Oasis of the Seas Part 4

This post is devoted to food. If you have been on a cruise before, you will know that food is pretty important on the ship. This ship had 27 (yes I did say 27) places to eat. I think our last ship had eight. It was crazy. Now we didn't go to all of the different places to eat because some of them were expensive, but we did visit a good portion of them.

I was very excited about the Cupcake Shop before the cruise and it did not disappoint me.

It was so cute.

I'm pretty sure I had at least 3 cupcakes during the week.
This particular time it was red velvet for me and chocolate/vanilla for Mike.

There was a Seafood Shack on the Boardwalk. It was so good. Unfortunately I was completely stuffed, so I didn't couldn't enjoy the food as much as I would have otherwise.

One of the things I had at the Seafood Shack was the Cajun Popcorn Shrimp.

They had a candy store on the ship! We went their twice.

We ate at Johnny Rockets one day.

Megan and Aaron had a beautiful sundae.

Sorrento's pizza was on this ship just like the last one, but it was upgraded. On this ship you could choose your own toppings and make your own personal pizza in addition to the four kinds of pizza they offered each day.

There was a donut shop.

On the second to last night the waiters do a parade around the dining room and everyone waves their napkins in the air.

We got into the napkin waving.

We really got into the napkin waving.

We really really got into the napkin waving.

Our waiter Edison.

On one of our formal nights.

I think all four of us clean up pretty good.

Oasis of the Seas Part 3

I though I would use this post to highlight some of the other activities this ship had in addition to the ones I posted yesterday.

You wouldn't believe how many people we saw pose this exact same way, so of course I had to do it too.

On the sports deck we played miniature golf. This was one thing that we were determined to do because we never got around to it on our last cruise.

One night we spent a little time in the casino and Megan actually won some money. It was only $11 and change, but it was still exciting.

One of the new things this ship had was a Zip Line. It was 84 feet long across the top of the ship over the Boardwalk. Everyone got to do this except me, even though I really wanted too. It's a long story.

Aaron the brave first one to go.

Megan

Mike

Oasis of the Seas Part 2

I was bound and determined to do something I had never done before on this ship, which made me step out of my comfort zone a little bit. First on the list was the Rock Climbing Wall.

While this picture does not show it, I was the one that was very nervous and Megan was not nervous at all. I was just scared that I wouldn't be able to make it to the top.

Mike went first

and he made it to the top (45 feet high) pretty easily.

I chose to do the easiest part of the wall, which still wasn't that easy

but I made it to the top.

Then it was on to the Flowrider, which was on the back of the ship. You can ride the wave like you are surfing, but they were having a youth surfing competition at the time (none of us were young enough to participate) so we went to the other Flowrider to Boogie Board.

Mike and Aaron had no problem doing this. Megan and I had to talk ourselves up to the challenge while they were going.

I still wasn't convinced that I was having fun when I was on it, but I very glad I tried it and despite this picture, I did have fun.

I was very proud of us for trying something new.

Oasis of the Seas Part 1

In December, Mike and I went on vacation. It seems so long ago, but I was so nice at the time. We went on a Royal Caribbean Cruise on the Oasis of the Seas. Everyone asked us where we were going and we answered, "we don't care we are going on the Oasis." This ship did not disappoint us one bit.

We always fly to our destination the day before our cruise because we do not want to miss the ship or be herded like cattle to the ship. This year we sailed out of Ft. Lauderdale and would highly recommend staying at the Hampton Inn North Airport Cruise Port the night before you sail.

One of the best things about this hotel is the shuttle. They pick you up at the airport, take you out for supper and drop you off at the cruise port for free.

And the van has flamingos on it, so it is hard to miss.

We went on this trip with one of my college friends, Megan, and her husband, Aaron.

You always need a picture with palm trees from vacation.

When we sailed out of the port we past several towers, which I assume were apartments. As we past those buildings everyone was cheering, taking pictures, and blowing air horns from the shore. Maybe every cruise ship experiences this as they leave port, but we sure enjoyed it.

We even joined in the cheering.

When we first get on the ship we feel the need to see the entire ship as soon as possible, which means a lot of walking. Since the ship was so big we didn't see everything the first day, but we had seven more days to find everything.

We checked out the dining room,

The Boardwalk, Aqua theater and sports deck

The Royal Promenade

and Central Park (this was the view from our balcony)

Did I mention this ship was amazing. I'm not sure if I will ever be able to sail on a smaller ship. Okay that may be a little bit of an exaggeration, but it was really amazing.

Since I didn't want to overwhelm you, I have broken down our trip into 6 different posts. So, stay tuned to see what else we did on our vacation.

Mennonite Monday - New Years Cookies

Mennonite Monday started because I wanted to make recipes from the Bethesda Mennonite Church Cookbooks (both the yellow and the white cookbook for those of you who own them). I also wanted to take pictures of each recipe that I made, so I would know for future reference what the recipe should look like. I am by no means a great cook, but I think it will be fun to try new and different recipes each week. Not all of these recipes are for ethnic Mennonite food, but the women from Henderson know how to cook, so I can safely say that these recipes will be good. Check back each Monday for a new recipe and feel free to leave a comment if you have a favorite recipe from these cookbooks, or if you have some tips on what I should make and how I should make it.

~

This is another traditional recipe that I did not get from the church cookbook. The white church cookbook has a recipe for New Years Cookies, but there were a few things about the recipe that had me concerned. First of all, I didn't know what a cake of yeast was. Apparently that is how you used to buy yeast, but they don't usually sell it that way anymore. Secondly, it didn't give the exact number of cups of flour needed for the recipe. Since this was my first time making New Years Cookies, I knew I wouldn't be able to eye ball the right amount of flour and I didn't want them to be rock hard.

Luckily my mom had one of the best recipes for New Year's Cookies which comes from Arlene Rempel (Carol Janzen's mother). This is the recipe used at the Nebraska MCC Sale.

New Year's Cookies
- Microwave 1/4 cup water for 10 seconds

- Dissolve 2 1/2 tsp yeast in water
- Stir and let set 5 minutes
- In a large bowl beat 5 eggs and 3/4 cup sugar with whisk
- Add 3 Tbl melted margarine, 2 1/2 cups warm milk (heat milk in microwave for 2 minutes), 2 cups flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 2 1/2 tsp salt.
- Add yeast mixture and 5 cups flour (you will need to switch to a spoon at this point because the dough becomes very thick)
- Stir in 3 cups raisins
- Cover and let rise in a warm place until double ( about 1 hour)
- Heat oil to 350 degrees
- Use a larger cookie scoop and drop into hot oil
- Let drip on paper towel once cooked
- If the middle is doughy, turn down the temperature
- While warm role in sugar or glaze
- For glace, mix 2 cups powdered sugar with 1/3 cup hot water

I have to admit, yeast scares me. I actually thought I had killed my yeast because it took a while for my dough to rise, but in the end I just needed some patience.

This is the yeast after five minutes, before you pour it in the other ingredients. You know the yeast is working if it is bubbling and foamy on top.

I actually made raisin and apple New Year's Cookies because we like some variety.

If you dip your scoop in the oil first it won't stick to the dough as much.

Make sure you check one of the first cookies to make sure the middle isn't doughy.