All Due to Someones Generosity & a Seaweed Cocktail / 3-4-2020

      It's a wonderful life to be able to live here year round, but for me it all started some 55 years ago, when my folks were offer the keys to someones cottage down off of Old Wharf Rd in Dennis Port. Someone had the heart and soul to share something with someone else who by no other way would have been able to afford it, something they could give and share. So off to this place that was only known as an exit they passed on the way to Maine each year. After a first year of near Noah proportion of rain and my Mother nearly swearing to never cross that bridge again, was talked into giving it one more try. And the rest is history as they would say. Mrs L, never set a price for my folks, never required a down payment, and enabled us to have a nice vacation year after year until my Mother passed away, and my Dad had remarried and was blessed with a place on an near 800 acre lake and just felt it was time give up the trip to the Cape since they had been blessed with this place. Mom and Dad did their research and would check on other places and cottages in the area on how much they were renting for and do the best they could to come as close as they could. Mrs L was always grateful for whatever Mom and Dad gave her and never made us feel like we were her charity case. Out of those years, August after August of coming my love for the Cape grew. A love that by my mid teens knew I would one day live here and call it my home. It was not till 40 some years later that I was able to see that happen, but I am here, so blessed to have a house, to have a job, to be able to travel about the Cape and New England is still at times unbelievable to me. Yes I still had dreams but thought that was all they were going to be and had come to my exhausted end that only summers for a week here or there was going to be it. So to be able to be here year round and enjoy this place is still unreal to me and I am so thankful. I hope that if you are able to share your place with someone, you will, if you live year round, invite someone to stay with you, if you have a dream, never give up hope on it, from a friend, to a place to live to you name it, never give up your dreams or your hopes. It took me over 40 years to see my dream of living here come true. I have you have a great and wonderful, especially if you can do it right here on Old Cape Cod.
      The other night we ended up going out to Jason's Tavern for dinner. You know, in Patriot Square, some of the best burgers on the Cape and to me one of the best all round family restaurants on the Cape (personal opinion here). If you ain't been, why? Especially if you live in the Mid-Cape area, this place is outstanding. Ok so moving on, One of those nights that we were hungry but really did not want a full meal. So we ended up getting two appetizers and sharing. We got the Jack Daniels Tenders, and the loaded French Fries. Well there were 4 tenders smothered in goodness, and the size of those loaded fries. Ok how anyone can eat either of these as appetizers then a full meal on top is beyond me. We ended up taking 2 tenders home, and over 2/3s of the loaded fries. The next day we popped both in the oven and did a reheat, and fed us both till we were stuffed. Folks this is good eatin, So if your looking for some good eats for a good price, and plenty of food, check Jason's Tavern in South Dennis.
      So I like coffee and I am always open to good coffee shops, you know the big names, and yes I follow them religiously. But what about the coffee shops. Well in West Dennis there is 3 Fins Coffee Rosters, right on RT 28 on the bend between Cuffys and Christmas Tree Shop. Wonderful people and even better coffee. Check our their website at https://www.threefinscoffee.com/. Next would be Nirvana Coffee Company located in Barnstable Town and located on RT 6A across from the Court House. I have heard nothing but good reports on this shop and have been advised I need to get over there. I am passing on the word as I do not frequent that area enough but respect my advisor. Check them out on FaceBook. Then there Snowy Owl in Brewster on Rt 6A, I have mentioned them many times before so will not dwell on them. Another good place is Hot Chocolate Sparrow in Orleans, fantastic place for a good cup of Joe. Cape Cod Coffee that I have talked about so much has a great cafe located in Mashpee Commons. And another great place for a cup of coffee is the Coffee Obsession located in Falmouth, and they do breakfast and lunch items as well. This is more than just a coffee shop, but trust me they know their coffee. So if you need a pick me up in the form of a cup of high octane or low, or a breakfast sandwich this is your place. Then a refueling station at the lunch hours as well. Don't pass them up and check them out online at https://coffeeobsession.com/ or on facebook or instagram. Is this all, heck no but it will at least get your started and help keep you going for a little bit.
      Well that's going to be it for today, stay well fed and keep your mojo going with the coffee and tea and live to eat not just eat to live with all that Cape Cod has to offer.
Another exciting week here on Cape Cod with starry nights, warming temperatures, and a new month that indicates we are one month closer to vacation season and visitors back here at the lighthouse and life station. We have our March decorations up and we are decked out in green. I wanted to put a green color shield over the beacon so the beam would be a stream of green, kind of like a green sting bean or a stalk of asparagus shooting across the skies. But the my dear friends up higher in command in our US Coast Guard department, who actually have control over these places kind of has a rule about doing something like that. So, I guess I will have to comply and just leave that alone. But I will say it sounded so much fun, even if only for a couple days. But I can do other things around the station to help spruce up the place, give it that spring feeling and also celebrate all our Irish immigrants, so many of them helped to build our lighthouse and life stations as well as the Erie, Delaware and Ohio Canals, and have offered so much more to this country. But then there is a fun side to it all and we all want a wee bit of green suds and some good old corned beef and cabbage come the 17th of this month. Now we don't have the canteen open right now or I would be pushing shamrock shaped cookies and green minty coco. I am hoping one our local watering holes will have some of the green beer, Irish whisky and some Irish coffee. Hey, I only get about 2 weeks to talk about this so I am going to, as I do have a wee bit a Irish in me as my relatives have run the roots right into Ireland and have confirmed it is a real thread of blood. Now for the rest of the story from this station, if it was any quieter the crickets would put themselves to sleep. Yup it's that quiet, oh we still have the children coming for the tours, and the spring coach tours will be picking up again come the middle of the month and into April. Fishing vessels are in and out and doing their thing, keeping an eye on the changes happening with harvest that just came out. And it is still really too early for any major increase with recreational fishing, but there are more right now that most years this time on the calendar. But with temperatures up and staying up I see these numbers increasing soon. I just hope the warmer waters do not chance all the lobsters out of our waters, I have a liking for those crustaceans. So with all that exciting news. let's wrap this up and call it for now. And if anyone sees a snowflake, give a shout out, and pull the hairdryer out and melt that sucker and let's keep Cape Cod green all the way thought St Patrick's Day. And until them, have a great and wonderful right here on old Cape Cod.
      You know this year I am focusing on cocktails made with rum, so when I saw this I just had to include it. Now here we go again if you do an Internet search for seaweed cocktails you are going to come up with a whole concoction, a smattering an plethora of recipes. It seems the more one drinks a particular cocktail the more recipes you can get out of one name. Just making an observation here folks, just an observation. Anyway, I try not to use brand names although many of these decipher their differences with brand names, so take all this with with a grain of salt and a squeeze of lemon juice. And let's get this show on the road, Ok only if your the designated driver, time for the commercial, I love to enjoy myself, by please don't be stupid, take a designated driver with you, make sure all of you get home same and sound and live to drink another day. Ok back to the regularly scheduled programing,,,


This week's recipe: a Seaweed Cocktail


1/2 oz melon liqueur
1/2 oz coconut rum
1/2 oz Blue Curacao liqueur
1/2 oz sweet and sour mix
1/2 oz orange juice
1/2 oz lemon-lime soda


All add ingredients to glass, gently stir and serve over ice.