Pineapples and Chocolate

Right now I am sitting in the Internet Café, which overlooks the atrium. This gives me the perfect vantage point to watch the Executive Chef lecture-demonstration. One chef is making animals out of pineapples (so far he's made penguins sitting in a nest and a fish jumping out of the water) while the other is making chocolate garnishes. I haven't mentioned the food decorations in the buffet before, but there is usually one or two pineapple creations in the line. They are usually sea-themed, with sea horses or dolphins carved into the side of a pineapple, but I have seen what I think was supposed to be the Virgin Mary on the outside of one. It might just be a generic woman, but there is something iconic in her depiction, so I'm leaning towards the Blessed Mother.

Yesterday Sue and I went to the chocolate buffet. Sue was initially put off by the long line (it snakes through several rooms before you hit the actual buffet) but I convinced her to wait for at least five minutes (I have gotten big on timing things since I got my new watch). The five minutes went up and we were still a room away from the buffet, so Sue took off. However, she felt badly about me having to go through the buffet line by myself and came back. There is something pathetic about loading up a tray by yourself at a Chocoholics buffet, so I thank Sue for not making me do it alone. The buffet was a little disappointing, but the white chocolate s'mores made it worth the wait.

Chef Update: Two lovebirds kissing, a bouquet of roses, and Stitch from “Lilo and Stitch” have been added to the pineapple creations. I was mistaken about the other chef doing merely chocolate garnishes; he was doing an entire cake-decorating demo, and the garnishes as well as some elaborate roses have been artfully arranged on a cake that reads, “Happy Cruising.” People are now taking pictures of the cake and pineapples, pictures that will never see the outside of the photo envelope they get returned in.

I think I jinxed my chance to hear the three singers again, as I haven't seen them since getting onto the tender boat two days ago. So I have no song updates to write about. We have seen #1 Cruiser (the woman who always sits in the front row) a bunch in the past two days. She came to the improv workshop that Randall and Beth taught yesterday and spoke to Beth afterwards about improv in New York City, so Beth is in the inner circle now. Sue also saw her in the front row of the game show last night, and I saw her and her husband play the Newlywed game on the ship channel yesterday.

They are giving away the pineapples now. I don't even think you can take cut fruit off the ship, so I don't know why people would want to have pineapple birds in their room for the last day of the cruise. Also, I'm not sure I was right in labeling the last pineapple as Lilo; it might just have been a rabbit head.