Portugal and Viking Cruise on the Rhine

We flew to Amsterdam Thursday night and had a connecting flight to Lisbon. Our first flight was delayed, and because we hadn't booked the flights through the same airline/together, we had to figure out new flights to Lisbon and pay for them (there goes an extra $1,200). Oh well, we made it to Lisbon, picked up our rental car, found the AirBnB and secured groceries for breakfast. Meg and Ben landed and joined us a few hours later. Now it was 11 PM on Friday and folks were hungry, so Meg and Ben looked up the doner kebab neighborhood on Google Maps. The streets were filled with young people drinking and carousing- it almost had a Bourbon Street vibe.

Waiting for our food outside of Hunger Station. Andy ordered the "Big Daddy"

On Saturday, we started with a Rick Steves' self-guided tour, then Andy hired a tuk tuk to take us around with a driver that cracked jokes and disparaged the traditional Fado music style.

Checking out the local seafood displays

Santa Justa lift

Our tuk tuk driver

We enjoyed late afternoon coffee/happy hour at Ludo's where we first tried (and loved) vinho verde. 

Ludo's

We stumbled into a parade celebrating different kinds of ceremonial masks.

Back at the AirBnB, Andy opted to rest and the three of us walked to Manteigaria for the local pastéis de nata. We ended up standing in front of the glass bakery area watching the bakers for almost 45 min, mesmerized. During that time we had to go back for a second round of the warm and delicious custard tarts.

Our first batch

Our second batch

When we got back to the AirBnB, Andy had researched a good restaurant for dinner, and we enjoyed delicious grilled fish, as well as a pitcher of vinho verde on tap.

Two orders of "mixed grilled fish for two" at Duque

On Sunday we packed our things into the rental car and started to head north out of Lisbon, stopping at the Ancient Art Museum.

We all have a great appreciation for Hieronymus Bosch 

We drove to Belem, where we admired the Belem Tower and the Jeronimos monastery (from the outside as the lines were hours-long) and tested the quality of the pastéis de nata in Belem.

Belem tower

Jeronimos Monastery

pastéis de nata in Belem

We drove on to Ericeira, where we stayed in an AirBnB with a view of the ocean. The Vikings were playing at Noon in the US (6PM for us) so we went to the grocery store and bought hamburger patties, frozen french fries, salad and (of course) Magnum ice cream bars. I cooked and we enjoyed the game.

AirBnB balcony

Monday we drove to Sintra where we toured the National Palace and the Moorish Castle. In the afternoon we hit the beach where the three joined a couple of volleyball games. We ate a lovely dinner with a variety of small dishes.

Sintra National Palace

Moorish castle, high up on a mountain

Beach volleyball

I'm mid-bite from a delicious assortment of dishes at Caminito

Tuesday dawned gray and rainy, so Andy postponed our planned kayak tour. We drove to Obidos, letting Meg and Ben out of the car a few miles outside of town so they could run in and meet us. Obidos is charming and completely encircled by its medieval walls.

Obidos Castle, now serving as a hotel

Strolling up on the city walls

The weather on Wednesday wasn't improved, so we ultimately cancelled the kayak excursion (I booked a food tour in Porto instead). We packed up and drove to Porto, stopping in Batalha for coffee, pastéis de nata and a tour of the monastery.

Batalha Monastery, built between 1386 and 1517

After a 3-hour drive, we arrived to our AirBnB in Porto. We explored Porto a bit and had dinner at Cafe Ceuta.

Cod- very popular in Portugal

Our food tour started at 10 on Thursday and included these stops:

1. A small family-owned restaurant where we were served cod cakes, a bifana pork sandwich and Super Bock beer
2. A coffee house where we each had a pastel da nata and a coffee
3. The restored covered market Mercado do Bolhão where we tried olive oils from both the Douro and Alentejo regions
4. An old-school shop, Casa Natal, where we were served platters of cheeses, 3 kinds of cured meats, pumpkin jam on bread, fresh figs stuffed with walnuts and a glass of vinho verde
5. Another shop, A Favorita do Bolhao, where we tried white, tawny and ruby ports

   

   Mercado do Bolhão

   
   
   

White, tawny and ruby ports

When the food tour ended, we went back to the market and bought fruit, meats and cheeses for our own "board" dinner back at the AirBnB after some time on the beach.

Enjoying the sunset

Friday we drove to the Douro Valley, stopping for coffee at Amarante. We arrived at our first winery hungry and learned most don't serve food, so we headed to the nearby town of Largo da Videira for sustenance and then stopped at two wineries. I'd booked us for a grape stomping experience at the second one, which turned out to be goofy fun.

Amarante

The views were beautiful

Quinta da Bomfim

Grape stomping at Quinta da Pacheca

Saturday we slept in a bit, then packed up and left the AirBnB at 11. We had a little time to kill before getting to the airport, so it was back to the beach where we watched a surfing competition for a bit then lucked into a few more volleyball matches. We dropped the kids at the airport for their flight to Amsterdam then returned the rental car and caught our EasyJet flight to Basel.

Andy and I enjoyed exploring Basel on Sunday, including climbing to the top of the Basel Munster, going to the art museum, and hunting down some apple strudel before getting on the Viking Hlin cruise ship at about 4 PM.

Basel Munster

Basel Town Hall

We were immediately impressed with how the Viking ship was designed. There were 188 passengers and an extremely friendly group of staff. We enjoyed our first dinner, and the food on the entire cruise was very good.

Monday we started the morning with an excursion to the Black Forest, including a short hike to some waterfalls and demonstrations for cuckoo clocks (Andy had to buy one, of course) and black forest cake.

Black Forest-Hofgut Sternen Village

In the afternoon we took a second excursion to the medieval village of Colmar.

Colmar

That evening, we joined a music trivia game on the ship. We made a team consisting of 4 couples- us, two from Australia, two from New Zealand, and a Mormon couple from Utah. We ended up winning the game, and divided the prizes of a box of chocolate, a coffee mug and some gin. The Mormons told us to take the gin. They took the mug, and indicated they would use if for hot chocolate as they don't drink coffee.

On Tuesday, we did a "Strasbourg from the top" excursion which included an overview of the complex geopolitical history of Strasbourg, a detailed explanation of the amazing astrological clock within the cathedral and a climb up the cathedral platform. Our local guide was tremendous and we learned a lot. She recommended a local restaurant (Le Tire Bouchon) to have lunch and we wondered where Alsatian food had been all of our lives. 

Strasbourg Cathedral

Astrological clock

Beyond charming

Lunch- 5 kinds of meat served on sauerkraut- Andy's dream-come-true

Wednesday we took an excursion to Heidelberg. Our guide took us through Heidelberg castle, and our group had lunch with two students from Heidelburg University. We had a lively chat with Brian from a small town in Italy, studying space engineering.

Heidelberg Castle

Lunch with fellow cruisers and Brian the student

Thursday morning we cast off at about 9 AM and started the cruise up the middle Rhine, filled with small towns, vineyards and castles. It was cold and windy, and Andy was able to get blankets from the crew so we could stay up on the sundeck for the views of castle after castle.

Map of the sites along the Middle Rhine

In the afternoon, we went on excursion to Marksburg Castle.

Friday we had an engaging tour of Cologne from a local guide, climbed to the top of the cathedral and went to the Chocolate Museum.

We climbed the tower, 533 steps, 25 years after first climbing it

Coffee break, more apple strudel

Chocolate Museum- no regrets with this stop

Viking menu- the right side changed every day

Our final cruise day, Saturday, we spent in Kinderdijk. We took an excursion to a local dairy farm that makes gouda, then toured a windmill preservation park. 

Sunday morning we disembarked in Amsterdam at 6AM, took a taxi to the airport and flew home. 

It was a magnificent trip.

Gauze Wrap with Reverse Applique

This project was conceived from two recent creative sparks. The first is our trip to Japan, during which I saw some great multi-ply quilted cotton gauze spa towels that were glorious to touch. The second inspiration was checking out a few books from the library about the Alabama Chanin design aesthetic. I decided a multi-ply gauze scarf with some stenciling and reverse applique would be a great project to try both. It occurred to me that reverse applique in a woven rather than a knit was a questionable choice with potential fraying, but I also thought the fabric paint might help to limit fraying.

I bought 2 yards of cotton bubble gauze (58" wide, $10) and decided the final scarf would be 3 ply, and about 12" wide by 72" long. I bought two bottles of RIT dye ($6) at the craft store and proceeded to dye the inner panel lighter gray and the outer two panels darker gray. I heated the water to a simmer and let them soak in the dye for a full 30 min, but the dark gray fabric has some mild mottling. It's not significantly noticeable, but I would use a higher-quality dye next time. After dying, I washed, air-dried and pressed the fabric.

One of the Alabama Chanin books had a "bloomer" stencil sample in it, and I traced the sample onto a sheet of 6 mil mylar (pack of 10 sheets, 12" X 24" on Amazon for $14) and cut it out with a craft knife. I applied acrylic paint through the stencil by pouncing with a stencil brush. 

I used a large embroidery hoop and medium-weight sashiko thread that I bought in Japan. I stitched a running stitch around all of the stenciled edges, then carefully cut away the top layer of fabric. 

One side done

On the first side, I accidentally cut through both layers a couple of times, so on the second side I pre-cut slits into the top layer before any stitching (this would be even easier to do next time before basting the two layers together). I did my best to repair these areas with fusible interfacing and small stitches. Once I'd stitched around, and while it was still in the hoop, I used a long serger tweezers to lift up and tug the top layer so it could be more safely cut away, but this is still a bit of an arduous process. The second side went faster, and it was helpful to have the pre-cut slits to start with.

2024 Camping Retro

We love the convenience of storing the camper at the State Fair, but they give you a pickup time window (this year at 10:30 on Wed April 3) that you just have to make work. We made it work.

First up was back to Whitewater state park the last weekend of April. We made the chicken and parsnip stew cooked in beer again- so delicious. It rained on Sunday so we left early. April camping is dicey with the weather, but we're so eager to get out there.

Lunch at Whitewater

Chicken and parsnip stew with carrots and celery

The trim on the ceiling was coming down in the same spot as last year. Last year the dealer fixed a few things for us including this trim but for some reason it was sagging again. I used a toothpick to work epoxy under the bowing area, then got creative with our extendable window washing wand to apply pressure to the epoxy for 3 days. I actually had to do this twice, because I don't think I used quite enough glue the first time and it sagged again after a couple of weeks. 

Gluing loose ceiling trim

For Memorial Day, we went to Lac Qui Parle state park in western MN for the first time. It's in the prairie, so not a lot of trees. We were up on a bluff which was quite windy (which turned out to be a benefit because there were so many mosquitos and the wind helped keep them away). Andy did a little kayak fishing in the sag area of the lake, and I tried to hammock, but it was so windy we both had to bail. We had Sat dinner in Montevideo because Andy was suddenly craving broasted chicken. We decided to leave early Sunday afternoon to get home so Andy could continue with his garden-building project and so we could watch the Wolves v. Mavs playoffs game with Will and Cara (we lost the 3rd game in a row). On the way home, we stopped and toured Historic Chippewa City in Montevideo. It's a little recreated village with 24 historic buildings moved there. The nice lady let us take Harriet with us.

Peach crisp

June 21-23 we went to Rice Lake State Park for the first time. It's only 53 miles away, near Owatonna. We've been in a real rainy jag, and it was forecast to rain over the weekend but since we weren't going far, we decided to go for it and we could always return home if it got bad. We ate dinner at home Friday then got there and set up camp and turned in just before it started raining. On Sat, we tried to take a walk, all of the trails were very muddy and even partially submerged. There isn't a lot to do in this park, but there are a lot of nice trees in the campsites. Sat afternoon I drove to Faribault for the 1 PM tour of the Faribault Woolen Mill, Andy stayed back and had a fire and a roasted hotdog before the rain came. Sat evening we ate a wonderful dinner at the Hubbell House, which opened in 1854 in Mantorville while the dog waited patiently in the car (it was not hot out). We left right after breakfast on Sunday, and came home to wash the muddy dog, camper and car.

The usual blueberry pancakes

Mudpit Harriet

Over Labor Day weekend (Aug 30-Sep 2) we enjoyed another stay at Cascade State Park. We spent Sat in Grand Marais where we ate lunch at Hungry Hippie Tacos, got donuts at World's Best, bought a Superior rock lamp at an outdoor craft fair, and took a guided walking tour put on by the local museum. Sat night we ate at Cascade Lodge, and Sunday we had a lazy day at the campground, hiking, taking a nap, reading in the hammock and cooking dinner over the fire. I tried making brownies for the first time, the bottom and edges got a bit burnt as the fire was so hot. Andy made dutch oven pork chops with mushrooms and a nice gravy.

Sour Cherries

Both of our cherry trees produced a lot of cherries this year, with the Northstar in mid June and the Evans Bali in late June/early July. We picked, pitted and froze cherries numerous time.

Tons of green cherries developing 

Pitting the cherries is time-consuming, but the pitter does work

Sour cherries are a nice addition with other fruit, such as in this peach and cherry crisp.

We've enjoyed this sour cherry crisp recipe in a 9X9" pan or deep pie plate.

For a small batch of cherry crisp in the smoker, in a 6" skillet:

• 8 oz frozen sour cherries
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp corn starch

Combine these in the 6" skillet, top with the blended crisp:

• 3 Tbsp rolled oats
• 3 Tbsp flour
• 2 1/2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp butter
• pinch salt

Smoke, covered with foil at 350 for 30 min, then remove foil and smoke another 20 min or so until the top is browned. Note- if making a larger batch in a 10" skillet, triple the crisp mix.

Our friend Dawn makes a great cherry cobbler in a 9X13" pan from a Thomas Keller recipe. I tried making a smaller batch in an 8" skillet reducing this recipe to 1/3, but it turned out too bready. Back to the drawing board on this one. 

Sour Cherry Jam

I halved this recipe, taking some liberties with the quantities. I started with 1 lb 11 oz frozen cherries, and started cooking them slowly in a saucepan until they were fairly hot, then added 3 Tbsp of my low-sugar pectin and brought it to a boil. I added 2 cups of sugar and returned to a boil and boiled 1 min. I took it off the heat and added about 2 Tbsp of amaretto liquor. This made about 3.5 pints of jam, which we froze to keep.

Greek Grill

A great summer dinner.

• 2-3 large lemons
• 2 large garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 tsp fresh thyme or 3/4 tsp dried
• kosher salt, black pepper, Cavender's Greek Seasoning
• 1/4 c olive oil
• 2-3 lbs boneless chicken, cut into 1.5" cubes
• 1 c plain yogurt
• 3 Tbsp chopped fresh mint, plus more for garnish
• 1/4 c finely chopped cucumber (peeled and seeded)
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 med red bell pepper, cut in 1" squares
• 1 med yellow bell pepper, cut in 1" squares
• Pita bread
• Crumbled feta

Grate the lemon peel to yield 2 tsp zest and juice the lemons to yield 1/4 c juice. Add garlic, thyme, salt, pepper and Cavender's. Whisk in 1/4 c olive oil. Use this to marinate chicken 2-6 hours in fridge, bring to room temperature 30 min before grilling. Skewer the chicken, alternating with peppers (if using wooden skewers soak them first). Brush lightly with olive oil and grill on all sides, about 8 min. Place pitas on grill to toast slightly, about 2 min per side.

To make the cucumber sauce, combine yogurt, cucumber, mint, cumin and 1/2 tsp kosher salt. We like to add minced garlic, as well. Serve with crumbled feta on the side.

Food on Boards

We entertain family and friends pretty frequently, and I've been searching for new ideas beyond our usuals. I stumbled into a trend of serving more than just charcuterie on boards and was immediately intrigued. Of course, many of the pictures are stunning and make you want to try it.

Round serving boards are expensive, so I opted for this 24" diameter ottoman tray at World Market for $45 and gave it two coats of polyacrylic to make sure it's food safe. I also bought two rectangular boards off FB Marketplace (because once I started looking I couldn't help myself). I got a couple of cookbooks from the library and bought a couple.

Chocolate fondue

First up,, I made chocolate fondue (doubling this recipe) with cocoa krispie bars, pound cake from Costco, fruit,, potato chips, marshmallows and shortbread cookies.

Next came the taco board with two kinds of refried beans, rice, corn, etc.

Digging into the taco board

Then came the cobb salad board.

No doubt more to come.

Volleyball viewing party, Nov 2025