Robin's House

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Hello from Abu Dhabi!

In January, we went to Bahrain, but I didn't have any internet access at my hotel (ug!) and I didn't take any photos. Oops!

But, now it's February, and we are back in United Arab Emirates - only this time, it's Abu Dhabi.

Today, we took a bus tour and went to a mosque. In order to get in the mosque, I had to cover all my hair and wear long sleeves. The boys could wear ball caps and t-shirts...but heaven forbid I show my wrists. Shocking! Either way, this is not a good look for me.

The mosque sure is pretty, though.

In order to go inside, I gotta take my shoes off.

This is the male praying room. That golden tower in the center points toward Mecca, so the know which way to face when they pray.

Outside the female praying room...and the bathroom is this fun little room filled with feet washing stations. Before you pray, you are supposed to be purified. You wash your face, hands, privates and your feet.

And, they had a few rows of those toilets I used a few times in Japan. They are a pretty, ceramic hole in the ground. Not my favorite.

I can't imagine why anyone would use a hole-in-the-ground toilet when the other kind are available.

After the mosque, we went to a revolutionary self-sustaining community. The University section is the first section built.

It has electric cars that get you all thru the complex - there was no driving! It was like the Jetsons - you told the car where you wanted to go and it went! Super cool!

The buildings were all built with solar panels on the roof and special decoration on the sides that let light in...but didn't let the sun beat down into the windows.

There was this massive wind tunnel machine that uses only wind power to cool a courtyard. And, it really did. It was almost like walking into a refrigerator. Then, the breeze comes from between the buildings and spreads the cool air around.

Gardens on the roof and underground electric car "tracks," eco-friendly construction. And, it's only just begun.

It reminds me a lot of the purpose behind EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) at Walt Disney World.

Bye for now!

Hello from the Tallest Building in the World!

The Birch Kalifa is the tallest building in the world. I'm not sure if it still maintains that title, but it's pretty close!

Our ticket was to the 125th floor. Then, whoosh! The elevator kept going! Oops, so we got to get a quick peek at the rich people who pay $200 extra dollars to go to the 148th floor.

Now, we're back on the 124th floor, this is the view looking up. Amazing, right?!?

And, this is the view looking down. Beautiful!

This is me and my two liberty buddies - Deb and Rebekah.

After this, it was time to get in line to go back down to the bottom. It was over an hour! And, we missed our dinner reservation. Nuts!

CARL VINSON Bake Shop!

Okay, so I showed you some of the amazing flowers my guys have made out of veggies, here's a little glimpse at some of the cakes that come out of our Bake Shop.

We make cakes for everything - regular meals, every holiday, different celebrations that an individual division might be having (retirement, reenlistment...)

Most of the photos I have are from holidays, but you can see as time goes on that they are getting better!

Celebrate the Navy's 239th Birthday!

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month

We had some very impressive Thanksgiving celebrations - on the Mess Decks, in Wardroom 1/2, Wardroom 3 and the Chief's Mess.

We do an awesome Carrier cake when we have receptions. This is a practice cake...and by the time you are done piping all that icing...you can't even use your hand!

Our Stupid Bowl celebration was incredible. We filled the hangar bay with chairs, set up a bunch of food tents and had a real tailgater! Sans beer, of course, but the food was off the charts and the game was a good one! (Or so I heard!)

We also have the capability to print edible photos.

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Hello from Dubai!

We are in port again for a few days. This time we're in Dubai, one of the United Arab Emirates.

I took a tour the other day and got some fun photos of around the country.

This is a photo of the tallest building on a man made island/ground.

It's actually advertised to be the only 7-star hotel in the world. Of course, the real rating only goes to 5 stars, so that's a little silly. But, it's supposed to be ultra nice. In fact, to even visit the hotel, you have to make a reservation for a meal or afternoon tea in one of their restaurants.

This photo is mostly for my brother. I believe those around me said this was a Lamborghini. I thought they looked different than that, but who knows... It is a very pretty car!

We went to the Marina, I think this is in Dubai. No matter where it was, Dubai has many, many buildings with very interesting architecture. This one has a twisted building, but I saw some that were round, curved, and every shape and size. Mostly very big!

This is the Atlantis Hotel. They have the worlds largest indoor aquarium. UAE is realIy big on having the biggest and the best! And it really is pretty amazing.

This hotel is on/near the man-made Palm island structure. We drove thru the heart of the palm tree island/peninsula and saw all the multi-million dollar waterfront luxury apartments, condos and homes.

I guess they've started another man made marvel - a map of the world - out of man made islands. Pretty incredible.

Within the Mall of the Emirates, they have the worlds largest indoor skiing facility. It's all glassed in, so you can walk by while shopping and watch the skiiers. They also have giant hamster balls that you can tumble down the mountain in. It looked super fun! But, we aren't allowed to do that. Maybe next time.

The Dubai Mall is right next to the tallest building in the world. It's called the Burch Kalifa.

My Guys are Pretty Amazing

We recently celebrated the Navy's birthday. What we usually do for celebrations is have a cake cutting ceremony on the Mess Decks. The Captain comes down and says a little, then we have someone who volunteers to talk a little about the history of the event or person that we are celebrating.

And, there's the cake. My Senior Chief decorated this cake. You probably can't tell, but this is all made with the star tip of the cake decorating choices.

He also makes a pretty impressive version of an aircraft carrier - that's a lot of black and grey icing. I'll try to remember to get a photo of it next time. Those are usually reserved for receptions with very important people. :o)

I have two Culinary Specialists who are especially good at carving fruit and vegetables to look like flowers. These are some of my favorites...and trying to catch a few different styles of flowers.

The little tulips are made of carrots!

I don't know if you can see the vase. There are some weird melons here that look like a cantaloupe on the outside, but a honeydew on the inside. I forget what they are called.

The little daisies are made of a little cut away of cantaloupes and the funny honeydews

This one that sort of looks like Lilli pads is my very

favorite - and of course, I can't figure out how to turn the photo in my blog. The one I used to download it was turned - I don't know why it doesn't stay that way.

Can you believe they turned a watermelon into a rose?!? And, those are potatoes (regular and sweet) that look like such beautiful roses.

And these flowers are made of orange and grapefruit rinds. Pretty cool, huh?

Some of the stuff they come up with is pretty amazing!

We're getting ready for a special inspection - CARL VINSON and GEORGE H.W. BUSH are in competition for the best carrier galley in the fleet. It's a pretty big deal, I've never been on a ship that had won the NEY before.

The Captain's Corner on our ship's Facebook page usually has some pretty interesting stories - last week he talked about all the food we bring onboard to feed 5,000 people.

On November 5th, he noticed as he walked by the 127 pallets of fresh fruits and vegetables we brought onboard one day that they represented products from all over the world.

It really is pretty amazing how we do it all. To me, it's just another Wednesday.

https://www.facebook.com/USSVINSON

Friday, October 3, 2014

Hello from Singapore!

Just a quick note to showcase a few fun photos from Singapore.

Boy, is it hot and sticky! But, I did get a lot of walking in today and hope you like a few of the photos I have.

Have you ever had leaches for dinner?

Okay, it wasn't actually leaches...but it really looked like it.

These are little, black leach-shaped noodles that are "infused" with squid ink.

They tasted good. Like regular noodles.

We went to an observation tower on the 57th floor of this strange set of buildings with what appears to be a giant boat on the roof. There were two restaurants, a garden and an infinity pool up there. ...And, of course a great view of Singapore!