liamsaunt

I second the recommendation for this dish. I think the last time I made it, I served it with hummus too, which was a big hit. Next time I will add in the chicken, since we all like chicken shawarma so much. Hot sauce is also good for adding a pop of color. Last night, chicken tinga tacos. My nephew grilled a flank steak for people who wanted steak tacos also, but I didn't get a picture of those.

Last night was supposed to be grilled tacos, but the weather did not cooperate. Instead of attempting to grill in the torrential rain, I took Monday's planned menu and made it last night. Creamy summer squash and basil pasta for four out of five people My nephew really hates summer squash, so he had raw tomato and basil sauce. Yes, he ate all of that pasta himself. Don't ask me how.

Pizza night. Margharita Pepper and onion

Yes, indeed. All non profit teaching does actually, after 10 years of service. His teaching job that he starts in the fall will also count, though he's actually getting paid now! I usually don't mind making multiple meals, but sometimes it is wearing. I may or may not have mentioned this here, but I also prepare all of my father's dinners since my Mom passed away last November. He has an entirely different set of dietary preferences and restrictions! At least for him, I prepare a week's worth at a time and freeze, so it's not a daily thing. My brother, who lives with him, reheats the food and supplements the entrees I make with salads. Last night, chicken shawarma.

He's actually here for a while now. He was in Montana for two years, but has moved back to Massachusetts now. He's planning on living with me for a year or so while he saves up some money. The cost of living in our area is really high, and he's spent the past two years living on a very small stipend while volunteering as a math teacher on the Crow Reservation. I actually like kale, both raw and cooked. The things that go to automatic compost for me are kohlrabi and swiss chard. I dislike them both! Last night, just burgers. Beef for my nephew and husband, tuna for my sister and me (pictured here). My niece pivoted off menu and had a gruyere, fig jam, and prosciutto panino. The days of multiple dinners have returned!

It was not rare, but it was not dry either. The tuna was ground and highly seasoned with cumin, coriander, and lemon. I only had a bite of it as we were sharing. I thought it was interesting, but would not jump to order it again.

Since he just moved home, I let my nephew pick the menu for the rest of this week, starting with last night's dinner. First up: kale caesar salad with chicken.

Do you like squash noodles, either alone or mixed in with pasta? I find that it is a good way to get rid of some. My CSA gave me two summer squashes that were as long as my forearm last box, and I used them to make the noodles that I recently posted on the dinner! thread. On their own they can be a little bland but I like them with spicy flavors. Sometimes we do them with Indian spiced chicken and raita on top.

It has cucumber and cilantro, if I remember correctly. It used to be my drink of choice back when I still imbibed. We came home yesterday morning, taking the scenic route down 6A. We stopped at Nauset Lobster Pool in Orleans to pick up some tuna for last night's dinner (posted over in the dinner! thread) and then had breakfast at Grumpy's in Dennis. My sister had left much earlier in the morning, driving directly to her office, so it was just my husband, niece and me. Husband got an egg sandwich I had avocado and tomato benedict and mt niece got the best looking plate: banana nut french toast One more stop in Yarmouthport to check out a bookstore And then home. We will be back for two weeks next month, but won't be eating out nearly as much. it will just be my husband and I most of the time, and he will also be working most of the time, so I might get out and explore some stuff on my own. No sunsets this trip, except for the one I posted earlier, so here's a scenic shot I took a few years ago in Chatham to end this installment.

Everything but the bagel tuna over garlic noodles and summer squash zoodles with some spinach and napa cabbage added

I wondered if anyone would pick up on that! 😂 Yesterday my niece and I walked down the street to pick up breakfast for everyone Menu I decided to just get four different bowls and everyone could pick which one looked the best. Fern Fuschia Gold Violet It was a pretty tasty start to the day. My niece and I went out after for a long walk around town. We filed up the little free library with books we did not want to bring home and then walked over to see if Herridge had anything new we wanted Score! Richard Russo is one of my favorite authors. I already have this book, but this one was signed and only $9. I'll give my other copy away. I love this house. It just sold to new owners a few months ago after being on the market for a very short time. We went to Provincetown for a very long walk on Herring Cove beach, then to town for shopping. My niece picked up a few things, but I decided to wait until we come back next month. It started pouring rain, so we went back to Wellfleet rather than eating in Provincetown. We returned to Winslow's Tavern (picture taken earlier in the morning, before the rain started) Husband's G+T Clams and calamari again Spiced tuna kofte Corn risotto with seared scallops Mixed sea pasta Cacio e pepe with corn The rain continued through the night, so no evening beach walk or sunset. We are wrapping things up here, but might have one more meal and a trip to a fish market before heading home.

I don't understand the appeal of clam strips (aka no belly clams). They are not the same thing at all. Plus all of the flavor is in the belly! If I ordered fried calms and got clam strips, I would send them back! Yesterday, after checking out of the beachfront house and moving in to the antique in town, we needed breakfast. We drove over to the Fox and Crow to see if we could get one of their few parking spaces. Success! We arrived right before all the people you can see in line in this photo. It's counter service only with a very limited menu at the moment, but they still had their tasty egg sandwich The house in town is really cute. It's been restored. Some parts have been modernized, like the kitchen and bathrooms, but it still has lots of original features, like the very steep staircases. Here are the front stairs, up to the bedrooms The back stairs do not have carpet, and you can see the grooves from all of the steps trod over the years Here are some pictures from town. This building was the original location for Fox and Crow. It's a craft gallery now. The building is as crooked as it looks in the picture. I think it might be sinking in to the ground. One of the two fish markets in town. This one smokes all different kinds of fish, and it's delicious. They also have an attached farm stand that also sells locally made jams and popsicles. That's the back area. Walking bridge to Lieutenant Island (there's houses and a beach on the other side of that hill, and a road to drive over also, but it's impassable at high tide) A better view of the marsh area. This is called Duck Creek. A 16 foot great white shark with a tracker named Catherine swam in here about five years ago. It caused quite the stir. Niece lobbied very hard for another visit to Mac's Shack for dinner. Drinks: mocktail of pomegranate juice, mint and soda water for my niece, a gin spin for my sister, soda water for me, and a dirty martini for my husband Menu pictures for @rotuts niece wanted the spicy tuna mango martini again. I got one chips' worth, and I think she ate the rest We also ordered oysters And tried the maki special Niece got the salmon poke for dinner I tried the scallop special My sister got the scallop dish I had last time and my husband got the ritz cracker bluefish Everything was very good.

Yesterday we took everyone to Provincetown. We went to Race Point, which was very foggy. I found some sea glass. People were actually swimming in the water. Not us. I snapped this picture of shark food--he was about three feet from the shore. Seals were popping up right next to the swimmers. We also visited my niece's favorite Cape Cod bookstore, Tim's Used Books And had lunch, ice cream of course, at Lewis' Homemade Ice Cream. No pictures of our choices, it was too chaotic with seven people. We decided to try our luck and go back to Wellfleet and attempt to park at the Beachcomber for dinner. Even though we had two cars we were able to park right away, and even though they were very busy as usual, there was no wait for a table either. This is extremely unusual. In fact, in all of our years of coming to the Cape, this has NEVER happened before! The town did ban alcohol on the beach for the first time this year, after a series of fights and messes left behind last summer, so maybe that had something to do with it. I don't know (the restaurant can still serve alcohol, and frankly I have no idea how they can police alcohol use on the beach either--they don't have enough police or lifeguards to do that). Whatever the reason, we were happy. Menu Oysters I did not get photos of everything, but here's the stuff that was near me. My niece's steak tip sandwich Fish sandwich for me Fried clams to share Husband's oyster po' boy My nephew and his roommates are leaving today because the roommates have flights tomorrow, and the rest of us are switching houses, to an antique right in town. Most of the rentals in Wellfleet are week to week only, but we were able to get this one for a few extra days to avoid the terrible Sunday traffic back over the bridge.

Yesterday was another beautiful day on Cape Cod. My husband, niece and I walked down to the pier Where of course ice cream was had (I actually skipped this one in favor of having gelato after dinner) We were not sure what to do for dinner, so decided to give Winslow's Tavern another try. We swore we would not eat there again after a series of bad meals last summer, but I guess we lied. Something changed, because last night's dinner was my favorite meal of the trip to date. I took a couple of menu photos Crush and blush cocktail for my sister and husband We shared the clams and calamari appetizer special. This was so good! We also tried the pappa al pomodoro, again very tasty For dinner, my niece got the pork schnitzel. It was huge! She said it was delicious, but it was too big to finish My sister and husband got the striped bass. They loved it. And I had the cod. It was excellent. No dessert, too full. We will be back for sure. No sunset again! Too many clouds. My nephew and two of his three Montana roommates arrived last night for a brief visit to the National Seashore before they all go their separate ways (they have been teaching on the Crow reservation for the past two years, but are all moving back to their home states now). They want to go to Provincetown today to go to Race Point. One of his roommates has never been to the ocean before! Dinner is TBD.

Yesterday my niece and I were up before the others so went out to try and get breakfast. We ended up going to PB Boulangerie because my niece had a croissant stuffed with a gruyere omelet and bacon there earlier in the trip, and she wanted another one. Bakery The line to go inside starts here. They turn the red traffic light green when it is your turn to go inside and make selections. Despite that very large stoplight, and all the signage at the entrance to the walkway, every time we come here at least one person tries to bypass the line and just walk right in. What do they think the line is for, I wonder? I have no patience for people like that and always tell them to go to the back of the line. I took a few pictures of the items for sale My niece's croissant Lunch was ice cream from PJs. Coffee/black raspberry swirl for my husband, sister, and me and vanilla soft serve with rainbow sprinkles for my niece We didn't do much, just walked on the beach. I found this dead baby shark (I think?) on the beach. Not sure what kind it is. EDIT: it's a dogfish For dinner, we just went back to Mac's. Drinks Jalepeno yellowtail sashimi Halibut turadito spicy tuna mango martini Big kahuna roll Big mac roll Seared tuna with soba noodles Lazy lobster No sunset again, due to fog. We will try again tonight.

Yesterday was a mix of walking, birding, beach, and food. My husband and I went walking over by Marconi station. There are trails that go through a white cedar swamp (mostly dry yesterday) and then out to the dunes and views Marconi is the site of the first wireless transmission in the country! Later we drove up to Provincetown To have dinner at Pepe's Wharf Oysters Rockefeller Crab cake (only OK, but the salad was good) My niece wanted burrata And a steak frites I had blackened swordfish Sister had cod with tomato stew and my husband chose halibut We shared a slice of their famous coconut cake for dessert. A long walk on Herring Cove beach after helped digest dinner. Unfortunately there was no sunset to speak of due to heavy fog rolling in.

We have not. As far as I know, there are no fishermen who sell at the docks in Wellfleet. There is a fish market at the pier, as well as one in town, both of which sell the local catch. There's also a local scallop boat that sells their catch on the side of the road on Wednesdays (I think). I'm not cooking this visit, but will be cooking a lot when we come back to a different house with a better kitchen next month (the range in this one only has one working burner at the moment). Yesterday was a wash, weather wise and food wise. We had dinner reservations in Provincetown and plans to see the 4th of July fireworks after, but severe thunderstorms made it unsafe to travel. I did call the restaurant a few hours before our reservation, but they still charged a $25 per person fee and marked us a a no show on open table. I can understand the fee, but the no show thing is annoying since I called them and told them we were not coming and why. Oh well. It stopped raining around 9, but I don't know if the fireworks ever happened or not. The fog was awful all night. We ended up just grabbing food at a place down the street. It was terrible and I am going to forget that we ever ate there! No pictures because I don't want to look at them 😂 We did go to Gelato Joy after for dessert, which salvaged things a bit. Here's the "red white and blue" special gelato for the 4th (sweet cream, blackberry, and strawberry) We were at home relaxing around 11PM when I heard a car roaring along at high speed and then what sounded like an awful accident on the road right above us. I called 911 but they already knew about it. My husband walked up there this morning, and the driver knocked over two large pine trees and destroyed the entire fence of the house where the trees were. Hopefully the car occupants survived. So basically, it was a bad day. On to today! It's still foggy, but the weather is set to improve. Here's a view of the tidal marsh taken from the porch And oyster fishermen working the flats in front of the house in the fog earlier this morning.

Oh, the history of the house is extremely interesting! It was built by son of the man who was the first major importer of bananas to the continental United States. It was originally built as a changing house and guest accommodations for his family and friends. The roof is newer, I think it was replaced about 10 years ago--but you are right, the siding is cedar shingles. The tower area is a small bedroom accessed by a spiral staircase that goes off of another bedroom. My niece is staying up there but she said I could take a few pictures. The small bedroom The view Here's a view of the covered porch at low tide. The boats in the picture belong to this house, and the long rectangles are oyster cages. The oyster farming lease is also owned by the family, but somebody else tends to the actual farming of the oysters. The porch from outside with the tower and lower bedroom. The closest windows in the photo are the kitchen area. My sister went over to PB Boulangerie to buy some pastries for the house. A representative sample: My niece wanted to visit the used bookstore in town, so of course I obliged. The cooking section had an unused copy of 50 chowders, by Jasper White for $10. I almost bought it because my copy is falling apart from overuse. If it's still there next time I visit, I might pick it up. My sister and niece had tickets for a play last night, so we decided to do an early dinner at the Pearl. It was crowded but not terribly so While we waited I went for a walk down the pier to look at the osprey nest. They have babies now Cocktails for my husband and sister. My sister ordered a Cape Cod margarita, and I don't know what my husband's was We were all starving so ordered some garlic fries to share and an order of wasabi pea encrusted tuna sashimi My sister got a cod sandwich. I am not sure how one was supposed to eat those two giant cod filets on a sandwich! She just ate one. Niece ordered a tuna poke bowl. I had the same thing, but with shrimp Husband had fish tacos My husband and I went to the sunset while the others enjoyed the play Full moon from the porch

We are back in Wellfleet for the next 10 days. Right now, it is my husband, my sister, my niece, and me. Later this week, we will be joined by my nephew, who is currently driving cross country to move home from Montana, and two of his three Montana roommates, who came with him to keep him company on the drive. We are staying on the beach in an old historic home, which is good because we won't have to drive much now that we are here. The house is very quirky. Here it is from the beach (I think I have posted this picture here before) Here's the kitchen area. Many of the board games up there were donated by us over the years. It's hard to get a spot at this house because it is usually being used by members of the extended family that owns it. It's a great place to hang out, but not a great place to cook, so I think we are going to be eating out most of the time. Our first dinner, per tradition, had to be at Mac's Shack. They don't take reservations (most places in Wellfleet do not) and the wait was crazy, which seemed odd because we have certainly been here when it is busier. Once we were seated we found out why: they took out at least half of the tables--I assume due to short staffing. Here's the line for the bar. It goes inside and around the bend there. After 40 (!!!!) minutes in line, my husband and sister returned with their drinks, plus a mocktail for my niece (she is now old enough to drink, but chooses not to.) All in all, it took about 90 minutes to be seated. Luckily we were not doing anything else that night. Oysters Spicy tuna mango martini A maki special of shrimp tempura with striped bass, avocado and aguachile sauce Fried oyster plate Seared scallops with green curry sauce, pickled beech mushrooms, bok choy and rice. Moon over Wellfleet harbor.

Grilled garlic chicken sausages, onions and peppers with an arugula salad.

Filet mignon with roasted asparagus and scallion risotto

Crispy chicken topped with a lemony arugula and parmesan salad, and some garlicky bruschetta.

Miso salmon with sautéed baby bok choy, shiitake mushrooms cooked in foil with soy sauce, roasted radishes and turnips with miso butter, and rice.

Broiled flounder tacos with pineapple salsa

Salad with grilled chicken and strawberries