Category Archives: Rants & Raves

Because sometimes I am not sure what will come out of my mouth- so Rants & Raves us my melting pot of commentary

Settling In and stuff

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Settling in at the Cove each summer is always a whirlwind for the first few days, but rarely lasts long. On this trip, we also have a few friends here – so its added some fun additional options.

After a very long coach ride into Provincetown on Saturday . It was nice to just sit back and breath.

Come Sunday we were in full vacation mode. Bikes needed to get rented for the next two weeks, as that makes  being able to go to Stop & Shop for groceries much more doable.

So we made the short walk up to the road to PTownBikes   (Address: 42 Bradford St, Provincetown, MA 02657, Phone: (508) 487-8735). After getting our annual “rules of the road” reminders, we were off for a short ride to Herring Cove  to show the boys around that end of the town.

After we got back from the ride, it was nap time for the boys – so I had some time to connect with local friends and get the skinny on the season and the annual “what do you want to do for activities” ticket discussion begins.

Once we were all refreshed and we had enough coffee in us. Yes, I had made sure to run by Joe’s Coffeeshop (170 Commercial St, Provincetown, MA 02657) . You can check out Joe’s Facebook page for more on this little slice of Provincetown. It was time for the dreaded Stop & Shop run.

So, empty backpacks ready,  we got on the bikes and took to the store for supplies to get us through a few days. While we always love eating out – being here in a unit with a kitchen allows me the luxury to also cook some of the days. Especially those when we just don’t want to deal with the crowds. (Note: first time to Ptown? Don’t shop on Saturday if you can avoid it – that’s turnover day in town and usually a mad house. We tend to go later Sunday or even better on Monday am when we can).

It was still early when we got back, so everyone hit the deck for some late rays, while I went in to think about dinner. For tonight, we went with marinated (yes – with bottled italian salad dressing, along with some ginger beer added for zing) to toss on the grill, grilled sweet potatoes and quick pickled carrots.

After dinner we took the first official “ice cream” walk to close out the day.

Monday

Come Monday, we were all in “vaca mode”. I tend to wake up early, so generally out with the camera  walking around by 6:15 then heading back to Joe’s coffeeshop around seven. Spent a few hours drafting some notes for a journal article then met up with Brent and Josh before walking back to the house to figure out the game plan for the day.

All in all, it was just a very nice relaxing day at the Cove; lots of sun and catching up. We ended up eating lunch in doing that old standard “make yourself sandwiches” since we knew that evening we will be going to a show and dinner.

After all getting showered we went over to the Canteen (225 Commercial St, Provincetown, MA 02657) for dinner, one of my favorite of the small places here in Ptown. A nice assortment of fresh and fried foods and probably the best crispy brussels sprouts we’ve had. They do their brussels sprouts cooked to get fried crispy and then top it with the vinegar fish sauce working with the natural flavor of the smoky sprout. The
other guys went with some basic fish and chips,  I opted for “fish fries”, a.k.a. fried smelts.

After dinner, we walked over the Crown and Anchor where we checked out an early show of the Generations Project (thegenerationsproject.info). Part of a new intergenerational, transnational LGBT queer storytelling project that hopes to serve as a bridge between older and younger folks by sharing different stories frint points in our lives (coming out, risk, dating etc.). Tonight’s specifically highlighted the stories related to Ptwn.

After a really well-done show, we once again took a walk so the men could get ice cream and I splurged at the Portuguese Bakery (299 Commercial St, Provincetown, MA 02657) for a pastry; Malasada is  the Portuguese version of a “fried dough” treat. Italians grow up with a similar version serves on Sundays or at street fairs. As they do with the italian version – they cover it with sugar hot out of the grease.

On Tuesday

Paul’s parents were scheduled to come down on the 11 o’clock ferry, so after getting up and doing a few hours of work I went back to the unit and made some breakfast for all of us. 

Then we took a nice leisurely stroll to the ferry for his mom and Eddie. Looking for something to do that wouldn’t require them to walk as much, we decided to make use of the new Provincetown Mayflower Trolley tour.

What a great ride. We were able to get to a bunch of locations with the tour we hadn’t checked out before. While we heard some really interesting stories and history of the people who founded Provincetown. Not to mention learning about the environment & ecological structure.  Overall well worth the money for the $20 tickets and I would reccomemd to anybody who’s never been here to take advantage of it. And I got a recipe to try as well!


We caught sight of some fun street based art that often can be found tucked away in nooks and crannies.
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Travel day

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Travel

We all love it, but travel can just as easily go wrong. I have to say the hardest thing about the early morning flight is actually the early morning itself. In order to catch a 6 AM flight out of SFO,  it means leaving as early as 4:15 AM.

As luck would have it, it was a pretty uneventful travel experience. The airport was a little more crowded than usual but I managed to get on the plane, make my connections and found myself a Boston, 15 minutes ahead of schedule, albeit 12 hours later.

Next stop, Residence Inn Seaport downtown to meet Paul, with old friends Josh & Brent in tow, who came in from San Diego and would also be staying Ptown.

Residence Inn Downtown 

Any visit to Boston for me that is non-work related, usually begins and ends with a stay at this facility. Between the friendliness of the staff, the super convenient location for both water events and inner city Boston events, just makes for it to be a perfect place to relax & recharge.

This inspired, converted building turns the stay into something that feels like you’re actually on a “urban adventure”. From it’s super airy atrium, to the modern desired modular rooms; this place, has lots of nooks and crannies to explore. Each of the rooms we’ve stayed in, has a slightly different layout which is how they all fit into the natural structure of the building. Giving those who live in tradition houses an opportunity at staying in a super cool urban environment.

Close to public transportation, including the ferry for those folks headed down to the Cape. They’ve got in-hotel full service coffee shop that caters to the neighborhood, as well as it’s traditional Residence Inn morning buffet. Much like other Residence Inns, the staff tend toward the awesome side of hosting. Working at whatever they can to help make your stay the best.

Word up though; while not the most expensive of the hotels in this area it isn’t inexpensive. So plan ahead, sign up with Marriott deals so that you can utilize your points or discounts as appropriate. This site also is within a short walk to the childrens museum; so on this visit also staying were more families than previous stays which made navigating the breakfast buffett a little “treacherous” as not all children (and some adults it would seem) have been taught proper public shared food space/buffett curtesies or hygiene practices. So if you want particularly kid or family-friendly you might want to call ahead to find out if there’s a kid focused weekend happening. Another fav feature is the “grocery option”. Many of the facilities will now do some basic grocery runs to stock up the very workable kitchens. Billing your rooms and saving you time.

Dinner and what not

This is a great central location for nice walk to the italian area of town. Which we do each trip for pizzia at Regina Pizzeria (the original one). If you want calm, quiet dinner – this isn’t the place. It’s loud and ethnic as only a small family place can be. The 30 min walk, takes you through several community parks, right by the front of the Boston Children Museum, which is sure to have something fun going on and eventually right into the Italian section of town.

Travel to Provincetown

Our next stop of the trip starts on Saturday am, and brings us to to the Ferry. Which normally would take us out over the water into Provincetown. But for the first time, rough weather water warning meant this trip taking a motor coach supplied from the Bay State Cruise Company to get us to Provincetown. [By the way, “rough weather water” warnings means more than a few passengers on the early ferry, ended much “green around the gills” than normal]

Now, while I will miss the boat ride, I don’t need a tossing boat & seasickness to start my day. I say as long as “someone else takes the wheel, and it’s not me driving” go for it.  Needless to say the 2.5 hour drive by coach bus, ended up almost 3.5, but was pleasently stressless it a bit cramped. [hint – this is the Cape, time flows differently so 2.5 hours = 3.5, its new “old” math for the Cape]

Getting Settled

Once we got settled in at Fisherman’s Cove, our “home away from home”, it was time for a short walk and some food. Since it was already 4:00, we opted for sandwiches now and diner later. We walked further down the West End to Relish, (I wrote about Relish in previous trips as well here (2015) and here 2014) bringing them back to the condo and our first waterside meal of the summer. Then it was time for the boys to go down for naps, while I took a walk to get caught up with my local peeps and the “news” around town.

The day slowly came to an end with a pleasant sunset watching on the main deck, while we waited for everyone to get ready for dinner. For the opening night, we took a short walk into town for burgers at Local 186  (I wrote about Local 186 previously here). Closing out the evening with a stroll to walk off the dinner and meander around till we settled in for the night.

Over all, a good first day.

 

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Count down to vacation

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So the annual vacation starts this week

Needed to whip up something quick for dinner before takeing Paul Burketo SFO. Repurposed toasted chicked was the perfect base for a quick Tomato, Broccoli Chicken & Cheese Bread. Now that you can get the dough in bags as most of the major store (instead of convincing the local pizza shop to sell you the dough or marketing it yourself) making these breads are super easy to whip up. The big secret to getting the a good brown crust is super hot oven 450 degrees or more for 20 minutes then reduce to 350 for 10-15 min more. So while the bred was in, it was time to finish the “haircut” the bamboo got a few days earlier. The need to trim them really is because of the shedding of leaves. They tend to clog the hot tubs ya know.

 

Roasted Chicken, Broccoli and Cheese Bread

This is a super adaptable and quick meat stuffed bread made with store bought pizza dough and a great way to use up leftovers.

  • 1 bag Store bought pizza dough (use the one in the bag (or make you own dough))
  • 2 cups Chopped protein – this case I used roasted chicken
  • 2 cups shredded cheese (your choice – reserve 1/4 cup for topping)
  • 2 tbsp grated part cheese
  • Olive Oil
  • 1 cup chopped raw broccoli (Or other vegetables)
  • 1 tsp red pepper flakes
  • Salt & Pepper
  1. Take out the dough and let it come to room temperature and rise (about 2 hours)

  2. Turn the over on to 450 degrees. If you have a pizza stone – put it in now in the lower middle rack

  3. On your counter – place a sheet of aluminum foil. drizzle some olive oil on it and spread the dough out into a rectangle – depending on the size of the dough – will determine how thin and large you can press it out.

  4. Drizzle more olive oil on the dough, sprinkle with what ever herbs or seasonings you have handy on it. Spread the chicken, broccoli and cheeses on the top half. But leave an inch at the top.

  5. Pat the mixture into the dough gently. Gently role the lower half up on to the top half (think calzone). Then dab some oil on your fingers and use as glue to seem the edges.

  6. Then grabbing both ends of the foil, use it as a guide to role the bread into the “log” shape.

  7. Cooking you can either – place it on the pizza stone as is (or with out the foil) But I tend to keep the foil on as it makes for easier clean up if the bread leaks. 

  8. Sprinkle the bread with the remaining cheese (add some more grated cheese if you like) and place in the oven. Cook for 20 mins at 450, then reduce heat to 350 and cook until done. Apron  15 – 20 min more. 

    To improve the outer crust – toss in a few ice cubes on the bottom of the oven to create some steam as you shut the oven.

  9. Remove from the oven and place on a rack for 5 min – then peel away from the foil. Wait 10 min and cut.

 

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Sunday Sunny Sunday

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With the sunny glare brightening everything this morning, even the “wake call” courtesy of the helicopters overhead didn’t stop our walk. Once Dino did his business, it was my turn to think about my Sunday plan; breakfast, deck work, writing, and dinner.

So I figured a good start would be hearty red eye gravy, country ham, and eggs breakfast. This begins the count down to our vacation at the end of the week.  The red eye gravy is pretty simple to make. The recipe I use comes from one posted on Onestate.com here.

Then for later, to snack on over coffee, a quick chocolate banana bread. This is a simple adapted recipe that uses brown sugar and cocoa powder along with some allspice to add some depth.

 

 

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July 4th was our “unday” having worked on Monday..

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Even after all these years living here, a July 4th in the Bay, with its fog never really feels right, so we rarely make plans for much unless its a bbq here at the house.

But this year, we made no plans,  since we both were planning to work Monday, and again on Wednesday, I opted for some kitchen time.

First, off it was protein breakfast prep for the next few days with my super simple egg “muffins” (aka no flour) with leftover grilled chicken and veggies from last night.

That will cover us for breakfast for a few days (and they freeze well by the way).
Then having snagged some of my pal Bryan’s left over Irish mashed potatoes from book club, I repurposed them as “Irish potato hash cakes” and topped off with a few cherry tomatoes right from my own plant.

For dinner, I put in to bake a “Cheese Quick Bread” from Martha Stewarts collection. Her recipe for Cheddar Bread is the basis for it and can be found here: http://www.marthastewart.com/1165536/cheddar-bread. My only change was using a combination of types of Cheddars. The recipe is easy and fast to mix up, but with a solid 50 min bake and cool down time it’s a think ahead deal.

But once cooled, the part I like is it can be sliced thin and topped with jam, meat, sliced apples or pears, drizzled with honey or even more cheese. Sliced thicker it can be used as a “dunker” with soups and stews. Or as I found out becomes a great alternative bread option for Italian Panzanella Salad, a traditional salad that used cubes of hard bread with tomatoes and dressing. In this case, I used the leftovers from pickled cucumber & tomato salsa from the other night.
Leftovers for dinner just carries the repurpose theme with a cold chicken & veg salad. The final “re-purpose ”  was adding fresh corn and tomatoes to go with the grilled tri-tip on Tuesday. While Mr. Dino gets ready for the fireworks.

 

 

 

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Preholiday dinner night

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While some had today off,  I didn’t so I ended up not only working a partial day (we got two hours early approved leave) while also trying to tackle the week 2 of a training module to teach part time at a new institution. 

So tonights dinner needed to be simple and a no brainer. Grilled chicken, vegatables and homemade salsa. 

What A Day! So much for a quiet uneventful weekend

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That would be the smoke we followed then passed after our 5:50 pm flight got cancelled due to mechanical issues after boarding. Oh yea, that and two of the flight crew going down and being removed by EMT’s with heat stroke as we were asked to disembark ..
So after hearing Alaska Airlines plan for resceduling folks, it was another car rental, then off to dinner, and a drive to LA and a few hours sleep at the Renaissance Marriott, to be able to catch rebooked Virgin America flight at 6:50 am Tues am. Either that or stay in PS another day or two. Given we could only get waitlisted on the 5pm Tues Alaska Airlines flight or confirmed on the 5pm Wed one.

Other than that snag, we had a great few “disconnect” at our favorite “home away from home” at the Triangle Inn, in Palm Springs.

Kept the trip low key with temperatures from 98 – 120+. Which meant lots of pool time


And eating at our fav spots when we could drag ourselves out of the water long enough.

Now this is a glass of Iced Tea!

A Chicken Parm sandwhich

Need I explain

More liquids

Spencer’s for brunch

Spencer’s for brunch

Sensing a theme yet?

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Another creative cooking week amidst the craziness of hearings & shootings

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Started off the weekend by whipping up some herbed cheesy drop biscuits. 
After a killer meal the night before at Spiazzo (check out my review here) before seeing Wonder Woman


 

Then on Tuesday night, I had an urge for lemon-candied ginger biscotti. So adapted the recipe I usually use and added some candied lemon peel and used 2 large eggs instead of XL (For that recipe visit my post here) . Luckily I usually have all the ingredients handy. First bake done.


Now packed for sharing at meeting I had at the “cube” on wed.


So by Thursday, I was at the “what to make when you just can’t face Safeway or Tower?” stage. Which means it was forage time. The outcome ended up as leftover chicken, sweet potato & veggie hash aka the “clean out the refrigerator for garbage day tomarrow ” hash.


Who knows what the rest of the week will bring. But since it seems,  according to how that silly, entitled, little man modeled his answers on Tuesday,  that it’s totally “OK for federal employees to forget, not take notes,  and misremember “, who knows what I’ll be remembering by next week…but as its June it’s time to remember we won’t be silenced.


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That old New Hampshire TA Turn Around (past due post)

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Note: this was supposed to have posted last month but somehow didnt post. 
So last week was a killer; my colleague and I had a all day training in New Hampshire, hosted at @SNHU on Wed. Which mean I left the house on Tuesday am around 4:30 – caught a flight to Chicago to change planes for New Hampshire. We stayed in the Radisson Hotel Manchester Downtown (Address: 700 Elm St, Manchester, NH 03101. Phone: (603) 625-1000). 

 

While the folks couldn’t have been more friendly – there were some oddly interesting observations;  Firstly- The beds; I don’t get the “bumpy” look. While the beds were comfy, this was odd and was happening with both beds. It kinda felt like I had lots of little Dino’s waiting for me under the bed.

And then there was the “alcohol preps” everywhere. I kid you not – they were placed on every surface (which I understand as a public health person – often have loads of things you simply don’t want to know about) but my first thought was “bravo, a good attempt – but they have wipes for this that work better than alcohol and where is the condoms?”. What a lost opportunity for them.

But I loved the details with the labels on the bed adjustments.. 

For Dinner that night we went to Cotton

Breakfast the next morning found me at the Buffett

 

 

Tz

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