OMG Peanut Butter Cookies

The classic peanut butter cookie is slightly greasy, crumbly and immediately calls for a glass of milk to wash them down.

Not so with this cookie recipe. I am not a huge fan of cookies. But... after making a batch of these... I think I could turn into a cookies monster. The recipe calls for 2Tablespoon cookies.. so they can be pretty large.  They are crisp and soft at the same time. The extra chopped up peanuts and the use of all butter.. makes them a premium cookie all the way.

So give them a try! From Cooks I.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2teaspoon table salt
• 1/2pound butter (2 sticks), salted
• 1cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1cup granulated sugar
• 1cup extra-crunchy peanut butter
• 2 large eggs
• 2teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1cup roasted salted peanuts , ground in food processor to resemble bread crumbs, about 14 pulses (about 1 cup, packed)

Instructions

1. 1. Adjust oven rack to low center position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl.
2. 2. In bowl of electric mixer or by hand, beat butter until creamy. Add sugars; beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes with electric mixer, stopping to scrape down bowl as necessary. Beat in peanut butter until fully incorporated, then eggs, one at a time, then vanilla. Gently stir dry ingredients into peanut butter mixture. Add ground peanuts; stir gently until just incorporated.
3. 3. Working with 2 tablespoons dough at a time (see illustration 1 below), roll into large balls, placing them 2 inches apart on a parchment-covered cookie sheet. Following illustration 2, press each dough ball with back of dinner fork dipped in cold water to make crisscross design. Bake until cookies are puffed and slightly brown along edges, but not top, 10 to 12 minutes (they will not look fully baked). Cool cookies on cookie sheet until set, about 4 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Cookies will keep, refrigerated in an airtight container, up to 7 days.
   yeah.. sure... : ) Pat

Reflections About the Cruise.. LA to Hawaii January 2013

Post Hawaii to LA Cruise Thoughts
__________________________________

1. Enjoy the environment there: There were people on the ship that will complain about most everything. It so easy when you are within your own fishbowl to find objection with tiny details that you would not possible think about if you were in your own world back home. A woman complained as we were waiting to get off the ship in Kaui that it was unbelievable that they only opened the laundromats at 8am when people had to clearly iron their shirts and dresses before leaving the ship at 8:30.  Kauli is a jungle type environment and no one was going to care if your garments were ironed.

2. Be a picky eater at the Buffet, There is so many really cool things to eat at the buffet it is tempting to try them all and overeat and fee miserable. Pick just one meat, vegetables if they look good and only one desert at each buffet seating. Drink lots of water.. Beverages are brought to you on Princess ships.. I always asked for two water glasses.

3. Do not rely on the ship to provide you books for your reading addiction. The Golden Princess had a very small library that was only open during a few hours each day. Most of the time the shelves were locked up behind glass doors. The other people on the ship brought the books that they had read from their own home collections and dropped them into a pile in the unlocked regions of the library and others quickly snagged them up to read. This didn't get strated until we were a couple of days into the trip and people had finished their paperbacks that they had brought on. I always had an eye out for Sue and she joins the many others that read the popular paperback books. The library shares the same square footage with the internet cafe. Only 6 upholstered chairs reside in the library portion of the piazza. There were many other places that people could hang out and read on this ship... and they did.

4. The Winter /Spring season is a great time to be in Hawaii. There seemed to be many more vicious storms that lashed out at our rubber necking when we took the trip in November. The end of January to the end of April is the whale season in the islands. It is really the best time to see such wildlife. While we were closer to the humpback whales in Alaska, the Maui Whale adventure was more fun as we saw more whales in a area.

5.Renting a car for a day was really worth it. The excursions that we would have gone on if we had not rented a car would have cost more than the two of us in a rental car in Hawaii. Hawaii is one of our states and renting a car and driving it in the United Sates is really not that hard to do. It gives you independence so that if you want to stop and have a bite to eat somewhere you can. Renting a car will allow you to get out an see more of the country than an excursion. Some of the people on the ship booked their own excursions. They ran into some pretty interesting people and had great experiences as well.  They were British so driving in the US was somewhat problematic for them.

6. If you are an avid TV watcher you may be disappointed. The ship subscribed to a service that takes the best sitcoms off the TV and provides the ship with an edited version that had no comericals. If you were falling a soap or a little known serial you might be out of luck as the Tv in the rooms at Fox and MSNBC and the BBC but no ESPN or any Guiding Light.

7. Work for a happy attitude. There were a great number of people that boarded the ship that fall into the category of curmudgeon. They had waited all their life for a nice trip like this and were ill prepared to take advantage of it. I would like to say that it was only the old men on the ship that faced this attitude. But sadly many of the older women were facing this attitude as well. Some of these old coots would turn down the hand wipes at the food stations. Theses protected everyone, There was always a health person overseeing the hand wipes at the station. Many of the older passengers were disgusted that they had to swipe their hands with a alcohol towelette before each meal. They would wave it off. These people would also walk the ship desks with foul looks on their faces. Some come with preconceived attitudes of how it should be. In the buffet area the people can cut in and out when there is a space. I got told off by an old bitty who thought that the buffet was set up like a mid western cafeteria. Everyone grabs a tray and in lock step action follows the one ahead to each station.  I smiled and did what I wanted to do.

8. Hawaii was hit with the recession like all small towns. It really is a collection of small towns with the exception of Honolulu. People are not quite back up to the economic prowess of a few years ago. Hawaii is much more agricultural than I thought. It is still pretty hang loose.  I drove past huge fields with people working in the field on Kaui and one person had just left his horse across the road from where was working. It had a huge rope connected to its bridle but nothing significant to tie it down. I suppose it was a worker's means of getting home that night.

9. I was amazed at the elevation gain in the drives that we took on the islands. The sides of the volcano are rather steep. When the elevation is gained, the air is much cooler. Grab that sweatshirt. There were only 2 days that shorts felt comfortable on the whole cruise... so too many shorts were packed but you never know. As you can tell from the ship diary, it was not a cruise that had a huge number of days were people were out in the sun..This trip was not a Mexican Rivera kind of voyage.

10. Hawaii was much less commercial than I imagined. People live their lives without hassle. There were no big signs along the roads I drove in Hawaii. There were road access signs to the macadamia nut company and other places of interest but there were no signs advertising cities or businesses within the city in any part of Hawaii that we traveled.

11. I was somewhat amazed that the breakers on the beaches were pretty far away. There were some exceptions but the access to decent water before the waves was pretty interesting. In January there were not that many people in the ocean all together... of course with so many ocean beaches it was pretty spread out.

12. The ship hit its marks on arrival time and departure time with the exception of the initial departure delay. 25 miles an hour 24 hours a day and night will get you a pretty decent distance. On the ship you also realize what it would take to get a sailboat across this stretch of ocean.

13. Important fan type activities can still be maintained while in the middle of the ocean. The division championship was easily broadcasted so that all could see the game in several venues.

14. There seems to be much less of a "sell going on in the ship." The drink hawakers were not so persistent on this cruise. There seemed to be a significant drop in the number of photographers on the ship. So you weren't hounded so much for photos. Even the ports had a low key sense of shopping. On every Alaskan cruise there were the usual Del sol tee shirt outfits that sell the shirts that change color in the sun and the Diamonds International that pitch in going ashore presentations promos for slick sales.  All of that didn't seem to be occurring on this ship. Most of the people on the ship were pretty savvy travelers and this pitch for the tanzanite would fall on deaf ears.

This lack of pitching an up pricing is pretty much gone in the ship experience. People took advantage of the soda cards and the coffee cards, so they became a useful tool rather than a loss of tipped service to the providers.

15. It was nice to see various parts of the islands. The one packing and unpacking allowed for more time to be spent having fun rather than cabin or room chores. The cabins in our category are significantly smaller than a hotel room but they offered the convenience of every night knowing where you would stay.

16. Hawaii in January was very similar to the Central Valley in April regarding temperatures (mid 70's during the daylight hours). Its great to be in either place for comfort in the weather.

17. People will find their own. Passengers will do the work around. When a small group of people decide to eat with people more of their liking.. they found a way to do it with anytime dining. When the books ran out of the poorly operated too small library... people donated books they had already read to anonymous passengers that also put up their walk on books.

18. Overall the evening entertainment is declining. On this ship with 15 nights of potential, their were only 4 song and dance nights with the cruise dancers and singers. The resident live band behind these performances as been replaced with recorded soundtracks. The comedians on the ship were less than spectacular. One or two night stands have become the rule. Almost first run movies have replaced some of the live stange shows of 5 years ago. The venue has changed to smaller cabaret settings for entertainment and much more available in smaller settings.  The piano bar signer has set up a Mitch Miller kind of sing along in one small walk through setting. The older people really liked the ability to sing along with the old favorites that they grew up learning.  The art auctions had fewer painting to sell. Triva in group settings has taken over some of the traditional small nightclub settings. Dancing to the big band sounds are out, but more string quartet venues were available. Elue and the Hawaiian themed music was featured throughout the on deck music venue and the Piazza. Elue gave a concert using all of Don Ho's music. Overall the entertainment package on ship has morphed. In some ways it takes away the need to consume alcohol at every venue and that is pretty much a good thing. I never saw anyone falling down drunk.

19. Overall it was a fantastic value. The cruise fare was $1200 each and our extras on the cruise card purchases, excursion and tips were under $800.  The biggest cost would be taking off work for 2 weeks and not getting paid during that time. As retired folks, that was not an issue. It was also really nice to have a neighbor get a little cash for coming over and loving our cats while we were gone.  

Day 15 LA to Hawaii Cruise Portside- Home

Day 15 LA to San Pedro CA, January 30th 2013

_______________________________________________
We woke up to a beautiful day in LA. It was cool and bright. The push was to get us out of the rooms by 9Am so that they could completely reset the rooms for the next cruise. They would start boarding on their adventure to Hawaii around 12:30.

Sue wanted to check to see if something she had lost was returned to the lost and found at the purser's desk. While we were there with all of our drag off the ship stuff, I talked her into the formal breakfast. I had some great  lox, french toast and some sausages. The wait staff found a good place to store our stuff as we ate. Since we are premium card holders... meaning that we have cruised with Princess for a lot of cruises, we got to stay in the Wheelhouse Bar. Its the same one that we took the ukelele lessons in with the high back chairs and the couches.  It also had cookies and beverages available to us. Most of all it had the mini couches that Sue desperately needed to sit or lay upon. Sue found it much more comfortable to "lay out" on one than to sit in her chair at the ready for our color and number to be announced. Some poor people were stuck on bar stools waiting for the call. Sue did some shut eye and I pulled out my kindle. We were called to hit the gangway at 11:15. We waited on shore to go through immigration and customs. We sailed right through.

We had a great porter. He got us and all of our bags out on the curb from the gigantic warehouse area that our bags were gathered. When I looked for a our Expedition truck in the parking lot it was exactly where I thought I put it, and I paid the parking charges with a credit card and pulled up to the loading dock. Our porter appeared again, he was helping others get their bags out and loaded. He helped me get the suitcases (the two giant ones) up on the top of the seat inside, so that the manual wheelchair could occupy the luggage area of the truck with the back seat pushed forward. The power chair got into its position after the lift had swung out to accommodate lifting the tail gate up. The lift worked to get the power chair up and we made sure that all bags made it in the truck and that we didn't leave one at the port.

We headed out of San Pedro, which is on the other side of the bridge from Terminal Island and Long Beach. We got on the 110 and sailed though LA without many stops and starts. From the 110 we merged into I5 around Burbank and headed north.

We got some late lunch/dinner at the stop near Buttonwillow that had a popies it was a first for us, we felt it was strange paying for our food... since for over 2 weeks it was provided at no charge on the ship.

We stopped again at Harris Ranch to use the restroom and get some snacks. I got a couple of pieces of Harris Ranch Beef jerky and Sue had a cheese pocket from the bakery and a fruit tart. Harris Ranch is almost exactly 100 miles from home. We pulled into Merced at 5:00pm. It was dark.

The kitties were so happy to see us.

Day 14 --- Land Ho in Ensenada at 4pm

Day 14 LA to Hawaii January 29, 2013
Ensenada Mexico 4-8
_____________________
Ukelele Hula Show

At 11:15 we had a rehearsal for the big ukulele hula show on the big Princess stage. They filmed it for the events DVD. The show was set for 2pm for the passengers to see. At rehearsal we all signed releases since there were a lot of mechanical on the ship's stage that need to be pointed out and we needed to be reminded on how to avoid injury. There was a particularly low spiral staircase right by the entrance to the stage. There were trap doors and uneven spots on the stage floor that could make it difficult for the hula dancers. The ukulele players were all positioned on the risers in the back of the stage. music stands were set up so that we could see our music. The ukulele players were 3 to a music stand.

We practiced the show. My position was in the back with 35 to 40 year old blonds Denise and Tammy with a husband Chuck. The women were into getting the sway going with the music. I was glad that I brought my big timberline black shoes for the formal night on the stage as they were the perfect counteraction to the sway of the ship on the platform risers when the ship started rocking.  After the practice, I had time to go back up to the room, take a shower and eat some lunch and go to the show.

All our dinner mates showed up to see the show. Sue was there too. The theater was packed with people.  It was so nice for all of my friends to come. David shot a movie of the ukelele players . When the show was over, I went up to the top deck to watch as come into Ensenada.

Ensenada has a large bay in front of the city. Many islands way out in the sea predict the bay to come. They were visible 2 hours before we got to the dock. They were there to let you know that the city was not far away. The islands got bigger as we headed to port.

____________________________
 The Ensenada Sailors

Ensenada is a Baja California town that is 86 miles for San Diego. In driving time since the toll road has been made is about 1 hour and 32 minutes away. From Newport Beach California to Ensenada is a 125 mile nautical venture. Every year a huge race with about 200 sailboats compete. This year's race was sponsored by Lexus. The overall winner received a two year lease of a brand new Lexus car.

I was up on the 14th deck near our cabin as the Golden Princess pulled into the port of Ensenada about one hour earlier than planned. Its a really beautiful bay to sail into and we were all hungry to see some land after so many days at sea from Hawaii. The Baja mountains rise up from the sea and a bay view from the houses was not missed from the  houses with big picture windows.

As the ship was throwing lines and securing itself to the docks I talked to a couple who was watching out the view windows beside the pool on the smoker side of the outdoor deck.

She was about my age, smallish with black close cut haircut... sort of what we used to call a pixie cut. Her husband was there with dirty blonde mustach and a full beard. He was about the same size as her.
 As we talked, I found out that they raced sailboats on the race from Newport to Ensenada. They told me of how the town had changed since they were active in the races. They said that during their time there were very few boats used to be in the harbor. How the winners limited their partying the night before the race but partied strong into the night when they arrived in Ensenada.

The husband claimed that at one time they had won three of the classes in the single race. He drank champagne from each of the trophies.

She told of the tale of the boat that in the middle of the night ran headlong into one of the islands. The boat exploded an all the sailors perished. The only reasonable explanation was the skipper and the navigator had fallen asleep. Usually the crew on the sailboat included enough people so that a 3 hour watch could rotate through the night and day. Some crews were less vigilant regarding sleep.

Later on the internet I pulled up the story. It seems from published story, it was the first fatality in 65 years. Their take on it was the smaller sailboat was smashed by a tanker of some sort and the they looked for the sailors in three miles of debris.

It was nice to be around when memories are discussed. Thier sailboat had three masts which means it could have been a ketch or a yawl.

We also had a conversation about the America's cup. They said that those new catamarans could not make turns. It was sure amazing that they could sail faster than the wind that was blowing.

The wife was not feeling so good. she had not been up on deck since we had left Hawaii. She though that she had motion sickness. Her friends looked at her quizzically. She explained that when racing she was always on the deck or the very highest spot on the sailboat. She was not used to spending time down below. If they take a cruise again, I bet they will be up with us on the top passenger stateroom deck.

I asked Sue if she wanted to go ashore and shop the mexican shops by the port. This a mile of walking distance from teh ship to the town. The causeway could be crossed by series of buses that designated just for cruise passengers. The ship said that it would cost 2 dollars each way to take the buses into town. When I got on the bus they wanted 3 but it covered going and coming a round trip.
There was a significant group of Mexican store right beside the ship in the port. Many people from the ship decided to do their shopping right there. I found two of our Mexican souvenirs right there even though I went into town looking for more variety.

I love the Mexican tin. On the walls were a red heart with wings that were silver and hammered. Heather collects Dia de Muerta (Day of the Dead) stuff. I found a cross that had a skelaton in the middle of it... homage to Dia de Muerta.

I got on the bus to go downtown. It let us off at the top of the hill of the tourist section. This is where 8-10 blocks down the hill were the shops for the Mexican crafts/ beer bars and food.

The massive halls/bars along this road are some of the famous. Papas and Beer bar/restaurant, Senior Frogs was also there. Non of the showed any action as we were there between 4-6pm... way to early for the action to start at these bars/

The craft shops had a couple of guitar shops, lots of leather products and just a few clothing and pottery shops. I found a place thta sold little purses that had classic needlepoint designs. I bought 3 for 3.50 each.

As for the pitch so common in Mexican shopping areas, I was touched 3 times on the arms and shoulders on my path up and down the blocks. This is way too much for Sue's safety so I was glad that she was not with me for this run.

As the sun went down over the Pacific Ocean in the East, a dramatic sunset spread across the sky. It was time for me to get back to the ship.

_____________________
 Elisabeth Celebrates her 75th Birthday with Us

It was one of our dinner table's seat mate's 75th birthday. She did not want the waiters to come sing her happy birthday. They have been doing that at least 4 times each night in our  sitting.

Sue made her a beautiful blue necklace and earrings set. She also made Deb, the other table mate an orange set made with some of the free beads that we all got when entering Hilo Hatties...they look like little conch shells.  She added some pretty orange glass pieces to it too.

I made her a home made watercolor card with fish on it. Elizabeth was crazy about going to the Maui aquarium The words on the inside said, "We are all schooled up to wish you a happy 75th birthday." I got Deb and Dave (the others at our table) to sign the card earlier in the day when we ran into them in the Piazza.
_____________________________________
Round the up and Head them to the Hall

When I got back to the room, we went over every inch of the stateroom to get it all into the luggage to put out in the hall for the porters to take away. It was important to leave out the clothes that were to be worn the next morning as we left the ship. We had four bags for the porters to take out of the hall to our disembarkation slot. This also included the manual wheelchair as Sue was to drive through the ramps with her power chair. So it was as always is a challenge. Every time we say to ourselves at this spot in the cruise that we will never take so many clothes on the next trip.There are 8 laundromats on the ship.
The sail up the coast was pretty uneventful. The Pacific Coast from Ensenada to San Pedro was pretty calm and smooth.

Day 13 LA to Hawaii Cruise

Day 13 January 29, 2013 Monday
3rd Formal Night At Sea
At Sea
________________________________________
It was pretty cold on deck today but the boat is not swaying so much. Tonight is the 3rd Formal night on the Golden Princess. Its the night of Lobster and giant Shrimp.

I discovered that I packed the wrong blue shirt to go with the suit attire. Luckily, I had done laundry and so the red satin shirt was pressed back into action... It certainly fits better than the blue one that was at least 12 years old. I love the Goodwill silk tie that I bought for it.

Our dinner table Brit friends, the Bulmans had beef wellington instead of the Lobster because of allergies. Pheasant was also a choice at this dinner. Our Desert Springs fellow dinner couple were ready for the lobster and shrimp as we were. 

This is also the dinner that the cooks get introduced and cheered. So everyone stands up and waves their dinner napkins as the chefs with the tall hats and the cooks parade through the dinning halls. Our assistant waiter got us baked Alaska for desert. They used to come in flaming... not anymore.  There are battery operated votive candles that illuminate the frozen cake ice cream and whipped egg white creations.  Baked Alaska is not my number one desert... its okay.  I would really prefer a good apple pie slice. I ordered and got one those too. It was a night in the dinning room that everyone looked like they were having fun.

During the day we got ready for the performance on the ship of the ukelele songs we were practicing and the hulas that others were practicing. We had a couple of new songs as the hula class was going to perform to our music at least for one of the songs. Our new chords (D) and (D7) were integrated into Aloha Oui and Little Grass Shack. These songs were pretty tough for beginners.

Some people had taken the hula lessons and the ukelele lessons as well. They ahd to choose which group they wanted to be with for the performance.

Sue went with me to listen to the ukelele lesson . She was going to get some help with her heirloom lei. She bought a couple of kits and some pointers from Lilanan the hula instructor  that was also doing the lei kits.

We started to experience playing our ukeleles standing up. That was a new experience.
Unlike guitars, there is no neck strap because ukeleles are so light, they can be held and played without support while standing up.

There didn't seem the push push to buy extras on this ship. That is a good thing because most of those on this ship are older there might have been a backlash for an economic push.

According to our ukelele teacher he sees familiar faces on this cruise from people who take this cruise a couple of times a year, Their are some who take this cruise and his lessons once a month where this cruise is offered to Hawaii. Its what they want to spend their money on. They take ukelele lessons each time and have a really nice instrument and like to be in the classes to meet new people and to practice their skill.

After lessons, Sue went back to the room to rest.

The formal lunch in the dinning room is the one that is used for anytime dining. People who use this option, call in a reservation as to when they want to arrive for dinner. They have no particular waiter and could be seating anywhere throughout the dinning room. They trade this for being able to choose when and with whom they will eat with between 5:30 and 10:00 . If they don't call in, they have to wait outside until they can be seated in the dining room or use the buffet.

We generally pick the later traditional dining time at 7:45 seating. This is not the time that most people choose if they are older or have young children. the earlier seating is at 5:15 each night. There are assigned tables in traditional dinning and dinners eat with the same people and are served by the same waiter and assistant waiter each night.

Tips for the waiters and the assistants and the stateroom stewards are automatically charged to each person's ship card at the rate of 12 dollars a day. Passengers can reduce this amount or add to it by going to the front desk and requesting the charges be reduced or adjusted. We always give more. Our room steward usually gets $50 additional from us on the 15 day cruise and I always tip the waiter and additional 30 dollars for the head waiter and 20 dollars for the assistant.

Cash is not handled on the ship except when additional tips are provided. The passenger cruise card is used to pay for everything on the ship. The only exception being the casino. Here US dollar bills and up to 20 dollar bills may be fed into the machines. Winnings are collected as they are earned on the players casino portion of the cruise card. The casino bank is utilized with a pin number. It allows authorization right at the slot machine. When you are ready to "cash" in your winnings, the casino as a cashier booth where you show your ID and your cruise card and they pass over the cash you won. Passengers can have the "bank" transferred off their cruise card account that is secured with a credit card. If you overspend you limit on the credit card on file , the hotel desk will call and ask you to put up another card or make arrangements to pay.The run balances on the card as you are traveling. We did not have to reassign to another card on this trip... but on one Alaska cruise I had to put up another card mid cruise.

Day 12 LA to Hawaii Cruise

Day 12, January 27, 2013 Sunday
Partly Cloudy, Rain Showers  High 70 Low 63
Sunrise 6:45 Sunset 5:26

________________________________________________
ProBowl game at 3 pm on the Movies at Sea Screen above the Pool

It was pretty cold and windy outside today. The ship had just a little roll. Overall the ship movement is very tolerable. Its just enough to rock you to sleep at night, sue comments.

The naturalist covered a great deal on oceanography today. Tsunamis and Hurricane Mapping the ocean floors, and tides.

I learned why the tides are so large in Alaska. Apparently there are more SAT points where very little tide changes (in Hawaii) and those areas with far away from the SAT points like the Bay of Fundy (41 feet) of difference and Alaska (28 feet of difference). Hawaii has as little as 2 feet difference because they are new the SAT points. SAT points are the places on the earth where the waves begin.

He also talked about the company that he owned and sold that mapped ports and designed "wave breaks" for the marinas. They did the work involving diving to meet the Edison Power Company in Southern California. His company was often called to scuba through the inlets of the power plants to check for damages ... which required them to swim for 1/4 mile . There were often fish that got in. They would scoop them out and return the unharmed back to the ocean. One time they call was different. A small sea lion had made its way up the inlet. He was having a great time as the fish were stuck in the tank. He called the UCLA ocean team and they pulled the sea lion out. They transferred him to Doheney beach down by San Clemente Beach, about 35 miles a way. The release worked except that in 2 weeks he was back to the power tank with 3 girl friends.
 _______________________________

The lunch set up that was on deck was a stir fry Mongolian thing. People could pick their ingredients and it was cooked with Asian oils in a couple of woks one veggie only and the other with meat. Also away from the station was a place to get Thai green soup, seafood stew, sushis, beef and greens and four pre made stir fries. They replaced at different times, different dishes in replenishing the tables set out by the covered pool area. The RCMP wife felt that she was cheated and pleaded for a cut backwards in the line to pick up the duck instead of the chicken... I let her cut. I said they had heard there were Albertans in line, so they changed it right after in her honor. We had a laugh and she cut back in front of me.

_________________________
They introduced a new song at ukulele lessons today and a new chord. I think that most of the people in  the class now have learned another lesson with cords so..... with practice it should all work out.

_________________________
Sue wasn't out of bed today. She is not too concerned about pain pills arthritis but the inclement weather sure aggravates it. She thinks that she will be able to dress for the 3rd formal night tomorrow.

We got fruit delivered to us again this afternoon. They call first on the phones to make sure you are there to receive it.
_______________________
The probowl ws shown on the big screen outside. It was really too cold for comfortable viewing. It was pretty dramatic to see the players on the screen 4-5 times bigger than they actually are.

Only about 35 passengers watched from the outside. It was also shown below in the pub which I am sure had many more. There was a fairly decent group watching in the Princess Theater.
 ____________________________________________________________________

Dinner: Chef's Honor:
Pat's
Appetizer: goat cheese souffle and shrimp coctail
gnocchi, (potato pasta with red sauce)
Entree: 3 meats... chicken kabobs, veal in a roll, and a lamp chop with mashed potatoes
Desert: 3 Chocolates, a small triangle of cake, a scoop of chocolate pudding, and a tiny chocolate brownie
A scoop of amaretto ice cream

Sue: Hamburger with fries
 _________________________
 We watched "We bought a Zoo" on the in room TV
Moongold Kingdom was playing on the outdoor theater
I watched an illusionist perform in the small stage above the dinning room