What is an Un-Cruise?

Posted on May 19, 2014 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Un-Cruise Adventures

People hearing the term Un-Cruise for the first time may wonder just what exactly is an un-cruise? The answer – an Un-Cruise is the cruise ship experience everyone can enjoy! If you like boats or nature an uncruise could become the vacation of a lifetime for you.

On the Wilderness Adventurer in Seattle’s Fishermen’s Terminal

Love the big cruise ships? Then odds are you’d love an uncruise too. You still get to go on a ship and visit different places. It’s a smaller ship, but the service is more personal and the itinerary includes places the big ships just can’t go. Meals come with excellent food and a better chance of getting to know your fellow passengers since there aren’t too many of them. In the casual atmosphere of un-cruise vacations there’s no need to dress up for dinner.

Kayaks launch from Wilderness Adventurer

Hate the big cruise ships? An Un-Cruise could be the perfect vacation for you. These small ships don’t hold a big crowd. The entire amount of people on board wouldn’t make the sort of line you sometimes find getting on or off a big ship. Don’t like crowded touristy ports? Any port stops along the way take place in small towns or quaint villages where no big ship would fit.

skiffs bring guests to shore from anchored ship

The un-cruise sails cove to cove with daily stops in wild areas where passengers get off the boat to hike, kayak, take skiff tours on small boats, or maybe even snorkel or take a turn on a stand-up paddle board. Itineraries are flexible and may deviate from the published schedule for things like weather or wildlife sightings.

Safari Quest of Un-Cruise Adventures yacht cruises

Safari Quest – the smallest vessel in the Un-Cruise Adventures fleet

Unrushed, uncrowded, unbelievable uncruises come in three different options. Expedition vessels take adventure minded passengers out to experience the wilds with active exploration discovering whatever nature has to offer. Luxury in the pursuit of adventure describes the small ships and yachts which provide a complete vacation with more plush accommodations, upscale amenities, cultural experiences and included massage, wine/beer/spirits plus adventure activities.

SS Legacy cruises on the Columbia and Snake Rivers
photo courtesy of Un-Cruise Adventures

Heritage cruises provide a different sort of un-cruise on an old fashioned style steamer. River cruises with the crew dressed in period costumes follow a path taken by early explorers to America’s west coast. With an emphasis on history, the ship stops in ports with interesting things to see including forts, museums, and wineries.

Wilderness Adventurer in Port Townsend, WA

Un-Cruise vessels range in length from 120 to 232 feet and hold anywhere from 22 to 88 guests. Summertime brings a wide variety of ship choices in Alaska, with several itineraries to choose from. Or take a break from cold winter weather with an un-cruise to the unspoiled beauty of the warm wilds of places like Hawaii or the Sea of Cortez. In between try a cruise in the Pacific Northwest or choose a river cruise down the Snake or Columbia rivers.

Guided Hike in Washington State’s San Juan Islands

The adventure guides onboard have a wealth of knowledge in various subjects about the places visited. Some have degrees in things like geology, botany, or marine biology. If they don’t know the answer to passenger’s questions immediately they’re happy to do some research to satisfy people’s curiosity.

beer tasting on a beach during beer themed cruise

Some cruises have theme itineraries with knowledgeable guest hosts and activities or excursions centered on themes involving things like craft beer, marine biology, photography or the explorations of Lewis & Clark .

Bald Eagle

Wildlife sightings happen frequently on an un-cruise. The ships sail through wild places, often dropping anchor to take passengers out in small skiffs to view the surrounding area.

Skiff Tour in Alaska’s LeConte Fjord

These small vessels bring guests to see some marvelous things never seen by passengers on large ships. Surrounded by magnificent icebergs in Alaska’s LeConte Fjord, we could touch and even taste one.

blue ice in LeConte Fjord, Alaska

Alaskan itineraries sometimes include bear sightings. Commonly viewed wildlife includes a variety of birds as well as seals or sea lions. Un-Cruisers often see whales during their cruise. On our last un-cruise we saw deer, raccoons, and otters too.

young black bears

copyright My Cruise Stories 2014

Posted in Alaska, Un-Cruise Adventures, Washington | Tagged adventure travel, cruise, photos, smallship | 5 Comments

How to Fold a Towel Dragonfly

Posted on May 13, 2014 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Towel Dragonfly

The previous towel animal blog was a dragon, which is one of the more difficult towel animals to make. It seems only fitting now to do a very easy dragonfly.

Supplies Needed to Make a Towel Dragonfly

MSC Version Alternative Option

1. One bath towel 1. one bath towel

2. Two hand towels 2. two hand towels

3. eyes 3. eyes and antennae

Making a towel dragonfly with Bagus from MSC Divina

How to Fold a Towel Dragonfly Body

MSC Version

Fold bath towel in half crosswise and fold in corner of the non-folded end

Fold the bath towel in half across the short side.

Fold over one corner on the open end.

roll the towel diagonally starting from the folded corner

Roll towel from the folded corner.

roll the tip at the widest end of the towel

Making sure towel corner at the middle of the roll faces up, roll one end of the towel up, then flip towel over so rolled side is underneath.

set the towel with the rolled tip underneath

Towel Dragonfly Body – My Version

This style is more difficult to make, but it has a longer body in relation to the wings more like an actual dragonfly.

lay bath towel flat and fold 1/4 of the towel over on the end of one short side

Lay the bath towel out flat. Fold down one quarter of the towel across short side.

fold over one corner on the folded end of the towel

Fold down one corner of the folded end. Other than the initial fold to shorten the body a bit, this option of the dragonfly body is much like making my version of a towel snake.

make the folded corner into a pointy end by folding down both sides of the towel at that corner

Fold both sides of the towel at the folded corner so it makes a pointy end with the point at the center of the folded corner. This will be one long side and one short side of the towel and the amount of folded towel will not be even. This doesn’t matter. The only important part is having a pointy end at the center of the folds.

roll the towel from the far end of the folded long side

Start rolling from the far corner of the long side with the fold.

keep the folds at the center of the pointy end flush while rolling the towel

Keep on rolling until the entire towel is rolled into one roll. Make sure the folds at the center of the pointy end stay flush.

lay the body out flat with the folds of the pointy end on the bottom

Set towel with folded side of pointy end down and pull opposite end tight for tail.

Make wings near head end of body.

How to Make Towel Dragonfly Wings

lay hand towel next to dragonfly body, more forward to the head end is best

Lay hand towel long side next to the body.

scrunch in the center of the wing towel to make two wings

Scrunch in the middle to make two wings.

set out wing towel on other side and scrunch to center

Repeat with other towel on other side. Adjust wings as desired.

Finishing the Towel Dragonfly

decorations make all the difference on towel animals

Use googly eyes or bits of felt or draw your own bug eyes on paper

Decorate with eyes. Add antennae or other embellishments if desired. Use double stick tape to hold on eyes and antennae if necessary. Googly eyes work great, but if you don’t have them bits of felt or paper work for eyes too.

finished easy towel dragonfly

I used a pipe cleaner (chenille stem) for the antennae (see top photo), but so long as there are no small children or animals that might get hurt on them things like pins with balls on the end or large colorful plastic needles would work too, with the bonus that they would hold themselves on and you could use one for each side.

For more towel animal folding instructions please visit My Cruise Stories towel animal page where you just click the picture of the animal you want to make to get directions on how to fold it.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2014

Posted in Towel Animals | Tagged easy towel animals, how to fold towel animals, photos, towel animal folding instructions, towel dragonfly, video | 8 Comments

Gluten Free Angel Food Cake

Posted on May 6, 2014 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Gluten Free Angel Food Cake
photo courtesy of King Arthur Flour

This post is a guest blog from my Aunt Grace, who kindly shared her recipe. Thanks Aunt Grace!

I invited my sister, her husband and my niece to come to my place for dinner. My brother-in-law is diabetic and my niece must be on a gluten free / dairy free diet. Preparing the main course is not a problem but making a dessert that they can all eat can be challenging. And I wanted to make something different from the home made blueberry sorbet that I usually serve them.
I decided on angel food cake but knew I would need to make it from scratch because none of the local stores have gluten free angel food cake mix. I searched the internet for recipes and chose the one on King Arthur Flour’s website because it seemed to have good reviews. I used King Arthur’s Gluten-Free Multi-Purpose Flour but they do mention which other flours work well if you decide to mix your own. At my sister’s recommendation I reduced the sugar from 1 and ½ cups to 2/3 cups as she felt that would be best for her husband’s dietary needs.
The cake turned out OK. We enjoyed it with sliced strawberries and a dairy free whipped topping called “Soyatoo Rice Whip”. The whipped topping comes in a container similar to the one used for Redi Whip. It tastes good but we were laughing because it seemed more challenging than we had anticipated to actually get the “cream” to come out of the can when we pushed the button. Turns out you have to shake it upside down really hard several times to get the part of it that goes to the bottom mixed with what is on the top just so before it will operate correctly.
I have copied the King Arthur Flour Gluten Free Angel Food cake recipe . It is recommended that you look at their website to see the tips they give about the flour, sugar and correct stiffness of the egg whites for this recipe.

Gluten Free Angel Food Cake Recipe

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup King Arthur Gluten-Free Multi-Purpose Flour or ¾ cup + 2 tablespoons brown rice flour blend*
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 3/4 cup Baker’s Special Sugar** or superfine sugar
• 1 1/2 cups egg whites (10 to 11 large eggs, separated, yolks discarded or reserved for another use)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ teaspoons cream of tartar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract or Fiori di Sicilia, optional
• 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons Baker’s Special Sugar** or superfine sugar
• **Can you substitute regular granulated sugar? Yes; it’ll take much longer for the egg whites to attain their require volume, and the cake’s texture won’t be as fine. Click King Arthur Flour’s link for more information.

Directions

1) Preheat the oven to 350°F and place the oven rack in its lowest position.
2) Whisk together and then sift the flour, cornstarch, and 3/4 cup sugar. Set aside.
3) In a large, clean (grease-free) mixing bowl, beat together the egg whites, salt, and cream of tartar until foamy.
4) Add the flavorings. Gradually increase the speed of the mixer and continue beating until the egg whites have increased in volume, and thickened.
5) Gradually beat in the 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar, a bit at a time, until the meringue holds soft peaks.
6) Gently fold in the sifted flour/sugar blend ¼ cup at a time, just until incorporated.
7) Spoon the batter into an ungreased 10″ round angel food pan. Gently tap the pan on the counter to settle the batter and remove any large air bubbles.
8) Bake the cake until it’s a deep golden brown, and the top springs back when pressed lightly, about 45 minutes.
9) Remove the cake from the oven and invert the pan onto the neck of a heatproof bottle or funnel, to suspend the cake upside down as it sets and cools, about 2 hours.
10) Remove the cake from the pan by running a thin spatula or knife around the edges of the pan, and turning the cake out onto a plate.
11) Cut the cake with a serrated knife or angel food cake comb. If it’s difficult to cut, wet the knife and wipe it clean between slices.
12) Serve with whipped cream and fruit. Wrap any leftovers airtight, and store at room temperature.
Yield: one 10″ cake, about 12 to 16 servings.

Posted in Guest Blogs, recipes | Tagged angel food cake, baking, dessert, gluten free, lactose free | 4 Comments

Ketchikan Trolley Tour

Posted on April 30, 2014 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Westerdam in Ketchikan

Our large family group sailing on the Holland America Westerdam to Alaska thought it would be nice if we could all get together on at least one shore excursion during the trip. It’s hard to get so many people to agree on one thing though. Ketchikan offered a very inexpensive trolley tour as one of the shore excursion options. It’s definitely easier to get a group of people to agree on something if it’s not too hard on the pocketbook, so 7 out of 9 did sign up before the cruise. The other two didn’t come so we didn’t quite get everyone, but close. Almost everybody also took the Glacier Gardens tour in Juneau, but we never did get an excursion with the entire group.

Trolley

The trolley tour ran several times throughout the day. We had a mid-range time. Since the ship docked fairly early my sister and I set out to explore the town a bit before the tour. Not much opens in Ketchikan early in the morning even with a couple cruise ships at the dock. We did get to see Creek Street without crowds, though none of the shops had opened yet. We found the furnicular to the hotel overlooking the town from above, with a sign saying it was out of order. We hiked a trail up instead hoping to get a good photo view of the ship, but never found one. The touristy shopping area of Ketchikan only covers a few blocks so it didn’t take long to get back to the ship in time for our tour.

photo taken from the deck of the Westerdam

trolly in Ketchikan

We all grouped up together before boarding the trolley so we could get seats near each other. The trolley driver mentioned the major sites of town like Creek Street and the shopping district and then headed out to Saxman Native Village.

tribal dancers perform for tours in the clan house

clan house at Saxman Village

This park is in an area where the natives live. They display their totem poles, each which tells its own story. Low man on the totem pole is an expression from people who don’t know much about totem poles as the bottom of the pole has no less honor than the top. The pole tells a story and the height of it determines its value even if the majority of the pole has nothing carved on it. The story can honor or mock a person or relate a tale of events real or imagined. Some totems are mortuary poles or mark the entrance to a building.

William Seward painted in a mocking manner atop the shaming pole

Shaming poles are rare, but this park had one. William Seward, the former Secretary of State responsible for purchasing Alaska from the Russians (known at the time as Seward’s Folly) did some traveling in his later years. When he came for a visit to see the great lands of his Alaskan purchase locals of the Ketchikan area had a potlatch in his honor. In their tradition he should have returned the favor and thrown one for them. When he never returned to do so they repainted the figure of him on top of the pole they had carved of him in a mocking manner so it became a pole of ridicule instead one of respect.

if all politicians were wooden figures on poles they'd do less harm

Abraham Lincoln on a totem pole

Seward is not the only former politician carved on top a totem pole at Saxman. Abraham Lincoln makes an appearance there as well, with short stubby legs as the totem pole carver had only a photo to go by and it showed him from the knees up. A ship named after Lincoln played a role in a peace treaty, but as the pole can’t be topped by an inanimate object they used Lincoln the man to commemorate the occasion instead.

Kats bear pole

Another pole there told the story of Kats who left his human wife in the village to marry a bear wife with whom he had a family. When he visited the village to help with a hunt he broke a promise to his bear wife and angered her by looking upon his human wife. When he returned to his bear family his three bear sons devoured him in loyalty to their mother.

trolleys parked at Saxman Village

The park also had a building where people could watch artists in action carving poles and a gift shop. Some tours even include native dancers in the village clan house.

Ketchikan’s famous Creek Street

At the end of the tour the driver gave people the choice of getting off at the ship where we got on, or out at Creek Street to spend some time in town.

More Blogs about Ketchikan

Dolly’s House
Duck Tour
Snorkel Alaska
Rainforest Hike
Walking Tour

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2014

Posted in Alaska, Holland America, Shore Excursions, Westerdam | Tagged Alaska, Ketchikan, Native American customs, Native American Stories, photos, totem pole, travel, Trolley Tour | 5 Comments

Not All Therapy is Mental

Posted on April 28, 2014 by LBcruiseshipblogger

therapist’s couch courtesy of behavior advisor

I admit it, I’ve started therapy. In my mind anyway the word therapy conjures up the Hollywood style image of a patient lying on the psychiatrist’s couch. While I may not be quite normal by society’s standards, who is? If everyone was exactly the same we might as well be drones like male honey bees – or the Borg. While we are all more or less assimilated into our societies, so far humans have not quite become the collective conscious of Star Trek’s Borg and are still free to think for themselves and go their own way.

Star Trek Borg

Mine though is a different sort of therapy. Post injury physical therapy, though in my case it is more specifically called occupational therapy since it is mainly just for the arm. I haven’t posted an injury update in awhile and my therapist thought some of my pain descriptions were pretty awesome so I thought I might as well share. She has all sorts of great advice about how to manage pain with heat and cold so I’ve learned things like a bag of frozen peas is just as good as any store-bought cold pack and you can make a hot pack with a bag of rice.

I don’t like to take any medicine if I don’t have to – just listen to a TV ad for any sort of drug. They all have side effects so horrendous the original condition if not life threatening is probably preferable. Due to the sad state of health insurance in America, the first night after my fall I declined my husband’s offer to take me to the ER and instead made myself a sling from a towel. Feeling helpless and wanting to do something he insisted I take an Advil, which I let him give me to make him feel better. That one little pill is the only painkiller I’ve taken since I broke my elbow joint.

The next day I let him take me to the walk-in clinic. Still costly, but far less so than the ER. The doctor there offered to prescribe something for the pain, as did the orthopedist later, but I declined. Medicines are expensive and I probably wouldn’t take pain pills if I had them so why spend the money?

For the month my arm spent in a splint it was pretty immobile so there wasn’t all that much pain anyway other then the impossibility of finding a comfortable sleeping position for that arm. Now that it is out though and learning to move again it has all sorts of different places that can hurt in different ways.

Inside of the elbow joint it often has a sharp feeling, like a needle jabbing or broken glass moving around. Even when the splint was on I would sometimes feel like the IV was bothering me, except of course there was no IV and even if there had been the needle wouldn’t have been poking into the elbow joint. The outside of the elbow often feels as if I have been leaning on it far too long on a very hard surface, though in actual fact I can’t lean on that elbow at all. It did feel that way with the splint on as well, but then again it was up against the hard surface of the splint.

My wrist (which was also injured) is not so happy about moving yet. The forearm is just a general soreness and above the elbow more the feeling of having lifted something far too heavy, though I am not allowed to lift anything heavier than a dinner plate and even that feels like it weighs a ton. A couple fingers are still stiff and have lack of feeling and numbness going on along with that tingly feeling you get as say a foot recovers from “falling asleep.” Some of these pains come and go. They aren’t all constant nor all present at the same time.

The first time I took a shower without the splint I was happy I could finally shampoo my hair with both hands until I realized I couldn’t reach my head. I have since gotten to the point where I can, but when moving the arm towards my head or face the arm feels like a marionette on a string where another person is moving it for me, and my fingers against my face or head feel like somebody else’s rather than my own.

I could not touch the back of my head until the therapist said to roll my shoulder back first. It’s a bit weird to have to consciously think about how to move what, but it does increase the reach, though the feeling in the arm is awkward and pinched when doing so and there is no strength in the fingers to comb my hair or anything that a person would normally do when reaching for the back of their head. Not that I can reach down far enough to get a comb through my hair anyway. Overall though, considering how grim the outcome sounded initially I have more range of motion than I expected and it could improve more in the next few weeks.

so sue me

Meanwhile my insurance hasn’t turned out to be completely useless. They have lowered the price of some things since insurance companies tend to have write-offs for various things (which likely serves to artificially inflate prices so they can then reduce them). They have also actually paid a minimal amount. The bulk of the expense is still mine though.

Even though the majority of what would be their responsibility just goes toward meeting my deductible they have tried to get out of paying by sending a letter through another company requiring proof that this accident is not the fault of a third party who ought to be responsible for paying so they don’t have to. I guess they are out of luck on that because my dog has no money.

Earlier episodes of this story: My Lame Adventure, The Things We Take for Granted

Posted in Randoms | Tagged broken arm, injury, pain, physical limitations, physical therapy, therapy | 10 Comments

The Love Boat – For Real

Posted on April 22, 2014 by LBcruiseshipblogger

MSC Divina

Normally we choose the dining option where you can eat at anytime during the dinner hours, which has different names on different cruise lines – things like your time or as you wish dining. It’s nice to be able to go to dinner whenever you want, but there are advantages to eating with the same people each night as we did on the MSC Divina, which did not have the freestyle option. The Divina is the only US based ship on MSC, an Italian cruise line. Europeans do things differently. They did make some adjustments for American passengers, but adding the free choice dining was not one of them so we had the same time, table, and people to eat with each night. Through that we got a chance to get to know them and made some new friends. One couple we sat with told us the story of how they met. It’s a great blog-worthy story and they said it is OK to share.

We had dinner at the Black Crab with Sara and Mark and another couple each night of our Divina cruise

A Life-Changing Cruise

Many years ago on a ship that’s since been scrapped, Sara stumbled into her first cruise purely by circumstance. Her sister intended to go with a friend, but the friend had to cancel due to a family emergency so she got invited along in the friend’s place. Her usually very controlling husband of 22 years uncharacteristically allowed her to go.

Mark and Sara dressed up for formal night on the Divina

In those days, all ships had the scheduled dinner seatings where everyone sat each night with the same group of people. One of the people at her table was Mark, 10 years divorced and cruising alone. During these dinners, Sara and Mark found they got along quite well and thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company. Sometimes they ran into one another other times and places on the ship.

As the cruise neared its end they exchanged addresses and phone numbers, wanting to keep in touch and stay friends. Meanwhile Sara decided she did not want to go back home to an oppressive husband and an unhappy life. Her sister offered a place in her house and Sara accepted, moving into her new life with just the things she’d brought with her on the cruise.

On the last night on the ship, sitting next to Mark, Sara had a feeling that his hand looked mighty lonely. Knowing that Mark knew she was married and would never presume to touch her she reached out and took his hand in hers, and with that touch they both felt a new destiny that neither had previously considered.

Not wanting the relationship to end before it ever started, Sara prayed for more time than the 8am scheduled disembarkation if the relationship was meant to be. Sometimes prayers do get answered. Fog prevented the ship from docking, as they did not have all the modern navigation devices in those days.

Just what every cruiser needs - more dessert!

Mark had a birthday during the cruise and Sara special-ordered a cake for him – which they shared with the table and a few other nearby diners.

In addition to the extra hours gained on the ship missed flights at the airport gave them a few more hours to get to know one another, but eventually Mark got on a plane and they went their separate ways.

When she called him after he’d had time to get home and said that she’d decided to get divorced and move in with her sister he was so happy with that news that he said he wanted to marry her. Not having phrased it as a direct question she neglected to answer. Quickly he followed up with “Will you marry me,” and surprising even herself she said yes.

Afraid to tell her parents, she first broke them in with the moving in with her sister part of her news and then added on the getting married part afterword. To that her father replied that her happiness was obvious as she had returned from the cruise looking 10 years younger than when she left.

Nearly a year passed and with a wedding scheduled in the near future she went before an irate judge whose life was not going well at the moment, and who would no longer be a judge the next month. After things in the divorce hearing neither went Sara’s way nor brought about a decision her lawyer advised her to wait until the next month and appear before a new judge. So three days before her scheduled wedding she obtained a divorce.

As they made their wedding plans, Sara and Mark discovered they had so much in common that if one picked out things like china patterns without the other, the other would pick the same ones all on their own as well. From china patterns they moved onto other things, all the while finding out how much alike they really are as they always picked the same things.

Sara and Mark remain happily married and still enjoy cruises together. They just recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of the night they met.

Posted in Divina, MSC, Shipboard Life | Tagged cruise ship dating, cruise ship dining, human intrest, life, love story, photos | 4 Comments

How to Make Candy Easter Eggs

Posted on April 19, 2014 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Easter basket full of homemade candy Easter eggs

Chocolate Coconut Truffle Easter Eggs

Ingredients

Filling

Easter egg filling made into egg shapes

8 oz white chocolate

1/2 cup sour cream

1 Tablespoon milk

1 1/2 Tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup shredded coconut

Topping

white chocolate coconut truffle filling with dark chocolate shell

finished candy Easter egg truffles

6-8 oz Dark, Milk, or White Chocolate

shredded coconut, finely chopped nuts, or candy sprinkles

Directions

Filling

Break white chocolate into bits in a heat proof bowl. Put sour cream, milk, and butter together in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring together as cream and butter melt. Pour over white chocolate and stir until chocolate melts. Stir in coconut. Put bowl in refrigerator for about 1 1/2 – 2 hours.

When filling chills to a consistency firm enough to handle and shape into eggs, take the bowl out of the refrigerator and one blob at a time make egg shapes. Line a pan with wax or parchment paper and set eggs onto it in one layer not touching each other. Chill at least 2 hours or up to overnight.

topping options include candy sprinkles, shredded coconut, and finely chopped nuts

Topping

Melt dark (or milk or white) chocolate in top of small double boiler, stirring constantly until chocolate is thoroughly melted. Put your desired toppings into small bowls, and line a pan with clean wax paper. Put a little pile of the chosen topping on the wax paper for each egg to sit on. Roll eggs in the chocolate one at a time. I used 2 spoons to coat the eggs without having to touch them. Set chocolate coated egg on the topping pile on the wax paper to dry. Sprinkle more topping over the top. You can let it dry and finish that way, or roll it in the topping bowl when it dries long enough to handle it without messing the coating up too much, but not so long that the topping won’t stick to the chocolate. Roll more eggs while waiting for the first one to dry. Take just a few eggs at a time out of the refrigerator to roll. Melting the chocolate in several small batches rather than all at once makes it easier to roll all the eggs as the chocolate gets cold if it sits too long.

If you want to roll the egg in topping rather than just sprinkling it on top, dipping your fingers in cocoa powder will help prevent them from sticking to the chocolate when picking up a semi-dry egg to dip into the desired topping. Set finished eggs into wax paper lined pan and put pan of eggs into the refrigerator to chill before serving. Keep refrigerated. How many eggs you get depends on how big you make them.

Note 1: Shredded coconut is much smaller bits than flaked.

Note 2: The filling in this recipe stays soft. It will stay soft even when frozen so these truffles also make an excellent frozen treat.

When it’s not Easter you can still enjoy these tasty truffles by making them into ordinary round balls instead of Easter egg shape.

The Dark Chocolate Amaretto Truffles can also be made into Easter Egg shapes.

White chocolate coconut truffle filling inside dark chocolate shell

For quick and easy truffles, try this recipe.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2014

Posted in recipes | Tagged candy easter eggs, dark chocolate coconut truffles, Easter, easter eggs, holiday treats, photos, recipe, truffles | 9 Comments

How to Fold a Fire Breathing Towel Dragon

Posted on April 14, 2014 by LBcruiseshipblogger

How To Make a Towel Dragon

Sometimes I use towel animals from cruise ships on my blog and sometimes I come up with my own designs. These dragons are creations of my own imagination.

fire-breathing towel dragon

Dragons are a fairly difficult towel animal to make and are best suited for experienced towel animal folders. If you are a beginner and want to make a dragon anyway try the small dragon first because it is the easiest.

Supplies Needed to Make a Towel Dragon

the art of folding towels into animal shapes

different types of towel dragons: multicolor – majestic, green and striped – big, black – small

For a Majestic Dragon: 1 bath towel, 2 hand towels, 1 beach towel

For a Big Towel Dragon: 2 bath towels, 2 hand towels

For a Small Dragon: 1 bath towel, 1 hand towel, 2 wash cloths

eyes (googly eyes or bits of felt or paper)

flames made from paper or felt

nostrils made from paper or felt

pipe cleaner (in craft stores may be called chenille stem)

How to Fold a Towel Dragon Body

tightly roll both short sides of a bath towel to the center

All sizes of dragons use a bath towel for the body.

Fold the rolled towel in half, rolls to the outside. Pull tips out of the center of each roll.

Take the tips from both ends of one roll in one hand and the tips from both ends of the other roll in the other hand and pull until the rolls pull into legs and the middle into a body.

flip finished towel animal body over

How to Fold a Towel Dragon Tail

hang center of one long side of tail towel on a wall hook or tuck it under your chin. Roll both sides to the center as tightly as possible.

The big dragon and the majestic dragon use hand towels for the tail.

difficulty rating for folding towel dragons: high

Keeping your tail rolls as tight as possible, tuck tail rolled side up between the leg rolls on the body. Make sure the solid edge of the towel is on top of the body and all loose ends are contained between the leg rolls.

The small dragon uses a washcloth for the tail.

How to Fold a Towel Dragon Head

Just like the tail, hang center of one edge of long side on wall peg or tuck under your chin. Roll both sides together as tightly as possible. This will be more difficult than the tail because it is a bigger towel and really tight rolls are more important.

The majestic dragon uses a beach towel for the head and neck.

it may not look like much now, but soon it will be a dragon.

Place the end of the tightly rolled towel between the leg rolls of the body opposite the tail. Tuck any long loose ends in between the tail rolls.

The big dragon uses a bath towel for the head and neck.

the head and tail towels tucked into the body with the head towel’s loose ends tucked into the tail

The small dragon uses a hand towel for the head and neck.

Take one pair of legs in hand and bring them over top of the head and tail towels to meet the other pair of legs. Keep the motion going to roll the whole body over until it is standing.

fold one of these to watch Game of Thrones with you

Adjust leg position as needed so dragon body stands on its own.

How to Fold Towel Dragon Wings

Fold over about an inch across one edge of the long side of the wing towel

The big dragon and the majestic dragon use hand towels for the wings.

Flip the towel over and make another fold in the opposite direction.

The small dragon uses a washcloth for the wings.

Continue making small folds across the towel.

When done the wing towel will look something like a fan

wrap a pipe cleaner around the center of the wing towel and twist it tight

Insert the ends of the pipe cleaner into the folds of the body so the wings stand up a bit above the dragon’s back. Position wings as desired.

If you don’t have a pipe cleaner just pinch the center of the wing towel together on the dragon’s back after making the fan-like folds and spread out each wing as desired.

Finishing the Towel Dragon

Raise the head and neck towel. Curve the base of the neck back so it rests on top the wings. Curve the top of the neck forward and the head down. Adjust to desired position. A beach towel gives this majestic dragon a very long neck.

Decorating the Towel Dragon

Decorate dragon with eyes, nostrils, and flames. The googly eyes and paper flames have double-stick tape holding them on this small dragon, but the felt nostrils stay on their own.

big towel dragon

For step-by-step instructions on how to fold a variety of other towel animals, please visit My Cruise Stories Towel Animal Page.

this dragon needs tighter rolls

Posted in Towel Animals | Tagged how to make towel animals, instructions, photos, towel art, towel dragon, towel origami | 8 Comments

Carnival Cruise’s Afternoon Tea

Posted on April 7, 2014 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Afternoon Tea on Carnival Breeze

One of the best kept secrets on Carnival cruises isn’t a secret at all. It’s right there in the daily Fun Times schedule on sea days – Afternoon Tea. It sure seems like a secret if you attend though. It’s like an intimate little tea party compared to the amount of people on the ship.

one of Carnival's best kept secrets - afternoon tea

waiter serving afternoon tea treats on Carnival Liberty

Most passengers probably just skim right over afternoon tea on the daily program without really noticing it’s there, or they’ve never gone and have no idea what they’ve missed out on. It’s not just a cup of tea, though they do offer a nice selection of teas to choose from since it is a tea after all. Everyone selects the type of tea they prefer, and gets a little silver teapot of hot water.

Then they bring around the goodies. Sometimes on a rolling cart, sometimes carried in on trays. Tasty little treats you don’t see anywhere else on the ship or at any other time. Some of the best sweets we’ve ever had on Carnival ships have been at afternoon teas. They also may serve little tea sandwiches.

more than just a snack - afternoon tea is an experience

tea sandwiches on Carnival Breeze

The last thing people on cruise ships need is more food of course, but it is a vacation so have fun. Afternoon tea is one more way to relax and enjoy what the ship has to offer. They seat people around large tables in the order they arrive, so it’s also a great way to meet new people and socialize with other passengers on the ship.

treats at afternoon tea on Carnival Liberty

The whole afternoon tea experience is a delight, not just the food – and it’s free! You can take as much or as little of the food offered as you want.

2016 update – Carnival no longer offers flavored teas unless you want to pay extra for them so it’s a good idea to bring your own stash of tea if you want something other than plain Lipton.

Posted in Carnival, Cruise Food, Shipboard Life | Tagged afternoon tea, cruise, food, goodies, photos, snacks, sweets, tea | 12 Comments

Sitka

Posted on March 31, 2014 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Westerdam in Sitka

Many cruise ships stop in Sitka during the summer Alaska cruise season, including the Holland America Westerdam on the cruise I took with extended family. Sitka sits mainly on Baranof Island and partly on neighboring Japonski Island, with the two islands connected by a bridge. Sitka lies on the outer coast of the inside passage on the Alaskan panhandle in the heart of the Tongass National Forest, accessible only by air or sea.

Bridge in Sitka

As the glaciers receded from the area about 10,000 years ago the Tlingit people first settled the land. Russians came in the late 1700’s. The changeover ceremony in 1867 after the Americans purchased Alaska was held in Sitka. The town still has Russian architecture near the tender dock, though the prominent Cathedral of St. Michael is a reproduction built in 1966 after the original burnt to the ground.

St. Michael’s Cathedral

Sitka has a lot to see quite close to the cruise ship dock for people who just want to get off the ship and see things on their own. We did not book anything through the ship there, wanting to get to the Fortress of the Bear and Raptor Center on our own. At the tender dock just as passengers come ashore a number of people waited with signs for various activities. Shuttles waited to take people to town who wished to start at the far end and stroll back toward the ship on their own.

Sitka

Right away we saw someone with a sign for Fortress of the Bear and signed up immediately. We had waited for a tender to shore until we thought they would be open, but found out that on cruise ship days they actually opened earlier than their official time so we could have come an hour sooner and been nearly the only ones on the bus. Ours still did not have very many people, but the bus after came quite full. The person with the sign said that their shuttles did not officially stop at the Raptor Center, but some drivers would. The driver said they all did. I had asked on facebook prior to the cruise and they had said none of their shuttles stopped at the raptor center anymore so we felt quite pleasantly surprised to find out that they did. We had thought we’d have to take a cab, but since we did not see any it was very good that we didn’t need one. The raptor center is walking distance from the tender pier where our boats docked if no-one in your party has walking limitations, but too far for people with mobility issues to walk.

tombstone in the old Russian cemetery

At a lecture my sister and I had attended on the ship, the presenter had said to go visit the old Russian Cemetery, but would not say what sort of interesting feature we would find there. While within walking distance from town, it was not a short walk, nor an easy one, meaning only those able to walk quickly on varied terrain including hills should attempt it. My sister had zipped up castle hill next to the tender dock before we took our tour, but my parents and I just walked to a nearby marina. We saw a pedicab waiting for passengers. Not having time for it just then, I asked the rider if he went to the graveyard. He said he would, but it involved a steep hill.

Alaska Pioneer’s Home

The bus let us off in town on the way back from the raptor center so we had a bit of a chance to see some of the architecture of the old Russian buildings. Before we made it to the church that dominated the skyline at the end of the street my sister took off on her own to go find the cemetery. The road back to the dock went past castle hill, which while steep, was not very large and we hadn’t done a lot of walking so we went up to the top. It had options of steeper or less steep pathways and lots of flowers to see along the way.

Shooting the Westerdam…with my camera, not the cannon

At the top we found…….not much. Just a few old cannons and some signs. Seriously shouldn’t castle hill have a castle on it? Reading some signs posted around the top we found that the closest thing to a castle had been a politician’s house people called the castle. Tlingit natives had structures there before the white man came, as the view from the top gave them quite a strategic advantage spotting any approaching enemies. That advantage made the hill popular with the subsequent Russian residents of the area, who displaced the Tlingets to claim the hill for their own.

Pedicab in Sitka

At the bottom of the hill we found another pedicab, this one with a native Tlinget girl on the bike. She took us to the back side of the cemetery to an area special to the locals, though not the place where the graves are that we had intended to see. We had quite an interesting ride with her. Tlinget people are all either raven or eagle, she was an eagle. She found salmon berries and Sitka spruce to forage on along the way. Apparently driving a pedicab works up an appetite.

eagle by an old building on the backside of the graveyard

On our way out of the woods we came across some people who said the eagle we had seen on our way in sitting by the little old wooden fort thing there had some sort of injury and they had called the raptor center to come and get it. The raptor center people arrived about then, so I went around to the other side to see the eagle as quickly as possible, which without actually being on the little building as the eagle and raptor center people were involved a detour on a path going the opposite way, down some stairs, and around about half a block on the nearby road. By the time I got there hoping to take a video of the people catching the eagle, it had flown to the roof of the nearest house and the raptor center people had left because if it can fly they don’t take it.

bald eagle in Sitka

Back down at the pedicab our driver took us back to the tender pier, stopping right at the end of the line of people waiting to get back to the ship so we could just get right in line as we got off. We tipped her well as there was no actual charge for the ride, they just work for tips.

graveyard in the woods

Later my sister said she found the graves. While not entirely sure what the person in the lecture meant by this graveyard being a must-see, she said it was unusual. While most graves sit in neat rows in a large expanse of shortly mowed lawn, these sat among trees in the woods. The townspeople let nature take its course, and as tree roots grow larger some of the graves get wonky.

grave gone wonky

Sitka has a variety of things to do. The area offers hiking, biking, boating, museums, wildlife watching tours, native dancers, fishing, kayaking, historical buildings, shopping and much more. The visitor’s bureau has a page on their website of things to do in a day for tourists such as cruise ship passengers that just have a few hours to visit.

Posted in Alaska, Port Cities, Ports of Call, Westerdam | Tagged Alaska, cruise, fun, photos, Sitka, travel, wonky graveyard | 8 Comments

copyright My Cruise Stories 2014

Supplies Needed to Make a Towel Dragonfly

MSC Version Alternative Option

Making a towel dragonfly with Bagus from MSC Divina

How to Fold a Towel Dragonfly Body

MSC Version

Towel Dragonfly Body – My Version

How to Make Towel Dragonfly Wings

Finishing the Towel Dragonfly

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2014

Gluten Free Angel Food Cake Recipe

Ingredients

Directions

More Blogs about Ketchikan

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2014

A Life-Changing Cruise

Chocolate Coconut Truffle Easter Eggs

Ingredients

Filling

Topping

Directions

Filling

Topping

Note 1: Shredded coconut is much smaller bits than flaked.

Note 2: The filling in this recipe stays soft. It will stay soft even when frozen so these truffles also make an excellent frozen treat.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2014

How To Make a Towel Dragon

Supplies Needed to Make a Towel Dragon

How to Fold a Towel Dragon Body

How to Fold a Towel Dragon Tail

How to Fold a Towel Dragon Head

How to Fold Towel Dragon Wings

Finishing the Towel Dragon

Decorating the Towel Dragon

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2014

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2014

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