Today I leave Spain for Italy. Not sure how much internet access I will have from here on out so this may be my last post for a while.
Last night Miro and I went out for tapas and wine. He tried to take me to this place where they offer wine tastings, but unfortunately, they are now closed until Oct 13! We wandered around and found a little place that offered what they called "pinchos" which are a type of tapa I guess. It's essentially a piece of bread topped with different things - meats, cheeses, fruits, etc. I had one with sausage and grilled green peppers, one with a dry salami, one with grilled chicken and peppers, one with some sort of fried cheese/potato/pepper deal and one with soft cheese, walnuts, raisins and a drizzle of some sauce (awesome). We also got a bottle of wine to share. They we walked to another little wine bar and had a glass of some really good red. As we were heading outside to a table, some of Miro's friends from another boat in port here walked up so we sat and chatted with them for a while.
When we returned to Shadow, I expected Neil to be back (since he was due in at 6:30) but he still hadn't arrived. Dan said that Will had been waiting for him at the airport since about 5 when we went to drop off the captain for his flight out. Neil finally showed up around 10 PM. We caught up about the tank briefly and then I went to bed.
I got to listen to most of the Giants game through my iPhone!! Unfortunately, I probably will be cut off from that until I get back - not sure if I will have internet access in Italy and I doubt there are many wi-fi cafes open at 4am when the game would be on here. Just one more win and we're in!!
I know I've said it before, but I'm glad this part of my trip is over. I did have some good times, made some new friends but the hassle of that tank just wasn't really worth it! I feel like I failed at what I was supposed to do, which was essentially prevent any major disasters but disasters kept happening. All in all, I didn't wreak havock on the livestock so I guess that was a small victory. And I got paid to be in Europe on a luxury yacht so I guess that's better than not getting paid to do nothing in California. I can't wait to get home and I hope that Giants baseball is still going strong by Oct 14th!!
Ciao for now!
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
No, that's not where I'm working, but it looks cool.
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
Weekend Recap
OK, where do I start?! Where did I leave off? I don't know. Anyway, arrived in Spain Thursday afternoon, went out for a few beers that night. Friday, worked then wandered around town in the evening. I ended up running into one of the stewards from Shadow so he and I walked around a bit then grabbed a beer before heading back to the ship. Pretty sure that was if for Friday.
Got up early on Saturday to feed the fish and do any tank maintenance that was required for the day. Made - the chef - made me some delicious pancakes for breakfast!! At 10 AM, Miro, Bryan and I headed into town to catch a train to Barcelona. Miro had been there before so he was our tour guide. When we got off the train we came up into one of the main shopping areas in the heart of the city. Something about Barcelona immediately reminded me of San Francisco but I can't put my finger on it. Maybe it's because it's a port city on the ocean, maybe it's the hills, maybe it's the way the streets were designed, I don't know but I got a good feeling about the city, it made me happy!
We walked down the main street, or Rambla, which was blocked off to cars but it was packed to the gills with people. There was a big festival all weekend called Merce which celebrated the city and the patron saint so there were more people than usual for the end of September. Along the Rambla there were all these "street performers" dressed in crazy costumes posing with people for money. It was like the guys in SF that paint themselves all gold or silver and then pose. There was a cowboy, some reapers on bicycles, Cleopatra, a demon, all kinds of crazy outfits, all begging for money. We soon turned off the Rambla and headed toward the main Cathedral - which, just like every other historic building I visit in Europe was being restored so it was covered in scaffolding. Luckily, we could still go in and look around. These things are amazing, so massive inside they make you feel like a tiny little ant. It's truly a testament to human ingenuity that so many centuries ago, we were capable of building something like that. I guess that's why now, hundreds of years later, they are just now getting around to doing some fix-it projects. My favorite thing - the electronic candle that you pay to light now instead of a real candle. Classic.
We then walked back across the Catalonia Square to a little cafe that Miro liked. It's called Happy Bar and Grill and is apparently a chain started in Bulgaria (which is where he is from). They serve all kinds of food, American, Spanish, Japanese and Bulgarian. I ordered a shopska salad which is a traditional Bulgarian dish that is essentially just a Greek salad but with a shredded white cheese instead of cubed feta. For our main course, Miro talked to the waitress and asked her to bring us some traditional Bulgarian fare like kofta and kebapcheta and french fries. Everything was quite tasty but it was strange to eat Bulgarian food while in Spain. Anyway, to begin our meal we got robbed, which was fun. Miro left to use the restroom and while he was gone a woman came to our table with a piece of paper with writing on it and she appeared to be asking for money. She kind of help the paper up while gibbering at us in another language and we politely just kept saying "no." When Miro got back he couldn't find his phone. Apparently, when we got to the table, he took it out, laid it on the table and then left. the woman had covered the phone with the paper and grabbed it, then walked away. Bu this time, of course, she was long gone. Good times!
After lunch, we walked to La Familia Sagrada which is a famous cathedral, partially built by the artist/architect Antoni Gaudi. The thing was begun in 1882 and still is not finished and it is - wait for it - covered in scaffolding right now!! We didn't pay the 12.50 Euro to get in, mainly because the line went around the block, but also because the outside was fantastic enough. There are all these things carved into it - animals, people, words - you could spend all day just looking at the outside. It was pretty spectacular.
Then we walked to another Gaudi landmark, the Guell Park. This is up at the top of a hill and has an amazing view of the entire city. Gaudi designed these crazy bridges and houses and sculptures all through the park, most of which are decorated with mosaics. I read that the mosaics were created by breaking plates and then piecing them back together.
When we returned to the ship, the barbeque was in full swing so I stuffed myself with food and beer! I probably consumed about 20,000 calories this weekend. We went out that night to Sitges, which is a small, coastal town not far from Vilanova. We have been told it is the place to go for nightlife so we figured might as well check it out. The Barcelona soccer game was one, so some of the smaller bars were full of people watching the game but other, more club-like places, were practically empty. We started asking around and found out that nothing really gets going until about 2AM. Seriously? That's when they kick us out back home! We had a few beers at some different places, we found a little Irish Pub, so we had to go it. We played a round of Killer on the pool table and somehow I wasn't the first one out. Matt and I then bugged out to go see if anything was happening elsewhere and we found where all the people were so we went back and got the rest of the guys. Either Spanish people are really short, or the clubs were filled with 14 year olds - by the looks of it, they were 14. We decided to try to find something with a slightly older clientele. Then, Will started buying shots of terrible Spanish tequila. I help onto my empty beer bottle so that I could spit the crap back out into it - and thank god I did. Apparently Ross found Dan passed out in some doorway in an alley at 5am and he hasn't been out of his bed since. Sounds like he had fun!
Sunday was very low key. I woke up late, fed the fish, had some breakfast, read in my cabin until lunch. After lunch I walked the length of the beach, watched some jet ski races, read some more then walked back to the boat.
Neil returns on Wednesday so I'm looking forward to finishing up here and heading off to Italy this weekend!
Got up early on Saturday to feed the fish and do any tank maintenance that was required for the day. Made - the chef - made me some delicious pancakes for breakfast!! At 10 AM, Miro, Bryan and I headed into town to catch a train to Barcelona. Miro had been there before so he was our tour guide. When we got off the train we came up into one of the main shopping areas in the heart of the city. Something about Barcelona immediately reminded me of San Francisco but I can't put my finger on it. Maybe it's because it's a port city on the ocean, maybe it's the hills, maybe it's the way the streets were designed, I don't know but I got a good feeling about the city, it made me happy!
We walked down the main street, or Rambla, which was blocked off to cars but it was packed to the gills with people. There was a big festival all weekend called Merce which celebrated the city and the patron saint so there were more people than usual for the end of September. Along the Rambla there were all these "street performers" dressed in crazy costumes posing with people for money. It was like the guys in SF that paint themselves all gold or silver and then pose. There was a cowboy, some reapers on bicycles, Cleopatra, a demon, all kinds of crazy outfits, all begging for money. We soon turned off the Rambla and headed toward the main Cathedral - which, just like every other historic building I visit in Europe was being restored so it was covered in scaffolding. Luckily, we could still go in and look around. These things are amazing, so massive inside they make you feel like a tiny little ant. It's truly a testament to human ingenuity that so many centuries ago, we were capable of building something like that. I guess that's why now, hundreds of years later, they are just now getting around to doing some fix-it projects. My favorite thing - the electronic candle that you pay to light now instead of a real candle. Classic.
We then walked back across the Catalonia Square to a little cafe that Miro liked. It's called Happy Bar and Grill and is apparently a chain started in Bulgaria (which is where he is from). They serve all kinds of food, American, Spanish, Japanese and Bulgarian. I ordered a shopska salad which is a traditional Bulgarian dish that is essentially just a Greek salad but with a shredded white cheese instead of cubed feta. For our main course, Miro talked to the waitress and asked her to bring us some traditional Bulgarian fare like kofta and kebapcheta and french fries. Everything was quite tasty but it was strange to eat Bulgarian food while in Spain. Anyway, to begin our meal we got robbed, which was fun. Miro left to use the restroom and while he was gone a woman came to our table with a piece of paper with writing on it and she appeared to be asking for money. She kind of help the paper up while gibbering at us in another language and we politely just kept saying "no." When Miro got back he couldn't find his phone. Apparently, when we got to the table, he took it out, laid it on the table and then left. the woman had covered the phone with the paper and grabbed it, then walked away. Bu this time, of course, she was long gone. Good times!
After lunch, we walked to La Familia Sagrada which is a famous cathedral, partially built by the artist/architect Antoni Gaudi. The thing was begun in 1882 and still is not finished and it is - wait for it - covered in scaffolding right now!! We didn't pay the 12.50 Euro to get in, mainly because the line went around the block, but also because the outside was fantastic enough. There are all these things carved into it - animals, people, words - you could spend all day just looking at the outside. It was pretty spectacular.
Then we walked to another Gaudi landmark, the Guell Park. This is up at the top of a hill and has an amazing view of the entire city. Gaudi designed these crazy bridges and houses and sculptures all through the park, most of which are decorated with mosaics. I read that the mosaics were created by breaking plates and then piecing them back together.
When we returned to the ship, the barbeque was in full swing so I stuffed myself with food and beer! I probably consumed about 20,000 calories this weekend. We went out that night to Sitges, which is a small, coastal town not far from Vilanova. We have been told it is the place to go for nightlife so we figured might as well check it out. The Barcelona soccer game was one, so some of the smaller bars were full of people watching the game but other, more club-like places, were practically empty. We started asking around and found out that nothing really gets going until about 2AM. Seriously? That's when they kick us out back home! We had a few beers at some different places, we found a little Irish Pub, so we had to go it. We played a round of Killer on the pool table and somehow I wasn't the first one out. Matt and I then bugged out to go see if anything was happening elsewhere and we found where all the people were so we went back and got the rest of the guys. Either Spanish people are really short, or the clubs were filled with 14 year olds - by the looks of it, they were 14. We decided to try to find something with a slightly older clientele. Then, Will started buying shots of terrible Spanish tequila. I help onto my empty beer bottle so that I could spit the crap back out into it - and thank god I did. Apparently Ross found Dan passed out in some doorway in an alley at 5am and he hasn't been out of his bed since. Sounds like he had fun!
Sunday was very low key. I woke up late, fed the fish, had some breakfast, read in my cabin until lunch. After lunch I walked the length of the beach, watched some jet ski races, read some more then walked back to the boat.
Neil returns on Wednesday so I'm looking forward to finishing up here and heading off to Italy this weekend!
Friday, September 24, 2010
Friday 24 Sept 2010
Only one week left to go!
I'm getting very excited to be done on the boat and get a chance to see my family in Italy and do some traveling.
We got into port in Vilanova yesterday at about 11 am. Our arrival attracted quite a crowd to come out and watch us dock. It was kinda funny, there were all these people standing around, snapping pictures. I don't know if they thought we had someone famous on board or were just impressed by the size of the boat but there was a bit of a buzz surrounding our arrival. We are in this kind of secluded section of the marina but we are very close to a little bar with a pool table and cheap beer so that's what matters!
When we finished work yesterday, I went out for a bike ride to explore the town with Sandy, John and Will. We went all over. We started out heading down the promenade along the beach. There is a very small basketball court, with 2 hoops sans rims in the SAND. If that's how Spain plays basketball, Ricky Rubio was a waste of money. Anyway, we turned in toward town and wound up on this little back alley with the huge tomato "farm" or something along it. It was probably about half a mile long with just row after row of these huge tomato plants, with huge, bright red fruit on them. I wanted one so bad!! We then just continued along, looking for promising bars, restaurants and nightlife. At the end of our journey we finally found the main drag (rambla) - which just happened to start at the port but we initially headed in the opposite direction. There are lots of basketball courts around and we saw quite a few pickup games going on. Amazingly, I saw more basketball than soccer here. I also saw my first Lakers jersey. Shoot me.
When we got back to the port, we stopped to have a beer at the little bar Equus, which is literally 20 feet from the boat. A beer turned into 3. The bartender kept bringing us snacks too. First we got pork rinds and a nut mix, then bread topped with cappacola and then bread with some sort of tomato spread and bacon. Oh yeah, and the beers were only 3.50 Euro per pint (about $4.50) which is way cheaper than the 5 Euro half pints in France.
There's a huge festival going on in Barcelona this weekend that I hope to attend. Tonight will probably be a quiet night - I may go explore around on my own. The boat tied up next to us is having a barbeque tonight and has invited us to stop by. We are hosting one tomorrow in observance of the departure of one of the deckhands who has worked on the Odyssey for like 10 years or something. Following the festivities we may head to Barcelona or a small town called Sitges - which is where many people have told us to go for a good night out. My plan is to head to Barcelona on Sunday either with some folks or on my own if need be.
I'm getting very excited to be done on the boat and get a chance to see my family in Italy and do some traveling.
We got into port in Vilanova yesterday at about 11 am. Our arrival attracted quite a crowd to come out and watch us dock. It was kinda funny, there were all these people standing around, snapping pictures. I don't know if they thought we had someone famous on board or were just impressed by the size of the boat but there was a bit of a buzz surrounding our arrival. We are in this kind of secluded section of the marina but we are very close to a little bar with a pool table and cheap beer so that's what matters!
When we finished work yesterday, I went out for a bike ride to explore the town with Sandy, John and Will. We went all over. We started out heading down the promenade along the beach. There is a very small basketball court, with 2 hoops sans rims in the SAND. If that's how Spain plays basketball, Ricky Rubio was a waste of money. Anyway, we turned in toward town and wound up on this little back alley with the huge tomato "farm" or something along it. It was probably about half a mile long with just row after row of these huge tomato plants, with huge, bright red fruit on them. I wanted one so bad!! We then just continued along, looking for promising bars, restaurants and nightlife. At the end of our journey we finally found the main drag (rambla) - which just happened to start at the port but we initially headed in the opposite direction. There are lots of basketball courts around and we saw quite a few pickup games going on. Amazingly, I saw more basketball than soccer here. I also saw my first Lakers jersey. Shoot me.
When we got back to the port, we stopped to have a beer at the little bar Equus, which is literally 20 feet from the boat. A beer turned into 3. The bartender kept bringing us snacks too. First we got pork rinds and a nut mix, then bread topped with cappacola and then bread with some sort of tomato spread and bacon. Oh yeah, and the beers were only 3.50 Euro per pint (about $4.50) which is way cheaper than the 5 Euro half pints in France.
There's a huge festival going on in Barcelona this weekend that I hope to attend. Tonight will probably be a quiet night - I may go explore around on my own. The boat tied up next to us is having a barbeque tonight and has invited us to stop by. We are hosting one tomorrow in observance of the departure of one of the deckhands who has worked on the Odyssey for like 10 years or something. Following the festivities we may head to Barcelona or a small town called Sitges - which is where many people have told us to go for a good night out. My plan is to head to Barcelona on Sunday either with some folks or on my own if need be.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Tuesday 21 Sept 2010
For those of you that freak out when I go too long without a post, here's an update.
7:00 AM Alarm goes off, hit snooze.
7:10 AM Alarm goes off, h1t snooze.
7:20 AM Alarm goes off, get up.
7:30 Breakfast in the mess, oatmeal, apple, 2 eggs, glass of grapefruit juice, cup of green tea.
8:00 AM Look at the tank.
8:05 AM Prep food for the tank
8:30 AM Feed the tank.
8:40 AM Clean the filter sock from the canister filter.
9:00 AM sit in my room and troll Facebook. Comment on Dan's status update of "Cruising to Spain," with "Not yet you aren't."
10:00 AM Have a snack and cup of tea, watch Friends in the mess.
10:30 AM Stare at the tank for about 8 minutes.
10:38 AM See Dan has also posted a comment, "LOL, have you looked outside yet, notice we're not there?"
10:31 AM Realize that Golden Shadow has buggered off.
10:50 AM Start typing this.
My day is pretty much ruled by when it's time to eat. Only 50 more minutes until lunch!!
7:00 AM Alarm goes off, hit snooze.
7:10 AM Alarm goes off, h1t snooze.
7:20 AM Alarm goes off, get up.
7:30 Breakfast in the mess, oatmeal, apple, 2 eggs, glass of grapefruit juice, cup of green tea.
8:00 AM Look at the tank.
8:05 AM Prep food for the tank
8:30 AM Feed the tank.
8:40 AM Clean the filter sock from the canister filter.
9:00 AM sit in my room and troll Facebook. Comment on Dan's status update of "Cruising to Spain," with "Not yet you aren't."
10:00 AM Have a snack and cup of tea, watch Friends in the mess.
10:30 AM Stare at the tank for about 8 minutes.
10:38 AM See Dan has also posted a comment, "LOL, have you looked outside yet, notice we're not there?"
10:31 AM Realize that Golden Shadow has buggered off.
10:50 AM Start typing this.
My day is pretty much ruled by when it's time to eat. Only 50 more minutes until lunch!!
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Catch Up
Ok quick recap of the weekend.
Friday: Getting seriously bored. Did a water change, fed the fish 4 times, sat in my cabin. Did finally get my frozen food (which by the time I got it was semi-frozen). Played "Buzz" on PS3 with the guys - it's a quiz show game, pretty fun. Took the tender to shore to have some beers with Dan, Jamie, Sandy, Miro, Bryan and Dave. Didn't know it but Jamie has a penchant for drinking fruity girl drinks so suddenly we were drinking shots of tequila sunrises, then some other unknown greenish, then later blue-ish concoctions. Made it to a bar with a live, 3-piece jazz band but only caught about 2.5 songs before they packed up and went home. Went back to the bar where we started, were served more shots (which I gladly spat out into my beer bottle). At 1 am when the tender came back to pick us up Jamie was nowhere to be found, Sandy was passed out on the table, and Bryan was singing some Scottish jog or something. Luckily, the water was quite calm or else I think we could have lost some guys overboard. On land, when you get in the cab to go home after a night of drinking it is wise to put your seatbelt on. When your taxi is a boat, they bring you life jackets. I thought it was quite funny to see Sandy - this big Scottish guy passed out in the bow of this little boat with a tiny little orange life jacket on.
Saturday: Recovery day. Fed the fish. Took a nap. Decided to try to begin writing my memoirs, got as far as the intro and gave up. Wandered outside to find John zipping around on the Jet Ski. I decided I'd give it a go even though I don't think I've ever actually ridden a stand-up ski. They are extremely hard to keep upright, especially on choppy ocean water so I spent most of the time flying off them swimming back to it. I finally got to the point where I could keep it up when traveling in a straight line but turning was another story. Needless to say, I still have saltwater draining from my sinuses. Went up to the gym for a 35 minute bout on the treadmill. After dinner a bunch of us headed to the mess to watch "Surrogates" with Bruce Willis (don't bother, it was pretty terrible). Passed out.
Sunday: Got up, fed the fish, ate breakfast, took the 10 am tender to shore with Matt (brand new officer on board), John and Miro. Matt got this grand scheme in his head to walk up to Eze Village. Eze Village was built in the mid 1500's on the crown of this mountain, 2,000 feet above the ocean. We started at the ocean. We climbed 2,000 feet straight up. Most of it was steps then it turned into a steep, dirt and rock path. It was HARD. My knees are not going to work tomorrow. We did get some amazing views as we climbed. We actually went PAST the road to Eze, climbed all the way to the peak of the mountain and the across and down to Eze. Our ultimate goal was to have beer and pizza in the village and neither of those things have ever tasted to good! We walked through the village a bit, it was cool. Tiny little, narrow streets at all these crazy angles, buildings built right into the mountain, bougainvillea growing everywhere. There are also alot of cacti here - I didn't realize it grew so well here. There is a fancy hotel there as well called Chateau de la Chevre d'Oro (House of the Golden Goat) There will be pics on Facebook soon, I'm having issues uploading pics right now. Anyway, the trip down wasn't as hard (obviously) but I think it took a harder toll on my joints than the climb up. We then walked back to Beaulieu, stopped for some ice cream, I picked up some more peaches at the market and Miro bought us all cans of Heineken. When we got back to Odyssey we all thought a dip in the ocean was in order. Then John, in his infinite wisdom suggests swimming around the boat. Really?! We just hiked up 2,000 feet, then back down, were walking for 5 hours and now you want to swim around the boat?! We did it. I almost drowned.
Dinner was well deserved tonight and now I am going to pass out.
Friday: Getting seriously bored. Did a water change, fed the fish 4 times, sat in my cabin. Did finally get my frozen food (which by the time I got it was semi-frozen). Played "Buzz" on PS3 with the guys - it's a quiz show game, pretty fun. Took the tender to shore to have some beers with Dan, Jamie, Sandy, Miro, Bryan and Dave. Didn't know it but Jamie has a penchant for drinking fruity girl drinks so suddenly we were drinking shots of tequila sunrises, then some other unknown greenish, then later blue-ish concoctions. Made it to a bar with a live, 3-piece jazz band but only caught about 2.5 songs before they packed up and went home. Went back to the bar where we started, were served more shots (which I gladly spat out into my beer bottle). At 1 am when the tender came back to pick us up Jamie was nowhere to be found, Sandy was passed out on the table, and Bryan was singing some Scottish jog or something. Luckily, the water was quite calm or else I think we could have lost some guys overboard. On land, when you get in the cab to go home after a night of drinking it is wise to put your seatbelt on. When your taxi is a boat, they bring you life jackets. I thought it was quite funny to see Sandy - this big Scottish guy passed out in the bow of this little boat with a tiny little orange life jacket on.
Saturday: Recovery day. Fed the fish. Took a nap. Decided to try to begin writing my memoirs, got as far as the intro and gave up. Wandered outside to find John zipping around on the Jet Ski. I decided I'd give it a go even though I don't think I've ever actually ridden a stand-up ski. They are extremely hard to keep upright, especially on choppy ocean water so I spent most of the time flying off them swimming back to it. I finally got to the point where I could keep it up when traveling in a straight line but turning was another story. Needless to say, I still have saltwater draining from my sinuses. Went up to the gym for a 35 minute bout on the treadmill. After dinner a bunch of us headed to the mess to watch "Surrogates" with Bruce Willis (don't bother, it was pretty terrible). Passed out.
Sunday: Got up, fed the fish, ate breakfast, took the 10 am tender to shore with Matt (brand new officer on board), John and Miro. Matt got this grand scheme in his head to walk up to Eze Village. Eze Village was built in the mid 1500's on the crown of this mountain, 2,000 feet above the ocean. We started at the ocean. We climbed 2,000 feet straight up. Most of it was steps then it turned into a steep, dirt and rock path. It was HARD. My knees are not going to work tomorrow. We did get some amazing views as we climbed. We actually went PAST the road to Eze, climbed all the way to the peak of the mountain and the across and down to Eze. Our ultimate goal was to have beer and pizza in the village and neither of those things have ever tasted to good! We walked through the village a bit, it was cool. Tiny little, narrow streets at all these crazy angles, buildings built right into the mountain, bougainvillea growing everywhere. There are also alot of cacti here - I didn't realize it grew so well here. There is a fancy hotel there as well called Chateau de la Chevre d'Oro (House of the Golden Goat) There will be pics on Facebook soon, I'm having issues uploading pics right now. Anyway, the trip down wasn't as hard (obviously) but I think it took a harder toll on my joints than the climb up. We then walked back to Beaulieu, stopped for some ice cream, I picked up some more peaches at the market and Miro bought us all cans of Heineken. When we got back to Odyssey we all thought a dip in the ocean was in order. Then John, in his infinite wisdom suggests swimming around the boat. Really?! We just hiked up 2,000 feet, then back down, were walking for 5 hours and now you want to swim around the boat?! We did it. I almost drowned.
Dinner was well deserved tonight and now I am going to pass out.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Heaven in a Pan
Mom, are you paying attention?! One of the chefs today whipped up this mid morning treat for us using day old croissants.
He cut up the croissants and put them in a baking dish then combined some sugar in milk, added some beaten eggs and poured that mixture into the baking dish. You cook that for a bit and, viola! Heaven in a pan. He also had this custard sauce topping but that was just made with a powder mixed in milk. Not sure if we have that in that states but it was pretty tasty. Not something I should have eaten, but damn, it was worth the extra treadmill work I'll have to do today!
He cut up the croissants and put them in a baking dish then combined some sugar in milk, added some beaten eggs and poured that mixture into the baking dish. You cook that for a bit and, viola! Heaven in a pan. He also had this custard sauce topping but that was just made with a powder mixed in milk. Not sure if we have that in that states but it was pretty tasty. Not something I should have eaten, but damn, it was worth the extra treadmill work I'll have to do today!
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Weds 15 Sept 2010
Latest word on the stre...errr, ocean is that we are going to be in port somewhere about 30 minutes out of Barcelona. I will definitely make the trip to visit the aquarium at the very least. Dan says the nightlife in Barcelona is top-notch so we will probably go out at least one night to take that in.
Dove in the tank today to pick-up and rearrange some corals that had fallen over. As soon as I was done, dried off, tank hatch closed with the system back up and running, I walked through the dining room and looked in the tank to see another coral had since fallen. Ugh. It's ok, it at least fell right side up so I'll fix it Friday if I decide to dive. It depends on when we leave for port. I'd rather not dive while we are in transit.
We had sushi for lunch today and it was incredible! One of the guys joked that I needed to go do a head count of the fish in my tank.
Last night I finally got around to creating an account on the website called livemocha.com. It's a community based language teaching site. I have finished my first Italian lesson and I know how to say "the building is not blue." That should be useful when I go to Italy. It's cool because, like Facebook, you can connect with alot of different people from all over the world and they can comment on your progress and you can comment on theirs. So, I have to write sentences then I submit them, somebody reads them and makes corrections and sends me comments. In return, I can correct and comment on other people's submissions. You can also do voice recordings and submit those for comments. I have gotten alot of positive comments on my speech, and my accent. It's a great idea and I'm so glad I heard about it from James and Joyce, the folks who so graciously rented me a room in their house this past summer.
Oh, and on a positive note, I think I may have gotten the whole eReader thing figured out. I finally got a useful email from one of their help representatives. It's about time.
Dove in the tank today to pick-up and rearrange some corals that had fallen over. As soon as I was done, dried off, tank hatch closed with the system back up and running, I walked through the dining room and looked in the tank to see another coral had since fallen. Ugh. It's ok, it at least fell right side up so I'll fix it Friday if I decide to dive. It depends on when we leave for port. I'd rather not dive while we are in transit.
We had sushi for lunch today and it was incredible! One of the guys joked that I needed to go do a head count of the fish in my tank.
Last night I finally got around to creating an account on the website called livemocha.com. It's a community based language teaching site. I have finished my first Italian lesson and I know how to say "the building is not blue." That should be useful when I go to Italy. It's cool because, like Facebook, you can connect with alot of different people from all over the world and they can comment on your progress and you can comment on theirs. So, I have to write sentences then I submit them, somebody reads them and makes corrections and sends me comments. In return, I can correct and comment on other people's submissions. You can also do voice recordings and submit those for comments. I have gotten alot of positive comments on my speech, and my accent. It's a great idea and I'm so glad I heard about it from James and Joyce, the folks who so graciously rented me a room in their house this past summer.
Oh, and on a positive note, I think I may have gotten the whole eReader thing figured out. I finally got a useful email from one of their help representatives. It's about time.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Monday 13 Sept 2010
Pretty uneventful weekend actually - which is a good thing. Saturday I took the tender to shore and spent some time wandering around Beaulieu and St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. It's quite beautiful. Spent a few hours on the beach, went for a swim and lost my earrings. I have to take them out when I am on duty so I put them in over the weekend to keep the hole from closing up too much. They are circular barbells with a ball at each end to keep them in. Well, I was too lazy to screw in the ball I had removed in order to take them out. I went for over 2 years without that ball on there because last time I was here I lost them. Anyway, as I was walking back to the port I happened to reach up to my ears and noticed that they were gone. Must have come out while I was swimming. It was probably time to get smaller ones anyway.
I took a stroll through town and found a supermarket where I bought some green grapes from Italy and some peaches from France. The peaches were very good - reminded me of home. The grapes are awesome - except for the seeds. Yay for genetic engineering! They aren't nearly as sweet at the Thompson's we have in the States - they taste kind of earthy. Also bought a can of Bavarian Special Red Beer 8.6. If you ever see this stuff (which you won't in the states) I highly recommend you buy some and give it to your WORST enemy. The stuff is AWFUL. I took about 2 sips and then had to pour it out. I was hoping to enjoy a beer while listening to the Giants game but, alas, I had to settle with water.
Yesterday I just hung out on the boat all day. Read a little, fed the fish, took a nap, had a workout, got really bored. Tried to download another new book only to have the same problem as before and can't get it to transfer to the eReader. During the evening feeding I noticed a trickle of water coming from out of the top of the tank and freaked out. Called Dan over (he's a deckhand on the Shadow that has worked on the tank before). We decided that it wasn't an emergency and could wait until today when I did my dive. This morning I noticed that the water level in the tank had dropped. When I got in the tank I figured out that a siphon had been created in the overflow behind the tank and water was slowly escaping from there. Once we dropped the level of the water to below the pipes feeding the overflow box, we broke the siphon and the water has since stopped dripping out. Phew!
I also took note of the fact that the temp was starting to creep up again and I first thought that the pump had failed again. We open and closed some of the valves while the pump was running in order to force some water through at higher pressure to knock out any blockages that may have occurred. This seems to have worked for the time being. We may need to remove the whole chiller unit and flush it out to remove any other blockages if the temp goes back up.
If I am ever offered this job again, please remind me that since I have been here I have had to deal with:
1) 2 lost frozen food shipments
2) A failed pump
3) A massive temperature spike
4) A blockage in the phosphate dosing system
5) A problem with the overflow system
6) A busted valve in the plumbing system
7) A blowout in the RO unit hose
8) A burned out lightbulb in the pump room
Good times!
I took a stroll through town and found a supermarket where I bought some green grapes from Italy and some peaches from France. The peaches were very good - reminded me of home. The grapes are awesome - except for the seeds. Yay for genetic engineering! They aren't nearly as sweet at the Thompson's we have in the States - they taste kind of earthy. Also bought a can of Bavarian Special Red Beer 8.6. If you ever see this stuff (which you won't in the states) I highly recommend you buy some and give it to your WORST enemy. The stuff is AWFUL. I took about 2 sips and then had to pour it out. I was hoping to enjoy a beer while listening to the Giants game but, alas, I had to settle with water.
Yesterday I just hung out on the boat all day. Read a little, fed the fish, took a nap, had a workout, got really bored. Tried to download another new book only to have the same problem as before and can't get it to transfer to the eReader. During the evening feeding I noticed a trickle of water coming from out of the top of the tank and freaked out. Called Dan over (he's a deckhand on the Shadow that has worked on the tank before). We decided that it wasn't an emergency and could wait until today when I did my dive. This morning I noticed that the water level in the tank had dropped. When I got in the tank I figured out that a siphon had been created in the overflow behind the tank and water was slowly escaping from there. Once we dropped the level of the water to below the pipes feeding the overflow box, we broke the siphon and the water has since stopped dripping out. Phew!
I also took note of the fact that the temp was starting to creep up again and I first thought that the pump had failed again. We open and closed some of the valves while the pump was running in order to force some water through at higher pressure to knock out any blockages that may have occurred. This seems to have worked for the time being. We may need to remove the whole chiller unit and flush it out to remove any other blockages if the temp goes back up.
If I am ever offered this job again, please remind me that since I have been here I have had to deal with:
1) 2 lost frozen food shipments
2) A failed pump
3) A massive temperature spike
4) A blockage in the phosphate dosing system
5) A problem with the overflow system
6) A busted valve in the plumbing system
7) A blowout in the RO unit hose
8) A burned out lightbulb in the pump room
Good times!
Friday, September 10, 2010
Friday 10 Sept 2010
Last night there was some celebrating related to Ramadan. Not only is the boss Muslim, but some of the crew are so there were some yummy desserts, lots of beer and wine and karaoke. I didn't realize karaoke was a part of Ramadan celebrations! Actually, I just think karaoke is a big part of life on this boat. Anyway, I got wrangled into singing "I Walk the Line" because I said if they could find Johnny Cash I might actually sing. So Janet kind of made it her mission to find some Cash. I am a terrible singer.
Today was a day off in observance of Ramadan so that was cool. Not that I was off, I had to deal with some stuff in the pump room. Neil has this thing set up to add a chemical to the tank and it consists of a glass tank sitting on top of one of the reserve tanks with a pipe leading to another reserve tank. Anyway, when I opened the door to the pump room this morning I noticed the chem tank was overflowing. I had to drain it and take the pipework off and clean it out. Luckily that seemed to solve the problem. I also seem to have solved the problem of the RO unit blowing the hose off and spraying water all over the place. I replaced the hose and cranked down the water volume going into the hose. I'm still hesitant to let it run unwatched. Luckily, I shouldn't have to use it too much since I can pump seawater directly into the tank now instead of making synthetic seawater using the RO water and salt mixture.
After I finished what I had to do I went up to the gym and got the place to myself for my workout today. Then I jumped off the aft deck and went for a brief snorkel/swim in the ocean. Not alot to see other than the bottom of the boat and some halfbeaks.
I am currently reading James Barrie's Peter Pan and it's kind of cool because I went to see Peter Pan on stage in SF a few months ago. The stage show definitely is based on the book and Disney took some liberties in their telling of it. It's always been one of my favorite stories so I'm glad to have a reason to read it. It was included in the 100 free books on my eReader. Speaking of which, I haven't had any other major problems with it - but I also haven't tried downloading any new books.
I'm hoping to go ashore tomorrow. Not sure what the situation is - if and when the tender boats are making shore runs. It looks like there is a great beach and I'd love to wander around the town.
I also forgot to mention that the frozen food shipment I was supposed to get on Thursday or Friday...not here yet. Not my fault!
Today was a day off in observance of Ramadan so that was cool. Not that I was off, I had to deal with some stuff in the pump room. Neil has this thing set up to add a chemical to the tank and it consists of a glass tank sitting on top of one of the reserve tanks with a pipe leading to another reserve tank. Anyway, when I opened the door to the pump room this morning I noticed the chem tank was overflowing. I had to drain it and take the pipework off and clean it out. Luckily that seemed to solve the problem. I also seem to have solved the problem of the RO unit blowing the hose off and spraying water all over the place. I replaced the hose and cranked down the water volume going into the hose. I'm still hesitant to let it run unwatched. Luckily, I shouldn't have to use it too much since I can pump seawater directly into the tank now instead of making synthetic seawater using the RO water and salt mixture.
After I finished what I had to do I went up to the gym and got the place to myself for my workout today. Then I jumped off the aft deck and went for a brief snorkel/swim in the ocean. Not alot to see other than the bottom of the boat and some halfbeaks.
I am currently reading James Barrie's Peter Pan and it's kind of cool because I went to see Peter Pan on stage in SF a few months ago. The stage show definitely is based on the book and Disney took some liberties in their telling of it. It's always been one of my favorite stories so I'm glad to have a reason to read it. It was included in the 100 free books on my eReader. Speaking of which, I haven't had any other major problems with it - but I also haven't tried downloading any new books.
I'm hoping to go ashore tomorrow. Not sure what the situation is - if and when the tender boats are making shore runs. It looks like there is a great beach and I'd love to wander around the town.
I also forgot to mention that the frozen food shipment I was supposed to get on Thursday or Friday...not here yet. Not my fault!
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
My new digs
We fixed the tank temperature problem. After a small misunderstanding yesterday, it was confirmed today that the pump that serves the chiller was, in fact, dead, deceased, kaput. I had mentioned to the engineers that the pressure gauge was reading 0 psi but he somehow misunderstood that, mentioned something about it being broken and that was kind of the end of that. Turns out, it wasn't broken, the pump was dying and it was confirmed this morning when the other engineer opened the pipes and found only a small trickle of water coming out.
Let's rewind. We left Antibes at 9 AM and started heading back north to Beaulieu and more sheltered waters. About 10 minutes in, we suddenly switched direction. Apparently, another ship radioed us to alert us that they had found our tender about 5 miles south of Antibes. We went and rescued it then headed to Beaulieu. We dropped anchor at noon, I ate my lunch, took a quick power nap then headed out to the aft deck with all of my possessions and a bag full of fish food. to wait for my ride. As I boarded the tender, Dan tells me it looks as though a pump on the aquarium has failed (see above). I get over there, confirm it is the chiller pump and then beg Sandy to help me replace it. Not only did he help me, he did it all. He was great! He's a big guy and had a hell of a time getting back into the pump room to access it, pull i out, fit the new one and get it all reinstalled. While he did that I busily tended to prepping the fish food for the day and changing all the filtration systems that I usually do each morning. Once the pump was reinstalled, the temperature began to drop quite rapidly - almost too fast. Problem solved!
My next problem is the RO unit that has been spraying water all over the pump room. I changed all of the filter units on it this afternoon to see if there was a clog causing a pressure backup. This didn't help. Immediately after I turned it on, the hose popped off - this time though I has holding it together so it wasn't nearly so bad. I checked some of the lines and I don't see any clogs, water is running through the system so tomorrow I am going to try to replace the connection hose, perhaps it is just stretched a bit and needs to be replaced.
Oh yeah, and one of the UV filter bulbs is out. Neil sure picked the right time to go on vacation.
So, I am now a guest aboard the Golden Odyssey instead of the Shadow. I liked Shadow better. Mostly, I just felt comfortable there - I knew the staff, I felt like I could go wherever I wanted (within reason) and it just seems a little more relaxed. Some other downfalls include, no 110 Watt outlets (but the electrician said he will get me an adapter), no fridge in my room for my peanut butter, people actually use this gym so it's crowded at 5, no TV in my cabin, no dessert! That last one might be a good thing actually. Anyway, this may not last long as they may ship me back to Shadow. We'll see.
Last I heard from the Odyssey captain is that we may all go to Barcelona now instead of Hamburg. I like that idea much better!
Let's rewind. We left Antibes at 9 AM and started heading back north to Beaulieu and more sheltered waters. About 10 minutes in, we suddenly switched direction. Apparently, another ship radioed us to alert us that they had found our tender about 5 miles south of Antibes. We went and rescued it then headed to Beaulieu. We dropped anchor at noon, I ate my lunch, took a quick power nap then headed out to the aft deck with all of my possessions and a bag full of fish food. to wait for my ride. As I boarded the tender, Dan tells me it looks as though a pump on the aquarium has failed (see above). I get over there, confirm it is the chiller pump and then beg Sandy to help me replace it. Not only did he help me, he did it all. He was great! He's a big guy and had a hell of a time getting back into the pump room to access it, pull i out, fit the new one and get it all reinstalled. While he did that I busily tended to prepping the fish food for the day and changing all the filtration systems that I usually do each morning. Once the pump was reinstalled, the temperature began to drop quite rapidly - almost too fast. Problem solved!
My next problem is the RO unit that has been spraying water all over the pump room. I changed all of the filter units on it this afternoon to see if there was a clog causing a pressure backup. This didn't help. Immediately after I turned it on, the hose popped off - this time though I has holding it together so it wasn't nearly so bad. I checked some of the lines and I don't see any clogs, water is running through the system so tomorrow I am going to try to replace the connection hose, perhaps it is just stretched a bit and needs to be replaced.
Oh yeah, and one of the UV filter bulbs is out. Neil sure picked the right time to go on vacation.
So, I am now a guest aboard the Golden Odyssey instead of the Shadow. I liked Shadow better. Mostly, I just felt comfortable there - I knew the staff, I felt like I could go wherever I wanted (within reason) and it just seems a little more relaxed. Some other downfalls include, no 110 Watt outlets (but the electrician said he will get me an adapter), no fridge in my room for my peanut butter, people actually use this gym so it's crowded at 5, no TV in my cabin, no dessert! That last one might be a good thing actually. Anyway, this may not last long as they may ship me back to Shadow. We'll see.
Last I heard from the Odyssey captain is that we may all go to Barcelona now instead of Hamburg. I like that idea much better!
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Tuesday 7 Sept 2010
Where do I begin for today? Oh, I know, how about 5:30 this morning when there is an insistent knock at my door. I open it to find one of the guys who was apparently on watch telling me that I have a "call" from the Odyssey on the bridge. I fumble into a t-shirt and find my glasses and head upstairs. My eyes are freaking out because I have gone from the dark of my cabin to the blazing lights in the hallways back to near pitch-black in the bridge. Over the radio I hear Jamie, the chief officer on Odyssey tell me that an alarm is going off on the aquarium for high temp. He says it's at 27.5 C. I tell him it's ok, it happened slowly and it's because the pool is full, I'll check on it when I get there later.
I luckily fell back asleep but then managed to sleep through my alarm. I woke up at 8 am sharp - which is when I am supposed to be starting work. I run down to the galley, grab some delightful chocolate-granola-something-or-other, and a cup of tea and then head out to the aft deck hoping a tender would be available to take me to Odyssey. Thankfully, Jamie was on his way over to pick up something from Shadow so he gave me a ride.
I decided that since the sea water here is the correct salinity and a few degrees cooler then the tank, I would set up a flow through system to do a bit of a water change and hopefully drop the temp a bit. It turns out that the heaters for the pool have been running so that is what has caused the tank temp to go up. I asked if they could shut those off and they did. Anyway, the water change went smoothly but I was cut short when some of the deck hands started sanding something off the side. I was worried about drawing some kind of pollutant into the tank so I shut down the water change operation. The temp did drop ever so slightly though.
I had previously filled the reserve tank with ocean water to have for my next water change, just in case the water around the boat became unusable. Today when I checked it's salinity I found that it was too high so I turned on the reverse osmosis unit to add some fresh water and hopefully bring the salinity down. I went into the dining room to observe the tank, make sure everything was ok when one of the stewards came in and told me that there was water leaking in the pump room. I rushed over to find the RO unit spraying water all over the place. Lots of water. Awesome.
One of the coupling had burst and the supply line was just free flowing all over the pump room. I got it shut off quickly and one of the engineers brought me a small wet vac that filled up so quickly I had to empty it 5 times before I got all of the water up. It's strange because the small length of hose that came disconnected was held on to the pipe with a clip that didn't seem loose or defective at all. I'm worried that there is something causing a blockage and increasing the pressure higher that the system can deal with. With any luck, we will stay in an area where I can keep using sea water and I won't have to use the RO unit so much.
The one good thing that came of this was that I stayed onboard Odyssey for lunch and they had pizza!!
I luckily fell back asleep but then managed to sleep through my alarm. I woke up at 8 am sharp - which is when I am supposed to be starting work. I run down to the galley, grab some delightful chocolate-granola-something-or-other, and a cup of tea and then head out to the aft deck hoping a tender would be available to take me to Odyssey. Thankfully, Jamie was on his way over to pick up something from Shadow so he gave me a ride.
I decided that since the sea water here is the correct salinity and a few degrees cooler then the tank, I would set up a flow through system to do a bit of a water change and hopefully drop the temp a bit. It turns out that the heaters for the pool have been running so that is what has caused the tank temp to go up. I asked if they could shut those off and they did. Anyway, the water change went smoothly but I was cut short when some of the deck hands started sanding something off the side. I was worried about drawing some kind of pollutant into the tank so I shut down the water change operation. The temp did drop ever so slightly though.
I had previously filled the reserve tank with ocean water to have for my next water change, just in case the water around the boat became unusable. Today when I checked it's salinity I found that it was too high so I turned on the reverse osmosis unit to add some fresh water and hopefully bring the salinity down. I went into the dining room to observe the tank, make sure everything was ok when one of the stewards came in and told me that there was water leaking in the pump room. I rushed over to find the RO unit spraying water all over the place. Lots of water. Awesome.
One of the coupling had burst and the supply line was just free flowing all over the pump room. I got it shut off quickly and one of the engineers brought me a small wet vac that filled up so quickly I had to empty it 5 times before I got all of the water up. It's strange because the small length of hose that came disconnected was held on to the pipe with a clip that didn't seem loose or defective at all. I'm worried that there is something causing a blockage and increasing the pressure higher that the system can deal with. With any luck, we will stay in an area where I can keep using sea water and I won't have to use the RO unit so much.
The one good thing that came of this was that I stayed onboard Odyssey for lunch and they had pizza!!
Monday, September 6, 2010
Fishing
I just hung out on the aft deck with some of the guys and watched them attempt to catch tomorrow's lunch. Made (pronounced Mad-dee) is one of the chef's and he is good at casting and is a real fisherman. Alex and Dan, I'm not so sure about. The first thing that tipped me off to Alex's shortcomings was when he was tying on the lure and he suddenly had a huge mess of a knot in the line. I'm not saying I could do any better, but I didn't have a rod in my hand.
I happened to walk over to the port railing and noticed the water moving and birds starting to swoop in so I called them over just as the captain came over the radio to tell them that there was something in the water off the port bow. It was too far away to cast so they jumped in the tender and motored over. Alex came over the radio and said, "Operation Steve's lunch is under way." Steve is the captain and he had earlier mentioned that he would like fish for lunch tomorrow.
Unfortunately, they didn't catch anything but it was entertaining to watch. Plus I had a reason to go outside and enjoy twilight on a nice evening. It looks as though we may be in for some bad weather in the next few days. The clouds are building and the forecast calls for rain on Wednesday.
On another note, the company that shipped the frozen food did some research on their side (finally) and they discovered that they had addressed the delivery to our finance office and NOT the port agent that was supposed to deliver it to us. Not my fault! So they are shipping it to the correct address first thing tomorrow. I hope.
I happened to walk over to the port railing and noticed the water moving and birds starting to swoop in so I called them over just as the captain came over the radio to tell them that there was something in the water off the port bow. It was too far away to cast so they jumped in the tender and motored over. Alex came over the radio and said, "Operation Steve's lunch is under way." Steve is the captain and he had earlier mentioned that he would like fish for lunch tomorrow.
Unfortunately, they didn't catch anything but it was entertaining to watch. Plus I had a reason to go outside and enjoy twilight on a nice evening. It looks as though we may be in for some bad weather in the next few days. The clouds are building and the forecast calls for rain on Wednesday.
On another note, the company that shipped the frozen food did some research on their side (finally) and they discovered that they had addressed the delivery to our finance office and NOT the port agent that was supposed to deliver it to us. Not my fault! So they are shipping it to the correct address first thing tomorrow. I hope.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Wednesday 1 Sept 2010
Last night I went for a walk along the waterfront promenade after dinner. It was a bit of a ritual I started last time I was here so it was nice to do it again. It looks like we will be going to anchor off of Antibes because there is some festival happening in the port this weekend. I may only have a few days left in Nice so I have to get in as many walks as I can! I may have to go get some gelato tonight or tomorrow! Of course, dessert tonight is panna cotta and having that AND gelato would greatly throw my good eating habits off track.
Anyway, I wanted to talk about my "walk" which turned into mostly a "sit." I found a nice sopt along the promenade to just sit and jot some notes in a little Moleskine journal that Rachel bought me. One one side of the the sun was setting behind the mountains kind of northwest of Nice. The way the rays lit up the sky behind the mountains made them look like they were ablaze, it was beautiful. To the east I watched the sky slowly darken over the water. The lowest part of the sky was this incredible not quite lavender/not quite purple color that faded to a pinkish hue and then a kind of topaz blue. Awesome.
Neil and I have been trying to get me my own uniform but I still have yet to acquire one. I guess I'm going to have to wear his stuff which is OK. Luckily we're pretty much the same size. If I'd have had to share a uni with the other aquarist that I subbed for I would have been in trouble because he was a tiny little guy!
Well, time to feed the fish!
Anyway, I wanted to talk about my "walk" which turned into mostly a "sit." I found a nice sopt along the promenade to just sit and jot some notes in a little Moleskine journal that Rachel bought me. One one side of the the sun was setting behind the mountains kind of northwest of Nice. The way the rays lit up the sky behind the mountains made them look like they were ablaze, it was beautiful. To the east I watched the sky slowly darken over the water. The lowest part of the sky was this incredible not quite lavender/not quite purple color that faded to a pinkish hue and then a kind of topaz blue. Awesome.
Neil and I have been trying to get me my own uniform but I still have yet to acquire one. I guess I'm going to have to wear his stuff which is OK. Luckily we're pretty much the same size. If I'd have had to share a uni with the other aquarist that I subbed for I would have been in trouble because he was a tiny little guy!
Well, time to feed the fish!
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Fruit
I've been out of California for about 50 hours and I already miss GOOD fresh fruit. Don't get me wrong, we have fruit and some is ok. Nice kiwis, pineapple and melon at lunch but the apples are mealy, the bananas are brown and the oranges have no taste. I really miss the wonderful peaches and nectarines that are in season right now...
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