eG Foodblog: Fat Guy - A Normal Week

[Fat Guy]

I'm going to assume that your dog is rather fond of parking himself under PJ's chair when he eats.  Is Momo eating more table food now than he used to?

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Exactly infinity times as much. Momo went for about five years without ever getting a single scrap from the table. Then one day a month or so ago PJ looked over at Momo, looked at a piece of food in his hand, and a lightbulb went off in his head. He extended his arm and made a one-syllable quack-like noise, Momo came over, PJ stuck his arm deep into Momo's jaws of death to deposit a piece of food, Momo politely waited until PJ extracted his arm before swallowing the food, and Momo has never left PJ's side since.

[Kim Shook]

Stephen, you aren't even at your destination yet and I am already having a blast on my vicarious vacation! The pictures of PJ make me wish for egullet video - he is at my favorite stage, where every day and every experience is a big adventure and the grocery store no less one than Disneyland! Have fun!

Photos of Momo, please.

[snowangel]

Over here, Dave the Cook showed us his vacation traveling cook-kit. Show us yours, please!

[Fat Guy]

Here's a typical instance of PJ feeding Momo, from last night.

[moosnsqrl]

I was especially pleased to see that you have PJ started with a program to get him used to French food early.  Great job. 

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Good catch, Bleu! I was scrolling and scrolling and stunned that no one pointed out that he's clearly trying to eat a frog's leg. The acorn doesn't fall far from the tree.

BTW, FG, if you do head on toward PTown, the Truro Winery has some decent offerings. Not life-altering but respectable and in keeping with eating/drinking locally.

[Kouign Aman]

PJ's definitely showing the charm! Straws rule.

How many 1 year olds have birthdays at an Indian Restaurant.?

PJ makes two Caucasion babies that I know of.

[Curlz]

Straws rule.

Ah, but you do you make the requisite straw 'worms' for him?!? My niece still has me doing it--even though I've tried to tell her (now that she's pushing 5) that her oh-so-cool aunt didn't invent that trick...

[Susan in FL]

I'm going to assume that your dog is rather fond of parking himself under PJ's chair when he eats.  Is Momo eating more table food now than he used to?

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Exactly infinity times as much. Momo went for about five years without ever getting a single scrap from the table. Then one day a month or so ago PJ looked over at Momo, looked at a piece of food in his hand, and a lightbulb went off in his head. He extended his arm and made a one-syllable quack-like noise, Momo came over, PJ stuck his arm deep into Momo's jaws of death to deposit a piece of food, Momo politely waited until PJ extracted his arm before swallowing the food, and Momo has never left PJ's side since.

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That is definitely worthy of a great big heartfelt "awwwwww."

[judiu]

Cool blog! I was on the Cape many years ago as I was working my way around the country and had a ball. Enjoy!

[Fat Guy]

Straws rule.

Ah, but you do you make the requisite straw 'worms' for him?!?

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Yes. We're working up to egg-carton caterpillars.

[Fat Guy]

Over here, Dave the Cook showed us his vacation traveling cook-kit.  Show us yours, please!

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The temptation to post Dave's photo, or one I have of Matt Seeber's incredibly elaborate "toolkit," is almost irresistible, but I respect you all too much to joke about such a serious matter.

We tend not to travel with a ton of cooking gear. I try to bring just a few critical items on vacations like this one: a 10” Calphalon Commercial Nonstick skillet is good for a million things and, because it’s made from thick anodized aluminum it’s very good at evening out hot spots on inferior stoves. A pair of tongs, a silicone flat spoon/spatula thing, one good knife (the santoku is versatile – you can carve a watermelon with it one minute and defend hearth and home the next – and this one is good but cheap enough that I won’t mind if it gets lost, or damaged because somebody else picks it up and uses it to saw wood) and a few pieces of cocktail-making equipment (Boston shaker, strainer, shot glass). Plus a good kitchen towel. I have an issue with using inferior towels. This is called "Still life with kitchen equipment on bathmat on car seat where Momo usually sits."

[Fat Guy]

I finally joined Ellen, Momo and PJ in the family sleeping quarters at around 4:45am. At 6:45am, PJ and Momo awoke simultaneously, as they often do when we’re in new places (at home they typically sleep until the much more civilized hour of 8am). I had a choice: go back to sleep or have a damn vacation. I opted for dragging my carcass out of bed, brushing my teeth and heading off to the beach for a family walk (you can park at the beach without a permit, but only until 9am). No, I’m not actually a beach person. But I went, okay?

Breakfast consisted of a few bites of what was around on the kitchen counter: blondies (aka pan cookies) Ellen brought with us, and Smart Puffs (our nephews’ snack food of choice). Also some watermelon.

Based on the recommendations on topic and via personal messenger, we decided to seek out Arnold’s for lunch. It’s about as easy to find as a restaurant can be, right on the main highway (Route 6) that runs the length of the Cape. It was fantastic, definitely one of the great seafood shacks on our shores. I ordered a fried assortment, which included just about every fried seafood item on the menu (clams, oysters, scallops, shrimp, calamari, cod), and also a side of onion rings. My nephew and brother-in-law (my sister and other nephew stayed home) both had fried clams – one had whole clams and the other had clam strips. Everything was first-rate, with special mention going to the clams, scallops and super-thin onion rings. We sat outside in the picnic area. I hate picnic tables – they are designed by sadists who hate fat people – but it was nice to be outside.

We continued down the road to the Christmas Tree Shop in Orleans. The Christmas Tree Shops are a Cape tradition. They have locations elsewhere, but there are a whole heck of a lot of them all together on the Cape: you see one as soon as you cross the bridge at the beginning of Route 6, and there are several others as you go. The Christmas Tree Shops have a somewhat misleading name, in that they don’t specialize in Christmas trees or Christmas stuff. Rather, they’re big stores full of all sorts of cheap merchandise, from scrapbooking kits to acrylic photo frames to plastic kitchen gadgets. We picked up some one-dollar wine glasses, three-for-a-dollar bottled spring water and a three-to-two prong adapter (all the outlets in the house are two-prong and my computer needs three).

Then we went over to Super Stop and Shop, which is right near the Christmas Tree Shop in Orleans. We needed eggs and a few other basic provisions. We could have bought all those things in Wellfleet, but the Stop and Shop is vastly superior (in terms of both price and quality) to the local markets in Wellfleet, unless you’re talking about specific items like fish (there are some good fish markets in Wellfleet).

My sister had a few friends over for dinner, and the main meal consisted of lobster. There were four three-and-a-half pound lobsters, corn, steamers, oysters and a whole bunch of other stuff (some sushi rolls, some pizza, etc. – there were a lot of kids involved). I was off working on my computer at the time the meal was being finalized, and by the time I got to the table the collected guests were descending on the repast like a Mongol horde. So I grabbed a quick snapshot and then fought for my fair share.

After dinner, rhe crew went out to the pier to get ice cream. In addition to being antisocial, I’m not really a dessert lover – if I had a sweet tooth I’d weigh a hundred pounds more than my already impressive weight – so I stayed behind for some quiet time. The ice cream on the pier is nothing special anyway.

I want to be sure to say a big thank-you to all the people who have publicly and privately sent restaurant and other recommendations thus far. I’m really grateful, and touched. I’m sorry to say we won’t be able to get to a thousandth of the suggested places, because we’re only here three more days and we’re balancing a lot of competing obligations. But keep ‘em coming, please.

[Daniel]

FG,

This is such a wonderful blog.. Thanks for sharing your trip with us.. I have so many great memories of summers in Cape Cod. I too hate picnic tables, especially the ones where the benches are either cemented to the ground or attached to the table top making it unadjustable.. I always appreciate the extra room a nice bench chained to something provides... Such a beautiful family you have!

Edited August 23, 2006 by Daniel (log)

[Curlz]

I want to be sure to say a big thank-you to all the people who have publicly and privately sent restaurant and other recommendations thus far. I’m really grateful, and touched. I’m sorry to say we won’t be able to get to a thousandth of the suggested places, because we’re only here three more days and we’re balancing a lot of competing obligations. But keep ‘em coming, please.

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There are still a few of us looking for Cape dining suggestions on this thread...While I won't get up to Wellfleet or Provincetown this year, I'd love to have some of those suggestions in the Falmouth/Dennis/Chatham area...esp if they're not expensive!

[Ryderpond]

After dinner, rhe crew went out to the pier to get ice cream. In addition to being antisocial, I’m not really a dessert lover – if I had a sweet tooth I’d weigh a hundred pounds more than my already impressive weight – so I stayed behind for some quiet time. The ice cream on the pier is nothing special anyway.

But keep ‘em coming, please.

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Steve,

If you have time, try the ginger ice cream at Nauset Ice Cream, Rt 6, Eastham. It's on the left as you drive up Cape (towards Orleans) before the light at Brackett Rd.

With such a short stay you won't be able to get to the best restaurant I've found on the Cape, 902 Main, Rt. 28 in Yarmouth. Actually, it may be South Yarmouth or one of the other directionals. Even after spending 35 summers on the Lower Cape, I get confused with them.

I like the lobster rolls at Rock Harbor in Orleans and the ones at the Methodist Church in Wellfleet on some Fridays aren't bad.

Sue

Englewood, NJ and Truro, MA

[johnnyd]

Now that's what I'm talkin' about - hoo, boy that's a plate of New England right there.

Your Lobster dinner is just a couple days shy of exactly one year since I featured a Downeast Dinnah in my August '05 foodblog! Finestkind, Family Shaw!

Edited August 23, 2006 by johnnyd (log)

[I_call_the_duck]

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That looks great. My sister has a house up in Wellfleet, but we haven't been up since last year, mainly because it's such a long trip up there, and also she's a little bit psycho. That was in our pre-eGullet days, so I don't remember exactly where we've been except for Mac's. This is a fun blog, because now I get to see the stuff I missed.

Steven, do you have plans to go digging for clams on the beach? It’s a favorite activity of my sister’s.

PJ is such a cutie. I love how he and Momo get along.

[ghostrider]

I have dim memories of having a variety of corn called Golden Bantam on the Cape during family vacations some five decades ago. (I'm almost certain that it was the Cape but I may be confusing my East Coast vacation locations.) It was such a thing at that time that it was actually listed by that name on some restaurant menus.

If you have any Golden Bantam sightings this week, please post!

[MarketStEl]

Nice clan you have there, Steven.

Based on the recommendations on topic and via personal messenger, we decided to seek out Arnold’s for lunch. It’s about as easy to find as a restaurant can be, right on the main highway (Route 6) that runs the length of the Cape. It was fantastic, definitely one of the great seafood shacks on our shores. I ordered a fried assortment, which included just about every fried seafood item on the menu (clams, oysters, scallops, shrimp, calamari, cod), and also a side of onion rings. My nephew and brother-in-law (my sister and other nephew stayed home) both had fried clams – one had whole clams and the other had clam strips. Everything was first-rate, with special mention going to the clams, scallops and super-thin onion rings. We sat outside in the picnic area. I hate picnic tables – they are designed by sadists who hate fat people – but it was nice to be outside.

That is one mighty fine lookin' fried seafood platter. Glad to hear it tasted as great as it looked. I assume that some of those containers held tartar sauce.

We continued down the road to the Christmas Tree Shop in Orleans. The Christmas Tree Shops are a Cape tradition. They have locations elsewhere, but there are a whole heck of a lot of them all together on the Cape: you see one as soon as you cross the bridge at the beginning of Route 6, and there are several others as you go. The Christmas Tree Shops have a somewhat misleading name, in that they don’t specialize in Christmas trees or Christmas stuff. Rather, they’re big stores full of all sorts of cheap merchandise, from scrapbooking kits to acrylic photo frames to plastic kitchen gadgets. We picked up some one-dollar wine glasses, three-for-a-dollar bottled spring water and a three-to-two prong adapter (all the outlets in the house are two-prong and my computer needs three).

A Christmas Tree Shops ad circular fell out of a recent copy of The Philadelphia Inquirer, and out of sheer curiosity--what's a Christmas store doing advertising in July?--I flipped through it. (Seems that one of their stores ran away from its natural habitat in New England and landed in Cherry Hill, N.J.)

Lots o' cheap stuff in it, and some of it even looked like it might be good cheap stuff. ("Don't you just love a bargain?" was the booklet's seductive come-on.)

I thought to myself, "This must be what they sell when they're not carrying Christmas decorations." Now I find out from you that they don't sell Christmas merchandise at all. (Not even at Christmas?)

I'm shocked, I tell ya. Shocked.

How did these stores get their name? Was it because they sold stuff you'd put under one?

I want to be sure to say a big thank-you to all the people who have publicly and privately sent restaurant and other recommendations thus far. I’m really grateful, and touched. I’m sorry to say we won’t be able to get to a thousandth of the suggested places, because we’re only here three more days and we’re balancing a lot of competing obligations. But keep ‘em coming, please.

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It's been so long since I was last on the Cape--1988, to be specific--that I'm not even sure that any of the places I ate in Provincetown still exist. But let me second the encouragement that you head up to P'town for a little bit. It's a really cute little town, and very relaxing once you're off Commercial Street.

[mizducky]

Now that's what I'm talkin' about - hoo, boy that's a plate of New England right there.

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Amen, preach it brothah!

{Pulp Fiction Quote Mode}I said God Damn... God Damn!!!{/PFQM}

Edited to add: And dang, now I'm craving fried clams like a mofo. Wondering if my stamina (and stomach) are sufficiently recovered for a foray in search of a seafood plate even one-tenth as bodacious as that one ...

Edited August 23, 2006 by mizducky (log)

[Fat Guy]

I'm sure somebody with longer Cape experience than I can trace the origins of the Christmas Tree Shops. They certainly sell Christmas stuff around Christmastime -- I proposed to Ellen on the Cape in February of, um, let me see, I guess it was 1993 because we were engaged for more than a year, and I had arranged a dinner at the Captain Linnell House in Orleans. We'd had a long day, though, and Ellen was like, "You know, I'm tired, let's just drive back to our place and skip dinner." There would have been no recovery, since we were staying maybe 45 minutes from Orleans. So I diverted her attention by suggesting we go to the Christmas Tree Shop in Orleans. Between 45 minutes there and showing up 30 minutes early for our reservation, I was able to make the dinner (and the proposal) happen. Cost me maybe $24 in dreck we didn't need -- well worth it. Oh, to get to the point, there was lots of Christmas stuff on super-clearance at that point. I'm pretty sure the Christmas Tree Shops are currently owned by Bed, Bath and Beyond, but who knows, maybe they got their start selling Christmas trees just like Microsoft got its start selling miniature stuffed animals before it became a computer software company.

[snowangel]

Those were some beautiful looking onion rings. Why is a good onion ring so hard to find?

[chromedome]

Good catch, Bleu!  I was scrolling and scrolling and stunned that no one pointed out that he's clearly trying to eat a frog's leg.  The acorn doesn't fall far from the tree.

I attempted my first frog leg at the age of eight months. Unfortunately, it was still attached to the panic-stricken frog, at the time. My father still regrets not having a camera handy. His usual comment is that he didn't know I could move that fast...(it was Mom who rescued the agitated frog).

I must have planted a seed, though. A few years later, on an unsuccessful fishing expedition, my father decided to redirect his attention to the plenitude of frogs in his general vicinity. He brought home a few dozen legs and attempted to "sell" them to my mother, as he prepped them for the pan. He dusted them lightly with flour and dropped the first handful into the hot skillet...and most of them jumped right back out again. They contracted in the hot fat, or something; maybe there's a tendon in the back of the knee. I dunno. Bottom line, Mom wouldn't eat one then or ever!

[saskanuck]

Nice blog. I'd love to dive right into that fried seafood platter.

I hate picnic tables too, although I can fit into them fairly easily. I'm just a big old klutz who manages to trip over the seat, scrape the hell out of myself, or in one lovely incident, cause the whole table to tip over, spilling food and drinks all over the place. Proper tables and chairs are just nicer and more accommodating for everyone.

PJ is a complete sweetie and would you look at those big brown eyes! You know, with a dog around to clean up the floor, it really cuts down on cleaning when you have a little one around. They look as though they are great friends.

The beach picture is really nice, too.

Edited August 23, 2006 by saskanuck (log)

[Fat Guy]

Those were some beautiful looking onion rings.  Why is a good onion ring so hard to find?

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Because they're all being eaten by good men?

For their kind, these were superb onion rings. In general, though, I prefer an onion ring with a little more onion to it.