Hallowe'en

Returning from the cruise was perfect timing for a Hallowe'en party! Shannon loaned me some ladybug wings and with a bottle of champers in us, we walked up the stree.

By far the best costume was Ali G!!




Respect!










Shannon and Darren









Joel as Steve Zizou, Shannon the dark angel and Kevin the cow.








Pat was a fireman not a nudist as he looks here. I am not sure what happened to his shirt and suspenders, but it is fairly common for him to strip for little or no reason.


Winnie the Pooh as you've never seen him, having a beer and a smoke.













James as Wolverine.
And he wonders why guys are hitting on him...look at that ass!!!














Let's play Guess the Legs.
Who's legs belong to the girl who just got off the Mexico cruise ship??

Mexico Cruise

My trip started with a night in Santa Monica. I stayed at a large hostel just off the major shopping area, the Third Street Promenade.

I wandered around and ended up renting a cruiser bike (nowhere near as sweet as the one from the Denman Bike Shop in August) and peddled from the Santa Monica Pier to Venice Beach. Afterwards I shopped and ate some sushi before crashing at about 8PM. Next morning I was off to LAX to meet the rest of the fam and catch the shuttle to the ship (never call it a "boat")

The first snag of the trip was a doozie! Air Canada lost Judy's luggage and it still has not been found. The next snag was the embarcation was delayed. We waited for a at least an hour before we could board the ship. By that time we were all starving! Hil and I checked out our room and balcony and then headed for our first of many buffet lines!!


This is the main pool. There was usually a group of us lounging one the second level on the right side (in the picture) This pool seemed to be the kiddy pool so Hilary and I preferred the Lotus (or as we called it, the Buddha Pool) at the front of the ship.



The third snag was when sailing was delayed by several hours. There were 2 other ships in port at the same time and unfortunately one was blocking us in so we couldn't sail. By the time we finally left it was dark.





The first formal night. Hilary discovered this stunning sunset...the rest of us were concentrating on the drinks!





After dinner and a song and dance show set to Elton and Billy Joel, the group of us ended up at Skywalkers the night club on the ship.

This is Joanne and Jane, Judy's sisters.




Wow! Am I tanned already??








Matt and Joanne







Judy, Joanne and Allison, Matt's mom.

Lucky for Judy her formal wear was in Dad's luggage.







The next day Hil, Dad, Judy and I went to a wine tasting. We had agreed to go the night before. Sadly all of us but Dad were feeling a tad queasy after such a fun night, and we didn't drink too much of the wine. Dad sure had enough though, picking up our slack. I wasn't too concerned until I found out Dad had to pay for the seats! Oops!



Another stunning sunset!






Our first port was Puerta Vallarta. We were greeted with a nice view of Walmart! That was our first stop so Judy could pick up some clothes and essentials.
Afterwards we caught a taxi into town and shopped a little but it wasn't long until Dad was "thirsty". We sat down in a restaurant and ordered some Margaritas. The waiter didn't tell us it was 2 for 1 and brought us each 2 big drinks!! I am not sure if it was the tequila talking or not, but this place had the best chips, guacamole and salsa of the trip!!


Next stop was the River Cafe, a restaurant Dad and Judy had been to on previous trips. Another round of 2 for 1 margaritas followed by lunch at a table along the river. At one point a monster iguana sashayed down a tree and caused quite a sensation! It must have weighed over 20 pounds!! It went up another tree.



We were even more surprised when I heard a great rustling and then a splash! The iguanna had fallen from a tree and was now swimming up river!!





The next day we were in Mazatlan. Hilary and I disembark and get picked up by a couple if Chinese ladies. They must of recognized me as one of their own! They wanted to split a taxi with us into town. They were skilled barterers as well and got us a good deal! We headed into the Old Town and visited the church as well as a market. As you can see the market sold fresh fruit and veggies, knick knacks for tourists as well as freshly butchered meats.


Quickly bored with the Old Town Hilary and I caught a taxi to the Golden Zone. Here is where all the hotels and bars are. It was quite early still and there were few people around or places open. Part of the trouble was that we were just ahead of a category 3 hurricane and it was widely reported that the ship would not be coming in that day. It wasn't raining yet, but it was not sunny either. Hilary and I positioned ourselves at a restaurant in the middle of a crossroads and kept our eyes peeled for someone we knew. We were bored!! We managed to miss a van of all our shipmates cruise past us. They had a great time seeing the sites without us :(
Hilary and I chose to cut our losses and head back to the ship. Maybe we could go to the spa, we thought.

Mexico cruise

In Puerta Vallarta Dad and I went to see Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton's villas. It was really neat. When Elizabeth sold them 1984 she left everything inside so all the furniture inside now was hers. The two villas were connected by a Venice-type bridge because Richard was married at the time. This way they could sneak across to each other undetected. Richards villas actually had no street level door, the only way in was thru Elizabeths'.

That is out ship from the beach of Cabo. The ship couldn't dock and we had to take a smaller boat to shore.




We spent our few hours at Billigan's on the beach. The beach is lined with causal restaurants/bars.
Joanne got us a great deal to do a private glass bottom boat tour.




This beach is called Lovers Beach because of the gentle waves. On the other side is Divorce Beach with big crashing waves! Divorce beach is on the Gulf of California and Divorce Beach is the Pacific.




Behind me is the Pacific Window, where you can see the Pacific Ocean.






There was a rocky outcrop filled with lazing seals.






On one of the last nights there was a champagne waterfall. After wards everyone thru streamers.

Hilary and I had high expectations and thought the tower would be up to the ceiling, but it was only about 7 feet high.



This was our last dinner on the ship. Everyone was worn out by this time and we "slummed it" at the buffet.






The limo home. Dad had pre-arranged the pick-up but was still had to wait more than 30 minutes. But it was a good way to end the trip; in style!

I'm cruisn' now

I leave today for my long anticipated Mexico cruise. I will be spending one night in Santa Monica shopping on the Promenade and walking the boardwalk. The next day I will be meeting everyone at the airport and hop on the shuttle to the ship!

We will spend 3 days on the sea before hitting Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, and Cabo San Lucas. I've heard the internet is painfully slow on the ship, so don't expect too much communication from me for awhile.
Hopefully Suds will pick up my slack!!

Speaking of Suds, he did have a busy week planned with his parents coming for a visit. They were going to spend the day in Macau eatting dinner at Fernando's, take the cable car to the Big Buddah, spend a few days in Bali, go the the horse races.....all down the drain now!!! Unfortunately Cathay put a seat sale on and sold all the empty seats! Linda and Ron have missed 2 flights already! Fingers crossed they get here soon!

Boat trip to Sai Kung

Recently about 20 of us got together and spent the day on a boat and playing in the sea. Joe took charge and hired a boat for Saturday. It came with a wake boarding boat, a banana boat and all the inflatables we could handle. Even food was taken care of; the day was fully catered!


Saturday was a holiday so there were lots of boats just like our out as well.
We set anchor in this bay from about noon till we left at 5ish.
The water was nice and clean and warm.

Pumpkin Rice Laska Soup

This soup is SO yummy!! So may have to search out the lime leaves and lemongrass, but the flavour they give makes it worth the effort!


PUMPKIN RICE LASKA SOUP

1lb 6 oz pumpkin, butternut or acorn squash, halved, peeled and deseeded
small handful of lime leaves
2-3 chilies. deseeded and finely sliced
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
2 thumb-sized pieces of fresh peeled ginger
3 sticks of lemongrass, outer leaves removed
1 heaping teaspoon five-spice powder
1 teaspoon cumin
olive oil
1 white onion, peeled and finely sliced
2 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 cup basmati rice
2 - 14 oz cans coconut milk
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
juice of 2 limes

Chop the pumpkin flesh into 2 inch pieces.
First chop and then whiz in a food processor (or bash in mortar and pestle) until you have a pulpy mix: lime leaves, chilies, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, five spice powder and cumin. Remove and large stringy bits. Put mixture into a high sided pan with a little oil and the onion and cook gently for about 10 minutes.

Add the pumpkin and stock to the pan. Stir. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer with the lid on for about 15 minutes until the pumpkin is soft. Add the rice and give it a really good stir. Some of the pumpkin will mush up. Continue to simmer with the lid on until the rice is cooked, then off comes the lid. Add the coconut milk, stir, taste and season carefully with S&P. Add the lime juice and serve!
Serves 6-8

Crab Wrap-Up

Here is a video of a lady wrapping up small fresh crabs for sale. These crabs are seasonal and only available September, October and November. They come from Southern China.




This is a brochure explaining how to cook the crabs. As usual, the translation is a bit off. You can click on the picture for a close up.

I can't believe I'm knitting!

This website has saved my life!
www.knittinghelp.com

I have tried knitting several times and have not managed even one successful stitch. This time has been different!
I spent hours learning the slipknot and cast-on. I have ruined the yarn practicing. Finally I completed my first knit stitch!! What stumped me was the purl stitch. I spent another hour with Hilary on the webcam while she tried to teach me. Hilary searched the internet for video and found one on youtube.com. I still couldn't figure out the damn stitch. I decided that I needed to learn over again from scratch.
I searched and found knittinghelp.com. Using the videos I learned a new cast-on method, the Long-tail (very easy!) and eventually the Purl stitch!! Now I am trying to put it all together using a scarf pattern. I have not mastered it yet, but am well on my way!! I think in a week the scarf should be done, definitely in two weeks!