A Night Aboard the RMS Queen Mary

I am so excited to share this post with you.  Last week I was on a mini vacation with my family.  We took a three night cruise from Long Beach, California down to Ensenada, Mexico.  We decided to spent the night before the cruise aboard the stately Queen Mary which is permanently docked in Long Beach.

If traffic is good, we are less than an hour away from this beautiful ship.  The cruise terminal is right next door to the Queen Mary and a very short walk away.  I had heard a few stories about this ship which is now a floating hotel.  Some people said it was like an old outdated hotel, but to me it was an evening being transported back in time (obviously, they didn't appreciate history).

The Queen Mary was built in Scotland for the Cunard White Star Line and christened in 1936.  When the ship was retired in 1967, she was purchased by the City of Long Beach.  Since then she has been permanently docked at Long Beach.

We stayed on Deck B of the ship.  According to the historian on board, Deck B (and Deck M) would have been first class cabins.  These cabins had a steward and housekeeper and the picture above shows the buttons outside your cabin door that would light up when you called your steward/housekeeper.

Here one of the original fans in our cabin.  It's not in operable condition but I thought it was so neat that they kept it as part of the original decor.  Talking about original decor, here's a picture of the corner desk in our cabin, still intact with the original leather writing surface!

Can't you just image the stately ladies and gentlemen sitting at this desk and writing their correspondence on a long sea voyage?

Our cabin was almost in original condition.  My daughter and her family stayed in a cabin that had been modernized.  I was so happy that I got to stay in cabin that was still intact.  Talking about intact, here's some some photos of the bathroom's modern plumbing (just kidding):

And here's the toilet lever that is attached to the wall:

I'm surprised that this still works.  It sure isn't in code with California's water conservation but it was so much fun to see this contraption. After doing some research, I found out that Shanks company was based in Scotland.  The sink was also from Shanks.

The picture above is for the heating and cooling in the cabin. There were three of these units in our cabin.  From what I read, during the sea voyage if you turned the unit to "warmer" you would get air piped in from the boiler room. If you turned it to "cooler" you would get sea air.  Unfortunately, we only got tepid air from these units.  Luckily, we were able to open the two port hole windows in our cabin to allow some fresh air into our cabin.

Here's a photo of the "electric heater" original to the cabin.  The Cunard White Line incorporated these heaters into the plan of the ship to accommodate the North American passengers who were used to warm homes.

Above is a view of the hallway of Deck M on the ship.  The walls throughout the ship are lined with birds eye maple; beautiful wood that is still intact and in beautiful condition.  It was quite amazing at how large this ship was for it's time.  In fact, our cabin was larger than the balcony cabins we sail on now. (See paragraph at end of post for dimensions of the Queen Mary)

Here's a photo of the closet doors in our cabin.  The handles are original and are made of bakelite.  The hand railings in the hallways are also made of bakelite.  I understand that when the Queen Mary was sailing she was known for rocking about two and fro.  Hence, the need for hand railings.

We took a tour of the ship and saw some of the rooms not open to the public.  One of these was the First Class pool.  It's in the middle of the ship, below deck.  It was eerie to go in there at night and see the lights shining on an empty pool.  The pool today is not usable since the depth of the pool starts at six feet and goes to 12 feet.

One of my favorites was to walk along the promenade deck.  Sorry that I don't have a picture of the teak flooring that's still intact.  I could just see in my mind those ladies and gentlemen sitting on the lounge chairs breathing in the salty sea air.  

I forgot to say that my first impression of walking into the Queen Mary is literally like going back in time.  The beautiful woods and the art deco design really stands out.  There is a lovely observation bar that serves a great happy hour too.  If you are a fan of Mystery on PBS and watch Poirot, then you will love visiting the Queen Mary.  It's right in the same period of time.  The ship carried many famous people and royalty across the long ocean voyage.  It was so nostalgic and I thoroughly enjoyed my short time on board ship.

As I have mentioned, today the Queen Mary is a hotel.  To rate it as a hotel, then I would say it's good.  Our room had high quality hotel bedding and since no smoking is allowed, the room smelled fresh.  But, if you don't like old plumbing fixtures, fans that don't work and no air conditioning, then maybe it's not the hotel for you.  (My husband thought we were a bit nuts to want to stay here!)  But, I thoroughly enjoyed my time and would go back again in a flash.

Just to get an idea of how large a ship the Queen Mary is, here are some measurements of the Queen Mary vs. the Carnival Inspiration:
Length: Queen Mary 965 ft. LBP  - Carnival Inspiration 855 ft
Beam:   Queen Mary 118 ft - Carnival Inspiration 103.4 ft
Tonnage:  Queen Mary 81,237 GRT - Carnival Inspiration 70,367 GT
Passengers: Queen Mary 2,139 - Carnival Inspiration 2,054
Crew: Queen Mary 1,101 - Carnival Inspiration 920

I look at these numbers and I am amazed at the size of this ship for it's day.  And, the Queen Mary did a tremendous job of transporting the troops during World War II.  She was known as "The Grey Ghost" and carried more than 800,000 troops!

That's about all  I have to share today.  Sorry that I don't have anything "crafty" to share with you this week.  I did knit two different toddler sweaters that I can share in the next weeks.  They are a fun and fast pattern.  Which reminds me, do stop by Handmade Monday and check out some great ideas.

Have a wonderful week,

Pat

Knitted Lacy Leaf Scarf with Beads

Hi everyone.  I hope your New Year is off to a great start!  Sorry that I haven't written for awhile.  I sometimes run of ideas but today I will share with you a scarf that I just finished for a dear friend.

It's a lacy leaf scarf and the pattern is pretty simple.  It's a great starter project if you're a beginner to lace knitting.

 

The scarf used one skein of  Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool Yarn in Hunters Green 52.  I added some mint green Czech glass beads to the border of the scarf to dress it up a bit.  I used size 8 knitting needles.  

 

The yarn is just the right size so that the bead floats nicely on the yarn.  Here is the link to the pattern that I used.  I hope you will try this pattern as it was fun to knit.  

As you may know, we have had a warm winter down here in Southern California.  That's good and not so good as we do need some rain.  Here's a picture of one of our Bird of Paradise flowers:

 

The flowers on it are absolutely huge and the plant itself is over 5 feet tall!

That's about all I have to share with you this week.  If you are looking for some great craft ideas, please stop by Handmade Monday

I wish you a wonderful week!

Pat

Gluten Free Chewy Chocolate Cookies in Sunny California

Greetings! I hope that you had a blessed Christmas holiday season.  We didn't have a white Christmas here in sunny, warm, California but I can't complain.  We have been having a bit of a heat wave for this time of year.  I hope everyone had a safe journey reaching their holiday destinations.

We enjoyed having the family over for the holidays.  My daughter and her family enjoyed yesterday at Laguna Beach having a bonfire.

 

My little grandson absolutely loves going to the beach.  Here he is yesterday having fun in the sand.

 

Christmas day we decided to sit outside on the patio.  It was so sunny that my daughter had to put on sunscreen!

 All in all, it was a wonderful holiday celebration.  Here's a little craft item that I made from my Planet Penny Cotton:

 

They are hair clips.  I just crocheted the flowers free style and added some beads for embellishment.  I gave them to my friends who have small children.

I love to make cookies and this year I came upon a recipe for chewy chocolate meringue cookies.  After reading the reviews for it and studying the recipe, I came up with my own version which is slightly different.  I made them for my family and they loved them.  (I didn't taste them since I don't eat chocolate!)

Here's the recipe. I believe it's gluten free for those who cannot have gluten:

GLUTEN FREE CHEWY CHOCOLATE COOKIES

3 extra large egg whites* (if you use small or medium eggs, then use 4 egg whites) 

3 cups sifted powdered sugar

1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder

dash salt

1/2 Tablespoon vanilla or vanilla powder

1/2 bag ( 1 cup or more) mini chocolate chips

Parchment paper

*Have egg whites at room temperature for better results

In large mixing bowl, beat egg whites at medium high speed until frothy.  You do not want stiff egg whites but they should make soft peaks.  Beat in salt and vanilla.  With mixer running at lowest speed, blend in powdered sugar and cocoa powder.  Remove bowl from mixer and stir in chocolate chips by hand.  You should end up with a batter that keeps its shape.

Put parchment paper on baking sheets and lightly butter or grease parchment paper.  Place rounded "teaspoons" full of dough on baking sheet, about 2" apart.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for approximately 12 minutes.  You will see that cookies are "puffed" up and slightly "cracked".

Remove cookie sheet from oven and let cool on parchment paper before removing to cooling rack.

 Here's a sideways picture of how the baked cookies should appear.  I hope you enjoy this recipe!

Have a Happy New Year and I hope to be back next year with lots more fun ideas to share with you.

Happy New Year from

Pat & Lilly, too!

P.S.  I almost forgot, please stop by Handmade Harbour to see some wonderful craft ideas!

Wrapping up for Christmas

The blessed Nativity of our Lord will soon be here.  It's always a wonderful time of year that I always look forward to.  I love decorating the tree, baking Christmas cookies,  wrapping the gifts and attending the magical Christmas service at church. 

This will be my 5th Christmas here in sunny California.  Since that time, I have grown quite fond of my new memories here.  Every year there's a radio station that starts playing Christmas songs 24/7 along with the audio channels on the TV.  And, there are so many old Christmas movies that you can watch on TV.  There are a couple of neighborhoods in our area that really put on a wonderful Christmas lighting event.  The only thing I miss (a little bit) is a white Christmas.  I would like to have snow for two days and then have it disappear and be warm and green again.  But, of course, that won't happen.

The Presents are Wrapped:

Lilly really enjoyed herself yesterday:

 

The Cookies are Ready!
Last year I posted a recipe for Egyptian Petit Four Cookies.  I thought I would update the picture and give you a traditional way of putting them together.  In the previous post, I had put them together with white chocolate.  Here's a photo of them with apricot jam and coconut.  This is how they would traditionally be:

I also made my Grandma's Danish kleiner.  It's a yearly tradition that I make these for my children so here's a picture of them:

Almost every culture has a fried dough and the Danes are no exception.  These cookies are fried in shortening.  Here's how they look when they are done:

We didn't attend my husband's company party this year.  It was held in Washington state but we did get to attend a couple of local parties.  Here's a picture of my husband with Vicki, one of the Housewives of Orange County.  She hosts an annual Christmas party for her clients and she is a wonderful, smart and very nice person.  I don't watch her show but she runs her own business and is a real professional:

That about wraps it up for this blog post.  My little grandson has been with us these past two days since my daughter has the flu.  I do hope she will recover for the Christmas holiday.  We are so fortunate to be close to family in times of need.

I wish each of you a very Merry Christmas and the very best for the New Year.  I am so thankful to have met such dear people through this blog.  Please don't be shy to comment and say "hello".  And be sure to stop by Handmade Monday

Merry Christmas,
Pat & Lilly, too!

Egyptian Christmas Cookies

 Can you believe that it will be Christmas in less than two week?  Wow, time goes by so fast now!

Last year at this time I posted a recipe for Egyptian petit four cookies that seemed to be a popular post.  So, I thought I would share with you another Egyptian recipe for holiday cookies.  They are called "Sablee", after the French short pastry dough.  I got this recipe from my dear Egyptian friend, Vivian. Here's a copy of the original recipe that's over 37 years old!

 

 I know you can't read this faded recipe so here's a picture of the ingredients that you will need:

This year I bought the Crisco shortening in the sticks since it's premeasured.  So, it takes one stick of this shortening:

Here's the recipe:

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla powder
1 cup shortening
1 T water or less
apricot jam for filling

Mix the dry ingredients in a medium size bowl:

 

Add in the shortening:

Mix the shortening into the flour mixture until it resembles cornmeal:

Add a "little" bit of water - 1 T or less and mix dough just until it holds together:

 Don't mix the dough too much and please don't knead the dough as you want it to be light and fluffy:

This is how the dough will look after it comes together.  Now for the fun part.  Sprinkle your counter with flour and roll out dough until it's about 1/8" in thickness.  Cut with a cookie cutter and place cut out cookies on an ungreased baking sheet.

You will need to make half of the cookies with a cut out in the center of them.  Keep track or how many cookies you need for the bottom and the top. I use a drinking straw to make the center cut out!

Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for about 6 to 7 minutes or until lightly browned on the bottom.

Remove from oven and let cool before putting them together with apricot jam.  Just before serving, sprinkle the tops of the cookies with powdered sugar.

P.S.  This recipe calls for vanilla powder.  I bought some this year at the church bazaar:

 But if you don't have vanilla powder, just blend in some regular vanilla extract.  The vanilla powder gives a lovely scent to the cookies.

Coptic Christians enjoy these cookies for the Christmas and Easter holidays along with petit fours, and bescoot, ghoribeh, and kaak (sorry for the spelling of these last three; they are basically an egg based cookie that is baked in a long shape, a rich butter based cookie and a mahlab flavored buter cookie rolled in powdered sugar). 

I hope you will try this easy recipe.  My local Persian grocery store has them in their bakery case and they call them "French cookies".  They are fun to make and look nice on the cookie plate.

Happy baking and until next time, I wish each of you a holiday, fun filled week!

Happy baking,
Pat

P.S.  I almost forgot, please take a minute and visit Handmade Harbour and check out some great craft ideas!

Knit Zigzag Afghan and Chilly Nights

Hello my dear friends.  Finally, here is a post about my passion; knitting.  For those of you who visited last week, you will remember that there was a memorial about my dear mother-in-law who passed away on Thanksgiving day.  We wanted to remember her and let extended family here in the US and Egypt know about her legacy.  I felt the best venue to do this was my blog.  So, thank you for your patience since I know it was an unusual place to publish this memorial.

We are having a cold spell down here in Southern California.  I'm not going to complain since we don't have snow or ice but the thermometer has dipped into the 40's and it's suppose to be even colder the next couple of nights.  I look back now at all the years I spent shoveling snow, scraping ice and getting bundled up to go outside.  My children and I grew up in this kind of weather and I didn't know any different.  That was until I moved to western Washington where we had rain and now to California where we have sun almost year round.  I still laugh when I see my  neighbors decked out in Ugg boots and down jackets.  It's still not that cold around here!!

Drum Roll.............Here is my finished afghan that I have been working on (and off) since July!  I finally finished it last night since it's a Christmas gift for my daughter and her husband.  I ordered the yarn from LoveKnitting.com.  It an Aran weight yarn with 25% wool.  The wool really gives this yarn a wonderful drape and feel and yet it's still machine washable.

Here is a link to the  pattern.   It's called Knit Zigzag Ease Throw and it's by Coats and Clark.

 

(Sorry for the poor photo).  As you can see, the pattern calls for three different colored yarns.  I used one color throughout my afghan and I think it shows off the pattern much better.

On a side note, I absolutely love LoveKnitting.com.  They have a great selection of yarns and if you sign up for their e-mails, you will receive notice of sales that many times include free shipping.  Another favorite online yarn shop of mine is Paradise Fibers.  They are located in Spokane, Washington and last year I had the opportunity to visit this shop.  They offer great online specials; one special was a $60.00 skein of yarn with a special price of $15.00!  They too offer free shipping now and then. You just need to check their website.

Back in the day when I started to crochet and knit, I would buy my yarn at the local dime store (do kids today even know that that is?).  There was no Michaels of Joanns back then.  Then, one day I had a pattern that called for a special type of yarn.  My son told me to go online and check it out.  I placed my first online order  and I received this beautiful, spun wool from a family owned farm in New England.  I still have some of this wool.

Since then (13 years +), I find patterns that call for special yarns and I go online (to my favorite yarn shops) and shop for the yarn.  There are great bargains to be had online since many times they have discounted the yarn since it was last seasons colors, etc.  As you know, once you knit with nice yarn you don't want to knit with your Grandma's Red Heart.  Please don't take my wrong, I love the Red Heart afghans my dear Grandmother made for me.  But part of the fun for me is finding the pattern, finding the yarn at a great bargain and making the item.

So, my knitting basket is literally empty now.  I am going to tweek a pattern I have for a knitted scarf.  I plan to add some beads to the pattern and see how it comes out.  I will let you know.

In the meantime, I hope each of you have a wonderful week.  Keep warm, be safe and remember to stop by Handmade Monday to see some wonderful crafts.  And, please don't be shy to comment on this post.  I would love to hear from you.

blessings,
Pat

P.S.  Do you like the new look of my blog?  My daughter Heidi created it for me and the picture of the Eiffel Tower was taken by Heidi during our night time walk back to our hotel!

In Memory of Wahiba Aziz Abd el Noor

Our dear beloved family matriarch recently departed this life on November 28, 2013 and this is a post dedicated to her memory.  Wahiba Aziz Abd el Noor was born on June 1, 1922 in the City of Girga, in the Sohag province, in Egypt.

Wahiba was the only child of Aziz Abd el Noor and Bellsum Marcos Yacob.  Her grandparents on her father's side were Abd el Noor and Nozha and on her mother's side were Marcos and Zafpharon.  She grew up in Girga and her father, Aziz worked in the family business as a tailor.  Aziz passed away when Wahiba was very young.

Wahiba married Mobarak Shaker Awad and they started their life together in Girga.  Wahiba was a very smart women who had a creative, business mind.  When Mobarak thought about starting his own real estate brokerage and title company in 1938, Wahiba encouraged and supported this idea and even sold her wedding ring and wedding gold to help in this new adventure.  With the funds she raised, she bought staples for the family for an entire year to ensure that her family would be provided for in case of hard times.   Mobarak was extremely successful in this business up until the day he passed away in October 1991.

Besides being the wife of Mobarak, Wahiba was the driving force behind his business.  She was his partner in the building of a large apartment building in Girga.  The building was designed in that there was an apartment for each of her sons.  This was Wahiba's home up until three years ago when she moved to Giza, Egypt because of health reasons.

Wahiba and Mobarak were parents to eight sons; Zakaria, Fouad, Wahib, Youssef, Mahfouz, Sabry, Nasser and Assam.  Through Wahiba's determination, she saw all eight sons graduate from college with careers ranging from doctors to engineers.  Fouad was the first son to immigrate to America and later five more of Wahiba's sons immigrated to America.  She was fortunate to make the trip to America three times to see her sons and their wives, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Wahiba's first love was her Lord and her faithfulness to her beloved Coptic Church.  She was truly a saintly woman in that she always thought of others before she thought of herself.  She received great pleasure in helping others and providing necessities for them.  Many times she provided money to less fortunate young women to buy their wedding necessities.  Her family was her crowning glory and she raised eight healthy sons.  In the late 1940's  she heard about an outbreak of diptheria. Two different neighbors had lost a total of five children in one day to this deadly disease.  Wahiba gathered her three sons at that time and took them in a hontour (horse drawn carriage) to the vaccination clinic and insisted that her sons be vaccinated against this disease.  Her sons were among the very first to be vaccinated  in the city of Girga.

Nothing gave Wahiba more pleasure than seeing her grandchildren being baptised in the same church as her children were baptised in.  One son from America had his children baptised in Girga, Egypt and later made the trip again as recently as 2010 with his grandson (Wahiba's great grandson)  for baptism.  Seeing this gave Wahiba great pleasure.

After Mobarak passed away, Wahiba spent her time worshipping in the Coptic churches of Girga.  She was a very spiritual woman and many would seek her out for her help in praying for them.  Once when she was visiting St. Sergius Church in Old Cairo (the same church where the holy family fled with Jesus when they were in Egypt) she told the people at the church all about being down in the crypt and how she was healed.  This had taken place years ago as now visitors cannot go down into the crypt.  She had an audience around her listening to her story.  She shone with the Light of Christ.

Wahiba was a petite little woman with a big heart.  She had given birth to eight sons and when asked by her oldest sons why she keeps on having children even at age 46, she always answered that she was "looking to give birth to a daughter"!   After the birth of her 8th and final son, she realized that she would not have a daughter.  However, she was blessed to have eight daughter-in-laws who loved her dearly.

The last three years of Wahiba's life were spent in a nursing home on Pyramid Street in Giza, Egypt.  The family wanted to keep Wahiba close to them but due to the nature of Wahiba's illness, dementia, she demanded around the clock care.   Her son, Mahfouz and his wife Magda saw her regularly during this time along with her son Youssef and his wife Mary.  Dr. Magda, her daughter-in-law,  provided for Wahiba's medical needs during this time.

Wahiba passed away in the afternoon of November 28, 2013.  Her body was transported by private hearse to her hometown of Girga where there was a viewing at her home.  Her funeral service was held on November 29, 2013 at The Angel Coptic Church in Girga.  She was laid to rest in the new Coptic Cemetery in Girga.  There was a reception in her honor at the church parish hall and over 600 people attended to pay their last respects to this amazing woman.

We will truly miss Wahiba as she holds a dear place in our hearts.  She leaves behind, eight sons and their wives, 19 grand children and 11 great grand children.  May her Memory be Eternal.