Tuesday, July 29, 2014

The Earth Is 75% Water. Grab A Fork.

After a late breakfast this morning, we took showers and then sat around trying to decide what we were going to do with the rest of our day.  The trailer is in the shop getting some tweaks and improvements and may not be ready for a few days.  When that happens, our thoughts automatically turn to sightseeing.  Where could we go?  That's when my friend Michelle, who lives in New Bedford, Mass. called and said she wanted to take a ride up to see us.

Woohoo!  I love having visitors to the truck.  It's like entertaining guests at home in Arizona, but instead of them coming to our house, we bring our house to them.  After she arrived, we sat around for a few hours talking and laughing until Ed's stomach started signaling it was time to eat.  


I chose a restaurant called The Sole Proprietor.  We were all in the mood for seafood and their menu looked really good to me, but when we drove up to the building I thought we had the wrong place.  There was a giant, inflatable crab on top of the building.

The entire building.  Heaving and moving with the air swirling inside of it.

I thought to myself, Is this some cheap, crab shack?  Did I read the website correctly? What the hell??  Who puts an inflatable crab on the roof of a nice restaurant??

When we walked inside, I realized the giant cheesy giant crab didn't reflect the richly decorated dining area.  It wound up being just as I expected.  We were led to the dining room by a friendly hostess, who handed us menus after we were seated.  She told us July was crab month and pointed our attention to a special menu that featured all of the items they offered that included crab.

There were also a few facts about Buster, the crab engulfing the building.  We learned that this is Buster's 22nd year at The Sole Proprietor, he's the world's largest inflatable crustacean, and he has a 75-foot claw span.  It takes 45,000 cubic feet of air to inflate him, and if he were real, he could feed 200,000 people and would require 35,116 pounds of butter and 45,447 lemons!  That's one feast I might be interested in.

But since Buster himself wasn't on the menu, we took some time to decide on our meals. We ordered drinks and an appetizer to share and perused the menu.  Ed chose to celebrate the July crab fest, and Michelle and I indulged in our favorites.

I had the Seafood Saut
é - lobster meat, shrimp, and scallops sautéed in garlic, leeks, and clam juice. Topped with herb cracker crumbs. Served with sweet potato mash and mixed vegetables.

What a beautiful dish.  The seafood combo included everything I loved, and the creamy sauce was delicious.  I also have to remember to include leeks more often in my cooking.

Michelle had the Grilled Fresh Sea Scallops, which was served with mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables.  It was a great portion and she said the scallops were done perfectly.
And Ed decided to have a manageable piece of Buster.  Two Jumbo Alaskan King Crab Legs - one full pound of meat, ringing up at $20.00 per leg.  It was amazing and worth it.  

There was so much meat in those two seemingly scrawny legs, that Ed actually said he was full.  I helped him with a few butter-dipped pieces.
We were all stuffed.  But then they presented us with the dessert menu and we suddenly found more room.  We each decided to have espresso, and also the Chocolate Tulip Cup, the Tiramisu, and the Key Lime Pie.  Oh.  My.  God.  Everything was so delicious, we rolled out of that place happy and FULL.

We had a great night.  I was thrilled to see Michelle, and we finally got to hear her story about her volunteer time with the Bonobos at the Iowa Primate Learning Sanctuary.  She introduced us to Kanzi through her stories and we were completely amazed at what this ape can do.  See it for yourself here.

This is one of the reasons I love our life on the road.  When we're out here, we not only get to see and do so many things but if we're in the right place at the right time, we get to spend time with people who make our time on this earth so wonderful.

It's even better when that time includes food.
 


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2013: Reflection On The Island

2012: Sprinkled
2011: Prized Good Luck Piece
2010: Summer In The City
2009: I Should Get A Job Working The Pole At A Boy Scout Camp
2008: The Flavor Of Life
2007: I’ve Been Everywhere Sunday
2006: Again??? But You Just Got Off The Phone With Her!
2005: A Cow’s Opinion

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Buster looks great in the photo. I have a collection of social registries from the 1930's. A member of my family had cut them out of the local newspaper and kept them. They would list gatherings and dinner parties, who had attended, what food was served, any music or games that were played. At the end of each, would be a general statement as to how the evening had gone. So, here is my favorite comment and my opinion about our gathering last night. "A good time was had by all."

Anonymous said...

Worcester Mass! My hometown. Gotta stroll down Shrewsbury Street in the evening for dessert!