Sunday, February 26, 2023
It was a sea day tonight, as we sailed along in the Atlantic Ocean. It was grey and overcast, then really rainy. Keith started out by practicing while whale watching out of our balcony window. He did not see a whale. Or a dolphin.
Trivia at noon – Donna and Elio didn’t show up, so we played with just Regina and Brad. Play along:
- Into which ocean does the Zambezi river flow?
- What is the oldest team sport in North America?
- How many golden tickets did Willy Wonka send out?
- What animal’s name literally means Earth pig?*
- How many points is the J worth in Scrabble?
- Which country’s flag has an AK-47 assault rifle on it?*
- What is the most frequently broken bone in the human body?*
- Nineteen of the 25 highest mountains are located in which range?
- Which country was the first to host both the summer and winter Olympics in the same year?
- What does ZIP stand for in Zip code?*
- What does a deltiologist collect?*
- What is the skunk’s name in the movie Bambi?
- What is the Roman name for Greek god Poseidon?*
- Who is credited with inventing the scissors?*
- On what TV show did Susan Boyle become famous for singing “I dreamed a dream?”
Oh, that was a good game! It is soooo much fun not to know the answers and to have an opportunity to make some informed guesses. Our guesses were no good. We had a brain fail moment on #13, otherwise we would have won. There were two teams with 9, and the tie breaker question was: In what year did the Germans start using Zeppelins to air bomb London? Of course, closest wins. One team guessed 1942 and the other guessed 1918. I had it correct with 1915. When you know stuff, you know stuff.
Lunch was a MIRACLE!! The bounty was incredible! There were eight toppings for lettuce – cheese, corn, cucumber, tomato, peas, carrots, ham, and diced chicken. I took them all!! There was a breaded chicken breast, a chicken salad croissant, AND bow tie pasta in a red sauce. So many not fish things I was beyond excited. We ate with Regina and Brad and talked for two hours – comparing past cruises and talking about great places we (and they) have had the opportunity to visit.
With nothing else on the schedule, we took a nap and then went to the 6:30 vocalist show about songwriters (Carol King, Leiber and Stoller, Dolly Parton, Burt Bacharach, Billy Joel). It was enjoyable. There are 4 vocalists on the crew – 2 men and 2 women. One of the men looks a lot like Jamie Tartt from Ted Lasso from a distance. It doesn’t fit Jamie’s character at all to be a song and dance man, so the fact that I repeatedly think it is Jamie up there makes me laugh (just to myself) a lot.
We had an 8pm dinner at the Chef’s Table, one of the fancy restaurants (no upcharge here, either). It is a prix fixe menu that they change every three days. We had hot and sour soup, garlic and chili prawns, coconut granita, beef in black pepper sauce, and mango coconut cream. Our soup was ¼ cup at most – very delicious. The four shrimp were tasty, but not zippy. I was hoping the chili would bring some zip. The frozen coconut stuff was a another ¼ cup of palate cleanser. The main was a giant round bowl/plate with four pieces of tenderloin (1”x2”), one pea pod, two pieces of celery, and a mushroom in sauce. There was a little clam shell of rice. It was all tasty. Then they brought a great big bowl of mango stuff. I do not like mangoes. I was expecting a thimble full that I could just pass to Keith. Nope, big bowl. It had a little toasted coconut on top. I skimmed it off. The attached orange stuff wasn’t bad. I tried a spoonful. Tapioca attack!! Creepy little balls were squishing around my mouth!!! I did not know what to do. Keith just burst out laughing at the expression on my face. Apparently, I have never had tapioca. The taste wasn’t bad, but what the hell with those slimy little balls? I kept taking little tastes to try to smash the balls between my teeth (generally called chewing) before they could get all slidey. I guess I was making some prime faces, because Keith was downright giggly. I found the mango – it was chunks of mango that I could pass to Keith. I did not finish the bowl, but I got at least an inch of it down. That just makes me think, but why though?
Keith bought me M&M’s and now I’m eating them!
We are going to sleep more than 3 hours earlier than we have been, so that will be nice. It takes hours to upload the pictures for the blog and there are no pictures tonight!
I could have been helpful on your trivia team, partly because I’m old and was in school when the US implemented the Zoning Improvement Plan, and partly because a young nephew fell out of bed when spending the night at our home and broke his collarbone. Tom and I felt a millimeter better about that injury when we were told it was the most commonly broken bone.