So you can make balsamic reduction!
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Might try it when we get the new kitchen in, actually. Caprese salad variants are a summer staple for us.
We have all of our pantry out on a table so we can demolish it⌠our goal for the next two weeks (we may have started a bit early) is to use up as much as we can. Like, I found someday stir fry noodles and orange sauce, so I guess Iâll do stir fry one day next week.
I think someone in the ad agency for Cricket Wireless decided they needed a âwazzupâ-like revival.
I think I made Discourse angry with trying to finagle placeholder posts for my Shadowrun comparison thread.
Also, Iâll have egg on my face if it turns out that thereâs a limited edit window for posts and it takes me longer than that to write those sections. 
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Copy it all to a word document in the meantime. Maybe youâll want to post it elsewhere too. 
Iâm actually writing it all in a Word doc and then pasting it here in post-sized chunks specifically for that reason
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I learned a similar lesson way back when I was doing PBEM role playing games. Create and archive offline, cut and paste to post online.
I bought a box of Otter Pops at Costco recently. I was thinking that theyâd gone up in price, but itâs been years since I last bought them. I open them up today, and itâs no wonder they were more expensive. They have no artificial color, no corn syrup, and real juice. I like!
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Just looked at the âwhat you canât bringâ on the Princess Cruises website. âCatapultsâ is one of the items on the list. Now I want to know what someone brought for them to have to include catapults on a list of things you canât take on a cruise!
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I could totally see someone assuming they could fire a catapult off the back of the boat the way they do golf balls.
On the other hand, cruising with dive gear was bad enough for taking up room space, first rule of cruises is the rooms are tight.
- That means someone has tried.
- What about the superior siege weapon, the trebuchet?
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My concern is still room size. I guess someone might have tried messing with one of those desktop catapults.
For anyone taking a cruise, expect that the rooms are tiny. I would recommend leaving most big items at home if possible. Iâm not sure how families with small kids would handle it.
Weâve taken both our kids on 3 cruises (son has been on four). You get real creative. Set limits on how much the kids can bring. Find new ways to stow stuff. Use every cubic inch possible. Spend minimal time in the cabin and when you are there, make use of the balcony as well. Shower curtain held up by magnetic hooks to divide the room so you can be awake & watching TV while theyâre sleeping on the pull-out sofa bed.
Next summer is Alaska, and it may be the last time we can pull this off as theyâre getting bigger (funny how that happens).
I will say that our anniversary cruise earlier this year was very comfortable as it was just the two of us in a cabin the same size we usually get for all four of us. But we still spent minimal time in the cabin because the people watching is too good to pass up.
Oh BTW, no one drives golf balls off the stern of ships anymore (not real ones, anyway).
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Thanks for the info. The rooms are generally âsleeping onlyâ in my limited experience as much as possible. Thereâs almost always interesting places to hang out on the boat, and I say this as someone who gets annoyed with large groups of people quickly.
Iâve heard the golf balls are made from crab or oyster shells and biodegradable.
Yeah, we couldnât afford a balcony cabin - it was inside or figure something else out. Iâve seen a walkthrough of our ship on Youtube, and Iâve been watching a lot of those âhereâs how to get the most out of your cabinâ videos. Some good tips on those - Iâm planning to bring a bunch of my âwitty sayingsâ magnets and leave them for the crew when weâre done.
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My wife is worried about claustrophobia with no balcony. Weâre not even sure if a window view would work for her.
We got yelled on our cruise: I had a travel power strip with me and didnât realize leaving it plugged in was a hazard. The crew was not amused.
Yeah, any extension cord or power strip they really, really donât like on cruise ships. Unless itâs for a CPAP or other medical device.
As for the balcony vs. interiorâŚwe went with an exterior cabin (not balcony) once, have had a balcony every other cruise. I donât think I can handle an interior room, I need that exterior point of reference and natural light coming in. The non-balcony room felt dark, even mid-day. My brother usually goes with an interior cabin as thatâs where they put the singles and seems to do OK, but again - spend minimal time in the cabin and itâs less of an issue.
They were fine with us using the travel power strip while in the room, just leaving it plugged in while we were out was a no-no.
I think my parents did at least one cruise where they had to request a mini-fridge as my dad needed insulin meds that required refrigeration: The cruise line was very accommodating, and I have a feeling they are pretty good for any medical-related requests.
We have only done the one cruise and ended up with âExtended Balconyâ which meant, literally, about a 3 inch strip more than the ânormalâ Balcony rooms. We booked the regular room and got upgraded after they lost our deposits and canceled our room: They tried offering us an even better room, but we preferred being adjacent to friends we were cruising with over a nicer room.So we got the âextended balconyâ which was slightly larger as I said.
I think the main use of the balcony for us was my wife checked it out every morning, then some of my dive gear was dried on it the two days it got used. I know I preferred hanging out on the main deck eras over the balcony.
Good to know. We are taking a power strip - without a surge protector, of course - and I was wondering if we should unplug it and store it when weâre not in the room.
Our cruise was several years ago, but that was the case. Keep it disconnected when not in use.
I went though, over a 10-ish year period:
- Travel power strip
- Travel power strip with built-in USB.
- USB Multi-Charger + a battery pack
- Combined Charger/Battery Pack
The latter is my current winner for traveling alone: Itâs a single plug-in brick that I can use to keep my devices alive when on long flights or whatever, and fits comfortably in my sling pack. I might add others in depending on the trip and needs.
(I spend way too many brain-cycles thinking about packing and bags for someone that travels maybe 2-3 times a year between vacation and work trips.)