Scallops & Fiddleheads
25/05/17 17:12
Sometimes it's just nice to get out of town for a time to clear your head. Maybe it's a day, maybe it's a week, maybe it's more. Nancy and I drove up to Portland, Maine the other day for a couple of reasons. We had been planning to take a ride but we didn't have any particular agenda in mind. When the time came to get away we put the cooler in the car, filled the tank with gas, and drove north to Portland. There is a great little fish store sitting in an alleyway near the docks that has just about anything you could want if you are in the mood for fish (and we were in the mood.) We thought we might like to get some lobster and make a few lobster rolls back at home with toasted buns and a smattering of mayonnaise. That option was less inviting once we had a chance to look at the lobster on display. We expected to see a well defined pan full of tails and claws. What we saw instead was a pile of shredded, discolored, and somewhat unappetizing lobster. Maybe our expectations were too high. At $50 a pound it was a bit expensive so we quickly pivoted to other more spectacular species that were infinitely more appetizing.
Ultimately, we bought a pound of scallops, a half pound of fiddleheads, and a little over a quarter pound of shucked oysters. I'm not the biggest fan of oysters but I do like a half dozen now and then just to cleanse the palate. If you slurp them down fast enough, and you have enough horseradish and cocktail sauce with a little lemon on hand, you can dine with the gods and never look back. That is precisely what I did. And, if you've never had fiddleheads you haven't lived. Just don't forget to boil them before throwing them into the saute' pan with a little olive oil and fresh garlic. I think Nancy was surprised at how much she enjoyed them.
I'm still very much in the "getting to know you" phase with my new car. I think I've absorbed about as much as is humanely possible for now in reading the manual. I know enough to get to where I'm going and back and that's as good a place as any to start. Driving the car to Maine was the first real extended drive we've taken since buying the car a month ago or so. She just purred the entire way. I almost hit 30 MPG when cruising at 75 miles per hour and my foot was barely on the gas pedal. Acceleration was seamless and I hit 80 MPH a couple of times without any effort at all. If I hadn't looked at the speedometer I would have never guessed I was going that fast. Even Nancy, always willing to weigh in on my excesses, didn't notice how fast we were going. Road noise from my 20 inch tires was reasonable and the highfalutin stereo muted out any excess road noise that had infiltrated the cabin.
I need to work on getting the seat presets squared away since Nancy has her own preferences and I need to get a better understanding of how the navigation system works so I don't have to think about it while traveling in areas unfamiliar to me. The system responds to voice commands so all I have to do is figure out what to say when the time comes. You know, how do I get HOME and that sort of thing. I'm still adjusting as well to what I guess I would call a different orientation compared to my old car. It's most apparent when I'm parallel parking and find myself further away from the curb than I would otherwise be were I in my old Volvo. While the car has a screen on the dash which shows me video of what I might be backing into, I tend not to use it very much. That probably says more about me than it does the technology that makes it possible. I'll admit it. I'm still catching up. If you're good at multi-tasking this car will take you to the moon and back. If not, going back and forth to the corner store can still be quite pleasurable. Nancy finally figured out that the light above her visor came on only after she pulled back the cover on the mirror and not before. Oh. So that's how that works.
The scallops would have to wait another day. The hour was getting late and we stopped in to Whole Foods in Portland to get a bite to eat before driving the hour and a half back to Portsmouth. I don't think we realized how hungry we were until Nancy suggested we stop at Whole Foods to do just that. She enjoys her cookies from time to time when on the road but chose to eat chocolates instead out of deference to me and my preference that she not eat in my new car. Crumbling cookies are one thing. Chocolates are quite another. It was good to get home at a reasonable hour and the ride home was otherwise uneventful. We are looking forward to a long Memorial Day weekend. Lots to do.
Added picture of brother's new boat to blog. Ain't she a beauty? I think she's a refurbished 18' 1952 Century.
Ultimately, we bought a pound of scallops, a half pound of fiddleheads, and a little over a quarter pound of shucked oysters. I'm not the biggest fan of oysters but I do like a half dozen now and then just to cleanse the palate. If you slurp them down fast enough, and you have enough horseradish and cocktail sauce with a little lemon on hand, you can dine with the gods and never look back. That is precisely what I did. And, if you've never had fiddleheads you haven't lived. Just don't forget to boil them before throwing them into the saute' pan with a little olive oil and fresh garlic. I think Nancy was surprised at how much she enjoyed them.
I'm still very much in the "getting to know you" phase with my new car. I think I've absorbed about as much as is humanely possible for now in reading the manual. I know enough to get to where I'm going and back and that's as good a place as any to start. Driving the car to Maine was the first real extended drive we've taken since buying the car a month ago or so. She just purred the entire way. I almost hit 30 MPG when cruising at 75 miles per hour and my foot was barely on the gas pedal. Acceleration was seamless and I hit 80 MPH a couple of times without any effort at all. If I hadn't looked at the speedometer I would have never guessed I was going that fast. Even Nancy, always willing to weigh in on my excesses, didn't notice how fast we were going. Road noise from my 20 inch tires was reasonable and the highfalutin stereo muted out any excess road noise that had infiltrated the cabin.
I need to work on getting the seat presets squared away since Nancy has her own preferences and I need to get a better understanding of how the navigation system works so I don't have to think about it while traveling in areas unfamiliar to me. The system responds to voice commands so all I have to do is figure out what to say when the time comes. You know, how do I get HOME and that sort of thing. I'm still adjusting as well to what I guess I would call a different orientation compared to my old car. It's most apparent when I'm parallel parking and find myself further away from the curb than I would otherwise be were I in my old Volvo. While the car has a screen on the dash which shows me video of what I might be backing into, I tend not to use it very much. That probably says more about me than it does the technology that makes it possible. I'll admit it. I'm still catching up. If you're good at multi-tasking this car will take you to the moon and back. If not, going back and forth to the corner store can still be quite pleasurable. Nancy finally figured out that the light above her visor came on only after she pulled back the cover on the mirror and not before. Oh. So that's how that works.
The scallops would have to wait another day. The hour was getting late and we stopped in to Whole Foods in Portland to get a bite to eat before driving the hour and a half back to Portsmouth. I don't think we realized how hungry we were until Nancy suggested we stop at Whole Foods to do just that. She enjoys her cookies from time to time when on the road but chose to eat chocolates instead out of deference to me and my preference that she not eat in my new car. Crumbling cookies are one thing. Chocolates are quite another. It was good to get home at a reasonable hour and the ride home was otherwise uneventful. We are looking forward to a long Memorial Day weekend. Lots to do.
Added picture of brother's new boat to blog. Ain't she a beauty? I think she's a refurbished 18' 1952 Century.