New SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for PLANET EARTH AND HUMANITY:
This blog site derives from the original version of Planet Earth & Humanity, but will be more WE than ME. The coverage will remain similar, but perhaps these postings will seem to come from a parallel universe, or maybe even Purgatory. But truth and reality will prevail, with dashes of whimsy and levity to help make your day.
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WE ARE IN VANCOUVER
We decided to find a place to have lunch in Vancouver. Walked around quite a bit and was greeted by my Blue Bar Pigeon.
We tried Kirin, a Chinese restaurant, but it was 2:10 PM and it was to close at 2:30. Nearby was Din Tai Fung. Same thing happened our previous trip this past October, when we were in Seattle to catch the Norwegian Encore, stayed a few nights in the city, walked around, and stumbled into another Din Tai Fung.
I've written about this restaurant many times. Here is another posting from 2021. One of my favorite chains in the world. Here is another article from 2016.Forbes called it the world's greatest dumplings. Originated in Taiwan.
Like Seattle, this is one of the giant versions, and very popular. At 2:15PM, there was a huge group waiting to get seated.
So I walked around and filmed the restaurant.Wow, this is interesting. To download this video this long, then transferring it to You Tube so that you can see it, took an hour on the ship. In this hotel, less than a minute. Anyway, DTF specialized in Shanghai Soup Dumplings, or Xialongbao.
I specialize in enhancing these dumplings by placing one in a small bowl. Note the glass of Johnny Walker Black Label Whiskey above to the right. I turn the dumpling upside down, cut a small hole, pour a small amount of the scotch (cognac works fine, too), add sliced ginger and hot sauce, plus a dark vinegar. Slurp the concoction into my mouth. If I know I'll be having Shanghai Soup Dumplings, I always bring my own small bottle of whiskey/cognac. That small amount of JWBlack was $12 because the cheapest cognac was Hennessey at $14.
The noodle bowl was a pork ramen. We added garlic green beans, which alone, cost $18. You can imagine how much this lunch cost.
The Marriott Pinnacle Downtown Hotel is now similar to most Marriotts in the USA and Canada. Their executive club charges for drinks, Cheapest is $12 per shot. Appetizers are also served, but relative to those in Asia, very mediocre. We'll now only travel in the Orient. I can imagine that the free breakfast here will also be paltry. Those Marriott buffet breakfasts in Bangkok, Singapore and anywhere in Japan are so spectacular that this is almost always the best meal of the day. And it is free for platinum members.
Walked 7415 steps today, and will probably exceed this tomorrow when we have a Chinese lunch in Chinatown, visit Stanley Park, and go wherever the Big Red Bus takes us.
The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota. Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north. Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge. If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic. Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing. The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University. Caught a bus. Was called the Century 21 Exposition . Also the Seattle World's Fair. 10 million joined me on a six-month run. My first. These a...
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