Lobster Pot Pie

I can still feel the boat moving. I have been off of it for over twenty-four hours and just sitting here at my computer I swear I can feel it moving. My wife actually told me this morning that she felt it in the shower.

We have talked about going on a cruise for years. I am the one who dragged his feet over the whole thing because when I was a young kid I would occasionally get car sick. I suffered from motion sickness and even though I believe that most of it was caused by my trying to read comic books in the back seat while the car moved, I was a little hesitant about taking an extended trip on a large boat. Fortunately I did not get sick at all on the trip but I cannot say that I did not feel the motion of the large boat itself. I felt it all the time.

Before we actually got onboard we spent a couple of beautiful days in San Diego where every day is a beautiful day, at a medical management conference. Because of my wife’s job we have been attending these events for many years. Most of the traveling we have done has been associated with trips to conferences in various cities all over the country. We have been lucky to explore Orlando, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, New Orleans and many more places. Taking these trips also allowed us to meet some great people and make good friends who we always enjoy seeing.

Here’s saying hello to some of them. Great to see you Bob and Teresa and of course Sarah and Dennis. It was also great to see Wade in the hotel lobby. I wish we had found more time to spend with you. We never really have enough time to share with each other. Hope we see you again in Denver.

While my wife is attending the various meetings and break-out sessions at these conferences, I am usually doing what I do best which is goofing off and finding interesting foods. I was engaged in the aforementioned goofing off in our hotel room on our first day there when my cell phone rang. It was our friend Bob who I had not seen in at least three or four years and even though I was close to shutting the book I was reading and taking a quick nap, I was pleased to hear him suggest we meet for a beer. He suggested Sally’s, a restaurant right outside the back entrance to our hotel.

Bob has not aged a day since I last saw him and we had a nice catch up chat at one of the tables outside Sally’s. During the conversation he mentioned that this restaurant was a great place to eat and although I hear comments like that quite a bit, I filed it away for future reference. Later I was very glad I did. That night we saw Bob and Teresa again at a large dinner that the conference put on and also had a chance to see some other dear friends from all over the country. It was a lovely dinner and a good time was had by all.

The next day my wife and I were looking for a place to grab lunch and I remembered what Bob had told me about Sally’s, so we decided to check it out. She ordered a great seafood salad with shrimp and scallops and I got the King Crab Bisque with a delightful cilantro froth swirled into it. I love crab bisque. The best I can ever remember having was in a small bar on River Street in Savannah, Georgia. That was on another conference trip and the delightful taste of sherry mixed with it is probably the reason I remember it so well. This bisque while not quite as memorable as that one was very tasty indeed and I had a delightful glass of rose wine with it that complimented the crab very well. We usually do not partake of dessert but made an exception since we were calling this trip a vacation and shared a delightful pear tart. Our lunch was leisurely and the waitstaff were just attentive enough and never bothersome. We inquired as to the dinner menu and were told it was 99% different from the lunch offering.

Later that night we were weighing our dinner options and decided that we should return and have dinner at Sally’s as well. I am glad we did. I ordered a bottle of inexpensive sparkling wine as we checked out the menu and when I saw that they had a lobster pot pie I looked no further.

I have mentioned previously how much I love pie. Savory meat or seafood pies are no exception to that rule. Bob loves pie. When I was a kid my mom would buy frozen individual serving pot pies. Whether they were chicken, beef or turkey, I loved them all. Even today I will buy a frozen pot pie to when I find one made by a local cook at our farmer’s market.

This pie was the best thing I had to eat on the whole vacation. They brought it to me at the table in its own cast iron pan and it was absolutely delicious. The pastry was flaky and soft with just the right amount of crust and the pie itself was stuffed with big chunks of Canadian lobster, fava beans and boursin cheese. I love sparkling wine and the inexpensive California choice I made was just right for washing down the whole delightful entrée.

The next day at a little after 1:00 PM we found ourselves standing in a long cattle call of a line just down the street from our hotel. The trail of would be cruisers snaked back and forth through a series of roped off pathways herding us ever onward toward the boat. We were both excited and apprehensive about our impending journey. Would the food be any good? Would I get sick? Would we meet some interesting people? Would they be a little too interesting? I was looking around me at the number of people who were younger than me and forming unfair opinions in my mind. I sometimes have to be reminded not to judge people by their appearance. You’d think with the way I look that I would have come to understand this basic truth by this time in my life.

Finally we were aboard. We had found our cabin and it was a little bit larger than I had thought it would be. The bathroom and shower seemed more than adequate so we decided to wander around and get the lay of the land. Or should I say the lay of the ship? There were three groups of elevators located on the ship but not all of them went to all of the floors and it wasn’t until the last day that I felt as though I had a real grasp of the whole layout. They were serving food at a buffet on one floor and there were people standing and sitting on all of the outside decks as we pulled out of the harbor.

After we had wandered awhile, someone came over the loudspeaker system and told us to get ready for the mandatory fire drill that they would be conducting. Everyone was to go to their cabin and get a life jacket whereupon we would be directed to the gathering place we had been assigned to await instructions from the crew. What followed was a mass migration of grumbling and boisterous souls from all decks to their respective cabins and back up to the gathering places throughout the upper decks. We were herded into a room with about 50 or 60 other folks and told to put on our lifejackets. People were talkative and laughing. The person in charge had to call for quiet repeatedly and as far as I could tell no one ever really shut up completely except the older married guys. Of course they would not be older and married if they had not learned that basic skill some time ago. Two younger skateboarding type guys sitting across from my wife and I had not even bothered to bring their life jackets. You could just tell that they were exceptional swimmers. That kind of confidence cannot be faked.

Confident swimmers

Eventually we were all released and we took our life jackets back to our cabin. So far we had been on the big boat less than two hours and I had already been back and forth to my cabin three times. The dry run fire drill had not left me with the most secure feeling. I could not help but wonder how people would react in the event of a real emergency, but then I would never have come on the cruise in the first place if I was worried about the odds of a real emergency. You have to have a little bit of faith just to get out of bed each morning.

The Safe Cruiser

The sun was out and the sea was beautiful so we found an empty table on the upper open deck where a Jimmy Buffett type singer was entertaining the crowd and I relaxed with an ice bucket of beers in front of me. As we sat and gazed at the magnificent view and the large number of very interesting people around us we could feel the boat gently swaying back and forth. While walking to our cabin and wandering the decks I had begun to feel that motion and at times I felt as though I was almost staggering. This was long before I acquired the beers. My head and stomach felt fine, but I could definitely feel the sway. So far, so good.

Start of Cruise

We were away from home and there was no conference to attend and we were both ready for the vacation to begin. So come on, bring on the fun!

Self Portrait of the Writer in Sickness

My wife and I are sick. Colds. Can’t taste. Coughing. Stuffy. Yech!

I have been trying for a week to finish a post. It’s a sequel to the post I did on our cruise to Mexico and I am having a hard time just sitting upright. I haven’t even put a glass of wine to my lips on over a week. No reason to. I can’t taste anything. My mother used to say,

“You might as well be eating cardboard for all you can really taste.”

So… I have pounded out this short missive to let anyone who cares know that I am alive, though not well, and while I am quiet; I am still trying.

Bear with me if you will and I will hopefully have something new in a few days.

Today is the first day in quite a few that I actually was able to run out to the store and pick up a couple of gallons of orange juice. My wife is just moving into this sickness and I am hopefully on the mend. She has waited on me and now it is my turn to shoulder my share of the load in the conjugal harness.

Thanks for your patience.