ben Holladay from Weston, MO and from Iowa where by two coworkers are from Slipknot's Anniversary Edition Bourbon from Cedar Ridge. Then we tasted the pride of Kentucky with E.H Taylor Small Batch and finally Rip Van Winkle 10 Yr. Then it was time for desert with a chocolate bomb cake that has layers of chocolate mousse and chocolate ganache with a chocolate martini. It was a great time with great friends and the food turned out great. I'm so sorry I did not take pictures. I focused on my guests to make sure they were having a good time. Today I'm wiped out. I'm exhausted from cooking all day yesterday and cleaning. Good news is that I still have some extra twice baked potatoes and the bomb cake to eat as leftovers. Mimi so sorry to hear about your friend. I hope she will get better through rehab. Happy Anniversary! I love the pic of you two. You look beautiful. Since I celebrate Christmas in July, I watch some of new Hallmark Christmas movies as well as work on my Christmas music compilation that I make every year for friends at Christmas time. I'll make sure to post a link as it gets near the holidays for people to download and listen to some great Christmas music they may of not heard before. Happiest of Birthdays wished to you Lenny today! Cheers!!

Thanks Debbie. Just finished the Greek Orzo Salad and Seasoning and making my special marinade for the filets. Next up twice baked potatoes. Got to pace myself as standing and being slightly bent over in the kitchen kills my knees and back. I’ll post pictures later. It’s so hot I probably could cook the steaks on the patio (but I won’t)so I guess I will need to stay hydrated with a frozen cocktail a “dirty banana.” Cheers! Never been to Singapore but after seeing your fantastic pictures I want to go now! Love your pics!

Thanks looks like you need Amazon Fire or Roku to get the app. I’ll keep searching around. Thank you!

Thank you so much for your advice. I was starting to get frustrated as I’ve hit a wall as far as progress. I would not surprised if mine take a year. I’d be ok with that at least knowing it’s going to get better. Right now I’m exercising like crazy. I’ve already dropped 35 pounds. The problem is my other knee. I’m going to need to have replaced just so I can do all my exercising. We have an elliptical at home so I am mainly doing that. Again Thank hanks for your advice. It really helps.

Beautiful!!!!

I have no problem if people call me Greg or Sea Dog. I am quite fond of my screen name. I had to work hard to get the Mods to let me use it as there was someone else that had that name but no capitals and had not posted in many years. I'm proud to be a "Sea Dog."

Please send your showers over here. It's dry as a bone. COuldn't agree more Graham. I hope you have a wonderful evening and great weekend. Thanks Jim for taking one for the team. I've seen Buffet twice always a fantastic show. I do hate the parking lot jam afterwards. Sounds very tasty. I'll have to try it. Thank you for the recipe. That's too funny. Reminds me of Jonathan's cat Drave. He will flop down right by your feet and you will have to move around him. Love the cucumber martini at CP 150. They did it table side last time we were on Harmony. I need to take notes next time on how they made it. I've thought about that too if we would be safe from intruders there. I do like the fact that Bella's thread is there. I don't mind that we are in the main thread. I always keep at least 3 tabs open on my browser, One for Dani's, One for Bella, and the main boards. Makes it easy to switch around.

Sounds interesting. I’ve never heard of the Hungry Channel? Is this a cable television channel? Sounds very tasty. Simple is sometimes best! Incredible photos. That was a big storm.

I hope you have a fantastic celebration of your 79th Birthday Lenny! Cheers to you on Sunday!!

Getting ready to go to my screening appointment for TSA Precheck. Going to be the first time I ever got fingerprinted. Hopefully first and last time.

If it makes you feel any better I do not know your real name and I'm fine that you don't share that. If someday we are on a cruise together and you share it with me I will look at it as a gift.

I hope their symptoms remain mild. I hope they have a quick recovery. Getting my second booster next week too before we go on Symphony. I'm happy that someone started it. I'm still not sure when Royal when follow. I'm planning on testing for our September and October sailings.

Beautiful picture but scary that's one big storm. Thank goodness you had minimal damage. Great looking pizza Graham. Enjoy every bite. @aussielozzie18 Happiest of Birthdays wished to you on your latest trip around the sun. Cheers to you!

Totally agree. Love Captain Jason. Not afraid to do crew work.

So for the next two hours I'll be listening to my buddy Rob Martinez's Christmas in July radio program from WBOI NPR in Fort Wayne Indiana. He's a great guy who has thousands of Christmas Records. This is a two special of all requests. If your interested in some very obscure Christmas music join us! https://www.wboi.org/?fbclid=IwAR3d_0P7nKgizaf17C6DMWq8ERNlxOC33QCERgVMhgF32Mb7MWzjeLTJhV4

Molly beat me to it. Thank you! I’ve never heard of that. How much was it? Kinda of like Blanton’s Black Label. I know you can’t get it in the YS but I’m not for paying a bunch of money for it. Out of all the Wild Turkey I think Rare Breed is there best and affordable. Yep! I remember that song well. 1975 For me too. Great year.

Have you ever watched the documentary "Neat"? It's a fascinating documentary about bourbon and whiskey, it's history and it's growing popularity. Really good.

I wish I had the pictures to prove it, but in the mid 70's I had a Ford van that I had customized. Remember when customizing vans was a big thing? Now mainly it was to haul my drums around to gigs but it had orange and brown shag carpeting on the floor and walls. A raised bed in the back with orange plush velvet, wood paneled ceiling with airplane lights. Speakers in the front of the raised bed and swivel captain chairs. I always got kidded about it as people would say "if the vans a rockin' don't bother come knockin' " Oh how I loved the 70's.

No need to apologize. I thought it was hilarious. You and I are good. With all my talk about cocktails and bourbon on here one might wonder is he a lush or alcoholic? Rest assured I'm a responsible social drinker who mainly drinks on the weekends except for on a cruise where I do drink everyday. Most people who drink with me say that I'm happy after a few. I don't get mean or obnoxious. I'm pretty chill with a good cocktail. Speaking of Wild Turkey, The Wild Turkey Rare Breed is one great bottle of bourbon. It has a high ABV but is really tasty neat or on the rocks.

Looks great. Sweet corn?

Out of KC Southwest is really our best option. We always book the earliest flight we can to avoid any cancellations.. I think you would like The SW Card. It's paying most of flights off of points for our next cruise. And our last cruise in November points paid for Linda's flight. We've saved hundreds of dollars. I know what you mean on your 401K's. We've taken a beating this past year. Our financial advisor keeps saying stay the course we will be ok. It helped yesterday as we made over 10K.

Welcome to the club. I had my knee replaced this past February. So I'm at 5 months and I'm doing good but wish my healing would progress a little faster. Still numb and swollen on one side. Still have some pain at times but not bad. I am exercising the heck out of it so that could be some of it. Stick to your rehab religiously. We just retired last November too. We love it. We pretty much try to live on our social security and pensions and use our 401K's for emergencies and our cruise habit. We have 4 scheduled in the next year but will probably average about two a year. We use a Southwest/Chase card for all our travel and hotel. We got points right out of the gate and we have traveled so much that all of our airline tickets are paid for this next cruise in September. We also have signed up at various hotel loyalty programs too. Mainly Hilton and Embassy Suites but the points are not that much. The Southwest Card makes a huge difference for us. Welcome to retirement. I've never looked back.

If you search the internet for Royal Caribbean Drink Menu 2022, there are several sites that I can't list here that has some of the menus. Keep in mind every ship and every bar is different and there has been some supply issues regarding certain types of alcohol on some ships.. Don't let the menu be your guide. Most of the bartenders can make anything for you. There are tons of drinks that aren't on the menu.