Wednesday, April 30, 2014

One Last April Fool... Turns Out it's ME!

What's wrong with this picture?
TheYearRounder's April Fool's Contest offered a prize of lunch for two for the winner, who had correctly answered the question "what's wrong with this picture," shown on the right. If more than one correct answer had come in, anyone who entered, even with the wrong answer, could win in a random drawing from all entries received on time.
Everyone who entered the contest had correctly answered that the van was driving the wrong way on Commercial Street, so I numbered the entries in the order they were received and chose a number out of the proverbial "hat." All had arrived by e-mail, and entry number three was drawn as the winner. So far, so good. So I sent an e-mail congratulating the winner, then began working my way down from the top of the list of e-mails, thanking each person for entering and wishing each better luck in a future contest. But when I got down toward the bottom of the list, toward the earliest entries, I realized I was off by one number, and had congratulated the wrong person!
So the joke is on me, and I am the April Fool… Seems the only fair thing to do is to give away two prizes, so that means that now two people who entered the contest will each be taking a friend out for a great lunch in Provincetown.
Mmm! Fresh Central House mussels and grilled, crusty bread.
Suzanne says that she and her wife live full-time in Weymouth, MA, and have had a home in PTown, too, for the past eight years. In her e-mail Suzanne says that Provincetown is "...such a beautiful place where we love spending time with friends when we aren't out enjoying the day at Hatches Harbor...Snail road is another favorite, along with cocktails at the Red Inn."
These two will be treated to lunch at Central House at the Crown. That's at 247 Commercial Street, at the Crown & Anchor. One of my favorite Central House dishes is always the mussels, shown here in a spicy varietal tomato broth. Fresh Cape Cod mussels are on the spring lunch menu, too, served with garlic, fennel, shallots, chilies and white wine.
Another favorite is the lobster mac 'n cheese, made with fontina, cheddar, gruyere and scallions. There's a grass fed burger, a veg burger, and the grilled chicken and avocado club has heirloom lettuce and aioli, with bacon smoked in-house. There are lots of other choices for lunch as well.
The other winner is Alex Colon, from Brooklyn, New York. He's been coming to PTown for nearly 20 years, starting out as a young child visiting here with his parents every summer, and he still manages to get to PTown once or twice a year. He says some of his favorite spots are "Long Point, Provincetown Bookshop, Yates & Kennedy, Tim's Used Books, Victor's, The Mews, Jimmy's Hideaway, Ciro & Sal's, Devon's, The Canteen, Spiritus, Fortune Cookie, Lewis Brothers, the list goes on... I pretty much love everywhere and everything about Ptown."
Lunch is served poolside at Harbor Hotel's Cabana Bar.
I know Alex is a lobster fan, too. In his e-mail he said he'd had a great lobster roll last summer at John's Footlong, which he discovered by reading my blog.
He and a friend will be treated to lunch poolside, at the Cabana Bar at Harbor Hotel Provincetown, at 698 Commercial Street. That's where Snail Road meets up with Route 6A, near where the shore route splits into Commercial Street and Bradford Street.
The Cabana Bar will start serving lunch around their beautiful pool by Memorial Day weekend, and although the new menu hasn't yet been finalized, I'm told it will include lobster sliders and other summer favorites. And, of course, there's just nothing else that tastes quite like a burger grilled outdoors, which will certainly be on the menu. Alex and his guest are invited to bring their swimsuits along and make an afternoon of it. Sounds like a great way to relax and unwind a bit this summer. By the way, Harbor Hotel Provincetown has just reopened their Whaler Lounge for dinner, and I was there Friday for their famous Fish Fry, the first of the season. I'll tell you all about it in an upcoming post.
Congratulations to the contest winners, and thanks to these two generous Provincetown restaurants for their support of my efforts to keep you all well informed, and well fed.



Sunday, April 27, 2014

Lewis Brothers Homemade Ice Cream Returns for 17th Season in Provincetown

It was too cold to eat your ice cream outdoors today, but business was still
brisk as Lewis Brothers served up homemade ice cream, made right here.
Spring brings our summer favorites back for business up and down Commercial Street. Even though the weather has been quite chilly most days, people still want ice cream. That's what you do on vacation. Ice cream is fun!
The Lewis Brothers have been making their terrific homemade ice cream right in their Commercial Street shop since 1999. Several varieties of ice cream are churned out fresh every day, among them the 20 flavors you'll always find on the menu, along with a number of more exotic choices that may turn up on any given day.
My favorite is ginger, a special ice cream the Lewis Brothers created for a Commercial Street restaurant's dessert menu several years ago. Though the restaurant is gone now, thankfully this unique flavor turns up on the board several times over the summer, with dozens of others that may be the flavor of the week at any given time. Standard favorites like black raspberry, cookie dough or maple walnut are listed alongside of specialties like chocolate mint Oreo, Grape Nut or green tea. And if you're traveling with kids, watch out for the adult flavors, like chocolate Guinness, Limoncello, white Russian or half-a-dozen others that are made with a bit of alcohol. Yum!
If you're watching your calories or sugar, there are choices for you, too. Chocolate or vanilla soft serve, along with orange or rainbow sherbet, are all 95% fat-free, and 100% fat-free frozen yogurt comes in vanilla or peach. There's also sugar-free ice cream in vanilla or butter pecan, and fruit smoothies or frozen fruit purées are available.
Generous servings make Lewis Brothers a
 popular Provincetown ice cream destination.
Of course, if you want to go completely in the opposite direction, you can get a classic banana split, or a giant sundae drenched in homemade hot fudge or any of 20 toppings like rainbow or chocolate sprinkles, walnuts, Gummy Bears, Butterfinger crumble, M&Ms, strawberries, Oreo crumble or homemade whipped cream.
I order my sundae with vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce, a little whipped cream and marshmallow, sprinkled with chopped almonds and, of course, the ubiquitous cherry on top. I order the small sundae. I'm not sure if I could finish the large one.
An awful lot of folks consider Lewis Brothers Ice Cream a must on every visit to PTown, and in the summer you can find them in Truro as well when they bring their solar powered ice cream truck to the beaches, and on Mondays they are scooping ice cream at the Truro Farmers Market from 8 AM till noon. You'll find them at other events around the Cape, and you can book them for your own party or event.
Another reason we love Lewis Brothers is because they are a green business. They do their best to help the planet and to protect the fragile ecosystem that surrounds us, hence the solar powered ice cream truck. They have achieved a Level One Cape and Islands Green Certification, and we thank them for their commitment to the environment and for their terrific ice cream!

Friday, April 25, 2014

Prom Queens at Provincetown Theater

See the staged reading of Prom Queens this Friday or Saturday night at Provincetown Theater.
As the poster above tells us, this production of Prom Queens will be a staged reading of an original rock musical, running two nights only, at the Provincetown Theater, at 238 Bradford Street. Performances will be tonight (Friday, April 25th) and tomorrow (Saturday, April 26th) at 7:30 PM.
It's an upbeat, very funny story about a woman's struggle in the music industry, so naturally, it's full of music, all original tunes written for this play. One of the producers, Provincetown artist Patty DeLuca, calls it a high energy, feel good show that will recharge your batteries. Patty will appear in the part of Tina, one of the main characters in the play, which features a full band and cast to bring it to life.
The story and music were written by DanaMcCoy, Jennifer Schanke and Christina Cass, with the book written by Dana McCoy. If there is a great enough response to these staged readings of the play, it is hoped that a full-fledged production will be mounted one night a week over the summer, and if that venture proves successful, it could lead the production to New York City.
Tickets are $15 in advance, or $20 at the door. Call the box office at 508 487-7457, or get tickets online at provincetowntheater.org. See you at the theater!

Monday, April 21, 2014

The Red Hat Society in PTown

These Red Hat Ladies from Eastham, Wellfleet and Orleans
converged on Provincetown for lunch at the Lobster Pot.
“When I am an old woman I shall wear purple…” begins the poem 'Warning' written by Jenny Joseph, “…with a red hat which doesn’t go…”

It was a bright red fedora bought in a thrift store by Sue Ellen Cooper, along with this poem, which she read a couple of years later, that started a movement among “women of a certain age." Sue Ellen had felt a bond, a particular kinship with Jenny Joseph upon reading her poem, which urges doing what pleases you, regardless of convention or the opinions of others. Sue Ellen made a birthday gift of a vintage red hat, along with a framed copy of this poem, to her dear friend Linda Murphy, who enjoyed the gift so much that Sue Ellen decided to make the same gift to other friends. 
When this growing group of women decided to don their red hats, dress in purple, and go out to tea together, they realized they had informally begun a sort of “Red Hat Society.” Each of them thought of others who might enjoy an outing and the camaraderie of the group, which soon numbered 18. As the number of “Red Hat Ladies” became too large to easily squeeze into a restaurant or tea room together, members were encouraged to start new chapters. When a woman in Florida heard about the group and started a new one there, chapters began to spring up all across the country, and within five years there were 40,000 chapters worldwide.
The women above were among the 14 Red Hat Society members that held an outing in Provincetown last Monday. Their chapter hails from the outer Cape towns of Orleans, Eastham and Wellfleet, and they came to PTown for lunch at The Lobster Pot, which had just reopened for the season. Each chapter generally plans an outing for their group once or twice a month, and major conventions they've held have sold out entire hotels in big cities. They're not much on rules, and each chapter remains quite autonomous. The emphasis is on fun and friendship.
I've wondered how they all manage to find hats in the same shade of red. When I visited the RHS website I found pages and pages of information on starting a chapter, activities, membership perks and travel discounts, conventions and more, all revolving around themes of fun and friendship. I also found an online store offering dresses, skirts, slacks, jackets and other apparel in red and purple, along with a choice of more than 80 styles of red hats, all in the very same shade!
A gentle good time and a feeling of belonging, along with a certain boisterous exuberance and a lot of laughter, all seem to travel with these women wherever they go, and it's always a pleasure to welcome the Red Hat Society to Provincetown.
Click on the links above to read Jenny Joseph's poem, and to visit the Red Hat Society website, and click on the photo to see it full-size. Click on this link to see a great YouTube video of Jenny Joseph reading her poem 'Warning'.