Happy hour – A WRITER'S GOTTA WRITE

Our month on Cape Cod—day 27

01/05/202311/12/2020 by John

~Thursday~ We started the day-long celebration of Vivian’s 60th birthday with a trip to the Chatham Pier Fish Market for a lobster roll.

Our feeding frenzy included—Vivian and John enjoying the buttered lobster roll, Bob enjoying the grilled salmon burger, and Jeff enjoying the regular lobster roll:

Buttered Lobster Roll: Fresh lobster meat tossed in warm butter

Grilled Salmon Burger: Fresh salmon burger, lettuce, avocado, and lemon aioli on a brioche bun

Lobster Roll: Fresh steamed lobster meat with a touch of mayo

Vivian’s birthday festivities:

We also made a video, complete with a hanging birthday sign, happy birthday music in the background, birthday glasses (trigger warning for epileptics) with blinking candle frames, and a birthday hat for the honoree. There is also inadvertent running commentary in the background.

We were going to edit it, but ended up just posting it in its entirety. I can’t easily embed a video here, but if you’re a Facebook friend of John, Bob, Vivian, or Jeff you can watch it there.

John, Bob, and Vivian ended the night with yet another game of Scrabble and Catch Phrase.

Today was a good day.

Comments are welcome about this entry in the form below. | Read our day 28 entry.
Note: Comments won’t appear right away as I have to approve them to avoid spam and trolls.

Our month on Cape Cod—day 25

12/30/202211/10/2020 by John

~Tuesday~ It was a beautiful weather day to take the ferry to Martha’s Vineyard. We drove down to Falmouth (about an hour) to catch the ferry from Woods Hole to Vineyard Haven.

The Steamship Authority ferry	From the top deckAlso from the top deck
The mast	The mask
Fairies on the ferry	Arriving at Martha’s Vineyard

We arrived in Vineyard Haven, walked around for just a little bit, where we found most things closed—between it being off-season (their season ended October 28) and with COVID-19 negatively affecting some of the few places that might otherwise have been open.

We caught “the city bus” from Vineyard’s Haven to Edgartown hoping to find more things open there, including a place to eat lunch.

A couple of Edgartown businesses we passed, in what turned out to an arduous search for an open lunch place, included:

The Covington Restaurant and Bar

The Boneyard Surf Shop (pirates are everywhere)

Bob took a peek into Edgartown Books:

Edgartown Books’ staircase

Edgartown Books’ extensive Martha’s Vineyard collection

And we did finally find a place open for lunch:

where John got the Turkey Club, Bob got the Chicken Avocado BLT:

Vivian had their grilled chicken, havarti, & pesto sandwich, and Jeff had their chicken salad sandwich.

We got home after dark and had a “robust”—of both drinks and snacks—happy hour, and then we just had some clam chowder for dinner, before John, Bob, and Vivian played a game of Scrabble:

and then tried a piece of that maple walnut fudge that Bob and Vivian made, which was ready and cut up into 1-inch, 81-calorie-each squares.

Comments are welcome about this entry in the form below. | Read our day 26 entry.
Note: Comments won’t appear right away as I have to approve them to avoid spam and trolls.

Our month on Cape Cod—day 21

12/30/202211/06/2020 by John

~Friday~ Kathy and I ran to Mac’s Market & Kitchen Eastham to get 2 lbs. of fresh haddock filets for tonight’s dinner.

After dropping it off at home, she and I went to Nauset Light Beach and walked for a little while along the shore. Then, we made a quick visit to the Eastham Windmill and Memorial Buoy Tree.

We picked up lunch at Sam’s Deli, where I ordered The Turkey Club, Bob ordered The Basil Rathbone, and Kathy ordered a cup of their Clam Chowder.

After eating lunch back at the house, the three of us played a game of Scrabble. We were going to wait until we heard an election update to start drinking, but then Kathy—in all her wisdom—asked, “Why?” So, we enjoyed some happy hour cocktails and snacks while we played our game.

Dinner was a real treat tonight. Kathy recently made the news:

Maine Maple Haddock wins big at Maine Maple Producer’s Weekend

Katherine Vaillancourt of Georgetwon, won top entrée at the annual event.

She made this award-winning dish for us for dinner tonight, and Bob supplemented it with some zucchini sautéed in butter and garlic and some mixed greens with cherry tomatoes and feta cheese. Kathy also made the iced raisin cookies for dessert.

This dish is award-winning for a reason. Absolutely delicious! Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 lbs. fresh haddock filets
½ stick butter
2 short sleeves of Ritz crackers (or 1 large sleeve)
½ cup Maine Maple Cream
½ cup milk

Instructions:

Butter 4 individual baking dishes.
Divide haddock into serving size and lay in buttered dishes.
Crush crackers and distribute evenly over fish.
Dot with remaining butter.
Drizzle Maine Maple Cream over butter.
Add milk to each dish to the level of filets.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Bake at 425° for 20-25 minutes until tops are golden.

Makes 4 servings.

In the words of my dear friend, “We made some nice memories today.”

Comments are welcome about this entry in the form below. | Read our day 22 entry.
Note: Comments won’t appear right away as I have to approve them to avoid spam and trolls.

Our month on Cape Cod—day 4

12/30/202210/20/2020 by John

~Tuesday~ Another successful work day. We experienced a short, mid-afternoon power outage, but fortunately, I had recently saved the document I was working in, so I lost very little work. This is the second outage we’ve had since we arrived. The first one was the first day, and it was in the middle of the night, so no harm done. Hopefully it won’t be a “regular” thing. UPDATE: Large power outage affecting the Outer Cape

Bob explored a little more today, taking a walk to the closest coast. Where we are in Eastham is a just a tad bit closer to the west coast of the Cape than the east coast, so he went west, following a sign for Cooks Brook Beach.

He passed some “rainbow art”:

before reaching the beach:

You know who left those footprints all over the place, right?

We bought some eggnog at the Stop & Shop on Sunday, and we used some of it to make eggnog martinis for happy hour tonight. Good stuff.

Here’s the recipe:

A dear friend from high school, who now lives in Maine, was in touch today, and we’ve made plans to see each other while we’re here. So excited.

Comments are welcome about this entry in the form below. | Read our day 5 entry.
Note: Comments won’t appear right away as I have to approve them to avoid spam and trolls.