Sailing in the South Pacific
About 700 miles southeast of Pago Pago, American Samoa
Yes, another day at sea. However, this morning the sun is out, and the clouds are light and fluffy. Maybe we have out maneuvered the storm? The sea is calm this morning. Up early with the intent of going to sit and be fit this morning. The coffee connection has more than the usual number of people at 6 am. Worked on the blog this morning and was even able to upload a couple days of entries.
It had just gone 7:30 when I returned to the suite with Mary’s morning blueberry muffin. Decided to lie down and rest my eyes for a minute. Next thing I knew it was 9:30. Well that did away with sit and be fit. Mary had wanted to go to the cooking demonstration at 10, but that didn’t happen.
I ran upstairs to La Veranda for breakfast before they closed at 10:30 while Mary got organized and dressed. Afterwards I printed out all the excursions for the August trip so we could decide on alternatives. We chose the cooking classes we wanted to attend during that voyage. Hopefully Maddie will want to join us for some.
We had a long lunch in La Veranda. They were having a Fat Tuesday event at 1:45 so we hung around the pool deck until then. Several of the crew were in costume and they had a King Cake ceremony by the pool. Not wanting to risk becoming either the King or Queen of Mardi Gras we opted for skipping the cake.
The afternoon was spent working out schedules, blogging and basically relaxing. Trying to plan a little more of 2024 and do some advanced planning for 2025. So here is how 2024 is shaping up.
The cruise should end in Lisbon on May 21st. We have a flight to Kansas City on the 21st. Oliver’s graduation is the 23rd, and party on the 25th.
May 27th or so, we will begin driving from Kansas City to Sonoma. Hopefully arriving in Sonoma on the 30th or 31st. Saturday the 1st of June is the Falk, Barrot & Associates client appreciation event in San Carlos. June 5th at Noon we have an appointment to renew Mary’s Italian Passport.
Then basically we are good until the cruise in August. We will probably leave for England on or about the 17thor 18th. The cruise starts on the 20th, but us old people need time to recover. Regent is booking that flight.
We disembark in Oslo, Norway on September 3rd. The grape harvest in Berbenno may occur on the following weekend? The date of which is not under our control, but as we get closer we can plan a strategy for getting there on time.
The next not so fixed date is the olive harvest(s). Harvests in both Berbenno and Loro Ciuffenna. Usually the last weekend in October or first weekend in November. Again dates set by nature and the various consortiums for pressing the olives.
Between the grape and olive harvest is open. We could be in Torino taking care of Luisa and George while Serra and Pietro take a well deserved break. Or, we could go to Siena and go to school and advance our Italian language skills at the Dante Alighieri School. Then there is always the Eurochocolate Festival in Perugia from the 18th to the 27th of October, which may cut into the olive harvest.
Post olive harvest may involve a return to Torino, or a visit to Romania or Bulgaria? Who knows. Christmas will be in Kansas City this year. It is Grace’s last Christmas at home before trekking off to college.
2025 follows Christmas. We are thinking Morocco and Tanzania in March. Antartica in December. Probably the summer in Sonoma. 2026 is the Cruise to Japan.
At some point on our bucket list is South America, Vietnam, a longer stay in India, Guatemala, and trip to Guadeloupe (want to see where Death in Paradise is filmed). There are others, of course. We just have to live long enough to go to them all.
We went to dinner at Compass Rose. Tonight I tried the Large Sea Scallops, combined with the Risotto with asparagus. The scallops were of a good size, perhaps they could be called large, but there have been larger before me. They were pan seared and presented nicely on a plate large enough to hold 20 pieces, but there were only 4. The flavor was weak but good.
The Risotto with asparagus was good. The kitchen still wants to add a little too much onion to the risotto. Nicely presented and with good flavor.
Mary chose the pork chop with applesauce. It was a good sized pork chop, properly grilled to medium. There was a little pitcher, like the ones used for putting cream on the table, that held maybe 3 ounces of applesauce. Both were very good.
There was chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream for Mary’s dessert. They make the cakes in individual ramekins, about a cups worth of cake. It has a “molten” chocolate sauce poured into the center. It was almost a flourless cake. A little to dense for my taste, but Mary liked it.
After dinner Mary went to the casino, while I went to the Connisseur lounge for my cigar. Mary came out the winner with $150 from the penny slot machine. Well she actually won 78 free spins. The 78 free spins won here the $150. It was payment for sitting there for more than a half hour while the machine spun, then respun, and repeat, the wheels on the machine.
In all it was a good day. Buonanotte e ciao, Enrico
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