liamsaunt

The fishing charters are very expensive, and the water out where they go is pretty rough, so I have not been tempted to go. I often see people fishing from the shore with pricy gear, but have never seen anyone catch anything 😂. I am happy to patronize the markets instead. I know in the off season you can go down to the fish piers and buy directly from the boats when they come in, but I don’t think that’s offered in the summer. We drove home this morning, but are heading back out on the weekend for a couple more weeks. The first week will be in Wellfleet, and then we are going over to Martha’s Vineyard for a week. Final breakfast at the Inn. I was done with rich food! After we checked out of the hotel, we walked over to the fish pier to go to the market. It was extremely windy. Boats lined up I took a couple pictures of the fish case. We bought tuna for tomorrow night, and had black sea bass this evening (I’ll put that photo on the dinner thread) Thats it for this visit.

I did ask last night and they said it changes each evening. Last night it was squash blossoms, baby zucchini, and shisito peppers. I guess opinions vary, but I don’t actually think they are that similar. The fonts are completely different. The Chatham logo has a wave, etc. I also don’t think “Stars” is a business name that you can copyright, since it’s a common term. Breakfast menu We both got the smoked salmon, and should have just shared a plate. We were not expecting it to be so big. And then it was back to North Beach Island for more exploring. We walked eight miles today looking for interesting stuff. We found a shipwreck! The piece we could see was about 25 feet long. I researched it when we got back to the resort and found news reports of it surfacing in 2010 and 2018. Some of the photos from those times showed a lot more of it. There’s apparently a whole layer of wood under this one that runs crosswise to these planks and everything is held together by wooden pegs. More fish boats bringing in their catch in the afternoon We went to the casual restaurant on property for dinner. Menu Husband had a salted watermelon margarita. I was boring and stuck to club soda We ordered the tuna appetizer to share. This was tasty. Husband also wanted the fried calamari. This was massive! I think we ate about 25% of it. It was tasty, but if we had known it was going to be so large we would not have ordered it. Husband got a lobster roll. He said it was nice, but he really prefers warm lobster rolls to the chilled version I got the Thai cucumber salad with grilled shrimp added. I really liked this. Dessert We split the almond joy sundae. This was a bit of a bust. The ice cream was fairly melted and the tuile was way too sticky. We each had one bite and ditched it. Oh well, we probably did not need all that sugar anyway! Post dinner beach walk views

Yes that was the potato. He said that the inside was extremely creamy. He was worried it might be overcooked when he saw it, but it was actually perfect. The outside was crispy and the inside was tender. The bathroom is very nice. I will say though, that when we renovated our baths at home we put beautiful freestanding deep soaking tubs in both the primary and the guest suite bathrooms. Neither has been used once, and it’s been three years. If I was redoing it (which I am definitely not!) I would opt for an oversized multi person shower with steam jets and a heated floor and heated towel racks in the room instead. Big bathtubs seem like a good idea and look nice, but showers are just more practical. Maybe it’s just my personal preference though.

We are back on the Cape for a few days, this time in Chatham. My husband booked a long weekend at Chatham Bars Inn because he has been wanting to stay here again for years and I have been dragging my feet. I used to have to come here every year for a multi day conference when I was working, and it was not fun. Being here as a tourist is a completely different experience, and much more enjoyable. Our room is in the spa building rather than the main inn. This part of the resort that is child free, so it is very quiet. The rooms are nice. The massive bathroom has a steam shower, a sauna, and a whirlpool tub that fills from the ceiling. There is a pool area just for the spa suites guests outside our room, but we probably won’t get there. Why sit by a pool when you can walk by the ocean? The resort is at peak capacity. My work events were always in early June, so I have never experienced crowds like there are here now. It’s crazy. We are afraid to move our car because we might never get another parking spot 😂. There are multiple weddings here this weekend, and the amount of flowers I have seen trucked in here for them defies belief. Last night we walked into town for dinner at Viera on Main. Drinks. Husband’s dirty martini and my phony negroni We shared some garlic clams and then husband had striped bass and I had a seafood pasta with clams, mussels, cod, and shrimp We skipped dessert at the restaurant in favor of hunting down some ice cream We chose coconut caramel swirl (way too rich, went uneaten) and heath bar peanut butter Friday nights are band concerts on the town green, so we stopped by for a bit. It’s a popular event! This morning we had breakfast on the veranda of the main inn. Scrambled eggs with avocado and asparagus on a smashed croissant and poached eggs with stracciatella cheese, speck, tomato, and greens After breakfast we took the resort boat shuttle over to North Beach Island, directly offshore from CBI. It was fairly uncrowded. Heading away from the CBI beach Lots of lobster and fishing boats doing their thing We ended up walking over six miles just while exploring the part of the island we got to. We are going back tomorrow to explore some more. Dinner was at Stars, the fine dining restaurant at Chatham Bars Inn. Menu Drinks. I had a non alcoholic amarena spritz, and husband had a cocktail with mezcal and strawberries. I forget the name of it. Amuse bouche of duck rillettes with cherries. I don’t like duck but husband said they were tasty. We shared some appetizers. Oysters. They were delicious, but very small! tuna and the peach burrata salad. These were both delicious I had the scallops and husband had the waygu with a lobster tail added Dessert menu I knew I wanted the berries and cream. It was really lovely. Husband got the coffee torte and regretted it after he tasted mine. Torte berries There was a complimentary parting dessert as well, but we had our server box it up for us to take to the room for tomorrow since we were both too full to eat anything else!

Chicken katzu, rice, salad

Vegetarian Singapore style noodles with roasted broccoli and peppers

I had a lot of corn to use up, so I blended some of it in a vitamix with salt and pepper and a splash of milk, then strained it. Then I just cooked some sliced shallots in butter until soft, added in the corn liquid until it was warm, then stirred in some corn kernels, a handful of Parmesan and a handful of shredded basil. Season to taste. Pretty simple.

I made a batch of Ottolenghi's hummus from the Jerusalem cookbook, and topped it with grilled zucchini, summer squash, eggplant, peppers, and red onions. Plus some added feta, tomatoes, cucumbers, and olives. I also made some flatbread to soak up all the juices and extra hummus. Everyone liked it.

Grilled lemon chicken over corn fricassee with sliced tomato from the farm near my house

My freezer was filled with a whole boatload of zucchini from my CSA that I blanched and stored before a recent trip. I had to get rid of it to clear some space. So yesterday I roasted it and then pureed it with some cilantro, lime, and butter and made it into a base for some broiled swordfish with curry butter and curried rice. Everyone liked it. Of course, I still have a fridge full of fresh zucchini and summer squash from this week's CSA to use up...

Sandwich with roasted zucchini and summer squash, fresh mozzarella, sweet tomato and pepper relish on one side of the bread, spicy ground up Calabrian chili peppers on the other side, red onion and arugula.

Ours does not let you choose what you get, but it is delivered to your doorstep, rather than being picked up. They also offer specialty add on shares throughout the year. At this time of year, we also subscribe to their corn and fruit share, and their tomato share. The standard box comes weekly, and their specialty shares come on the weeks you choose (though you must choose and pay for a set number of weeks). This week was just a standard box week. We got two eggplants, two cucumbers, one tomato (I was hoping for more), two heads of lettuce, three yellow summer squash, two regular green zucchini, one massive green zucchini that is going to be annoying to deal with, two sweet onions, and four ears of corn. We opted to subscribe year round and prepay for our CSA for four years, which got us a 20% discount off the standard price.

Well pizza of all types is one of his five core food groups, so I am sure he will be exploring that style while there! He has been driving to his destination, and should get to his apartment by tonight. I would not be surprised if pizza is his dinner. 🙂 Last night we had a green coconut vegetable curry using up some of the CSA bounty: zucchini, eggplant, peppers, cilantro, and onions. I aded some cashews for crunch, and served it with lemongrass rice. Last night

Nephew is moving to Chicago for grad school this week, so I have been letting him pick the dinners in the lead up to his departure. Steak tacos (he grilled chicken for myself and my sister) Burgers another night. He grilled beef ones, and I made shawarma flavored veggie burgers for my sister and me, pictured here. The flavor was good but the texture needs some help. I'll keep working on it. Paneer and cauliflower curries And fish and chips

There were a few days that were very dusty. One day in particular was so dusty that you could see it rolling over the hilltops. We all had itchy eyes and sore throats from it, so spent most of that day indoors reading. That’s the nice thing about going back to the same place regularly…if you miss some days due to weather or whatever it is no big deal. The dust really does help with suppression of tropical weather too. There was a tropical wave coming that had potential to develop into a depression by the time it got to us, but the dust and winds broke it up before it arrived. It rained a bit most late nights which I think helped to clear the air as well.