CafeChatNoir

I know I shouldn’t be mucking around on the internet while on vacation, but it looks like its fixing to rain, so it’s a good day to putter around and read rather than having to make a mad dash from the beach when the skies open up.

Once again, we are not being failed in the food department.  Did our usual Friday night outing for Awful Arthur’s so I could get my crab & lobster bisque and clams casino fix.  Saturday we tried the Cafe & Wine Bar at Coastal Provisions – another great meal.  I had seared scallops with linguini that was just perfect and Donald got the surf & turf and I believe he might have left the pattern on the plate.  They are now on the “definitely going again” list.  It’s small and quiet and really nice.  Only open Thursday – Saturday, so call ahead.  Sunday we hit Port O’ Call for another good meal that included shrimp stuffed with gouda and wrapped in bacon and slathered in barbecue sauce.

Last night we did foodie night and hit The Left Bank.  This summer, they not only have the 5 course tasting menu, but a 7 course and 9 course blind tasting menu as well.  We went with the 7 course and it was spectacular.  I go the wine pairing with it, and if you do that, someone else better be driving.  (The *huge* old-fashioned I had to start probably had some effect as well.  I swear, this was a double and a half.)  There was heirloom tomato gazpacho, fennel & goat cheese macaroons, kingfish tartare, braised pork belly & short ribs, a plate of cheese, almonds, & honey, a plate of heirloom tomatoes and strawberry gazpacho, and a couple other things that I am now forgetting, but it was all just incredible.

I’m still a little shocked I’ve been here 4 days and still haven’t gotten any shrimp & grits yet.  That will definitely be rectified soon.

In completely unrelated news, I am on Google+ now, and it says I have invites, so if you want one, shoot me your email address.  I like it.  I doubt I’ll be dumping Facebook for it, but I do see myself using it – just probably not quite the same way as I use Facebook.  No ads and a lot less clutter.  The “Circles” make it a lot easier to determine who will see what, and make reading easier as well.  I’d really like to see some news organizations & businesses get on to G+ – I follow a lot of pages on Facebook, but I have no way of separating them out for viewing on Fb – all the pages are lumped together.  On G+ I’d be able to separate them out to things like news/politics/businesses, etc.  (I’ve found one breaking news page so far, but nothing else – if you know of any businesses or other non-person profiles you think I’d like, let me know.)

First, gotta tag the spectacular Kelly Bowers in this because she’ll read it and nod her head and say, “Yes, that’s what I’ve been telling you all along…” :)

It was a bit odd to be heading south when I was already fairly well chilled out – that hasn’t happened in I don’t know how long.  There is definitely a difference between chilled out and beach mode – and if you’re already chilled out, beach mode happens instantaneously as soon as you get here.  I had gotten used to it taking a good 3 to 5 days to simply unscrew myself from the ceiling before I could even approach beach mode.

If you’re just chilled out, things will happen that will annoy you.  Once you’ve hit beach mode, you just don’t care.  Examples:

- A/C on the car died.  Hey, the fan still works, and we’ve answered the question of which car the dog is in on the way home.
- Bash up already bashed foot again, resulting in lovely swelling.  Eh, ice and elevation and hey, I’ve got tons of books to read.
- Dog isn’t satisfied with a quick trip to the side yard on a rainy morning and isn’t amenable to returning inside for an umbrella?  Hey, I’ve got dry clothes I can change into when we get back.
- A knowingly ill-timed trip to the drugstore resulting in being right in the midst of the Saturday afternoon northbound traffic jam?  Nothing else to do but crank up the tunes, sing along and get down with your bad self.  (This may result in drivers around you who have not achieved beach mode yet to look at you as though you have three heads, but I get that on a near daily basis anyway, so I’m used to it.)

Yup, beach mode is good, and the faster you can get there, the better.

Ocean Boulevard still kicks ass, much to my delight. It’s jumped straight to the top of my list of favorites over the past couple years. The also bill themselves as a Martini bar, so a good 1/2 of the drinks page is martinis and other various ways to fill a martini glass with pure alcohol.

They have a drink called the South Beach. Stoli Oranj, Absolut Citron and a splash of something. (Air, I suspect.) Sublime, thought it should be called the “smack you on the ass” martini.

Shrimp and heirloom grits for my app, and I would not share. (Thought I do have to think that heirloom grist are simply a box of grits found in the back of the pantry that don’t have any weevils in them.) Shrimp was marinated and grilled, and the grits were done perfectly. And it’s an appetizer that is actually appetizer sized so you’re not going to ruin your meal.

My brother, the more generous of us, got the jerk beef tips app and actually shared with everyone. Those were great, too, and again a small serving that is actually appetizer sized.

I went for the special – seared Mahi-Mahi (always good) over a grits cake (sold) with succotash and bacon. (SOLD!) And some more shrimp thrown in for good measure. And the bonus: teeny tiny baby lima beans in the succotash that were soooooooooo good. (I know it’s a love/hate bean. I love them.)

Lisa and I were also apparently in an eating competition – except that no one told us it was a contest until the end of the meal. (For the record, I won. It seems it became a contest when we both ordered the special.)

From what I understand the crabcakes and steak that others got were quite good as well.

The only downside was that everyone was too full for dessert martinis at the end of the night.

Definitely on the “must go again next year” list.

MP 2.5 on the Beach Road. Make reservations!!

Port O’ Call is still one of my favorites. I don’t think the menu has changed in forever, but everything is great anyway. They also have a kickass gift shop filled with tons of shiny things and vintage jewelry, and who doesn’t love that? This is one of those places where I don’t think I’ve had the same thing twice, but I can’t be sure because all I can really remember from year to year is that it’s all good and whatever I get, I know I’ll like it.

Started off with the Oysters Rockefeller, which they apparently make a little differently from the standard, as it has spinach in it. (That was part of the reason I ordered it – one year I overheard a woman giving the waiter holy hell over the fact that OR is not supposed to have spinach in it. Though it’s quite clearly noted on the menu.) Well, I liked them and would get them again, so I can only assume this woman simply doesn’t like anything that doesn’t conform to her ideal of normal.

Then I moved on to the seafood carbonara. Shrimp and scallops and pasta and bacon. You can’t go wrong there.

Sadly, I made no note of what anyone else ordered but we all were quite satisfied by the end of the night.

They also have a very cool bar, if you’re just looking for a nightcap, it’s definitely worth popping in.

MP 8.5 on the Beach Road. Reservations accepted. Probably not needed but we always get them anyway.

Meridian 42

A bit of a bust. They did in fact change ownership last year and the new owner (who I think was one of the original partners, but I’m not 100% sure.) decided to scale back to just Italian.

The calamari is still fantastic, but the rest of it was just average. Tev did point out that the biggest problem is that they suffer from people knowing how great they were with the Mediterranean menu and plain Italian doesn’t really measure up.

Between the 4 of us, we had softshell crabs, sea scallops and veal marsala. The scallops were reported to be pretty good. The crabs were OK, but I’ve had better – something was off with the frying – maybe a bit overdone? The veal was OK, but it was also commented that maybe they just got a bad cut of meat, and there is only so much you can do with that. The side of the night was penne pasta with marinara, and honestly, it was mediocre at best. It’s just disappointing considering how good everything was in years past.

I can understand wanting to go with a “safe” menu in this economy, but you have to step it up and make sure it is GOOD. If you’re just average Italian, you’re not going to last around here, and in 2 years, there’s going to be yet another owner. Unless I hear that something has really changed between now and next year, I doubt a return trip is on tap.

#1 Ocean Blvd. Reservations accepted. (But probably not needed if things continue the way they are…)

I’ve gotten poked for not getting the food reports out, so here they come – expect a slew in the next day or so. Here we go!

Barefoot Bernie’s Tropical Bar

New for us this year. They have all the standard beach seafood fare with some Jamaican and Tex/Mex thrown in and the usual fruity beach drinks.

Got the Tex Mex chicken potato skins, which were really good. Though, they don’t come with sour cream… Some other sauce, which was very good, but it was all I could do to not ask for sour cream. My brain can’t really process potato skins without sour cream. For dinner I got plain old fried shrimp. Not exciting, not exotic, but just what I wanted and they just hit the spot.

Little bro got wings to start and the steamer platter (clams, shrimp & crab) and polished that off in short order.

Not fancy or outlandish, just good and worthy of a return visit.

MP 4.5 on the Bypass. No reservations needed.

The Black Pelican

This is the third time I’ve been here and it’s been kind of all over the place. The first time I got the Prime Rib and it was delicious. The second time we went with Tev & Lisa, and it was a comedy of errors in getting our orders right, but the food was good and we got a free round of drinks for the issues.

This year – not so great. Started with the crab rangoon which was very good. Then moved onto the Cajun Fish bites – cajun fried catch of the day, which was swordfish. Not bad, but not much that was cajun-y about it.

Then I got the shrimp and grits. Shrimp sauteed in onions, garlic, peppers and tomatoes, over jalapeño cheese grits. I just hoped that the jalapeños wouldn’t overpower everything. Turns out that was the least of my worries. They neglected to mention to half a jar of chili powder that was dumped in while they were cooking the shrimp as well as the chili powder dusting on the rim of the plate. (Every time the air currents changed, you’d get lungful of chili powder…) Even with the grits, the shrimp were WAY too hot, and I do like spicy food. However, the grits all by themselves were stupendous.

Donald had the same problem with the ribs he ordered – all spice and no taste. There’s a line between being spicy and inedible, and they seem to have lost sight of where that line is. Probably off the list for next year.

MP 4 on the beach road. No reservations needed.

Kelly’s

Kelly’s is weird. The food is quite good but there is always some odd thing that is more memorable. First trip it was the weird cocktail waitress that I was quite sure was trying to kill us. The the odd little room the four of us had to ourselves last year. (I guess we looked like we were going to cause problems.) This year it was the hostess with pink hair and a sternum piercing. (Not gross, just extremely painful to contemplate.)

Also, there is a bit of a fading glory thing going on. In 2000 it was named the best place to meet babes by Playboy magazine. I don’t think it still holds that distinction. It also seemed that the average age of the clientele had jumped about 15 years in the past 12 months.

But, weird or not, the food is great. You start with a kickass bread basket with 3 or 4 types of bread and biscuits, so everyone will find something to fill up on even before dinner arrives.

I got the clams casino started, and they were very good. (Awful Arthur’s is still #1 for those in my book, though.) The rest of the table shared a plate of calamari, and happy “this is good” noises were being made all around. (I was too busy with my clams to pay attention to any actual words.)

I got the special – rockfish with crab over rice and veggies. VERY good. (I also just love rockfish.) In an unusual turn for me, I ate all the vegetables – green beans that had a ton of butter and a touch of cumin of all things. (Took me forever to figure out what it was, and then when I figured it out I yelled, “IT’S CUMIN!” like some culinary tourette’s patient.)

Tev got the softshell crabs and said they were quite good. At this point, neither myself or my brother can remember what else we ordered, but that we were all happily stuffed at the end of the night. (As I said, there is always something else that prevents us from remembering what we ordered…)

Definitely a repeat.

MP 10.5 on the bypass. Still working out the kinks of call ahead seating.

As in years past, my goal for this vacation was to get the whole world domination thing up and running, and again, it would seem that I’ll be heading back to Northern Virginia on Friday after all. You’d think it would be an easy thing, but there never seems to be time to squeeze in taking over the world down here.

You wake up in the morning with all sorts of ideas of how things will be when you’re in charge. But first, it’s time to take the dog for a walk. Then it’s a few cups of coffee, check the news to see if any of the major news agencies have gotten wind of your nefarious plans, catch some SportsCenter and see who is in the lead in the TdF. (Hey, if you’re going to run the world, you have to pay attention to international sporting events.)

Then it’s a few errands or some shopping or general putzing around town. Grab a sandwich for lunch, and since it’s a gorgeous day, gotta hit the beach and catch some rays. (Have you seen any benevolent world dictator that didn’t have a good tan?) But it’s OK, you can work out those details of how you’re going to form your new global empire from on the beach – the ocean waves are very soothing and will help clear your head. But there is that book you’ve been meaning to read…

Next thing you know, it’s 5PM and time to run the dog around the block again and have that pre-dinner bloody mary. Observance of the seemingly long-lost cocktail hour is a must. If you’re going to run the world, people need to see that you’re at least going to be civilized about it.

Then it’s dinner. And you can’t sit around and discuss these plans during dinner – it’s just unbecoming.

But it’s OK, still lots of hours in the evening to work on global infrastructure, cabinet posts, and the logistics of transporting the Burke crew to the HQ down here at the beach.

Except for that post-dinner food coma…

Repeat for 2 weeks and you’ve got a great tan, added 5 pounds to yourself, and dropped your stress levels quite a bit. However, you’re not running the world.

Back to relying on a lottery win. ;)

When using the outdoor shower, I will not dash across the carport naked, as it will result in irreprable ocular and mental damange to my housemates and the people staying across the street.

I will not draw up battle plans when I discover the people across the street have a slingshot.

I should not assume that any lost dog knows where it lives, as it will just go to the house it thinks looks like fun.

I will not talk about shark sightings without specifically mentioning that said sighting was at the NC aquarium.

I should not call out scores for difficulty and execution when kayakers wipe out when riding the surf into the beach.

When a grown man is bitten by a sand crab, I should not say, “No shit, they don’t like to be picked up!”

I will not look for hidden compartments in the house where I can hide when the vacation lease is up.

I should not play Scotland the Brave on the car stereo while going through town as it makes people think they are having auditory hallucinations.

Ah, the beach. Where my diligent monitoring of calories expended vs. consumed goes out the window. Not only is there food, wonderful food, but tons and tons of SEAFOOD. Sure, we’ve got the bay right next door back home, but it’s not quite the same.

Last night we hit what has become our traditional first night spot – Awful Arthur’s. Sure, I suppose it could be considered a tourist trap, but you could say that about every place down where between May and September. And the food is great, so, whatever. No matter what time we go, it’s always an hour wait. But that’s not so bad, because after they inform you of the wait time, the hostess says, “But you can go up to the bar and we’ll come get you when the table is ready.” Gosh, go upstairs and drink beer and have a great view of the ocean. Yes, that sucks.

So we went upstairs and knocked a few back and watched the waves and Nascar and TdF, and in a near Rainman move, my brother closed out the bar tab a mere 2 minutes before the hostess arrived to take us to our table.

I have had a craving for clams casino all week, so a half dozen of those was a given. Fresh clams, sweet peppers, butter and bacon. Tell me how that could possibly go wrong? Oh – it can’t. We were also right under one of the a/c vents so coup was a must as well. The crab and lobster bisque is awesome. It’s think and creamy and tomato-y and just spot on. And then there were hushpuppies. Don’t think you can really go wrong with fried cornmeal and butter, either.

Little bro got the soup and the crabmeat in butter. I’d say it’s a classic rookies mistake of getting two insanely rich items, but I’ve made the same error myself many times. The crab in butter was great, too. I supposed it’s a good think I have a 5 mile run this weekend.

Matt – I didn’t get the oyster shot, but there is still plenty of time.

Tonight it’s Meridian 42, which in the past has been fantastic. I’m a tad concerned it’s been basically Mediterranean influenced seafood and such, and now they’re billing themselves as “Italiano” – which could mean new owners and/or management, or someone just decided that Italiano sounded a little less intimidating somehow. I’m hoping for the latter, as the couple items on the sample menu looked to be in the same vein as years past, and I really hope they haven’t “dumbed down” the food. If nothing else, they make a killer dirty Goose martini.

And I’m glad I do, because I wouldn’t be nearly as blown away the first time I look up at the sky every time we come down here to the beach. When your biggest source of light pollution is a near-full moon, you can see A LOT of stars. Down here I can actually pick out constellations that I can just barely see back in NoVa and certainly ones I couldn’t even hope to see back home.

Makes you realize why the ancients were a nit in awe of them – they could actually *see* them.

OK, the post that was originally here is not anymore.  I have no idea where it went.

But the jist of it was that I met Dicky Betts of the Allman Brothers Band.

Tonight, we broke the rules.  “We” being myself and Moxley.

In season, dogs aren’t allowed on the beach in Southern Shores.  (One neighborhood north, they are allowed year round.)  I understand why – in any given population, there is X% that don’t clean up after their critters.  In the offseason, in real numbers, that percentage is tolerable.  During the season, it’s not tolerable as far as this neighborhood is concerned.

Well, when we got back from dinner this evening and I took the pup out for his evening sojourn, we headed for the dune deck to just take a look at the surf in the near full moon.  Mox was having none of this “watching” stuff and headed down the steps to the beach.  I gave a wide sweep with the maglite to see if we had company.  Well, we were alone and I had all the necessary accouterments should cleanup be necessary, so off we went.

I know, I know – we shouldn’t have, especially since the local gendarmes here already have my name on file.  But Mox doesn’t know the difference between on and off season and when he’s here off season, he is perfectly behaved on the beach and tonight was no different.  We chased a bunch of ghost crabs and had a lovely walk under the moon and left nothing but doggie footprints.  (Which seem to be around every morning on the beach. so I’m fairly certain we’re not the only miscreants about.)

Have to say, he’s a pretty good tracker.  He’d get a scent of a nearby crab and would go nose down into the sand and well, if you didn’t know he was following the track of a crab, you’d think he was drunk for all the weaving and figure 8’s as he followed the scent until he caught up with the crab, which of course would immediately head for the water.  Undaunted, he’d just start looking for the next one.

He’s a pretty good beach dog for being bred for the wilds of Tibet.

When the wildlife comes up and poses for you.

I was down on the beach, on my stomach & propped up on my elbows reading a book and minding my own business when something went skittering under my chest.  I sit up and find myself face to face with the biggest, boldest sand/ghost crab I have ever seen.  And he was rather insulted that I had abruptly taken away his shade.  He spent some time on the towel, then under my chair, then back up around to my book again as if to say, “Whatcha reading?”

Couple more pics:

Continue Reading “Wildlife photography is easy!”

How to take care of the edginess that goes along with selling a townhouse and waiting for the other shoe to drop between now & closing:

- Get text message of: Beach?
- Call realtor to make sure you can disappear for 60 hours.
- Drive south for about 4 hours
- Drink beer and read books on porch since you beat your host to the house. Sleep. Go fishing. See sting ray*. Eat. Fish more. Eat. Drink beer. Sleep. Sleep some more. Putz around enjoying the salt air. Put up shelving. Drink beer. Eat. Watch movies. Read books. Sleep. Morning coffee on deck.
- Head north again with large chunk of sanity restored.

Amazing just what a little change of scenery for a few days can do for you.

*Coolest thing I’ve seen in a while – easily 4 feet across.

The last day here always sucks. At least I know this year there’s a decent chance I’ll get myself down here in the off-season rather than starting the 365 countdown as has been the case in years past…

Wanted to get one last afternoon on the sound, but there’s a storm just a bit inland that has been stalled there all afternoon – not exactly a good idea to head out on the water with thunder fairly close by.

Today continued the trend of seeing how much of my wardrobe can be from REI and North Beach Outfitters with the acquisition of two North Face shirts. I think it’s easily 90% at this point.

If you have the choice between renting through Southern Shores & Sun Realty, go with Southern Shores. It’s not that Sun Realty is bad, but Southern Shores is just better. Little things like the rented linens are left at the house for you, a stack of dishtowels is left in the kitchen, and a little bag w/ paper towels, toilet paper and such so you’re not making a midnight run to the quickie mart the night you get here.

If you’re used to Friday to Friday trips, a Sunday to Sunday will screw with your head. Felt like I’d lost two days from the minute I got here, and little bro’s friends came up two days earlier, so part of my brain is still convinced I’ve lost 4 days. Despite the fact that the 2 weeks have flown by, it has also made me realize I still have a few tenuous ties to NoVa.

Two weeks here will have you getting annoyed with the out-of-towners towards the end of the trip. The “idiot state” for this trip was sadly, Virginia. This is courtesy of a jackass on his new jetski out on the sound breaking pretty much all the PWC regs. (I’m quite certain he didn’t have a permit, either since you have to demonstrate knowledge of the PWC regs to get said permit.) Dave & I nearly got waked by this idiot when we were out on Monday.

Took a swing by one of the condos that I’d seen online to get an idea of what exactly 275K gets you down here. Didn’t go in, just checked out the neighborhood. Not too bad – this one was in a development right on the sound. There are some others a little further up north that I didn’t see, but that’s probably for the best. The less temptation the better I suppose.

Non-surprising discovery of the two weeks: I am still a workaholic. Non-surprising discovery #2: 9 days with 3 other people in close proximity it about my limit. 6 years of living alone followed by a year of living with someone you see maybe 90 seconds a day will do that to you.

SkyNet’s OBXWAN service is OK, but not spectacular. They need to bulk up the service just a bit more in the area to really have good coverage everywhere they say they do.

I am quite certain that trying to get everything together to leave takes 3x as long as it does to get it together to get here in the first place.

First afternoon out on the kayak, you might want to go slightly less than two hours… But, it was gorgeous and the fact that I can’t move my arms today is still worth it.

Wildlife sightings:
– Frog (on car windshield)
– Baby Praying Mantis
– Bunnies
– Lizards
– Deer
– Red Fox
– Water Moccasin eating an eel (in the same location where I put in the kayak today… I did well and it wasn’t 100% obvious that all I was doing was looking for snakes as we put in.)

The weather cooperated today and I hooked up w/ North Beach Dave today, went paddling for about an hour w/him out on the sound. Absolutely picture perfect weather for it. He was very happy to get away from managerial duties and play for a while. Decided on the one I want, and they had it in stock, so he could cut me a good deal on it. I am now the very happy owner of an Ocean Kayak Scrambler sit-on-top. It’s the same model I was using last fall, so I am pretty comfortable with it and know it handles well in chop from some of the outings last fall. In glassy water, you can get up some very good speed on it. I’ll be spending a good chunk of the next 5 days out on the sound. :-D

This is it, except mine is red:

I’m still having the same “problem” with North Beach that I have had in the past – it’s pretty much impossible for me to walk in there and not walk out with something… Last week it was a nice pair of North Face shorts – which I did desperately need as I was down to *one* pair of wearable shorts, and at the beach, I tend to wear shorts a lot more than at home, and I am having a hell of a time finding them in my size. (I’ve always been skinny, but now I am a full on freak of nature according to the fashion industry.) Then yesterday I popped in, mistakenly thinking Dave was working. Well, I had to stay a few minutes and look around… I managed to find the ONE pair of Royal Robbins capris they had in size 2, which someone had tried to hide at the back of the rack. Nice try, they’re MINE. Then there was the pretty yellow Columbia tank/cami…in my size. Winner. Then what is easily the softest t-shirt I’ve ever encountered – with all sorts of sports/wicking properties and such – let’s hear it for merino wool. Yes, I wore wool in the middle of summer today.

What can I say, I’m doing my best to keep a good local business afloat. :)

Much seafood has been consumed and will continue to be consumed over the next week.

And what I really love about being down here (among so many things) are the stars. You can see SO MANY of them.

Tonight little bro & I had dinner at The Left Bank – the only 4 star* restaurant on OBX. It was completely phenomenal. This is the same restaurant where cooking school weekend took place in April. You have the choice of the chef’s tasting menu, which is 7 courses and it’s all plotted out for you, or the 3 course menu where you have 4-5 options to choose from on each course. We both went with the tasting menu. Go big or go home. :) I’ll be completely honest – it wasn’t cheap, but this isn’t also the type of place you’re hitting every Friday night, and it was worth every penny. (And I actually dropped more on my own at dinner at Morimoto’s in Philly, so it was a deal.)

At the end of the evening, I asked if I could get a xerox copy of the tasting menu, as I definitely wanted a copy to take home for the Insane Chef. Apparently this is a very common request, as we were handed two copies, rolled up and tied with a ribbon.

Tasting menus are great, because if they’re done right, you end up with a ton of courses, but all are portioned just right and when you’re done with dinner, you’re happily full – no worries of getting halfway through and thinking, “I can’t eat anymore.” Everything was awesome, and as Donald said as we started, “I think I will lose count of how many things I’ve never eaten before.”

Cold Parsnip Soup – Came in a little demitasse cup and was so yummy. Tasted more like a corn/onion puree to me than anything, but incredibly good. I instictively went for my spoon, and the server assured us that, no, just go ahead and drink it from the cup. I still think they were trying to see if they could make us abandon our spoons…

Salmon Carpaccio – Salmon with salmon roe and a bit of herbed creme fraiche. Superb. I’ve never had raw salmon before, and I will definitely have it again given the chance.

Chilled Tomato Gazpacho – Had blue crab and an edible cucumber blossom in it to boot. Outstanding. The cucmber blossom was new for me – it had the flower and part of the stem – crunchy with just a little “cucumberness” to it. Really, you just can’t go wrong with chilled soups in the summer.

Black Cod over Crab Risotto – I’d never had black cod before, and this was fantastic. It still had the skin on and I’m not sure exactly what they did to it, but it was nice and crispy and had none of the oiliness that you might think of as far as fish-skin goes. The risotto was completely decadent.

Veal Tenderloin over Beluga Lentils – I love veal, end of story, so you can’t really go wrong there. SO good. The bordelaise sauce and the lentils and wilted arugula with it just went perfectly.

Cheese & Figs – Some sweet/candied figs and a somewhat bitter-ish cheese, which we quickly figured out that you’re supposed to eat together. Holy crap, the two of them together were absolutely wonderful. I know that fruit & cheese are supposed to go together, but I’ve never been able to figure out *which* fruits & cheeses go together. Nice to have someone else figure it out for me.

Berry Blossom & Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream – The ice cream is self explanatory and was great – and I really don’t much like strawberries *in* things – just give me a plate of fresh ones and I’m happy. The “berry blossom” was a layer of blueberries, a cheesecake type layer, a chocolate cookie shaped like a flower, more cheesecake-y goodness, another cookie and then a blueberry on top. Awesome.

Then the coffee/cordial menu came around. I got the espresso martini – Godiva dark, Bailey’s, Stoli Vanilla, a shot of espresso, and 3** coffee beans. Tasted just like a coffee milkshake.

All in all, the best meal I have had in a very long time – if you’re ever down there and have a few bucks to drop on a spectacular dinner, DO IT.

* – I can’t remember who does the ratings, but 4 is very rare.
** – We learned last night at Meridian that per Italian tradition w/Sambuca, an odd number of beans means you’re welcome to come back, an even number, not so much…

I’m a Navy brat, so in theory, I should be able to be completely at home anywhere in the world that you may drop my ass. (With some limitations – Tikrit may take me a couple extra days.)

But, that’s not quite the case. While I can fake my way through most places and survive, being “at home” somewhere is a different story altogether. There are very few places in the world that I feel really at home, and here at the beach is #1. Nearly tied for first place is London, followed very closely behind by NYC. DC doesn’t even really make the list – it’s more of fake it til I make it place, and it’s been that way for 20+ years.

What I think makes the beach different is the people that are here to begin with. Every one I’ve met here over the years has just been absolutely top-notch. Even moreso in the several times I’ve been in the past year during the off-season. Seems that if you’re here when the rest of the world isn’t, you *really* like it here, even when the weather isn’t summer perfect (true,) and it seems that folks appreciate that. Hell, I’m just happy to be here whenever.

Continue Reading “No place like home…”

I always knew I wasn’t normal, but I would prefer if it would manifest itself in ways other than randomly waking up at 5:45 AM while on vacation. Took the dog down to the dune deck and we sat and watched the waves for a while, and I’ve got my coffee, so it’s all good.  (I’ll probably be napping at 10AM…)

We have made it to the happy place, with the hound in tow. He is still mildly confused, but I’d say give it another day and he’ll be walking around like he owns the place.

The house this year is great – probably the smallest we’ve been in, but still plenty of room. (And is for sale, a mere $785K!) The only gift to the house we’ve had to make is a baby gate for the deck stairs – that way the dog can hang out with us on the deck. The house we stayed in last year is *gone* – apparently a developer bought the lot and now there is a new house there. (Which would explain why we weren’t able to rent it this year…)  The new place looks very pretty (and is on the market for over $1mil), but I liked the old place – it felt like a house that real people owned.

All in all, life is good.

Sunday morning we were back at the Left Bank with Kevin Wirt, the Inn’s Pastry Chef. He made us fresh buttermilk biscuits and banana bread. Awesome breakfast. I’m not big on banana bread (I think I am the only person on the planet who is that way), but when it is straight out of the oven, it’s not bad at all.

I’d say we spent at least an hour picking his brains on methods, equipment, ingredients, food, and anything else we could think of. He was just super about it all. Also gave us recipes for all of these goodies:

– Banana Nut Bread
– Pumpkin Bread
– Cranberry Orange Scones
– Coconut Scones
– Cinnamon Walnut Scones
– Buttermilk Biscuits
– Cinnamon Raisin Biscuits
– NC Sweet Potato & Country Ham Biscuits

For lunch I headed down to Coastal Provisions for a great ham & swiss sandwich and some rosemary roasted potatoes and had a great little lunch on the beach.

Dinner was over at the Lifesaving Station restaurant and it was fantastic. Had the shrimp, corn & crab chowder which was just wonderful. Went with the special, which I have to figure out how to make on my own – pan seared silky snapper, served over thin sliced roasted potatoes and squash in a chardonnay sauce, with tabasco butter on top. It was just perfect. The butter gave it just a bit of a kick without being at all overwhelming and it just hit the spot. The sauce is fairly similar to one I make already, this was just a little thicker, and I think had more butter than I usually have in mine. Definitely have to give it a shot at some point.

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend, and I’m now resisting the urge to rip out my electric cooktop and finally replace it w/a gas range. :)

So Saturday morning I got up and headed over to the kitchen at the Left Bank restaurant. If you ever have the chance to muck around in a commercial/pro kitchen – do it. Gas ranges! Convection ovens! Prep bowls and spatulas as far as the eye can see! Tasting spoons! (I no longer feel like a freak for the fact that I routinely go through half a dozen spoons in the course of cooking something.) Seriously, I was in heaven the minute I walked in.

Chef Christine put the menu together based on what’s in season (or coming into season very soon) and we had an absolutely fantastic lunch as a result. The two main items were rockfish and soft-shelled crabs. She pulls the crabs out and they’re in a metal dish and iced down. She takes off the ice and is talking about something when someone says, “Um, are the crabs…moving?” Yup – still alive! Which makes perfect sense, but it was just wasn’t something anyone expected.

The kitchen was pretty decent sized, but there were 12 of us and the Chef, so we were a little cramped to start with, but quickly got to the point where we were working around each other very well. It was easy to be able to keep an eye out and see what was going on in other parts of the kitchen, so even if you were working on one thing, it was not a problem to see how something else was being made at the same time. Oh, and good for grabbing spoons and tasting things as we went along, too.

Basically everyone paired off and grabbed a recipe and went to town. Jo (my partner) and I started with cleaning the crabs – no one else really wanted to do it, I think because of the “still kicking” part – I got over the entire “meeting my lunch before I eat it” problem in about a minute… Pull the tab, clean the gills, cut off the face, next!

Once we got done w/cleaning the crabs, we passed them off to another pair for dredging and sauteing as they were already doing the sauce for them as well. We discovered that no one had taken on dessert yet, so that would be all us. It was a variation on strawberry shortcake – a orange-strawberry compote on orange poppyseed biscuits.

The chef had gone ahead and made the biscuits beforehand for time’s sake, which was very helpful. :) I looked at the recipe and realized this definitely couldn’t be a “prep as you go” thing given the cooking times and the order and timing of everything going in. Off to the racks in the back for prep bowls! I am a total mice in place* kinda gal anyway so the whole prep & staging before actual cooking comes naturally to me, and I honestly think it makes it easier when you actually start cooking anyway. I will say that I think it is definitely more difficult to try and prepare the same dish with another person vs. doing it on your own – especially if you’ve only met the person 15 minutes beforehand and have no idea what their kitchen work style is like. Fortunately it worked fine and no saucepans were thrown at each other in the course of making dessert.

Something I realized after the fact was that while I was having an absolute blast, I was also in complete “work mode” – we had to feed 12 people dessert, we had a great recipe, excellent ingredients and absolutely no reason whatsoever that this shouldn’t kick ass and dammit, it would. Totally in the zone. Chop, zest, juice, stop and think and look around and make sure the answer isn’t right in front of me before bothering Chef with a question, get everything staged in the order to be used, make sure I’m thinking a couple steps ahead so as not to forget anything, and most important, don’t do anything that would make Chef think I am a complete fuckup. Mind you, this was in no way any kind of a boot camp class or anything like that, but I still was in work mode anyway…and was loving it.

So, Jo got going on cutting up a ton of strawberries, while I fought with the oranges. (And won.) Chef did show me a much faster way to section them, which was a godsend, because while I do know how to do it, I just don’t have the mad skillz to do it quickly. Well, I didn’t before this weekend. Then it was cook, add something, stir, cook, make sure it’s not burning, stir, cook, add something, cook, done! Off to the racks in the back again to find the right container to put it in an ice bath, since there was no way it was going to cool down fast enough on it’s own. While we were waiting for it to get to a useable temperature, it was time for the whipped cream. Snag the mixer, cream, sugar and vanilla. Or, not… Check the prep table where Christine had put out the ingredients we’d be using, checked under the table, looked around the rest of the kitchen – no dice. Snagged Christine and asked where it was hidden – I was SO sure it was probably right in front of me the whole time, but turns out it hadn’t come over from the other kitchen. So, we skipped the vanilla in the whipped cream with no adverse effects, and I took care of that while Jo did the garnishes for it. After what seemed like forever trying to get the cream to soft peak stage, we finally got to put everything together. Have to say, it looked awesome when we got it all together.

By some awesome miracle (well, thanks to the excellent direction of Chef Christine), everything came out wonderfully and at the same time. We had enough food for a small army and it was all spectacular:

– Herb crusted rockfish. Awesome.
– Soft shelled crabs dredged in cornmeal and sauteed and served on a roasted corn sauce that was just to die for.
– Oven dried tomatoes – again, what a difference very fresh tomatoes make.
– Bacon cabbage slaw – the recipe we have can be made w/ white wine vinegar or champagne – we went w/the white wine vinegar. I think I’d go w/the champagne when I make it, because it was a touch vinegary to my taste, but still really tasty.
– Cream of asparagus soup – another super dish.
– Chilled asparagus salad with strawberry vinagrette and vanilla strawberries – can you tell asparagus and strawberries are in season? Also, just fantastic.
– Orange-Strawberry shortcake. Given that I had the recipe, cooked the stuff and put it all together, I knew exactly what it was supposed to taste like, and it tasted exactly the way it should, but it was still kind of overly sweet to me. But, everyone else devoured it, so it’s all good.

While we had our lunch, the sommelier, Lynette Sumner, gave us 4 different wines and went over pairing wine with food. This gal seriously knows her stuff – and if she wasn’t so incredibly nice, she’d be very intimidating. After about 5 minutes, I realized the most intelligent thing I could say about wine was, “I like red wine!”

Everything was just spectacular and everyone had a terrific time. I ended up getting a sandwich from Tommy’s Market for dinner, cause there was absolutely no way on earth I could finish another full meal after lunch.

So this weekend, I spent some time up at the Sanderling Inn for their “Cooking School Weekend” that their executive chef, Christine Zambito, put on. A very long time ago, the restaurant at Sanderling was the first place I really saw just how much impact changing chefs can have on a restaurant when they’re left to their own devices and allowed to do what they do best, so I found it oddly appropriate that my first ever formal cooking class would in the same place.

Friday night I arrived and they had a nice little reception upstairs at The Lifesaving Station restaurant. I figured it was just going to be a little meet & greet kind of thing, but no, it was better! Wine and hors d’oeuvres – and then Christine showed us how to make all the goodies we’d gotten to eat AND had recipes for all of them to take home. All of these were absolutely wonderful and easy as all get out to make, but look and taste fairly impressive. What we had:

- Sanderling Crab Dip – this is what they serve in the restaurant. This recipe is particularly good as far as I’m concerned because there is none of this adding artichokes or any other silliness – just lots of crab goodness.

- Roasted Red Pepper Hummus served on Belgian Endive – insanely easy and absolutely blows away anything I’ve ever bought prepared, ever. The presentation on the Belgian Endive looks great, and adds a great crispness to it.

- Smoked Salmon Canapés – Just your basic smoked salmon w/jazzed up cream cheese in pinwheels. Half on crackers, and the other half on cuke slices. I was really surprised at how good the ones on the cukes were – it wasn’t a combination I would have thought of (one of my biggest weaknesses w/food), but I really liked it.

- Bruschetta w/the following toppings:
– Black Olive Tapenade – I’ve had this before and could kind of take it or leave it, but this was out of this world. Not sure if it’s the dry cured olives, the fact that it was fresh or what, but I could have eaten this with a spoon.
– Diced tomatoes with Garlic & Herbs – All I can say is this shows how much of a HUGE difference really nice, fresh, not-ripened-on-a-truck tomatoes make. SO good.
– Herbed goat cheese – this is in my list of recipes, but I’m pretty sure this either wasn’t in with what we ate, or I somehow missed it, but it looks good and I’ll be giving that a go at some point as well.

So, we got ourselves all good and noshed up to get things kicked off. Headed over to the Swan Bar in the restaurant and discovered that they have lost the recipe for Keoki coffee that I left them the last time I had drinks there (14 years ago…), so they now have that again, and I’ve got a new friend in the bartender, Jason.

Posting from the deck at the Sanderling Inn down here in OBX. Got an email from them a couple weeks back – cooking school weekend. Sounded like fun, so here I am – and a good thing, since by the end of this week, I’d had it up to here with people, contractors and just about everything else.

I’ll do a separate write up on the cooking class & demos, but I just love being down here – it is the best place to get out of your own head for a while. Besides the class & demos, I’ve hit my fav beach shop, coffeeshop, tackle shop, been fishing a couple times, spent time on the beach (dolphins!), got sunburned, met all sorts of nice people (as always) and generally enjoyed the hell out of myself.

It is also apparently bike week down here – didn’t even know OBX had a bike week – not exactly Sturgis, but LOTS of motorcycles all over the place, and a lot of happy bikers.

Heading back home tomorrow, but it’s been a perfect weekend.

Friday – Surfcasting: Fish 1, Cindy 0
Saturday – Surfcasting: Fish 1, Cindy 0
Sunday – Headboat Fishing: Fish 0, Cindy 10

Funny how sometimes when you try something new, it’s best to have absolutely no idea what you’re getting yourself into. Case in point: Headboat fishing this weekend – all I knew was Dave asked, “Do you get seasick?” ahead of time. Friday & Saturday were howlers – cold and WINDY. Realized while we were out on the beach Friday night, I’d need another layer for Sunday… Hit WalMart for leggings & bootliners Saturday morning. Even with that on Saturday afternoon I was freezing.

Fortunately, the weather improved quite a bit on Sunday, and I headed out with my 2 sets of bootliners, socks, leggings, jeans, tank top, thermal top, windproof/waterproof shell with fleece lining, fleece head/earband I use for running and a ballcap, and gloves. As it turned out, I was able to ditch the gloves & headband and I was actually thinking it really wasn’t too bad. That’s only because I apparently didn’t know better. :)

Seems the conditions were actually pretty crappy. We were on a real nice 75′ boat w/a nice big heated cabin with lots of places to snooze while we went from point A to point B. (Nice since we got up at 4AM for this adventure.) All we had to do was bring lunch. Rods, rigs, bait and two kickass mates all provided.

We were going out for king mackerel, using live bait. The fact that it took us about 3 hours to get bait fish probably was a bad sign, and even then we got a huge bucketful from another boat that had just pulled in a bunch off their cast nets. As we headed out to the first stop, I discovered my new jacket IS in fact waterproof, after getting nailed by a good spray on one side of the boat.

Got to stop 1, dropped the lines, learned the over/under dance pretty quick, only got my line tangled once. Funny thing – Dave & I started off at opposite ends of the boat, next thing I know, my bait fish has gone and gotten tangled up with the one on the line next to me (when we reeled it in, it was *right* down at the rig) and I look up and who have I gotten tangled up with? Dave. Whole boat (15-20 people) only got 5 or 6 hits and one king brought in. Captain tells everyone to pull their lines and we’re gonna find another spot. Off we go. Drop lines again and I notice that wow, the boat is pitching about a lot, and I am very glad I still seem to have my boat legs, even if it has been years. Drop the lines again, my bait fish wants to go straight to the front of the boat. Over/under dance, get up to the bow, the pitching is MUCH more pronounced there. Mate comes over and says a couple of us are too bunched up and are going to get our lines crossed and can someone crank in and we can recast from the back. I volunteer cause it’s damn hard to stay standing up on this part of the boat. *Just* as I’m cranking in, we hit another trough and I near fall on my ass – fortunately the mate is right there, grabs my rod and tells me he’ll crank it in, I can concentrate on not falling. This guy was awesome. Drop my line again at the back, damn fish goes straight for the bow again. This time, we hit a swell and I bit it and was on my butt. (Found out later I wasn’t the only one this happened to.) Didn’t lose the rod. No hits this round, Captain says we’re going to go bottom fishing now, cause dammit, we’re going to catch some fish. I don’t care – it’s a beautiful day and I’m on a boat.

Tool about again and find a place to stop – I know from the last time, wait a couple minutes and let the boat settle in and then grab a rod… So, I’m sitting there on the seats on the outside of the boat, watching everyone else drop their bottom rigs (1# weight on them – when you drop them, they should go straight down.) and then watched as all the lines went at a 45 degree angle under the boat. Hmmmm… Captain immediately tells everyone to crank in, this ain’t gonna work.

Went to two other spots, and things were actually hitting, and hitting big time. I ended up with 5 sea bass, 3 red snappers, a triggerfish and a grunt. By the time we cranked in for the last time, we were about an hour out from the dock, and I slept the rest of the way back in – amazing how a couple 1000hp engines can create some great white noise.

So, the guys were kinda disappointed with the weather and the catches, but I was ecstatic. First – sunny day out on a cool boat. How can you not like that? Second, I didn’t freeze my ass off like I was so completely ready for. Third, I actually caught some fish! When we got offshore the swells were between 6 & 8 feet and the wind was kicking up a lot more towards the end of the day – I had no idea this was not considered “good” conditions – I was just happy that the sun was out and I could feel all my extremities, and just figured that was what offshore fishing was all about. I’ve been told if I do this again, there’s a good chance I will be able to spend more time concentrating on fishing than on not falling. :)

First, Dave’s place is absolutely beautiful. It’s about 3 blocks from where we stay every year, on the other side of 12 (the separator road) and is just truly lovely. It’s not a huge McMansion, and he doesn’t have much in the way of furniture yet, but damn, the kitchen setup makes me drool, and he didn’t skimp on tiling – it is amazing what a different upgrading tile designs makes.

Saltwater fishing. Cool as shit. This is the first time I’ve ever done that. My background is pretty much all bass fishing. Very, very different from surfcasting. Bass fishing, you bait up, cast out, troll, wait a bit, troll, wait a bit, etc, etc, until you’ve pulled in your line and it’s time to cast again. Surfcasting, you cast, set your line and then crack a beer, kick back and watch the lines. Seriously, after we cast the first set of lines and set them in the racks, I was sitting there thinking, “What, we just leave them there? Why aren’t we trolling?! WTF??!?” Then I cracked a beer, kicked back and watched the lines & moonlight, and decided it was a fantastic way to fish. The phrase “fish or cut bait” doesn’t apply to surfcasting – you can easily do both, rather than one or the other.

Did the night fishing when we rolled in – got in about 2AM, had a near full moon and full tide at 3-something, so fishing it was until the sun came up. Very, very fun. Then hit the surf again early Wednesday evening, still no bites, but totally fun.

Later Wednesday evening, we got an introduction with the Southern Shores PD, who were exceptionally cool, and honestly, really didn’t have to be, and the widows & orphans fund or benevolent society or whatever equivalent they have will get a couple nice donations this year. They could have hit us with drunk in public & open fire citations, but didn’t. Seems that you can’t even do beach fires in the off-season… Dave was next to the dune steps looking through a woodpile, muttering to himself (this after we’d already started off a decent little fire, and I was waiting for him), and looked up and saw two folks in uniform standing on the steps… Fortunately, he’s not an idiot and looked up and said, “Gentlemen…” I think our luck with the police officers was a combination of a) off-season and b) not being jackasses. Apparently as they escorted him down to where I was with the fire, he was super, super polite, and they asked him the name of his lady friend (cue Cops scene here, “Um…um…her name is Crystal…Crystal Chandelier…I think…maybe…but really, I’ve known her for years…) I’m at the fire, getting nice and warmed up and I hear, “Cindy, we have company” and I look up and see that the “company” has mag-lights and there is a damn good chance that they don’t have beer considering the tone of his voice…

So, I stand up, dust off the sand as best as I can, and pray they don’t confiscate what we’ve brought along with us to the beach, and go with handshakes all around. (Cause you can’t really go wrong with a truly polite introduction.) Granted, we don’t have the kickass double casked single malt scotch* I brought along, but the tail end of the Glenlivet single, two rock glasses and what would have been a lovely beach fire. So, they ask us to please put out the fire (easily done with simultaneous apologies all around), then freak out when they realize I am dousing the fire with sand while in a pair of Tevas (I was careful, I kick sand well, there are no burns on my feet – Girl Scout training in action.) and one of the officers wouldn’t let me do the final stomping, even as I gently protested saying, “It’s OK, it’s our fire, we’ll put it out, you don’t have to.”

Yes, we had been drinking, I won’t even begin to deny that – (booze on the beach is not illegal) we drove sober the block and a half to the beach, and then broke out the scotch and the two ice filled glasses ready to go. (Bad, bad, bad, but we were going to stumble back to the house at the end of the evening anyway cause it was so close, and he has a parking permit that wouldn’t get the car towed.) The police officer for whom I sort of became his charge kept asking if I was OK, not in the “is the scotch going to make you puke on me” kind of way, but more of the “are you really with this guy and he’s not giving you ruphies”** kind of way and I reassured them several times that yes, I was honestly with him and it was all good, to the point where I could give his address and everything, which I think finally reassured him that I was indeed there of my own free will. Of course, once the fire was doused, he told me I could pick up our things (namely the open container of single malt and 2 glasses) and that was the moment where that one little brain cell in the back of my head fired off perfectly and I looked at him and said, “OK, if I touch this bottle, I’m not going to get in trouble for something else, am I?” I could just see an open container citation for touching it (even though it’s technically OK.) He laughed and said, “I swear, you can take your stuff with you, it’s really OK, you just have to walk home and not drive.” So not a problem.

I *do* appreciate the fact that they were looking out for me to be sure, but it was also kinda funny, mainly because we really *were* there together and of my own volition, but apparently looked underage when they got to me… My name and address is now apparently on file with the SSPD, cause they asked if I had ID on me, which of course was back at the house, cause who takes their pocketbook for some time on the beach? Told them, “I can give you everything except my actual drivers license number cause Virginia tossed the SSN as identifier and all I can tell you off the top of my head is that it starts with a ‘B’” – they were very cool and said it was OK. That and I appreciated the full on double take when I gave out my DoB. :) Dave still thinks they were just blown away by the fact that he had a pretty girl with him that actually drinks single malt scotch. Hell, I can live with that, too.

Dave is eventually going to have a firepit in his backyard. I have suggested that when it is good to go, to have a barbecue and invite the local PD for a legal fire.

The kayaking the next day was downright anticlimactic considering that the CG didn’t show up while we were out on the water.

Not that having a run in with the cops is necessarily a “great” thing by any means, but it’s been a long time since I’ve been out and just been bad. Not that a beach fire in the off season is cutting edge dangerous by any means, but just doing that little bit of tossing caution to the wind (which granted would have been $100 in fines, tops, and we weren’t endangering anyone else, and if we were, we wouldn’t have done it) is a ton of fun. I hope isn’t reading this and thinking, “I am SO forwarding your name to the Fairfax County cops as someone to keep an eye out for.” ;) To be honest, “What would Kit do?” (WWKD) did go through my head as we met our new friends. I think we would have gotten the fire citation, and a friendly, yet stern reminder to not be dumbasses in the future, and been told to walk our asses home.

* Balvenie 12 year Doublewood.
**Dave said later if the “OK, we’re dumbasses and really sorry” defense didn’t work he was going to go with, “Look, I’m trying to nail this chick down there, help a guy out” approach, LOL.

The beach was a blast. Didn’t catch but one bluefish, but the fishing was a ton of fun, went kayaking in the sound yesterday and that was awesome, too. Rolled in about 2 AM and went straight to the beach – near full moon + high tide = night fishing. Gotta say, surfcasting is very different from bass fishing, but I definitely loved it.

The dog LOVED the beach and was super well behaved. However, he now has a new list of things he is not allowed to eat, including but not limited to:
Lizards
Sand fleas (real or lures)
Bluefish (fresh caught or cut for bait)
Bloodline Ahi Tuna, even if it IS just being used for bait
Sand crabs
Various unidentifiable gunk on the beach.

Rest of the dolphin pics Done from the boat from the Nags Head Dolphin Watch in Roanoke Sound. Probably somewhere between 6-8 in the group we caught up with.

Rest of the beach pics

*sigh*

Last day here today. Will be happy to get home and sleep in my own bed and be w/the critters again, but not exactly thrilled to get back to reality – whatever that actually is. Overall, it’s been fun but I also almost feel like I could have skipped it and not missed a thing. Strange, I know. I suppose your brain does that to you so that you’ll eventually go back home.