Friday, August 17, 2012

Beach Baby, Beach Baby

Today began with Jen formulating what would be our most adventurous day with the babies yet. This only involved a five minute trip to the beach but the fact that she even suggested it in the first place struck me as particularly audacious. The five minute drive meant a precision feeding at 11:00 AM followed by the short drive which was sandwiched between two thirty-minute packing and unpacking sessions.

After navigating the stroller across the beach sand (a chore I do not recommend) we were at our destination.

Mommy and Elliott at the Beach

Daddy and Martin at the Beach

The beach was met with mixed reviews. Actually they weren't that mixed, the guys seemed to hate it. They didn't like the sun. They didn't like the sand.

Martin and Elliott Getting Their Toes Dipped in the Ocean (and HATING It)

And they hated having their toes dipped in the water more than anything they've experienced in their short time on this Earth.

After Beach Picnic

After the beach we went to the park to have a picnic lunch. The Wombats enjoyed this significantly more than the beach.

Elliott Asleep During Picnic

Elliott, in particular, enjoyed the picnic because he got to sleep through the entire thing.

Grandma and Mommy (and Porch Rockers)

After getting home, and taking a glorious two-and-a-half hour nap, we went out to the back patio and enjoyed a drink.

Sam Adams Porch Rocker

Jen's mum, when asked about beer, said the only time she ever enjoyed beer was when she got to have shandies living in England. Hearing that I searched out a beer and found this Porch Rocker from Samuel Adams. This is a shandy-type beer or Radler, a German-style shandy I had not heard of before having this.

Overtly this is not my favorite type of beer but after a long day at the beach, outside, and sitting in the warm humid August air this was a perfectly refreshing way to begin dinner.

Tomato Kale Salad with Mixed Greens, Tomato, Cucumber, Grilled Pepper, and Feta

After out drinks I put out this salad of farm kale, farm cucumbers, farm tomatoes, farm grilled peppers, mixed greens, feta cheese, olive oil, lemon, salt, and pepper.

Stuffies

To recreate my summer youth for my mother-in-law I made up these stuffed clams (or 'stuffies' as they were called in Rhode Island) to start out the meal.

Cracker Crusted Haddock, Boiled Farm Potatoes, and Makeshift Ratatouille

For the main course I overdid the breaded seafood theme by making this baked scrod which was actually some fantastic haddock I got on sale with lemon, fresh thyme from my mother's garden, olive oil, butter, salt, and pepper. Using haddock was a bit of an extravagance that one doesn't often experience in the restaurants of Rhode Island but, technically, it is still a recognized preparation by all accounts I can find.

Time Machine Chefs

After bathing the guys and putting them to sleep we were ready to settle down and watch last night's premier of Time Machine Chefs. I explained the premise of this show to Jen's mum as people going to a castle and using only techniques found in the 1500's to create a typical meal of that day. She said that was boring because she mistakenly thought that I meant they did this in every episode.

After I explained to her that I was just giving an example of one time period they were cooking from she warmed up to the idea of watching it.

However, it's on a major network so I'm sure they'll screw it all up.

9 comments:

Lisa Marie said...

MUM HAD A BEER? I need to lay down.

Unknown said...

Things I've successfully gotten your mother to try (and like) after saying she disliked them:

Lamb
Beer
Zucchini

There's one other thing I'm forgetting. So far it's been pretty successful.

Unknown said...

For the record . . . BOY was I right! "Time Machine Chefs" was extremely poorly done. Could have been very cool though.

uberlours said...

There is a cooking show that features recipes that go back 100s of years and are cooked using the implements of the time. Think it might be on PBS. The episode I saw featured a Germanic recipe for ton gue from the 16th century. With gravy and dumplings. Man that slab o'meat was HUGE!

Unknown said...

That sounds like it could be quite good. Was it a good show? "Time Machine Chefs" totally glossed over giving any interesting information about the time period in favor of the stupid interviews with the contestants talking about how flabbergasted they were by the situation.

The chefs seemed really cool though. It's not their fault the show was poorly done.

uberlours said...


Let's Cook History: The Medieval Feast - Java Films





www.javafilms.fr/spip.php?article421


Let's Cook History: The Medieval Feast ... INCLUDE

Unknown said...

Aw man! I wish I could watch that!

Anonymous said...

Was that the Rye Town Park across the road from the beach? My mother lives across the street from that park. Maybe some day you will meet her there walking her dog.

- Lynn

Unknown said...

That's the park! We go there quite often but the only time we've run into your mother (so far) was at her house. :-)