Silent Saturday

Color Change

Sun is shining. Fall is in the air.

G just finished getting seaweed with Ralph. We'll be off to the MacDonald's lobster bake shortly. Hanging with old friends. A good day ahead.

Ciao for now,

 

Independence Day 2013-- Hot, Hot, Hot!

 

What A Day

 

This year was seriously hot. I'm talking 95+ with 75% humidity, which is about as humid as it can get. The weather girl didn't even want to say it. So in reality, it felt like it was over 100.

 

Suffice it to say, the pool got a lot of use.

 

Gar was off early in the morning to hit the tide right for cutting seaweed off the rocks. Luckily our friend Steve was able to go with him, as our friend Ralph who usually goes, had a fishing charter that day.

 

While he went to get the seaweed and the keg, I headed down to Defiant Lobster to get the all important lobster and clams. It was a beautiful morning, but was already heating up.

 

 

When I got back, I got Watermelon George ready as the guys got the fire going, and heated up the steel plate (which Tom has to lift onto the fire with his tractor- seriously heavy).  They also bagged and tagged everyone's lobsters and clams with big onion bags and clothespins, so everyone gets their own lobsters back off the bake.

The guys stack the baskets full of lobsters, clams and seaweed on top of the steel plate.  They then lay tarps over the baskets and keep it damp so that steam keeps rising up to cook the bugs.  All in all, it takes about an hour give or take a few minutes.

While everything cooks, I try to make the rounds with appetizers just to be sure I get to see everyone.

Then of course, it's time to enjoy it all - lobsters, clams, corn, potatoes, salads galore.

{many of these pictures are courtesy of my cousin Ed Cocciardi}

 

Of course, the day wouldn't be complete without dessert otherwise known as Almond Joy Martini Shots. SO good and they helped me forget just how hot it was. In fact, so much so, we had a rousing patriotic sing along after the Almond Joys. We had nothing on Jimmy Cagney's Yankee Doodle Dandy, but we did give it our all.

Eventually when all the hard work was done, I jumped in the pool. It was heavenly.

A fun day of delicious local food prepared as a traditional New England Lobster Bake, and good times with good people. What more can you ask for on America's Birthday?

Hope you all had a great holiday and long weekend. I only wish it was a tiny bit longer.

Have a great Tuesday!

Ciao for now,

PS- I cannot believe I posted the picture of myself in the lobster hat (thanks Kath). I'm sure it will come back to haunt me. Obviously, I'm not vain.

Weekend Wrap Up & Many Happy Returns

Poof, It's Gone.

My post was just eaten by the computer, so here's a condensed version. The Dublin visitors left this morning. That said, you can imagine we tried to make the very most of the past weekend. 

Some of the things we did included:

• stroll through Prescott Park
• lunch at RiRa
• Friday evening visit across the street in Tom & Joan's driveway
• back to The Bates Estate for a campfire
• lots of laughter and many memories made. oh yes, the stories will be told for years to come.
• Saturday date with a Ralph & Cathryn's Lobster Bake
• Sunday BBQ at The Bates Estate with birthday cake and wish for Harry & Dad

• Made Sangria, Guac and rice/shrimp/caper salad
• Listened to everyone moan and groan over how good the banoffee was, thanks to bil Niall (I'll post the recipe sometime soon and you do not want to miss it....bananas, whipped cream, caramel, ginger snaps...bring on the goodness!) 
• Got stung by a yellow jacket on my thumb. Ow. 
• Sang happy birthday to godson Harry and Dad
• Made scrambled eggs with help of niece Leah
• Goodbye time with our Dubliners

It was a great visit, and hopefully it won't be too long before we see each other again in person. Until then, we're very grateful for Skype. 

Dad's Big Day

It's my Dad's birthday today. He got to enjoy a little pre-birthday celebration at the cookout yesterday, complete with his serving of the banoffee with candles to blow out for wishing.

Here he is serving up one of his specialties....linguine with clamsauce.  He's a heck of a cook. 

He's also a missile test engineer, problem solver, community volunteer (lions club, elks club, and many, many more), skilled woodworker and folk artist, voracious reader, excellent writer, Dad to 5, Grandfather to 8, Great Grandfather to 2, husband for 59 years, friend to many, traveler, go-to-man and man with the microphone....the list goes on.

cake photo via karaspartyideas.com

Hope you have a fantastic birthday Dad!

Thanks for being here everyone.  It sure makes my day.

See you on the flip side,

It's Chowda' Time!

After the Bake, Comes The Chowda'

Another part of the annual 4th of July Lobster Bake tradition, is the Apre Bake tradition of making the chowder. We buy extra clams and lobsters to go on the bake, just so we have enough for this pot of goodness.

I am not a strict recipe person, hence the reason I am not your best baker.  However, this is a good basic guideline for a big stockpot of chowda'.  You can adjust as you see fit.

Obviously, most people don't have lobster bakes everyday, so just boil up your lobsters and clams and use the water you boiled them in as your starter broth. 

Now, the chefs I know, including my brother in law Chef Niall Bates and my neighbor's son Chef Nick Gough, would be using heavy cream. Go for it. You can too. I just find that this chowder is rich enough with half and half (and less expensive). That said, just watch that you don't 'boil' this chowder because having a lower fat content could cause problems if boiled. Then again, you really shouldn't be boiling this chowder anyway.

And now for the payoff!

This is a tradition worth keeping.  I will say this, the lobster bake imparts the most wonderful flavor of the sea and a unique smokiness from the seaweed and fire. You just can't replicate it. That's not the say that chowder made from boiled lobster and clams is bad......far from it.  This stuff freezes great and fills our freezer.

I'm feeling a little bit better today. At least I'm not on the couch on an 85 degree day under an afghan because I'm freezing. What the heck? Still not 100% but at least I'm off the couch for now.  At least I got to enjoy watching 'Country Strong' which was good, but really kind of heartbreakingly sad. After that I watched South Pacific which always makes me happy.

One last thing, a Happy Birthday shoutout to my sister Gloria (on the left with my nieces Cait and Nicole).

Celebrate all the good stuff in life today!


Enjoy the day (and the chowder),

The Aftermath

Lots of Fun Had By All

The 4th was HOT, HUMID and FUN.  We had a few less people this year, and that was a.ok.  As usual, there was lots of talking, laughing.....pooltime, and oh yes...........lobster and clams off the bake!!!!

Good times with good friends on the 4th.

A more complete review will happen, but for now I've got a couple of days off with Gar for clean up and recovery. Though things weren't looking too bad this year the day after. We did a good job of picking up on the 4th.

Though it looked pretty quiet and empty yesterday compared to the 4th.  Yesterday was about cleaning things a bit and relaxing.  I think we could open our own Beergarten over on the East side of the yard.

Nothing on the fire today.

So neighborhoodlum Tom moved the 800 pound plate off the pit.

We enjoyed a couple of beers from the keg and really took it pretty easy, just like Lucan.

He lifted his head every once in a while just to make sure that everyone was, in fact, chilling as instructed.

More chilling today. It's another hot one. Great summertime vacation day. I will be pool bound at some point.

Hope you're enjoyed your holiday this week if you're in the States (or Canada ).  We have no plans for the weekend. We're going to wing it. A lot of lazing about is the only thing on the to do list.  What are you up to in your corner of the world?

Freeform Friday

Sousa by the Boston Pops on the Esplanade. Doesn't get anymore 4th of July than that. Happy Birthday America!  If you're reading by email, click here.

Enjoy.






Have a great Friday,

Take a Walk With Me

Around the Yard

I was right. Yesterday, the farmer was back loading up several of his transport trucks with the hay bales.  It's almost like a dance. First the tractor goes to get a bale. The farmer inserts the rods on front of tractor into the pale and lifts it off the ground. The tractor makes it way across the field.

The farmer gets to the truck and has to lift the bale even higher in order to place it on the truck. Then it all starts over again. The bales are all gone now. It's a long day of work, as always, for the farmer.

It's been hot so watering the flowers in the morning is a must.

Ah, the bee balm. About to pop wide open for the 4th. I think of them as flower fireworks.

Beyond being pretty, the hummingbirds, butterflies and hummingbird moths love them. So they're always a show.

Tiger lilies or ditch lilies as some of you call them.

Can you find the bugs in these next two?

There will be lots of action in the yard today and tomorrow. Last year's apre July 4th post gives a good play by play of what our day will be like.  It's a lot of work, but it's worth it. It's always a great day and luckily we get lots of help.

It cooled off a bit last night. This meant we slept with the windows open for first time in quite a few days. Lovely air. The only thing that wasn't lovely was the damn robins (who I usually think are lovely birds) beginning their routine at 4:15 am. Oh, they started singing the song of the day. Me, not so much? I gave up going back to sleep and just got up at about 4:35. I may need a nap later with what's on the plate today and tomorrow. However, since I was up so early, I got to see this pretty sunrise.



Have a wonderful day.

Ciao for now,

Preparations

Getting Ready

It's only a week until our big party to celebrate Independence Day. Next Wednesday on the 4th of July our yard will be full of people enjoying a real New England Lobster Bake. You want to know something? I can't wait.  Let me elaborate......I can't wait to sit down at the table with my bag of steamers and lobsters, my serving of drawn better, a nice frosty draft beer and have at it.

Yes. I have lobsters on the brain. I haven't had any yet this year so I am nearly salivating at the thought.

One thing you should know about lobster bakes, when the lobsters come off they have the smokey goodness imparted from the seaweed (which they're baked in). Oh my, it is Good with a capital G.

If a lobster bake sounds like too much work, how about lobster dip?  I posted my Smorgasbord Lobster Dip a while back, and thought some of you may have missed it. I made it up on the fly and it is a keeper.

It's downright decadent.

Keep in mind that my measurements are approximate (since I was 'winging it'), but you'll get the idea. Adjust as you see fit according to your own taste.

Smorgasbord Lobster Dip(so named because you'll want to put it on anything and everything)

1.5 - 2 cups of cooked lobster meat, chopped (not to small- you want some good sized chunks in there)
1 cup of low fat Hellman's mayonaise
1/2 low fat sour cream
1 8 oz block of low fat cream cheese- allow to soften at room temp for awhile
1/2 cup to 1 cup of crumbled feta
1/4- 1/2 cup of parmesan
sprinkle of red pepper flakes or cayenne
(no salt required, the cheese makes it salty enough)

Make some. Soon. You'll be the hit of the party.

Here's to summer and all that it brings, including our 4th of July Lobster Bake.

You'll be hearing and seeing more about it in the coming days.

What are your plans for the 4th? Are you having close to 100 people over to your house like us? Watching fireworks?  BBQing? Picnicing? Going to a parade? Do tell.

On another note, if you have an online shop, stop over to 'Trees. Hides.' for the link up that Shirley is hosting!

Ciao for now,

Lobster Bake- Take 2

Busy weekend here. The Bates of Clontarf (part of our Dublin family- Gar's brother Fran, our ssister in law Fiona, nephew Conor, and niece Rachel), who are in NJ for the summer due to work, swung up on Friday for a quick visit. We just chilled- ate yummy cheese, swam in the pool, and talked. Perfect laid back family time.  Saturday before they headed off to visit Fiona's sister in Boston, we had lunch at the 401 Tavern.  We got to eat in the 'wine loft'. Wish the picture was better, but I love the way our friend Desi decorated this part of the 401- about 1,000 wine bottles across the ceiling and now creeping onto the wall. Very pretty.

Too bad Gar couldn't eek out a smile for the picture.

Yesterday afternoon, we were off to our friend's lobster bake. Since Ralph helps Gar out with ours on the 4th, Gar does the same for him.

Filling the baskets with seaweed, clams and lobsters.

Loading the baskets onto the bake.

Hot stuff coming off the bake.

Come and get 'em!

So, so good.

Hope you are having a good weekend too. Enjoy your Sunday.