Royal Caribbean Cruisers -- How Are Things Where You Are? (was "Routine" ​ 😁 ​day in lockdown... how was yours?)

[ownedbypets]

2 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

Have any of you who have visited Australia or have family/friends return home from Australia, tried vegemite?  Here is a recipe from the magazine for Spaghetti Bolognaise with the bonus ingredient of vegemite….

 

I tried Vegemite once and couldn't eat it. The family that I lived with ate it every morning on buttered toast.

[Momof3gurlz]

4 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

 

Being absolutely objective, DH had outdone himself this time with the chopped liver, as well as the stuffed fish.

 

He added a fig dressing to the chopped liver.... it was simply delicious.

 

Sadly, chopped liver doesn't "do" good when pictured as "food-porn" 🤨

It sounds like you resolved the issue with refrigeration for your holiday meal?

[bobmacliberty]

18 hours ago, jagsfan said:

Publix has Skyline Chili in the freezer if you get an unquenchable urge. 
And their website contains this little history. 

 

Interesting.  I'm sure that what Skyline says on their website is absolutely true as written, but they seem to have carefully worded it to make it appear that Nicholas created Cincinnati chili in 1949.  They left out the part that Nicholas worked for Empress Chili, which originally created Cincinnati style chili in 1922, before breaking away and opening Skyline Chili (according to Wikipedia).  Quote from Wikipedia:

 

Cincinnati chili originated with immigrant restaurateurs from Macedonia who were trying to expand their customer base by moving beyond narrowly ethnic styles of cuisine.^[1][2]:28 Ethnic Macedonians Tom and John Kiradjieff immigrated from the town of Hrupishta (today's Argos Orestiko in Greece), fleeing the Balkan Wars, ethnic rivalries, and bigotry, in 1921.^[3] They began serving a "stew with traditional Mediterranean spices"^[2]:27 as a topping for hot dogs^[2]:27[4] which they called "coneys" in 1922 at their hot dog stand located next to a burlesque theater called the Empress, which they named their business after. Tom Kiradjieff used the sauce to modify a traditional Greek dish, speculated to have been pastitsio,^[5][6] moussaka^[2]:28 or saltsa kima^[7][8] to come up with a dish he called chili spaghetti.^[2]:27 He first developed a recipe calling for the spaghetti to be cooked in the chili but changed his method in response to customer requests and began serving the sauce as a topping, eventually adding grated cheese as a topping for both the chili spaghetti and the coneys, also in response to customer requests.^[2]:28

 

To make ordering more efficient, the brothers created the "way" system of ordering.^[2]:29 The style has since been copied and modified by many other restaurant proprietors, often fellow Greek and Macedonian immigrants who had worked at Empress restaurants before leaving to open their own chili parlors,^{[2]:40[9]:244} often following the business model to the point of locating their restaurants adjacent to theaters.^[2]:25

 

Empress was the largest chili parlor chain in Cincinnati until 1949, when a former Empress employee and Greek immigrant, Nicholas Lambrinides, started Skyline Chili.^[10] In 1965, four brothers named Daoud, immigrants from Jordan, bought a restaurant called Hamburger Heaven from a former Empress employee.^[2]:40 They noticed that the Cincinnati chili was outselling the hamburgers on their menu and changed the restaurant's name to Gold Star Chili.^[10] As of 2015, Skyline (over 130 locations)^[11] and Gold Star (89 locations)^[12] were the largest Cincinnati chili parlor chains, while Empress had only two remaining locations, down from over a dozen during the chain's most successful period.^[2]:84

[ownedbypets]

4 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

 

AAAAhhhh, the princess with those dimples 🥰

 

DS2 also has them....

 

He was born 10 weeks before term, a quite ugly [saying that gently], "half-baked" baby...

 

I had the same midwife for both my sons, being in a private hospital in Belgium. She was amazing with my first, so I've asked for her again.

 

When DS1 was born, exactly at the END of term, she kept saying "Il est beau, il est beau" [roughly translated -- he's good-looking]. I told her: "I'm sure you're telling this to all the new mothers". She said: "Not at all"....

 

So here's she looking at the "new arrival", and I'm holding my breath, saying to myself "no way is she telling me now that he's 'beau' "... After a prolonged and thoughtful examination, she said: "Il a de fossettes" [he has dimples...].

 

At least, she was truthful.😁

 

BTW, a friend of mine who is a pediatrician, explained to me that "dimples" is actually a "fault / defect", the only one widely accepted / welcomed....

 

My twins were also born about 10 weeks early so I know the premi look. I remember my husband wheeling me to the NICU for the first time and saying "aren't they pretty?"  and all I said was "no". Luckily it didn't take long for them to plump up and become gorgeous!

[dani negreanu]

2 minutes ago, Momof3gurlz said:

It sounds like you resolved the issue with refrigeration for your holiday meal?

 

Yes, I've followed the wonderful advices here about filling bottles with water and freezing them, along with covering the freezer with blankets.

 

We had the hottest August month on record.

[bobmacliberty]

14 hours ago, h20skibum said:

One of the bands had a very good horn section, and played some old Chicago, Tower of Power, and Santana tunes.  Their vocalist was very good and nailed the vocals from those groups. 

 

I love a band with a horn section.  When I was single and living in NE PA, a group of friends would rent a house every summer in Stone Harbor, NJ.  We'd go there every weekend and usually end up in a local bar where a band played called The Chatterband.  They had a great horn section and played a lot of up tempo 60s and 70s stuff.  Really fun band to watch.

 

As of a couple of years ago, The Chatterband still existed and was playing weddings and other events but it looks like their website no longer exists.  Anyone from the Philly/South Jersey area know if The Chatterband is still around?

[island lady]

22 minutes ago, ownedbypets said:

 

I tried Vegemite once and couldn't eat it. The family that I lived with ate it every morning on buttered toast.

 

Me too...tried it in NZ...uggh  🤢..must definitely be an acquired taste I guess.  😉 

[bobmacliberty]

14 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

It makes me a bit nostalgic... and sad... as another summer departs New England.

 

Although summer may be unofficially over, it's still hot here.  Good beach day yesterday.  Beaches in front of condos and resorts were mostly empty as many tourists are gone with kids back in school, but local beaches were still a bit crowded.  It's was a warm 90F but humidity was only around 50%.  Nothing that a dip in the (warm) ocean or a frozen cocktail couldn't fix.

 

 

 

The receding waves made interesting grooves in the sand.  Looked like some sort of flower.

 

This looks like fun.  I need to see if this is something that anyone can rent/do, or if it's privately owned.  At one point, there were two of them at the same time.

 

[Sunshine3601]

I have some catching up to do on here but first let me start with.

 

HAPPY ROSH HASHANAH, SHONAH TOVAH!!💕 to all families

[grapau27]

Good afternoon everyone.

It is a hot and humid 77°F here today.

I'm lazing in the garden.

Take care.

Graham.

 

[helen haywood]

5 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

BTW, a friend of mine who is a pediatrician, explained to me that "dimples" is actually a "fault / defect", the only one widely accepted / welcomed....

Well, that may be the medical definition…my grandmother said it was where I’d been kissed by angels.  I’ll go with that. 😊  

[Sea Dog]

22 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

I love a band with a horn section.

I know I have mentioned this before and they have played virtual concerts on board but if you haven't heard them check out Santa Fe and the Fat City Horns on Youtube. Their Leader Jerry Lopez is a friend of mine. Great guy and the whole band is incredible. Be sure to look them up if you are in Vegas at the Copa Room on Monday nights.

[Sunshine3601]

On 9/6/2021 at 9:15 AM, Arzeena said:

Agree! Have had the pleasure of climbing to the top and enjoying the views.

+1,  climbed 2 times.  Beautiful island

[Sunshine3601]

23 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

 

The neighbor next door just brought us a small gift (2 mini apple cakes and 2 "pomegranate" buns). She's a great baker.

 

We let them use our 2 spare parking spots, and they feel they should reciprocate with "something".

 

They really shouldn't.

 

They're amazing neighbors 😁.

 

Very nice of your neighbor to bring these delicious looking goodies.  They look too good to eat!  

[dani negreanu]

Just now, Sunshine3601 said:

Very nice of your neighbor to bring these delicious looking goodies.  They look too good to eat!  

 

They were.... 😉

[George C]

We are another fan of a band with horns , saw blood sweat and tears 50 years ago, the horn player who plays the National anthem at Cowboys games Freddy Jones is a friend of ours ( even though I really dislike that football team ), 

[mo&fran]

I just got my Oct 9 cruise on Odyssey repriced.  Now we have over $1400  of onboard credit to spend.  We have never spent that much in 8 days, at least that I can remember.

 What I don't remember, is that refundable at the end of the cruise.

[Jimbo]

2 minutes ago, mo&fran said:

I just got my Oct 9 cruise on Odyssey repriced.  Now we have over $1400  of onboard credit to spend.  We have never spent that much in 8 days, at least that I can remember.

 What I don't remember, is that refundable at the end of the cruise.

Not refundable but there may be a way at the casino to cash out, others on here will know better how to do that.

[Sunshine3601]

45 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

I love a band with a horn section.  When I was single and living in NE PA, a group of friends would rent a house every summer in Stone Harbor, NJ.  We'd go there every weekend and usually end up in a local bar where a band played called The Chatterband.  They had a great horn section and played a lot of up tempo 60s and 70s stuff.  Really fun band to watch.

 

As of a couple of years ago, The Chatterband still existed and was playing weddings and other events but it looks like their website no longer exists.  Anyone from the Philly/South Jersey area know if The Chatterband is still around?

Yes, they are still playing.  I think they played in Sea Isle City, Nj this past weekend.  

https://www.thechatterband.com/upcoming-events

[Sunshine3601]

7 minutes ago, mo&fran said:

I just got my Oct 9 cruise on Odyssey repriced.  Now we have over $1400  of onboard credit to spend.  We have never spent that much in 8 days, at least that I can remember.

 What I don't remember, is that refundable at the end of the cruise.

OBCs are non refundable but you can go to the casino, insert your sea pass into a slot machine and load the OBC onto the machine then hit cash out button and take the ticket to cashiers window in casino and viola you now have your remainder OBC in cash.    Do this the last full day of your sailing.

If you get stuck Chris, Casino host or one of the attendants can help.

[mo&fran]

7 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Not refundable but there may be a way at the casino to cash out, others on here will know better how to do that.

I thought that you could use your seapass card for gambling, and then cashout.

[Jimbo]

Just now, mo&fran said:

I thought that you could use your seapass card for gambling, and then cashout.

Yes, I think it's done right on a slot machine, but not positive the machines are still set up like that now.

[bobmacliberty]

7 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Yes, they are still playing.  I think they played in Sea Isle City, Nj this past weekend.  

https://www.thechatterband.com/upcoming-events

 

Unless there's a problem with my browser, that link goes to a "dead" web page...one that now has links to a bunch of unrelated stuff.  Do you still see their upcoming events when clicking on that link?

[mo&fran]

3 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

OBCs are non refundable but you can go to the casino, insert your sea pass into a slot machine and load the OBC onto the machine then hit cash out button and take the ticket to cashiers window in casino and viola you now have your remainder OBC in cash.    Do this the last full day of your sailing.

If you get stuck Chris, Casino host or one of the attendants can help.

When I made final payment, I knew the final payment was high. WE are B2B, and the second cruise was 6 days, but final payment was about half, it was from an Indy cruise and was price protected.

So I checked prices, and figured it was a little less, but this was much more than I expected.

[Jimbo]

19 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

OBCs are non refundable but you can go to the casino, insert your sea pass into a slot machine and load the OBC onto the machine then hit cash out button and take the ticket to cashiers window in casino and viola you now have your remainder OBC in cash.    Do this the last full day of your sailing.

If you get stuck Chris, Casino host or one of the attendants can help.

What's the reasoning for waiting until the last full day of your sailing?