Three PTown Events This Weekend Offer Great Food, Shopping and Entertainment

Get homemade baked goods today at the Methodist Church bake sale in PTown.

There's a bake sale today at the United Methodist Church in Provincetown, at 20 Shank Painter Road, from 10 AM to 2 PM. There's no telling what kinds of tasty baked goods will be offered.
You're bound to find homemade cookies, brownies and a variety of holiday treats and festive goodies made by parishioners, with proceeds going to the church's student education fund.

See the Outer Cape Chorale and Chamber Singers
free concerts in PTown and Orleans this weekend.

The annual holiday performance of the Outer Cape Chorale got underway last night with the first performance of this year's program "O Be Joyful" at Town Hall in Provincetown.
There will be another performance of this free concert (goodwill donations are gratefully accepted) tonight at 7 PM at Town Hall, with one last chance to see this highly anticipated event on Sunday afternoon at 3 PM in Orleans, at Nauset Middle School.
Traditional holiday tunes will also be featured. Go a bit early to either venue, as this event generally plays to a packed house.

The Canteen brings a European style holiday festival to
Provincetown with food, fun,  entertainment and shopping!

The Canteen's very popular Holiday Market returns for weekends through New Year's Day. Fridays through Sundays until January 1st, from 11 AM till at least 7PM each night, you'll find this winter festival both indoors and outdoors at The Canteen, at 227 Commercial Street.
You'll find hot food and drinks, live music, theater performances, exhibits, local vendors, booths filled with crafts and gifts made by skilled artisans, and the list goes on…
This wonderful event was inspired by traditional European Christmas and New Year's festivals, providing food, fun and entertainment for the community and its visitors.
This year, an ice skating rink has been added, and Cape Cod Beer will be on hand, presenting a new winter brew, available only at this event. The beach at The Canteen will be a great spot to watch the fireworks, and a free champagne toast for all will celebrate the New Year.

This Day in Boston, 1896, Fannie Farmer's Cookbook is Published - Still a Best Seller

Fannie Farmer is still America's most famous cook.

Today marks the 120^th anniversary of the singular cookbook that taught generations of Americans how to cook. First published on January 7^th, 1896, as The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book by Fannie Merritt Farmer, later on known as Fannie Farmer's Cookbook, this book was much more than a mere collection of hundreds of recipes. It was an educative revolution in cooking.
The book actually sought to teach its readers how to cook, and what to eat. Included in the book were “lessons” on choosing foods and the science behind their best use and preparation. Through studying this book novice cooks could learn why to choose one vegetable over another, what makes milk turn sour, and why the temperature of the oil used in frying was crucial to the outcome of the dish. Simple recipes and instructions taught the basics of good cooking and proper nutrition. For more experienced cooks there were hundreds of more challenging recipes to expand their skills and palates.

Fannie’s book gave detailed instructions on achieving the correct temperature in an iron stove by proper selection of coal, soft wood like pine, and various hardwoods, along with adjusting the flue and damper and controlling the amount of oxygen for precise results. Fannie also taught her readers that there was actual science involved in cooking and baking. She was the first to give instruction on ensuring results by using standardized measuring cups and spoons to accurately measure ingredients.

In 1889 Fannie would graduate from The Boston Cooking School (Boston's first,) which was founded 10 years earlier by the Woman’s Educational Association of Boston in order “to offer instruction in cooking to those who wished to earn their livelihoods as cooks, or who would make practical use of such information in their families.” Fannie studied under Mary J. Lincoln, who researched and wrote Mrs. Lincoln’s Boston Cook Book: What to Do and What Not to Do in Cooking.

Miss Farmer teaches pupil Martha Hayes Ludden about precise measuring to achieve consistent results.

At The Boston Cooking School, Fannie had begun to understand the association between eating certain foods and maintaining good health. She then took a nutrition course at Harvard Medical School to learn as much as she could about healthful eating and proper preparation of foods. Having been one of the top students at the cooking school, Fannie would become assistant director there shortly after her graduation, and would go on to become head of the school a few years later. Meanwhile, she continued to study food and the science behind cooking at every opportunity.
Fannie began revising and expanding Mrs. Lincoln’s cookbook, building on her teacher’s detailed and methodical approach to recipe writing, and presenting a thorough discussion on the careful measurement of each ingredient in a recipe. In 1896, when Miss Farmer approached the publisher Little, Brown & Company with her book, The Boston Cooking-School Cookbook, they didn’t think it would do very well, so they would commit only to printing a limited run of 3,000 copies, and only if Fannie would cover the costs. It turned out to be the best-selling cookbook of the era, with over 4 million copies sold in Fannie's lifetime, and it remains a perennial favorite today. In the 120 years it has been on the shelves, Fannie Farmer's Cookbook has never been out of print.

Fannie Farmer's lectures were very popular despite the 30 cent admission.

After a number of years running The Boston Cooking School, Fannie left in 1902 to open her own Miss Farmer's School of Cookery, also in Boston, aimed toward training housewives rather than household service staff, professional cooks or teachers.
Together with her sister, Cora Farmer Perkins, Fannie also wrote a regular column for the Woman's Home Companion. Her cooking demonstrations and lectures became widely known, costing 30 cents for admission to the morning session and 25 cents in the evenings, as shown in the ad from this unknown periodical. The Boston Evening Transcript published her lectures, which were printed in newspapers all across the country.
In the preface to her cookbook, our Miss Farmer writes “At the earnest solicitation of educators, pupils, and friends, I have been urged to prepare this book, and I trust it may be a help to many who need its aid. It is my wish that it may not only be looked upon as a compilation of tried and tested recipes, but that it may awaken an interest through its condensed scientific knowledge which will lead to deeper thought and broader study of what to eat.”
The book was rather an education in cooking and nutrition, as well as keeping house, all bound in a single volume of 39 chapters, hundreds of pages, and hundreds of recipes from simple sauces and condiments to an elegant 12 course meal. The table of contents alone was 22 pages!

The book has been updated quite a bit from time to time as the field of cooking has evolved, with nearly 900 pages in the current edition, and roughly 1,900 recipes. After all, the way to make a classic veal stock hasn't changed, nor the way to debone a chicken, nor the proportions of flour, sugar and butter in a pound cake. Many of the original recipes remain in the book, unaltered, along with new ones.
I found Fannie Farmer’s recipe for Cape Cod Oatmeal Cookies on several websites, including Just a Pinch Recipes, written by Debby Nelson, who writes “This recipe is from an old Fannie Farmer Cookbook I bought not long after I married. My Dad and my husband loved them so I would make them every year at Christmas and in-between. They are chewy and nourishing. Give them a try!”

I also found these cookies at Lynne Feifer’s 365 Days of Baking and More, where she challenged herself to bake something every day for a year and write about it on the Internet. This recipe also popped up at full tummies, where, for nearly eight years now, someone known only as Betsy has been writing about healthful, nutritious food choices and sharing recipes that “our whole family loves!” Both Lynne and Debby found this excellent, very popular cookie recipe still in the current incarnation, the 13^th edition of Fannie Farmer's Cookbook, which was published 20 years ago, in 1996, celebrating the book’s 100^th anniversary that year.

Click this link to find Fannie’s Last Supper, an excellent video that just may make you want to cook. It's a teaser for the 2007 PBS documentary of the same name, following folks who decided to throw a dinner party recreating the 12 course meal in Fannie's cookbook using only a wood stove to cook on. Now I'm looking for the DVD of that program, because that's something I'd like to see.
In the meantime, I'll settle for a plate of Cape Cod Oatmeal Cookies from the Fannie Farmer Cookbook. Thank you, Miss Farmer!

Blondie's "Settles In" at the Art House

Blondie's bacon cheeseburger hits the spot.

This spring Blondie's Burgers moved across the street and a few doors west to the Art House, at 214 Commercial Street. All your favorites are still available, like the deep-fried corn on the cob, one of my favorites, and the mac & cheese balls. There's a chili dog and others, sandwiches like shaved steak, chicken, a veggie burger and many other choices on a fairly large menu.
One of my favorites at Blondie's is the Brunette Bliss. That's portabello mushroom, roasted red peppers, sautéed onions, and feta cheese.
They make onion rings and hand-cut fries, as well as shakes, slushies and root beer floats, and there's a gigantic cookie to top off your meal. Bogey's Bar is now open here, too, so you can get beer, wine and cocktails along with your food. There's also a new patio so now you can sit indoors or out. Of course, Blondie's does takeout as well.
The other night, after a late movie shown in the fabulous Provincetown International Film Festival, I needed something to eat before I headed home. It was nearly midnight on a weeknight, but Blondie's was staying open to accommodate late night cinephiles. I had the bacon cheeseburger, with cheddar between two grilled beef patties, lettuce, tomato, pickle (bacon, of course) and some chopped onion. Tasty, juicy and piled high on a soft, very fresh bun.
Right now Blondie's is open daily from 11 AM till 11 PM, and till 2 AM on weekends. The summer will likely bring longer weeknight hours. The service here is really excellent, and genuinely friendly. You can call ahead at 508 487-0568 for orders to go.

What's New? - All Kinds of Flavors at the Food Court in the Aquarium Marketplace

This spring there are so many new things to taste in Provincetown. You could spend an entire day trying new flavors in the Food Court at the Aquarium Marketplace, at 209 Commercial Street. In fact, you could easily spend your whole day at Uma Loucura, the new Brazilian restaurant there, tasting dishes and flavors you've never had before, but will be sure to go back for again. Let's start there...

Some of Brazil's favorite breakfast
and snack foods from Uma Loucura.

Uma Loucura offers a wonderful variety of meals, made from scratch from authentic Brazilian ingredients you have likely never tasted. They offer a great menu and daily specials, but for today, let's start with a few very popular Brazilian snack foods, clockwise from the bottom left corner:
Coxinha is the favorite of all snacks in Brazil, a sort of chicken croquette, if you will. This is a light teardrop shaped ball of soft dough stuffed with shredded chicken.
Esfirra is a tiny, triangular pastry stuffed with ground beef and Brazillian seasonings, heralding from the Middle East.

Pao De Queijo, a little ball of cheese bread made from cassava flour (from the ground roots of the manioc plant) will soon be offered in daily choices like jalapeño, bacon and other flavorss. This is a very popular snack and breakfast food in Brazil.
Empadinha, in the bottom right corner, is a mild, bite sized pie made with shredded chicken baked into a pastry crust, with a great texture and flavor.

Get a plate of any or all of these to carry out onto the Aquarium's waterfront deck to enjoy with a cocktail, a glass of wine or a cold beer at the Aqua Bar, along with that amazing view of Provincetown Harbor.

About 2 dozen great flavors at a time
are n the case at I Dream of Gelato.

It is impossible to walk into I Dream of Gelato and not find something new. Michelle simply can't help herself. She gets an idea for a new flavor and can't seem to rest until she has perfected it. It'll take you a couple of years to taste them all, with somewhere around 200 brilliant flavors of gelato and sorbetto rotating through the freezer case as they are made fresh daily. Yesterday I tasted the amazing banana fig, and the award-winning Holy Canolli. It was the caramel salt pretzel, though, that sent me off looking for Michelle to find out how in the world she comes up with these sublime combinations of flavors and then actually puts those flavors into these extraordinary confections. Short of grinding up actual pretzels into the mix, how does she achieve that flavor? Turns out she does use pretzels, but that still doesn't explain how she makes this perfectly smooth, and perfectly flavored, fine Italian ice cream. 

The famous Mississippi Mud Cake
from Connie's Bakery is legendary.

So much is new at Connie's Bakery this year that I'll have to write a whole page about it very soon. So let me just mention that Shane has taken over upon Connie's retirement, after her many years of turning out some of Provincetown's favorite baked goods. Don't worry, all your favorites are still here. The store has been carefully remodeled, making it much easier to shop for savory treats like their beautiful quiche, or sweets like the endless array of cookies, cakes, pies, muffins, and brownies that made Connie's famous.

Shane has some new things in store for us as well. Recently inspired by the birthday of a friend, Shane made a tiny tweak to a favorite recipe from Connie's vast collection, and made the Mississippi Mud Cake what many now claim to be the best chocolate cake ever created. I was certainly hooked upon tasting this rich, dense Bundt cake, a bit like a pudding cake but somehow lighter, with a bit of coffee to give it a little mocha flavor, and drizzled with a chocolate ganache. Stop in and give it a taste.

All these things and more are found in the Aquarium, with seven unique restaurants, and seating indoors or out, on the patio or the waterfront deck. Everything here is available for takeout, too. Next week we'll try more of the new dishes Provincetown has to offer this summer. They are found all along Commercial Street. Let me know if you find something I need to taste.

The New PTOWN Cafe is Now Open, Right Next to Town Hall

PTOWN Cafe offered tastes of their savory sandwiches, organic
coffee and sweet treats like Lisa's killer chocolate chip brownie.

Lisa Bergeron had managed and cooked in Boston restaurants for about 25 years before landing in Provincetown. This spring she's started her own restaurant at 258 Commercial Street, next to Town Hall. I stopped in for PTOWN Cafe's opening and knew I'd have to return when I tasted the herbed, roasted pork tenderloin served with a rosemary aioli. Lisa told me it was going to be featured in a new sandwich, and I was eager to try it once they got their full menu up and running. I had to stop in a couple of times to taste this sandwich. It was sold out each time I tried.
Opening night also brought us fresh mozzarella, basil and tomato on a crusty baguette, along with pastries, cookies and other sweet treats. I tried the red velvet cupcakes, and a woman standing next to me said she thought the fresh cannoli were the best she'd ever tasted. My favorite sweet was the absolutely perfect chocolate chip brownies. They went very well with the rich, full-flavored, organic coffee served by PTOWN Cafe. Their coffee goes a step farther than the Fair Trade companies (which give a group of small coffee farmers in developing countries a better price for their beans) by using the Direct Trade model, which cuts out brokers and middlemen altogether, putting more money directly into the hands of the farmers.

PTOWN Cafe's ham and cheese dresses up the traditional a bit.

For lunch the other day I got their ham and cheese sandwich, which was a nice variation from the old standard. This one was made with Black Forest Ham, asiago cheese, leafy green lettuce and a dijonaise dressing on an airy, freshly baked croissant. Very tasty and not too heavy. Just right.
During the hot weather we had a couple of days ago I tried their iced coffee, which is cold-brewed to eliminate any bitter flavor. You can taste the difference. I also sampled the coffee cake, fresh from the oven, not too sweet, and again, just right. Today I noticed the blackboard out front listed a breakfast panini sandwich, so now I know where I'll be headed for breakfast tomorrow morning.
Service is quick and friendly. You'll be on your way again in no time with food to go, or you can relax at a table indoors or out, or carry your order just a few steps to the benches in front of Town Hall for a little people watching. We wish Lisa good luck in the first season in her new restaurant, and many more seasons to come.

Truro Residents, Frequent PTown Diners, Came This Night for Chinese and Fries at the Aquarium Marketplace

As I was having my own dinner on the patio, next to the waterfront deck at the Aquarium Marktplace, I met these folks from Truro. They quite often come into PTown for supper and have a number of favorite meals in our local eateries. This night they came into Provincetown for Chinese and fries. They got Chinese take-out from the Fortune Cookie, a Townie Favorite and the longest-running restaurant in the food court at the old aquarium, now in its 20th season serving appetizers, seafood dishes, beef, chicken and vegan choices, along with many others.

Tofu and Broccoli, photo from Fortune Cookie's website

Among my favorites are the Scallion Pancakes, Thai Chicken Wings, and General Tsao's Chicken; a daily special and a real bargain at $11.55, and that includes the tax. One of my favorite vegetarian dishes here is the Tofu and Broccoli.
You'll also find Connie's Bakery in the Aquarium, with egg sandwiches and a variety of breakfast pastries from scratch every day, and a savory pastry called a street pie, meant to be eaten as you walk down Commercial Street.
This foursome from Truro also ordered a big basket of fries from Batata, which features a wide variety of Canadian-style comfort foods, among them some of the town's best French fries, as well as a favorite take-out menu for a number of local police officers, making this little spot another Townie Favorite.
These folks from Truro sat down at the table next to mine as I was trying the fish taco of the day from Native Cape Cod Seafood. They've really hit their stride this year, now in their 2nd season in the Aquarium Marketplace. Give them a try. A man sharing my communal table was there for the Lobster Scampi served over linguine. He told me he thought it was one of the best values in town on top quality seafood.

New this year in the Aquarium is Cookies U, featuring delicious cookies made from scratch every day by Jackie, a former teacher, now following her heart and baking up cookies from simple to elaborate every day.
A favorite of mine is the basic peanut butter cookie, in the Cookies 101 section. Cookies with something extra, like Jackie's frosted sugar cookie, are in the Cookies 201 class. Advanced studies in the Cookies 301 class include whoopee pies and others that have moved well beyond basic studies. Stop and taste these cookies and you will return again.
That brings us to Big Daddy's Burritos, where meat lovers and vegetarians alike will find fresh, healthy choices in not only burritos, but also tacos, nachos, quesadillas, and salads, and any burrito can be served in a bowl without a tortilla and gluten free.
One of my favorites here is the Squash and Corn Burrito, made with zucchini, corn, brown rice, Monterrey Jack cheese, your choice of black or pinto beans and homemade salsa, all rolled into a 12 inch flour tortilla. You can also add sour cream, or make it a whole wheat or a spinach tortilla for a small extra fee. I also like the Carnitas Burrito, made with specially seasoned, slow-roasted pork. Add $1.25 to any food purchase and get a 24 ounce freshly brewed iced tea. Get a breakfast burrito from 9:30 till 11 AM.

Sign from
I Dream of Gelato website

There is no better spot in town for dessert than I Dream of Gelato, with dozens of things here each qualifying as a Best Bite. It's the last shop on the left as you walk through the building and out to the beautiful waterfront deck looking out over the boats in the harbor. Homemade gelato, the Italian ice cream, is made right here, all day long, with more than 160 flavors having been absolutely perfected over the years. Gelato is not only better for you, but it also has more flavor than traditional American ice cream. Made with milk rather than heavy cream, and without eggs, and frozen at a slightly warmer temperature and with much less air whipped into the mixture, the result is an extremely flavorful, denser and smoother consistency that really lets the flavors of the fruits, nuts, caramel swirls or whatever special ingredients might be in your favorite flavor shine through.
There are always 24 flavors in the case, each of the 160 flavors taking its turn in the spotlight. You'll find traditional favorites like strawberry, nearly three-dozen chocolate flavors, and unique offerings like the golden butter cake with milk chocolate frosting. The black sesame is simply amazing.  My very favorite is the pineapple basil sorbet. Like all sorbets, it is made without any dairy ingredients, so it is even lower in fat and calories, but you could never tell from the taste. There are sugar-free choices as well. Try any flavor and you'll be hooked. Tastes are available. This shop also makes wonderful specialty coffees, Italian hot chocolate and other treats, too. Look for an upcoming post about I Dream of Gelato.
Choose your food, even from more than one of these restaurants, as these folks from Truro did, and carry it out to the patio or the waterfront deck to enjoy a little sea breeze, and get a few oysters on-the-half-shell or other treats from the raw bar on the patio. Have a cocktail from the Aqua Bar, right on the deck, served by Dante, one of the town's favorite bartenders. The view from the deck is fantastic, and you are having your own, custom waterfront dining at a bargain price. Meals here range from about $7 to $20, with many around the $10 range. The Aquarium Marketplace is found at 205 Commercial Street, near the corner of Carver Street.