What Have I Been Doing? Where Have I Been?

Nauset Beach Orleans, Massachusetts

I admit that my posts have been a bit sparse so far this year. Last week I had a legitimate excuse. I was away from my desk, relaxing on Cape Cod in a quiet cottage colony on the shores of a kettle pond. While we were there, the sky was mostly blue, it rained mainly at night, and the ocean water was invigorating.

Our arrival in Chatham coincided with the tagging of the first great white shark off its shores, as it has for the last few years. Great whites love to dine on seals, and Chatham has plenty of them.

When the sharks arrive the media is close behind…

Seagulls love the fish pier, too.

Since 1972, seals have been protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Around 2005 the population really took off, and with that growth came the sharks. According to one report, there were an estimated 16,000 gray seals on Cape Cod and the islands in 2013, and one marine scientist opined that the population grows some 20% a year. Once a novelty confined to the waters of the fishing pier or lounging on the rocks in the harbor, seals can be spotted swimming off Nauset Beach on most days. As for the sharks, in 2014, 56 individual sharks were identified by shark researcher Greg Skomal. 

Still, with the exception of the tagging being done by the marine biologists, there have been few close encounters between human and shark in Cape Cod waters. The lifeguards now have a purple flag they can raise to warn of dangerous marine mammals, but we did not see it fly. So far the commonsensical warnings to avoid swimming at dawn and dusk and never with the seals seem to be working.

The town of Chatham decided to celebrate the sharks’ yearly return with signage, t-shirts, screenings of Jaws at the local theater, and Sharks in the Park, an auction sponsored by the Chatham Merchants Association.

Humans checking out the sharks in the park

The week flew by. We explored Chatham and the nearby towns of Harwichport and Brewster, braved the chilly ocean waters in Orleans, read books, played cards and Scrabble, enjoyed many meals on the screened porch while watching birds, and ate onion rings and homemade hermits on the beach. FYI, the hermits did improve with age, but how long they would keep getting better we will never know as this batch is long gone. We even went to a movie in the newly-restored Orpheum Theater — “Inside Out!” [I loved it, but it made me cry.] 

Focaccia transformed

Before we knew it, it was time to think about the trip home. That meant serious late in the week menu planning focused on how to use up the groceries already on hand without buying too much more. Our inventory included red wine, goat cheese, and an excess of bread, in particular a local focaccia purchased at the Chatham farmer’s market. We had olive oil and an excellent cast iron pan. My husband Don thought of creating crunchy sticks by slicing the focaccia into one inch widths and then lengthwise into thirds, which he then toasted over medium heat in the well oiled pan. 

These crisp fingers of bread were delicious and the perfect vehicle for the remaining soft cheese. In fact, they were so good that we brought home the last of the bread and prepared it the same way on Sunday night. For a spread we used some tomato pesto I had stored in the freezer—a little taste of our vacation as we prepared for our first day back.

So here I am, rested, refreshed [at least so far], and ready to blog once more. This is my new mantra.

Look for me again soon. Until then, get out there and enjoy your summer, wherever you are!

  

Meatless Monday: Pancakes on the Porch

Last week we took a break — from working, from blogging, from gardening, from working on the house, and from experimenting with chia.

Where were we? On Cape Cod, on Pilgrim Village on White Pond in Chatham. From the screened-in back porch of our little cabin all you see is trees and water — like glamping but better.

One of the cabins

This is the perfect setting for one of my greatest joys — a pancake “breakfast” at whatever time we please.

The view from the porch

In advance of our vacation, I prepared two batches of the recipe below, packed them in ziplock bags, and kept them in the cooler during the trip. All I had to add was an egg, water, milk, and some form of liquid fat. 

The cabin’s kitchen is tiny, but it contains a refrigerator, small stove, a cast iron skillet, mixing bowl, and basic cooking and eating utensils — all you need to whip up this breakfast.

What you see here was served around noon on Thursday. The sun was out, and very strong as it can be in early summer. We decided not to race to the beach, opting to enjoy pancakes right where we were, while we listened to the birds sing and watched the light sparkling on the blue water.

Brunch on the porch

I had brought along some real maple syrup, and some of the grapefruit I had ordered online. Nearly local blueberries were in season. Triple yum.

Oatmeal Pancakes

(Inspired by “Oo is for Oatmeal Pancakes” from the Alpha-Bakery Children’s Cookbook 

published by Gold Medal Flour in 1987)

Serves two. This recipe can easily be doubled.

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup of quick-cooking (one minute) oats

3 teaspoons of dry buttermilk*

1 tablespoon turbinado sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

a pinch of salt

a handful of dried cranberries (optional)

2 tablespoons organic canola oil (or for a special treat, melted butter)

1 egg

3/4 cup of water*

1/4 cup milk

*Or, substitute 3/4 buttermilk for the powdered buttermilk and water.

Mix the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl. 

Add the remaining ingredients, and whisk gently until smooth. 

(You can thin the batter with some extra milk if it is too thick).

Heat and grease your griddle. 

(To see if the griddle is hot enough, splash with a few drops of water. 
If the bubbles bounce around, the temperature is perfect.)

For each pancake, pour about 1/4 cup of batter onto the griddle.

Top with 4-5 blueberries if you have them.

Cook until pancakes are puffed and dry around the edges. 

Turn over and cook until the other side is delicately browned.

Serve with maple syrup and fresh berries or summer fruit. 

These pancakes, containing dairy, oats, and eggs, and lower in fat, salt, and sugar than standard restaurant fare, are a delicious and nutritious once-in-a-while treat. They can easily become a dinner meal if served with a side of yogurt and fruit. Try ’em anytime even if you don’t have a screened porch.

Have a great week. Happy eating.

I often blog on food or food issues on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”

Meatless Monday: Eating Local on the Cape

The Iconic Chatham Lobster

What a week we had at Cape Cod. The air was dry, the sky was blue, and the sun managed to shine through the one daytime shower! We swam. We walked. And we ate…

We enjoyed cake doughnuts and locally-roasted coffee at the Chatham Bakery, onion rings at Liam’s on Nauset Beach, and fish chowder at the Chatham Coffee Company (new owner, same great food).

Mostly we ate in, shopping for seafood and side dishes at the Chatham Fish & Lobster Company, across the street from the cottage colony in which we stay each year.

On Tuesday afternoon we checked out the new Farmer’s Market in Chatham and then stopped at the fish market.

How we feasted that night! At the market we bought our first corn of the season as well as bread, cheese, and wine: Goat Cheese Burrata from Fromage à Trois in Barnstable, Cheese Bread from Pain d’Avignon in Hyannis, and Cabernet Franc from Truro Vineyards (near the tip of the Cape). 

The appetizers.

At Chatham Fish and Lobster, we splurged and bought some cod and their house coleslaw. I confess I do not know whether the cod was line-caught,  and therefore  a Seafood Watch “Good Alternative,” but how could I not indulge in cod on Cape Cod, especially since this cod was caught by day-boaters in the Chatham fleet? We lightly coated the fillet with with seasoned flour, and sauteed it with a chopped fresh tomato (purchased earlier from a hydroponic greenhouse in VT via the local Stop & Shop!).

The main event.

Our view over the lake from the screened-in back porch was a perfect setting. We even had the pleasure of watching a small woodpecker hunt for his dinner as we sipped our Cab. The finest restaurant could not have provided a better meal.

May every one of you have such a wonderful vacation.

Happy Monday. Thanks for reading. 

I often blog on food, food issues, or topics related to growing things on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”

Meatless Monday: Farm-to-Table on the Cape

I was looking for an easy post topic. I knew I’d have writer’s block on my first day back after a restful and fun-filled week on Cape Cod.

My idea sounded simple enough. While I was away a friend had emailed asking for restaurant tips for visitors who wanted to experience New Haven’s Farm-to-Table restaurant scene [more on that in a future post]. That topic would surely make a quick story — not! I expected to find an “official” definition of the Farm-to-Table movement and to move on from there. The best definition I found was at WiseGeek: “A farm-to-table restaurant is a restaurant where the ingredients are sourced as locally as possible…the farm-to-table restaurant trend is part of a larger movement to eat as locally as possible, taking advantage of seasonally available fruits and vegetables and focusing on the environmental and cultural impacts of farming.”

Farm-to-Table has its regional variations. On the Cape it includes fresh seafood brought in by the commercial fishing fleets in Chatham and Provincetown. But the core concept remains the same everywhere: getting fresh local food to the consumer’s table as quickly as possible, in as few steps as possible. 

One of the earliest American Farm-to-Table restaurants is Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, opened in 1971 by Alice Waters. Although Alice did not use the phrase Farm-to-Table, she called for a food economy that is “good, clean, and fair.”  One of the newer faces of the movement is Dan Barber, chef and co-owner of Blue Hill restaurant in Manhattan, Blue Hill at Stone Barns and Blue Hill Farm in Great Barrington, MA, who trademarked the phrase “Know thy farmer.” Another is Sam Beall, proprietor of Blackberry Farm in Tennessee.

Farm-to-Table dining in a fine restaurant is a rare indulgence for me. But I am always on the lookout for ways I can enjoy Farm-to-Table at home or in a casual setting. Last week at the Cape it was particularly easy to find some new things to try. In partnership with FoodRoutes Network and with the assistance of the Cape Cod Cooperative Extension, merchants on the Cape started the Cape Cod Buy Fresh Buy Local campaign. With access to the internet one could view a website with current member listings. If totally unplugged, a visitor could look for the Cape Cod Buy Local sign in the window or in an ad.

With the help of this campaign, we sampled:

• Summer squash, grown at the Cape Abilities Farm in Dennis, and sold at the Farm to Table shop on Main Street in Chatham and
• A growler of India Pale Ale, brewed in Hyannis at Cape Cod Beer, and sold at the Chatham Village Market.

in addition to other local items not part of the official member network:

• Cod caught off the coast of Chatham and sold at the Chatham Fish & Lobster Company         
• Clam Chowder at the Lazy Lobster
• Halibut Chowder at the Chatham Coffee Company 
• Chatham Summer Blend Coffee, roasted at the Art of Roasting in Chatham 

and, last but not least,

• World-famous Onion Rings at Liam’s at Nauset Beach in Orleans. A vacation on the Cape would not be complete without them. Liam’s is a clam shack, open only in-season, no web presence. Check out these reviews on yelp to learn more.

Whether or not local food is actually greener is a hot button topic. 

I know that my last week’s purchases helped support a local economy, undergoing continued strains as Chatham’s days as a fishing community continue to fade into memory. And I can tell you with certainty that local fare tastes great!

Coming soon…more on eating local, wherever you are. Have a great week.

I often blog on food or food issues on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal  health and the health of our planet.”

Not Quite the Last Weekend in August Updates

Even the most intrepid blogger needs a break now and then. I took one and have returned rested, refreshed, and full of new ideas. You will probably hear of an adventure or two in the coming days. But, for now, here are the updates for AUGUST!

Our solar fan is turning away, helping us to stay cool during the unseasonably warm late summer days whenever they come around (Cooling with the Sun: 9/1).

Shark sightings continued to plague Cape Cod swimmers (Times Are Strange: 7/16). One was tagged off the coast of Truro on August 23, and sighting of what turned out to be a harmless basking shark forced swimmers out of the waters of Nauset Beach on August 27. But hurricanes and riptides have become the more serious threat.

A manatee was spotted at the Clinton Marina. And, for the first time ever, we had to stop our car on Farnam Drive in East Rock Park to let a doe and fawn stroll across the road. Deer sightings have traditionally been much more common on the west side of town.

Shooting of woodchucks (Woodchuck Wednesday: 6/16) has returned in Beaver Hills; apparently the traps were not a complete success. But a pair of pantyhose, stuffed with rags which had been liberally doused with fox urine, and then tossed into the hole under a porch in the Berkshires, has driven at least one woodchuck to seek a new residence.

Recycling left, trash on the right

The new trash/recycling program in which a newly-delivered small (48 gallon) brown toter becomes the trash container and the old trash toter (larger and blue) becomes the recycling container, began in New Haven’s Westville and Beaver Hills neighborhoods on August 23 (Weekend Updates 8/1). So far, at least on one street, it seems to be working. You can read more about it in the Independent.

Other News:

A second oil platform caught on fire off the Louisiana coast on September 2. The fire was quickly extinguished, all the workers were safely rescued, and the initial reports of an oil leak proved unfounded. The FDA would like us to believe that Gulf seafood is safe to eat, but not everyone agrees. The safety of the dispersants used to break up the spill remains the big question for many. A commercial fisherman was quoted asking in Time: "If I put fish in a barrel of water and poured oil and Dove detergent over that and mixed it up, would you eat that fish?"

The massive egg recall is the new poster child for the risks to humans posed by factory farming. You can read more about the risks to chickens here.

New Haven’s newest and greenest apartment building, 360 State Street, opened on August 1. It has many Green features, including a 400 kilowatt fuel cell which combines hydrogen fuel and oxygen from the air to produce electricity, heat and pure water. The largest residential installation of this type in the world, 360 State's fuel cell will generate
most of the building's energy needs.

August Birthdays:

Blogger, the Google product that allows me to publish ontheroadtogreenness turned 11 on August 31, and my blog turned a year old on August 14. This is my 72nd post. Thank you all for reading, commenting, making suggestions, and sharing with your friends over the past year. Having a blog has changed my life.

Where Have All the Codfish Gone?

For at least one boat in the Chatham fleet, July 5 was a good day. We watched it dock and unload its catch at the Chatham Fish Pier late that Sunday afternoon. The crew came home with a considerable amount of cod. But I have been going to Cape Cod since the ’60s, and this is not the catch I remember as a kid, or even a decade ago. These cod were smaller and made up less than half of what was unloaded — most of the remainder was dogfish.

Dogfish, a species of shark, were rarely seen in the past — certainly not when cod were longlined. The Pier Host on duty explained that in longlining some 4500 hooks, spaced 6 feet apart, would each be baited by hand.  As soon as the line was set out, the fishermen would begin to haul in the catch. Each fish was alive and fresh, and the small fish could be thrown back. This was how our host used to fish. But baiting is labor intensive, and the bait fish hard to come by. Boats in the Chatham fleet all use gillnets now.

Dogfish, a type of shark.

Dogfish get caught in the nets along with the cod — both are groundwater fish. They are subject to regulations of the New England Fishing Management Council and are currently worth 15¢ a pound. Each boat is allowed to net 3,000 pounds a day (until the regional maximum of 12 million pounds is reached) which about pays for the trip’s gas. The dogfish are shipped to New Bedford for processing—the flesh is sent to the UK for fish and chips, the fin to Asia for shark fin soup, and the reminder goes to fertilizer. Nothing is wasted.

Seals patrol the pier area.

In days past only sea gulls patrolled the dock area, waiting to nab any fish that might drop as the catch was loaded into the lifts. Today both gray and  harbor seals are a common sight. Seals have been protected since the Marine Mammal Protection Act became law in 1972. A rarity in Chatham waters in the 1980s, they have since become commonplace. They feed on the same small fish that cod eat and traveled to the Cape in pursuit of food and have stayed there. Seals are voracious eaters and ruthless killers. They have been known to catch a large fish, to rip out its highly-prized internal organs, and to leave the remainder of the carcass on the beach. Seals are certainly not a fisherman’s friend.

Cod used to be the average person’s fish. I remember a price of $1.99/lb. This year it was being sold for nearly 5 times that – $9.99/lb.

Where have all the cod gone? Why are they so scarce off Cape Cod?

The short answer? Over-fishing.

In Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World (Penguin, 1997), Mark Kurlansky weaves a fascinating and well-documented tale of this remarkable fish, its impact on the world’s economy, and its twentieth century decline. Gastronomes will enjoy the latter pages which offer six centuries of cod recipes.

Fishermen have been chasing cod around the world for over a thousand years, ever since they discovered a way to preserve the fish, traveling farther and farther as the nearby stock grew scarce. It was upon the trade of salt cod that early entrepreneurs in Massachusetts made their fortunes. A ten inch female cod can lay 9 million eggs in a single spawn, and a world without cod would have been unimaginable to the American colonists.

Cod, with their signature white stripe.

But cod is now, without a doubt, endangered. The governments of Canada and the US have each put regulations in place in the hopes that the cod biomass can once again reach a sustainable level. There are 200 mile fishing limits off the coasts of both countries. Some areas in the Georges Banks are totally closed to fishing.  Other legislative constraints include size limits, catch limits, and gear restrictions. The Monterey Bay Aquarium has listed Atlantic Cod as a species to avoid.

And what about the day boaters in Chatham and Provincetown, the last remaining commercial fleets on Cape Cod? Besides the rules about how they fish and what they catch, they are also required to equip their boats with costly radar so their location is always known. They must travel farther out to fish, and the cost of fuel has gone up. The invasion of the seals is not helping the situation.

Many Chatham fishermen were born into fishing families and see their way of life endangered. Some have retired from commercial fishing to operate charter fishing boats or to offer seal tours. But others have chosen to remain in the fleet. They know the supply of cod must be restored for their way of life to be preserved. Many of them are supporting a community-based strategy to help their fishing fleet survive.

And did we eat cod while on the Cape? I have to admit we did. It is not the day boater’s type of fishing that has wrought the real damage. Supporting the local economy and indulging a craving for fresh seafood trumped the Monterey Bay Aquarium pocket guide this time. The fresh cod cakes and fish and chips tasted great.