more labor day weekend.

This is the last Labor Day Weekend post inundating you with beach days and good eats. For those of you that have asked for recipes; I linked to them wherever possible in my last post and they are all up on Clean Green Cuisine. Breakfast on day three consisted of Baked French Toast Casserole with bacon and blueberries!

That would be a praline topping consisting of pecans, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. It is a constant delight to your sense of smell to wander off the beach into G's kitchen. From the crisp salty ocean air through the beachfront slider door you are greeted by all kinds of comforting scents. This mornings cinnamon spices or past nights of pungent seafood smells, laced with warm melted butter, hints of fresh basil....this kitchen always smells incredible and the food always tastes even better.

On the beach today there was kite flying!

Well, there was kite flying everyday.

And Bocce. There was Bocce everyday too.

For lunch, mini lobster rolls and tomato gazpacho.

Cold soup after a morning in the hot sun is fantastic. Leftover lobster was tossed in a little mayo and placed over a bed of lettuce in a hot dog bun for a delicious lunch combo.

We snacked on Pimento cheese dip smothered on Ritz crackers and celery sticks. For dinner it was southern food night! Sweet and smokey spareribs accompanied by peanut lime slaw, white wine braised kale, root beer stove-top beans and more of those yummy biscuits!
Gretchen really outdid herself with this meal. Especially considering the fact that she rarely eats meat and this was her first time cooking spareribes! They were dry rubbed with smoked paprika, brown sugar, ground clove, ground ginger and chipotle chili powder, then slow cooked all afternoon. They came out very tender with a syrupy glaze. 

I remembered we had a handle of Southern Comfort Sweet Tea "just add ice and serve" sitting amongst the gin and vodka bottles on the counter. It was the perfect drink to stand up to a hearty southern meal. As you might have gathered, a night here wouldn't be complete without dessert. Tequila watermelon and caipirinha ice pops! And after a rowdy evening, the final day....

Someone had to clean out the fridge before we headed home. Don't worry, I wasn't the only one. It was once again glorious weather so we stuck around for most of the day, doing more of the same. 

And that my friends, is a wrap.

West Dennis Beach

Four days away from the computer feels like a long time. In a good way. I am so appreciative of everyone's kind words and comments welcoming me back! Quite a few of you commented on the biscuits! Well guess what? Gretchen has a recipe.Breakfast day 2: ham, egg, cheese & tomato on a BEST BUTTERMILK BISCUIT. Even the biscuits had their own inside joke this weekend. But we won't get into that at the moment. Lets get into Day 2! It is funny, when you think about it, that I was on a vacation in the place where I grew up. When you travel to your hometown, do you consider it a "vacation?" Me neither. Obviously Cape Cod by nature is a vacation destination, but to me it will always be home. My sister was also home this weekend, so her and Tray paid us a visit on this glorious but windy Saturday. The Beach day 2: Bocce games were played.

Lots and lots of Bocce! And lots of swimming, naturally. We made the annual trip to Pizazz where we tried on goofy hats and an inflatable boat was purchased. Also purchased on this outing:

Holy Lobster. Check out that claw.

Some of us played poker while others went boating.

I had the majority of the house at one point or another drinking "Daisy Specials." Vodka, pineapple and a splash of club soda.

A nice sweet summer drink with just the right amount of fizz. 

Dinner night 2: LOBSTER. Our fresh lobster was accompanied by sweet corn on the cob, savory roasted potatoes and a juicy watermelon, feta and basil salad.  That evening we ventured out for a taste of the Dennis nightlife to The Sand Bar. It is here where Rock King performs every Saturday night all summer long. He's a one man show - a comedian and a pianist, encouraging crowd interaction with musical sing-a-longs and providing lots of laughs. In all my years of living here, I had never heard of this man nor been to The Sand Bar. I guess it just goes to show, new experiences are sometimes where you least expect them. Rock King plays through October 9th - so if you are looking for something inexpensive (only a $3 cover) to do on the Cape on a Saturday night, I suggest you pop in! Much later back at the house we enjoyed Lemon Ice Cream Sandwiches with Blueberry Swirl. Homemade gram cracker crust, tart citrus and berries, sweet and creamy vanilla ice cream - this is probably one of the better late night eats I've had after a night out on the Cape. Well that about covers it. Covers Day 2 that is. We still have Day 3 & 4 which I'm pretty sure I can warp up in one post. There are even more amazing eats on Sunday & Monday that are going to blow you away!! Stay tuned.

LDW | West Dennis Beach

Despite the harsh weather reports of Hurricane Earls path towards Cape Cod and his warning from Gretchen's email: It could be bad - water under the house, 80 MPH winds, no power, roof flying off, 2 feet of water in the driveway and road, the adventurous spirits (or just the crazy one's in our group of friends) Gretchen, Derek, Colucci and I loaded up the car and headed straight for West Dennis Beach. The picturesque beach cottage built by Gretchen's grandfather sits just a few hundred feet back from Nantucket Sound. With an evacuation plan in place (My Mom's house 10 minutes up the road) and plenty of food and booze, not even warnings of a category 3 Hurricane could keep us between our 3rd Annual Labor Day Weekend long bash. We kept a loose eye on the weather and a tight fist on our beers as the hurricane was reduced to a category 2, then eventually a 1 and by the time it hit us that evening, a mere rain and heavy windstorm. Lisa drove down late Friday night just in time for a hurricane swim, while Adam and Douglas ventured down early Saturday morning, just as the sun came out to play. DeMane, Holly and Reuter - friends whose travel plans were disrupted by Earl were missed but not forgotten. (We got to act them out in a drunken game of Celebrity ,which is a more fun version of charades!)
This stack of blueberry pancakes and bacon pancakes kicked off a weekend of great eats.

The neighbors boarded up their house.

We took a beach walk.

We ate lunch, drank some beers, went for a swim, and G and I attempted a puzzle while the boys flew kites. Make your own paninis with ham, turkey, cheese, roasted zucchini and tomato.
Black and white puzzles are impossibly hard.
Colucci made a Tom Collins mix: fresh squeezed lemons, limes, simple syrup, lots of gin and a little club soda.
A bruschetta appetizer was just as tasty as it looks.
Dinner night 1: Seafood Lasagna with Tomato Basil Bechamel and Caesar salad. I might have forgotten about this salad if I hadn't taken pictures. Not that it didn't taste incredible with crusty croutons, diced hard boiled egg and fresh grated parmesan cheese - but the Seafood Lasagna out-shined not only the salad, but any other lasagna I've ever tasted. Fresh lobster, scallops and shrimp with ricotta, mozzarella and parmesan in a creamy Bechamel, SO GOOD. Antics ensued. We made it through the storm alive.

The Beach day 2:

The view out my bedroom slider door at the early hours of 9 am. Looks promising today!

Breakfast: ham, egg, cheese & tomato on a homemade biscuit.

My better half and Cappy arrived. Just in time....