Sun: a rarity in New England this summer

Lurking around Newport on call for freelance yacht crew gigs, I've been spending time in Rhode Island and on Cape Cod, both awesome places to be during summer. However, in the past few weeks we've had only two count'em two days of sun. In celebration of the glowing orb in the sky, here are some pics from last Wednesday, the first of the two nice days. My nephew Alex and I commandoed the family boat and sped full throttle south to Cuttyhunk Island.



The island is halfway between Wesport Harbor and the Vineyard. It took us 15 or 20 minutes to get there. Here's the entrance to Cuttyhunk Harbor.



Cuttyhunk has a population of about 400 in summer and 50 year rounders. It's the striped bass fisherman's mecca if you're into that kind of thing. It's a half mile long and half of it is a nature preserve. Its highest point is 154 feet. The school has one teacher and three students. It is probably the most boring place on earth to grow up as a teenager, but it's nice to visit by boat. There's not much to do except tie up and hang out.





I've never seen a rainbow cloud before. Realistically, it was just a reminder that shitty weather wasn't far away, but it looked pretty. Sure enough, it rained the following eight days. But today, day nine, it is sunny again.

Now on the Cape, I took a bike ride to West Dennis Beach, a mile-long south-facing beach.



I biked to the mouth of the Bass River at the western tip of the beach, and took the below pic, looking south to Nantucket Sound. If you're looking for a good deserted beach to frolic like it's your own private island, this is the one for you because more than half the parking lot is closed due to Piping Plovers. The only way to get to this spot is to bike or walk.



Might as well soak it up, it's going to rain again tomorrow.

New England Clam Chowder, from ocean to bowl

This is my my Dad (on the right) with his friend Harvey. These two old salts go shellfishing all the time here on Old Cape Cod. Saturday was quahog day. They belong to the Barnstable Association for Recreational Shellfishing, a non-profit that advocates for good water quality and shellfish propagation in town.



Yes, I realize the sexiness factor is probably more than you can bear. Surprisingly, even though the ocean temp was only 36 degrees, I became hot in these waders. Clamming is a damn good workout!





So what do you do with all these happy little mollusks? You make clam chowder. I followed the official recipe from Legal Sea Food's cookbook for their famous New England Clam Chowder and it came out amazing.



Legal's, as they're known, is a Boston restaurant chain that offers the best seafood dining in the city. They have locations in ten states now.



Whether it's littlenecks, clams, or quahogs, they open up after about seven minutes. Quickly remove them from the pot once they've opened because this is when they are tender. Like calamari, mollusks get tough when overcooked. Don't cook them beforehand and make the chowder the next day, or freeze them once they've cooked. This too will make them gross and chewy.





The Legal Sea Foods recipe calls for two ounces of "salt pork." I didn't even know what this was. It kind of looks like bacon and is sold in one-pound packs.



You render it for the liquid fat, in which you fry the diced onions. Cook until clear, 5-7 minutes, and then add your clam broth and some fish stock along with the cubed potatoes.





This is what it looks like right before you add cream and the chopped clams. Between the harvesting and the cooking, producing clam chowder is a lot of work, and now I know why this stuff sells for $48 a gallon, and $17 a quart.


But it's worth it! A most delicious chowder. Don't forget the oyster crackers. If you want to try the recipe, it's online here.

He got the sarcasm beaten right out of him

Today's best Cape Cod Times story recounts an altercation between two grown men -- over rude manners -- resulting in one man beating the other, in classic Cape Cod fashion, with his golf club. I'm with the door-holder guy. What he should have said was, "You're welcome, your highness. I'll be sure to sprinkle rose petals in your path the next time, too."

Man allegedly clubbed by teed-off Falmouth golfer

By Aaron Gouveia

agouveia@capecodonline.com

February 18, 2009

FALMOUTH — An alleged lack of manners at a Sandwich Road gas station led a local man to beat another man with a golf club, the police said.

Police officers were called to the Hess gas station at the corner of Sandwich Road and Route 151 at 6:45 a.m. Monday following an altercation between two customers. The incident began with one man not saying "thank you" to another man as he held the door open for him, police said.

When he was exiting the gas station, police said, a 50-year-old East Falmouth man held the door open for Carlos Navarro, 38, of Falmouth. When Navarro allegedly failed to thank the man for opening the door, the 50-year-old man allegedly uttered a sarcastic "thank you" to Navarro, police said.

Navarro told police he believed he had been disparaged, which led to a heated argument. Navarro then went to his car and retrieved a golf club — a wood not an iron — and struck the alleged victim several times in the stomach and legs, police said.

Police said the alleged victim suffered minor injuries in the incident.

Navarro was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in Falmouth District Court yesterday and was ordered to stay away from the alleged victim. Navarro faces a pretrial hearing March 31.

Cape Cod cop is "wicked pissah." Literally.

Perpetrator/Officer Joseph Houston

It’s not even February yet, but already we’ve found our favorite headline of 2009 in the Cape Cod Times: "Brewster Man Accused of Urinating on Metallica Fan." ~RollingStone.com

There is never anything good in the Cape Cod Times, except for this story which caused me to wonder for a second if I weren't actually reading News of the Weird instead. Here's the whole thing, because it's just too good not to share in its entirety.

By Doug Fraser

dfraser@capecodonline.com

January 26, 2009

BREWSTER – A Brewster police officer is on paid administrative leave after allegedly urinating on a fellow music-lover at a Metallica concert in Boston and then refusing to leave TD Banknorth Garden when security guards ejected him for disorderly conduct.

A Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Transit Police report from that night identifies Brewster Police Officer Joseph Houston, 29, as being thrown out of the Jan. 18 rock concert by security guards at around 10 p.m.

Although he has been charged only with trespassing, Houston appeared to be drunk, flashed his badge in an attempt to get back into the concert, called a black MBTA officer “Obama,” and had been asked to leave the concert after he allegedly urinated on another patron, according to the report.

Citing an ongoing departmental investigation, Brewster Police Chief Richard Koch would not confirm the officer’s identity but did confirm the incident happened. He got word that Sunday night that an officer had been arrested, went to Boston the next day, on Monday, and immediately placed the officer on leave, he said.

Houston earned $50,456.35 including overtime and detail pay, in 2008, according to town records.

Boston attorney Thomas Drechsler, who, according to court records, is representing Houston in this case, did not return two phone requests for comment today.

Houston’s Brewster phone number is unlisted and he was not at home this evening.

A Boston Police spokesperson said there was no record of any charges filed by her department against Houston. Suffolk County District Attorney’s office spokesman Jake Wark said there were no charges filed against Houston beyond trespassing, which carries a maximum $100 fine and/or 30 days in jail. Houston is due back in court on Feb. 5 on that charge, Wark said.

But Wark said the victim could file charges at Boston Municipal Court where a clerk magistrate hearing would determine the need for a trial. Those charges would not be public until after the hearing.

Rolling Stone writes:

The Cape Cod Times doesn’t elaborate on the details, but we’re assuming it went down like this: An obviously drunk Houston really had to go to the bathroom, but rather than miss even one note of “All Nightmare Long,” he reasoned that the appropriate thing to do was to use the poor guy standing in front of him as his own private urinal. Whatever happened, Houston was booted from the venue by 10 p.m., well before Metallica were finished performing, so maybe actually running to use the restroom would have been the better move.