I'm going to really try and sit down and focus once I'm done blogging. I'm hoping that if I can get some of this gobbledygook out of my head it'll let me concentrate.
For one, I've been on a sort of hiatus from here as I both ran out of foods to review and because I went on a weekend vacation to Cape Cod with my boyfriend Matt. It was nice to get away, but I was sweating over the grade I would receive Tuesday (as in yesterday) in Accounting. Turns out I got a 75, which isn't great but is far better than what I expected. Now if I can manage to slip by with an overall C in this course I'll be grateful, but 30% of my grade hinges on this final (or, I should REALLY be studying right now!)
Last Friday I took the 'Great Voyage' from Salem to Rhode Island which started at roughly 2 PM and ended when I was picked up at 5:30ish PM. Usually it's an hour by local bus plus another hour to hour and 15 minutes by train into Providence, where I get picked up. Then it's another 30 minutes to Matt's which I usually don't count because I have his company to keep me occupied and I'm so happy to not be surrounded by crying kids, smelly people, and the crazies that ride the MBTA.
Friday was pretty low key. We had half-assed plans with Matt's buddies to go to hibachi at Shogun which would be the 3rd week in a ROW we both went, so I'm kinda glad they fell through. Instead we went to eat at Carrabba's where I had a nice pomegranate martini and a small plate of their Pollo Rosa Maria. Not that I was counting much of what I was eating as it was vacation, but even if I were curious I can't make much sense out of Carrabba's Nutrition Information Page. Not only does it not list the Pollo Rosa Maria or the Cavatappi Amitriciana, I'm not sure how to interpret their system. How many calories and grams of fat are in a unit of fat?
Afterwards, we stopped by the new Target Supercenter to get me some flip flops. I love Target, and I could give a hoot less about their recent controversy over giving money to this or that politician. I would have browsed in there longer, much to the chagrin of Matt, but we had first gone to Trader Joe's and bought some frozen foods. I got a box of Chocolate Mochi ice cream which I didn't get to try yet because I was so full all Friday and we left early Saturday. Here's a nifty blog post with photos and a better description of the product if you're interested, or you can head to the distributer's web site and in the upper right hand corner find a link to order up any combo of 5 boxes to be delivered at home (for the more adventurous). I'd be interested in trying all their flavors, but I know Matt would especially love the Red Bean one and Kona Coffee one entices me. They're not exactly healthy, but per 2 mochi, it's only 230 calories and 7 grams of fat. I can live with it.
Friday finished up with some cleaning (a condition given to us by his mom but it needed to be done anyways) and some True Blood. Saturday we got up early-ish but due to his step dad borrowing the car and Matt's horrible penchant for packing last minute, we barely got out the door by 10:15 AM. We stopped at our favorite joint, McGovern's, to try out their weekend breakfast and it was solid. We were on the road a little after 11 AM but managed to get snarled in an hours worth of traffic, which left us both edgy and brought up a little arguing.
We went to our first destination, Cape Cod Beer, for a surprise brewery tour and tasting. It was more of a surprise for Matt since I hate beer but it ended up being a wash. The place was tiny as hell and crowded. I figured it would have been emptier since it was a great beach day. We left, discouraged, for our next destination: The Edward Gorey House.
Now I admit, I had already seen photos and read up a bit on The Edward Gorey House. I figured since it was so small I'd probably run through it in 20 minutes and then leave disappointed. Matt has read some Gorey stuff but he isn't a buff like I am, which also added to my apprehension. I'm trying to work on my self-centered habits of forgetting to 'take one for the team' and do things he might like but are boring for me (hence brewery tour) but it's pretty hard because Matt is really generous and self-sacrificing. I digress.
When we drove up, I first saw an iron wrought statue of The Doubtful Guest (a penguin like character from a Christmasy Gorey story) which happens to be Matt's preferred (or only favorite) Gorey character. We stopped to take a picture or two and read some plaques outside about Gorey's stone serpent and magnolia tree before stepping inside. When we got in, there were about 3 other guests at the house and some volunteer staff. We both bought year long memberships for $20 each which gets us free entry to the museum for a year, a member pin, and 10% off merch from the gift shop (a sweet deal). It's also 100% tax deductible, as the proceeds go directly to maintaining the house. Gorey also has a charitable trust set up for local animal shelters and related wild life causes so how can I not support these guys and his memory?
After signing up for memberships we got a nice guided tour by a guy from San Francisco. He was an Historic Preservation major there to work for the Summer with his partner (who was an Art History major or some such). They got to live upstairs in the house for the Summer which makes me a little jealous. I'll also note that Ombledroom, the resident cat, was sick and kept away from the museum downstairs much to my disappointment. In any case, we got an excellent tour where I actually learned a bunch of new factoids about ole Ed -- did you know he was basically a hoarder? I didn't until then! I highly urge any of you that visit the Cape to go see the house. It's only $5 admission and if you're into dark humor, history, art, or anything of that nature it's a hidden gem!
After our tour, Matt and I started to explore the house a little more. We got these 'Gashlycrumb Tinies' scavenger hunt pamphlets and spent a good twenty minutes frantically searching the house for all 26 references to the children in the story. We got a hint for the first one and a little help at the end too (we got stuck on 'N is for Neville who died of ennui"). Our prize wasn't anything huge, just a postcard with Gorey art on it but it was such an innovative and engaging way to explore the house. I didn't stop and read every single thing but we both plan to hit the house up again so I think of it as leaving room for discovering more stuff in the future.
After an hour, we left the EGH with some swag and smiles, pleasantly surprised by how much we loved the house. It was the number 1 highlight for me on our trip and I bet Matt would say the same. We drove around a little and finally killed enough time to check into our hotel (a 4 PM check in is pretty late and odd in my book) which was probably one of the better hotels I've been in. It was the perfect size, though maybe a little small for being billed as a 'suite'. King size bed, flat panel TV that rotated, a nice desk, wet bar/micro fridge area, and a couch that doubled as a full size pull out. We had just enough time to sit for a few minutes and get dressed for our dinner reservations at the Dan'l Webster Inn.
This post to be continued in the next part, as I've already written a lot and want to break things up for the reader (as if I actually HAD readers :P ).
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