Vineyard Weekend

Things have been kind of crazy at work, so sadly I still haven't had a chance to write about the great Martha's Vineyard weekend I spent with Sebastian and his family, filled with lots of beaches, sun, and of course, yummy food.

We got there early on Friday night, and were lucky enough to have a home-cooked meal made for us by Sebastian's mom. Isn't it funny that once you are away from home you start craving those kinds of meals? It's become such a treat to have someone cook for you and not be in a restaurant. She made chicken with two recipes (from the Boston Globe) that both were delicious- lemony sugar snap peas (had to stop myself from eating all of them-so delicious) and potato salad with bacon and apples. She said they were pretty easy to make, too. Will have to try someday.

On Saturday, Seb's mom packed us all some sandwiches and we headed to Gay Head for some rays. If I kept a running tally of all the foods I ate in my life, I think turkey sandwiches might be #1-I eat them at least once or twice a week at work. But there's something about a turkey sandwich on the beach that really hits the spot and pulls my heart strings. Also, this sandwich reminded me how important fresh ingredients are for cooking-salty and sharp cheddar cheese, soft avocado, and juicy tomatoes brought the turkey from ho-hum to mmm-mmm. Of course, the view doesn't hurt, either:

On Saturday night, Sebastian and I were on our own, so we headed into Oak Bluffs and dined al fresco at this wonderful spot called the Offshore Ale Company. Inside it was rustic and dark-peanut shells were littered across the floor, and wooden beams lent a country feel to it. But luckily there was space on their lovely brick patio, which had a nice cool breeze going through it that summer eve:

I got fish n chips-Seb got a burger. I think he won. The service was a bit brassy (our waitress, upon finally greeting our table, groaned "if you're going to get pizza, it's a 45 minute wait." Ummm okay?) but overall the restaurant was a nice choice for a reasonably priced, non-seafood-exclusive restaurant.

Finally, Dish Gal decided to undertake a project for herself and find the best ice cream on the Vineyard, and tried three different places in three days-- wow, that was a lot of ice cream. We had Mad Martha's, Ben & Bill's Chocolate Emporium, and Scoops. However, looking back I cannot decide which was my favorite! I am a disappointment to myself. I'm thinking it's because either 1) I don't have the sophisticated, ice cream palate to be able to differentiate; 2) they were all equally amazing; or 3) I didn't do the research properly and changed the variables (I got a different flavor at each place). I'm guessing it was a little of each. But you can't go wrong at any of them!!