Nachtmare

Scene:  Transylvania, 1974.   The Voice:  Teri Garr as Inga, rushing in to the bedroom of Dr. Frederick "Fronkensteen", proclaiming "Doctor!  You were having a Nachtmare!"

Yeah, tell me about it, Inga.  Last night was a double-feature doozy.  And while it certainly wasn't as bad as, say, the nachtmare experienced by Ebenezer Scrooge, it was bad enough.  I have had nightmares on and off my entire life, but I truly have not had one in years.  I can only guess I was making up for lost time.

In the news:  Well, turns out it really was Weiner's wiener.  Politicians, what can I say?

Politicians are among those who sometimes believe the rules don't apply to them, according to psychologists and sociologists who study behavior. They say the self-confidence politicians must exude to succeed can lead them to believe they are invincible, and ego can lead them astray.  (I lost the link, I think it was from the LA Times)

Just in case anyone has forgotten, Weiner's wife is a senior aide to Hillary Clinton, and has worked with Mrs. Clinton since 1996.

More from the cruise:

May 31, 2011
8:17 am

Watching the news on CNN leads me to wonder if there is any country in the eastern hemisphere that is not experiencing civil war. These are bad times, and it seems the entire world has destabilized. Yemen, Egypt, Syria, and FIFA, the world soccer organization. Meanwhile the Pentagon has declared that cyber attacks can constitute an act of war. No kidding. And Germany is in the throes of a serious E. Coli outbreak, which Germany claims has been traced back to produce from Spain. Apparently it is spreading to other countries in Europe. I would personally swear off salads for a while, but if you just gotta eat that cucumber, wash it well, wash it often. The blame in Spain falls mainly on the plain, which may be some premature fingerpointing and is wreaking havoc on the Spanish economy.

The economic news is just as grim, although today the various world markets are opening slightly up, after several weeks of abject depression.

12:44 pm
Mahogany Bay, Isla Roatan. Nothing to see or do except beachy type stuff, and neither of us is a sand person. So after a brief foray to the pier for some unsuccessful fragrance shopping - has Van Cleef & Arpels gone out of business? - we headed back to the ship for a restful day before our special dinner at the Chef's Art Steakhouse.

I am Lady Lobster, the newest rock star. And I am determined to finish this ?!#%! Cat's Paw scarf!

11:19 pm
Let's talk about food. Because I refuse to blog about the BIG news that Brangelina may finally be getting married.

Carnival has in the last year or so, placed steakhouses on a number of their ships. There is a reasonable upcharge associated with a dinner there. The first time we ran across this concept was during our trip on Norwegian Cruise Lines. I think it was a French restaurant, and it was very good, but if memory serves me correctly, all the food on NCL was excellent.

Carnival's food is very good, sometimes excellent. The Chef's Art Steakhouse is a step above that, and well worth the additional charge. The service was splendid. Very unrushed, and we were actually encouraged to relax and linger. Lobster bisque was excellent, although the best lobster bisque I ever had was at Firefly in Panama City Beach. This was pretty darn close to that, and it was served with a crouton that seemed to have more lobster actually baked into it. Salads - I had the Caesar, Rob had the baby spinach. You will have to see the pictures to appreciate the presentations. The taste was marvelous; I only wish I could have eaten more of it. The dressing was prepared in the "traditional" manner and tossed with whole leaves of Romaine lettuce.

I had the broiled lobster tails (surprise!) and Rob ordered a Porterhouse steak the size of a certain Yorkie. Everything was prepared beautifully. One downside was that the steak was not aged. I admit we have gotten a little spoiled, as aging adds a certain depth of flavor, but Rob still enjoyed it immensely.

My husband actually ordered fruit for dessert while I stayed true to myself and ordered some sort of symphony of chocolate which was actually four different mini desserts - a tiramisu, a banana pannacotta topped with a sorbet, a flourless chocolate cake with one sort of ice cream, and another dessert whose name I cannot remember, but it was rich like fudge, was served on top of some berry coulis and accompanied by yet another kind of homemade ice cream. I tasted EVERYTHING and will dream about the experience during moments of stress.

The Tot Mom Follies
We always hear that the worst thing that can happen to a parent is to outlive their child, but I have finally realized there is one thing far worse - to have your grandchild murdered, and then to find out it was your own child who committed the murder. Now I usually find Nancy Grace to be overly dramatic, but her coverage of the Casey Anthony murder trial hasn't been half bad. The look on the accused's face as she listens to her own mother testify is priceless, and I do not mean that in a good way. And by the way, HLN hosts, can you PLEASE dump Leonard Padilla, that Dog the Bounty Hunter wannabe from your line up - he does the world's worst interview and contributes nothing to your story. He is one big sloppy dope, which explains why Dr. Drew seemed to be cringing as he spoke with him.

Tomorrow - horseback riding in Belize!