Those Who Are Cruising Right Now Are Truly Blessed
Well, it looks like I survived our second snowstorm in a week. The first which occurred this past weekend came roaring in like a hungry lion devouring everything in sight. The entire region was crippled as two feet of beautiful, picture perfect, fluffy white devil dandruff was dumped on us at an unbelievable rate. Roads were closed, power was lost, and worst of all lives were lost. The Carnival Pride which is based out of Baltimore which is about an hour south of here sailed on as scheduled. Powered by a hunger akin to a drug addict desperately seeking out its next fix, only 100 passengers would allow the blizzard to keep them from their date with a daiquiri.
Those lucky enough to be on cruises this week not only dodged a bullet by being able to board their ships, but were also spared having to dig out from the second wave of snow. At first forecasts were for only a minor snowfall (3-6 inches) however, as the storm neared the projections grew until we were facing another two feet of snow. I honestly thought the meteorologists had gotten this one wrong. The snow was supposed to start at four or so in the afternoon, I even snuck out of work early to avoid all of the carnage. When the clock struck six and there was nary a flake in sight I was convinced I was wrong about the origin of famed Philadelphia weatherman Glenn “Hurricane” Schwartz’s moniker (maybe he was actually named after a favorite drink).
Once seven o’clock rolled around it all went down hill very fast. First the freezing rain started fall, encasing in ice the two feet of snow we already had piled into mountains. This lasted about an hour after which more snow started to fall. This snow was different than the last. It wasn’t going to be the pretty white fluffy stuff. This snow was the thick, wet, heavy stuff. The type of snow that was perfect to make those hard, compact snowballs my older brothers used to pelt me with in my youth. This stuff would fall through the night and most of Wednesday. Occasionally it would switch back over to the freezing rain, but mostly it was the thick wet snow. All told another 19 inches would fall in my area, it was a complete mess. Here are some pictures to may give you some insight into just how much I am looking forward to my next cruise.
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- Tree was encased in ice the next morning
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- Snowplows Can’t Make It Up The Street
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- Looks pretty but looks can be deceiving
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- That chainlink fence is four feet high
This Weekend Was Proof That You Need a Plan B
So, if you live in the Northeastern United States (like I do) you spent most of the weekend digging out from its aftermath. We ended up with a total of nearly thirty inches and let me tell you, it shut everything down. The Carnival Pride which sails out of the Port of Baltimore reportedly had only 100 no-shows which is remarkable considering they too had to dig out from under two feet of snow. Although, I have to admit that if my cruise ship was docked down the street I’d have found a way to get there as well. A storm of this type underlines the need to have a plan in place in case of severe whether. That plan can be in the form of trip insurance, flying out early or only sailing out of ports you can drive to at certain times of the year.
Now just when you thought the snow was through here comes another news report saying that we are going to get another foot of snow Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. The good news is with it being in the middle of the week it won’t impact anyone flying out to catch a ship this weekend. Just the same if this is a sign of things to come the rest of the winter is going to be one wild ride.
Superbowl Sunday Rum Punch
Unless you have been living in a cave (not that there is anything wrong with that) or you on a cruise around the world (in which case you probably don’t care) you probably realize that tomorrow is “Superbowl Sunday”. Many of you may already know that I am a huge football fan and although my team (The Pittsburgh Steelers) isn’t playing in the big game, Superbowl Sunday is still better than Christmas for me. Being that I like to pretend like I an amateur chef I take this as a great opportunity to get into the kitchen to cook a feast big enough to feed a parking lot full of hungry tail-gaters. Naturally, with all of the food that gets consumed comes a wee bit of alcohol. That alcohol is what brings me to the subject of this blog post, a new drink recipe.
Now, when watching the Superbowl I never plan on having people over. I don’t invite anyone or anything like that, to paraphrase Field of Dreams “if you make it they will come”. So, in addition to cooking a ton of food I also make sure to have a lot of drinks. Of course I pick the staples like beer and wine I always make a special drink. This year the drink I will be making is Caribbean Rum Punch.
1 Cup Bacardi 151 Proof Rum
1/2 Cup Dark Rum (Myers)
1/4 Cup Malibu Rum
2 1/2 Cups Pineapple Juice
2 1/2 Cups Orange Juice
1/4 Cup Lime Juice
3 Tblsp Grenadine
Ice Cubes
Of course you can either make this by the glass or scale it up to make a bowl of the punch. Also if the 151 is a little heavy (as it is for most people) just substitute a light colored rum in its place.