The Cape: Kayaking

One of the things on my to-do list this year was sea kayaking. Tuesday, Mom, Kelly, Jay and I set out for a morning on the high seas. I was a little freaked out at first--I'm not the biggest fan of deep water. I don't like to think about all of the stuff that's swimming under me that I can't see. I got over it fast and could even appreciate the giant crab that we saw.

We kayaked over to a lighthouse and a beach over on the very tip of the Cape, where we ate lunch.

Before heading back, us girls went for a swim. Why don't boys swim? Jay went in the water when we started dating, but stopped after a while. Maybe he was just trying to look cool. At least he admitted this time that he's just a big baby about the water. Anyway, I'd worn my flip-flops in the water, because I didn't feel like stepping on seaweed and crabs. When I was walking back, I stepped into a soft spot and sank up to my ankle in sand. The ocean stole my flip-flop! We searched for a while, but it was gone. In true manly fashion, Jay didn't help look for it, but stayed on the beach and took pictures of the ridiculous scene.

In the end, I gave up the flip-flop as a sacrifice to the ocean gods. As punishment for my reluctance to sacrifice the shoe, the ocean spit up algae all over me, which colored my legs green and wouldn't come off. I felt so attractive coming off of the kayak back in P-town, covered in algae and wearing one shoe. We still had fun though, and it was nice to get a little exercise in midst of all the eating and napping.

The Cape 2008

We're back from another wonderful trip to the Cape. On Friday, I dropped Jay off at work at 5:30 AM (do I win the Wife of the Year award yet?) and headed down to the Cape, successfully missing all of the traffic. Seeing as I couldn't get into the house until 2, I had some time to kill. Fortunately, Memere and Auntie Sue were renting a place in Falmouth, so I stopped in for a surprise visit. At 8am I knocked on their door. Poor Memere was so sleepy and my visit was so out-of-context, she didn't recognize me. Once she realized who was standing outside her door, she shrieked, "Oh my goodness! It's Sarah! I can't believe it!" It was a nice welcome. The three of us went for a walk on a little seaside path and saw this nifty ship:

Memere also uttered the most amazing quote. We drove by a kid of about sixteen and a couple who looked like the kid's parents. The kid was smoking, which was obviously so outrageous that we had to discuss it for a good ten minutes. At one point, Memere said, "well, maybe it was marijuana." "Does that make it better?" I asked. Her response: "Well, if you're going to smoke, you might as well do it right!" NICE! I think Memere has some stories she hasn't told me...

After lunch and a stop for some fudge (why do all seaside towns have an abundance of fudge? What about the ocean makes people think, "MUST EAT FUDGE"?), I set off for North Truro. This year, Fran and Dave stayed the weekend, which made for good times as usual. There was a rousing game of poker:

and several games of Catchphrase, which is always extra exciting when half of the players are partially blind and your own father thinks that a pirate wears a do-rag.

The rest of the week was spent on the beach and in Provincetown. Jay and I made it back to the vineyards for a wine tasting:

Last year, I didn't like wine, so I didn't participate. This year we both joined in. We got to taste every wine they made. Jay liked the dry reds, but I was taken with the sweeter wines (big surprise there). We bought a bottle of blush, which we drank with dinner, and a Maritime Red for Jay and a Cranberry wine for me. I'm not sure I'll be able to save my wine until Thanksgiving this year, seeing as I don't want to share!

And of course, we saw some spectacular sunsets.
Kayaking picture and some silly family shots to come later this week.

Off to the Cape

On Friday, we are off to North Truro for our annual week at the Cape. I can't tell you how much we look forward to this. The house is beautiful, P-town is exciting, the company is wonderful, how could you ask for more? This year, my list of hoped activities includes sea kayaking, swimming in the glacial ponds, shopping in P-town (I'm hoping for some more good finds in the vintage clothing store and the antique shop where I found my favorite necklace last year), and of course, drag karaoke. One of my favorite things to do is to wake up early, run down to the beach, and wade in the shallow morning water, so I'm looking forward to that, too. Oh, and I'll be reading lots of books and doing the puzzles Memere gave to me.

In anticipation, here are some picture from last year. Check out this idyllic scene of familial harmony:
The view from the deck:
We went for a hike in the dunes one morning:
And for a winery tour one afternoon:
The whale watch was a highlight from last year. A baby whale was having a grand time breeching over and over. Here he is waving:
Here, Jay's ordered a dessert that came with instructions on how to eat it. To my great surprise, it did not say "1. Put in mouth. 2. Chew. 3. Swallow."
Can't wait for Friday!

Candice and Peter's Wedding

On Saturday, Peter and Candice got married. It was a wonderful night. Candice looked so beautiful walking across the grass to Peter, I got a little teary. We didn't get a lot of great pictures because a) I'm not the best photographer, and b) we were taping the ceremony and first dance for Peter's relatives back in Wales on another camera.

Cutting the cake:
And now begins another episode of Unintentional Headwear. Jay has a speaker coming out of his head in this one:
And Peter has a bulbous growth on his head here:
I stole this one from Matt, to show our intentional headwear. I got many compliments on my hat, which came to me courtesy of the parents. Jay was also really excited about his, which Peter and Candice gave to him in appreciation for DJing the band's breaks.
This one I stole from Tiffany. I like it because it looks like they are giggling a little. I remember that feeling during our ceremony--laugh, cry, laugh, cry. Theirs was a wonderful ceremony, and you could tell how much they were loved by the looks on everyone's faces.
Congratulations Peter and Candice! We had a wonderful time. Here's to a lifetime of happiness!

Farmers' Market

One of my favorite things to do on Saturday mornings is to walk to the Waltham Farmers' Market. I started doing it last summer and have hardly missed a week since. It always seems like a good idea to walk--save the environment! get exercise!--until I want to buy a watermelon or a sack of potatoes. Then the mile back seems impossible. Once last year, I walked to the market, saw the watermelons, walked back to my house and got the car.

It's been meager pickings at the market for most of the season--mostly lettuces and herbs. But this week, it was a veritable cornucopia of vegetables. I may have gone a little overboard, but hey, it was still less than $20. The bags were cutting painfully into my hands on the way home, but I made it.This week, I bought green beans, cucumbers, green peppers, a zucchini, a kousa squash (I have no idea what that is, but I'm sure it will be delicious stuffed with cheese), some wonderfully mild red onions (sadly, you can only buy those by the bunch. I never know what to do with so many onions), broccoli, blueberries, and the first corn of the season. There were also chocolate chip cookies that didn't make it into the picture--they somehow jumped off the table and landed in my stomach before I could find the camera. I've managed to resist the siren call of Big Sky Bakery so far this year--seriously, $6 for a loaf of bread?!--but a small cookie stand appeared this week, and the cookies were looking so forlorn, I just had to buy some.

The challenge is always in eating all of my purchases. I tend to be overly optimistic when considering our weekly menus. Last week I pulled several packages of lettuce out of the fridge that had achieved a jelly-like consistency. This week I'm determined that we're going to eat all of this stuff. So far I've made a pasta salad and a chopped salad. I'm going to stuff the zucchini and squash and serve it with the corn at some point this week. That will leave just the blueberries and the green beans, which I'm hoping we can finish off before we leave for the Cape on Friday.

July 4th

We went back to the Caissies' for July 4th. Mom, Jay and I started the day off right with King Kone for lunch. Jay had a corn dog, which he immediately regretted.
Peter, Candice, Matt, and some of Josh's friends came up for swimming and barbequeing (creepy picture of Josh in Jen's platform flip-flops omitted here). After dinner, we all went on the boat to watch the fireworks with Mom, Dad, and the Clinghans.


Everyone felt a little friendly after a few beers on the boat:
This would have been a great picture if those two weird guys hadn't gotten in the way:


The night was capped off with sparklers and fireworks from the gas station (not a recommended place to buy fireworks). The night almost came to a fiery end when Jay, feeling his lightning-shaped scar prickle, pointed his sparkler at Josh and yelled, "Stupefy!" sending a burning ember directly into Josh's chest. Everyone survived and made it home safely. Thanks, Mom and Dad--everyone had a great time!

Father's Day

For father's day, we went to the Caissie's house. The boat was broken and the weather was bad, so no trips around the lake this time, but we did light a fire that smoldered all day. For gifts, we had the $2 (or $3 depending on who you asked) gift challenge. Josh's contribution was a grab bag "for a girl" from the dollar store. It included a lovely orange creature that purportedly was a frog, a container of bubbles, and a little toy maze. In my estimation, it was worth so much more than $1. (The ghostly apparition in the picture is smoke from the fire.)
My contribution was a board game called "Mutual Fundz" that I got for $3 at a yard sale. Don't be fooled by the $5 price tag; I haggled. They also tagged the game "NEVER USED!!!" though I can't imagine why, because it's endless fun "for bloodthirsty capitalists of all ages." Jay decided he couldn't compete with the weirdness that runs in the Caissie blood and bought a book on barbecuing.
The boys also schemed evilly:
Mom and Dad Provost came, too, and Sarah and Kyle. All in all, a good day despite the rain. Thanks to both dads for being great!

Veggie Pot Pie

This was absolutely delicious. The "gravy" was much better than I thought it was going to be definitely beat a can of Campbell's cream of celery (and no MSG!).

Ingredients:
One bag of refrigerated, diced potatoes
Several handfuls of green beans, snapped in half
Handful of carrot slices
Two handfuls of frozen peas
One small can of corn
2 frozen pie crusts, thawed 15 minutes
2 cups veggie broth
2 tbsp corn starch
2 tbsp soy sauce
two pinches thyme
salt and pepper

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the vegetables with the broth. Add the soy sauce and the corn starch, simmering until the sauce thickens. Remove from heat, add the thyme and salt and pepper. Pour everything into a pie crust and use the other crust to top the first. Bake at 425 for 30 minutes or until golden.

Sarah want!

Out of the two of us, Jay is definitely the gadget whore, but this caught my eye:


The Amazon Kindle. No more paper books! I could even carry my dissertation around with me.

"Bullets and Barbeque"

Last night we hosted a murder mystery dinner party. This was the first time I've ever improvised recipes, and they turned out okay. Our menu included ribs for the meaties, red beans and rice, stuffed peppers and asparagus.

Red beans and rice:
I modified this recipe. I used canned beans (2 cans) and took all the meat out, including the Worcestershire sauce (which usually isn't vegetarian). We didn't have celery, or I would have used that. I also was too lazy to cook it for 2-3 hours, so I just added a cup of veggie broth and let it reduce down to a nice sauce. We mixed it with the cooked rice instead of spooning it over the top. The original recipe:

• 1 pound red kidney beans, dry
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 5 ribs celery, chopped
• As much garlic as you like, minced (I like lots, 5 or 6 cloves)
• 1 large smoked ham hock, 3/4 pound of Creole-style pickle meat (pickled pork), or 3/4 lb. smoked ham, diced, for seasoning
• 1 to 1-1/2 pounds mild or hot smoked sausage or andouille, sliced on the bias
• 1/2 to 1 tsp. dried thyme leaves, crushed
• 1 or 2 bay leaves
• As many dashes Crystal hot sauce or Tabasco as you like, to taste
• A few dashes Worcestershire sauce
• Creole seasoning blend, to taste; OR,
  • red pepper and black pepper to taste
• Salt to taste

The peppers were a real experiment. They were good, but I would have changed a few things. I used:

• 6 red peppers, halved and scooped
• 1 can of artichoke hearts, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• Several handfuls of baby carrots, chopped
• 1 small zucchini, cut into small pieces
• Mexican cheese
• Plain bread crumbs
• Salt and pepper
• Cayenne pepper
• Parsley
• Garlic

I sauteed the garlic, onions, and carrots until softened, then added the zucchini. After the zucchini softened, I added the artichoke hearts for a minute until they were slightly browned. Add the salt, pepper, and cayenne (don't overdo this or you'll regret it). Stuff the peppers and top with cheese, then breadcrumbs and a sprinkle of parsley. Bake at 350 for an hour in an oiled baking dish.

If I do this again, I'll mix the cheese in with the vegetables. By putting the cheese on top and the breadcrumbs over it, it made the cheese crusty. I like hot melty cheese better, and this didn't have any.

Dessert was J.P. Licks ice cream with hot fudge, caramel, and whipped cream.

For entertainment, we did a murder mystery called "Bullets and Barbeque." Peter was hilarious as Juan Bandito, the meanest Mexican bandit in Drygulch. Candice was a close-runner up as Sally Forth, the Sheriff's mail-order bride with a mysterious mutating accent. Fritz was Rowdy Azell, a sweet-talking gambler and Ricki was Bibi Gunn, lady of the night. Jay and I rounded the group out as the town's drunk doctor and Miss Patience, the innocent schoolteacher. It was lots of fun and a lot better than watching Peter murder "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" on Guitar Hero.