Salt Water Taffy

Salt Water Taffy - big gift item available for most beach destinations, usually family recipe. We thought it tasted a bit nothing (not salty, not sweet), and it was neither chewy nor hard.  I think I was expecting something more like salted caramel.

Wednesday - beach clean up, more beach, prawns

 Today we tried to participate in a beach clean up, only thunderstorms meant that we got about five mins on the beach before it was cancelled. The beach looked clean, but look closer and you could see what we were after - micro plastics - straws, bottle tops, broken down anonymous bits of plastic... Heaps of it.
We were intending to go for a swim afterwards, but there was a vicious wind picking up the sand at about shin level (eye level for the baby), so we cancelled and went home for grilled cheese sandwiches.
After lunch - boys to beach, girls at home sleeping (normal routine by now...)
Dinner -

Happy hour prawns at a nearby restaurant - they were 15c each, we bought 80 (about $12). The boys had $1 tacos. The baby had steamed broccoli.

Monday - lighthouses, sand, bridges, holes

Bodie Island Lighthouse - Erected 1872. Still has original lens glass from France (that isn't made any more!!). Wrought iron staircase not attached to wall so limit to how many people on each section. Too much wind to be allowed out on the top balcony, but great views from windows as we climbed.

Sand dunes - the whole Outer Banks is just a thin strip of land that probably shouldn't be built on - they're called Barrier Islands, that are meant to take the brunt of the storms, and allow the fragile coast (swamp) to survive.

They are in the middle of building another bridge across Oregon Inlet to deal with the traffic onto Hatteras Island. I love driving past these things.

The boys have been very industrious. We have had to check on the progress of this hole, and ban them from digging deeper...This is in the play area under the house.

Greek Festival

I could go to a Greek [food] Festival every second weekend for a while and not get sick of it. This is the dairy free version, which is a bit of an adjustment, but I'm surviving.

Zebra shortbread

Made (not by me!!) for our home preschool's little belated Z day.

Cheeseless Pizza

This is actually really nice. Another of those experiences I didn't expect to find myself having!

Chicken and Pepper Italian Style sausages

I was cooking these to have with half a plate of salad, probably because everyone else was having quiche, and my 7.5 year old kindly pointed out that they weren't 'real' sausages, they were just meat in the shape of sausages. I am reminded that empathy isn't something gained until 8 years old or so.
They do actually taste ok. So long as you're not craving 'real' sausages...

Oranges

I have memories of happily assuring people that oranges didn't seem to exist here. I was wrong, we have been bringing home 1lb bags of Californian oranges from the supermarket for most of Winter. Might be the supermarket? Or maybe I have a really bad memory. Both possible. Oranges are very nice with granola on them for morning tea :)

Cakey brownie

Hubby received a rather amazing cook book for Christmas, and it is paying off, as today he made a 'cakey' brownie. This is as opposed to a fudgey brownie - it is all about the consistency, and whether it is shiney or matt on the top. The house smells great, and I love learning little details like this!

Granola by formula

I have been wanting to make granola for a while, but generally feeling overwhelmed about the huge amount of recipes there are, and not quite sure how to start. I tried asking for someones recipe, but they just throw stuff together. Then, I found a column where the author described her formula for making granola!! This made it completely accessible to me, and means I can use whatever is in my cupboard.

6:1 dry:wet ingredients
of the dry - 3 = oats, 1 = nuts, 1 = seeds and 1 = something else
of the wet - 1/2 = oil and 1/2 = sweet (she recommended coconut oil and maple syrup)
mix together dry, whisk together wet, mix wet into dry, add flavourings (I add cinnamon), and a little salt, then roast in oven, spread out in an even layer, in as many batches as required.
I tried it, and it is so working! I am feeling really accomplished.
This is going to sound thick, but I didn't realise granola was really just toasted museli. Not even after having it in a restaurant for breakfast once. Because in Australia, you eat untoasted museli (in my family, atleast), and if we did get toasted museli, we would eat a bowl full of it with milk, like any other cereal, rather than eating a couple of spoonfuls on yoghurt with fruit. I like the US way better.

Bagged Shredded Carrots

Our lives have been transformed by the discovery of bagged shredded carrots, which makes some crunchy salads that much easier.

Thanksgiving Gingerbread

This was at our place on the thanksgiving table. There is a lot to be said for a festive family get together once a year where no-one has to stress about buying presents (given a choice, I'd prefer it!).

This year's fruit mince pies

Hubby got going so we could gift some fruit mince pies at a Thanksgiving dinner. They're looking very professional now!

Morning tea at Pauls

Still had the baby, of course, who wanted second breakfast in the middle of it all, but did manage to go out for a walk, to a cafe, and talk to each other for a bit. Great croissants, and hubby also managed to end up with a piece of rasberry tart!

Baking pumpkin seeds

I feel there are a lot of cultural habits here that seem to have sort of grown out of the homesteading tradition. One of these is, baking the seeds out of the pumpkin that you hollow out to make a Jack O Lantern.
Friends shared their seeds with us last year, as a snack, and I decided to try it this year, with lovely results! I made two flavours - salt and garlic, and salt and oregano. My seeds are a touch chewy, I wonder if I should have left them to dry a bit more. Inspite of this, they're very enjoyable!
It is another thing that I didn't know existed, but if you look "baking pumpkin seeds" up on the internet, there are 50 different recipes, and a variety of opinions about the best way to do them.

PS - mum has since tried butternut pumpkin seeds, and they're ok too, so it isn't just limited to the big orange pumpkins

Meals

The best thing about getting meals from people - the way it makes the evenings easy. The second best thing, is eating new and interesting things. The third best thing, is collecting new and interesting recipes. These potatoes were delicious!

Brownie fail

Half an hour before the guests arrived... First time for everything! We served random lumps of brownie anyway.

Baked Beans

In very exciting news from tinned baked beans land, we seem to be doing ok with the Trader Joes version of baked beans, which comes across as a bit less sugary, salty and spicey than others. It is still an American taste (molasses), so either we've gotten used to that, or we're a bit desperate (I went off our home made baked beans, long story), or they are sort of ok.
The exciting bit is not that we like them, although that is good, it is more that they're tinned, so we can keep them in the cupboard and make a dinner in about 10 mins. The kids eat them too, which is bonus.

Nauset Light Beach, Lobster Rolls, Lighthouses

Our camp, with the amazing chairs. The idea is (for us) arrive early and encourage extensive sand castles so we get left some space when everyone else comes.

View along beach showing huge stairs to beach over eroded sand banks

This morning we pulled our usual trick, arriving at the beach at about 8.30am, before everyone else had (presumably) finished cooking breakfast. Nauset Light Beach is named such for the lighthouse nearby. It seems that the Cape has a bit of an issue with erosion, which can be seen in the second photo. But in terms of sand and sun and sort of surf (low tide this morning, again!), this is definitely getting there. Today we discovered the joys of those short beach chairs that people cart around (so comfy!!). We also saw seals swimming nearby. The Great White Sharks come in after the seals, so you don't swim near the seals... But they look so sleek and amazing in the water.

Lobster rolls - a specialty up this way, very delicious and very expensive.

There are seven lighthouses on Cape Cod, and we made plans to try and see as many as possible...

Highland Lighthouse - oldest and tallest on the Cape. Moved 450 feet inland away from coast line in 1996. Much to Mr 4's disgust, you needed to be 4ft high to climb this one, and he was just under...

Nauset Light - the lighthouse on the Cape Cod Chip packets! Rescued from eroding coast line in 1996 at great expense and moved inland about 300 feet (91m)

Australian Liquorice

Hooray! Darrell Lea Liquorice has made it to America, even better, to Trader Joes!! It is a bit chunkier and softer than the stuff I remember in the brown paper bags, but it is made in Australia, and tastes great. I think I'm banned from doing the grocery shop for a while, because I came home with that, as well as 500g of chocolate from Belgium.