Food, Glorious Food

Courtesy Fellow Cruiser

If you have been on a cruise, then you are well aware of how wonderful the food is.

And how much of it there is to be found.

If you desired, you could really eat 24 hours a day.  There are the basic sandwiches and pizza, to sushi, buffet, exquisitely prepared dishes, and on our ship, the Steakhouse.

The food is phenomenal.   You can have it prepared any way you choose, in any combination.

I took the trip as an opportunity to expand my culinary horizons.  I chose dishes that I might otherwise pass up.

The one meal that fell most outside my comfort zone was Seafood Newburg.  It was touted as a wonderfully rich seafood stew with a side of saffron infused rice and broccoli.

As a note: I love seafood.  If it lives its life under the water, it is highly possible that I will eat it.  The exception in the past has been mussels (and non-sustainable seafood).  I have tried to eat the large version. The chewy, funky texture was just more than I could handle.  I had sworn them off forever.

So, Seafood Newburg seemed like a fantastic idea.  With the ingredients listed as scallops, shrimp, and lobster, I thought I was safe.

Imagine my surprise when the plate placed before me not only had two small mussels in their black shell homes circling the plate, but also had them nestled in the creamy sauce along with the plump shrimp, succulent scallops, and juicy chunks of lobster meat.

There really were only two choices here:  1.  Eat around them.  2. Let go of the past and dig in.

For a brief moment, I considered option number 1.  The idea of eating the little slugs really almost did me in.  But, I figured in for a penny, in for a pound.  When you are surrounded by wait staff who have given up eight months of their lives to earn money for their families in poor, 3rd world countries, wasting food just seems wrong.  Unless it is really inedible or there was an allergy concern, I couldn't even consider wasting a meal.

So, I dug in.

And they were awesome!  That slug-like texture of the larger mussels was absent in the smaller version.  They complemented the other seafood wonderfully and were just amazing.

From a ship perspective, it was one of my two favorite meals.

Rich, decadent, and adventurous.

Food, glorious food.

Reunited

When the Mr and I started talking about what we wanted to do for our 10th wedding anniversary, we kicked around several ideas.

First, we talked about Australia.  A coworker of mine lived there for several years and talked about how wonderful it would be.  We also talked about going to Japan.  Both of those were bypassed because of the cost of plan tickets.

We were going to go to a resort, but that brought about the question of which one on which island.

It was really the desire to see different things that led us to choose the cruise option.  For a set price, meals and lodging were covered. We would also get the opportunity to see several places to which we had never been.  Most importantly, we had the opportunity to be.

Be away.

Be together.

Be lazy.

Be disconnected from our regular lives.

Be connected to one another.

Reunited.

We spent a great deal of time just talking.  With an awesome upgrade to the balcony (thanks again for the push Tom), we had the opportunity to watch the sun rise. the sun set, the shorelines appear on port days, and disappear as we left ports in the evening.

We watched shows, had a few drinks, lots of laughs, lots of fun together. We perused stores while in port, walked the decks when not, and really spent our time falling in love all over again.

We ate dinner at a "romantic table for two for the honeymooners" (per our hostess). When we informed her we were actually celebrating our 10th anniversary, she was shocked.  She told us that with our heads together and the attention we paid to one another, she automatically assumed we were newlyweds.

Mission Accomplished.

Reunited.

And it feels so good.

Unplugged

I am going to give fair warning: the next few posts will be Cruise-centric.  I would apologize for that, but in the end, this is my blog and the topics are my prerogative.  I appreciate your visits...I really do.  So, I will try to keep the extended versions offline and on paper only.

It has been a long time since I have been detached from some form of technology.  I work for The Company, after all.  I carry two Android devices, have Facebook and Twitter accounts, and text like a fiend.  I, like most people, enjoy the instant gratification that comes with connecting to others in an instant.   Recently, my BFF Rachel have decided to connect offline in an effort to bring that more personal touch to our communication.

This past week, Hubs and I made the decision to be as unplugged as possible.  Since Z stayed behind with Nana and Pap, we did need to have at least one voice device for emergencies.   So, I changed one of the Android phones to a really basic flip phone, its purpose only for calls and minimal text messaging.

I will tell you that this initially became the plan once we realized the cost of connecting when on the ship.  For the bargain price of $100, you can purchase 250 minutes of Wi-Fi time.

Yeah.  No.

Add in the cost of maintaining a global data plan (even with my discount) and it just didn't make fiscal sense.

More importantly, this trip's purpose was to reconnect, recharge, and rejuvenate.  We spend so much time moving in opposite directions that it was so wonderful to be moving in sync.  Hubs and I really had an opportunity to hang out together and just be us.

I do have to tell you that I also took this as an opportunity to really examine the hold all my connections have on me.  Every time Hubs asked me a question to which I didn't have the answer, I realized that my first instinct was to Google it on my Android browser.  Nearly every meal, I had an overwhelming desire to text either Rachel or Tom to figure out what in the world I was choosing for my dinner (more on the food in a later post).

And yet, I am still in no real hurry to reconnect completely.  Those blog posts might take some time, since Z is filling me in on his wonderful week.  I did want to make sure that my wonderfully supportive friends knew we were back safely (a priority only achieved by instant communication), but I still have tons of unread emails.

I know that I have to dive back in full force soon.  There are messages to answer and connections to be maintained.  Questions will arise that need research and conversations will occur online that I will just itch to join.

But I come back to it with a new perspective.  Unplugging is good.  Reconnecting, even better.  Technology has its place and purpose, but there is also a time to log off.

And that time is now.



   

Giving Up

This past week, I gave it all up.

I threw in the towel and decided I have had enough.

All this food restriction, exercising, hunger, and changing of my food relationship have just left me a different person.

You see - the cruise is now in just under three days, and two weeks ago, I had absolutely nothing to wear (literally).  I scoured online sites looking for clothes that I could take, realizing that they are few and far between because Spring clothes just aren't out yet.

After finding a couple of gems (clearance from last year's Spring/Summer collection), I still needed more to take with me.  So, I made the decision to unearth a few totes that have taken up residence in my closet over the years.

Every time I have tried to lose weight in the past, I hold on to my larger sizes.  I am not sure if it's this idea that I am going to fail or just prudence on my part because every other time I have failed.

But this time, as I was digging through the items and finding Spring/Summer clothes that now fit again (yeah me!), I realized something.

I am NEVER going to be that person again.  I have worked too hard to even allow the idea that I might fail to enter the picture.

And so, with a very light heart, I bagged up the clothes that are now too large and packed them off to my local Goodwill dropoff.  They have a mission in which I believe and work diligently to employ those who might otherwise struggle to find a job.  It is almost impossible to find good condition plus sized clothes at Goodwill, mainly because the cost of them means they get worn until they are nearly falling apart and unable to be donated.   So, the clothes are serving a great purpose and will hopefully soon find new homes.

And with that, I have given up.  I have given up the idea of failure.  I have given up thinking food is going to make anything better.

And I have given up on giving up on myself.