liamsaunt

Black bean soup with pickled onions

That sounds really interesting. I have that cookbook, though have not looked at it in a long time, and I have brussels sprouts from my CSA right now. This might make an appearance later this week. My nephew requested that I make Moroccan meatballs with arugula for dinner last night. He said he used to make it with elk while living in Montana, and it was a favorite meal for him and his roommates. We cannot get elk here as far as I know, so I used beef instead. I also made vegetable "meatballs" for myself and my sister from roasted eggplant and mushrooms since we don't eat red meat. This is my plate, with the vegetable balls. I thought it was fine. He was happy, and that's the most important thing. I was out of couscous, so made rice pilaf instead.

My CSA has been giving me lots of carrots every week. I must have at least 10 lbs. in the house right now, even after making this dinner recipe from the NY Times. Recipe: carrot risotto with chile crisp The recipe calls for 2 1/4 lbs. of carrots. To amp up the number of carrots used even more, I made carrot juice in my vitamix and swapped that in for some of the broth, which took care of another 1 1/2 lbs. It was pretty tasty! The roasted carrots were quite spicy, and we did not need any extra chile crisp drizzled on top like the recipe suggests.

spiced chicken chopped salad

bucatini with corn, bacon and scallions

Tried a recipe from Milk Street's Tuesday Nights Mediterranean for Turkish style flatbreads stuffed with roasted butternut squash and haloumi cheese with a lemon cumin yogurt sauce. The recipe called for large tortillas for the wrapper, probably to save time, but we all liked it enough that I found a recipe for how to make the flatbread from scratch and will make it that way next time. I stuffed my nephew's with spiced ground beef instead of squash so everyone at the table was happy. Next time I will do a salad instead of oven fries.

Ravioli with roasted beet sauce, wilted arugula, and toasted pine nuts

Sunday I made chicken souvlaki with tzatziki and what might be the last of the local tomatoes. Last night, paneer butter masala and maharajah's rice

Gnocchi with roasted cherry tomato sauce, basil and fresh mozzarella cheese

Noodle bowl with seared tuna, choi sum, napa cabbage, and miso glazed harukei turnips

I am so sorry to hear this. I loved reading the Mantoulin blogs, and the Ladies who Lunch.

It did not go to waste. My husband's brother took it home with him. Belated end to this visit. Sunday we went back to Oysterfest to watch the shuck off finals. It was a lot less crowded, which was nice. The fellow who won was from neighboring Eastham. After the shuck off they had an auction to raise money for the local school. This fisherman contributed a 16 pound lobster. He said the winner could keep it, but he was hoping that he would be allowed to put it back in the water with a GPS tag so that it could be tracked. It went for $3,000 to a vegetarian who wanted it back in the water. We didn't eat anything at the festival other than a shared special Oysterfest gelato from Gelato Joy Next day we went for a couple of beach walks. At Fisher Beach in Truro, we saw our first shark fin from shore. It was patrolling down by this bird filled jetty. Pretty cool Then we went to Provincetown for a visit to my favorite bookstore and a long walk at Herring Cove beach Followed by dinner at Ciro and Sal's. It was too cold to sit out in their lovely courtyard But the inside was cozy too We shared an order of mussels in marinara and then husband had shrimp scampi, which he did not enjoy. He said the garlic was bitter and raw My shrimp puttanesca was better, so we shared that Which brings us to Tuesday, and time to go home. We stopped for one last hike at Fort Hill in Eastham to take in the views. The foliage was starting to change And then had lunch at Mac's in Chatham. Warm lobster roll for husband Shrimp fried rice for me ...and that's probably it for us on Cape Cod until next year.

As expected, OysterFest was extremely crowded. We did manage to sample a few things. An oyster booth Main stage for the shucking competition. My husband and I are going over in a bit to watch the finals. We could not get close to the stage yesterday. Oysters (of course) Fried oysters and fried clams Scallop stuffie (I thought this was mushy but my husband's brother liked it and finished it) More fried oysters Salted caramel ice cream (not the best) My nephew cannot have a lot of the food at the festival because of his crustacean allergy. There was one food truck that didn't have any lobster or shrimp, so we stood in line there (for an extremely long time) and then waited for a very long time for the food to come out. After an hour, he got these things to try: pretzels, chili dog, and churros. Mac's Seafood was selling fried lobster tails and oyster rolls. Those were all enjoyed. All the beverages were in cans this year. They used to have free water filling stations, but not this year. Maybe because of covid, I don't know. They did let me bring in my Yeti filled with water though. My sister had a rose from a local vineyard. and nephew had more oysters, just because I tried a mushroom, kale and butternut squash galette from the vegetarian booth. It was pretty bland. It reminded me of something I would have made in college when all of my recipes came from the Moosewood Cookbook Beer drinking is a big thing for some at OysterFest of course Post festival my husband and I stopped by Gelato Joy for an affogato and a mint gelato Later that night, everyone but my nephew went out to dinner at the Pearl. He was not too hungry and wanted to relax at the house, so asked me to bring him back takeout.... Drinks I got a salad with grilled salmon Husband had a lobster roll. He was not too hungry so just ate the lobster out of it. Sister had scallops and brother in law had cod For my nephew, I ordered a chicken pesto alfredo penne to go, and mentioned his allergy, which the waitress noted on the ticket. The meal came out in a brown bag and I did not check it before leaving. We got home, opened the bag, and found this! Chicken pesto alfredo penne WITH lobster and shrimp! What the heck? I checked the bill and it was listed as chicken, and they only charged us for the chicken dish. All I can think of is that the kitchen misread the "allergy" on the ticket as "add"? Maybe? Luckily he was not very hungry, and just ate some gelato that I had picked up at Gelato Joy earlier. Crazy.

We are back in Wellfleet for a few more days. We are staying at that marsh house I have shown pictures of before. It's walkable to town, which is great, because we are here for this weekend's Wellfleet OysterFest. My husband and I have tickets for both days, and today, my sister, nephew, and brother in law are joining us today only. The fest started at 10 AM, and we are walking over in about half an hour. I have already seen photos, and it looks pretty packed, so I am not sure how long we are going to manage to stay. This is our first OysterFest since Covid. We came in last night and had our usual opening dinner at Mac's Shack. Drinks Nephew wanted some oysters and a spicy tuna roll The rest of us shared some jalepeno yellowtail and halibut turadito Sister ordered fried clams Nephew and husband both ordered Ritz cracker crusted bluefish with mashed potatoes and creamed spinach and I had a grilled swordfish special with a butternut squash and chickpea stew. This was excellent, and I ordered another one to go for my brother in law, who was arriving later in the evening. He concurred that it was excellent. Hopefully I will have some pictures from the OysterFest to share later. Sunday is always quieter and less crowded than Saturday (today is sold out), so I might have more luck tomorrow. We will see.

I let me nephew choose what I would make for dinner the past couple of nights. Wednesday, he wanted spaghetti and meatballs Tonight, chicken Milanese with marinated tomato and arugula salad

Haddock with shiitake mushrooms, scallions, and rice

Final dinner in Vegas was at Mercato de Percheria. I was not particularly hungry so nothing on the menu looked appealing. I think I am just ready to get out of here. Vegas is just too overwhelming. Anyway, restaurant setting Drink for husband and sister Menu we ordered the truffle board to start but they were out. So, calamari (WAY too salty) salmon tartare (this was nice) husband and niece both got the tortellini filled with prosciutto. They said it was fine My sister and I split an arugula salad and a pizza. The salad was tasty but too cold. The pizza was undercooked and too saucy No dessert. And a couple of concert photos, just for fun, one from each night, so different perspectives. It was visually stunning and the sound was perfect, but I won’t come back to Vegas, even for another concert at the Sphere.

We are seeing it twice. Last night we were in a small reserved section on the floor that the band sells tickets for to raise money for their charity, and tonight we have seats up in the Sphere so we can take in the visual effects. It’s quite the show. Last night’s dinner was at SushiSamba. Crispy Hokkaido scallop (they are priced by the piece and I was the only one who wanted to try it) yellowtail taquitos Cocktails. My berry smash mocktail is on the right and my sister and husband got the same cocktail, but I did not catch the name. Grilled miso sea bass (this and the scallop were my favorites) Sushi rolls. Tuna in the back, and a four fish roll in the front. It had salmon, yellowtail, tuna and fluke. And the el Topo, which was the house specialty roll. We did not like this one because it had cheese on it. We kept passing it around the table trying to foist it off on each other 😂 dessert was a coffee panacotta with coffee tuille.

Dinner at Estiatorio Milos in Las Vegas. (I would normally put travel photos in regional boards but we are only here for a couple of nights to see a concert, and I never plan to return to Vegas as there is pretty much nothing about it that I find appealing, so it’s not worth doing a full report) Display of fish on offer. We chose a loup de mer cooked in salt crust to share Husband and sister got the same cocktail, a Monks in Mexico (tequila, Cointreau, elderflower, grapefruit, lime) Shared appetizer of fried zucchini and eggplant with tzatziki and saganaki cheese (best thing of the night) niece’s filet with fries grilled vegetables to share The fish, filleted table side and served with Swiss chard no room for dessert.

We are back home now, having left this morning just ahead of Phillipe. The flight was a little turbulent, but not too bad. We decided to return to Aurora for our final dinner of the trip, since we had enjoyed our meal there so much earlier in the week. Tuna tartare again Prickly pear seveche made with wahoo Lobster linguini Stuffed shrimp with spinach risotto with a view of the sunset For dessert we split a slice of cheesecake with matcha gelato. while enjoying the view of Hamilton across the harbor Until the next visit, I hope they save a spot under the umbrella for me

This was my first visit to Woody's, so I wanted to get what they are famous for, which is the fish sandwich. I didn't even consider the other stuff on the menu, to be honest! Another scenic view from our room. You can see a cruise ship leaving in the distance. The ships that were supposed to come in yesterday and today have all diverted because of TS Phillipe. By the time it gets here Friday afternoon, it's going to be a category one hurricane, and it's looking like a direct hit. My flight home is tomorrow morning, and hopefully we won't have any problems getting out. Last night we decided to go back over to Cambridge Beaches and the Sunken Harbour Club, since we enjoyed it so much last visit. The lounge is cute It was not at all crowded, and they told us we could have a drink in the lounge before dinner if we wanted. My mocktail is on the left, and my husband chose a Continental Navy Menus For appetizers, husband chose the same ackee pasta I had last time. It was still delicious I chose the ginger bried scallop. This was interesting, but I would not get it again. The ginger brine changed the texture of the scallop in a way that I found a bit unappealing. My husband liked it more than I did. For mains, I was disappointed to hear that they were out of the red hind. They were also out of the turbot. They had gotten local wahoo in as a substitute, so I decided to have that. It was fresh and quite tasty Husband chose the wild boar, which he did not enjoy. He said it was overcooked and kind of tough. I shared my wahoo, so it was fine Dessert We decided to share the flamed chocolate dome, just because it sounded silly. Flaming dome Post flaming. The ice cream was good, but the chocolate cake inside was really dry. We only ate a bit of it. So, definitely not as good as back in May, but not so terrible that we would not give it another try sometime.

Yes, it was toasted raisin bread. Sweet with savory is a big thing in Bermuda. Another example is the traditional Bermuda breakfast on weekends. Codfish (typically salt cod, often in a curry sauce, but sometimes plain) with sliced bananas, boiled potatoes, and hard boiled egg. I really cannot get behind this one. I have tried it a handful of times, and it's just not for me. I love both too. The guy behind the counter recommended the wahoo. They catch their own fish, so I was going with what he recommended! Husband had to spend the day working, but I got to enjoy our "outdoor living room." You can turn off the AC and slide the walls open. Pretty nice. The surf is starting to pick up as Phillipe approaches from the south (we are leaving Thursday, so will be out of here before it potentially impacts Bermuda). There are moments of calm though, and it's still OK for swimming (though too rough to snorkel, and the hotel won't let anyone use the water sports equipment). I took this picture when the water was pulling back so it looks nice and calm. The waves are crashing into that building in the lower part of the picture when they come in, which is why all the umbrellas are pulled back against the cliff. For dinner, we went back to an old favorite, Blu. We had requested an outdoor table, but the wind was too strong to serve outside. They did let everyone go out on the patio for a cocktail/mocktail and to watch the sunset before being seated indoors to dine, which was nice. The menu is very large. Sushi Appetizers pasta and pizza fish and meat Husband really wanted the shrimp tempura for some reason, so he started with that I chose an appetizer special of cured wahoo with a salad. It was delicious and husband was extremely jealous. I let him have some to be nice 🙂 We both decided to get pasta diablo for dinner. Husband had lobster and I had shrimp Dessert menu Lemon shuffle again? Why not?

Yesterday was our last day with the mini car, so we decided to do a beach exploration tour. The south facing beaches have the pink sand that Bermuda is famous for, and I knew the dark and stormy clouds would heighten the colors on the beach. As you can see, we pretty much had the place to ourselves. My favorite, Warwick Long Bay The skies started lightening up as soon as we left Warwick, and continued to improve during the day. Not as forbidding in these photos After our beach walk, we took the minicar out to the other end of the island to try one of the fish sandwiches that is considered the best on the island. The battle for best fish sandwich on Bermuda is a fierce competition every year, and often Woody's come out on top. Woody's is a little building on the side of the road with picnic tables for while you wait. They always tell you it is going to be an hour for your sandwich, but I think we only waited 25 minutes or so. Woody's The menu And the sandwich. We chose wahoo. Verdict: very tasty! The hot sauce really added a lot. I am not sure that the cheese is necessary, but I did not mind it either. The sandwich was huge, and I was glad that we did not make dinner plans for the evening. We spent the later afternoon back at the resort. As you can see, the skies cleared up nicely. The rest of this short trip should have lovely weather.

Our room has a full kitchen, so I was able to start the morning with a glass of iced tea while reading the local paper that they put on the door each day. Even the headlines remind me that I am in a different country than the USA We went to actual breakfast at the hotel but I did not take pictures as I just had some boring yogurt and fruit. We went over to the Royal Naval Dockyard to do some shopping. We saw the setup for an Oktoberfest celebration happening that night, Tickets were sold out. Maybe because of this cruise ship in dock. The island is not very crowded otherwise. I found a copy of the same cookbook I bought on my honeymoon 26 years ago for sale in the bookshop. This book made me laugh. An entire book about busses! Weather was looking a bit stirred up back at the beach Dinner was at Cafe Lido, located on beautiful Elbow Beach. I wish the windows opened, but the view is still lovely Drinks. I ordered a strawberry cocktail (too sweet, but I know it would be. It was fun for a couple of sips and then I switched to water.) Husband had a lemon martini Menu Bread service Shrimp Tuna tartare I chose the catch of the day, which was wahoo. I also ordered a side of spinach, because I was not sure if I would enjoy the dandelion greens that came with the fish. They were indeed a bit too bitter for my liking. The fish was excellent though. Husband ordered the pasta carbonara for some reason. I guess he was very hungry! Dessert menu We split the berry semifreddo. It was nice. No fancy dinner plans for today. We are waiting for the weather to clear (it's looking promising) and then are heading out in the mini car for a beach tour, and to a stop at the place that supposedly has the best fish sandwich on the island. I've been wanting to get there for ages, so we will see if it lives up to my expectations!

I am back in Bermuda again. Here's the view from our room. We are in a similar unit as the last stay, though this one has two bedrooms instead of three. The interior layout and decor is otherwise identical. My husband has to work during the week, but we have a mini car rented for the weekend, and we'll be going to dinner every night, so there will be food to share. We went down to the beach for a while after arriving yesterday. Hurricane Lee passed nearby last week, and although it did not hit directly, Bermuda received a lot of wind, which killed a lot of the leaves on the trees, and also took away a lot of the sand, so the beach is quite steep right now. The sand will all be back soon, and there's still plenty to enjoy. As you can see, it was quite cloudy. The weather is going to clear up tomorrow. At least the water is warm enough to swim this time! The beach restaurant at the hotel was closed for a wedding, so we booked a last minute table at Aurora at the Newstead at Belmont Hills. We like to eat earlier than is popular in Bermuda, so can usually get in to places on short notice. Menu View from our table We shared an order of tuna tartare to start September and October is the local lobster season in Bermuda, so of course my husband got that. The lobsters here are quite small and tender, and very sweet. They were served with a seafood saffron risotto. I opted for the Dover sole. And for dessert, we split a lemon soufflé. Husband also indulged in a Grand Marnier We were both tired from traveling, and my husband was still recovering from the effects of getting the vaccine trifecta of shingles/flu/covid, so we were in bed by 9:30PM! I did take this picture of the resort at night before retiring for the evening.