Archive

Archive for October, 2015

Where Is My Employee Discount Taco Bell? You’re Making Me Work.

October 30th, 2015 No comments

Automated Taco Bell

I discovered that the Taco Bell off Barranca and Von Karman in Irvine is automated inside.  I don’t want to learn Taco Bell’s computer system.  The process took longer while people figured it out.

Taco Bell Menus

Menus were scattered about.  I just found it annoying.  I’m not going inside that Taco Bell anymore.

Taco Bell in Irvine

One Taco Bell employee said 50% people like it and 50% don’t.  You know where I stand.

Photos Of Food & Fun On The Carnival Inspiration (Weekend Cruise).

October 11th, 2015 No comments

Carnival Cruise Desserts

What to do on your birthday?  Leave on a cruise, especially if you don’t have to fly first or drive far. I’m lucky to live by the Long Beach Port, where cruise ships depart, so that’s what we did.  Yay!

Lobster Dinner

I was willing to go on any cruise I could walk to, only if I had to that is.

Carnival Inspiration Food

And it was the Carnival Inspiration that set out for Ensenada the very day of my big day.

BYOB

If you’re considering the Carnival Inspiration, snapshots of the food and ship are shown here.

Seared Ahi

Though Carnival has or had somewhat of a bad reputation in comparison to other cruise lines, we have no complaints.  The Inspiration is an old ship, but we didn’t mind it.  We’d prefer new, but knew we would make the most of it.  And we did.  Here are a few photos of our experience.

Cheese for Dessert

The food was good.  We liked everything okay, but didn’t fall for any specific dish.

IMG_0711

I didn’t take notes and don’t recall the names of the dishes, but the pictures show what you might get on a 3 – 4 day Carnival cruise — Seared Ahi, Escargot, Lobster, Ceviche, Beef Carpaccio, Salmon and Chicken dishes, Caesar Salads, Flat Breads and Cheese plates, just to name a few.

Flat Bread

We had a bit of everything, plus what was available at the ever-changing Buffet (pictured at top).

Oysters Rock

Escargot, common on cruise ships (above) — Matt had it.  Me, been there, done that and over it.

Ceviche

Ceviche (above) — Good, but needed more chips.  It’s your right to have more of anything.

Escargo

Stuffed Mushrooms (above).

IMG_0718

Carpaccio (above) — I should have had more than one, since it’s fairly costly in restaurants.

Salmon

Various Salmon, Chicken and Beef dishes were available each evening in the dining room.

Chicken

Carnival could work on plating as you see, but most dishes tasted better than they looked.

Beef

The Inspiration has a Game Room where we played Jenga — I don’t recall who won, probably me. 🙂

Game Room

We enjoyed the sunsets on deck too.

Sunset Dinner

And whipped it up Gangnam Style in the Dining Room with the waiters.

Cruise Dining Room

Overall, we would cruise with Carnival again.  It was a nice getaway and HAPPY birthday for me.