"I'll Just Have Bread For Dinner" And Other Adventures

On Saturday morning, we helped a family moving from one house to another locally and after, friends of ours invited us to have lunch with them at a place in Kittery, ME near the family's new home.  This place below.

 I have driven by that place on Rte 1 so many times over the years and never stopped in.  What I have missed!!!!  I've seen their bread in grocery stores and even bought a few loaves but they are nothing like what they have in their store!  About 30 different kinds of the most creative and delicious breads ever.  Piled in bins.  And bagels and muffins, bread puddings and cookies.  It smells amazing.  We bought six different kinds but I wanted them all.  For my taste, the more seeds, nuts and fruit in a bread the better.  We had lunch on the pizzeria side where I ordered a delectable loaded kale salad with chicken.  About mid afternoon, I started sampling the breads we brought home.  Like a slice of each with butter and honey.  I told Dan I was just having bread for dinner because I could not stop.  Here are the kinds we bought and I ate - Red pepper Hummus Roasted Garlic Sesame seed (that's one bread name), Chocolate studded chocolate, Orange cranberry walnut whole wheat, Apricot date walnut almond whole wheat, Wild blueberry granola almond, and Oatmeal honey.  Dan picked out the oatmeal honey; I picked out the loaded ones.  All of their breads are sourdough leavened with that crusty crust and chewy inside and stuffed with all sorts of delights.  So I ate bread for dinner and then put them all in the freezer for more prudent partaking and to save myself.

 Apricot Date Walnut Almond Whole Wheat - another dirty weed picking fingernail - I tell you, this is embarrassing!

 Orange Cranberry Walnut Whole Wheat

Wild Blueberry Granola Almond - my favorite.  It also has various seeds in it and a bit of maple.

Last week while Dan was in Utah on business, I painted free hand a little saying in the back stairwell that describes our life together.  We definitely seek out adventures as often as possible and have so much fun together.  He likes the saying but wasn't super thrilled about it painted on a wall - I suggested we live with it for awhile because it's us!  And I like seeing it every time I walk down those stairs.  And it livens up an insignificant space.

A few days ago we went on another little adventure in Massachusetts.  We meant to head for Maine but a tenant called with an electrical problem at the Yellow House and taking care of that first thing Friday morning set us back a couple hours so we came up with plan B.  Concord MA - Walden Pond, the deCordoba Sculpture Park and Museum, Minute Man Historical State Park and the Old Manse.  What a fabulous and gorgeous area.  So much to see and do and Concord is a neat town.  I loved the whole area and plan to go back in the fall to see Orchard House, Sleepy Hollow, the Old North Bridge etc.  Here are some shots of our day there.

 Down the road on 125 in Kingston is a small and unremarkable looking diner called Bessie's but it's always packed and we mention each time we pass that we have to try it sometime.  Since we left our house early to answer our tenant's call for help we missed breakfast, so before heading to MA we stopped for breakfast.  People kept pouring in and you can tell it's a family place and has many regulars.  We had really hearty and tasty omelettes and the prices are reasonable.  Then on to Concord.  Below are 4 pics of the deCordoba museum and grounds.  It's a really pretty property and unique sculptures cover the grounds - lots of them.

 Below is Walden Pond - We walked the just shy of 2 mile perimeter trail of the Pond; I was surprised that really nice swimming beaches circle the entire body of water.  And it is so clean and beautiful.  Part way around the Pond and a bit into the woods you find where Thoreau's tiny house was located.

Crystal clear water - no weeds, grasses, or mud - and warm!

 Below is a street in the downtown of Concord.  That town is so charming!  And so many cute little shops - I would have gone in to each one if I had been by myself. ;)

 I had killer hot chocolate and Dan had this slice of raspberry fudge cake for lunch.  We had had a big breakfast at Bessie's and were planning on a fried seafood dinner so this was it.  And delicious.  Haute Coffee in Concord is the name of the cafe.

Very very tall corn at the historic vegetable garden on the grounds of the Old Manse - the home of the Emerson family, as in Ralph Waldo Emerson.  Nathaniel Hawthorne lived there for awhile too.  It was built in 1770 and I could see similarities in construction between it and my Yellow House which was built in 1765.

Dish room off the dining room.  I have a lot of blue and white transferware myself - love it!

Dan does not care for historic house tours, especially guided tours (I don't care for guided either but I had no choice) so he sat out on the lawn while I went inside.  I spied him from one of the bedrooms.

We spent some time in Minuteman National Park too but I didn't take any pictures.  We didn't have time to go walk across the Old North Bridge though it's right by the Old Manse but we will return and soon!

 We took a strange way back to New Hampshire from the Concord area.  We drove back roads all the way to where we would pick up 95 in Wakefield.  Then onto 128 to Gloucester so we could take exit 13 and hang out at Wingaersheek Beach for a while until dinner time.  What a great beach!  When the tide is out, you can walk in shallow water for a few hundred yards.  And it's warmer than the other beaches around Cape Ann because of its location in a bay like area.  I love the big rocks everywhere.

Following the DanMan to climb that big rock ahead.

 We sat here for a lovely while and each talked to one of our kids on the phone that happened to call while we were there - Kara for Dan and Dane for me.

Across from JT Farnhams and below is wetland right out the back door.

 You smell fried seafood the whole route through the town of Essex.  It is a major clamming area and has several well known and beloved clam shacks.  Definitely a smell that makes me happy!!  Clam strips, scallops and onion rings.

 In the Ipswich-Essex MA area there are three leading clam shacks that each have ferociously loyal followers.  The Clam Box, Woodman's, and JT Farnhams.  My kids and I are Woodman's people, my step son-in-law Jake Soucy who was raised in this area is a Clam Box man, and Farnhams was a brand new experience/adventure for us on this outing.  Now I've tried all three; they are all excellent, but I still vote for Woodman's.  Each place uses their own blend of frying oils and Woodman's uses some lard in theirs and I just love the flavor.  We come here several times a year.

The ducks have fled and so must we.

If fried seafood at a clam shack is one of my favorite smells in the universe, another one, definitely in the top five, is lavender.  I harvested a large stack of it from the Yellow House garden, dried it, and added it to my large potpourri jar where stuff goes in for my potpourri concoctions.  I plan to do a post dedicated to all my potpourri bowls soon because I have a lot to say about it.

 Can't you just smell it????  I inhaled my hand a dozen times at least.

And can you just taste this, another summer delight growing on the Yellow House property?  I have three peach trees over there, the very hardy and sweet Reliance variety, developed by the University of NH many years ago.  The taste is incredible.  I ate four in a row while we were mowing there last Thursday.  I'll have many to pick next week.  For pies - for the Pie Social!

Speaking of the Pie Social, the 8th Annual Pie Social will be held August 23 at our house and I have been preparing all the pie dough chubbies and freezing them in preparation for the big baking blitz that will occur two days prior to said event.

The first two of 40 to make.  It's gonna be great!