Summertime…

It doesn’t get much more summery than this in New England.  90+ degrees and humid.  That’s summer!

We picked a great weekend to spend with our pals L and M on the Cape.  Going to the Cape on a Friday in the summer you either leave early in the morning or late at night.  We left at 3P and it took us an hour longer to get there than it would normally.  But, so what!

There’s a long history with our hosts.  Roy and M go way back to grade school and L is Roy’s cousin.  Roy fixed them up, was the best man at their wedding and they’re still talking to Roy 40 plus years later. Although, L may tell you that she’s got a lot of issues with M now that he’s retired!  Our hosts were ready for us; snacky food, some cool drinks and dinner at The Oyster Company.  The restaurant was super busy.  We started with some Quivet oysters which come from the restaurant’s own oyster farm. Then, lobster cakes with a spicy sauce, ceasar salad, mussels with a red curry and a paella.  Poor M.  We call him challenged in the food department; not too adventurous and loves a good hot dog!  He wanted to have fish and chips but got the big NO from L.  So, he got to have his cup of chowder and shared the paella which I don’t think he wanted.   He gave most of the seafood to Roy, keeping some chicken and rice.  Too funny!  For dessert, the Sundae School, one of the best places to get an ice cream fix.  When I have ice cream it has to have a few major ingredients: chocolate or mocha and nuts; and if it has marshmallow or fudge I’m in heaven.  Bass River Mud had it all plus a little fudge running through it.

Saturday, we awoke to a little fog but it turned into a beautiful beach day!  Roy and M had to wash their cars.  It’s a ritual.  Linda and I made sandwiches and were on the beach by 11A with a light picnic lunch because were were saving it up for 2 pound lobsters.  Lobsters are cheap around here right now.  $3.99/lb. at Market Basket; $10.99/lb on the Cape.  Okay, so they have to take advantage of us.  I get it but they could charge a little less and still make a profit.   It doesn’t matter the lobster was outstanding; add fresh corn and a summer slaw.  The act of cracking the shell, pulling out the meat with lobster juice running down the sides of your mouth onto your hands and arms.  It’s primal.  Oh, and for M, he got to have a lobster roll made specially by Roy.  Why, you ask, did M have a lobster roll?   Because our food challenged friend likes that better than a whole lobster.  Whatever way you like it, you can’t beat a lobster from New England.

Then after devouring our 2 pounders and barely able to move, we were off for the movies.  The destination – the Cape Cinema at The Screening Room at the Cape Cod Museum of Art.  It’s a funky space in the basement of an art museum and  kind of like watching a movie in your own personal screening room.  The movie, Bernie, with Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine.  Two thumbs up for Jack Black in the role of a very quirky mortician and well loved person in the community of Carthage, Texas.  It’s a black comedy and it’s a true story, directed by Richard Linklater.  Jack Black hit the character dead on, no pun intended!

I had to bring M and L my new favorite game, Bananagrams.  We played after the movies and had a little ice cream, watched the Olympics and called it a night.

Sunday, a great breakfast made by L with the crispiest of bacon, eggs and english muffins.  Roy had a lobster omelet with some of the leftover lobster tail which he hid in the fridge!

Then on the road to beat the traffic and get home to pick up Romeo.  A great summer weekend and a lot of laughs with no shark sightings!  The next time we’re on a beach it will be on the Costa Brava in Spain.  Oh, did I tell you we’re going to Spain – the Costa Brava and Madrid??  We are, and 2 at the bar will be reporting on it very soon.

See you at the bar…