liamsaunt

Saturday night we had dinner at the top rated Italian restaurant in town, La Cucina Sul Mare. We could only get a reservation at 5:30 (a lot of the restaurants close at 8PM in this town). It was absolutely packed when we arrived. We ordered four oysters rockefeller to start (one each). And an order of the warm bruschetta at my nephew's request. Unfortunately this was a soggy and not warm. My nephew took a picture of his linguini with giant meatball and said to share it with you. He said it was very bland. It's rare for him not to finish a meatball, but he left about half of this plate behind. I ordered the swordfish piccata, minus the shrimp garnish. This was also bland, and oddly lacking in lemon flavor. I think these purple flowers must be the official garnish of Falmouth-they were on all the plates yesterday too. Sister had the linguini with clams. She said it was...bland! Husband ordered a special of swordfish with clams and sausage. It came in a tomato sauce that was not mentioned when the server described the dish. Note the ubiquitous purple flower. No dessert, as once again the portions were massive and much food went uneaten. My sister and nephew returned home yesterday, so it's just my husband and me for the rest of the week. Here's the kitchen at the house. It has nice views of the water. The beach on a gray Cape Cod spring day After trudging along the cold and windy beach all morning, we decided the next best thing to do was to go to town and find some ice cream. That's what you do if you are from New England 🙂 Ben and Bill's Chocolate Emporium looked promising. I am sure we will try most of the options in town before the week is out. The options I thought the lobster flavor was probably vanilla with chocolate lobsters in it or something, so I walked down the case to check the sign for it... Um.....OK. I got mint chocolate chip, which was nice and minty but had too many chocolate chunks for my personal taste. I just ate around most of them. All the fish markets in town are closed on Sundays, so we had to eat out again. We chose Estia, a Greek place. We started with calamari, which was large enough for about six people. What we managed to eat was tender and well seasoned. I had the shrimp saganaki for my entree. I think there were 12 large shrimp in there and about three cups of rice. It was tasty but much too much food. Husband ordered the shrimp and swordfish skewers, which also came with grilled vegetables and fries. And both entrees also came with huge salads! Next time we go out I think we are going to just share something.

I don't think I have ever cooked water spinach. Sometimes my CSA box gives me greens (pea shoots come to mind) that get stringy when you cook them up, and I do find it frustrating. After having to struggle through eating big clumps of them in various soup bowls and stir fries I now usually end up mincing them really fine or blitzing them into a pesto or something. If anyone has better ideas for this type of green I would also be very interested!

Another year, another return to the Cape. We are not on the Outer Cape right now, that is coming later this summer, but I figured I would put this visit here rather than starting a new thread. Instead, we are in Falmouth for the week. We've never stayed on this part of the Cape before. My initial impression is that the town is charming, but much more densely populated than the Outer Cape. I imagine that in the summer it would be uncomfortably crowded. We arrived Friday night. The house we are staying in is right on the water, and not elevated up on a dune like the places we stay at in Wellfleet. I would not want to be here during a big storm. Here's the front yard. We can see Martha's Vineyard right off shore (not in this picture though), and can watch the ferries going back and forth from Woods Hole to the island. My sister and nephew joined us for the weekend. The rest of the week will be just my husband and me. I'm planning on doing some cooking to amuse myself during the day. This weekend, though, we are dining out. Unfortunately, this area is not known for its dining options. We are also working around my nephew's food allergy. Last night we went to an Italian place called Villagio at the Regatta. No menu pictures, unfortunately. We ordered a couple of appetizers to share. Clams casino Bruschetta Calamari (no fried shrimp or lobster on their menu, so my nephew could have some. He was excited) For entrees, my nephew ordered the bolognese (no picture). The rest of us had cod. I ordered cod picatta Sister ordered cod toscana and husband had cod limone. The entrees were all massive. If we had known we would have shared something. None of us enjoy leftover cod, so unfortunately a lot of it went to waste. I didn't even taste my pasta. We were too full to even look at the dessert menu. Yesterday morning, my husband and I went into town to check out the French bakery, Maison Villatte. This bakery is run by the original baker at PB Boulangerie in Wellfleet, and our understanding was that the two places are fairly similar. It did indeed look quite familiar. I took lots of pictures. Croissants Muffins Tarts Quiches Fougasse sandwiches pastries And our selections, back at the house. It would be very dangerous to have a bakery like this at home!

Greek flavors roasted chicken with carrots and watermelon radishes that roasted in the chicken pan, lemon roasted potatoes, and tzatziki.

I am very interested in following along! Hawaii is on our short list of potential places to visit, but the long flight has been a deterrent for me so far. Maybe your report will change my mind 🙂

Miso salmon ramen bowl with roasted cabbage, purple daikon radishes, and the first bunch of chives from the garden

Seared scallops with spinach, sweet potato puree and lemon brown butter

Ground chicken tacos

Busy week with no pictures taken until yesterday, when we went for round two with the Ooni Karu. Better results than last Saturday, but still on a learning curve. Pepperoni Margharita

Spinach malfatti pomodoro.

My husband gave me an Ooni Karu 16 for Christmas, and this weekend it was finally warm and sunny enough for my nephew to build it for me. We tried two flavors, simple pepperoni and wild mushroom with mushroom pesto and arugula. I am definitely at the start of a learning curve, but I am sure the results will improve with time. I'll attempt again next Saturday. Here are some quick phone snaps of my first effort.

chicken tortilla soup

Grilled chicken caesar salad with tomatoes

Penzey's fajita seasoning. I had a gallon sized bag of beets that I needed to use up before they went bad, so I made beet gnocchi with beet sauce and broccolini. My sister, husband and I all enjoyed it, but my nephew was absolutely horrified. He thinks beets are the worst vegetable in existence, so he got spaghetti and meatballs instead.

chicken tacos