liamsaunt

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.

Penne with a sauce made from the all the overripe tomatoes I had, plus olives, capers, and sautéed swordfish. Some parsley on top would have been nice, but I need to go food shopping.

Oyster crackers are more of a chowder thing. I am really picky about my chowder and almost never order it in a restaurant. At home, I usually make popovers to go with chowder. So yesterday we had to backtrack to Eastham to pick up my weekly delivery from my farm share. We are lucky that they will bring it to the Cape in the summer months, but you do have to go to one of two pickup locations as opposed to doorstep delivery. The closest one to us was Mac's Seafood Eastham market. Of course, when we got there, the veggies had not been delivered yet. Yay for Cape traffic. While waiting, I took some pictures of the market. Board with today's available fish prices Finfish Shellfish We waited about half an hour, and then gave up temporarily and went to dinner in Eastham since everyone was completely starving. My brother was a bit grumpy because this was not the original plan, but he got over it quickly. He does not like it when his routines are disrupted. We went to Casa del Cabo because it was the closest restaurant to Mac's. It was early enough that we were able to walk in without a reservation, though we had to agree to give up the table by a certain time. That was fine because we had to go back to get the vegetable box. Here's the food menu And the cocktail menu When we were first seated, there was only one other table in the place with people at it, and they were next to us. They would NOT stop complaining! They were angry that the restaurant did not offer free chips and salsa. They loudly complained about it through their whole meal! They were even still complaining at dessert! It must be terrible to be able to get so angry over something so small. Sheesh. Anyway, here is a margarita It was happy hour so we ordered a dozen $1 oysters. They were good, very briny Some (not free!) chips and seveche. To circle back to the chips vs. crackers discussion above, I think the chips hold up better to the liquidy seveche than saltines since you pile the seveche on to eat it. My niece ordered pork tacos with poblano peppers. She liked these a lot I ordered the shrimp tacos. They were messy but tasty Sister and brother ordered the swordfish. Sister liked it, brother did not. Husband had a grilled monkfish special with romanesco sauce and artichoke hearts. He really liked this Only niece ordered dessert. She got the chocolate churro bread pudding with ice cream, and devoured it. Later that night, only my husband and I wanted to go to the sunset. We stopped off at my favorite Gelato Joy for a quick dessert. Menu And our choices, blueberry and coffee And that's it for this week. We are heading back home today, then returning here for two more weeks starting next Saturday. The next group will be minus my brother, but plus my husband's brother, for at least part of the time. See you on the dinner thread!

Nauset Fish and Lobster Pool. Yes, that is a fabulous market. I am stopping there tomorrow actually, to get some fish to take home. (We are going home tomorrow and then coming back again next Saturday). I'll try and get a picture of their counter too. Yesterday my sister, niece and I went out to breakfast. Husband had to work so I brought him takeout. We chose the Fox and Crow. Here's their menu My niece got the Fox sandwich My sister chose the avocado toast and I had the mezze plate. The toum was my favorite part, but I was basically breathing garlic fire for the rest of the day While out and about we noticed a sign for a new bagel shop on Route 6 It was close to their closing time for the day, so I ordered some discounted bagels to take with us for the freezer. My brother asked to go to dinner at the Beachcomber, which is Wellfleet's most famous destination. It's located in an old Coast Guard lifesaving station that's been pulled back from the edge of the dune Here's the beach below, Cahoon Hollow beach, and the packed dune trail to get up and down Visitors were greeted by this sign at the top. It originally said "no lifeguard" but some smarty pants erased the "no". I can confirm the high level of shark activity. We have been monitoring the shark detection buoy in near the beach on the Sharktivity app and it has been busy. People were swimming anyway Back to the food. Here's a beachcomber margarita and a mezcal grapefruit drink. My husband did not seem to like this one much. We ordered fried clams to share My brother got fish and chips. The potion was enough for at least two people Niece got the same steak sandwich she had last time I ordered a salad with shrimp on it My sister and husband both got the oyster po boy. It was huge Here's a couple of sunset photos to close out the day We got a West Virginia license plate in the sunset beach's parking lot, bringing our remaining license plates for the 2022 contest to five--we still need both Dakotas, Hawaii (not going to happen) Alaska, and Nevada to complete our yearly search for every license plate in the country on Cape Cod.

As far as I have been able to find out, the fishermen do not sell directly from the boats in Wellfleet. I am just guessing here, but I am guessing that is because the state requires everything to be inspected before sale. We often rent homes that are beachfront on the harbor, where most of the oyster farms are. The homes all have signs in them telling you not to approach the oystermen to ask you to sell you their product. That said, there are options right in almost every Cape Cod town to buy the locally caught fish. Mac's and Hatch's are the two in Wellfleet. I like them both, so go to whichever is most convenient for what else I am doing that day. Yesterday I went to Mac's because I knew I wanted shucked lobster meat, and Hatch's doesn't always have shucked meat. Here is a picture of the fish counter. The fish with the signs that slipped behind are bluefin tuna, salmon (obviously) and cod. There is a counter with shellfish to the left, and prepared foods to the right. Yesterday I purchased shucked lobster meat ($52.99/lb, much lower than at the start of the summer) and some sea scallops for me since I dislike lobster. Here's the breakfast I made my husband. I brought that big beefsteak tomato from home. Yesterday was a washout due to a storm. The storm actually missed us, but the ocean was still stirred up. The water came all the way up to the edge of the dune the house sits on. I went over to the stairs down to the beach to take some pictures. This one shows how tall the dune is. Those are the beach chairs that go with the house all the way down there at the bottom. Normally the beach is very wide. Not yesterday. Stormy day. The sea was pretty calm when I took this picture. The waves got huge a couple of hours later. There were some crazy people surfing out there. It's back to being calm and sunny today. Husband wanted to eat at home, so I cooked dinner. Husband wanted warm lobster rolls. Sister and brother hate warm lobster rolls and wanted cold lobster rolls. Easy enough. Brother picked out the cucumber from his as a concession to my not having to make two separate batches of lobster salad (we use cucumber instead of celery because nobody likes celery) I had some leftover rice in the fridge from the other night, and niece does not like scallops or lobster, so she agreed to fried rice for dinner. She asked for eggs on top I had fried rice too, but with scallops on top

The weather has taken a temporary downturn. We are having a nor'easter and are under a gale warning. The waves and wind are supposed to pick up by the afternoon. We'll be generally staying at the house today. Last night we ventured back to Mac's Shack. If anything, it was even busier last night than it was on Saturday night! Where are all these people coming from haha. Drinks for my brother and husband: We shared some littlenecks steamed in garlic, ginger, scallions and soy as an appetizer. These were delicious, and I wished we had something on the table to soak the broth up with, or at least a spoon. Niece got sushi again. A salmon poke bowl this time And then she ordered another roll with cream cheese in it. I guess that's the way she likes her sushi. This is the Philly roll. Brother ordered fish and chips. The cole slaw went untouched of course. Husband ordered halibut with mashed potatoes in lobster broth and I had swordfish with roasted vegetables and mashed potatoes. Not sure what we are doing for dinner today--I am pretty sure I am cooking, though I doubt the fishing boats went out last night. We'll see what the market has. If it's not too crowded I will take some pictures of the counters in there today.

I'm not really sure what the purpose of cream cheese is in sushi. I used to only see it in salmon rolls called "Philadelphia roll" which mimicked a bagel I guess, but now it seems to be in a lot of different ones. She likes it though, and I wasn't eating it, so it was OK with me! I cooked at the house last night. My brother grilled tuna for himself and my husband, but my niece did not want any since she had tuna for dinner the prior evening. She picked out a piece of salmon at the market, so I ate that with her. I just did it on a sheet pan with some summer squash and zucchini and an oyster sauce glaze. I also cooked a pot of rice. I made corn on the cob and a tomato salad for my husband to have with his tuna, but I only took a picture of the salmon Here are some photos of last night's sunset. Afterglow

Where we are staying has beautiful views, but I do wonder how many more years it will be here. Erosion is a big problem on this part of the Cape. I found a couple of not so great pictures to compare. Here is a (blurry) picture I took last June of a moonrise with the home's flagpole in the shot. The dark line you see running behind the bottom of the flagpole is the edge of the dune the house sits on. And here is that same flagpole just over one year later, teetering on the very edge of the dune. I would guess there is about 20-25 feet between the end of the house's foundation and the edge of the cliff. My sister had to drive back home and go in to the office today and tomorrow, so she asked to go out to dinner again last night. She chose the Wicked Oyster. I remembered to take pictures of the specials and the front page of the menu, but not the back page. Oops! Specials Appetizers and salad My niece wanted the bread basket and my sister and husband wanted to try the lobster dip with truffled potato chips. The chips were a bit stale (hard not to be in the humidity out here) and the dip only tasted of shallot, so that was a bit disappointing. My niece and I both got the entree size tuna tataki from the appetizer section of the menu. It was fine--but a little boring. My sister had the scallop special. They were beautifully seared on the other side, so I don't know why they presented them upside down! Anyway, she said it was delicious. Brother ordered the grilled halibut. He left behind the broccoli of course, but enjoyed the fish and potatoes. My husband got the lazy lobster. He enjoyed it. We were too full for dessert or any ice cream, so went for a long walk after dinner instead. Here's the sunset afterglow from the house.

Well, we are back in Wellfleet. The timing of rental availability has us here this week, then home for a week, then back for two more weeks, all in the same house. This place has a decent kitchen and grill so I will likely be cooking at least half of the time. Here's the view. We stayed here last year. There is access to the beach via a long stairway. No swimming for us though, at least not in the ocean. It's cold and there are sharks. We have a beach sticker to swim in the kettle ponds in town, and we all enjoy a good beach walk. This week the group is myself and my husband, my sister, my niece, and my brother. My husband's brother is coming for a couple of nights at the end of the week. First night's dinner had to be at Mac's Shack. We all (except my brother, who does not eat appetizers) started with a spicy tuna mango martini. I forgot to take a cocktail picture, but that's my brother's mezcalito to the side. It's like a margarita but made with mezcal. I tried one back when I still drank alcohol and thought it was too smoky, but he and my husband really like them and order one every time we come here. I also forgot a picture of the dozen oysters. I am sure we will order them again. We also ordered some halibut seveche, which was terrific. My sister and niece got sushi. Sister had tuna poke and niece got a poke special which was made with toro Then they got my niece's two favorite rolls, the gon jah mon and the big kahuna I ordered a blackened salmon special, which came with a salad of black lentils, brussels sprouts and peppers, and a roasted red pepper sauce Husband got the classic ritz cracker crusted bluefish with mashed potatoes and creamed spinach and brother ordered the blackened swordfish with cilantro rice, watermelon-fennel-cucumber salad and sweet potato. I have had this before and think it is really tasty. He eats no vegetables or fruits other than some citrus, herbs, white potatoes, cooked onion, and the occasional carrot, so did not get the full experience by leaving almost all of the sides on his plate (He is weird about food, and I don't know how he remains alive with his limited diet, but he has made it this far, so I have given up trying to change him). He did enjoy the rice and fish. We were all too tired to go to the sunset, but we saw a beautiful moonrise from the deck after we came home from dinner.

I don't think the plastic ones are dishwasher safe, are they? I don't like eating out of plastic anyway. I like the hefty weight and the rougher texture of the ceramic ones.

I have these bowls from amazon too, though I chose the other color they offer (or used to offer, which is more of a beige color) and they are really great. They are very sturdy and can go in the dishwasher too. Last night, ziti with a raw tomato, garlic and spinach sauce with some chunks of fresh mozzarella cheese added for my husband, sister, and me. My niece dislikes tomato sauces so she had a ginger ramen soup with spinach added in one of those big bowls posted about above.

In theory, that is how my freezer is organized too. The second door shelf has ziplocks of various stuff such as coconut milk, pesto, chipotles in adobo, tomato paste, compound butters, etc. It's just that I often forget that I have coconut milk in there and then I end up with multiple ziplocks of the stuff. I got a huge bunch of Thai basil and various types of peppers in yesterday's CSA delivery, so we had Thai basil, pepper and chicken stir fry.

I actually do that too, but then I end up finding little bags of frozen coconut milk in the far reaches of my freezer. Never when I actually need them, of course! I actually bought some of the Aroy-D brand of coconut milk based on a recommendation from you earlier--it is good, so thanks! @Shelby, ugh, poison ivy! I hate that stuff! I hope you feel better soon, and that the steroids work quickly. One time, my husband and I got terrible cases of it that required steroids (from clearing off a dormant vegetable plot next to woodlands). Mine cleared up after one course of steroids, but my husband had flare ups that came back occasionally over the next three years! Now he refuses to garden at all 🤣 Last night, more dinner salads. This one had a creamy avocado and buttermilk dressing. I put leftover steak on top for my husband and niece And breaded sautéed chicken for my sister and me.

My rice cooker is a Zojirushi but it does not have a GABA setting. I had never even heard of GABA rice before reading the end of this thread! That said my rice cooker is at least 10 years old. It does have lots of settings I have never tried, like semibrown rice.

I riffed on this recipe: https://www.recipetineats.com/eggplant-curry-south-indian/ I used half the cloves, coriander and cumin called for, upped the Indian chili powder a little bit to get it to the heat level we like, and used all coconut milk instead of coconut milk and water because I hate opening a can of coconut milk and only using 3 tbsp! I also swapped in a fresh tomato chopped up and some tomato paste from the freezer for the canned tomatoes called for. Last night, we had a salad in a blueberry vinaigrette with salmon, nectarines, blackberries, red onion, and toasted almonds.

Eggplant curry. It does not look great but has a lot of flavor.

Last night's dinner was nephew's request: he headed back to Montana this morning for another year of service on the Crow Reservation. He wanted homemade American style Chinese food since he cannot order it in restaurants due to his allergy. My sister, niece and I all cooked together and made sesame-soy chicken wings, chicken fingers, ginger garlic fried rice, vegetable egg rolls, crabless crab rangoons, and some broccoli with oyster sauce. I don't think I will be frying again for a while 🤣

Seared scallops on corn risotto with cherry tomatoes, chives and prosciutto

Fish and chips (haddock)

It was too muggy to turn the oven on yesterday, so we had a wedge of brie and a piece of a baguette from a local cheese shop. I made a kale-blueberry salad too.

Bean burger with a thick slice of local tomato and oven fries

Miso salmon with gai lan, assorted mushrooms and summer squash, rice.

Mezze rigatoni with roasted red pepper sauce, a mix of arugula and baby spinach, and fresh mozzrella cheese