15 Jul
13 Jul
Coffee from the Magic List: Beanstock Roasters, Eastham, Cape Cod
Two years ago I found myself back in contact with my Aunt Nancy and Uncle Joe, whom I hadn’t spoken to in 22 years. When Nancy found out that we travelled to New England every summer she insisted that we would LOVE Cape Cod, where she and Joe had retired, and she encouraged us to visit. Stephanie had always wanted to travel there anyway, so I knew it was just a matter of time. Now fast forward two years… We finally reconnected with Nancy and Joe, and another aunt, and two cousins! It really was quite lovely. It turns out that... Read More
06 Jul
Four Hours in Provincetown, Cape Cod: The Walk, Play, Eat Tour
If you have been a reader of this blog for some time then you know downtowns are a bit tricky for us. We love local culture and enjoy exploring the bookstores, galleries, coffee shops, and restaurants of an area. However, our boys have never been stroller junkies and with three kids five and under, we try to avoid adding more stress to our lives. In other words, our visits to civilized areas with stores and restaurants usually revolve around the following principle: in and out and nobody gets hurt. Our first morning in Cape Cod was overcast... Read More
03 Jul
A Tale of Three Lobster Rolls in Three Towns: Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Every summer when we head into New England, we systematically work our way through the local seafood shacks. This tradition started four summers ago in Maine, where we happened to eat the best lobster roll of our lives at Marriner’s Restaurant in Camden. Then the quest began. We couldn’t help ourselves. Every lobster roll thereafter has been compared to that exemplar. Many have been delicious, but none have measured up to the memory. At this point we don’t even know if we are being fair. Perhaps our nostalgia has gotten the... Read MoreDear Janine (Lovely, Long-Suffering Waitress at Marconi Beach Restaurant)
Dear Janine, You probably don’t remember us. The minute we pulled out of your restaurant, when calm and quiet was once again restored to the Marconi Beach Restaurant in particular and the entire Wellfleet area in general, I’m guessing you willed yourself to forget that staggeringly awful 45 minutes of your life that you simply would never get back at any price. I bet you looked at the long shift ahead and thought, let me just block that particular family out of my mind so I don’t wind up rocking back and forth in the corner... Read More
18 May
Hank’s Place: Perfecting the Family Restaurant in Chadds Ford, PA
We have returned to the Philadelphia/West Chester KOA every May for the last four years. It may be hard to believe that in all of those trips we have never once had a meal out. There was that first year when we bought some extremely overpriced sandwiches at Longwood Gardens (a mistake never repeated). And then there was the time when we still had our pop up camper, and it started to rain buckets at dinner time. We ordered pizza delivered to the campsite (seriously, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it–beats grilling in a... Read More
01 May
