Going underground FOR SCIENCE!

Over Labor Day weekend, I took Jay on the grand Northern MN tour, including a place that I had never been to before but have been wanting to see ever since I found out about: Soudan Underground Mine State Park. It's a mine! That you can tour!  But wait, it gets better.  There's also a physics lab!  It turns out that the best place to study neutrinos is as far away from cosmic radiation as you can get, which just happens to be underground. And there just happened to be a retired mine in a convenient location for FermiLab to shoot neutrinos at. And so the University of Minnesota built a massive neutrino detector there. In the photo above, we're looking at the back of the detector. There's also a pretty fantastically detailed neutrino-themed mural on the right side.  The neutrino experiment is pretty much done now, and they're moving onto to other experiments that can utilize the unique location. 

We had to leave my place at 5 AM to get there in time for the tour, which was totally worth it.  We wore hard hats and rode in a mineshaft elevator and learned about physics!  

Ah...wee vacation

Enjoyed a long weekend in the Apostle Islands with my parents.  We left from Bayfield, WI, sailed to Stockton Island, did some hiking through muddy trails, got eaten by bugs, went for a swim in Lake Superior, killed some flies, drank some chocolate martinis, spilled some chocolate martinis, went for a cleansing dip in the lake, ate some burgers...and that was just Saturday.  :^)  

On Sunday we sailed over to Raspberry Island for another muddy, buggy hike and walked around the lighthouse grounds. It was awesome.  I could have done without the bugs, though.  I was their favoritest human snack ever. I even sprayed myself with a hefty coating of DEET before the hikes.  Still ended up covered in welts of various sizes, thanks to the mosquitoes and various breeds of biting flies.  I'm still itching today. 

Still, in the Apostles Island covered in bug bites is better than being not there.  :^)

For the 6th time, I completed the MS 150 bike ride, which is really closer to 146 miles, but at that point I'm not really complaining about being shorted...

Last year's ride was horrific.  I'm pretty sure I've told the gory tales to everybody by now, so let's just never mind that...

This year was a piece of cake in comparison.  Saturday was beautiful biking weather.  I arrived in Hinckley (the overnight stop) the earliest I think I ever have, allowing ample time to set up my tent and relax with some boxed wine courtesy of my team before the speeches/awards/team photo.  

Sunday was a bit rougher.  It rained all day and was rather cold with about a 12-15 mph headwind (nothing compared to last years 20-25 mph headwind), but conditions were ripe for hypothermia.  A lot of people were not able to complete the ride due to the cold. I used a hand dryer to warm my feet at the lunch stop in North Branch.   I made it to the last rest stop still intact and was excited because the last segment is basically a victory lap.  It's only 7 miles long, whereas most segments are 12-15 miles long.  Should be easy!  I was so close! Foreshadowing! 

So, my rear tire went flat about 2 miles from the finish line.  It was my first flat of the entire ride.  I was going to walk it, but a SAG Wagon pulled up after a few blocks of walking, so I got in and took the van to the finish line.  A bit anticlimactic, but I finished (mostly)! 

Framing ALL the things

Whew! I finally have all of my flat-things-that-should-be-on-walls from JoCo Cruise Crazy 3 framed.  Okay, so it's only two things, but you'd be surprised how onerous framing is. 

Part of the problem is that the items I have are rather weird shapes, so regular frames weren't really going to work. 

The first one was so large and wide that I knew it would be a custom-framing job.  I waited until I saw a sale on the same and finally had it done.  Behold! My signed-by-most-of-the-performers-plus-Anne-Wheaton Crazy Water House poster!

The second was much easier to accomplish. The group photo on the pool deck, while some weirdo dimensions like 8x11.75, was poorly cropped enough that I wouldn't be missing anything important by putting it behind an 8x10 mat.  I saw this shadow box and was excited that I would be able to include my JCCC3 challenge coin and dice with the photo! I could have included my totem animal as well (one of a variety of different animals was included in each attendee tote bag) if I had been anything less substantial than a moose with a giant moose rack.  But I'm still happy with the way this turned out.  :^)

Salad, Midwest-style

Jell-o salad comes in many forms. This is ours. 

"Oh, shoot. I bought the wrong pudding for my jell-o salad."

Shortly after I said this to myself last night, I realized how strange it must sound to anybody who wasn't raised believing that gelatin is what makes food a salad and that all dinners should be baked in a 9x13" pan covered for 40 minutes and then uncovered for 10 minutes. 

Jell-O Salad is a regional phenomenon that you will find at every Lutheran and Methodist potluck in the Midwest.  Wikipedia tells me that the Mormons must be having some killer potlucks, because Jell-O salad can also be found in Utah. 

There are so many variations on Jell-O salad.  Some are common, others less so.  Every family seems to have their own preferred Jell-O salad.  I liken it to a family crest. A gelatinous family crest.  Pudding, Cool Whip, and canned or frozen fruit are common additions to the Jell-O base.  I have never encountered a Jell-O salad with actual vegetables, but James Lilek's Gallery of Regrettable Food suggests that these did at one time exist in the '70s.  Thank goodness the '70s are long gone, because that just sounds crazy!  You can't put vegetables in a Jell-O salad!

Pictured above is the Mandarin Orange Jell-O salad, which contains two kinds of pudding.  My family also has a rather fancy three-layer jell-o salad.  It has a crust and cream cheese and everything!  Why, if the third layer didn't contain Jell-O, it would practically be a dessert.  But, lo! It is not.  Jell-O salad is always a side dish, right alongside mashed potatoes and corn (it's important to get your starch; long winter ahead, you see). 

Oh, and don't worry.  I had a box of the correct pudding at home all along. Phew! Crisis averted!

JCCC3 Photo Book

JoCo Cruise Crazy 3: Day 7

The final day on the boat. :^(  Fortunately there was too much to do to think about the fact that we would have to go home soon! The one problem that I have with JoCo Cruise Crazy is that there is just too much stuff to do!  The official stuff, the unofficial stuff, the unofficial official stuff!  And every bit of it is worth attending, but you can't attend it all! Before departing on JCCC3, I had already come to terms with the fact that I was just going to have to miss out on things.  There was no way to do everything and still sleep (and trust me, me not sleeping would have not been fun for anybody). Even if you were to not sleep, there are often 3 or 4 completely equally awesome things happening at the same time. So getting over "missing out" is something you have to do if you're going to go on a JoCo Cruise Crazy. 

When I learned that David Rees would be teaching pencil sharpening on the last day of the cruise, however, I knew that it didn't matter what else was going on at that time.  I had to be there. I have a pencil that David Rees sharpened for me on JCCC2, and, while I can't promise that I would remember to grab it in case of a fire, it is certainly a beloved possession. So I was excited.  

We made time for one last brief dip in the cantilevered hot tubs that had become one of our favorite spots.  I'm presuming to speak for Jay here, but it was certainly one of my favorite places to not do anything at all.  Brief, though, because I spotted Wil and Anne Wheaton on the pool deck and I didn't yet have Wil's autograph on my poster.  I always feel bad interrupting the famous people when they're just trying to hang out and relax, but I did what any determined person would do.  I asked Jay to ask Wil for his autograph on my poster.  ;^)  I did summon up the courage to ask Anne for her autograph, though.  Because, and I think these were my exact words, "you're funny on Twitter."  So I have Anne Wheaton's autograph on my JCCC3 poster.  I'm missing some of the actual performers, but I have the funny Twitter lady! As an aside, I don't even follow Wil on Twitter. I kind of feel bad about that now.  They're both lovely people.  Like all of the performers on any JCCC, really.  The entertainers are a bunch of highly talented, very friendly, down-to-earth people. 

Oh!  Pencil sharpening! I was so excited about having almost asked a famous person for their autograph that I nearly forgot! We hung around the appointed location with about 10 other people grasping unsharpened pencils determinedly until we finally spotted David Rees.  It was far too windy outside for pencil-sharpening, so we went on a search for an interior location that would work well for us. On this, the seventh day of the cruise, we almost came to regret joining the Elevator Temperance Brigade.  We started on deck 11, went down to deck 5, and then up to deck 14.  The stair people still arrived before the elevator people.  :^)  And we'd found ourselves a relatively vacant bar with ample seating and tables.  David handed out box cutters and sand paper and began the tutorial.  We were also treated to a rather colorful tale of why he'd been a touch slow to get started that morning.  It involved chairs and injuries and mayonnaise that nobody could explain.  By the end, we had beautifully sharpened pencils, using just a box cutter and 200-grit sandpaper!

Beautiful pencil tips!

That evening's concert featured John Hodgman and Jonathan Coulton. Judge John Hodgman laid down the law where internet temptation and dishwasher loading were concerned.  It seems that David Rees' (founder and avid adherent of the WiFi Temperance Brigade) friend and cruise cabinmate had tricked him into viewing something on the internet!  For shame! The court found in David's favor, for the court is a reasonable man. 

Or is he? For the court also sided with the wife of Jonathan Coulton, who insists that silverware be loading into the dishwasher caddy according to type.  I have to question the sanity of a man who rules in favor of nested flatware. It will never be clean.  IT WILL NEVER BE CLEAN!

Judge John Hodgman: mad man? 

During the intermission, I went outside on the deck to look at SURPRISE! NASSAU! Earlier in the day, it had been announced that we had all the engines at full power heading straight to Nassau, Bahamas to drop off a passenger with a medical emergency.  We were in port for about 45 minutes, engines running, using the side thrusters to stay next to the dock so that the passenger could be unloaded without us needing to tie up. According to passengers on the other ship in port, we were long gone before the ambulance with the passenger had departed for the hospital.  A quick stop, but I did catch some nice photos of Nassau before heading back down to the rest of the concert. 

What little I saw of Nassau. 

Slight deviation in our course.

There were so many great parts in Jonathan Coulton's set.  There was the Fancy Pants Parade, Scarface singing Skullcrusher Mountain, the Helper Monkeys being invited up to sing Code Monkey...so much goodness. 

The fanciest pants that ever were!

The best, and most bittersweet part, however, was all of the performers singing Sloop John B, just as they did last year.  It's a great way to end the last concert (song starts at around 3:20).

We had our final dinner with Nenad as our waiter, where he sang Happy Birthday to Mike Phirman for one final time, with his pretty fantastic voice. 

Nenad was the best!

Later that night was a complimentary cocktail hour to close out JCCC3.  I'd still not managed to find John Roderick to sign my poster and had all but given up hope when Angela spotted him and came running at me "JOHN RODERICK! I FOUND JOHN RODERICK! COME QUICKLY!" Those may have not been her exact words, but the sentiment was received.  I went out to join the line of a few people patiently awaiting his autograph.  He not only signed my poster, but drew little puffs of smoke coming out of the smoke stack on the boat.  They are my most favorite puffs of smoke ever!  

With my Five Fingers, naturally. 

I can't believe how much happened on the last day.  I can't believe how much fun was packed into one little week.  And I definitely can't wait until next year!

Adieu! 

JoCo Cruise Crazy 3: Day 6

The cruise is winding down now.  Just two sea days until we would be back in Florida.  :^(

We tried to keep thoughts of reality and the return thereto at bay and enjoy the last couple of days on the boat. 

First with some free hot chocolate on the Promenade.  

Jay is showing off the many features of his NOT MY D90.

Then with some swimming.

I'm holding Jay's camera above a giant bucket of water.
He may or may not be really nervous right now.

Before the concert, I decided that it was imperative that I go over to Analog Yelp to  review the onboard ice cream establishment "Sprinkles," which is named a bunch of LIES.

It gets one star, but I gave it the second star because it is,
after all, still ice cream. 

That afternoon's concert featured Randall Munroe of the web comic XKCD, the Doubleclicks, and Wil Wheaton. 

Randall Munroe treated us to a presentation based on a story from earlier that week of John Roderick stealing and crashing his father's plane when he was a teenager in Alaska. Randall calculated what Roderick's fate would have been on the other celestial bodies in our solar system. SPOILERS: Roderick dies a lot. 

John Roderick does not fare well on Venus. 

I'd not seen the Doubleclicks before.  They're a talented duo of sisters who play the guitar and cello and make delightfully geeky music.  They have a song that makes fun of people who yell "Freebird" at musicians.  And I was of course sitting next to the smart-ass who thought he should yell "Freebird" during this song.  Oh, the shame. 


Wil did his typical routine that is a combination of heart-warming and hysterical.  And now I know what would have happened if Robocop were a 1980s sitcom. Oh, that Robocop!

We were able to catch a nice sunset from our room before dinner, now that we were heading northward.  And thanks to Jay being super awesome (Freebird-ing aside) and/or insane, I took photos of it using his Nikon D5100, which he let me use for the rest of the trip, perhaps in an effort to see what sort of fancy replacement camera I would buy him when I no doubt dropped his overboard. 

I miss you most of all!

That evening was the second and final formal night for dinner, so we got all gussied up minus the fezzes this time. 

After dinner, there was Super Sekrit Movie Night by the pool, the one time that I will give a pass to the giant annoying screen on the pool deck.  Fun was had, geeky cinema was watched, and I even managed to spot Randall Munroe and got him to sign my poster.  A super end to a super day.  :^)

JoCo Cruise Crazy 3: Day 5

On Valentine's Day, we docked in Sint Maarten, the Dutch side of the island.  The French side is spelled Saint Martin, if you're concerned about island spelling. 

I was really excited to see a Holland America ship when we arrived in St. Maarten.  Zooming in confirmed that it was the Westerdam in the port, which is the boat that I was on last year on JoCo Cruise Crazy 2!  

Still love the blue hulls, even if the average passenger age is 82.

We queued up to get off the ship extra early that day, given our experience the previous day. While in line, we met Jen, who I only knew from internetting with Sea Monkeys.  It was great to finally be able to meet her in person! Hooray for name tags!

No, the fisheye lens isn't getting old anytime soon.

We had booked a tour on the island separately from the ship excursions through Bernard's Tours.  I'd read good reviews on the internet, and knew that they went to both Orient and Maho beaches.  I really wanted to see both of those places and there wasn't a ship excursion that went to both of them.  Booking the island tour through Bernard's was only marginally more expensive than taking  cabs would have been.  We boarded our bus and were greeted by our guide for the day, named "Sexy," who I had read about on the internet, but not in a creepy way.  He had an excellent knowledge of the island and shared interesting facts as he drove.  

Our first stop was to see some iguanas. From pictures on the internet, I was guessing it was just a bunch of dirt with some iguanas, but apparently they have been working on turning it into a proper park and have been putting a lot of effort into landscaping and fencing.  It looks like it's going to be very nice when it's finished.  As promised, there were quite a few iguanas.  The guide fed them iceberg lettuce. 

Technically touching the iguana, but only technically. 

In addition to iguanas, there were quite a few ducks and roosters, which seem to be strangely common in the Caribbean.  

I am such a badass.

Our next stop was brief, at a scenic overlook.  As promised, it was scenic.  

I was pleased to see the clouds were largely clearing off by the time we got to Orient Beach.  We spent about 1.5 hours here, which was a good amount of time to enjoy the beach.  For $10 we had the use of two beach chairs, and umbrella, and received one drink each.  It's not a Caribbean island until somebody has handed you a rum punch.  It rained for about 10 minutes toward the end of our stay and the bathrooms ran out of water (which of course precludes toilets flushing), but the beach itself was beautiful.  

We hopped back in the bus and were driven to plaza-type place that had a pastry shop that our guide recommended (at times we wondered what kind of kick-backs the tour company gets from all the places they took us to, but they were all quality places so I really can't complain).  We were hungry after the beach, so decided to take him up on his recommendation. 

As promised, the pastries were very good. 

Finally, it was time for the entire reason that Jay bought a fisheye lens and what I'd been ecstatic about seeing since I first learned that we were going to St. Maarten: Maho Beach!  The airport on the island is directly across the street from the beach, so approaching planes are flying very low.  Mostly smaller planes fly in, but they do get a few large jets every day.  Our guide had timed the visit so that we would be able to see a flight from Air France arrive.   There were a few planes before the Air France jet, including a Delta jet, so we were able to get quite a few shots.  It was awesome.  The ones that Jay took with the fisheye lens are fantastic. 

Boring lens, but exciting airplane!

After about a 7-hour tour, we were back at the ship.  After, of course, stopping at a little souvenir shop by the port where they had KINDER EGGS!!  And I did stuff my pockets full of choke-y chocolates that are banned in the U.S.  As I didn't particularly want to find out how serious the U.S. is about the $300 Kinder Egg fine, rest assured, they were consumed before we arrived back in the U.S.  And nobody choked to death even a little bit. 

I like to toe lines like that. 

Not only is that a semi-appropriate segue, but it's also the last photo that I took with my camera before dropping it on the concrete pier.  After dropping my camera, it took photos like this one: 

It's artistic, I guess. 

My camera has been sent off to hopefully be repaired.  Jay was kind enough to lend me his Canon point-and-shoot camera. 

Due to not having a camera that could take good low-light photos of movement, I don't have any pictures of that night's concert, which featured Joseph Scrimshaw and Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett.  All performers were great.  It was the first time that I had seen Scrimshaw because his show on the previous cruise was a late-night  thing and I get very eyes-closed-and-dead-to-the-world after about 10 PM, so I was glad to be able to see him this year.  Incidentally, all of the performers from that night are Minnesotans.  :^)

That night, we returned to find that our room steward had gone all out for the Valentine's Day towel animal!

Aw!

JoCo Cruise Crazy 3: Day 4

Busy day!  We docked in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, but not until 11 AM or so, which means there was a morning to pack full of stuff, and boy was it ever!

We decided to do room service breakfast because our day was packed from 8 AM on.  It was a little tricky to figure out how the menu worked.  Apparently "1 toast" literally meant one slice of toast gingerly wrapped in a napkin on a plate, under a plate cover, which probably has a name.  On the other hand, "1 pastry plate" meant 4 pastries.  I ordered eggs, which turned out to be smart, for it would be a while before we would see food again. [FORESHADOWING]

First we had the group photo up on the pool deck.  One of my least favorite features of the ship was the giant blaring TV behind the pool that prevented us from being able to hear anything the photographer said.  This is why I tended to prefer the adults-only Solarium pool and hot tubs-- no obnoxious TV to get in the way of swimming in a pool on a boat in the middle of the Caribbean Sea.  I was never even cognizant of what was actually on the TV; it had the same aural effect as late-night infomercials. 

So yes, the photo.  It was taken.  At 8 AM.  I'm kind of surprised that so many people showed up, but it certainly wasn't all 700mumblemumble of us. 

At 9 AM, we had the entertainer Q&A, which is always a lot of fun.  And by "always" I mean "both times I've gone."  It basically extrapolates to always.  The Q&A started off with Wil Wheaton being almost-eaten by a horse. 

It was vicious. And nobody could stop it. 

David Rees led the Q&A by moderately ridiculing the question-askers and sometimes his fellow performers. There was a grumpy cat, which is about how anybody feels about being up at 8 AM on vacation. 

David Rees, suspiciously chipper at 9 AM.

Kevin Murphy, John Hodgman, John Roderick, Paul Sabourin, Jonathan Coulton, Storm DiCostanzo,
Bill Corbett, Joseph Scrimshaw, Wil Wheaton, Mike Phriman, Angela & Aubrey Webber  

Immediately after the Q&A, we stood in line to get off the ship in St. Thomas.  The line was ridiculous, and we had an excursion scheduled for 15 minutes after the ship was cleared to let people off.  I couldn't remember the ID requirements for the USVI, so I packed my passport card, but I'd forgotten to tell Jay to do the same, which I still feel bad about.   He went back for his ID, and it probably took him about 45 minutes (which is the amount of time that I use for something that is indeterminately long-ish).  Meanwhile, I had retrieved our wristbands from the person in charge of herding us to our excursion and received instructions that I may need to run.  When Jay finally got off the boat, it was about 5 minutes after everybody else had gone to the little boat that was going to ferry us to St. John.  I had a back-up plan (using the municipal ferry), but didn't particularly want to resort to that because we'd already paid for this! Fortunately, we made it onto the boat, slightly sweaty and grumpy, but we made it!

It was about a 40-minute ferry ride over to St. John, during which I'm sure the driver was telling us many fascinating things about the islands that we could not hear at all.  When we arrived at the island, the people who were on the Shopping/History tours left the boat and we were able to move up to the top to enjoy actual fresh air for our cruise up the coast.  The guide pointed out all the major beaches up the coast of St. John, which was handy in deciding what to do later. We also learned about some hiking trails, which sounded wonderful if I was inclined to go hiking in mountains in 80 degree heat.  Which I was not.  

After the coastal tour, we were let off next to the National Parks visitor center for about 3 hours of free time.  So, yes, this was my ulterior motive in the excursion to St. John.  In my quest to visit ALL the national parks, I can now cross the Virgin Islands National Park off my list.  :^)

Oh, did I mention that we hadn't eaten a single morsel of food since breakfast at 7 AM and it was now about 1 PM?  We walked a few blocks and found a nice deli-type place with some nice drinkie-type things. 

Worst best pun ever.  Also, the root beer was tasty. 

Ah.  Much improved.  :^)  We started looking for a cab to Trunk Bay after lunch, and apparently had the lost look of people with money in need of transportation to exchange it for, so that took all of about 15 seconds.  We were assured that not only was she a taxi, but she was the best taxi on the whole island!  Taxis in St. John appeared to be universally pick-up trucks with the beds modified to have three benches and a canopy.  Shortly after we left, she picked up three women who spent the entire ride complaining about how she was going too fast and was too close to the center line and was too close to the edge of the road and they felt like they were going to die and wanted to get out.  We were glad to be rid of them when we exited the taxi in Trunk Bay. 

I was really excited to go to Trunk Bay because I'd read about their snorkel trail with underwater signage and beautiful coral and tons of pretty fish.  Unfortunately, the snorkel trail was closed that day due to rough surf.  Considering the ouchiness of rocks and coral, I wasn't too inclined to ignore the closure.  I was a little bummed, but we were assured by some men leaving that the beach and water were still fantastic and worth the $4 admission fee. 

Oh, and it was. 

There couldn't have been more than 15 people on the beach.  It was fabulous.  We spent an hour frolicking in the waves, ingesting more than a little salt water, and generally having a good time.  Definitely worth it; St. John is a place I would love to spend more time exploring.  But alas, it was time to get a taxi back to our boat that would take us back to St. Thomas to our bigger boat before said bigger boat left without us. 

The sun was setting as we approached St. Thomas.  A beautiful end to a beautiful day. 

Our dinner seating was at 5:30 and I think we got back to the ship around 5 or so.  Not terribly inclined to get cleaned up for dinner, so we headed straight to the Windjammer buffet for food.  We caught the last glimpses of St. Thomas at night before we sailed away. 

I promise he's just tired, not grumpy.

JoCo Cruise Crazy 3, Day 3

Hooray!  Sea day!

After the hectic embarkation day and slightly less hectic day in the Bahamas, we had a relaxing morning/afternoon with nothing scheduled until the concert at 2 PM. 

After breakfast, where we were thankfully seated far from the Dreamworks Character Breakfast, we explored the ship a bit, ending up far aft on the sports deck, where the Flow Rider surf simulator resides.  I had not the slightest inclination to try it because I figured that being bruised and achy wouldn't make for a very fun rest of the cruise.  It was fun to watch, though!

Incidentally, also a great non-crowded place on the ship

I didn't photograph anything else before lunch, so I'm guessing that we suited up and went in the hot tub and/or the Grown Ups Pool. I probably had some ice cream from the poolside softserve machine, named Sprinkles.  It does not have sprinkles.  

Before we knew it, it was time for concert number 3! This one featured Mike Phirman, John Roderick, and Zoe Keating. 

Every day is Mike Phirman's birthday. Now I know why.

I bought Jay an album by the Long Winters, which is basically John Roderick, in advance of the cruise.  I think he liked it.  And I think he really liked Roderick live, because in between songs, he leaned over and asked "is anything he does NOT awesome?"  The answer is very much no. He does nothing not awesome.  We were also treated to a new song by John Roderick, which was a pretty great surprise.  And, of course, no show would be complete without Roderick Tunes Things.  

Tuning like a ROCK star

And then there was Zoe Keating.  Zoe plays the cello.  Understatement of the year.  What she does is make interwoven threads of magic waft from her cello that entrance you into losing yourself in her music. She records loops live and adds/substracts them using her computer.  It's so seamless that you wouldn't notice that she was doing it live unless somebody told you first.

She's a magician!

We had a little time after the concert to stop by the 24/7 JCCC3 game room and peruse the various offerings and signage.  One of my favorite additions this year was analog Yelp.  Here are some of my favorites.  And you'd better believe I reviewed "Sprinkles," land of NO sprinkles!

"A Waste of Cool Whip."

"Technically it's food."
If you added enough crushed pepper, you didn't have to feel the pizza in your mouth.

Dinner was decidedly more food-like than the promenade pizza. Whenever a cold soup is offered on a cruise ship, I take it.  They're almost always delicious.  

Kind of like if melted ice cream were the salad course

The vegetarian fare so far was impressive, and Tuesday night was no exception. 

Spinach-stuffed shells

Finally, the only reason that anybody ever eats dinner (or maybe it's just me), dessert.  It was like a meringue except not except yes.  I don't know, it was fantastic. 

And pretty, too!