Megan Thee End

Quick stop for Legal at Logan before our flight home.

Chowder, Caesar and a fantastic salmon BLT.

There’s no bacon in it but the salmon is hot-smoked and then gently warmed in bacon fat.

Prison chips on the plane (prior to 2016, these were only available in American prison commissaries; former inmates eventually pressured the supplier to make these chips available on the outside). They’re made in Canada and come in only one flavor, “original”, kind of a vinegar-forward all-dressed with a wisp of smoke.

Spinach pie from Bahnan’s in Worcester.

Purslane pie made by my uncle.

Always fly with your own flotation devices.

More spinach pie at home.

🤍🤍🤍

Pro 40 Livery

For the memories, had to have fries with the unusually good mayo at Lost Dog Pub.

Shrimp cocktail at Wequassett.

Awful Caesar salad.

Pretty good clam chowder.

Pathetic lobster roll. Shame- it used to be great.

Soggy scallop roll with a bunch of crap on it.

But the company and the view made up for it.

We shared a kiddie-size cone of my favorite ice cream of all time: the homemade soft serve at Ice Cream Cafe in a homemade waffle cone. Sea salt is key.

Squeezed in dinner at the Land-Ho! in Orleans because I was not going to leave the Cape without fried clams, whether I liked it or not. The ones from Sir Cricket’s deserved to be deleted from the record so they don’t count.

And a Cape Cod Reuben because Peter lit up when I told him about them. It’s basically a Rachel with fried cod.

Really good food- so much better than it needed to be.

 

No Cove Left Behind

A necessary pilgrimage to Papa Gino’s in Cranberry Cove Plaza for Peter to taste the pizza of my youth. He said he could hear the ghost of video games past.

Still the best bad pizza on the planet. (We left one slice for the fire gods.)

And at long last, the French Cable Station Museum, which is only open nine hours a week, nine weeks a year. I’ve wanted to go since I was little, but their hours are kind of limited.

Followed by a big family dinner. 

My uncle’s awesome guacamole.

Top 1% food. His version is the guac I grew up eating and it’s still my absolute favorite.

And fatayer with his homegrown purslane.

The Ooni was churning out pies throughout.

Mega salad.

Pizza toppings.

Round two of dough.

There wasn’t nearly enough food. Lol.

 

Pre and Post Popponesset Peter

Lunch at Raw Bar in Mashpee on the way back up the Cape.

Two of the jumbo-est shrimp, two littlenecks and two cherrystones. All flawless.

The size and the snap were beyond, and at $7 apiece I was skeptical, but one per hungry person more than suffices.

So good that we got three more over ice to bring home to the other three shellfish eaters in the house. My dad looked at his and said “I won’t have room for dinner if I eat that”, so his giant shrimp is still taking up an entire shelf in the fridge. 

The very best clam chowder.

A stuffed quahog so Peter could try one.

As good as they always are, which to me is not very.

I think the people who love the stuffing on Thanksgiving would enjoy these- sort of a savory bread pudding with chopped quahog and linguiça.

And the most impressive lobster roll on The Cape.

Easy dinner at home, starring local corn and scallops.

 

Thickly Settled

Had to introduce P to the cranberry almond poppyseed muffin from Cottage Street Bakery.

And their delicious blueberry scone.

Breakfast at Sunbird with my brother and his family. Ordered a bunch of random stuff to share. He had told us about their kimchi egg & cheese sandwich, so I got two of those, not expecting to love it. I loved it. Just the right amount of tang, funk, and mayonnaise.

Golden chicken salad with toasted coconut.

Ricotta toast.

Incredible smashed fingerlings with herb mayo.

How were these so good.

Then we drove to Providence RI for a belated honeymoon at my favorite restaurant in the whole wide world. I have sneaked in a solo meal at Al Forno every time I’ve been on the Cape since I first learned to drive. And bringing Peter here someday was pretty much the only item on my bucket list.

When corn is in season, it’s in everything.

Corn fritters with habanero mayo.

Bruschetta with garlic scape, basil and scallion pesto.

Like listening to a freshly released cover of an overplayed song you’ve heard a million times and never liked, but there it is, and somehow it’s perfect. 

 Clams Al Forno.  

My first and still-favorite-while-imperfect Caesar. 

Grilled shrimp and mushroom salad.

Grilled pizza with corn.

Five cheese pasta with corn, tomatoes and cream.

Mint chocolate ice cream churned to order.

Deep-dish pie with blueberry, nectarine and lime zest.