liamsaunt

Miso marinated salmon with baby bok choy, napa cabbage, and mushroom stir fry, plus rice.

Pasta puttanesca with cod

Generally around 6 PM.

It was a chilled drink, just like a standard martini. That confused us too, but he decided to take a chance and order anyway. All we could surmise was that the menu had a typo, and it was supposed to say "chilled sake." Yesterday the surf was way up. You could feel the house shaking from the waves hitting the dune. I went out to take a picture of the staircase to the beach, and noticed that the stake that holds the owners' beach chairs had washed out to sea. It looked like the chairs had washed out too, from the amount of sand piled on them. They had all been reclaimed and stacked higher on the dune, opposite the staircase. Some guys were surfing down there this morning, and I guess they moved them, which was kind. This photo shows the water hitting the bottom of the dune. At high tide, the water was crawling up the side of it. Here's a photo of the houses near us. The little cottage with the new shingles was pushed back from the dune about a year ago. If the owners are lucky, I'd guess it has five years left before it goes over. They currently have it on the market for $1.5 million. Any takers? Later we went to Ballston Beach in Truro for a walk. The surf was large here too. This lady was standing much closer to the waves than I would be inclined to. We went to the Pearl for dinner. Cape Cod margarita for my husband (basically a standard margarita with cranberry juice in it) Oysters to share Banging shrimp appetizer My husband had fried scallops and I had grilled swordfish We are heading home this morning. It's raining, so I am not sure that we will stop anywhere along the way for a meal or a beach walk. Just in case we don't, here's another sunset photo to close things out until the next time we visit--which probably won't be until next year. See you on the dinner thread!

Oh yes. We knew we wanted to bring ice cream to the beach, so I brought along lidded corkcicle mugs to transfer the ice cream to and wooden spoons for eating it. It worked out splendidly. We spent yesterday at Gull Pond, a lovely natural kettle pond, great for swimming. Many tourists have gone home, and most Wellfleetians were at a special town meeting, so we shared the spot with just one other family. After the pond we stopped for a gelato. My husband got a double shot affogato and I had a small fudge ripple gelato. Back at the house, the surf was up We were lazy at dinner and just went back to Mac's Shack. Here were the specials last night We decided to try most of the specials. Husband got the sake-tini but I did not take a picture. It looked like a martini 🙂 We got the halibut turadito and jalapeño yellowtail sashimi to start and then husband got both sushi specials, and I got the salmon. He overestimated his appetizer and had to leave behind most of the rice in the poke bowl as well as a few pieces of the maki roll I ate most of the salmon dish. It was very tasty, and the salmon was cooked perfectly. It was another lovely sunset last night too Today is (really, truly) our last full day. We had planned to sit on the beach in front of the house for most of it, but the surf is even higher today, and the waves are coming right up to the edge of the dune, so we might have to come up with another plan.

Yesterday my main request was to go to Herring Cove Beach in Provincetown for the sunset. I let my husband pick the restaurant. He said he really wanted to go back to Pepe's on the Wharf so we could sit on the deck and enjoy the views while eating. I agreed. Here's the restaurant and the view at low tide. Husband ordered a frozen aperol spritz. It looked refreshing. We ordered the scallop crudo to share (it needed a bit of salt but that was easily fixed) and a crab cake (fine, but nothing special) I ordered a special of pasta arrabiatta with shrimp added (very good, and quite spicy) and my husband got a pan-seared halibut with haricot verts and rice pilaf. He said the fish was perfectly cooked and the beans were too. I was a bit jealous because I had considered ordering that dish, but I knew the portion would be too big. We stopped by Lewis' Brothers Homemade Ice Cream I chose almond joy and my husband chose mudslide. We brought the ice cream over to Herring Cove beach for the sunset It was pretty spectacular. There is smoke high up in the atmosphere from the wildfires out west and that impacted the color. Here are a couple of shots and finally, the moonrise, taken from the deck of the house we are renting. We were supposed to head home this morning, but the weather is supposed to be beautiful, and the owner of the house is allowing us to stay for the weekend, so we have a few more days to enjoy the beauty of Cape Cod.

Yesterday was sunny but quite windy. The surf was starting to get stirred up--nothing like today--it looks angry out there right now! A company came by and took down the flagpole from the edge of the cliff in preparation for the big storms we get in the fall and winter. My husband and I were out exploring all afternoon and got hungry, so we decided to just eat out. We went to the Bookstore in Wellfleet. I took pictures of the menu. Beer specials Food specials Menu Husband ordered a martini flavored with tarragon and lemon. He liked it. We decided to share the Belgian mussels since we had not really had any mussels yet. They were tasty. There was lots of broth under there to dip the mussels and fries in. I ordered some shrimp tacos and husband chose the baked seafood medley. It was a very large portion. We went to the sunset last night. We had some company while watching it After sunset, we decided to get ice cream We went for their famous black raspberry/coffee soft serve twist. It was very creamy and a bit too big. We should have shared one.

Yes, separately wrapped. I had been collecting them for months! It was a lot of fun picking them out. No booze is involved. It used to be served in a martini glass. The bottom layer was spicy tuna, then guacamole, then sour cream. It's evolved over the years and now just comes in a bowl, which is probably easier for the kitchen. My niece actually likes it better this way because the sour cream is only on part of it and she hates sour cream. Yes, I did! I started buying them months ago. Her favorite genres are fantasy and science fiction, so there were many of those, but I also threw in some classics and a volume of poetry to nod to our shared English major. I splurged on some editions from Folio Society and Suntup Press as a special treat mixed in with the standard other volumes.

It does look kind of mangled, doesn't it? Yesterday was another washout day, so we did not do much. It was my niece's birthday, so we let her pick the restaurant. You will be shocked to hear that Mac's Shack was chosen. Drinks for my sister, husband, and his brother My niece wanted the spicy tuna mango martini again. The rest of us shared some oysters Rockefeller Niece (no surprise) wanted sushi Husband's brother chose the seafood zarzuela. It had swordfish, clams, calamari, and mussels. He said it was very tasty, and perfect for a cold, damp day My sister ordered a linguini Verde with clams and mussels I got broiled swordfish and my husband ordered a special lobster fettuccine We did desserts and presents back at the house. I gave her a stack of 21 books since it was her 21st birthday. She was quite happy with her haul. Homemade carrot cake Everyone has now headed home except for my husband and me. I'm not sure what we will be doing for food. Both of us are kind of sick of dining out, so I might just cook at the house.

I can only speak for myself and the members of my family group, but none of us use the green wasabi paste. We don't dip the fish into soy either, so I guess I never really gave the real vs. fake wasabi much thought. Yesterday was a complete washout. We did drive into Provincetown to keep our reservation at Mews. The town was extremely quiet, and many places were closed. Menu: Drinks. I don't know what my sister or my husband ordered. The short one in the center was my husband's brother's choice, an old-fashioned made with mezcal My niece wanted the breadsticks with citrus honey butter We ordered some oysters to share I wanted to try the pickled peach and burrata salad. It was delicious. I shared it with my niece and my sister. My husband's brother wanted the lobster wontons. For entrees, both my sister and I wanted the roasted cod with citrus beurre blanc. It was exactly what I was in the mood for. The piece of cod was huge, so I shared some with my husband. My husband wanted the lobster vindaloo. He said it was very spicy! It came with rice and naan on the side My niece ordered the shaking beef. This also came with rice on the side. She loved it and cleaned her plate. My husband's brother ordered the seared sea scallops with farro and vegetables. He said it was very good. I think he secretly wanted to order the cod that I had but did not want to get the same entree. The desserts here are very good, and I would have shared one, but my niece was too full and wanted to head home, so we skipped it.

@TicTac It's a pretty casual restaurant. I am not sure that people would appreciate the fresh wasabi. I could be wrong! So, we tried to go to the Beachcomber yesterday, and as I predicted, it was full again. I offered to cook a couple of different dinners, but nobody could agree on what they wanted, and I was not in the mood for the usual short-order chef routine, so we ended up going out again. But first, my husband and I went on a beach walk by the house. There was a swell approaching, so surfers were out at LeCount Hollow The sky clouded over just in the short time it took us to walk from LeCount back to the house. We all wanted to go someplace different, so we decided to try Caroline's in Eastham. We arrived just after happy hour ended, so we had our pick of tables. We decided to sit inside in case it rained. Menu Drinks. My husband got a bee's knees and my sister and husband's brother each got a Paloma Niece wanted the vegetable tempura roll My husband and his brother got steamers (they were huge!) and we all shared some halibut ceviche My niece wanted a steak My husband's brother chose fish and chips I got the sweet and spicy shrimp bowl. It was packed with vegetables and shrimp, and so many noodles! My husband and my sister each got the fish tacos Nobody wanted dessert. The ocean was pretty stirred up by the time we returned to the house It's pretty miserable here today, weather-wise, so I don't think we will be doing much of anything until this evening when we have a dinner reservation at Mews in Provincetown.

Yesterday was a very hot day. All of the beaches and restaurants were packed for the holiday, so we spent most of the day just reading on the deck. We did venture to a beach in the afternoon for a walk, but it was so hot we did not stay long. My husband's brother wanted to go to the Beachcomber for dinner. I warned him that the parking was going to be full. He insisted we go anyway. The parking was full, the police were there, and cars were not allowed to wait to pull into the lot as others left. This is just as I expected based on years of experience going there on Labor Day weekend. 🙄 We ended up at Mac's Shack again. There was an hour wait for a table, but everywhere else was equally full. Drinks while waiting: Oysters Spicy tuna mango martini Toro sushi roll Toro poke bowl Regular tuna poke bowl Big kahuna roll Special of swordfish skewered with shiitake mushrooms, bell peppers, and zucchini over rice Spicy seared tuna over soba noodles with wasabi cream sauce My husband's brother insists we try for Beachcomber again today. They are only open until 4, then close for a week for a staff holiday, so we will see if we can get there.

Yes, I have done that walk many times. It is great when there is water in the swamp around the trees. It makes for beautiful, almost fairy-like pictures. I am sure it is dry as a bone at the moment! Yes, the chocolate looks like standard quality touristy stuff, doesn't it? We did not buy any. I am not sure how their prices compare to other candy stores out here--I will look. Yesterday we had to leave the house in the morning because the cleaners were coming for a house refresh. My niece wanted to go book shopping, so we decided to go to Chatham and Harwichport for the morning to get breakfast and shop. Chatham was wall-to-wall people! They must have all arrived Friday night. We went to Captain's Table. An obnoxious lady cut us in line for seating, but I could see an open table for four on the terrace that did not have any other tables around it to combine, and she had eight people with her, so I just let it go. My sister ordered pancakes: I ordered a breakfast burrito Niece had French toast And my husband had smoked salmon eggs benedict We tried doing some shopping in town, but it was so crowded that some of the stores had ropes up with staff to limit entry like you were shopping for Gucci instead of t-shirts! Needless to say, we did not stay. I did see this funny sign on a church in town: And my niece found a book she wanted at Yellow Umbrella Books, so it was not a total shopping bust. Harwichport was not as crowded, but none of us saw anything we wanted to buy. Back to the quiet house! I cooked dinner. Sauteed swordfish (the grill is still broken) and lobster with peppers and rice pilaf.

Me too!! I would be paranoid about the tide coming in and stranding me on the jetty. Plus, I hate walking on soft sand for any distance. I guess there is a shuttle boat that will take you over from MacMilllan pier to avoid the jetty and sand hike, but I have never done it. So yesterday our plans got scuttled when we got a message at 10 AM from our farm share delivery service saying that the driver had hit traffic, and our scheduled pickup had been changed from 4 PM to 7 PM. That was pretty annoying. So we spent the day at the house reading and visiting another beach within walking distance, White Crest. Since we had to drive two towns back to get the farm vegetables, we ended up going out to dinner rather than cooking at the house. We chose Rock Harbor Grill in Orleans. It was full on arrival (it's walk-in only), so we walked over to a nearby candy shop and bakery, the Hot Chocolate Sparrow, to see what was on offer. Here's the bakery case, with various slices of cakes Chocolate barks Hard candies Fudge flavors And a picture that my niece asked me t take for this report. She would like to know if anyone would actually eat these two items, because they sound completely disgusting! After poking around a bit in the chocolate shop, we got a text that our table was ready. Menu: Complimentary pretzel bread for the table Drinks for my husband and sister (sorry, I forgot to ask what they were) Fried clam and cherry pepper appetizer Fried mushroom appetizer My niece got the prosciutto pizza. She said it was quite tasty. My husband chose the lazy lobster. He said it was very rich. He did not eat the potatoes but enjoyed the broccoli. Sister got the roasted cod. She said it was very fresh and that the grilled asparagus was excellent. I chose the shrimp and scallop special, which was a bit of a mistake. The porcini powder they put on the seafood before searing it made everything look burnt, which was not really appealing. The powder didn't add much flavor either, so it was kind of a strange decision. The mushrooms mentioned in the menu description were missing. Finally, this dish had WAY too many sun-dried tomatoes. There was a whole layer of them under the tortellini. Overall it was not a great dish, despite the freshness of the scallops, but I knew I was taking a chance when I ordered it. Oh well! We skipped dessert in favor of ice cream at the Ice Cream Cafe in town. Here's the menu of flavors. There are lots of choices!

Yesterday we started with a walk on the public beach near the house, LeCount Hollow You have to be a Wellfleet resident (or own, not rent, a seasonal house in Wellfleet) in order to park here during the on-season, but anyone can walk in. The town enacted this rule about three years ago, and I think it is a good policy. All of the beach lots fill up early in the summer, and it's not fair to the people that live here year-round that they do not have a place to go to the beach if they want to. This is a popular surfing beach, but it was calm yesterday. Yesterday was our whale watch We saw seven humpback whales, a fin whale, a basking shark, and a blue shark. Here are a couple of photos. A pair of humpbacks, one blowing through its blowhole A humpback slapping the water with its fin Two different whales diving down and my favorite, a pair of humpbacks that looked like they were doing a synchronized swimming routine. They kept moving out of the water in unison. It was very cool. We were also very lucky to see some completely out of the water breeches, but from a distance too far to take decent photos, even with my DSLR. Back to shore. This is the lighthouse on the end of the curve of Provincetown and town as seen from the boat After our whale watch, we headed to Mac's Fish House Provincetown, as that is our tradition. Drinks for my husband and sister My niece wanted a steamed pork bun appetizer My sister, husband, and I split some oysters and littleneck clams For entrees, my sister had sesame-crusted tuna over a soba noodle salad My niece wanted sushi (of course) I got a masala rubbed salmon on coconut curry lentils with mint raita (under the lentils) and husband went for the classic halibut with lobster mashed potatoes.

I try not to go too far off-topic, but I figure an occasional brief diversion is OK, as long as people are interested. It's always fun, as long as the mosquitoes are not attacking! They have not been bad this year. We saw a brilliant shooting star with a fire trail, and there were tons of fireflies flitting about. It was a nice evening. Did you see that Oysterfest is happening this year? They are limiting attendees to 6,000 and advance tickets only, so it should be a more comfortable experience. Unfortunately, the dates do not work for us. They were very crispy and reasonably hot. Yesterday we drove to the next town over, Truro, to visit the Chequessett Chocolate Company. They have an attached store with all different types of chocolate for sale. I took some pictures to show you. This is their own chocolate And other various chocolates for sale There's a cafe with coffee drinks also. Outside, there is a food truck that serves ice cream and smoothies. Here is that menu We ordered ice creams, and the order taker messed them up rather grandly. Here is one ice cream we ordered. It has the flavor I ordered, my niece's sprinkles, and my husband's cone! We swapped around as best we could. It's ice cream, it's all good. My sister came back out in time to go to dinner. We decided on the Pearl. Menu Drinks for my husband and sister Fried calamari My husband chose shrimp tacos My sister had fish tacos My niece chose bourbon pork and I had roasted cod. Sunset at Wellfleet pier We are going on a whale watch this afternoon, so maybe I will have some whale (or even shark!) pictures to share tomorrow.

Yesterday, my husband's brother was leaving for a few days. Before he drove home, he wanted to have lunch at Winslow's Tavern. After our prior poor dining experiences there earlier this year, we all agreed to play it safe with sandwiches. The guys ordered summer in a glass cocktails We ordered some roasted oysters with rosemary lemon butter, which were fine. and the guys also wanted to order a striped bass crudo. I skipped this one: the MA striped bass season ended weeks ago, and I have no idea where this fish came from. They seemed to enjoy it. For sandwiches, I ordered the frenchie, which was caramelized onions and gruyere cheese (a tad bland, some grainy mustard would have perked it up) My husband and his brother ordered a lobster salad and prosciutto panini with saffron mayonnaise. My husband was annoyed that they put celery in the lobster salad this year. I guess it never had celery before. Niece ordered her usual prosciutto, gruyere, and fig jam sandwich. She said it was good. We skipped the sunset last night, and instead went to the drive-in movies (in case you are wondering why the front is empty--nobody parks there because all of the speakers in those rows are broken due to a bad paving job). We did not make it to the second movie (Top Gun: Maverick) but Grease was a lot of fun.

I don't like QR code menus either. I am sure it saves the restaurant money in printing costs, but I do prefer having the actual menu in hand rather than scrolling back and forth on my phone. Yesterday we were lazy and spent most of the day reading books or on the deck looking at the water so not too many pictures to share. I cooked at home last night. I wanted to grill, but the tenants who were here last week broke the connector that brings the gas line into the grill somehow. So, I ended up pan roasting the halibut I intended to grill. I served it with sautéed corn, marinated tomatoes, and salad. All the veggies were brought from home as I got a CSA delivery the day before we came out here. We did make it to the beach for the sunset last night. Dropping into the haze on the horizon

Happy Anniversary!

Yesterday, my sister, niece and I went out to breakfast at Fox and Crow. We all got the same thing, this egg sandwich: Later we went to Provincetown and stopped by Race Point Beach. It was high tide so we did not walk for long. In town, my niece, sister and I went book shopping while my husband and his brother went for a drink at Aqua Bar. I had good luck at the fantastic Tim's Used Books, scoring three Folio Society illustrated Jane Austen novels and a hardcover copy of On the Road. Nobody else found anything they wanted. Lots of pretty flowers around. We walked by a new grilled cheese restaurant. I wonder if the emergence of this restaurant has anything to do with all of the cannabis stores in town. Note the grilled cheeses with mac and cheese inside of them 🤣 We went to dinner at Pepe's Wharf. View The menu was via a QR code so no picture of that. Here are the drinks people ordered. A Don Julio, which was basically a margarita, I think and a fraperol, some sort of frozen slushy aperol drink. Appetizers. Fried calamari Bruschetta with peppers and stracciatella cheese (my niece wanted this and said it was very good) and wild mushroom flatbread The catch of the day was swordfish. My sister had it with a lemon garlic marinade and my husband's brother ordered it with a cajun coating My husband and I both got the colossal shrimp with arugula salad. The salad was really tasty My niece ordered a special of miso salmon with asparagus and rice. She liked this a lot We were all too full for dessert, but my sister wanted to order a piece of their coconut cake to take back to work with her today. It looked pretty tasty.

I am back in Wellfleet for the next two weeks with family. Our first dinner had to be at Mac's Shack, of course. The specials last night. Drinks. The usual sparkling water, gin spin, and mescalito. We shared appetizers of spicy tuna mango martini and halibut seveche. These are the same choices we made last time, but they are both so tasty. I got the salmon special. It was delicious. The salmon was cooked perfectly. The raw shaved beets in the dish were not in the menu description though. I really like beets, which is a good thing, because they really flavored the dish. If you did not like beets and got this dish, you would have been disappointed. My niece, husband, and sister all shared some sushi. They intended to bring home any leftovers for my husband's brother, who was arriving later that evening, but they ate it all haha Halibut turadito Jalepeno yellowtail sashimi Salmon poke bowl (this was only for my niece) Big Mac roll (spicy tuna and avocado inside, wrapped in tuna outside, topped with tuna poke) Big kahuna roll (my niece's favorite, I am not sure that my sister or husband got any of this one) Stoplight roll (tuna, mango, avocado inside, yellowtail outside) We did not have time to get to the west-facing beach for the sunset after dinner, so we returned to the house and my husband and I walked on the east-facing beach in front of the house instead. Here's a view of the house we are renting as seen from the beach. I counted the stairs on the way back up--97. It's a nice workout!

That sounds good, but as I mentioned, my niece will not eat beans. Especially black beans. Happy Anniversary! Last night I made the household favorite chicken shawarma

My sister wanted veggie burgers for dinner. I was constrained by the fact that my niece won't eat beans or mushrooms if she can detect them, and my sister hates tofu, tempeh, etc. So, I tried this burger recipe from food52 on the assumption that the mushrooms would not be detectable: https://food52.com/recipes/88256-best-miso-veggie-burger-recipe The flavors were good, but even though I let the burger mixture refrigerate overnight before cooking them, they were still quite mushy. Hopefully, it will be a while before she asks for another veggie burger. I'd rather just have a roasted vegetable sandwich.

Crabcakes with horseradish aioli, corn cut off the cob, and tomato-basil salad. All the veggies are from my CSA box. My sister brought the crabmeat home from a farmer's market that sets up in front of her office on Tuesdays.

Mezze rigatoni in a sauce made from summer squash cooked in chicken stock and butter and pureed in the vitamix with baby spinach and parmesan cheese added at the end, topped with some more very overripe tomatoes from my farm share box.