Regarding pears in white wine --- I did some two years ago, half in red wine and half in white, according to a "recipe" suggested by Victrola (a gentleman in Montreal who was posting here regularly then --- apparently he's gotten very busy with athletic pursuits recently) and expanded on by Mrs. Bartholomew (a Toronto forum member who had time to post then before she had her baby). Mrs. B. suggested a Gewurtztraminer with vanilla, cinnamon, and star anise. I used a Vidal for my white wine, and not having any star anise I think I used cinnamon, vanilla, and a few allspice berries. The red I spiced much as Victrola suggests. Both came out just delicious. It's not a cold pack as described here (though the key is that you can cook the WINE etc. for a lot longer FIRST till it thickens, then just heat the pears in it and cook them briefly); like Victrola suggested, I used a firm, Flemish Beauty pear. I don't know if there's any reason you could not pack the pears cold and pour hot syrup over them, though, is there? Anyway, sounds like you did something wonderful already. But I thought I'd post this because it's such fun to read Victrola's "recipes." One thing I noticed was that I was surprised at how mildly spiced the syrup & pears were when I opened the jars. The flavour was definitely less than when it was first made (I remember drinking the leftover wine syrup --- it had been a bad day, LOL --- and it was much spicier than the eventual pears were.) So if I did them again I would go even heavier on the spices without fear of overdoing it. Z Canning poached pears: a Victrola Adventure Since Zabby recently suggested, tongue in cheek, that I've been hoarding my recipes, here is something I made today. Okay, so it's not quite a "recipe" but I don't think it lacks for details (other than measurements, but I don't measure things, so don't ask for 'em!). Today at the market, my favourite vendors had some beautiful firm Flemish Beauty pears. This is one of my favourite variety of pears; I find they have a distinctive and pleasant vanilla note. I think there were about 8 pears. Their firmness meant that, although not ready for eating, they were perfect for cooking. I peeled them with my old-fashioned apple peeler device, which worked (for most of the length of most of the pears) because they were firm and fat. After peeling, I cut them vertically into wedges of eighths, and dipped them in lemon juice to keep them from browning. (Perhaps that was superfluous, since they were to be poached in red wine anyway?) I bought a litre of the Hungarian red wine Szeksardi Voros, which friends of mine, not knowing how to pronounce Hungarian, would call Sex and Divorce. As their English name implies, it's not a fancy wine, but it's fine (and cheap) for these purposes. I brought it to boil with some cloves, a cinnamon stick, a whole allspice, a few peppercorns, one whole cardamom, two slices of lemon, one slice of orange, sugar to taste, and the "pearings" (couldn't resist the pun... sorry... pear parings, in English). I boiled this until greatly reduced. Then I fished out the solids, added the pears, boiled for about two minutes, stirring gingerly. Once again, I must praise the firmness of these pears. They didn't go to mushiness. I removed them from the heat, fished out the pears, packed the slices into jars (500ml and 250ml jars... pints and half-pints, if you prefer), and covered with the reduced wine syrup. Whoops, I had reduced it too much, and there wasn't enough to cover all the pears, so I boiled up some sugar and water (1:4 ratio) very quickly to cover the pears. Silly me, I now realise, after the fact! I had meant to top them up with brandy before sealing, not more syrup! After 20 minutes processing in BWB, I pulled out two beautiful 500ml jars and three lovely 250ml jars. And to my great pleasure, one of them did not seal, so I had no reason not to sample my wares: yum yum. I can't wait to have the occasion to bring these out for a dinner party or give them as host/hostess gifts. One last time, let me emphasise the firmness of the pears! I couldn't imagine this turning out well with Bartlett pears (which I love for eating out of hand), for example. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: MrsBartholomew 6a Canada (My Page) on Mon, Sep 20, 04 at 16:11 I love poached pears in red wine. I often make them for dessert when we have guests. Once I did them in white wine instead, just for a change - it was a Gewurtztraminer, and the seasonings were just a vanilla pod, a couple of star anise, and a cinnamon stick. Oh, it was beautiful. I serve one pear with about a half-cup of syrup and a dollop of whipped cream, and the syrup always gets eaten up! I've never tried canning them but maybe I should. It was the firmness I was afraid would be lost, but I didn't think of buying a harder pear. Good thinking.

Make sure that you have a way to upkeep the power to your camera and other devices. The residential electrical power varies greatly in the places you mentioned. except for the USA, most of those places uses 50 hz, the US is 60hz. You will need a charger that is compatible with the power source of the country you are in, or use disposable batteries. The voltage of most disposable cells in the US is nominally 1.5 volts. However, many newer camera use Lithium-ion batteries that have a much higher voltage. I don't know if there are disposable cells made in these higher voltages. In this case, one alternative is to carry multiple sets of charged up rechargeable cells, and re-charge any time you get the opportunity. It would be a shame to be at a world heritage site with a dead camera. Naturally, when you are on the cruise ship, that power source will be constant, but do check to see what it is. Do not assume it is the same as state-side power. So click the camera all day and recharge when you return to the ship. When you leave the ship for a day, go with several sets of freshly charged batteries. Below is data from a 1967 booklet. Chinese provinces were not listed because travel restrictions were in place at that time. Hong Cong 50 hz, 200/346 V; 2,3,4 wire Vietnam 50 hz; 230/380 V; 2,4 wire 50 hz; 120/208 V; 2,4 wire 50 hz; 127/220 V; 2,4 wire Thailand 50 hz; 220/380 V; 2,3,4 wire Singapore 50 hz; 230/400 V; 2,4 wire USA 60 hz; 120/240 V; 2,3 wire (3rd wire is safety ground)

Stay safe Ron. That doesn't sound like much food to take. You should take some Tuna in a foil package for protein. Well, I guess the less food you take the less TP you need. LOL! What about water or do you just use the "tablets" to sanitize the water?

Image by: wintersown That's okay, don't worry too much about that. Experience is a great teacher and we all learn as we go along. I personally don't know the botanical name of lots of my plants. When I first started gardening and trading I actually didn't know the common name of most of my plants ;-) But I still felt comfortable about trading my seeds because I put a good description of them on the packets. I trade my seeds and if I don't know their name I make as good a description as I can in my posted trade offerings so there's no confusion. I feel confident when I make a well described seed trade....the other trader knows the plant description and they trade for my seeds knowing that I have done my best to decribe what I'm offering. It's fair that way. New traders are often new gardeners too and so they haven't had enough experience with plant names to accurately name the plant they gathered seeds from. What information should I put on the packets? I always put the following information on my packets: Common Plant Name and/or Botanical Name Flower color or "mixed" Height at maturity Sunlight requirements: full sun, part shade, or shade (fs, ps, or shade, or sometimes fs-ps which means full sun to part shade, or ps-shade, which means part shade to shade) A, P, or B (annual, perennial, or biennial) My email address (optional) My name (optional) ======================================================== My trader didn't put all the information on the packet that I thought should be on it....what should I do? Email your trader asap and politely ask for specifics....sometimes a trader can't offer them as they're sharing/trading the excess of a humongous pack of seeds that came their way and IT wasn't labeled with specifics. If you've got a packet that's not labeled with specifics grow it anyway. A packet that says something as simple as just "marigolds" is often a joy to grow. WHY? Well...you know it's an annual, marigolds love full sun. So put the seedlings where they'll get full sun. But I don't know the height.... Plant it in the middle of the border or up front. If they grow tall then you'll have added "dramatic depth" to your garden and reduced the monotony of everything short being up front. A brilliant patch of tallish flowers at the front of the border is often fascinating and is NEVER boring. But I don't know the color..... Marigolds can be yellow/gold, orange or mahogany red. These are the choices....sometimes they have a blend of those colors on the same flowers, or it might be a pack of mixed single colors. What I'm trying to say is that suprises are part of gardening and that you should celebrate the beauty of your plants even if they aren't what you expected. A garden is for relaxing and enjoying. It's NOT for causing frustrations....expect an occasional suprise and you'll be very happy in your garden. ========================================================= Flower Colors...I'm putting in this list as a help in labeling seed packets....no one is perfect in their eyesight so being "close" is just as acceptable as being "accurate". (This color list came from the "Field Book of American Wild Flowers by F. Schuyler Matthews, 1902) Pure yellow Deep yellow Golden yellow Pure orange Scarlet Pure red Pure pink Crimson Crimson-pink Magenta Magenta-pink Pure purple Violet Blue-violet Ultramarine Pure blue Madder purple Madder brown