Monday, November 17, 2008

The three 'F's'- Friends, Family and Food

Hello all! I'm in Brewster, MA, a lovely community about halfway down Cape Cod. As a chef, it is important to me that in my travels I eat some good food, but more importantly that it is shared with good friends and family. Two nights ago I spent the evening with a good friend of mine, Sam Jackson, an Aussie that lives in South Boston. We met each other about 7 years ago, in Antigua, when we were both working on yachts. It had been a while since I had seen him, so reconnecting was great fun. 
We actually met up a few days earlier in Portland, ME, when he and another of our old mates, Tina Siegl, stopped in for lunch and a bit of a surprise for Tina. They were headed up to Montreal, and took a little detour up to Maine. We ate at a place called Gilbert's. There is nothing like good friends and fresh Maine seafood with a nice local ale to wash it all down with. 
 Our night in Boston consisted of a couple of lovely wines from the Willamette valley of Oregon, a Solena Pinot Noir and a Terra Vina Malbec. We ate at Saint Alphonzo's Kitchen, in Southie. And what is equally good as Maine seafood? A great cheese steak, the best calamari I've had in quite sometime, and once again, the company of old and new friends. The night continued on, but that is a story not for the faint of heart. 
Yesterday was spent with my old friends Dineen and Tracey. We went to a steakhouse called Abe and Louie's, in the Newberry street area of Boston. I had the Crabcake benedict. I'm not usually into Benedict type items, but good crabmeat made this an incredibly memorable meal, and not to sound redundant, but again good friends complete the experience.
A nice enchilada platter rounded out the evening at Sam Diego's in Hyannis, some fried ice cream all enjoyed with Dineen and her husband Michael. Fried Ice cream... yum.
So this morning was family, of a sort. My mother passed away 5 years ago, leaving an orphaned Aussie Shepherd. I located a family to take care of him here in Brewster, as my life unfortunately is not conducive to having a dog. Blue is 16 or 17 years old, and still kicking. It was great to see the venerable old man, and despite his ailments, he seemed to be in good health. I wish him well.
I'm off today to Norfolk, MA to see my uncle and cousin, but not before meeting up with an old college friend, Michelle. All of what i've written about are the reasons I love traveling, because there is always something new and exciting around each turn. Peace.

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