Mixolydian Flat 6 Hungarian Goulash Scale…with peanut butter

We were in Key West yesterday. Every time we come back to the US from the Bahamas we have to clear US Immigration. This means that everyone on the ship must have their passports checked individually by the Border Patrol and Coast Guard. Of course, all the guests go first followed by the crew. This process usually keeps all the crew onboard until around 11:30 am or so after which we are free to go ashore and hang. 

Since I already went through immigration last week, I spent the morning in training and then practicing for the early part of the afternoon. Working on getting less diatonic in my playing and incorporating patterns using the ascending melodic minor scale. This scale has many names and my roommate and I were discussing all the different terminology that people have for different types of harmony. Years ago his professor at Manhattan School of Music was sounding off about how people get caught up in terminology when they just need to play. "I don't care if you're playing the Mixolydian Flat 6 Hungarian Goulash Scale…just play music."

I spent the afternoon yesterday off the ship. Key West is a favorite port for the crew of the Majesty. Lots of shopping, bars, food and sight seeing available. Having never been in Key West before, I enlisted the help of the saxophone and trumpet players (Blair and Tony, respectively) onboard to show me around. Prior to joining Majesty of the Seas, Tony was on tour with the Broadway show, "Spamalot" and they had made a tour stop in Key West about 3 weeks ago (about 2 weeks prior to his joining the ship), so, he was a decent tour guide around the tourist areas of town. Blair has been on the Majesty for almost 3 months and was our main guide. 

Every Thursday when the ship docks in Key West, Blair does a 9.5 mile run around the island called the "Blair-a-thon." Afterwards, all three of us decided to go out to an early dinner at one of Blair's favorite spots in town. We were looking for a funky local place within walking distance from the ship. Enter: "Peanut Butter 'n' What?!?" Everything on the menu is made with some sort of peanut butter. Here's what we ordered:

-PB+J Sushi Rolls with peanut butter and chocolate dipping sauce (no fish, just rolled up PB+J sandwiches with the crusts cut off)

-Iguana Tails (sliced jalepeno with peanut butter…awesome…and spicy!)

-Peanut Butter and Bacon Penne Pasta with Chicken

-Peanut Butter Philly Cheesesteak

-Peanut Butter Rice Bowl

-Peanut Butter Chocolate Shake

-Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream Sundae

Initially, this did not sound all that appetizing to me, but, I decided to put aside my irrational food fear and try something new. Much to my surprise, my favorite thing on the menu was the penne pasta. Incredibly good flavor and texture. Tony even approved and he's a self-proclaimed pasta snob (he says it's due to being a 1st generation Italian-American). The rice bowl tasted somewhat like Thai food with the peanut sauce and the cheesesteak was satisfyingly large. The peanut butter shake while not as epic as Pizza Bob's in Ann Arbor, was still pretty damn good on a hot day in south Florida. 

Nice people who own the shop, I hope business is good for them. Not really busy, but, we were there in the afternoon (not exactly peak dining hour). I will definitely be back again when we come back to port in Key West. Incidentally, they make their own peanut butter there in 4 varieties. Smokey BBQ, Natural, Sweet and Beer flavored. Check out more info here:

http://www.letseat.at/peanutbutternwhat

Lastly, I experienced something completely new in Key West. We were walking down the Duval Street (busy with shops and people mall walking) and one of the vendors on the street said this to me:

"Deep sea fishing with strippers tomorrow?"

No one has ever said those words, in that order, to me before. That was a first!