The Gorey Details, Part II

As the title indicates, this is a continuation of my previous blog post about a vacation I took this past weekend with Matt on Cape Cod.

I first went to the Dan'l Webster Inn around 3 years ago on vacation with my best friend, Dan. His dad had read about it and wanted to try the place out and that meal ended up as my favorite meal of all time. They have an early dinner menu where you get 3 complete courses for a great price, though I must say that it was a little better the first time I tried it than the most recent time. It was still an enjoyable experience though. I had the Chicken Fig Marsala, which looked smaller and overall different this time versus what I got 3 years ago. They also had questionable soup choices, so I went with the upgrade to the French Onion soup which was both a little too big for me to finish and slightly too salty. I was sad to hear the choices for dessert were Grapenut Pudding (yuck) or a Chocolate Brownie sundae, but I opted for the sundae as I didn't want to dish out the extra $5 to $6 for a dessert upgrade when nothing was that appealing.

Part of the reason why my first visit to Dan'l Webster was so memorable was the first course of Cauliflower Cheese soup and the dessert of Flourless Chocolate Gateau with Raspberry Coulis. This was my first taste of that fudgey delight of a cake and I've been taken with it ever since, ordering it whenever I get the chance. The Brownie Sundae was better than I expected, but they could have spared some more brownie pieces for goodness sake. Alright I'm just being picky now, I should be grateful that I got that all for about $20 sans tax and tip versus Matt's $27 entree-only Duck Trio that he only half-liked. I tried a piece of duck but there was just something off about it and I couldn't even get past two chews before I had to, ahem, spit it out...

After Dan'l Webster, we went back to our hotel and decided to walk to one of the mini-golf places right near us. I opted to go for the more showy looking Wild Animal Lagoon, which ended up being pricey, annoying, and not challenging at all. I beat Matt by about 4 strokes though, which almost made up for it. I still kick myself for not trying out the smaller Putter's Paradise right next to the hotel which is a local fave and apparently pretty cheap too. Matt was pretty hungry as we both ate dinner earlier than usual and he didn't eat half of what was on his plate, so we did a late night McDonald's run. I got a Double Cheeseburger in spite of everything and I ended up eating half his medium fries and some of a chicken select, too. That was pretty much it for Friday, except that I stayed up late designing a Coheed & Cambria t-shirt for a contest. I thought it was due the next day but luckily the contest was extended until the 25th.

(Urgh, pause for being angry at this school's shit ass internet connection. Had to switch from Blogger to Notepad to finish writing this.)

Sunday consisted of going to Provincetown for the day, but we once again got a late start and had a kind of slow lunch (and crummy), so we didn't get there until about 2 PM. We didn't last too long there, as I wasn't hungry enough to wait around to eat dinner there, then wait for any of the shows that would start at 8 PM or later. By 5:30 PM we were headed back and I felt really regret that I didn't get to spend more time there due to being tired. P-town was one of the vacation spots for my family for a few years (along with Old Orchard Beach) so I felt nostalgic and didn't want to return to Yarmouth. Matt was pretty hungry almost all afternoon, which I didn't know until we went to a later dinner at DiParma that night around 8 PM. We had a half hour wait, which was kind of BS in my opinion but we stuck around because he was digging the place and wanted Italian. Dinner was nice enough, but I hated how slow it was. I wasn't really hungry and was sort of absently eating but I'll tell you their house salad was phenomenal for some unknown reason. I should have just ordered one for dinner, but I wasn't hungry while I ordered and just got something (the steak) I thought would be good enough; it was, don't get me wrong, but not being hungry sucks the life outta enjoying food to me. We missed our chance to get another round of mini-golf in because the two flashy places were way too packed for my liking and by the time we ate, which probably took a good hour and half or more when all is said and done. I figured Putter's Paradise would be closing soon so I didn't bother to go check them out just to get my hopes dashed.

Monday was gloomy and full of light rain, the perfect going home weather. We stopped at the Cape Cod Potato Chip factory for a tour and found ourselves in a 15 minute long line. There was a group of French Canadians in front of us, which provided me with some entertainment (I've taken French ever since Junior High) but ultimately the tour was lame; it's self-guided through the use of a few posters explaining the process accompanied by 4 or 5 big glass windows you can look into. It all funnels into the store at the end, where you pay full supermarket prices for everything. We got 3 bags of chips (all new flavors - 40% reduced fat BBQ, Sweet and Spicy Jalapeno, and Yukon Gold) plus their only flavor of popcorn, which tastes really similar to Smartfood but a bit lighter and fresher.

We stopped for lunch at Red Robin on the way back, which was another slight disappointment. The Royal Red Robin Burger (I suspect the bun actually) tasted a bit off even though it was my usual order and Matt didn't like what he got. We both wanted to try the special burger (Spicy Honey Glazed Bacon Burger) we saw online, but our table was missing the promotional stove shaped box so we both thought they didn't have the burger in stores anymore. We were wrong. Matt then drove me back to Salem, where I packed up some stuff with my Hello Kitty bike and sent him home. I hated to send him back, but it was already getting darker and gloomier and we had no more reason to beat around the bush.

I guess now that I look back on it, the overall vacation events were kind of mediocre but going to the Gorey House really made up for it. I'm really looking forward to a time when Matt and I can go on vacation and enjoy it fully instead of having a rushed two-nighter crammed in right before I finish up my Summer class. I'm looking forward to doing something fun this Spring Break, but as to what I'm not sure. Neither of us are interested in the typical college Spring Break, though I really want to go on a cruise. It's too bad that just about every cruise will be packed with annoying college kids. I would say that we could go to Montreal but I don't think going farther up North during the cold months is a great idea either. I'll have to brain storm it with him later.

So it's approaching midnight now and I seriously can't go to sleep without studying more. Not sure how much this helped, but I'm handing myself over to the Accounting Gods now!

The Gorey Details, Part I

My time stuck in Summer classes it just about over, as I have my final tomorrow night and will be moving out Friday evening. I started off on the right track studying today, but after a half hour (maybe less) I decided to reward myself with an episode of Darker Than Black which ended up turning into about 4 episodes. I figured 'Why not just finish the series now, start studying again around 8 and be distraction free?' Well it didn't work out so well... now it's almost 10 pm and I STILL haven't touched it again.

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 ).