Provincetown, the "Outer Cape," and Wellfleet Too

[Anna N]

15 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

I think that's putting a strain on workers in vacation/resort areas across the country.  I recently read this article about the Lake Tahoe/Truckee area: No housing, no employees.

Yep and not confined to areas in the USA. 
 

No housing.

[weinoo]

It's a quandry; on the one hand, worker in resorts area face a strain, and yet so do the business owner who depend on those tourists.

 

We've been sniffing around at properties in some other places in New England( we like both Vermont and MA), and prices in these places have probably jumped 20% or more in a year.

[weinoo]

3 hours ago, Eatmywords said:

The resto food too looks better than one might expect for a seasonal tourist area.  Enjoy!

 

I don't know if you can call Mac's a seasonal restaurant for only tourists, though. We've only traveled to Provincetown off-season, and have enjoyed Mac's quite a few of those times.

[Eatmywords]

16 hours ago, weinoo said:

I don't know if you can call Mac's a seasonal restaurant for only tourists, though. We've only traveled to Provincetown off-season, and have enjoyed Mac's quite a few of those times.

Who said only for tourists or that they were closed off season?  How's heavily impacted by tourists?  The pop of Wellfleet swells 5 fold in the summer - 3,500 to 17,000.   You know what kind of havoc that can wreak per execution/consistency/quality.  

[liamsaunt]

18 hours ago, weinoo said:

It's a quandry; on the one hand, worker in resorts area face a strain, and yet so do the business owner who depend on those tourists.

 

We've been sniffing around at properties in some other places in New England( we like both Vermont and MA), and prices in these places have probably jumped 20% or more in a year.

 

It's not just Cape Cod--the real estate market is crazy almost everywhere in MA right now. My neighborhood is nuts--four homes in my small immediate neighborhood have gone for sale in the past few months, and all sold for far over list with multiple offers to choose from within 48 hours.  All sellers are families whose kids graduated high school this year.  I assume they are downsizing as the kids go to college.  We've gotten solicitations in our mailbox but are ignoring them 🙂

 

I personally do not think it is a good time to buy here unless you can pay cash and do not care about getting a return on your investment.  My husband and I are thinking of buying a retirement property out here eventually, but not right now!!  

 

My nephew and I cooked dinner together last night.  He grilled steaks and bluefin tuna for everyone but me as I do not eat red meat and am not a huge fan of bluefin tuna.  I made a big salad and warmed up a baguette for them and then cooked my own dinner: roasted curried cauliflower and kale with a lime yogurt sauce topped with seared scallops.  My husband and brother in law each filched a scallop and some of my kale from my plate.  How rude!  😂

 

Beach shot of scallop plate

 

 

Close up with better light

 

 

And bonus sunset picture

 

[Shelby]

22 minutes ago, liamsaunt said:

My husband and brother in law each filched a scallop

That right there is grounds for losing a finger.

[weinoo]

2 hours ago, liamsaunt said:

It's not just Cape Cod--the real estate market is crazy almost everywhere in MA right now. My neighborhood is nuts--four homes in my small immediate neighborhood have gone for sale in the past few months, and all sold for far over list with multiple offers to choose from within 48 hours.  All sellers are families whose kids graduated high school this year.  I assume they are downsizing as the kids go to college.  We've gotten solicitations in our mailbox but are ignoring them 🙂

 

I personally do not think it is a good time to buy here unless you can pay cash and do not care about getting a return on your investment.  

 

Yes, it's pretty crazy. Low low interest rates coupled with a lot of other stuff over the past 15 months.

[liamsaunt]

Good morning.  It is a breezy, cloudy and warm day here in Wellfleet.  It is getting more crowded out here now.  Every year we search for out of state license plates in the parking lots.  For 2021 so far, we are up to 39 states, plus Diplomat, DC, and weirdly since the border with Canada is still closed, two different cars from Ontario.  I have high hopes that we will at least find Louisiana this coming week, though I am not optimistic about South Dakota or Hawaii (we actually did find it one year!).

 

I stocked up on desserts at the bakery again.  From bottom left, almond cream sable, raspberry lunette cookie, chocolate bombe, raspberry tart, chocolate eclair, vanilla eclair, blueberry danish, citrus tart, chocolate pear sable. 

 

 

 

We cooked at the house again last night since we were not sure when my sister would arrive.  I made my nephew grill again haha.  He did ribs and chicken.   I made a salad and baked some cornbread.

 

Ribs.  He made extra for another dinner the next time the rest of us have grilled fish.

 

 

Grilled chicken for the non rib eaters (me, my sister, and my brother in law) on a mixed greens salad with some fruit that needed to get eaten

 

 

An update on the anti-visitor signage I noticed: the "stop moving here" signs are still up, but not surprisingly all of the "go home" graffiti has been scrubbed away.

[liamsaunt]

Yesterday, my sister, niece and I decided to go out to breakfast.  My nephew skipped it to watch some car race.  Husband and brother in law slept in.  We tried a new to us place, the Fox and the Crow.  I am not a big fan of going out to breakfast because you always have to wait for a table and I like to eat as soon as I wake up.  We walked around town while waiting, so that was nice.  The restaurant was out of everything we wanted to order, so these are our plan B plates.  Niece and I ordered avocado toast with arugula salad and boiled egg

 

 

My sister had a souffled egg sandwich with bacon and cheese and a side of some roasted fingerling potatoes

 

 

We walked over to Ceraldi after to check out his breakfast offerings, but he was already sold out of everything but lunch pizza.  I did pick up some squares of Grandma pizza to bring back to the house for the guys to eat later.  We are heading back there on Tuesday morning to get some of his breakfast pastries. 

 

Thanks to lobbying from my sister, dinner was at Mac's Shack again. We shared a bunch of stuff.  Nephew defaulted to his usual allergy burger.    Spicy tuna mango martini

 

 

Halibut turadito

 

 

Street corn

 

 

A sushi roll with toro, avocado, cucumber, and spicy scallop

 

 

My niece's big kahuna roll (fried roll with salmon, avocado, and cream cheese)

 

 

Ritz cracker crusted bluefish with mashed potatoes and creamed spinach

 

 

A special of seared salmon with black and white beans, tomato salsa, and cojita cheese

 

 

The great white sharks are officially back in town.  Yesterday Truro had a beach closing.  We have a pod of seals right in front of the house, but hopefully no shark visitors.  I will try and get some video and pictures later.

[kayb]

On 6/17/2021 at 12:56 PM, Anna N said:

On 6/17/2021 at 12:38 PM, blue_dolphin said:

I think that's putting a strain on workers in vacation/resort areas across the country.  I recently read this article about the Lake Tahoe/Truckee area: No housing, no employees.

Yep and not confined to areas in the USA. 
 

No housing.

 

I'm astounded at real estate prices everywhere I'm familiar with. House down the street from me that's comparable to mine (4 br, 3 bath, 2500 SF) but with half the yard (mine's on a double lot), sold last month for $100K more than what we paid for ours. And sold in three weeks. My kids recently sold their house some 30 miles south of Nashville for 50 percent more than what they paid for it, and that on the weekend it went on the market. They're trying to buy a house in the Memphis area, but have had three contracts fall through; looks like they'll be homeless for a little while. My catsitting may be extended.

 

Thanks, as always, for the Cape photos -- both beach and food. I always so enjoy them.

[liamsaunt]

18 hours ago, kayb said:

 

I'm astounded at real estate prices everywhere I'm familiar with. House down the street from me that's comparable to mine (4 br, 3 bath, 2500 SF) but with half the yard (mine's on a double lot), sold last month for $100K more than what we paid for ours. And sold in three weeks. My kids recently sold their house some 30 miles south of Nashville for 50 percent more than what they paid for it, and that on the weekend it went on the market. They're trying to buy a house in the Memphis area, but have had three contracts fall through; looks like they'll be homeless for a little while. My catsitting may be extended.

 

Thanks, as always, for the Cape photos -- both beach and food. I always so enjoy them.

 

It is crazy. I have been on vacation for eight days, and in that time another house in my neighborhood went on the market and sold.  It's still pending so I do not know how much it ultimately went for but it was priced $300K higher than any of the others that have sold recently so I am very interested to find out!  There was a story in our local paper yesterday about how people are stalking yard sales and scouring obituaries to try and find available properties.

 

We were really lazy yesterday and did not do much.  My husband and I did go to the fish market to get some stuff for dinner.  Sister, husband, and brother in law wanted striped bass, so I grilled some of that and made sandwiches.  My sister crashed hers up to make it fit on the bun.

 

 

I did not want striped bass, so I made myself a scallop roll

 

 

My niece and nephew had the leftover ribs, some chopped up veggies and mac and cheese.  My wisebutt nephew took a picture of his plate in portrait mode to share with the "food people"  🤣

 

 

Last night's sunset.  This is not the beach in front of my house, by the way.  Our beach faces the sunrise. You will notice I have not posted any photos of that haha

 

 

I will try and be more exciting today but it is overcast and we are all well into the books we are reading, so who knows?

[liamsaunt]

Monday it remained cloudy, so we just hung around the house and read books/played games etc.  I made dinner of stir fried summer squash, napa cabbage, bok choy and cilantro topped with haddock that we did in a foil pack on the grill with some soy sauce and scallions

 

 

 

Yesterday morning my sister went to Ceraldi early enough to get some of his breakfast pastries.  She brought back sticky buns and dark chocolate-sea salt covered donuts.

 

 

It was still cloudy with rain in the forecast, so that afternoon we went to the Beachcomber for an early dinner.  My brother in law and nephew walked down the beach (the Beachcomber is about a mile or so from the house).  The rest of us piled into my car and drove over.  It is $30 to park in the beach lot, but they give you a voucher for that amount that you can trade in for food or merchandise (not alcohol per state law).

 

Steamer clams

 

 

Fried clams

 

 

Cajun spiced scallops with remoulade sauce

 

 

My nephew had a veggie burger, and my niece just got fries and mozzarella sticks.  No pictures of those.  My sister had an oyster po boy.  This was huge. I think it had 15 oysters

 

 

My brother in law and I each got tuna burgers

 

 

My husband had oyster tacos from the specials menu

 

 

Everyone was pleased with their choices.

 

We walked over to the dune after dinner to check out the overcast view.  This shark sign is at all of the ocean facing beaches. My niece overheard someone saying "I have seen this sign at every beach!  Do you really think there are sharks here?  I don't!"  Download the Sharktivity app and you will learn otherwise lady...

 

 

Here is the dune down to the beach.  My niece decided to walk back to the house with my nephew and brother in law.  You can only see her pant leg but she is there. 

 

[heidih]

That seafood is so enticing. Surfer out kinda late. They look like seals in those wetsuits!

Edited June 23, 2021 by heidih (log)

[liamsaunt]

On 6/23/2021 at 10:47 AM, heidih said:

That seafood is so enticing. Surfer out kinda late. They look like seals in those wetsuits!

 

They would probably freeze without that wetsuit!  I think the water is 58 on the surface right now. Brr.  I wear a wetsuit to swim in the Caribbean so I cannot imagine what I would have to put on to get in to the water here.  

 

Yesterday I picked what might be my final order from the bakery for this trip.  Croissants.  That's a creme brûlée bread pudding in the front that I picked out for myself but will probably end up being eaten by someone else.

 

 

 

Blueberry danishes

 

 

 

 

Dessert assortment

 

 

We had planned to cook at the house last night, but after I already started gathered all of the ingredients at various markets and started dinner prep the owner texted my husband to say that she had a repairman coming to look at the refrigerator soon, so we had to go out to dinner (the fridge is right next to the dining table and it was too windy to eat on the deck).  After some debate amongst ourselves we ended up back at Winslow's Tavern.  Broiled oysters with tabasco lime butter

 

 

Both my niece and nephew got the bacon pasta again

 

 

My sister and my brother in law both got the scallops with corn risotto.  No picture.  My husband opted for the mixed seafood pasta.  This normally also has shrimp but they omitted it due to my nephew's allergy

 

 

I got a cod special with olive relish, roasted peppers and onions, bean puree, and roasted sun chokes.  This was really good.  I did not eat the sun chokes because they were very hard, but the cod, peppers, olive relish and bean puree were all excellent.  My brother in law was eyeing my dish since I usually give him about half of whatever I order, but I informed him that the cod was all mine this time haha

 

 

Dessert.  It turned out that our waiter had been the pastry chef last year, so he told us that if we had any questions, he could answer them.  My niece asked him what happened to her favorite dessert, the triple chocolate mousse.  It was the only dessert that was no longer on the menu from prior years.  He admitted that of all the desserts, that one was the most time consuming to make, so he took it off the menu last year when customers were fewer, and the new chef opted to do the same this year.  Points for honesty I guess!  Anyway, she got a chocolate strega instead

 

 

Nephew opted for the tiramisu

 

 

And the adults split half of this salted caramel tart with peanut butter ice cream.  My niece and nephew finished it for us

 

 

Only my husband, brother in law and I opted to go to the sunset last night.  It was a good one.  Fishing for striped bass

 

 

We walked down to the far end of the beach to watch the sunset away from other people.  A few years ago, we rented the house in the middle of this photo.  It was a fantastic location, but the road to it was brutal!  All of our cars needed front end alignments when we got home.

 

 

 

 

The moon rose over the dunes, almost full.  The string is to keep people off the dunes because there are endangered piping plovers nesting behind the beach right now.

 

 

We had a nice view walking back to the parking lot post sunset

 

 

And finally, a sunrise photo from the deck this morning

 

[heidih]

That cod looks incredibly succulent. I've never done or eaten fish with a bean puree. Must expand my horizons. At our usual beach rental there are strings also for nesting birds on the dunes. I am always both pleased and amazed that people respect the caution.

[Smithy]

On 6/24/2021 at 10:37 AM, heidih said:

That cod looks incredibly succulent. I've never done or eaten fish with a bean puree. Must expand my horizons. At our usual beach rental there are strings also for nesting birds on the dunes. I am always both pleased and amazed that people respect the caution.

 

@liamsaunt, I'd like to know more about how that cod was prepared...and what type of beans and seasonings were in the puree? I'm going to be experimenting with a fish shipment soon. My other half thinks all fish should be fried, but I'd like to try more creative dishes with some of it. Please tell more about the olive relish, while you're at it. Was it tart, like a muffaletta? I don't blame you for keeping all that dish to yourself!

Edited June 25, 2021 by Smithy
Added shout-out to liamsaunt (log)

[Kim Shook]

My best friend, who I've known since high school has just bought a vacation/retirement home on the Cape.  They live in Sudbury MA and the house is on the Outer Cape - within striking distance of both Wellfleet and P'town.  She has friends who have already bought houses there and they have vacationed there a lot in the past few years, so she knows a bit about the area.  I told her about this topic and she was very interested.  I'm going to go back and do some copying and pasting and send her some info.  So, I'll be paying attention to this topic, but not posting.   

[weinoo]

On 6/23/2021 at 10:07 AM, liamsaunt said:

My niece overheard someone saying "I have seen this sign at every beach!  Do you really think there are sharks here?  I don't!"

Darwin calling!

[dans]

5 hours ago, liamsaunt said:

 

Both my niece and nephew got the bacon pasta again

 

 

 

The bacon pasta looks delicious. Can you describe the dish a little more? The pasta looks like gemelli but I can't tell what the sauce(s) are. 

 

The cod looks perfectly cooked. If I only liked olives, I might be tempted.

[Kim Shook]

On 6/24/2021 at 11:18 AM, liamsaunt said:

 

Yesterday I picked what might be my final order from the bakery for this trip.  Croissants.  That's a creme brûlée bread pudding in the front that I picked out for myself but will probably end up being eaten by someone else.

 

 

 

Blueberry danishes

 

 

 

 

Dessert assortment

 

 

 

 

What bakery are these from?  Asking for a friend (LOL - probably first time in history that sentence was true).

[liamsaunt]

On 6/24/2021 at 11:44 AM, Smithy said:

 

@liamsaunt, I'd like to know more about how that cod was prepared...and what type of beans and seasonings were in the puree? I'm going to be experimenting with a fish shipment soon. My other half thinks all fish should be fried, but I'd like to try more creative dishes with some of it. Please tell more about the olive relish, while you're at it. Was it tart, like a muffaletta? I don't blame you for keeping all that dish to yourself!

 

Well, the menu was not at all descriptive, but just based on my experience eating it, I would say that the cod was well seasoned with salt, and dusted with something like potato starch or ground up dehydrated potato flakes, then seared in a hot skillet to get the crust and finished in a hot oven.  The olive relish was not as "pickley" as a muffuletta topping.  To me, it just tasted liked well seasoned chopped up castelvetrano olives with olive oil and a little pimiento mixed in.  As for the beans, again I am guessing here, but I am thinking it was similar to this recipe from Leite's Culinaria, but blended with more chicken stock to make it looser, and roasted peppers instead of radicchio.  https://leitesculinaria.com/96625/recipes-white-bean-puree.html

 

19 hours ago, dans said:

 

The bacon pasta looks delicious. Can you describe the dish a little more? The pasta looks like gemelli but I can't tell what the sauce(s) are. 

 

The cod looks perfectly cooked. If I only liked olives, I might be tempted.

 

The sauce was just a typical cacio e pepe sauce .  As for the green sauce, I am not sure.  I did not taste it and it is not described on the menu.  It kind of looks like an arugula or basil cream sauce to me.

 

 

42 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

What bakery are these from?  Asking for a friend (LOL - probably first time in history that sentence was true).

 

PB Boulangerie in Wellfleet.  Your friend can order online for next day pickup to skip the (long, slow) line.  Here is a link to their website.  Everything that is available inside the bakery can be purchased on this website.

 

https://pbboulangeriebistro.com

 

You can also let her know that the attached restaurant is excellent.  Unfortunately, it is closed this season due to staffing issues--partly covid related, partly work visa related.  They are hoping to reopen it after the summer.  They do stay open year round.

 

Yesterday we ate the food I had planned for Wednesday.  Grilled bluefin tuna caught off Provincetown, pasta salad and some veggies.

 

 

Last night's sunset

 

 

It was raining earlier, but it is starting to clear up so it looks like a good time for a beach walk 🙂

[liamsaunt]

Last post for this trip.  I am back home now.  My nephew skipped going out to dinner last night because he had an online D+D session scheduled with his friends.  The rest of us went back to Mac's Shack.    Oysters

 

 

Since my nephew was not present, my husband and I ordered a shrimp toast to share. It was tasty.  My brother in law ended up eating most of it though as we were saving room for our entrees.  

 

 

My niece was not feeling 100% so just opted for a tuna poke bowl.  No picture.  My brother in law got roasted cod wrapped in prosciutto with crispy kale and creamy grits.  He liked this.

 

 

My husband got the Ritz cracker crusted bluefish with mashed potatoes and creamed spinach.  He said it was fine but not as good as some versions of it that he has had in past years.

 

 

And my sister and I both got a special of roasted striped bass with ramen noodles and pickled vegetables.  The striped bass was perfectly cooked and the vegetables were nice, but the ramen was quite bland.  Luckily I had some sriracha in my purse 😉

 

 

So that's it for this visit.  We are coming back in three weeks to spend a week in Orleans, which is a town two towns away from Wellfleet.  We'll probably be going to all new restaurants to avoid traveling very far from the house.  Cape Cod traffic in July is really brutal.  We got home in under two hours today, but it will probably take us double that in July.  And, we spotted an Alaska license plate on the way out.  Nine states to go!

 

Here are a couple of sunset pictures from other trips to show why it is worth the drive

 

 

 

[Anna N]

1 minute ago, liamsaunt said:

Here are a couple of sunset pictures from other trips to show why it is worth the drive

Spectacular. Thank you for taking us along. 

[rotuts]

@liamsaunt 

 

I look forward to all of your trips.

 

Thank you for sharing this one.

[heidih]

The seafood and the sunsets!!! Looking forward to the next trip. You are in good company with the hot sauce in your bag - the Clintons  https://time.com/4297996/hillary-clinton-hot-sauce/