Cruz On Back To Canada - Oodles of Broodles

Have I mentioned lately just how irritated I am with the Florida Bar? I can't wait until the net billing cycle, when I can change my status to "inactive." Maybe they will finally leave me to retire in peace and tranquility. This time, they are hocking me to pay a fine because I didn't file my ethics form in time. That damn form is something we state attorneys have to fill out certifying our earnings and sources of income, as well as major property owned and any substantial loans. You're correct, this is really none of their damn business, but the process is supposed to keep us honest or something. Since I was having a nervous breakdown during the time I was supposed to be filling out and mailing this POS form, I am a little ticked off. Especially as it was the Florida Bar that dicked around with that complaint against Judge Nasty, which allowed her to be sworn in, at which point the Bar could wipe their hands of her, declaring that it was now the JQC's problem because she was a judge! And we all know how THAT turned out, don't we?

Of course I'll pay the damn fine. To do otherwise would look terrible on my Permanent Record. However, after almost 25 years I am tired of the Bar, the damn persnickety CLE requirements, the annoying record-keeping, the exorbitant Bar dues (which in all fairness were paid by my employer. although that hardly made up for not getting a raise in over 8 years.) When you are a Professional Procrastinator like me, all this time-sensitive junk stresses you out, and everything with the Florida Bar is time-sensitive, except, of course, their handling of the matter of Judge Nasty. Had to get that in, yes I did.

I am in the process of playing phone tag with the firm handling my SSA disability appeal, but that's okay because they are pretty good about following up, and there is something downright relaxing about being the client instead of the attorney.

Holy crap, the weather has gone nuts. I tried to capture it in photos, but if you are reading this from a safe, dry place in Central Florida, you already know.  It's hurricane weather out there, meaning there's a hurricane forming somewhere out there, and these high winds and buckets of rain are part of the fringe effect. Okay, we are not strangers to hurricanes here but this is January, folks ... hurricane season ended back in November.

This is all because of El Niño, who has, in my mind's eye, now taken on the persona of that extraordinarily annoying Peter Pan from the GEICO commercial.

I have to admit I am eternally grateful, at this moment anyway, that I do not have to go to work. A walk to the courthouse, all of a block and a half, would surely leave me soaking wet, chilled, and miserable. If you are one of the many who have had to trudge through the messy weather for any reason, I feel your pain. Or rain. Try to stay dry. What ever happened to galoshes, by the way? I always had a pair of galoshes and a pair of ugly but absolutely waterproof snow boots when I lived at home with my parents.  Did the fashion police ban galoshes when I wasn't watching?

These are the ones I grew up wearing:

So that's what these are! I thought they were swimming pool shoes!

Want. These. Now!

So I mentioned the other day that I'd purchased a spiral slicer at BJs, and was planning on trying it out real soon.  Yesterday, I practiced spiralizing a carrot and an apple. The carrot was rather thin, and did not play well with the spiralizer, but the apple formed lovely edible curls.  Clearly the key is the width of the vegetable or fruit.

What I really want to prepare is a variation on a dish I call Spaghetti Marco Polo, broccoli florets and crosscut stem pieces cooked with butter and olive oil, along with a substantial amount of garlic, served over spaghetti and finished with toasty pine nuts and grated Romano cheese. The variation will be substituting broccoli noodles - broodles? - for the cooked pasta.

I did some online research and immediately came across a food blogger who has devoted all of her creative energy to food prepared with a spiralizer. Her name is Ali Maffucci, and you can find her website, Inspiralized, by clicking on <==== this link.  She works primary with zoodles - zucchini noodles - but has branched off into other vegetables, including broccoli.

Since she has already done the hard part of developing and testing the recipe, I decided to try it first. No need to reinvent the wheel. Except for one thing (you knew this was coming): I am going to blanch the broccoli first for a few minutes, then shock it in ice water to stop the cooking.  We prefer a softer broccoli, and I can't eat anything that calls itself "al dente" because, well ... as you know, I'm lacking in the dente.

But first, I am going to blanch my delightfully misshapen okra, to start preparation of the Ultimate Okra Fritter, one of my crowning achievements combining three of my favorite activities - blogging, gardening, and of course, cooking. I was happy to harvest what I did, because this season's garden has been sort of disappointing. Turns out that this soil and climate, along with the actual location of my garden, are best suited to grow okra, cherry tomatoes, and ichiban eggplant.  No zucchini or yellow squash or cucumbers. No bell peppers, although I managed to squeak out a few jalapenos. Parsley and rosemary. I am getting some kumquats (the lemon tree appears to be hibernating) and the blueberry bushes look hopeful. Since this is essentially a winter garden, I have been able to grow collards and turnip greens, but I haven't felt well enough to go out there and properly tend to the plants so that I can harvest enough for a meal. After I get these okra fritters done, I am going to gather the cherry tomatoes and make a fresh tomato sauce. But slowly, slowly ... sort of tai chi cooking.

Last night's tai chi class was wonderful. New forms, done ever so gently. I may not be the most graceful person in the class, but who cares? I am deriving physical and emotional benefits without having to take addictive medications. Tai chi is cool, like a fez. Or a bow tie.

"Dickhead of the Week Award" goes to Ted Cruz, that reactionary idiot, who lashed out at The Donald with this inflammatory statement: "Donald comes from New York and he embodies New York values."

Whoa. Ted, you asshole, you just insulted my birthplace, my hometown, my roots, my whole infrastructure. Insult Donald if you think you're up to the task - you're not, by the way - but leave New York alone. As it happens, the best part of who Donald Trump is comes from the greatest city in the world (and it's NOT Bumfuck, Iowa) - New York!! Ted, f* ck you and the Canadian moose you rode in on.

Back To The Broccoli: I blanched the spiralized stems and the florets for 4 minutes, until the broccoli turned bright green.  This may have been a bit too much, as once I shocked the spirals in the ice bath, they mostly broke up into smaller spirals, or dare I say, broccoli elbows (which is still pretty cool. Next time I will cut back the blanching time, checking after two minutes, but in any event, not going past 3 minutes. (Although now that the dish is done, I have to say the texture and tenderness are perfect for me.)

This recipe from the Inspiralized site is frankly delicious, and I recommend that you check it out and try it on your own.

If This Is Tuesday, It Must Be Belgium

Pain all over. Exhaustion. Depression. Palpitations. Irritability. Ha! It must be Wednesday!

Actually pain is hovering around a four, although I feel a spike coming in my left arm. Today's official fibromyalgia bugaboo is exhaustion.  I feel like an overused mophead. Just squeeze me out and get it over with. Pah!! There goes my back; this is now officially a six.

The exhaustion has been a huge problem the past week or so. Getting out of bed, washing up, creeping downstairs - simple, normal activities wearing me out, knocking me down and then kicking me in the chops. I pressed the Keurig's  "on" button, and I'm ready for a nap. But there's no time for a nap - I have an appointment with He-Who-Preserves-My-Sanity; now all I have to do is remember how to get to his office. Damn, I must have lost my sense of direction in the divorce. Seventeen years with the same therapist and I run the risk of getting lost. WTF is that? I always had the best sense of direction, back to when I was a kid in Brooklyn. The first and only time my mother drove to my Aunt Ceil's house in Bellmore, I was her navigator, despite the fact that I wouldn't be eligible to get a learner's permit for 8 more years. Mom had NO sense of direction; she once got lost driving in our own neighborhood (really, how can you get lost on Hungry Harbor Road?) My beloved husband has many talents, but navigation is not one of them. For all of our long drives, I always played Pavel Chekov to his Hikaru Sulu. Apparently my navigating talent has disappeared into the same fog as my splendid vocabulary, awesome spelling, and sometimes-photographic memory.  All I can say is CRAP. I'm too tired to even dig out my best profanity.

The big news is that I bought a spiral slicer, aka The Spiralizer. Now I can make spaghetti noodles out of carrots and zucchini. I already have a recipe in mind; stay tuned.

But now it is Thursday, and I woke to learn that we did not win the Powerball lottery and that actor Alan Rickman has passed away. As much as I loved the Harry Potter books, I could never get into the movies (cognitive overload), and I always disliked Snape, but I remember Alan Rickman from fun movies like Dogma and Galaxy Quest, in which he got to play good guys. As to the Powerball, I'm only sorry we are finished playing the game "what will we do with all that money?" Until next time ...

Oh, and congratulations to my niece Rachel, who actually won something.  Uhh, okay, she still has to go to work tomorrow. But winning even a small amount of money is better than a slap in the face with a wet flounder. Gotta put things in perspective.

All the trees are brown, and the sky is gray, which matches my mood. Maybe I'll just stay in bed today. Maybe I'll give Chelsea a bath; poor little widget has a terrible skin condition and the bath helps. Maybe I will knit ...

Nope, I haven't forgotten these socks; in fact, I finished the leg section and the heel, and I'm ready to start turning the heel, a process the Yarn Harlot refers to as "mythical." I just think it's very cool.

Maybe I will do some coloring; I finished a couple of projects just before the cruise, and I'm working on a new flower mandala.

Early stages picture; it's almost done now.

My iPad is acting strangely, freezing up for no good reason, failing to save what it said it saved, that sort of thing. This iPad is my window on the world, the way I stay connected to the rest of humanity, and any sort of cyber-illness makes me slightly crazy. As if I need anything else to push me over the border.

I really needed to feel useful today, so - THE WINNER IS:

Chelsea Rose Rothfeld, de-fleaed (at least for the next hour), clean and fluffy, her poor wretched skin disorder temporarily under control.

Today was, relatively speaking, the kind of day where I could definitively say, "It didn't suck." I hope your day was as good as mine.

The Meme, The Meme's The Thing ...

... wherein we'll catch the conscience of the King. Or the Queen, eh?

Yes, indeed. 

Fellow Whovians, remember this scene? The Dalek begs for mercy from a well-armed River Song, relying on the universal knowledge that the Doctor's companions are, like the Doctor, merciful in their treatment of their enemies.  Well, except for the War Doctor. But that's another story.

Yes, I remember what Rose did to all of the Daleks in "Parting of the Ways" but that was really Bad Wolf, right? And l haven't forgotten the most unmerciful Captain Jack Harkness during his tenure at Torchwood. So maybe this Dalek was misinformed, which is why River Song tells him to check his records just before she blows him up through his eyestalk. 

You go, girl! River Song, that badass woman - that's who I'm feeling like just now, at least regarding my capacity for mercy. I know I should feel bad about not feeling bad over someone else's problems, but there's a karma thing going on here as well, and I just need a moment or two to savor the knowledge. After all, I'm only human.

Being human and afflicted with the Evil Fibromyalgia, I am huddled inside my poorly-insulated circa 1925 house, enjoying a day without excruciating pain (meaning I'm a five instead of a ten) but with a heightened sensitivity to cold. I have tai chi class tonight which is A Good Thing, but that also means I have to leave the house. I hope I don't freeze to death.

Ahhhh, it was chilly but worth it. I love my tai chi classes, even though I am struggling to remember forms (I think I sang the same song when I was taking tae kwan do). They do help me to relax physically and mentally (which is something tae kwan do never did). In some way, tai chi helps me to remember who I really am, an ability that fibromyalgia tries to steal away, as if the pain wasn't bad enough.

I did not watch the President's State of the Union Address. Actually, I haven't watched any of them, or those of George W. Bush. I'm not sure I watched any of Clinton's, but I might have caught 1 or 2 during his 8 years. Reagan? Sure, a few of them.  Carter?  No way. Nixon? Probably, I always had a soft spot in my heart for Richard Nixon.

Why do I, sarcastic political watcher that I am, avoid the SOTU address regardless of who is occupying  the Oval Office? Because of Rule Number One:

The Doctor lies. And so does the President.

Taking the Fifth - Crab, Bacon, Peas and Coconut Jasmine Rice

I've decided I don't want to pontificate on modesty or its natural extension to the issue of public breast feeding. I might wish for a return to pre-mini skirt days, but that ship sailed while I was still in junior high, in the waning days of the Johnson administration. If this generation wants to wear their underwear outside their clothing, there is little I can do to remedy the situation. Thanks, Madonna.

Besides, I run the risk of losing the whole thread of the discussion mid-argument and let's face it, I've embarrassed myself often enough with lost words and chickens crossing the road. Oy.                                                                                                                                                 

Still, I can't resist sharing some of the visual aids I collected in anticipation of my pontification. First, a word from Real Men:

Right back atcha, "real" men!

Udderly appropriate for the discussion I have decided I am not going to have:

Speaking of ships, one of my favorite sights was a young women, dressed in slim blue jeans, a casual long sleeve shirt, and a traditional head scarf, singing karaoke outside the Red Frog Pub.  We had quite a number of presumably Muslim women onboard, some traveling with husband and children, others traveling as a women's group. I say presumably because of the head scarves; other than that, they were dressed casually, although modestly - long pants, long sleeves - in other words, not much different from an Orthodox Jewish woman if she happened to find herself on the Carnival Sunshine the first week of January. 

Here is the recipe I developed as a side dish for the turkey osso buco. You didn't think I was going to let that gorgeous bacon go to waste, did you?

Crab, Bacon, Peas and Coconut Jasmine Rice

2 tablespoons butter, divided

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt 

2 cups jasmine rice, washed and drained well

1 - 13.5 to 14.5 oz. can coconut milk (shake can to mix well before opening), poured into a 4-cup glass measuring cup

Enough water added to the coconut milk to make a total of 3 cups of liquid

3/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut, lightly toasted

1/2 pound bacon that has been cut into squares, cooked until brown but not too crisp, and well-drained (like the bacon you cooked while making turkey osso buco)

3/4 cup frozen green peas, rinsed with warm water in colander till defrosted, and drained

1/2 pound good quality imitation crab, chunk style, removed from packaging and patted dry

Heat 1 tablespoon of the butter in a medium sized, heavy saucepan over medium heat. When butter is melted, add brown sugar and salt, stir until dissolved. Turn heat to high, add rice and stir until all grains coated evenly. Add coconut milk and water. Stir. When boiling, immediately cover with tight fitting lid, turn heat to medium-low and simmer undisturbed for 20 minutes. Remove pot from heat but do not open lid. Really, no peeking! Let sit for 10 minutes. 

Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the imitation crab and cook in the butter for a few minutes, stirring, until it is warm and fragrant (the combination of the butter and heat brings out some real crab flavor). Add the cooked bacon and the drained peas, and heat together just enough to warm through.

When the rice is done, remove the cover and fluff the rice with a fork. Add the coconut and the crab-bacon-pea mixture to the rice, and use the fork to gently combine. Season with kosher salt and white ground pepper as needed.

NOW - if you absolutely despise surimi (imitation crab) you can certainly substitute real lump crab at $23 a pound, or cooked shrimp, or leave the protein out altogether. I happen to love surimi, but your mileage may vary.

A Religious Experience - Turkey Leg "Osso Buco"

I had one. Yesterday. This is no joke, like when I quote Robert Preston's line to Julie Andrews in "Victor/Victoria": "Oh, the bathroom is a religious experience!" No, this really happened and even I, a believer, am stunned. And gratified and grateful and hopeful that the person who was the subject of my rather fervent prayers continues to improve.

Perhaps this experience had something to do with the fact that I prayed to "my" God, as well as to "their" God. Because I am an eternal wiseass, and because I had just gotten worrisome news, at one point I remember asking if Anybody could please get a message to Jesus. 

Laugh if you will, you unseen nonbeliever, but my prayers were answered immediately - my phone buzzed and I saw the message that there had been a release from the hospital. Thank you, God, in all of Your aspects.

Yesterday was a very rough day, fibromyalgically speaking, and you probably don't want to hear me bitch yet again. (Today is not starting out any better. Half an hour sleep; the rest of the time I was awake and in pain. Just now, while sitting in kitchen, I put my head down and after a few minutes I got an excruciating  pain on the left side of my head, from nasal cavity to my eye and up through to the back of my head, immediately followed by the sharp smell of ammonia. WTH?) We had an invite for breakfast, but I couldn't get out of bed much less go out of the house. And that's all I'm going to say about that except I do have a recipe to share, prepared late yesterday afternoon in desperation (cook or chuck the turkey leg, there is no refreeze) but it's not difficult.

Turkey Leg "Osso Buco"

1 3/4 - 2 pounds turkey leg (drumstick) cut crosswise

1/2 pound cherrywood smoked bacon, cut into squares

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

1 large onion, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

6 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste

grated zest from 1/2 large navel orange

1 tablespoon ketchup

1 tablespoon honey

1-12 oz. bottle Shock Top Raspberry Wheat beer

chicken stock, as needed

In a deep heavy skillet, heat the oil over medium high heat.  Add the bacon in batches so the pieces don't stick to each other. Cook until brown but not burnt or hard, then remove and set aside.

Sprinkle the turnkey with some salt and pepper, then cook in the hot bacon fat about 2 minutes each side, until golden brown. Remove and set aside. Discard the bacon fat and let the pan cool, then wipe out the solid bits with a paper towel. Add the butter and return to medium heat, then add the carrots and celery,  Cook for a few minutes, then add the onion.  Cook for a few more minutes, then add the garlic and cook a little longer, until the garlic is fragrant.

Now add the spices, the ketchup, and the honey and stir to combine. Pour in the beer, stir, and add the bay leaf and orange zest, stirring.  Return the turkey to the pot, cover and cook for 2 hours on low to medium low. Halfway through, turn the turkey over. Check the sauce and adjust for seasoning. Cook until the turkey is very tender. There is not a great deal of sauce, so you can add some chicken stock to thin it out. Always taste and adjust your seasoning.

If you can't find the Shock Top Raspberry Wheat (I found it in Publix, individual bottle) and use a dark ale instead, cook the vegetables in 2 tablespoons of reserved bacon fat instead of the butter. I had originally planned on stirring the cooked bacon back into the sauce, but when I tasted the delicate flavor, decided against it. You can add the bacon back, or incorporate it into a side dish to accompany the turkey osso buco - I'm think of a risotto with bacon and peas. I promise to share that recipe if I go that way, but right now I can't stand up, much less stand at the stove for a half hour stirring risotto.

By the way, if you live near a Spanish supermarket like Bravo, check it out for the cut turkey legs. The price is going to be much better than Publix or even Walmart.

Oh hell, I may just cheat and make regular rice, the boil-in-bag type, and mix butter into it and then the bacon and peas. Don't forget the ground black pepper.

I have to show off a wonderful gift my son made for me. It's already in one of the china cabinets. It is BEAUTIFUL.

I love it.

Just one of those days

I had a very fine tai chi class this morning, and then I went food shopping in Publix, and then I made the spectacular mistake of cleaning up after the pets, changing pee pads and scooping litter and mopping floors. The boys were already on their way to a martial arts seminar so I thought ... well, I didn't really think. Used up all my spoons and then some. There will be no turkey osso buco and no discussion of modesty, or how the giant Eyes being built in cities all around the world are really part of a conspiracy to enslave the entire human race.

Let's try this again tomorrow.

"Nothing Can Faze Modesty Blaise" - Easy Pizza

Ignore that tagline. I'm just using it as a place holder for tomorrow's blog post. Just a reminder. But soooooo sixties. Like me.

We were off that ship and in our car by 7:44 am - and that's the best part of being platinum, better than even chocolate-covered strawberries. The weather is AWFUL - rainy and cold (63 degrees and stop laughing) Fortunately, the walkway from the terminal to the under cover parking is itself under cover. Checking my mail, I received an invitation to a breakfast meeting at the office for this morning. It's just the kind of slightly weird but lovable thing they do.

Finally we are home and I couldn't help but wrap myself in all the love from my furry kids. Then I curled up on the couch, surrounded by the doggies, and passed out. Slept for several hours and needed it badly. The last three cruises have not been restful and it is time to admit that the fibromyalgia has started to wreck even that little bit of personal enjoyment. Robert went out to buy some Powerball tickets (up to $800 million!!) Catching up on the news, which is particularly violent. Nothing that happened could have been prevented by the President's executive order. I am not opposed to improving background checks and targeting mental health problems, but neither of these can identify terrorists, foreign or domestic. They are criminals, and criminals are not known for their law-abiding ways.

I told you before that I hurt every day and that the only day-to-day difference is the level of the pain. That's now; several years ago it was 2 to 4 days a week, although that was sufficient to disrupt my life. I did a little thinking over the past week, and it occurred to me that the earliest signs of the fibromyalgia began to show up in 2010. It wasn't the chronic pain, but the cognitive problems that first signalled the onset.

I thought I was losing my mind. Oh, I'd had brain fog before - when I started menopause, and when I was taking the anti-depressant drug Effexor (Venlafaxine), but in time, those fogs cleared and my mind sharpened back up. This time, though, it kept getting worse until I was terrified that I was experiencing early onset Alzheimers. Anyone who tells you that fibromyalgia is not a progressive disease is woefully ignorant. I had to develop strategies for replacing words I could not recall and I know my court appearances suffered for it. As of today, I no longer have the ability to dredge up words. I ask other people for help; I certainly don't object if someone wants to finish my sentence for me. But it is virtually impossible to act as an effective and passionate advocate when you are fighting with yourself to remember words. In time, I lost the ability to retain new information - new case law, statutory updates, the whole new DCF matrix addressing how to interact with a family and determine if removal was necessary - my ability to read, understand, and remember was gone.  All I'd really had my whole life was my intellect, and now I was losing it. Think about that for a second.

And then came the pain.  If I remember correctly, 2012 was the year it started getting really bad. Frequent, chronic, debilitating pain in my shoulders, arms and hands. Harsh tingling in my arms, hands, and feet. Horrible gout-like pain. And the itching, that insane itching all over, but especially my forearms. They say fibromyalgia is invisible, but I have scars and damaged skin which prove it quite visible.  Progressive. My back, my legs, my knees. Sciatica flare ups. I think the first diagnosis of chronic pain syndrome came sometime that year, but it certainly could have been 2011. Once fibromyalgia became the working diagnosis, we started looking for relief, but for me, there is no relief. I won't take opioids (habit-forming!), and the other available medications don't really work for me. Some drugs, like Lyrica, had side effects I wasn't willing to live with.

The good thing about the pain is that it helped me put the whole thing together and realize that I did not have early onset Alzheimer's. The bad thing about the pain is everything else.

Have I mentioned the depression? The mood swings?  The whole panoply of mental health issues? Another time. I still have nightmares about my 72 hours in the crazy house.                                      

The time has come to appeal the decision of the SSA. I'm getting my ducks in a row. Watch me quack. Screw the pantywaist doctors; this is real. This is permanent.

I really wanted to talk about modesty today, and why I don't necessarily agree with totally open public breast feeding. I did, but I am much too tired and fuzzy-in-the-head to do it. Maybe tomorrow, although I have tai chi class in the morning. Maybe another day when my brain is working and it doesn't hurt to type.  Until then, guys just pull up your pants and gals stop wearing denim underpants out on the street.

While I'm not back into real cooking, I highly recommend using Pillsbury's crescent dough sheets for making pizza at home.  Goya tomato-based sofrito, Mexican cheese blend, pepperoni, green pepper strips, marinated artichokes, garlic pepper, dried basil, and parmesan. Put tin foil over a baking sheet, and no-stick spray the foil. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-13 minutes. Easy and good.                                                                                                        

                       

Winding Down, Packing Up, Sailing Out - Perline Pasta with a Dry Sauce

Last day of the cruise and the sun finally deigns to show its face. We're docked in Freeport, so a good percentage of the passengers have disembarked, leaving plenty of room to move about.  Food lines are very light, and tables on the pool deck are pretty much available. This is the sort of day we enjoy best on our cruises; too bad this one didn't show up until the end. What with the December cruise on the Sensation handing us the same crappy weather - and I blame El Niño, not Carnival - speaking for myself, I'm a bit cruised out. With tax season starting the minute we return home, I wouldn't be expecting any more cruising anyway until the end of April, but this year I am gladly waiting until the end of May when we will be sailing to Alaska with my cousins Cary and Maura. Cross-one-off-the-bucket-list.

This morning - well truthfully, I missed the morning. Missed breakfast and was on my way to missing lunch when Rob gently woke me up. So having pulled myself together, sort of, we headed to the pool deck and for the first time tried the burritos at the Blue Iguana Cantina.

Muy sabrosos (very tasty), especially the shrimp. Since I got to choose the fillings, there was no cold shredded lettuce or cold tomatoes or why-are-you-putting-filler-in-my-burrito? rice.

Chocolate cheesecake from the Chocolate Extravaganza (I skipped the chocolate fountain), hot black coffee, and for a few minutes anyway, all is well with the world. Life goes better with chocolate.

I've been catching up with the news - the Los Angeles prosecutor will not be filing criminal charges against Bill Cosby as the Statute of Limitations has run; a new drug is being developed to treat fibromyalgia chronic pain; the Bucs fired head coach Lovie Smith over the phone; nobody won the Powerball lottery yesterday, and the winning amount is now up to $700 million dollars; the stock market is down another 400 points and China's economy is tanking; North Korea is doing a happy dance over their not-really-hydrogen bomb testing; and the fashion industry appears to be bringing back modesty. I haven't even gotten to political news. The one I want to talk about is the article about modesty (seriously? Yes.) but that's going to take a while as I am going to try to avoid insulting and/or upsetting a whole bunch of people, and that takes thought and thought takes time. Maybe tomorrow.

So today is officially the best day of the cruise. We got to do what we like best which is to sit out and enjoy the good weather and the slow pace, to read or knit, and of course, to eat.  Since we are in Freeport, I also was able to get some really fine shots of working ships. Those 14 years in marine insurance, you know.

Let me leave you with a recipe and a bunch of photos, but first, a short list of suggestions for Carnival:

Hi Carnival, I'm one of your biggest fans, a platinum member who has been cruising almost exclusively on your ships since 2001.  As you might have realized, I'm a lot older than when I first started cruising, and my onboard needs have changed a bit. So could you look into making these additions to your cruise packages? Thanks!

1. I have to spend more time in the cabin that I used to due to health reasons.  I know I'm not the only one. Could you please add some more channels to your TV schedule? Definitely Food Network and FOX News, but Cooking Channel, FOX Sports (Florida), and BBC America would also be utterly terrific.

2. Please add a low-calorie soft drink to your iced tea/lemonade dispensers. I recommend Crystal Light.

3. Offer craft classes for adults, like knitting.  Maybe a fiber themed cruise? I know other cruise lines have done so successfully.

4. Same with cooking classes. And please change the menu for the cooking demonstration in Fahrenheit 555, and the Chef's Table menu. You do realize you have a huge number of repeat cruisers, and we really don't want to have to move over to Norwegian or Royal Caribbean to get a little variety.

5. Your crew continues to be wonderful. Extra props to cruise director Jaime Dee and Constantine, the maitre d' in the Sunset Dining Room. He's the best since Joseph, the self-proclaimed "super-charged maitre d'" from the Carnival Ecstasy. 


Here's the recipe (mine, not Carnival's):

Perline Pasta with a Dry Sauce

This is what happens when I go browsing in Trader Joe's.

The perline pasta has to be the best "filled" or "stuffed" pasta I've ever had. Each little purse has plenty of filling and you can really taste all of the flavors. Instead of a red sauce, or an Alfredo-type sauce, or even plain butter, I decided to do a "dry" sauce.  Cabbage-y vegetables make awesome dry sauces, like in Hungarian kraut sveckle, and there I was in Trader Joe's staring at a nifty cruciferous combo, and the light went on over my head, and I didn't even mind too much that they were out of cookie butter.

Like the kraut sveckle, this dish is all about combining cooked noodles with sautéed cabbage. So I cooked the perline pasta according to package directions, and then I cooked the cruciferous vegetable mix in a couple of tablespoons of butter, with some garlic-infused olive oil added. Medium to medium-low heat is enough for this. I also sliced up a lot of garlic - about 4 rather large cloves - and added them to the pan, with kosher salt, ground black pepper, and red pepper flakes.

When the green stuff was sufficiently tender and sweet from caramelization, I added the cooked, drained perline pasta to the pan and stirred them together over low heat. But ha! I snuck those green vegetables into my family's diet, and they ate them and they liked them.  Seriously good eats.

And now the Really Big Finish:

The photo just reminded me that I also grated a bunch of Romano cheese over the finished dish. And more black pepper, I am wild about black pepper.

Also wild about sea-going container vessels and the tug boats who love them.