Category Archives: Food

What we are eating and where we mention food.

Historic Ships in Baltimore Museum (MD): The USS Constellation – Part 3

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continued… This was the forward of the boat on the gun deck.

After three years of patrolling the Mediterranean, the USS Constellation was sent back to the US for maintenance work. She returned to service in 1862 and was sent back to the Mediterranean Sea. In 1864, she was sent to patrol in the West Indies. That cruise only lasted for a few months before she was sent to Norfolk to become a Receiving Ship. Receiving ships were essentially floating dormitories where new recruits were housed and trained prior to being deployed. Then in 1859 she was called back into active service as the flagship of the African Squadron.

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Quiet Week in Norfolk for Christi While Eric and Keith Were In San Diego

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Thursday, July 31 – The last 11 days have been quiet in Norfolk.

We spent Monday the 21st doing chores and work at the boat. One of those chores was cleaning the sea strainers for the two air conditioning units that we run most frequently (pilot house and downstairs). The first strainer we pulled out had a small fish and a couple of weird little gelatinous balls. The balls didn’t just fall out when inverted, but they did come out with a little bit of shaking. Then we pulled out the second one. It was completely full of those gelatinous balls. Very few fell out when inverted and shaken; we had to use a scraper tool to get them out. And it did take a surprising amount of scraping to get them all out. We’ve never seen anything like this before.

Keith finished his science fair project, so he was now officially done with school work (though Christi still had grading to do).

On Tuesday, July 22, Eric and Keith flew to San Diego in the early afternoon. Christi spent the morning getting them ready to go. In the afternoon, she puttered around the boat. It was a particularly colorful sunset.

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Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia – Part 2: British Food, the Courthouse, the Powder Magazine and the Blacksmith Shop

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continued... We picked a restaurant called Dog Street Pub, which served traditional British food. It was decorated in the colonial theme and the staff wore period costumes.

Eric ordered a sampler platter, which had ham, cheddar, stilton cheese (which wasn’t crumbly like Trader Joe’s stilton), apples, beets, hard boiled egg, salad greens, chutney and black bread. He loved it. Keith ordered bangers and mash, which was sausage served on a bed of mashed potatoes and peas and smothered in gravy. Keith liked the sausage and the potatoes, but he didn’t like the gravy… and since the gravy covered everything, he didn’t love his meal.

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Go Kart Racing and the FFX Family Show in Virginia Beach, Virginia

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Friday, July 11 was a mellow day. In the morning, Eric changed seagull water filter. It was the filter attached to the kitchen sink that filtered our drinking water. Eric has been buying the same filter since Kosmos was new, and it has become one of his metrics for tracking inflation. The cost of the filters goes up a little bit every time he buys one, and they’ve doubled in price in over the 19 years. 

Our big outing was to a Mexican restaurant called Lola’s, which was in one of the new complexes just northeast of the marina. Even though it was within walking distance, we drove since it was so ungodly hot out. Lola’s had a cheerful, beach themed decor and the menu had lots of non-Mexican choices.

Eric ordered a pina relleno, which was a half pineapple stuffed with grilled chicken, steak, pineapple, peppers and onions topped with melted cheese, chorizo, shrimp and sour cream. This version had a lot more ingredients in it than the versions we’d gotten in Hualtulco and Chiapas.

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